Chapter 266: Harpy Kingdom Revival 6
Chapter 266: Harpy Kingdom Revival 6
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri
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Bright red blood splattered vividly.
"Ah, Aaahh!"
"Are you f*cking insane, you moron? Didn't you see what's behind?"
"Th-thank you, ah, it hurts!"
A mage, who was scratching at stalagmites, had thin tentacles fly in at him from the cave.
He died without even a scream.
A hole punctured through his chest, while another adventurer gets his side pierced but survives, bleeding profusely and collapsing to the ground, thanks to Rebecca blocking the rest.
The creature wasn't just leaving and returning to its nest but circling around it.
Unfortunately, it appeared from behind the base camp, from the tunnel to Granny Pipi, killing five from the start of the fight.
This also meant that the highly-skilled adventurers in the rear, which was originally the front, suffered only minimal damage despite the surprise attack.
"Turn the catapult!"
"Move the supply carriage first so it doesn't tip over! If the alchemic solution tank explodes, we're f*cked!"
Unlike the bewildered mages, groups of adventurers start doing their jobs.
Some move the catapult, while others quickly clear away barrels full of hydrochloric and sulfuric acid to prevent them from hurting anyone.
In the midst of this, the most fiercely rampaging one is, as expected, 5 'Mercenary Queen' Rebecca.
She tosses an injured subordinate towards the priests and then draws a large sword to slash through the tentacles cleanly.
Then, a resounding roar echoes again, as if infuriated by the counterattack from inside its nest.
Grraaaaaaah
Simultaneously, a ferocious rumbling grows closer, as if the creature itself decided to see the invaders of its nest.
It realized that just sending tentacles from afar wasn't enough.
"It's coming! The creature is coming!"
"May the Goddess's blessing be with Brother Roland."
"Load it up! It's huge, so let's hit it first and see!"
As the creature starts to move busily, the expedition team gets busy as well, moving forward into the dark tunnel.
A huge tunnel fitting the creature's size.
Unlike the brightly lit common areas with magic and magical tools, this dark tunnel had no light, but red eyes shone from the darkness.
Not one pair, but roughly eleven red pupils.
Seeing the creature rushing out from the darkness, the thought occurred that Lili really drew it well, though it might have been better if it was drawn a little worse.
"Looks like sh*t...."
-lol, looking at it feels weird
-Even a veteran adventurer from a fantasy world is amazed by its ugliness
-Why does it look like that, lol
-Honestly, undead from the swamp are better-looking than this
-A zombie crocodile looks cuter.. the design team overdid it
Unknowingly, my cursing was caught by the camera drone, and the viewers started laughing.
Well, they would understand since the creature was truly horrific in many ways.
Moving like a hermit crab with a huge rock as its shell, it had dozens of tentacles and antennae springing from underneath.
Everyone in the expedition gaped at the sight of a snail with 11 eyes, covered in dozens of squid legs and grasshopper antennae stuck all over it.
Considering its size, it seemed impossible to cut it down with one strike of a 10-meter aura greatsword.
Creatures with a body similar to mollusks usually have a core, like slimes...
It looked like we had to cut off the tentacles and break the shell to find the core.
"Hey! Roland! This f*cker, it doesn't regenerate!"
"Everyone, aim for the tentacles first!"
"Use acid magic on the thick tentacles first! The sharp ones are fast, so deploy shield magic in advance!"
Thinking this, I gripped my shield and warhammer tighter and moved forward, Rebecca's booming voice coming from behind.
Crazy as she may be, leading the mercenaries, her voice filled with mana commanded authority.
Thanks to her, everyone from Temple Knights rushing from the center of the clearing to mages trying to find a safe spot near the catapults heard Rebecca's orders clearly amidst screams and roars.
With Rebecca's voice clearly setting the action plan, there was no need to worry about the rear.
"Roland, we're going, right?"
"Somebody has to attack the main body. You coming?"
"Of course. This is what I trained for."
As Katie approached quietly while I blocked a thin tentacle aiming for my face with my shield and advanced, I glanced back to see everyone spreading out and taking command of the expedition.
Grace led adventurers to move the catapults, Irene and the nuns protected the undefended backs of adventurers busy with the catapults, and Han Se-ah used her inventory to take care of the barrels of hydrochloric acid.
"Can those thin, sharp tentacles be cut?"
"They can be cut because they're thin."
As we advanced without much damage, a few adventurers followed behind Katie.
Leading them was, of course, Rebecca, her red hair flying like a flag.
Several high-ranking adventurers from the Guild, whose faces I recognized, also threw themselves into the darkness following Rebecca's red hair.
"Man, it's dark! Doesn't anyone have a magic tool?"
"Ah, this thing's expensive."
As the one-eyed guy holding a spear grumbled, a furry guy with an axe, who was part of the group, pulled something out from under his leather armor.
It turned out to be a magic tool that flew up into the air like some toy drone, starting to illuminate the surroundings.
The claim that it was an expensive item was not exaggerated as it naturally moved behind me, accurately lighting up the ground.
'I guess there are seven of us: me, Katie, Rebecca, the spear guy with an eye patch, the furry axe guy, the bald greatsword wielder, and the long-haired dual swordsman.'
All I saw was a bunch of grim faces.
Except for Katie and Rebecca, it was hard to tell if the others were people or monsters as they charged towards us, snorting with their ugly mugs.
Given their impressive looks, their skills were bound to be quite good as well, so we charged in as we were.
---
Raei Translations
---
Fighting a giant monster is, as expected, a battle of endurance.
It's the only way ancient humans, lacking teeth and claws, hunted other animals: endurance hunting.
The ancient humans, who may not have had sharp claws or strong muscles but could outlast anything, would injure their prey with thrown spears and chase it until it collapsed from exhaustion.
And in this world filled with mana, this fantasy realm that lives on primitive violence, we have no choice but to resort to those primal methods.
"F*ck, don't try to cut the thick ones in one go, hack them a bit at a time! It'll jam your weapon!"
"F*ck, sh*t-! This was brand new from the Magic Tower!"
Break the thin tentacles, hack off the thick ones, and crush them as needed.
As we advance, we see the eyes of the creature that has come from the tunnel to the nest, getting all worked up.
Given its size and the thickness of its body, it looks like a snail infected with parasites, with about 11 disgusting eyeballs.
The furry axe guy, who just had his new axe NTR'd by a tentacle, pulls something else out from within his chest.
How many magic tools does this guy carry around in his bosom, like Doraemon's pocket[1]?
With a mentality to use them liberally, this time he pulls out a magic scroll, rolled up like a piece of paper.
"Hey, Roland! Can you clear the tentacles for a sec?"
"Sure, what's that?"
"Intermediate-level magic, Acid something!"
The guy, who looked like some wallet warrior, mentioned this and I glanced ahead.
Though there are dozens of tentacles, only four or five are actually targeting us.
That's because the mages under the protection of the Temple Knights at the back are blatantly focusing on the thick tentacles.
This terrible monster, intelligent in its own right, thinks the mages freezing and burning its tentacles are the most dangerous, hence it extends most of its tentacles in that direction.
Various ice arrows and spears are one thing, but with spells like Acid Splash and Acid Fog, the surface of the tentacles sizzles and burns with acidic foam and fog, which must be annoying for it.
A buzzing fly in front of you, and a bug that climbs onto the back of your hand to burn your skin with its acidic touch.
Humans would shake off the bug burning their skin first, so why wouldn't the monster?
Screeeeech
"F*ck, how can something without a damn mouth be so loud!"
As I smack the tentacles flying at me like snakes with my warhammer, the creature recoils like a snail poked by a human.
But without its back and guts exposed, it's hard to deal any damage, so it only recoils briefly before stretching out again, which is annoying as hell.
While the cut tentacles don't regrow like Hydra heads, they have some regenerative ability proportional to their size, as tentacles burned by acid magic slowly heal over time.
After all, I could heal such wounds myself by drawing on divine energy, so it's unlikely that a raid-type giant boss would be outdone by me in terms of stamina.
With that thought, I continue to advance.
Katie is far off, slicing thin tentacles with the long-haired dual swordsman...
I guess I can afford to exert some power.
Instead of calling Durandal, I forcefully channel mana into my warhammer.
The heart-pounding and irregularly thrashing tentacles start to slow down.
Even if I gather all my mana, it doesn't become an aura boasting brutish destructive power outside the warhammer... but at least I can make it solid enough to deal damage to its tentacles.
I momentarily set down my shield to make a full-power swing.
"F*ck, you crazy f*cker! Swing that somewhere else!"
Seeing me, Rebecca, who knows my fighting style well, stops slicing tentacles and flattens herself on the ground next to me.
The victim of my full-powered swing was a thick tentacle coming towards me with a hint of frost, having been hit by freezing magic.
The tentacle, as if it has sensing organs, tries to grab the swinging warhammer by spreading its tip wide like a tentacle fan.
Boom
"Uh, Uhh-!"
"Idiot, use the scroll!"
"I already ripped it, fall back!"
When the giant tentacle and the small warhammer collide, creating a shockwave that echoes through the cave, our wallet warrior, the furry axe guy, staggers but manages to rip the scroll while staring down the 11 eyeballs.
The thick tentacles were pushed back by the crushing force and the thin tentacles scattered like reeds in a whirlwind.
Thanks to that, the eyeballs became clearly exposed.
But no magic mercilessly came at the eyeballs, clear weak points, even after the scroll was ripped.
"What the f*ck! Don't tell me it's a dud?"
"No! This, I swear I bought it with a bag of gold from the Magic Tower!"
As Eyepatch Spear Guy and Furry Axe Man engage in an absurd comedy, the giant boss staring at me recollects its tentacles.
Its gaze indicates that a beast that bites hard enough to bruise is more dangerous than a bug that causes a stinging pain on the skin.
'Durandal, should I draw you?'
I wonder if I can cut through that huge thing and find the core within Durandal's limited time, or if I should peel off the tentacles and shell with Durandal and leave finding the core to the mages.
As I think this, I reach to pull my shield towards me with my foot.
"What, what? The ground?"
I felt a chilling sensation.
If I don't run, I'll die a terrible death!
---
[1. raei: Doraemon has a fourth-dimensional pocket from which he pulls out all kinds of stuff]
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