Chapter 173
Chapter 173
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 173
Chapter Title: Ep. 173
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"Sss?"
The sudden intruders left it looking confused. It had to be wondering why it had missed them.
The reason was simple.
'Because I scattered its focus.'
Once it realized I was no easy prey, it had poured every sense into me.
Had I held back or kept my distance in the fight, it would've had the spare attention to notice the others coming.
The Ice Horror boasted impressive physical prowess, but at its core, it was an ambush hunter. The moment it deemed the terrain beyond its control, it would retreat.
'Can't let that happen.'
We needed it. I needed its brain, the Mother of the Sky needed its heart.
And its flesh for the rest.
'Take it down here.'
"Grrrrrr..."
As I growled, it glanced back and forth between me and No. 26.
Of all the threats in this chamber, I was the most dangerous to it. I'd shattered even its abdominal carapace, after all.
But its instincts screamed otherwise. It must have sensed the Predator C lurking higher up the food chain than itself.
No. 26 usually kept her psychic power from leaking out—for Adhai's sake, since he was sensitive to it.
Had I not been hurt, she'd have stayed hidden even now.
'She's properly furious.'
Dozens of eyes flowed like liquid across No. 26's body. The eyes conjured by her 'Terror of the Deep' trait glared at the Ice Horror.
Intense psychic power erupted from her body—dyed a pink verging on purple—filling the entire chamber.
The silver lining was that none of it leaked outside. She was holding it in check so Galleron wouldn't notice.
To sum up No. 26's mood: cold fury.
'That's even scarier.'
"Ssss..."
The psychic power left the Ice Horror visibly torn on where to focus. Its antennae wandered aimlessly, mirroring its disoriented mind.
I couldn't let its attention drift. Propping myself up on my unbroken combat arms, I unleashed a thunderous roar.
"■■■■■■■!"
My bellow echoed far beyond the chamber. The wind pressure hurled nearby ice shards and rock fragments into the air. Sensing the sheer dominance in my cry, its antennae twitched.
"Saaaa!"
"■■■■!"
The Ice Horror bellowed back just as fiercely. Ignoring No. 26, it lunged at me. I kicked off the ground and charged right back.
We raced toward each other across the shattered ice floor, leaving footprints in our wake. Our collision rocked the chamber once more.
'Ugh!'
My combat arms and dorsal arms were snapped, my head carapace cracked. Energy spent mending broken bones meant I couldn't muster my full strength anymore.
It, on the other hand, showed no fatigue, flaunting raw monstrous power. A fitting apex beast in pure specs.
'Actually works in our favor.'
It was a sly predator. With an opponent it could toy with at leisure, fleeing wouldn't cross its mind. All we had to do was keep it pinned while it let its guard down.
While I held its focus, the others sprang into action.
The Mother of the Sky, shifted into her griffin beastkin form, clutched the Priestess's Golden Spear as she mounted Adhai. Despite the pitch darkness, Adhai zipped to the Ice Horror's back in the blink of an eye.
He flew so close to its dorsal carapace that he nearly brushed it, and the Mother of the Sky thrust her spear long and deep into its back. The propulsion from his high-speed flight carved a thin gash across the plating.
"Ssss..."
Catching an attack mid-grapple with me, it hissed in irritation. Its tail stirred, aiming to swat the pest.
No light pierced this underground void, but my advanced auxiliary senses picked it up clear. The tail rising to strike Adhai loomed like a massive wall.
Like mythic heroes astride heavenly steeds battling legendary beasts, Adhai and the Mother of the Sky deftly evaded the tail. Adhai's flight mastery had reached new heights, letting him maneuver effortlessly even in these tight confines.
The Mother of the Sky devoted herself solely to spear thrusts, while Adhai dodged the sweeping tail and bulk.
As the pair synced their pincer assault, No. 26 readied her own strike.
No. 26 waved the tentacles sprouting from her body like a conductor wielding a baton. Debris littering the chamber floor levitated in unison.
The Seed Demon signature move, 'Demon Crash,' had activated. Now infused with psychic power, those chunks became psionic cannon rounds.
A portion of the hovering rubble rocketed forth like shells, slamming into the Ice Horror's torso.
"Sss!"
The Ice Horror seemed at a loss for where to divide its attention. As its focus splintered, the pressure from its jaws eased just a fraction.
'Perfect!'
I seized the opening, tightening my erosion tentacles on its jaw and head. For the first time in the fight, it staggered backward.
"Sss?!"
Caught off guard, it floundered without a proper counter. Riding the momentum, I shoved hard. The uneven, collapsed ground tilted its massive frame sharply.
That exposed the shattered abdominal carapace I'd wrought, in all its glory.
As it scrambled to recover, its body froze in place. Unbeknownst to it, a psychic web spanning hundreds of meters had ensnared its bulk.
No. 26 had flung the net—and cast 'Binding' once more.
Hearing my mental shout, Adhai dove in at breakneck speed. The Mother of the Sky on his back drove her spear with everything she had.
The razor-sharp tip pierced the soft innards beneath the broken plating. The spear sank deep into its body without resistance.
"Saaaa!"
Impaled by the Priestess's Golden Spear, it thrashed with a guttural screech. Its 100-meter-plus frame bucked wildly, shaking not just the chamber but the whole underground expanse.
"Watch out!"
"Understood."
Its torso and tail flailed like a rollercoaster off the rails. Adhai threaded acrobatic flights through the chaos.
'Not enough.'
Its sheer size meant even burying the spear to the hilt wasn't lethal.
I clambered atop its rampaging form amid the rubble. Parting my lower jaw into twin forks, I lunged to bite the shattered carapace.
"Ssss!"
Writhing in agony like a salted earthworm, it intuited my target with eerie instinct and flipped away fast.
My strike whiffed. Instead of tender flesh, my jaws clamped its rock-hard flank plating.
'Tch.'
Teeth that could gnaw starship hulls crumpled helplessly against the Ice Horror's armor. My first fang breakage since arriving in this world—I inwardly tsked.
"Sss."
Worse, that attack tipped it off to my game. Knowing I'd hammer the wounded spot relentlessly, it twisted to shield its weak point.
Adhai, our fastest, darted about unleashing Purple Lightning to no avail.
It had weathered my Psychic Breath head-on with mere scratches. Weaker blasts like Purple Lightning couldn't dent it.
"So tough!"
"Little kiddo! Get outta the way!"
No. 26 rallied her power anew. Her psychic energy solidified into a radiant glow.
The airborne debris converged before her, spinning lazily.
Reading her intent, I clamped down with every erosion tentacle and combat arm.
"Ssss..."
"Grr..."
It seemed intent on crushing me quick and bolting. Its thick, elongated body coiled around me. Carapace met synthetic scales in showers of sparks.
Its strength dwarfed mine. A determined squeeze, and I wouldn't hold long.
Proof flashed before my eyes: waves of 'Pain Reduction' activations.
Enduring via trait effect, I snagged one broken dorsal arm with an erosion tentacle—and ripped it free.
'Urk!'
Pain incomparable to the initial break lanced through my skull.
I wasn't mad. That mantis-like dorsal arm bore my body's keenest bone blades.
Motionless from full fracture, now it'd serve as a weapon.
'This'll work.'
I caught the severed arm on a combat limb, swung it axe-like, and smashed its weak spot.
"Ssss!"
The Priestess's Golden Spear already lodged, now topped by my bone blade—it shrieked.
Top predators, accustomed to inflicting pain, falter under their own. It was no different.
Strength ebbed from its constricting grip. As the Ice Horror recoiled to guard its flaw, I unveiled another trump card.
The five faces embedded in my head carapace gaped wide.
From the Sirens' maws poured sonic waves to paralyze any foe.
"-----!" "-----!" "-----!" "-----!" "-----!"
"Sst?!"
Full paralysis wave to the head—it froze. No. 26's weapon hit firing readiness simultaneously.
"Yeah!"
A psionic drill—psychic power fused with a massive ice block—tore through the air.
Its tip zeroed in on the Ice Horror's fractured carapace. The vulnerability we'd carved.
Pure psychic essence and ice shards shredded the exposed flesh to ribbons.
"Saaaaak!"
The Seed Demon—no, No. 26's—Psionic Drill packed devastating punch. It mulched bones and meat inside the plating to paste; rotation nearly sucked out the organs.
Unable to bear the agony of rupturing guts, it unleashed a colossal wail.
But that marked the end.
The drill spun with body-bisecting fury yet couldn't breach the carapace fully. Having vastly widened the gash, its psychic matrix dissipated into the air.
"I'm... drained..."
"Little grown-up." "Danger."
Overexerted on psychic power, No. 26 shrank. Down to her usual 50cm perch-on-head size, Adhai scooped her onto his back.
"Sss..."
The Ice Horror's antennae quivered anxiously. How often had a predator like it sustained such a grievous wound? Likely never since hatchling days.
Deeming escape impossible, it clawed at the floor to burrow away.
'Where do you think you're going?'
Easy to arrive, not so to leave. I snagged the fleeing beast from behind and yanked it back.
"Grr..."
"Sss?!"
Then jammed my head into the gash. Its warm blood trickled past my sealed jaws.
Combat arms and erosion tentacles pried the wound agape as I burrowed deeper—stirring innards with head horns and subjaw blades.
To dislodge me, it crunched my tail in its jaws and pulled. The harder it tugged, the firmer my hold on the splayed rent.
Tailtip pincers, carapace, legs—all tore free in its maw, yet I clung on.
How much time passed? Shoving past a wall of solidity, chill air bathed my head carapace.
The realization hit: I'd tunneled clean through its body. Its death rattle followed.
"Sss... sss... s..."
The Ice Horror—perhaps centuries, millennia old.
As if in deepest grudge, it uttered a faint keen... and fell.