Chapter 130: Turtle With Three Heads

The Wrathful head was frozen solid, its jaws locked mid-snap, lightning flickering uselessly inside the block of ice. But the other two heads were already reacting.

The Serene head’s eyes narrowed, calculating. The Frenzied head shrieked with rage, its wild eyes bulging as it fired bolt after bolt at the ice prison, trying to free its sibling.

Gray didn’t give them time.

He shot forward, Abyssal Lance charging, aimed directly at the frozen Wrathful head’s exposed neck. If he could sever it while it was trapped—

The Serene head moved.

It ignored Gray and attacked the ice instead.

A concentrated beam of heat shot from its jaws and struck the Frozen Prison. The ice cracked, hissed, and shattered. The Wrathful head burst free, its eyes blazing with fury, its jaws already opening for revenge.

’It countered again!’ Cindy’s voice was sharp with frustration. ’It’s like it knows exactly what I’m going to do!’

’Then change the approach.’

Gray twisted mid-charge, abandoning his attack on the Wrathful head and redirecting toward the Serene head instead.

The Serene head’s eyes widened. For the first time, its calm cracked. It hadn’t expected that. It had assumed Gray would commit to the frozen target.

Gray drove his crystalline barbs into the Serene head’s neck.

[CRITICAL HIT!]

[ABYSSAL LANCE — 188 DAMAGE]

[TRI-CEPHALON TERROR — HP: 1716 / 2400]

[CONCENTRATION BROKEN]

The Serene head writhed uncontrollably in pain. Its calm eyes now burned with agony and rage. The other two heads recoiled, and their coordination wavered.

’Cindy! Now! Bind the Frenzied one!’

"Roger that!"

[Spellbind] shot from Cindy’s hands, wrapping around the Frenzied head’s neck. The wild head thrashed, its chaotic bolts firing in every direction, but the binding held.

[SPELLBIND — SUCCESS]

[EFFECT DURATION: 2 SECONDS]

Gray didn’t waste the chance. He fired Cavitation Pulse point-blank into the Serene head’s exposed neck, widening the wound.

[CAVITATION PULSE — 148 DAMAGE]

[TRI-CEPHALON TERROR — HP: 1568 / 2400]

The Serene head’s eyes dimmed. Its concentration shattered completely. The coordinated attacks stopped, the Wrathful and Frenzied heads were now acting on pure instinct, no longer guided by the tactical mind that had made them so dangerous.

’That’s it,’ Gray thought. ’Without the Serene head, they’re just two angry animals.’

But the Wrathful head was still dangerous. It lunged, jaws crackling with close-range lightning. Gray pulsed sideways, letting it snap on empty water, then wrapped his tentacles around its neck.

[GRIP JAW — 48 DAMAGE]

[GRIP JAW — 52 DAMAGE]

[TRI-CEPHALON TERROR — HP: 1468 / 2400]

The Wrathful head thrashed, its lightning discharging into Gray’s armor. Pain lanced through his body, but he held on.

[-64 HP]

[PARALYSIS — 1 SECOND]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 746 / 1100]

’Tch! Stay still!’

Cindy’s voice rang out. "[Spell Piercer]!"

A spear of silver light shot past Gray and punched through the Wrathful head’s eye. The creature screamed, its struggles weakening.

[SPELL PIERCER — 112 DAMAGE]

[WRATHFUL HEAD — BLINDED]

[TRI-CEPHALON TERROR — HP: 1356 / 2400]

Gray tightened his grip. Overcharge detonated directly into the Wrathful head’s neck.

[OVERCHARGE — 168 DAMAGE]

[TRI-CEPHALON TERROR — HP: 1188 / 2400]

[STUN — 5 SECONDS]

The Wrathful head went limp. Gray released it and turned toward the last threat.

The Frenzied head had broken free of Cindy’s binding. Its eyes were wild, its jaws snapping at nothing, its body convulsing with chaotic electricity. Without the Serene head to guide it, it was just firing blindly in every direction.

’It’s lost control,’ Gray observed. ’It can’t aim anymore.’

"That makes it more dangerous, not less," Cindy warned. "Wild attacks are unpredictable."

’I know. But it also can’t defend itself.’

Gray circled wide, staying out of the Frenzied head’s erratic firing arc. The creature twisted and thrashed, bolts of lightning arcing in every direction, but none of them came close to hitting him.

He waited for the right moment. The Frenzied head paused to take a breath, its jaws gaping wide, its body still for just a second.

Gray fired Riptide Slash directly into its open mouth.

[RIPTIDE SLASH — 132 DAMAGE]

[TRI-CEPHALON TERROR — HP: 1056 / 2400]

[INTERNAL DAMAGE — 24 BLEED]

The Frenzied head shrieked, its wild eyes bulging. It tried to fire another volley, but the pain disrupted its focus. The bolts scattered harmlessly.

Gray closed the distance, Abyssal Lance charging. He drove his barbs into the Frenzied head’s neck, just below the jaw.

[CRITICAL HIT!]

[ABYSSAL LANCE — 204 DAMAGE]

[TRI-CEPHALON TERROR — HP: 852 / 2400]

[SEVERE BLEEDING — 18 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

The Frenzied head’s screams turned to gurgles. Its body sagged, the chaotic lightning fading.

But the Wrathful head had recovered.

It lunged from behind, jaws clamping onto Gray’s bell. The teeth ground against his armor, lightning discharging into his body.

[-142 HP]

[PARALYSIS — 2 SECONDS]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 604 / 1100]

’GAAAH!’

The Wrathful head shook him like a dog with a toy. Gray’s vision blurred, his HP dropping steadily.

Cindy’s voice cut through the pain.

"[Frozen Prison]!"

The Wrathful head froze again, encased in ice. Gray tore himself free, trailing fluids and sparks.

’Thanks,’ he gasped.

"Don’t thank me yet," Cindy said, her voice strained. "That thing’s still got two heads. And the shell... I can’t even scratch the shell."

Gray looked at the Tri-Cephalon Terror, where the Serene head hung limp with its eyes closed, the Wrathful head remained frozen, and the Frenzied head was bleeding out.

But the shell remained intact, its veins of lightning still pulsing across the surface, and the creature’s HP was still over 800.

’The shell is the problem,’ Gray said. ’I can’t crack it. But the heads can’t survive without the body. If I keep attacking the necks—’

"The body will just retreat into the shell," Cindy finished. "And then we can’t reach anything."

’What if we don’t attack the heads?’ Gray said slowly.

"What?"

’The shell is reinforced with crystallized mana. It’s absolute against physical attacks. But what about mana disruption?’

Cindy’s eyes glinted as she remembered something. "Your new skill...."

’If I can destabilize the mana in the shell, it might crack. And then—’

"Then you can hit the body directly."

Gray nodded, already positioning himself.

’Cindy, can you keep the Wrathful head frozen for a few more seconds?’

"I can try. But my mana is running low."

’Then I’ll make this quick.’

Gray gathered his mana, feeling the vast ocean inside him stir. He couldn’t channel it like a mage, but Arcane Burst wasn’t a spell. It was a release. A wave of pure, disruptive mana.

He pressed his bell against the Tri-Cephalon Terror’s shell.

’Let’s see how absolute your defense really is.’

[ARCANE BURST — ACTIVATED]

A pulse of raw mana erupted from Gray’s body and slammed into the shell. The crystallized mana in the shell’s surface flickered, warped, and cracked. The veins of lightning stuttered, their rhythm breaking.

[SHELL INTEGRITY — COMPROMISED]

[MANA REINFORCEMENT — DESTABILIZED]

The Serene head’s eyes snapped open. It stared at Gray with fear.

Gray smiled.

’Found your weakness.’

He fired Cavitation Pulse directly into the cracked shell.

[CAVITATION PULSE — 152 DAMAGE]

[TRI-CEPHALON TERROR — HP: 700 / 2400]

[SHELL FRACTURE — INTERNAL DAMAGE EXPOSED]

The shell splintered, chunks of crystallized chitin breaking away. The soft flesh beneath was exposed and completely unarmored.

’Now we can hurt it.’

The Wrathful head broke free of the ice, its eyes blazing with desperate fury. The Frenzied head, still bleeding, thrashed wildly. The Serene head, no longer calm, shrieked with panic.

All three heads turned toward Gray at once.

Gray activated Subterranean Ambush, vanishing into the seafloor. The heads snapped at empty water, confused, their coordination shattered without the Serene head’s guidance.

Gray erupted beneath the creature’s exposed body.

[SUBTERRANEAN AMBUSH — 126 DAMAGE]

[TRI-CEPHALON TERROR — HP: 574 / 2400]

[STUN — 2 SECONDS]

His serrated bell carved deep into the soft flesh. The creature convulsed, all three heads screaming in unison.

GROOOAAAAAGHH!!!!!