Book 4, Chapter 25

The Tank

           Different from other Iron Beetles, this

thing has a pair of highly developed fore limps. And they're obviously weapons! They have been folded close to the beetle's chest part until we see them.

           They're long. The outer part has a structure like a bone

hammer, and the inside is sharp, jagged blade. They are like mantis scythes

equipped with hard rock!

　　   The

knight leader was knocked away by that hammer part. And now the limbs are

completely stretched in front of us. The hammer is located a bit below the

pointy tip. A stab of that thing could prove lethal.

           The beetle rubbed its two

limbs against each other like knife and fork, as if someone is planning to

enjoy a feast!

　　    I

recalled Dart and Night Shade. They won't help here. Phiona is down, so she's

out. And only 7 out of 10 Phantom Knights...

           This is not good.

　　   "Attack!"

           The beetle slashed the scythe at me. I dodged it by putting myself

against the ground, but the other one stabbed downward and there's no way I can avoid this one!

            Loong'er dropped from

above and entangled her own body onto the scythe. Then she began to release

electricity. I didn't expect she can do that kind of move like a shock eel.

　　    Rosa

released dozens of tentacles and wrapped them around the beetle with several

layers. Some of them pulled on its six legs. 　　

            Lucky

lunged and sunk his fangs into where the beetle's head is connected with the

body. It's the only part without any hard sh.e.l.l. Usually that spot is not

easily reached since the beetle can hide it by raising its head. He revealed that

weakness because of all the distractions.

　　    The

Phantom Knights all went up with their lances. These experienced fighters are

good at picking out vulnerable parts--they stabbed at the joints on the legs

which are less protected compared to elsewhere. 　　

           I

crawled up and pressed my dragon lance against the beetle's head.

          "[Heart

Piercer]!"

           Boom! I was knocked away by the blast power of my own skill.

           The

beetle suddenly raised. The first one to get hurt is Rosa, all the tentacles

were torn up one after one!

           Then it retracted its scythes. Loong'er got locked inside the blade

and shrieked in pain.

           Her voice stopped soon. With a Snap! The beetle completely

closed up its fore limbs, slicing Loong'er's body into several pieces. Golden

blood showered down on me and the knights who were trying to help her.

　　    My

heart stopped for a bit. I know they can be revived but...this hurts.

           Before I

can react, the scythes bounced open again. The bone hammers knocked away two

Phantom Knights as if they're toy figures. I tried to catch one of them and was

then sent flying by the enormous force as well. Thank G.o.d the sand is soft so the landing didn't

hurt us further.

　　    Lucky

has completely climbed onto the beetle and won't release his bite. The beetle

tried to reach for Lucky but realized his limbs aren't long enough. It shook

violently, without success, so it can only jump and spin in place.

　　    Maybe

it knows I'm the master of Lucky so the beetle simply charged at me again. That giant

body, added with Lucky's weight, is now causing an earthquake. The Phantom

Knights tried to distract it from behind.

　　    I

heard Phantom's voice. "Don't worry master. Loong'er is coming back soon!"

            A dark cloud appeared in the sky and Loong'er emerged from it. I forgot about

Phiona's special skill which is shared to everyone. We can get revived for once! Watching Loong'er die like that really disrupted my mind.

　　    "Master!

Can I use my new skill?" Loong'er talked to me while swimming in the cloud.

　　    "What

skill?" 　　

            "[Heaven

Storm]!" 　　

            "What

does it do? Nevermind just do it!"

　　    She

went back into the cloud and disappeared. The piece of dark cloud grew bigger, until

it covered a huge area of the sky above our heads. I think this can be a good move when

I want to escape from the harsh sunlight!

　　    Rolling

thunder came from the cloud, then a lightning came down and hit the ground. It's

pretty far from the beetle, so the skill's accuracy is poor?

            I'm wondering if

we can hit the beetle at all when more lightening pillars appeared non-stop.

           Holy

cheese 'n' rice! This is literally a "thunder storm"! Countless

lightening strikes rained down from the cloud and swept through the entire

battlefield, hitting everything inside including me and my team.

　　    Thankfully

the spell doesn't hurt friendlies. Electric arcs ran all over my armor but I'm

not feeling anything.

           On the other hand, the Gold Beetle is now burnt into a

ladybug with G.o.d knows how many spots.

            Lucky is still hanging on the beetle's neck.

I can see Lucky's HP almost empty.

　　    The

dark cloud didn't go away when the lightening stopped. Instead, large water

drops began to pour on us. A rainstorm followed the lightening attack, a big

one! I'm surprised when I see my HP bar getting filled up, same for my team. The

rain can heal us!

　　    As

a plant, Rosa must loved the weather. His damaged tentacles all recovered. Numerous

of them emerged from the ground and wrapped onto the beetle again.

           The immobilized

beetle started to draw in air, and its belly is growing. It's going the breath

fire again!

　　    I

called everyone to retreat. Lucky should be safe for now, since the beetle won't

be throwing that fire onto its own back.

           The beetle stopped breathing. But it

didn't use fire, it let out a greenish fluid instead.

           The first victim is

Rosa again. The liquid melted most of the tentacles in an instant like strong

weed killer!

           A Phantom Knight was knocked into the attack. His armor

immediately disappeared! I quickly unsummoned him. This is bionic acid d.a.m.n it!

　　    All

the knights ran away from the terrible attack. Their armor can be restored

after some time but their lives cannot. It's not wise to keep fighting upfront

now.

　　    When

I'm un-summoning all the knights, the beetle turned its head and brought the

acid stream towards me! There's no time to avoid. The only thing I can do is to

lower my mask and cover my face.

           The green, viscous slime engulfed me for good.

I heard some "fizzzzz" sound. Then I lifted my hand and checked. Weird,

apart from all the smoke, I'm not receiving any damage.

           I looked at my equipment

durability. Nope, nothing.

　　    "Ah-ha!"

I cried in joy. The Dark Dragon Lord armor is immune to acid! Which means the

beetle's last resort can't hurt me at all!

           Wahhahaha! Meet your doom today, bug!!

　　    The

attack stopped. I don't know if it's because the beetle realized my

resistance or it used up its liquid stock. But it didn't give up. It followed up with a

green flame attack. This time I intentionally took the attack head-on.

           0 damage!

　　    Poor

bug. Your breath weapons all aren't gonna work.

           The beetle then began to rotate that

strange looking mouthpart. I saw two holes hidden under it.

            Bam!

            I was then

knocked flying by a great force. My HP dropped alarmingly. Two more hits like that will

kill me!

　　    "Phantom!

What was that?"

　　    "I

don't know. Maybe the hammer?" 　　

           "No.

That thing can't reach this far!"

　　    Loong'er

spoke from above: "I think it spit something from its mouth. But I didn't

see it."

　　    Phantom

added: "Rosa said he sensed something flying just above the surface!"

            The

beetle's belly grew and shrank. I'm blasted away again. I saw it this time! The

b.a.s.t.a.r.d can use air cannon. Those holes must be its nose or something. It compresses

the air inside its body and releases it with great speed. And it's powerful!

　　    When

I'm getting ready to dodge a third air shot, that ruby flashed again. It's going to use

its laser weapon instead.

           Oh come on, this thing's a freaking mobile artillery battery! It's

acting more and more like a real tank!

　　    The

beetle didn't actually use any of the weapons. It began to dig the

sand and...went underground! The hole was quickly covered up by the

surrounding sand. Lucky can't survive underground so he could only give up his

position and flew into the air. Now our only effective damage won't work!

　　    "Rosa!

Give me its position!" 

           Can this fight become more complicated?? Jesus.

　　    Before

Phantom can translate Rosa's message, the sand in front of us rose, then the

ground shook. A stream of dark green liquid sprayed out and soaked a large area

of sand.　

            I

don't need Phantom to tell me now cause I saw it from the system. Rosa was

easily killed by the beetle! So the green liquid was Rosa's blood!

            I de-summoned

the revived Rosa. He'll only be killed again if he remains there.

　　    A

series of long needles suddenly emerged from under my feet. I rolled aside to

avoid them. Another needle array immediately followed to where I landed. I

opened my wings to dodge this time.

           This will be troublesome.

　　    The

beetle lost target and stayed motionless for a while, then needles erupted

under one of the Phantom Knights. All the knights avoided the attack by turning

into bats. 　　

           f.u.c.k.

How do we attack this thing like this?? Rosa is our only member that can move

underground and he can't do anything.

　　    I

summoned Phiona again. She looks better after the rest.

            "Can you set fire

under the surface? The bug escaped there!"

　　    "Let

me try!" Phiona circled around in the sky for a bit and quickly dived into

the sand.

　　    The

sand started to s.h.i.+ft, and we can already see the surface turning red. The

ground shook again. Then a b.u.mp appeared, followed by the beetle's giant body.

           "There you are stupid bug. Phiona, get out of there!" I recalled

Phiona and prepared to confront the annoying enemy again.

　　    Our

team is pretty battered up but I can see from my Star Gaze that the beetle

doesn't have much HP left now. Lucky did most of the damage by tearing up its

neck. We're almost there!

　　    Right.

I should try to capture it after all these effort. I'm glad this idea came up

in time or I'll kill it any time soon. 　　

           I

concentrated my magic onto the gem on my forehead and summoned the Dragon Wasp

swarm. I ordered them to attack anywhere on the beetle that looks soft. The

beetle may be powerful but it doesn't have much to counter these tiny killers. It

tried to use its air cannon, and it's like using artillery to shoot mosquitoes,

just won't work. Looks like being big isn't all about advantage.

　　    I

watched as its HP dropped to about 20. The beetle is already having a hard time

standing straight. I de-summoned the wasps as the beetle finally fell, then I

asked Dart to hit it using plain attacks. Dart's Attack is not near enough to

penetrate that Defense so he can only do 1 damage each time. And that's just

what I needed.

           We stopped at 1 HP. Now there's no better chance to capture

such an impressive companion.

　　    After

a dozen tries, the beetle turned into a green egg. I didn't hesitate to drop my

blood on it. A pitch-black miniature Gold Beetle cracked the sh.e.l.l and crawled

out. Oh shoot. It's black again. Every companion of mine is black except Dart. Actually

Dart is only white on the outside, if I smooth his fur aside I'll see the black

skin beneath. This demonize effect on me is a headache.

　　    The

beetle on my hand is only about a foot long. That's no problem since I'm sure

it'll grow to its full size in the future. I named the little bug as [Tank], cause

that's literally what it is! 

　　    [Gold

Beetle], rank level 900 (current level 0)

           Attack 100-200,

           Defense 200,

           Speed 100,

           HP 2,000,

           MP 500.

           Attacks carry poison effect.

           Talent skill [Strong Acid Spit],

damage 120, causes continuous damage for 1,200 seconds.

           Physical Resistance 50%,

           Magical Resistance 45%. 　　

           That's

not all its skills. Maybe I need to level it up to activate them. Should be easy

enough. Companions level faster, it is usually my own level that restricts

their levels in the end. And the fact that I always ask them to kill monsters

for me only makes it more obvious.

           Now I think about it, I've already have a

good number of companions. Lucky, Phiona, Loong'er, Night Shade, Phantom, Rosa,

Dart and now Tank...That's 8 of them. My slot limit is 9. I should be careful

with it. It's a good thing that everyone I captured so far turned out to be strong helper. I'm still relying on the Phantom Knights to soak most of the damage

now but I think these Boss level companions will become the actual heavy

hitters when I get my level high enough.

　　    My

private chat interrupted my thoughts. It's from...Merciless?

           "What's the

matter?"

　　    "I

saw the quest done, and I already claimed the reward. Come here and I'll give

you your share."

           Ohh, nice. Usually most people will just run with the spoil in

such cases.

　　    "You

keep them. I'll just consider this as a level campaign. I got three levels in

two hours! If I find more of these quests I can try go for the top of the rank."

　　    "Well

no!" He became...excited? "Come and take them. You did the whole

quest, I don't want to just be a tour guide or something!"

　　    "Huh.

Wait for me then."

            I looked around the battlefield for any good drops. Nope.

I spent some time searching around and only discovered all sorts of trash. There

are over a thousand items lying on the ground, most of them are necklaces! Why

the h.e.l.l did they only drop one type of equipment? Are those spiders fond of

collecting necklace??

           Well shoot. I'm short on money anyway, so any reward is

welcomed. I managed to pick up every single item thanks to my patience. That

felt like a homeless scavenger. Owww, my back... (*)

　　    Just

as I'm finished, Merciless pinged me again.

           "What are you doing bud? Did

you fall into another pit?"

　　    "Very funny. I'm picking money!"

　　    "Picking

money?" 　　

           "Yes!

The place is full of junk. Maybe 10 crystals or so."

            I can't help it. I

owe people big time! I do have those money from selling the companion eggs but

that's far from enough!

　　    "You

mean, all those monsters only dropped useless common equipment?" Merciless

exclaimed in surprise.

　　    "Worse. They are all necklaces, about 700 of them. All trash, as in, the likes

that give you one bonus attribute point or two. The rest are random weapons or

other parts with one or two bonuses. Not even one valuable piece."

　　    Merciless's

mouth fell open. "Wait wait wait you're not joking right? 700, necklaces??"

　　    "Yeah. What's wrong? Let me see, small ones, big ones, colorful ones, for

men and for women or for orcs. All kinds of them. I can give you a dozen or two

for free if you want them."

　　    "Well,

I mean, just come back! I'll explain it in front of you."

　　    "Alright."

            I

teleported to the station in the Far Land city. I sent Merciless a private chat

to find out he's waiting for me at the city gate. He ran towards the station, panting.

            "You have recall scrolls? I thought you were going to come back on foot."

　　    "Where's

the NPC shop? I need to sell this mess." 　　

           "Wait."

He sent me a trade request and put a companion egg, a champion badge and 10k

crystals in it. "Take them!"

　　    I

glanced at the items. "I'll take the money, you keep the egg and badge."

　　    He

only took the egg off. "Just take them. I already earned big. I have my

rules you know!"

　　    "Okay

then." I confirmed. The badge gives you +1 Luck and 10% HP

regeneration speed. Not too shabby.

            "Here, have a necklace as a souvenir."

　　    "However

did you get this thing? I mean, you are carrying a whole bunch of them right?"

　　    "Yeah,

as I said, about 700 of them. All similar ones, they give you one or two

attribute point bonus. Not very useful." 　　

            "NOT

USEFUL??"

            Woah the dude's eyeb.a.l.l.s gonna stick out.

            "They give you

BASE attributes! The points you set up upon character creation! Do you know how

much actual bonus you'll get, with all the other multipliers??"

　　    "Really?"

            I picked out a necklace with a "+1 Luck" and equipped it. All

my base attributes became 14! Holy moses. This is almost Artifact level! (**)

            I'm

rich! Thank goodness I didn't discard or sell them.  Looks like I

know how to get rid of my debt crisis now!

　　    Merciless

watched as I giggled like an idiot. "Are you alright?"

　　    "Oh,

I'm totally fine!" I wiped my saliva clean. "Let's go celebrate!"

(*) It happened again. The author forgot his auto-loot bracelet. Please just ignore these logic bugs.

(**) The MC has something that modifies all his base attribute points to the same level as the highest one.