Chapter 106 - 102: Boss Battle: Strangulation
Chapter 106: Chapter 102: Boss Battle: Strangulation
It was the wail of metal being crushed to its absolute limit.
Everyone’s breath caught in their throats.
The giant crocodile chieftain’s sharp teeth had clamped down hard on Ola’s left arm. From shoulder to elbow, his entire arm was engulfed in its massive maw!
The light from the enchanted armor’s Runes flickered violently. Ola could clearly feel the alloy of his armor twisting and deforming in a heart-stopping way. ’Any longer,’ he thought, ’and my bones will be crushed into a pulp with the metal slag!’
Due to the weight of his full plate armor, the giant crocodile couldn’t lift Ola. It tried to drag him in frustration, but even that was a struggle.
The giant crocodile chieftain was enraged by this tough nut it couldn’t crack.
A low growl rumbled deep in its throat.
The next moment, it began to writhe.
It began to spin madly, using its massive torso as an axis.
The Death Roll!
The most primitive hunting technique of crocodilian creatures.
It uses its own body weight and the immense torque generated by spinning to tear its prey to shreds!
The armor on Ola’s body let out a grating CREAK.
It felt as if his arm would be wrenched off in the next second.
"No!"
Ryo’s cry was lost in the raging wind.
Just then, Velin came to his senses.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he snatched a pouch from his waist. He flung out a narrow-necked flask filled with a dark purple liquid, his movements so fast they left an afterimage.
SMASH!
The flask shattered against the giant crocodile chieftain’s massive body, and a viscous mist seeped into it instantly, as if it were alive.
The Slow Skill!
The crocodile’s frantic spinning visibly slowed by a beat, like a high-speed machine that had a crowbar jammed into its works—a fatal stall.
In that instant, as Ola was being dragged around in the spin, his mind reeling, he suddenly recalled what Velin had told him before the battle.
He stopped fighting against it with brute force. Instead, he went with the spin, putting all his strength into his core and legs. He forced his burly body to twist in mid-air, executing a roll in a bizarre posture that was perfectly co-axial with the crocodile’s rotation!
GRIND! GRIND!
In the midst of the spin, he could clearly hear the shriek of the metal on the inside of his gauntlet grinding against itself.
THUD.
The roll ended. Ola slammed back into the mud like a discarded sack, his entire body submerged in the water. Only his helmet and his clamped-down left arm remained exposed.
He was completely unharmed! His entire left arm was numb and without feeling, but compared to the expected outcome of having it torn off, that was nothing!
An eerie silence fell over the battlefield.
The giant crocodile chieftain’s roll had also stopped. Its massive body lay still in the marsh, only the tip of its tail twitching unconsciously.
Its golden, vertical pupils were filled with utter confusion.
It stared at the still-intact arm in its mouth, then looked at the tiny creature in the muddy water.
’How could my ultimate killing move, the Death Roll—the very technique that has let me dominate the Gray Sea Marsh my entire life—be countered by such a circus-like maneuver?’
The shock then transformed into a towering rage born of outrageous humiliation. Deep within its throat, it began to brew an even more devastating attack.
This was the very second Velin had been waiting for.
"Ryo!"
The Magic apprentice understood instantly and used the Annihilation Tuning Fork again.
The successive bursts, on top of the Slow Skill, combined with the torment of the high-frequency sound waves, forced the giant crocodile chieftain into a fatal, rigid paralysis.
At some point, a test tube had appeared in Velin’s hand. Countless tiny seeds bobbed up and down within a dark green liquid.
He didn’t even use much force. With just a flick of his wrist, he tossed it forward gently.
The test tube traced a low parabola, landing precisely on the chieftain’s back.
The container shattered on impact, and the liquid inside, mixed with seeds called "Blood-sucking Vines," splattered all over the giant crocodile.
The power of Velin’s bloodline, a gift originating from the "Song of the Forest," now surged forth without reservation.
Spring Messenger!
Activation! Proliferation!
In the next instant, a dark red sprout covered in bloody mucus slowly emerged from the giant crocodile chieftain’s massive eye socket. It swayed slightly in the air like a living, venomous worm.
The massive beast’s body suddenly went rigid.
Then, the true nightmare began.
SPURT! SPURT! SPURT!
Countless similar vines tore through its flesh, bursting madly from its nostrils, ear canals, and the gaps in its Scale Armor—anywhere the potion had touched!
Its once-indestructible body had now become a horrific flowerpot, spouting blossoms of blood!
Innumerable dark red vines, each like a vicious viper, grew, pierced, and spread wildly across the giant crocodile chieftain’s body.
When the vines first sprouted, their roots weren’t very deep. The giant crocodile quickly cleared away the Blood-sucking Vines on its belly and limbs.
But it had expended too much stamina in a short time and failed to clear the vines on its back.
These vines grew rapidly, spreading across the giant crocodile chieftain’s body like ivy, as if searching for suitable "soil."
The chieftain roared in fury, trying to shake off these damned "weeds."
But the Blood-sucking Vines only grew more numerous, even spreading to the corners of its mouth.
Seeing this, Velin instantly intensified the power of his Spring Messenger.
In an instant, the Blood-sucking Vines bored into the giant beast’s mouth.
"Ghh... gurgle..."
Soon, it could no longer make any sound. Only meaningless gurgles escaped from the holes in its throat, accompanied by great gushes of bloody foam and shredded vine.
Its soft underbelly was also pierced by thick vines, and blood soaked the dark red leaves, making them seem even more unnatural and sinister.
It wanted to roll, to struggle, but the "weeds" growing from within pinned it firmly in place, frantically draining its life force.
On the battlefield, everyone was stunned by this horrific and bizarre scene.
This was no longer a battle; it was a bloody strangulation that defied all logic.
The giant crocodile chieftain’s struggles grew weaker and weaker. The last glint of light in its golden, vertical pupils faded rapidly, eventually turning into a deathly, dull gray.
CRASH!
Its massive body collapsed, sending a huge spray of mud into the air.
A hegemon that had been virtually invincible in the Gray Sea Marsh had fallen.
Even in death, it didn’t understand what had latched onto it.
Dead silence.
All that remained on the battlefield was the sound of the wind and the distant rumble of the approaching crocodile swarm.
SPLASH.
Ola sat up in the muddy water. He tore off the deformed arm-plate, letting his heavily bruised arm hang exposed in the air.
He stared at the corpse, which was so completely encased in vines that its original form was unrecognizable. He was stunned for a long moment, then a grin spread across his face, and he let out a hoarse, grating laugh.
"Ha... *cough cough*... Haha... Fuck... you bastard. You really... always manage to pull some jaw-dropping shit out of your ass."
He laughed and coughed, spitting out a mouthful of bloody saliva. His eyes shone with the joy of having survived, and a deep reverence for the man beside him.