Before the battle resud, the turtle turned and placed its egg deep inside the tunnel. Then it positioned itself at the entrance, blocking the way in with its massive body.
Moon understood imdiately.
It was a smart move. The turtle knew that by revealing the egg, it had given Moon sothing to leverage. If it charged at Moon now, Mirage could circle around and go for the egg. So it chose to stay put and guard the entrance.
Smart from one perspective, but also a death sentence from another.
Because by refusing to move, the turtle had turned itself into a sitting duck. It couldn't dodge, nor could it give chase. It couldn't do anything except sit there and take whatever Moon threw at it. All because it made the mistake of entering that tunnel in the first place. That single decision had exposed the egg, and now the turtle was paying for it dearly.
Moon was going to use every bit of that protective instinct against her.
He cast [Lightning Raiju]. The blue wolf slamd into the jade shell and lightning tore across the cracked surface. The turtle flinched but held its ground. It wouldn't move, not with the egg behind it.
Moon cast it again.
The second wolf hit the sa spot. A chunk of jade the size of his fist splintered off and fell to the ground. For the first ti, the turtle's shell was being broken, parts of it falling under his powerful attacks that could kill S-Rank beasts.
The web of cracks deepened, and Moon cast the lightning Raiju a third ti.
By now, the shell was barely holding together its structure. Moon could see it now, entire sections had gone pale where the jade had lost its density. Two, maybe three more hits and it would shatter revealing the blue flesh underneath.
But after using his strongest attack three tis in a row, Moon's mana was spent.
He reached into his pouch and pulled out a mana potion. He took the cork off and tilted it back, the liquid hadn't even reached his mouth yet when he felt it.
A volley of spells, arrows and spears ca charging toward him from behind. Moon's hand was already moving. He activated a defensive rune and a translucent shield materialized around him.
The first few attacks splashed against the barrier harmlessly. Then more followed: fireball, earth rocks, arrows in rapid succession. The shield flickered under the barrage, cracks spreading across its surface with each hit.
The shield shattered completely before the attacks ended, forcing Moon to leap away from the area.
Moon threw the empty potion from his hands, his eyes landing on the attacker as a frown broke out on his face.
A group of Awakeners was approaching him or perhaps the crater. There was ten of them, all ard with the strongest weapons from A-Rank to S-Rank.
Ten of these powerful awakeners was by no ans a small number. Judging by the barrage that had just shattered his shield, these weren't amateurs. That rune had been one of Moon's finest pieces of work. He had poured a significant amount of mana into crafting it, and its defensive power rivaled an Epic-Rank skill.
But they had destroyed it with a few attacks.
The group fanned out as they reached the rim of the crater, taking positions that cut off his angles of retreat. A few of them were already looking past Moon at the turtle behind him.
Moon and Mirage were stuck between the turtle that had began to leave its shell, and the ten awakeners.
One of them, a tall man with a longsword resting on his shoulder, let out a low whistle when he saw the state of the shell.
"Would you look at that."
Another one laughed.
"He actually cracked that powerful turtle's shell. What was it, two attacks?"
"Three, I counted three."
"Still impressive for a solo act."
They were talking about him like he wasn't standing right there.
Moon's frown deepened. His eyes moved across the group, reading their formation, their equipnt, their expressions. Most of them were grinning like they had already claid what they ca here for.
Near the back, a woman stood with her arms crossed, eyeing him like a butcher sizing up an animal already destined to be slaughtered. "What do you want?" Moon asked, his focus still on the turtle in case it attacked him from behind. He was buying so ti for his potion to take so effect, his mana was at an all ti low.
The tall man with the longsword tilted his head. "Do you hear him?" he asked his team before laughing in scrutiny.
A shorter Awakener beside him snorted.
"He's asking why we're here."
"He might be stupid…but he is polite, at least."
The tall man stepped forward. He planted his sword into the dirt and leaned on the poml like he had all the ti in the world.
"We ca for the turtle, originally. It's one of the strongest S-Rank beasts we've tracked in a long ti. We've been watching it for weeks, waiting for the right mont." He gestured lazily toward the cracked shell behind Moon. "Then you showed up and did most of the work for us. Comndable, really. You're strong. Stronger than I expected from soone working alone."
He paused.
"But…you cast that spell too many tis. Your mana must be at an all-ti low right now." His eyes flicked to the empty potion bottle still in Moon's hand. "And you just used your defensive rune on our little greeting."
The man smiled although the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "As for the answer to your question, it's simple. We want your life, then the turtle's."
Moon stared at him calmly.
There was ten powerful awakeners most at probably peak of A-Rank with so that might be S-Rank. His mana was nearly depleted, and behind him, a Supre creature on the verge of breaking, and an egg worth more than everything these people would earn in a hundred lifetis.
If they were here for the turtle alone, he would have needed to kill them anyway. He couldn't let anyone else land a blow on the beast. He wasn't sure how his super lives worked in that scenario. Could they be split? Could soone else claim a fraction of them? The thought of losing on super lives made his skin crawl.
It had taken him an enormous ti to find this beast, he had to travel for days, and his ti was running out. Even if here were to find another one later on, he would have missed the tiline for the tournant, and potentially waste a few years as a result.
"You should leave, now."
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