Chapter 147: The Durability of the Shell
“At that speed, it looks like it’ll take us over a week to reach the city.”
Since the discovery of the Sea Emperor Turtle, the atmosphere in Port Town Reburos had become increasingly frantic. Although the news of the Sea Emperor Turtle had yet to be officially announced, rumors were rampant throughout the town, fueled by the silhouette of the island visible offshore.
“Today, Kant and the others are heading out for an investigation, right?”
“Seems like it. Since it hasn’t been made public yet, fishing is probably still allowed.”
The next day, I came to the harbor to check on the situation. From this vantage point, the turtle was still out of sight. It seemed we needed to climb to a higher elevation to catch a glimpse.
“It was tough with the Earth Dragon, but this one definitely feels like it’s beyond that.”
“Yeah, the presence I sensed was definitely stronger than the Earth Dragon.”
“I have a feeling that even if we cut off its head, it would still keep moving.”
“Haha, it might just grow back and come back to life.”
I joked, but this was an Otherworld, after all. It wouldn’t be surprising if such a monster existed. …Wait, I was starting to genuinely feel like it might actually regrow its head.
“We might want to assume it can grow back.”
“True… It’s important to prepare for the worst. Probably, definitely.”
“I wonder what would be effective against that shell.”
As I gazed out at the sea, Rio suddenly looked up.
“I feel like physical attacks wouldn’t work, so it has to be magic… But I think we should aim for its face or areas other than the shell.”
“Right. But if something works on the shell, we might not even need to wait for it to surface.”
“Oh, I see. —Then we can just try it out.”
I recalled what the Guild Master had told us yesterday. Apparently, even a full-force attack hadn’t changed its course; it just kept moving away.
“Then it probably won’t notice if we attack a bit.”
“Haha, we can test our attacks as much as we want!”
“And also—”
“Yeah?”
I remembered a game I used to play. Yes, it had various skills.
“There might be attack skills that ignore defense.”
“Oh wow.”
Some games had skills or weapons that dealt more damage the higher the target’s defense was. While we didn’t have time to search for such weapons now, it was definitely worth testing out skills.
“Then maybe there are magic spells like that too?”
“Ah, there might be. Some spells had physical attack attributes.”
Thinking back on various games, I recalled such spells existed. In the end, anything was possible. We should try everything that came to mind.
“Wow. There are so many options. The magic in this world is diverse, so let’s experiment as much as we can!”
Thus, we set off once more toward the Sea Emperor Turtle.
We overtook the ship carrying Kant and the second investigation team and landed on the turtle’s back. We chose a relatively flat area, far from the town. We wanted to ensure that if it retaliated, the town wouldn’t suffer any damage.
“Alright then.”
I equipped the gauntlets on both arms and cracked my knuckles.
“I’m ready.”
Rio took out her staff and tapped the ground lightly with its tip.
“First, let’s blow away the debris on the shell.”
“Leave it to me.”
As Rio readied her staff, she unleashed a wide-area spell forward. The chosen spell was Fire Sandstorm. It incinerated everything in its path with flames and eroded all substances with grains of sand. When the storm subsided, the rugged surface characteristic of the shell was revealed.
“Hmm… As expected, there are no wounds.”
“I didn’t channel that much magic power into it.”
“If it had left a mark, it would have made things easier.”
“Haha, but it’s not that simple of an opponent.”
“Alright. Let’s start with physical attacks.”
“Go for it!”
Encouraged by Rio’s cheers, I stepped forward a few paces and positioned myself with my hands on my hips. I channeled magic power into the Crimson Dragon Gauntlet on my left hand, which had fire and earth attributes. Once I had gathered enough magic power, I swung my fist down in a straight punch.
With a thunderous explosion, dust erupted into the air. After a moment, as the dust settled, I saw cracks forming in the shell, radiating outwards from the point of impact, covering an area of about five meters.
“Just cracks, huh?”
I lifted the cracked section of the shell, but it seemed that only the surface had been damaged; the underlying layers appeared completely unaffected.
“The broken part seems pretty thick, but considering the turtle’s size, it really feels like just the outer layer is damaged.”
“More like it’s been cleaned up nicely. Thank you very much.”
“Now it’s my turn.”
“Alright.”
Stepping back from the cracked area, Rio unleashed her magic at the same spot. First, she cast a spell of extreme heat. As I raised a barrier to defend, I soon felt a chilling cold wash over me. It was all about how the sudden temperature change would affect it.
She then used fire magic to bring the frozen surface of the shell back to room temperature.
“Hmm… this is…”
“It doesn’t seem to be very effective.”
The surface of the shell where the cracks had formed looked like it was crumbling, but the underlying layers still showed no signs of damage. I checked its HP, but it hadn’t decreased.
“Well, let’s keep trying different things.”
“Yeah, we still have time. …Nil, you can go all out too.”
“Woof!”
At my words, the small Nil returned to her original size and began playfully pawing at the turtle’s shell.
“…Just try not to stand out too much.”
I wasn’t sure if my added comment reached her, but it was worth a shot.