Ch.368Two Battlefields (1)

A battlefield endlessly burning beneath the volcano.

The Magmasaur watched me with its six eyes, its head raised while the rest of its body remained prone. Its tail, which had been submerged in the burning flames, rose up. Then it swung that tail toward me.

Though the tail was swung casually, as if annoyed, I couldn’t let my guard down. That tail alone stretches well over 60 meters in length. What might be a light check from its perspective is anything but from mine.

The massive tail, thick as a building support column, flew toward me.

Normally I should dodge such an attack, but I didn’t.

「Pain Reduction activated!」

The heat from the melted rock and the pain throughout my entire body. Somehow I found myself embedded in the floor of the cavern.

‘I knew it already, but it really is strong.’

The Magmasaur has something different from the other high-ranking AMorphs I’ve faced so far.

The Gallergorn that hunts in packs using high intelligence, the Sea Demon with its diverse Psyonic Power abilities, Voltex One that crushes opponents with overwhelming specs and techniques. And many other AMorphs beyond those.

Unlike them, the Magmasaur doesn’t form packs, nor can it use Psyonic Power. It only has one attack technique that demonstrates overwhelming destructive power.

Yet the reason it’s classified as a high-ranking AMorph is precisely because of its overwhelming physical specs. The attacks emanating from its 300-meter-sized body truly possess enough power to shatter mountains and split the earth.

Is that all? Its hide is extremely tough and difficult to damage. This is because the various metals mixed in the rocks have repeatedly melted and solidified, resulting in an extremely dense bonding pattern between materials.

In other words, it’s fair to say it’s a moving ultra-high-strength alloy mass.

You’d think that with high attack and defense power, its speed would at least be lacking, but as we just saw, its attacks are very fast. Unbelievably fast for a tail swung by a 300-meter monster.

If the Magmasaur has any weaknesses, they’re that its body is extremely heavy making its movement speed slow, and that it cannot fly.

‘It’s a strong enemy, but…’

I’ve hunted it several times in the game.

I forcibly raised my body that was embedded in the floor.

The membrane of my right wing was severely torn from the hit I just took. The wing arm was also injured to the extent that the bone protruded through the carapace.

Intense pain surged through me, but I could endure it. Because this injury too was something I had intended.

「Kurrrr」

Seeing that I wasn’t dead, it tilted its head. It’s because this is the first time it’s seen a creature survive after being hit by its tail. Facing it, I let out a mighty roar.

「■■■■■■■!」

「Kurrrrrrrrrng」

As both it and I howled simultaneously, the cavern shook as if an earthquake had struck. The magma covering the floor responded by erupting upward.

The demon of the volcano, judging that I wasn’t an easy opponent, prepared to rise. In that gap, I put strength into my hind legs and kicked off the ground.

My body shot forward powerfully like a missile just launched. With each step I took, the cavern vibrated.

As I charged through the fountains of erupting magma, its tail came flying at me again. I leaped forward with the momentum of my run.

The tail broke the tips of the bio-pipes on my back carapace as it passed, but there was no damage to my main body. Sprawled on the magma, I lowered my posture and crawled using my wing arms and combat arms.

It had been a long time since I’d crawled on the ground somewhere other than a spaceship after becoming an adult. While running across the magma using my four arms and two legs, I prepared my “Variable Bio-weapon.”

Meanwhile, its tail curved back toward me, but the distance was already sufficiently closed. I firmly planted my arms and legs and kicked the floor, half-liquefied from the heat.

Its long neck curved as it tried to wrap around me in mid-air. Needless to say, that neck is as threatening as its tail. If caught, even I would be crushed like pulp.

But I didn’t evade, instead pulling out all the corrosive tentacles hidden on my back. Six tentacles stabbed into the neck that was flying toward me. The pointed appendages at the ends of the tentacles curved like hooks, gripping the bumpy skin surface.

If it were another creature, I would have injected the “Medusa Organ” here, but unfortunately, this characteristic doesn’t work on it. I’m using it for a different purpose now.

I put strength into my tentacles to pull my body forward sharply. My head collided forcefully with the head attached to the end of its approaching neck.

「Kurrrr?」

「Grrrrrr」

Finding the headbutt painful, it opened its eyes wide. All six eyes fixed on my transformed head.

The head carapace of an Ice Horror—something it would never see in its lifetime in the kingdom of flame—was protecting my central head.

While it momentarily flinched, my side heads bit into its neck. And in that state, they each spewed acidic breath and decay fungus spores.

「Kurrrrrrrrrng!」

The Magmasaur let out a cry of annoyance. It shook its neck violently, trying to throw me off.

I changed parts other than my head. My combat arms twisted, and bone scythes protruded from inside my palms. With combat arms transformed into the weapons of a Hellside Hornet, I struck down at the part where the giant beast’s neck connected to its body.

「Kurrrrrr!」

「Grrrrrr!」

Because the outer skin was so hard, the blade didn’t even penetrate halfway. But that’s fine. I didn’t expect to inflict a fatal wound with this anyway.

‘Anchoring is enough.’

It’s trying to rise as it’s getting increasingly agitated from the continued attacks.

But it doesn’t know yet. The true offensive hasn’t even begun.

Thanks to my combat arms transformed into scythes gripping its body, my two heads and corrosive tentacles holding its neck, the distance between us was very close.

My monster’s tentacles prepared to activate a powerful weapon. Energy spread throughout my body converted into Psyonic Power and gathered in my head.

「Kurrrrrng!」

With a short, thunderous roar, its foreleg emerged from the magma and fire covering the floor. The leg, as thick and large as a building support column, struck the neck of my right head.

「Pain Reduction activated!」

‘Ugh!’

My right neck was easily torn by its kick. It was a serious injury, barely avoiding complete severance.

After neutralizing my right head, it tried to kick again.

I blocked the attack using my bifurcated tail. My tail wrapped around its thick leg, and the pincer on my right tail bit into its ankle.

Having failed to kick, it instead raised its foreleg high to crush my tail completely. The moment that comes down, my tail would be completely pulverized.

I put strength into both my legs and pushed it forcefully. With one leg in the air making its posture unstable, it staggered greatly. The magma covering the cavern floor churned, and its entire body, which had been submerged, was exposed.

But true to its status as a monster with superior specs, it didn’t fall. Pushed back with one foreleg raised, it began to brace itself using its hind legs.

It would be good to push it all the way to the wall, but right now I’m gathering energy for my breath. This is my limit.

Its long tail tore through the wall and floor behind it and rushed toward me. Given how close we were, dodging was impossible. The same force that had slammed me into the floor earlier struck again.

Is it because I’m suffering in the fire? Memories from the past resurface. The car that crushed me, the pungent smell of oil from all directions, the extreme pain.

The fear and pain I thought I’d forgotten creep up to consume me. If this were reality, I would have frozen in place.

But I’m still moving. Because all this pain, this situation, is all according to my plan.

The Tyrantroid organ inside my body detected serious injuries and began to activate.

Substances that strengthen the flesh were secreted and spread evenly throughout my body. As the Tyrantroid took effect, my body grew rapidly.

「Kur?」

It’s surprised to see me growing in real-time.

‘It’s too early to be surprised.’

Tyrantroid increases my body size and energy output according to the degree of injury.

‘Using Psyonic Breath in this state would be even more powerful.’

While engaging in close combat with it, all my energy had gathered. The tentacle clusters attached to my left and central heads glowed with a distinct purple light. The monster’s tentacles flowing like hair from under the back of my head moved toward the front.

Since there was no reason to hold onto it anymore, I detached my corrosive tentacles and combat arms. Simultaneously, I unleashed the massive energy I had been charging.

The entire cavern was instantly bathed in purple. Two Psyonic heat rays shone brilliantly as they struck the enemy.

The Magmasaur, hit by the zero-range breath, was pushed back rapidly. No matter how tough that outer skin is, it couldn’t ignore my breath fired at point-blank range.

It collided with the wall as it retreated chaotically due to the breath. Due to the pouring Psyonic Breath, it was pushed inward, breaking through the wall surrounding the cavern.

‘Good. Things are going well.’

To be honest, I don’t think this alone will defeat it.

Although it’s a breath enhanced by Tyrantroid, it will only cause wounds, not fatal injuries. Even those will be covered by melted rock and magma, becoming new outer skin, so it’s hard to call it a serious injury.

Knowing this, I still guided it near the cavern wall and fired my Psyonic Breath for a reason.

‘Because I need to draw it out of here.’

This is the enemy’s home ground. It’s difficult to get it out using conventional methods.

So I need to make the opponent come out on its own.

‘For instance, by collapsing this place, the core of the volcano.’

Currently, this space had become unstable due to the impact of our fight. From above, ceiling fragments rained down, and from below, magma containing tremendous power surged up.

The pressure coming from all directions only strengthened my power. Like metal going through a forging process, the power of my breath intensified.

‘Just a little more…!’

Just when I thought there wasn’t much time left before this place collapsed, light flashed from the hole where it was buried. Black lightning split into tens of thousands of branches and swept through the entire cavern.

It was a greater shock than being hit by its tail. Both side heads were burned by the lightning, and even the monster’s tentacles on the central head were severely damaged. The breath was immediately cut off, and my body fell to the floor, out of control.

Kurrrrrrrrrrrng

The sound of thunder fired by it was transmitted to my auxiliary organs.

The name of that attack just now is “Ion Lightning.”

It’s the only ranged attack technique possessed by the Magmasaur. The name “King of Fire and Thunder” is not an empty title.

「Kurrrrrrrr」

Above my head buried in the magma, I hear its cry. It sounds like it’s declaring victory, as if it has won.

‘Sorry, but it’s not over yet!’

The black lightning it just fired put a proper wedge into the volcano that was about to explode. The magma beneath the ground where it and I stood was stimulated and began to erupt.

I was swept away by the magma wave and slammed into what might be a wall or ceiling rock mass. My body, flung by the explosion, continued to be pushed through the ground. Along with it, the flame of my life was rapidly extinguishing.

「Pain Reduction activated!」

‘I can’t lose consciousness!’

If I faint here, everything will be in vain. I struggled to maintain consciousness while watching the pain reduction messages that kept appearing.

‘At least I’ve escaped the explosion range.’

Feeling through my auxiliary organs, I’m currently pushed near the surface. I dug through the soil with my central head, the only intact part of my body, and climbed upward.

As soon as I reached the surface, the first thing I saw was a cloud formed by an enormous amount of flame. An explosion that easily surpassed an antimatter bomb. The supervolcano where the Magmasaur had been residing had completely exploded.

And in the middle of the hell built of flames and ash, there it was.

A 300-meter-long draconic creature with red-hot outer skin was running toward me.

With its nest and food storage gone, it can only be furious. It won’t stop until it kills me.

‘The same goes for me.’

The reason I drew it to the surface. It wasn’t simply to weaken it.

The things I possess. To properly utilize them, I needed to guide the enemy to a battlefield advantageous to me.

「Big baby!」

Here, I have friends who will help me.

‘And characteristics too.’

Due to being repeatedly attacked by the enemy and being caught in the explosion, my body’s condition had reached its limit. Just enough for the “Revenant Organ” to activate.

「Kur?」

It stops as it was running. Its six eyes on the elongated snout were full of wariness.

Is it wary of my appearance, which is different from what it saw underground? Or is it because I’m standing without a scratch when I looked like I was about to die?

Perhaps it’s “both.”

「Grrrrrrrr」

「Grrrrrr!」

In the “Emblem of the Hunt” state, I used my mouth to tear the biomembrane created as both heads regenerated. The two heads, which had been charred and then reborn, growled powerfully as soon as the membrane was torn.

The preparations for the hunt end here.

I will subjugate the Magmasaur right here.