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Chapter 56: Steel Armored Snake
Eurius and Nuada spent a few days planning to hunt the ruler of the Needle Mountain.
“The first problem is the route. I heard that it detects any living creature that comes near it like a ghost.”
Nuada agrees.
“You seem to have done a lot of research on it. That’s right, from what I’ve seen in the mountains, it notices us as soon as we are within five hundred steps from it, so a surprise attack is almost useless.”
‘The information from the Help is reliable.’
Eurius searched the Help with the information that Nuada told him about the spirit beast and finally found the matching one.
This spirit beast was not only big and ferocious, but also had a keen sense. He could approach it by hiding his presence with Counter Ghost, but Nuada would have a hard time getting into the attack range.
But the conclusion was surprisingly simple. Nuada came up with a solution.
“I know a way to hit it without being noticed.”
“
?”
Eurius asked with a slightly doubtful expression.
“You seem to have prepared quite well. Did you hate it that much?”
“Well, let’s say I did. I’ll tell you more after I catch it.”
‘Is there something else between him and its habitat besides the simple threat?’
Eurius was sure that there was something else between Nuada and the Needle Mountain.
‘Well, he said he would tell me after we catch it, so I don’t have to ask for now.’
The plan was set up well, and finally the day came.
Only Eurius and Nuada headed to the Needle Mountain.
‘For such a spirit beast, ordinary knights are almost useless. It’s better to go with just the two of us.’
According to the Help, this ruler of the Needle Mountain was classified as an S-class spirit beast in the system.
He searched for records of similar spirit beasts flying around and found that they often caused damage at the level of natural disasters.
He even left Beatrix behind.
“Rize’s enthusiasm for training is admirable, but I can’t help it.”
“I understand.”
She looked regretful, but he was so firm that she couldn’t do anything. And Eurius had another worry.
‘I hope we can kill it without any serious injuries.’
If he got injured, he would be late to return to the capital. The Grand Duke who saw his achievements probably wouldn’t just sit still. He had to kill the spirit beast as soon as possible and return with the information about the Dite mine.
He walked while thinking hard about the future, and Nuada’s rough voice rang in his ears.
“That’s the Needle Mountain!”
The three pointed peaks! It matched his memory from his previous life perfectly.
Eurius began to tense up. If anything went wrong with the plan, he had to be prepared for a long battle.
“Then let’s stick to the plan and go ahead. Nuada, you aim for the place I told you through that path.”
“Got it.”
He answered shortly and ran to the back road of the Needle Mountain that only he knew.
Eurius planned to break through from the front. He hid his presence with Counter Ghost and ran tens of meters at a time.
And finally!
‘I found it.’
He spotted a huge cave in the middle of the Needle Mountain. He couldn’t see it yet, but he could guess how powerful it was from the presence that came out of the entrance.
Sssss
Eurius entered the cave carefully, using Counter Ghost to its fullest.
“Sssssssss”
‘As expected, it’s just like the Help said.’
[Help – You can view information about Steel Armored Snake.]
[Steel Armored Snake – When a snake stays in an area full of force for a long time, it absorbs ores that contain weak force and sheds its skin to form scales that are stronger than steel.]
The giant silver snake had a length of tens of meters. Even its coiled tail looked like a small hill.
It looked like a normal giant silver snake, but what was strange was the bone-like scales around its neck.
There were also bones sticking out like a fan at the end of its tail.
‘Then let’s start?’
Nuada must have arrived by now.
“Sssssssss”
The Steel Armored Snake had a sharp sense, but it couldn’t detect Counter Ghost. It felt something and blinked its eyes.
‘The first strike is the most important.’
‘Skill activation, Overheat’
[You activate Overheat skill. According to the skill effect, your force rank increases from S+ to SS+.]
Eurius prepared his strongest strike. He activated Overheat and exploded all his power with Blast.
And his sword strike aimed at the weak point of the snake’s tail end!
[Help – There are two places where Steel Armored Snake can’t protect itself with scales. One of them is
]
‘The tail end!’
The Steel Snake used this tail end to absorb the weak force from the ores and turn it into its sturdy skin. Therefore, it was a weak spot that was hard to protect with scales.
Sssssssss!
The snake’s terrible scream shook the cave. Eurius’s strike tore the tail end and ripped the inside.
And that wasn’t the end.
“The end of our tedious hide-and-seek is here!”
A shadow fell swiftly from a hole in the ceiling of the cave, where a creature was writhing in pain.
It was Nuada.
He struck the head of the beast precisely. He aimed for the weakest spot among the scales that covered its body.
Kwaaang!
The scales on its head crumbled and a shockwave shook its brain.
No matter how powerful a spirit beast it was, it couldn’t withstand two full-force attacks from two Superhumans.
The beast felt an intense pain that it had never experienced in its life. It rolled around the cave in agony.
“Shriek!”
But a spirit beast was a spirit beast.
It had accumulated wisdom over hundreds of years, and it lived up to its name. The Steel Snake suppressed its pain and prepared for a counterattack.
Whirrrr!
Its body was tens of meters long! Its girth surpassed that of a large tree trunk. The Steel Snake’s body was a weapon itself.
It twisted its body once and whipped it like a lash at Nuada and Eurius.
Kwak!
A heavy sound echoed in the cave as the hard scales collided with the rocks.
It smashed a large rock pillar into dust with one hit. A powerful body slam!
But it was too slow to catch Superhuman warriors.
Whooosh!
Nuada and Eurius quickly soared into the air and dodged the Steel Snake’s body.
But that was what the cunning beast had planned.
“Kiiiing!”
The bone spikes on the tip of its tail and neck began to tremble violently.
The trembling turned into a grating sound that pierced their ears. And then, a shockwave followed!
Boom!
The Steel Snake vibrated its bone spikes to create shockwaves. This was its trump card attack.
The accompanying sound also damaged their eardrums and made it harder for them to escape.
“Shriek?”
The Steel Snake watched the cave carefully as dust flew from the explosion.
A normal enemy would have been pulverized by one shockwave, but this one didn’t seem easy.
Sssss
As expected, the enemy was still alive. A shadow emerged from the dust at an astonishing speed. It was Nuada.
“Shriek”
“Kiiiing!”
But Nuada’s charge couldn’t break through the Steel Snake’s shockwave. It wasn’t easy prey for nothing after ruling this area for hundreds of years.
A hard body that was difficult to injure even by Superhuman warriors, and a shockwave that could attack and defend at the same time.
These two combined made the Steel Snake a formidable foe that even two Superhumans couldn’t easily defeat.
‘This damn snake bastard!’
Nuada had prepared beforehand, so he wasn’t too affected by the shockwave. He was knocked back for a moment, but he got up and regained his posture.
The Steel Snake didn’t let its guard down and kept an eye on Eurius, who was looking for an opening.
“Shriek”
Eurius’ movements were too stealthy to catch, but the Steel Snake was confident that it wouldn’t fall for his tricks easily.
Sssss!
Finally, he couldn’t wait any longer and made his move. The Steel Snake sensed Eurius’ presence coming at him!
“Kiiiing!”
The Steel Snake unleashed its shockwave without hesitation towards Eurius’ direction.
“Shriek?”
But it was startled for a moment. It was still vibrating its bone spikes, but the shockwave bounced off Eurius’ body as if it grazed him.
‘As expected!’
Eurius didn’t stop and stabbed his sword between the vibrating bone plates.
[The second weak spot of the Steel Snake that wasn’t protected by scales was the back of its neck that was exposed when it vibrated its bones.]
This part connected its head and neck, where many vital organs were located.
But it wasn’t a big flaw because it could create shockwaves with its bones.
However, Eurius was different.
He used Distortion with Overheat to disperse the shockwave and pierced through its weakness with his sword.
Kwaaang!
Eurius’ sword tore through the Steel Snake’s neck. No matter how old and strong a spirit beast it was, it couldn’t survive such a wound.
Boom!
With one more punch from Nuada that shattered the beast’s head, the hunt was over.
They had allowed the beast to attack them with its shockwaves, even though they knew about them from the start. It was all to create this one moment of weakness.
It was a quick hunt for a spirit beast of its rank, but there were less than ten Superhuman warriors in the continent. And two of them had come with a meticulous plan to exploit its flaws.
“Phew, your defensive skill is really amazing. Is it something I can learn too?”
Nuada seemed envious of Eurius, who had broken through the beast’s shockwave alone. He tried to strike up a conversation.
“I’m afraid this is a skill that you can only get by training in my way from the beginning. I’m sorry.”
He couldn’t teach him even if he wanted to. He didn’t have a core, so he couldn’t use the skill. Nuada nodded with a regretful expression.
“Well, I know from experience that it’s not easy to learn someone else’s skill.”
“Someone else’s skill?”
Eurius looked puzzled.
“Do you mean you learned your skill from someone?”
“That’s right.”
Nuada nodded casually.
“I promised to tell you when we caught this thing. If you’re curious, follow me. I’ll show you my training place.”
Then he touched the wall of the cave and slowly climbed up.
‘Nuada has a master?’
He had never heard of such a thing in his previous life. Eurius racked his brain, but he couldn’t figure out what it meant.
He followed Nuada up the wall for a while and saw a small hole in it.
Nuada must have jumped in from there to surprise the beast.
“There’s another hole outside this cave that you can enter. I’ve been training here since I was young, avoiding that thing!”
“
!”
What appeared before Eurius’ eyes as he came out of the hole was a small cave. And in the center of it, there was a pile of bones that had been gnawed on.
And in front of the bones, there was a faded booklet.
‘What is this?’
Ding
[You have found a Player’s legacy.]
[Item found: White Tiger Protection Technique]
“
!”