Ice Horror (2)
The first Unique Trait I ever obtained in this world was Perfect Organism. As the name suggests, it's a trait that reshapes my physical abilities and Types into the form best suited for survival.
And Perfect Organism comes with a special effect.
Paragon of the Hunt.
When Paragon of the Hunt activates, my body optimizes itself for combat, transforming into the ultimate biological weapon. It lasts twenty minutes with a cooldown of a full twenty-four hours — but the effect is so overwhelming that such drawbacks hardly matter.
Exactly like right now.
｢Grrrrrrr｣
My eyes were gone, but my senses had never been sharper.
The cavern I stood in, the tunnel where the Ice Horror lay buried — everything registered in my mind as vividly as if I were seeing it with my own two eyes. Thanks to that, I was tracking every stage of my body's transformation without missing a single detail.
Bones, muscle, scales, carapace — my entire frame was twisting and reshaping itself, optimizing for hunting stronger enemies and more prey.
My head carapace expanded rapidly, shifting my weight slightly forward. The six horns, so useful in duels with powerful foes, grew into even more vicious forms, each honed to its purpose.
Once the Organic Evolution trait took effect, my theropod-like elongated skull changed even more drastically. A forked lower jaw developed, splitting into two branches, giving me the look of something wearing a metal guard beneath its chin.
Along with the jaw's transformation, the auxiliary organ beneath it was sheathed in bony armor, turning it into something like an elephant's tusk. These curved, blade-shaped bone plates were considerable in both size and weight, but with the jaw's new development, moving them posed no trouble at all.
'And the auxiliary organ's original function still works fine.'
The changes around my head weren't limited to that organ. The biggest shift was that the five Human-Faced Beasts that had grown along my back had migrated up to my head. Like ancient warriors decorating themselves with the skulls of their enemies, five pale faces now clung to the back of my carapace like trophies.
With the added weight, my neck evolved as well to bear the burden. My Monster's Tentacles draped over the thickened neck like a mane of hair.
In my normal state, the neck had never been a particularly noticeable feature, hidden as it was beneath the tentacle mane and rear carapace. Now it had grown thick and long like a crocodile's or a Komodo dragon's.
And then the spot where my neck met my back — roughly where a human's shoulder blade would be — began to ache. A moment later, two bone-blade arms, arguably the very symbol of Paragon of the Hunt, burst out from the holes in my carapace.
Capped with living scythes, these arms were the sharpest, deadliest weapons I possessed. Even materials as hard as ship hulls or High-Grade Powered Armor could be sliced through with ease.
Other parts of my body had transformed into combat-ready forms as well.
The blunt claws on my lower torso and tail had changed most dramatically of all. They'd grown joints like my arms, ending in long, pointed talons — a shape that resembled nothing so much as a spider's legs.
New structures had sprouted all over, yet my body was actually lighter than before. Last time I'd used Paragon of the Hunt, I'd felt thick and heavy; now I felt sleek and light.
Lighter, of course, didn't mean weaker or softer. If anything, the densely interwoven scales had raised my defenses even higher than before.
'And I feel more flexible now, too.'
I flexed and extended my combat arms, now more than twice their previous length. With every movement of muscle and bone, my scales rippled like the surface of flowing water.
Despite the lightness and flexibility, my overall length had increased. Judging by what my auxiliary organs could detect, I stretched somewhere between thirty-five and forty meters from snout to tail tip — nearly ten meters added to the twenty-eight-meter frame I'd had before.
'And I'm still the small one here.'
My opponent was a supermassive creature that topped a hundred meters without even trying. I wasn't even a third of its size.
'But size isn't everything.'
Finished with my inspection, I lifted my head, flexing my four bone blades — no, my modified auxiliary organs. As if the timing had been rehearsed, the mound of ice and rubble piled in the tunnel began to tremble the instant I raised my head.
The pile shook with growing violence, as if mirroring the fury of the creature buried beneath it.
Seconds later, chunks of rock and ice exploded outward, and the Ice Horror revealed itself.
To summarize its appearance simply: imagine the monster from that classic kaiju movie franchise — the one that burrowed — with a centipede's body grafted onto its head.
Four ship-rending jaws lined its head, and inside them, dense rows of hooks and teeth for seizing and swallowing prey. Behind the jaws sat atrophied eyes and two long, thin feelers.
Those chain-whip feelers were the creature's detection organs. Unlike my fragile auxiliary organs, its antennae were as sturdy as they looked.
Below the head, the body was segmented like a centipede, each segment bearing sharp-clawed legs and a white dorsal carapace. The difference from any ordinary centipede was that this carapace was extraordinarily hard.
'Even without a special defensive ability, it shrugs off almost any attack.'
In fact, it had taken my Psychic Breath head-on and come away with nothing worse than a few scratches on its plating.
｢Sssssssss｣
Enraged at being ambushed, the creature hissed violently. The feelers on its head swayed like cobras threatening their prey.
This cavern was spacious enough to comfortably hold two supermassive monsters. I had chosen it deliberately for this fight.
With the Ice Horror's bulk, one might think a cramped space would work in my favor — but it was the opposite. It burrowed through earth and ice far more easily than I did. Anywhere but a wide-open space like this, the disadvantage would be mine.
｢Ssssss｣
Having finished its threats, the creature aimed its head at me. The four jaws yawned wide, and a jet of translucent venom shot toward me.
Its venom was my own neural toxin — the one I'd often used against living enemies — hyper-concentrated and laced with hallucinogens. In short: a compound that paralyzed its victims or drowned them in delirium.
But I didn't dodge. Instead, I charged straight at the creature still rooted in place, mid-spit.
'Poison is useless against me.'
Thanks to Perfect Immunity, a perk of reaching the Young Adult stage, I was completely immune to toxins and disease. No matter how potent its venom, it wouldn't affect me at all.
I sprinted across the icy floor as the venom splashed harmlessly over me.
｢Ssssss?｣
Confusion rippled through the creature — it had clearly never met prey immune to its poison before.
'Of course not.'
In this whole region, only a handful of species — the Black Galagons included — could shrug off its toxin.
While it faltered, I put my full speed and weight behind a horn charge. The frozen cavern shook violently, and the creature's massive frame was driven backward.
｢Grrrrrrr｣
No opponent gored by my horns had ever walked away unscathed — until now. The Ice Horror's defenses were simply terrifying. For all my blow's power, its carapace bore nothing but a scratch.
｢Sssssss｣
The creature's hiss turned shrill and razor-edged as it launched its counterattack. Its body, many times longer than mine, writhed like a serpent, trying to coil around me.
I seized its torso with my six combat arms, then whipped my tail in a great arc. The pincer at its tip became a heavy hammer, smashing into the carapace near its abdomen.
｢Ssssss!｣
The Ice Horror's pained shriek mixed with the thunderous impact, echoing through the underground cavern. Where my tail had landed, cracks spiderwebbed across its plating. Struck hard enough to chip the surface — of course it hurt.
｢Ssssssssss｣
Furious now, it spread all four jaws wide and lunged, clearly intending to swallow me whole. The spiral plating on my back peeled open, and the Erosion Tentacles hidden within burst out all at once.
The tentacles flared their appendages wide and clamped down on the creature's jaws.
And so began the contest of strength.
｢Grrrrrrrr｣
｢Ssssss!｣
When two creatures measuring tens to hundreds of meters lock horns, the aftermath is catastrophic. The ice walls ringing the cavern heaved and shuddered. Icicles crashed from the ceiling, and the ground beneath me buckled and split apart.
'Unbelievable strength.'
Even with Paragon of the Hunt active, its power was simply monstrous. My six Erosion Tentacles had a firm grip on its jaws, but they couldn't hold out forever — the creature was bearing down with its full mass, pressing me back.
'But.'
I'd anticipated exactly this.
I let my tentacles slacken, just slightly. The creature, already straining to crush me, toppled forward toward me all at once.
The instant its massive mouth came down to swallow me —
The bone-blade arms on my back shot out like lightning and plunged into its open mouth.
｢Ssssss?!｣
The Ice Horror convulsed at the sudden agony. It must have hurt badly, because it thrashed its entire body wildly. A hundred-meter monster throwing a tantrum shook the entire underground complex like an earthquake.
｢Ssssssss!｣
Then it clamped its jaws shut, seized me, and shook its head furiously, hurling me through the air. My body sailed across the cavern and slammed into the wall.
'Ugh!'
Pain Mitigation
It had been a while since Pain Mitigation had kicked in, but I had no time to stand there and hurt. I yanked myself free of the wall and darted aside — just as the creature's head smashed into the spot where I'd been embedded.
Having dodged by the width of a sheet of paper, I raked the four bone blades beneath my jaw across the carapace of its abdomen.
These blades were forged from the same material as the ones on my back arms — which meant they were both extremely hard and razor-sharp.
With a sound like a walnut shell cracking, four gashes opened across its plating.
Annoyed that I had evaded and counterattacked in the same breath, the creature twisted its torso and rammed into me. I hastily raised my combat arms to block, but the outcome was poor: two of the arms that met its dorsal carapace shattered completely, and my body was slammed into the wall yet again.
'Kgh!'
Its movements were utterly simple, stripped of all technique — but it was faster than me and packed raw power on top, which made it a nightmare to fight.
Having broken my arms, it wrenched its head free of the wall and charged again. I'd expected as much, and I opened my mouth toward its face. The Acidic Fungal Gland nestled near my throat spat a stream of virulent acid upward.
The green liquid hit, and the creature's assault paused. While it hesitated, I scrambled free and put distance between us.
｢Ssssssssss｣
It shook its head in irritation. Its carapace, boasting a hardness well beyond diamond, hadn't let the acid fungus penetrate even slightly.
Shaking off the green liquid, the creature rumbled low at me. With one new ability after another sprouting out of nowhere, it was finally starting to grow wary.
While it hesitated, I checked the spot I'd been targeting all along. The abdominal carapace I'd hammered with my pincer and slashed with my jaw blades was riddled with cracks.
'Ready.'
One thing left to do.
Wait.
｢Ssssss｣
｢Grrrrrrrr｣
Its feelers locked on me, guarding itself warily, the creature moved again. It shot across the ice like a train tearing down steel rails, hurtling straight at me.
A heartbeat before impact, I tensed my tail tip and the legs of my lower torso. My body sprang toward the ceiling like a released spring, my pincer's surface scraping past its jaws.
Having evaded the Ice Horror's charge by a hair, I landed squarely on its back. Using my remaining combat arms and Erosion Tentacles, I clamped onto its dorsal plating like a rodeo cowboy.
｢Sssssssss!｣
Clearly displeased to have a passenger, it writhed its whole body. But I was already clamped down tight, and it couldn't shake me loose as easily as it wanted.
While it thrashed, I hacked away with my jaw blades and back arms. Every whoosh of displaced air was followed by another wound opening across its carapace.
｢Sssaaaargh!｣
Finally, as if it could bear no more, the creature let out a tremendous roar and heaved its body upward. Exactly as I had done before, it channeled strength into its lower torso and legs to launch itself skyward.
In a single leap, it rocketed to the ceiling of the vast cavern. Its back slammed into the ceiling, and I — trapped between the two — might as well have shoved my body into a hydraulic press.
｢Grrk!｣
'Ghk!'
The crushing pain flooding my whole body sapped my strength before I knew it. The rear of my head carapace had shattered from the impact, and deep cracks now split the carapace over my back and chest.
'One more hit like that and I'm done!'
As it slammed into the ceiling and dropped back to the floor, I leapt off its back. It flared its jaws wide — where do you think you're going? — and clamped down on my tail.
The moment it bit down, the hooks and teeth lining its jaws and mouth seized my body. It intended to swallow me whole, then and there.
Instead of striking its jaws, I activated the spine-launcher built into my pincer's interior. The pincer parted slightly, and the barbs within poured out into the creature's throat.
｢Ssssss!｣
Like me, it wielded neural toxins as a weapon, so poison meant nothing between us. But anyone with a fishbone stuck in their throat is bound to be miserable.
The Ice Horror retched and spat me out. My tail tip, having spent those brief moments inside its body, emerged badly mangled.
'It really is strong.'
A creature no one would dare deny was APEX — it boasted staggering combat power. If it belonged to the weaker tier of APEX organisms it might only be this bad; had it been a Black Galagon or a Sea Demon, I'd already be nursing two or three critical wounds.
｢Sssaaargh!｣
With a short roar, it churned its legs and closed in fast. This time I didn't dodge either — I charged straight back at it.
Like bulls locking horns to establish dominance, we hurtled headlong toward each other. In the arena of ice, the Ice Horror's jaws and my head carapace collided.
A crushing pressure slammed into my skull. My head carapace, damaged so rarely in all my battles, cracked apart, and three of my six horns snapped off.
'If I go down here, it's over!'
I drove every scrap of strength into my lower legs and tail, desperate not to be pushed back.
The two immense forces strained against each other for dominion — until the floor could take no more and collapsed beneath us.
I dropped my head low at precisely that moment. The creature, mid-shove, lost its purchase as my head slipped aside, and all its momentum spilled forward into empty air.
Its jaws shattered my rear carapace in an instant and scraped across my back plating. The impact snapped both of my back arms clean off.
A pain beyond description drove straight into my skull. It felt like the back of my head was being flayed off, and I nearly blacked out — but the Pain Mitigation trait let me grit through it somehow.
'Now!'
I wrenched my head to the left. The bone blades beneath my jaw immediately stood upright, tips pointing skyward.
My target: the creature's abdomen, sweeping over me at terrible speed. The two blades on my right side thrust forward and carved a massive gash across its belly.
｢Ssssss!｣
'It cracked — ugh!'
I had no time to savor the blow landing true before I went tumbling across the collapsed floor — the enraged creature had whipped its tail at me.
'Damn it!'
I scrambled to rise, but its jaws were already inches away.
The massive mouth, split four ways, bloomed open like a flower. The moment those jaws snapped shut, my head and upper torso would be finished.
I started to curl up to minimize the damage — when the creature abruptly froze. It lasted only an instant, but it was enough for me to escape.
The moment I pulled my upper body clear, its jaws slammed shut. That was when I felt it: familiar movements stirring far down the half-collapsed tunnel.
'They made it!'
Then the rock and ice choking the tunnel rose into the air, floating. They became cannonballs, raining down onto the Ice Horror's back and tail.
｢Ssssssssss｣
Startled by the sudden attack, the creature whipped its head around.
From the darkness beyond the tunnel, three figures emerged.
｢...I knew it. You held out well.｣
A griffon beastman, the High Priest's Golden Spear clutched in his hand.
｢Big｣｢Elder｣｢Serpent｣｢Very｣｢Huge｣
The Green Galagon, expressing its astonishment at the sight of me and the Ice Horror.
｢You nasty thing! Nobody picks on Big Baby and gets away with it! I'm going to scold you so, so much!｣
And a ten-meter Sea Demon, brandishing countless tentacles and fins in open threat.
The long wait was over. At last, the reinforcements had arrived.