Chapter 149
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: Giga Beak Break
No, its size was whale-like, but that thing was still a snail.
Yet it was pulling off an attack like that?
The most unbelievable part was that my eyes couldn't track its movements.
One thing I'd realized while surviving in this place:
Every creature had its own specialty.
Roughly speaking, you could divide them into attack power, defense, or speed.
There were plenty that handled special abilities like poison or illusions too, but for the most part, those three categories covered it.
So where did that leave me?
I had no single specialty to speak of.
But that wasn't a weakness—it was my strength.
Instead of specializing, I'd stolen traits from others to fill the gaps.
I'd gathered traits for attack power, defense, and speed.
So my stats were close to a perfect hexagon—balanced across the board.
Unless someone else had abilities like mine, that kind of even spread was virtually unheard of.
Everyone specialized in something and built around it to grow stronger.
I might have hexagonal stats overall, but if I had to pick one standout, it was my speed.
Birds were fast by nature, after all, and I had ways to amp it up even more.
That snail?
No matter how I looked at it, defense was its specialty.
Not just that tough shell, but the mucus coating its body too.
Pure defensive stats might fall a bit short of the Tin Woodman, but the slime made up for it—roughly equal performance.
And yet, a creature like that had overwhelmed my speed in an instant.
It didn't make sense.
Did that bulk really allow for that kind of velocity?
And if it could move that fast, why hold back until now?
It could've won without taking a scratch if it'd used that speed from the start.
The answer was simple.
It hated using that ability.
This was probably its last desperate struggle.
Kuuuooooh...
Its massive body blotted out the sky, almost giving the illusion it covered the heavens.
Clearly bulkier than before.
Its shell was on the ground now—what you could call the slug part was all that remained aloft.
Right, the shell.
By shedding it, its speed had skyrocketed.
Lighter weight meant faster movement?
Could be, but there had to be more to it.
If it was just raw speed, there'd be no need for this kind of attack.
This felt like a gamble on a single, all-out strike.
What if it hadn't shed the shell—what if it had launched it?
That would explain everything.
It had built up power and unleashed it in an explosive burst, surpassing even my speed, aiming to crush me with everything it had.
And that meant enduring this one attack would spell its defeat.
Wuuuoooong...
Its size swelled in real time.
Probably to block any escape routes.
"Krarrararara!"
Sorry, but it didn't look all that threatening.
If it'd ambushed me at that earlier speed, I might not have reacted in time and taken a fatal hit.
But things were different now.
Its descent was slower than expected, and I'd clearly clocked it.
I could just slip into the shadows and call it a day.
If it missed me and slammed into the ground, that alone might do it in.
"Kawk."
Shhhk.
I dove into the shadows.
Or tried to.
Shadowform wouldn't activate.
"Kawk?"
What the hell?
This had never happened before.
I racked my brain fast.
Its huge body loomed right above me.
And its volume was still expanding in real time.
Meaning every shadow I could see might as well be its shadow.
Shadows cast by enemies weren't off-limits for me, normally.
This had to be its doing.
...So how had it countered it?
How did it even know about my ability?
Less a counter, more like I'd walked into a trap.
Even Blink was tricky here.
One jump wouldn't get me clear of that range.
Which left...
If I couldn't turn into a shadow, I'd turn something else into one.
Shadowize it with Residual Light Feather, and I wouldn't have to worry about getting crushed under that mass.
It'd guzzle resources to shadowize that much volume, but doable.
Yeah, summon the afterglow with Night Summoning.
That was the plan—until I stared up at its slowly descending bulk.
...
Something felt off.
It was definitely dropping slowly.
And that speed kept dropping further.
At first, I'd thought the expanding bulk was a trick to prevent dodging.
But this was too weird.
Wasn't it basically stopped now?
"Krarrararara!"
Guuuooooh...
The mist thickened.
And that's when I figured it out—what the mist really was.
Contact with its mucus stole memories.
It fueled itself by burning those memories for power.
I'd thought I'd burned off all the slime, but some lingered.
The mist filling this space was just another form of it.
It was so ridiculous I almost laughed.
Turning from snail to flying slug had been surprising enough, but this? A mental attack instead of physical?
Talk about "if you don't know, you're screwed."
It jammed shadowform while ramping up the mist's density and range.
Even activating Residual Light Feather would be pointless.
It wasn't going for physical damage anymore.
The rabbits, the soldiers.
Me, Cheshire, Swungswung, Moona.
All of us were inside the mist's reach.
It planned to devour our memories in a flash and recover all its spent power.
Shhhk!
Something translucent got yanked out and slowly absorbed into it—visible to the eye.
That had to be the others' memories.
"Kraaaaaah!"
The snail let out a agonized scream.
I wasn't fazed.
I'd seen this coming.
"Kawk."
What, did it eat something it shouldn't have?
I'd considered blowing the mist away with Early Evening Feather, but seeing its range, I realized I could turn it against the snail.
Because Moona was in that range.
Moona had the Sage trait.
Could a mere snail handle a sage's knowledge and wisdom?
Even sweets get inedible if they're too much.
Plus, my memories had some gems too.
I had partial immunity to mental attacks thanks to my traits, and knowledge no snail could process.
"Kraaaaaah! Krarrarararak!"
Guess it glimpsed 21st-century humanity's potential.
"What... what is this knowledge?!"
Not the snail's feral roar—it mimicked a human voice.
"This shouldn't exist... Kraaaah! Krarrarararak!"
The absorbed memories were flowing back out.
It had no choice—choking down knowledge it couldn't handle.
Moona's wisdom, my blunt modern insights—who knew? Didn't matter.
"Kaaaaak!"
Time for my counterattack.
White Night LV1
Consumes tribute to imbue feathers with frost effect.
Can apply White Night to time periods summonable via Night Summoning.
Grants additional effects to each feather's abilities.
Frost clung to the Twilight Feather.
I'd known from the start that this mist was artificial, tailored to favor it.
Even knowing that, I hadn't cleared it from the jump—instead, diving right in.
Simple reason.
Mist was like water vapor—each particle a precious resource to amplify White Night.
Kwadddddrk!
Frost power gathered around me.
It devoured the mist's moisture, growing stronger by the second.
"Krarrarararak!"
The slug accelerated, plummeting fast again.
Mental attacks failed? Fine, body slam it is.
Shweeeeeek!
It whipped ten tentacles, radiating kill-intent.
...Seeing it this pissed, yeah, it definitely saw my modern crap.
I had to pierce through and hit the core in one go.
Couldn't drag this out.
Its abilities were full of surprises—if I didn't end it now, it'd counter or flee in some unforeseen way.
So I'd go for the one-shot too.
Expanded volume meant thinner durability, probably.
Still, those ten tentacles were annoying.
I charged, leading with the Doombringer Beak.
From below, upward.
It above, downward.
Positioning favored it.
Size overwhelmingly so.
But I could overcome it.
Shwaaaak!
Twilight and White Night feathers swirled, cloaking my body.
I glared at the sky-blocking slug mass.
Doombringer Beak.
Twilight and White Night.
But not enough.
It'd be like smashing an egg against a rock.
Early Evening Feather LV1
I summoned wind with Early Evening Feather.
Couldn't amplify it via Night Summoning since Twilight was active.
But this much power was plenty.
One feather took on Early Evening's hue, wind surging from it.
I spread my left wing, now dyed that color.
Balance? Shot to hell, obviously.
I started spiraling to one side.
Shwaaaaaaargh!
But my speed didn't drop.
It surged higher.
If one word defined my form...
Yeah, spiral.
"Kaaaaaaaak!"
The perfect shape for breakthrough took form.
Shweeeeeeek!
"Kraaaaaak!"
Spinning Doombringer Beak struck home.
Kwadddddrk!
Frost-infused Twilight Feathers whirled around me, widening the wound.
Krunnnch.
It resisted with its bulk, but the spiral didn't stop.
"Kawk... Kaaaaak!"
It frantically sucked in mist, recoating itself in slime—but White Night froze not just the mist, but the moisture in its own body.
Its face twisted in horror, vulnerable to my assault.
I spun fiercer, accelerating relentlessly.
Its momentum faded—I could feel it.
A bit more.
Just a little more!
"Gruk... Gru.... Gruuuuh..."
Kwadddddrk!
A house-sized hole tore through its body.
Kwaaaaaang!
And that was its end.
"Kak! Kakakak!"
My beak had pierced the sky-shrouding beast.