Chapter 91: Three Days Later
Time slipped away, and just like that, three days had passed.
A faint, fishy smell filled the air on a wide riverbank in the eastern part of Copper Creek Forest.
The once-pristine pebble beach was now a mess, littered with the broken carapaces of countless Stone Shell River Crabs.
In the middle of the carnage, Lance walked forward calmly, a battered Short Sword in hand.
Before him, more than twenty massive Stone Shell River Crabs waved their giant pincers, attempting to halt the intruder’s advance.
These past few days of intense, real-world combat had brought about a drastic transformation in Lance.
His rate of improvement was so tangible that it left Cecilia, who was providing support from the rear, speechless.
A massive Stone Shell River Crab initiated the attack. Its thick hind legs kicked powerfully against the ground as it launched its signature Skill: Heavy Armor Stab.
Faced with a blow that could pierce Leather Armor, Lance showed no intention of dodging.
He simply dipped his shoulder slightly, raising the Kite-shaped Steel Shield on his left arm to perfectly intercept the attack.
"CLANG!"
The sharp pincer struck the very center of the Shield. The metal vibrated as a shower of sparks erupted from its surface.
The instant the pincer connected, Lance let out a low grunt. The muscles in his left arm bulged as he took advantage of the crab’s momentary imbalance, shoving forcefully upward.
The immense force sent the heavy crab flying onto its back, exposing its soft underbelly.
It was a one-hit kill.
Without a second glance, Lance kicked the heavy corpse to his right.
The tumbling corpse slammed into a second crab attempting to flank him.
Just then, a viscous, iridescent liquid suddenly coated the ground ahead.
Cecilia’s support had arrived.
In just a few short days, the two had developed a combat synergy that seemed to require no words.
Two crabs that had just entered the area instantly lost their footing as their jointed legs slipped on the liquid.
Their sharp limbs scrabbled uselessly on the smooth pebbles. The two behemoths lost their balance and toppled clumsily onto their sides, exposing the pale, fragile shells of their underbellies.
Lance strode forward and stomped his right foot down hard on one crab’s Chest Armor. Without hesitation, he plunged his Short Sword down through its gapped abdomen.
At the same time, a stray crab scrambled over its fallen comrade and thrust its massive pincer viciously at Lance’s knee.
"WHOOSH!"
A pale Blue beam shot through the air.
The beam struck the crab with pinpoint accuracy.
Frost spread in an instant, completely encasing the translucent membrane of its joint in ice.
Lance brought his left arm down, smashing the sharp metal edge of his Kite-shaped Steel Shield hard against the frozen joint.
With a sharp crack, the ice shattered, and the deadly pincer snapped in two.
He followed up with an upward thrust of his Short Sword, piercing straight through its mouthparts.
But these Demons apparently felt no Fear.
Three more crabs closed in simultaneously, forming a triangle to cut off his escape to the left and right.
Before they could complete their encirclement, a fan-shaped burst of intense light erupted from above, blinding the three crabs.
While the monsters were blinded and stunned, Lance moved like a phantom, swiftly cutting down all three.
However, as he pierced the tough shell of the last one, the overburdened Short Sword in his hand gave a pathetic groan. The blade bent, and several large nicks appeared along its edge.
Without so much as a frown, Lance casually tossed the ruined Short Sword aside.
The ferocious Demon Body Techniques of the Azure Dragon Extreme Intent Style flashed through his mind.
A nearby Stone Shell River Crab seized the opportunity, lunging with a Heavy Armor Stab the moment Lance dropped his sword, its sharp pincer aimed straight for his face.
Lance stood his ground, only tilting his head slightly to the right as the gust of wind from the attack washed over his face.
The pincer stabbed into empty air, barely grazing his ear.
The next second, he stomped his right foot. The pebbles beneath it instantly shattered, sending fragments flying.
Harnessing the immense force rebounding from the ground, Lance shot forward like a cannonball, slipping into the crab’s blind spot.
He raised his right elbow high and, channeling the momentum of his entire body, brought it crashing down on the center of the crab’s carapace.
[Azure Dragon Extreme Intent Style: Top Dragon Horn]
[Effect: Unarmed Attack Weight +4, Attacking Limb Hardness +2]
CRACK!
The incredibly hard carapace instantly caved in and shattered, and murky viscera sprayed from the cracks.
Just then, another crab attacked from a blind spot on his left.
Instead of retreating, Lance advanced. Twisting at the waist, he took a diagonal step with his left foot, planting it firmly under the crab’s body.
Bracing the Kite-shaped Steel Shield with his left shoulder, he threw his full weight against it. He slammed into the crab’s torso like an out-of-control chariot.
[Azure Dragon Extreme Intent Style: Dragon Tail Cannon]
[Effect: Power Check +4, Blunt Impact Force +5]
The dull thud of the impact was enough to make one’s chest tighten.
The crab, weighing several hundred pounds, was sent flying backward by the blow, crashing heavily into a rock half the height of a man.
Its carapace caved in under the immense force, and its body slid limply to the ground.
By now, Lance no longer needed to dodge cautiously or painstakingly devise tactics like he had at first.
He was completely dominating these Demons through sheer combat Intuition and superior Attributes.
This newfound ease stemmed not only from the massive damage dealt by his upgraded Azure Dragon Extreme Intent Style and its stacked Weakness Insight...
...but more so from the near-instinctual reactions of a veteran player who had completely memorized the monster’s attack patterns.
This was especially true for a Low Tier Demon like the Stone Shell River Crab, which had such a simple moveset.
Now, Lance would even go so far as to call them "newbie mobs."
And that was no exaggeration.
When you’ve killed a hundred and thirty or forty of the same monster in three days, to the point where you know which leg it’ll lift next even with your eyes closed, you’d develop the same sense of bored confidence.
Lance casually flicked the blood off his Shield and took a moment to glance at the Biological Research panel in his vision.
[Current Research Progress: Level 3 (96/100)]
Just four more to go.
Once he killed them, he would be able to acquire that long-awaited Racial Talent.
Prior to this, the reward for completing Level 2 had been the [Map Marking Function].
The function was incredibly powerful.
Now, as long as he was within a certain range, the exact locations of all Stone Shell River Crabs were marked in his vision with bright red dots—even those hiding in the sand.
It was like having a wallhack in a first-person shooter.
Lance could no longer be ambushed by these clumsy crabs.