Chapter 67: Mud Golem vs. Giant Shark
Even from a distance.
The giant shark’s open mouth easily exceeded the height of a grown man.
Hundreds of jagged teeth filled its jaws.
None of them were exactly the same size.
Some resembled daggers.
Others, short spears.
All of them sharp enough to pierce ordinary steel.
If that bite landed directly on an unprepared acolyte...
Not even a whole corpse would remain.
But...
That was exactly the attack I had been waiting for.
At the last instant, my Golem pivoted on one foot.
At the same time, it raised its arm.
The Mud Ghost it was carrying was thrown directly into the King’s gaping mouth.
CRAAASH!
The jaws snapped shut instantly.
The poor ghost did not even have time to react.
Its body was torn in half.
Black, viscous blood trickled between those monstrous teeth.
The King froze for a moment.
Then its small eyes widened.
—Disgusting...
It violently shook its head.
—What the hell was that?!
I almost laughed at the creature’s comical reaction.
The Giant Sharks were demons.
They would eat practically anything.
But...
Not even they could tolerate the unbearable stench of the Mud Ghosts.
Those creatures truly managed to offend every form of life with their odor alone.
The King violently spat out the remains of the corpse.
Its roar of irritation echoed throughout the swamp.
Then it turned its eyes toward my bait.
My Golem was still wearing the white acolyte’s robe.
It continued running clumsily.
Stumbling.
Deliberately slipping.
As if it were desperate.
The King completely bought the act.
—You’re not getting away!
Its enormous body slid across the mud.
Despite its absurd size...
On that waterlogged terrain, it was surprisingly fast.
Much faster than an ordinary human.
Within seconds, it had completely closed the distance.
I watched its jaws lunge forward again and again.
My Golem dodged by mere inches.
.
.
Another lunge.
.
.
Another dodge.
.
.
Another.
.
.
The creature was beginning to lose its patience completely.
Its attacks stopped being calculated.
They became nothing more than explosions of violence.
That was exactly what I wanted.
Then...
It finally happened.
CRAAASH!
The jaws managed to seize my Golem’s left arm.
The impact tore the limb off completely.
But...
At that very instant...
The King’s expression changed.
There was no blood.
There was no flesh.
Only mud.
The jaws slowly opened.
Chunks of clay fell between its teeth.
Its gaze shifted to the torn robe.
Now...
The whole truth was exposed.
There was no acolyte.
Only my Mud Golem.
The next roar was much louder.
Much more furious.
It had been deceived.
My Golem simply tore away the remainder of the robe.
The fabric fell onto the mud.
There was no longer any need to pretend.
The mental link between us remained firm.
—Attack.
My Golem responded immediately.
Instead of confronting the King head-on...
It ran directly toward its flank.
Exactly as planned.
The Giant Shark King was practically an amphibious monster.
In the water...
It was terrifying.
Its body glided like an arrow.
But...
On solid ground...
The story changed completely.
Its enormous weight greatly restricted its movements.
It could charge.
Bite.
Strike with its tail.
But it had to reposition its entire body to change direction.
Every turn cost it time.
Furthermore...
Its entire offensive potential was concentrated in only two regions.
Its mouth.
And its tail.
Its jaws devastated any target in front of it.
Its tail crushed anything behind it.
But...
Between its forelimbs and hind limbs...
There was a massive blind spot.
A region where neither its head nor its tail could reach effectively.
That was where I intended to win.
My Golem dove straight into that very spot.
The King spun around violently.
Too late.
My Golem was already beneath its flank.
Then came a continuous barrage of attacks.
BOOM!
A punch.
BOOM!
Another.
BOOM!
Another one.
Each blow made the enormous scales tremble.
Then came the Mud Spears.
One after another.
They always struck the same spot.
But...
The results were disappointing.
The scales barely showed even superficial scratches.
The King did not even seem to feel any pain.
It simply kept trying to turn.
Pushing over trees.
Uprooting bushes.
Carving deep furrows into the ground.
It was like watching a fortress trying to strike a tiny insect hiding beneath its walls.
My Golem remained perfectly pressed against its flank.
Always within the blind spot.
Theoretically...
The position was perfect.
In practice...
It wasn’t.
I slowly frowned.
The scales were far too resilient.
The attacks simply could not penetrate them.
My eyes swept over the Giant Shark King’s massive body as the Biochip overlaid its three-dimensional model onto the creature.
The bony plates protected almost everything.
Then the projection highlighted one region in red.
Its abdomen.
—Biochip... alter strategy.
["Bip!"]
["New tactical plan generated."]
["Priority: ventral region."]
["Probability of success increased."]
The mental link changed immediately.
My Golem stopped throwing punches.
It stopped wasting energy striking scales that were like fortress walls.
Instead...
It placed both hands on the mud.
Earth energy flowed through its arms.
—Spikes.
BOOOOM!
Several earthen spikes erupted directly beneath the King’s colossal body.
The scales remained intact.
But...
Its abdomen did not.
There was only thick hide there.
No mineral protection.
The spikes pierced through that flesh.
The elemental damage was almost completely ignored.
That was expected.
The King was also an Earth-element creature.
Its natural resistance negated nearly all of that part of the attack.
But...
Spikes were still spikes.
The physical penetration remained.
—ROOOOOOOAAARRRR!!
For the first time...
The Giant Shark King screamed in pain.
It was not a roar of rage.
It was one of suffering.
I continued watching.
Each spike left small puncture wounds.
Not enough to kill.
But enough to infuriate.
Throughout its entire existence...
No creature in that swamp had ever been able to attack that region.
Its scales had made that monster the absolute sovereign of those lands.
Today...
My Golem had found the one vulnerable part.
The King began spinning around violently.
Trying to crush the Golem.
Without success.
Then...
Suddenly...
Its mana erupted.
The entire earth responded.
—WET EARTH!!
A gigantic wave of elemental energy spread out around it.
The mud began to bubble.
To sink.
To churn.
Transforming dozens of meters around it into a vast patch of quicksand.
My fists clenched immediately.
I smiled.
—Got you!
The Biochip confirmed it at once.
["Spell identified: Wet Earth."]
["Class: Terrain Restriction."]
["Recalculating probability of victory..."]
["90%"]
I almost burst into laughter.
If that monster had revealed some offensive ability...
Or a defensive technique.
I would have withdrawn my Golem immediately.
But...
It had chosen the worst possible spell.
For me.
Or rather...
For itself.
The mud became a vast, living swamp.
Any ordinary creature would have sunk almost instantly.
It would have been unable to run.
Unable to fight.
Then...
The King would have simply stepped on it.
It was a perfect combination.
Against any enemy.
Except...
My Golem.
The moment it entered the quicksand completely...
Nothing happened.
Absolutely nothing.
Its body seemed to have no weight.
Each step sank only a few centimeters.
Then it naturally rose back to the surface.
The battle became almost ridiculous.
The enormous King tried to trap my Golem.
My Golem simply walked around it.
Like an adult playing with an angry child.
The Mud Spear proved useless.
It merely bounced off the scales.
So I maintained only one command.
—Spikes.
—Spikes.
—Spikes.
Fifteen minutes passed.
The King was breathing heavily.
Its movements were no longer explosive.
Its charges became less frequent.
Its tail lost speed.
Every time it pressed its belly against the ground...
New spikes emerged.
Its suffering increased.
Even with that rudimentary intelligence, it finally understood the situation.
If it stayed there...
It would die.
Without any warning...
The King simply abandoned the fight.
It turned its enormous body.
It began desperately sliding toward the lake.
I had been waiting for exactly that.
While my Golem kept it occupied...
I had already moved into position in silence.
Now...
I completely blocked its path to the water.
The King finally saw me.
This time...
The real me.
In my hands were several metallic devices.
Small.
Cylindrical.
Gleaming beneath the forest’s dim light.
My heart was pounding.
But my hands remained perfectly steady.
The enormous shark raised its head.
Its nostrils flared.
It sniffed the air.
Unlike the Golem...
I had blood.
Flesh.
Life.
Its gaze changed immediately.
All of its fury turned toward me.
—ROOOOOOOAAARRRR!!
It leaped.
It was like an entire mountain sliding toward me.
The ground trembled.
I channeled mana into the devices.
The mana activated the magical circuits within them.
ZUUUUM!~~
The devices vibrated in my hands.
I threw them all at once.
The devices spun through the air.
Before they even struck the target...
They opened.
CLACK!
CLACK!
CLACK!
Thick chains of Black Magic Iron shot out in every direction.
Runes of Slowness ignited.
Runes of Weakness began to pulse.
The chains wrapped around its neck.
Its fins.
Part of its tail.
Then...
They locked into place.
CLANG!
The enormous body lurched slightly.
Not enough to stop it.
But enough to slow it down.
That was exactly what I needed.
I immediately raised my right hand.
My mana flowed through both of my arms.
—Bow and Arrow of Light!!
A luminous bow appeared before me.
An arrow of pure light slowly condensed.
Its radiance illuminated the entire shore of the swamp.
I took aim.
Not at its chest.
Nor at its neck.
But at the upper part of its jaw.
The region closest to its eyes.
The string of light vibrated.
ZOOOOOSSH!
The arrow tore through the air like a comet.
BOOOOM!
The projectile exploded violently against the King’s head.
An intense golden light completely engulfed its face.
Instinctively...
Its enormous eyelids snapped shut.
Small scales slid over its eyes, protecting them.
Even so...
The impact forced its head backward.
The brilliant flash scorched the skin between its eyes and its jaw.
An agonized roar shook the lake.
....
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