Ch.172Ice Horror (2)

The first unique characteristic I obtained in this world is ‘Complete Organism.’ As the name suggests, it’s a trait that adapts my physical abilities and types to be suitable for survival.

And Complete Organism has a special effect.

‘Symbol of the Hunt’ mode.

When Symbol of the Hunt is activated, my body optimizes for combat, evolving into the ultimate biological weapon. Despite having a duration of 20 minutes and a cooldown of 24 hours, its effects are so outstanding that these drawbacks become negligible.

Just like now.

“Grrrr”

Though I’ve lost my eyes, my senses are sharper than ever.

This cavity where I stand, the passage where the Ice Horror is buried—all objects feel as vivid as if I were seeing them directly. Thanks to this, I’m fully aware of the transformation process occurring in my body.

Bones, muscles, scales, carapace—my entire body twists. It’s optimizing itself to hunt stronger enemies and more prey.

As my head carapace grows rapidly, my body’s weight shifts slightly forward. The six horns, useful for fighting powerful enemies, have grown into even more ferocious forms suited to their purpose.

After applying the ‘Organic Evolution’ trait, my elongated theropod-like head has changed more extremely. My bifurcated lower jaw has developed to give the impression of wearing a metal guard under the chin.

Along with the jaw transformation, the auxiliary organ beneath my jaw has been covered with bone carapace, becoming like an elephant’s tusk. This curved blade-shaped bone carapace is considerable in size and weight, but thanks to my developed jaw, it doesn’t hinder movement.

‘The auxiliary organ still maintains its original function.’

The auxiliary organ isn’t the only thing that changed near my head. The most significant change is that the five human-faced beasts that were attached to my back have moved to my head. Like ancient warriors decorating themselves with enemy skulls, five pale faces are attached to my rear head carapace like trophies.

As my head became heavier, my neck evolved to support it. Monster tentacles cover my enlarged neck like hair.

In my normal state, my neck wasn’t particularly prominent due to the monster tentacles extending like a mane and the rear head carapace. Now it has become thick and long like an alligator’s or Komodo dragon’s neck.

The area connecting my neck to my back—equivalent to the wingbone area in humans—throbbed. Soon after, two bone blade arms, which could be called the symbol of the Hunt Symbol, protruded from holes in the carapace.

These arms with bio-scythes at their ends are my most sharp and lethal weapons. They can easily cut through materials as hard as ship hulls or advanced reinforced suits.

Other parts also transformed into forms useful for combat.

Particularly, the blunt claws on my lower body and tail changed significantly. Like the arms, joints grew with sharp claws at the ends. Their appearance resembled spider legs.

Despite such growth of new parts, my weight actually became lighter than before. When I used Symbol of the Hunt previously, I felt thick and heavy, but now I feel thin and light.

Being lighter doesn’t mean my durability or hardness has decreased. Rather, thanks to the densely interwoven scales, my defense has improved even more than before.

‘Plus, I seem more flexible than before.’

I bent and stretched my combat arms, which had grown more than twice as long as before using Symbol of the Hunt. The scales moved smoothly like flowing water following the movement of muscles and bones.

Apart from becoming lighter and more flexible, my overall length increased. Based on my auxiliary organ’s detection, my length including the tail is roughly between 35m and 40m. My body, which was 28m long, has grown by just under 10m.

‘Even so, I’m small compared to that thing.’

My opponent is a super-sized creature easily exceeding 100m. I’m less than a third of its size, but…

‘Size isn’t everything.’

After finishing my inspection, I raised my head while wiggling my four bone blades, or rather, my transformed auxiliary organs. As if timed perfectly, the pile of ice and rocks in the passage began to shake as soon as I lifted my head.

The pile of rocks trembles more violently, reflecting the emotions of the being buried beneath.

Moments later, the rocks and ice fragments exploded outward, and the Ice Horror revealed itself.

To briefly summarize the Ice Horror’s appearance, it looks like a combination of the monster Gr*boid from the classic monster movie series Bu*l*s*a*er with a centipede’s body.

Its head has four jaws strong enough to tear apart a spaceship, filled with densely packed protrusions and teeth for grabbing and sucking in prey. Behind the jaws are atrophied eyes and two long, thin antennae.

Those antennae, reminiscent of chain whips, are its detection organs. Unlike my vulnerable auxiliary organs, its antennae are quite sturdy, as their appearance suggests.

Below the head, the body is divided into segments like a centipede, with each segment having legs with sharp claws and white dorsal plates. The difference from a centipede is that these dorsal plates are extremely hard.

‘Even without special defensive abilities, it can ignore most attacks.’

Indeed, despite taking my Psychic Breath head-on, its dorsal plates only suffered slight scratches.

“Ssssssssss”

Apparently angered by the unexpected ambush, it hissed roughly. Its antennae on its head swayed like a cobra threatening its prey.

This is a cavity spacious enough to comfortably accommodate two super-sized monsters. I deliberately chose this place to fight it.

It might seem advantageous to fight in a narrow space given the Ice Horror’s size, but that’s not actually the case. It can burrow through ground or ice more easily than I can. In a space that isn’t open like this, I would be at a disadvantage.

“Ssssss”

The threatening creature turns its head toward me. Its four jaws open wide, and from within, a stream of transparent venom is fired at me.

If you take my neurotoxin that I often use against biological enemies, highly concentrate it, and mix in a hallucinogen, you get the Ice Horror’s venom. Simply put, it’s a poison that paralyzes victims or makes them hallucinate.

But I didn’t dodge. Instead, I charged toward the creature as it stood still to shoot its venom.

‘Poison is useless against me.’

Thanks to the ‘Complete Immunity’ trait I received as a Subadult perk, I’m completely immune to poisons and diseases. No matter how powerful its venom is, it won’t work on me.

I ran across the ice-covered floor while being hit by the venom.

“Ssssss?”

It seems bewildered, perhaps seeing an enemy immune to its venom for the first time.

‘That’s to be expected.’

In this area, only a few species including the Black Gallergorn would be immune to its venom.

While it hesitated, I rammed it with my horns, putting my speed and weight behind the attack. The frozen underground cavity shook violently, and its massive body was pushed backward.

“Grrrrrr”

Until now, nothing had survived being impaled by my horns, but this time was an exception. The Ice Horror’s defense is truly formidable. Despite my strike, only scratch marks from my horns remained on its carapace.

“Ssssssss”

Pushed back, it emitted an ominous sound and began its counterattack. Its body, several times longer than mine, writhed like a snake trying to coil around me.

I grabbed its body with my six combat arms. In that position, I swung my tail hard. The pincer at the end of my tail became a heavy flail, striking the carapace near its abdomen.

“Ssssss!”

The Ice Horror’s painful scream and the booming sound echoed throughout the underground cavity. Looking at the area hit by my tail, I could see cracks spreading like a spider web. Having been hit hard enough to crack the surface, it must be in pain.

“Ssssssssssss”

Filled with rage, it charged with all four jaws wide open. Its plan must be to swallow me whole. The spiral-shaped skin on my back peeled off, and the erosion tentacles hidden inside all sprang out.

The erosion tentacles with their appendages fully extended grabbed its jaws.

And so began a test of strength.

“Grrrrrrrr”

“Ssss!”

Two super-sized creatures, tens or hundreds of meters long, were competing. The impact caused the ice walls surrounding the underground space to shake violently. Icicles hanging from the ceiling fell, and the floor where I stood was deeply gouged and cracked.

‘Incredible strength.’

Even with Symbol of the Hunt activated, its strength was truly immense. My six erosion tentacles were firmly holding its jaws, but they couldn’t hold out for long, as it started pressing down on me with its weight.

‘But.’

I had anticipated this much.

I slightly relaxed the force in my erosion tentacles. Its body, which had been exerting force to press me down, lurched toward me.

Just as its massive mouth was about to swallow me…

One of my bone blade arms from my back shot out like lightning and lodged in its mouth.

“Ssss?!”

The Ice Horror was startled by the sudden pain. It must have hurt considerably, as it thrashed its entire body wildly. The entire underground space shook as if an earthquake had struck as the hundreds-of-meters-long body went berserk.

“Ssssssss!”

Then it closed its jaws to grab me and threw me away with a violent shake of its head. My body flew through the air and crashed hard into the wall.

‘Ugh!’

“Pain Reduction activated!”

It’s been a while since my ‘Pain Reduction’ trait activated, but I don’t have time to be overwhelmed by pain. I quickly pulled my body out of the wall and dodged to the side. Just as I moved, its head rammed into the wall beside me.

Having narrowly escaped by a paper-thin margin, I slashed at the carapace near its abdomen with the four bone blades under my jaw.

These bone blades are made of the same material as the blade arms on my back. That means they are very hard and also very sharp.

With a sound like walnut shells breaking, four streaks of wounds appeared on its carapace.

It seemed annoyed that I had dodged its attack and counterattacked, so it twisted its body to ram me. I hurriedly raised my combat arms to block, but the result wasn’t good. Two of my arms were completely shattered upon collision with its dorsal plate, and my body was slammed back into the wall.

‘Kuk!’

With no finesse but simple movements, it was not only faster than me but also stronger, making it difficult to deal with.

After breaking my arms, it pulled its head out of the wall and charged again. Having anticipated this, I opened my mouth toward its eyes. The acidic fungal gland located near my esophagus shot a vicious acidic liquid upward.

The creature momentarily paused its attack after being hit by the green liquid. While it hesitated, I hurriedly pulled my body free and distanced myself from it.

“Ssssssssss”

It shook its head in irritation. Perhaps due to its carapace having hardness easily surpassing diamond, even the acidic fungus couldn’t penetrate it at all.

After shaking off the green liquid, it growled at me. It must be starting to be wary since new abilities keep emerging from me.

While it was being cautious, I examined the part of its body I had been ‘targeting’ all along. The abdominal carapace, which I had struck with my pincer and slashed with the blades under my jaw, was heavily cracked.

‘Preparations complete.’

Only one thing left to do.

Wait.

“Ssssss”

“Grrrrrrrr”

With its antennae fixed on me and highly alert, it moved again. It slid across the ice plate like a train racing on rails and charged at me.

Just before colliding with it, I put all my strength into my tail end and the legs on my lower body. My body sprang up toward the ceiling like a spring, and the surface of my pincer legs barely grazed its jaws.

Having narrowly avoided the Ice Horror’s charge, I pounced on its back. Then, using my remaining combat arms and erosion tentacles, I firmly grabbed its dorsal plate like a cowboy riding in a rodeo.

“Ssssssssss!”

Displeased with me on its back, it twisted its entire body. But I was already tightly attached to its body. I didn’t fall off easily as it intended.

While it thrashed about, I swung the blades under my jaw and the arms on my back wildly. With each swishing sound, more wounds appeared on its dorsal plate.

“Saaaaaaa!”

Finally, as if it couldn’t stand it anymore, it roared loudly and lifted its body. Just as I had jumped upward, it also used the strength in its lower body and legs to lift itself.

With a single leap, it soared to the ceiling of this massive underground space. As its back collided with the ceiling, I was caught in between, essentially putting myself in a compressor.

“Gruk!”

‘Kheuk!’

I involuntarily lost strength due to the immense pain throughout my body. The rear head carapace had its back part shattered by the impact, and the back carapace and thoracic carapace were also heavily cracked.

‘One more hit like that would be dangerous!’

Between the time it hit the ceiling and landed on the floor, I jumped off its back. It seemed to say “where do you think you’re going” as it opened its jaws wide and bit my tail.

As soon as it bit, the protrusions and teeth inside its jaws and mouth grabbed my body. It probably intends to swallow me whole.

Instead of hitting its jaws, I activated the bristle-shooting tail inside my pincer legs. The pincers opened slightly, and the spines inside poured into its throat.

“Ssssss!”

Poison attacks are meaningless against a creature that uses neurotoxin as a weapon, just like me. But anyone would feel uncomfortable with fish bones stuck in their throat.

The Ice Horror shook with disgust and spat me out. The end of my tail, which had briefly been inside its body, was severely damaged.

‘It’s definitely strong.’

As expected of an apex creature, it boasts tremendous combat power. This is relatively mild because it belongs to the weaker category of apex creatures; if it were a Black Gallergorn or Sea Demon, my body would already have 2 or 3 critical injuries.

“Saaaa!”

After a short roar, it rapidly moved its legs to approach me. This time, I didn’t dodge but charged at it.

Like males fighting with their horns to determine superiority, we charged at each other’s heads. On the ice-made arena, the Ice Horror’s jaws and my head carapace collided.

An enormous pressure hit my head. My head carapace, which had hardly ever been damaged before, shattered, and three of my six horns broke.

‘If I fall here, it’s over!’

I put all my strength into the legs on my lower body and tail to avoid being pushed back.

As these two mighty forces struggled to overpower each other, the floor could no longer withstand the pressure and collapsed.

At that moment, I quickly lowered my head. The creature, which had been in a test of strength with me, had its force directed toward its head as I dodged.

Its jaws instantly destroyed my rear head carapace and swept over my back carapace. The impact completely broke two of the arms on my back.

An indescribable pain shot through my mind. The agony, like having the back of my head scraped off, nearly made me lose consciousness, but thanks to the pain reduction trait, I somehow endured.

‘Now!’

I turned my head to the left. This caused the bone blades under my jaw to stand straight up.

The target of the bone blades was the abdomen of the creature rapidly passing over me. Two of my bone blades on the right side deeply cut the abdomen of the creature as it lunged forward.

“Ssssss!”

‘It broke… ugh!’

Before I could enjoy the satisfaction of a successful attack, I was rolling on the collapsed floor. The enraged creature had swung its tail at me.

‘Oh no!’

I tried to get up again, but its mouth was already at close range.

I can see the four-split giant jaws opening like a flower. The moment those jaws close, my head and upper body will be finished.

As I tried to curl up to minimize damage, it suddenly stopped moving. It was just for a split second, but enough for me to dodge.

Just as I pulled my upper body away, its jaws closed. I realized that I could sense the movements of familiar beings on the other side of the half-collapsed passage.

‘They’re here!’

And the rocks and ice fragments filling the passage floated up. They became cannonballs raining down on the Ice Horror’s dorsal plate and tail.

“Ssssssssss”

Surprised by the sudden attack, it whipped its head around.

From beyond the darkness-shrouded passage, three creatures revealed themselves.

“…As expected. You held out well.”

A griffon beastman holding the ‘Golden Spear of Shaman’.

“Big” “One” “Snake” “Very” “Huge”

The Green Gallergorn expressing surprise at the sight of me and the Ice Horror.

“You bad thing! I won’t let anyone who bullies Big Baby get away with it! I’m going to punish you a lot!”

And a 10m-sized Sea Demon menacingly waving numerous tentacles and fins.

After a long time, reinforcements have finally arrived.