Chapter 20 - Noisy Beach
Boom!
A small explosion scattered sand and carapace fragments. The sickle crab that was the target of Zwei's Lesser Fireball overturned. Despite its brain having been blown to bits, the crab's eight arthropod legs were still moving about reflexively in the air. Only after some time had passed did the dead sickle crab stop moving.
As a water-attributed monster, the sickle crab had poor resistance to fire magic. However, its tenacious vitality and superb defense allowed it to tank four Lesser Fireballs before dying.
In addition, unlike the goblins that craved life and feared death, sickle crabs would continue charging at their opponents despite serious injury. As a result, Zwei had to constantly run circles around the sickle crabs when trying to kill them. Fortunately, the sickle crabs in this dungeon weren't numerous. They were also sparsely distributed across the beach. So long as he didn't run around recklessly, it was almost impossible for him to attract the attention of two or more sickle crabs simultaneously. Hence, Zwei managed to kite and kill the sickle crabs one after another.
As for why Zwei opted to use Lesser Fireball instead of the more powerful Exploding Flame Arrow and charged Magic Bullet, it was the sickle crabs' horizontal movement speed, which was too fast. He simply didn't have the time to cast either of the two spells.
However, so long as there was enough time, taking care of these sickle crabs wasn't a difficult task. In fact, the thing that troubled Zwei the most in this dungeon was another monster—the ocean slime.
The ocean slime was a weak monster with a measly hunting level of Level 2. It was a creature with almost no defense and very little life. A single Magic Bullet was enough to turn it into a pool of mud.
However, the problem was that these little things could blend in perfectly with the seawater. Only when Zwei had entered their attack range would they abruptly jump out of hiding and attack him. They also secreted a corrosive goo.
Truthfully, it would be a feast for the eyes if this goo were used to melt the clothes off a beautiful woman. However, having the clothes of a man like Zwei melted off would only cause eye damage!
In addition, the secreted goo didn't just corrode clothing. It also behaved like sulfuric acid when it came into contact with the human body, so it would be very troublesome if Zwei allowed an attack to land on himself.
Looking at his Apprentice Cloak's corroded sleeve, Zwei couldn't help but sigh. Fortunately, his training in the previous dungeons allowed him to react quickly to the ocean slimes' attacks. Whenever he got ambushed, he would instantly retaliate with a Lesser Fireball. As a result, he didn't sustain too much damage fighting them.
However, regardless of how disgusted he felt toward the ocean slimes, Zwei did not stop his advance.
After collecting the sickle crab's corpse, he continued moving forward.
He had killed a total of eight sickle crabs. Aside from four Sickle Crab Shells, he had also harvested two Hard Sickles, one Foam Sac, and one Crab Roe.
They all seemed to be materials for making certain items. And like the Broken Blade Fragments, they could also be exchanged for corresponding Academy Resources.
As for the ocean slimes, their liquid corpses would mix with the seawater as soon as they died, so Zwei had no way to use Collection on them.
Meanwhile, because Zwei had relied on kiting to defeat the sickle crabs, the journey that should've taken half an hour ended up extending to two hours.
At the other end of the beach was another rugged reef area. The exposed parts of the reef varied in size, with the larger ones rivaling washbasins, and the smaller ones were no larger than beer bottles. Moreover, as seawater swept through this area all year round, algae and moss covered the reef, making it as slippery as ice.
Under normal circumstances, walking across this reef area wouldn't be a problem. After all, even if Zwei slipped, he would, at most, get his body soaked. He wouldn't suffer any serious injuries. However, who could have imagined that so many ocean slimes were lurking in the shallow waters of this reef area?
By the time Zwei passed the reef area and reached the second beach, he had killed well over a dozen ocean slimes. His right hand also suffered minor burns as a result.
Compared to the previous beach, the second beach was much smaller, spanning only 200 meters or so. The ocean lay at the other end of this beach, and there didn't seem to be other paths to take since the cliff that ran alongside the beach was about 30 meters tall. The beach itself looked like an irregular rectangle.
This place was most likely the Boss's location.
Carefully, Zwei stepped onto the seemingly beautiful beach.
Due to a lack of sickle crabs and litter from tourists, this golden beach looked quite beautiful. When the waves receded, Zwei could even see starfish and seashells on the sand.
However, the more beautiful a dungeon was, the greater the murderous intent hidden within it would be.
In the two previous dungeons he raided, the fodder monsters that filled them were goblins, whereas the Bosses were evolved versions of goblins. Judging by this pattern, the Noisy Beach's Boss should be a crustacean-type monster like the sickle crabs.
Would it be a Level 9 Magical Sickle Crab, which was proficient in water magic, or would it be a Level 11 Giant Sickle Crab, which had superb strength?
Going by the fodder monsters' level, it was unlikely for the Level 13 Sickle Crab Chieftain or Level 16 Sickle Crab Lord to appear. If either one really did make an appearance, Zwei would have no choice but to escape using the Return Crystal and challenge it only after he had leveled himself up sufficiently.
The most important thing Zwei needed to do now was to locate the Boss. It would be terrible if he suffered an ambush.
However, even after he had walked along the cliff and arrived at the end of the beach, the Boss still hadn't revealed itself.
"Is it hiding under the sand…" Zwei frowned as he looked at the plot of golden sand before him.
Many monsters would occasionally demonstrate different talents or magic due to natural variation. Some highly evolved sickle crabs had developed the Quicksand trait, which allowed them to bury themselves under sand.
Moreover, these sickle crab variants resembled the tarantulas on Earth. They would often launch an attack only when their prey was near. Otherwise, they would remain motionless, hidden underground.
In other words, without large-scale AOE magic, Zwei could only walk around the beach and let his opponent attack him first.
While being extremely vigilant, Zwei began wading cautiously along the shore. Although the feeling of the ocean waves gently hitting his calves felt very comfortable, he did not relax his vigilance. Instead, he tensed his whole body as he scanned the surroundings, his spirit prepared to fight at any time.
In the next moment, however, the attack he anticipated came from the ocean behind him as a huge figure abruptly leaped out of the waves!
By the time Zwei noticed the attack and spun around, what greeted him was a maw filled with terrifyingly sharp teeth.