The blast from the Explosion magic had robbed everyone of their hearing before they'd even had ti to react. While Jhin had been frantically throwing up earth-elent barriers at the front, the others had each done their part to protect one another — everyone except gumin, who could contribute nothing whatsoever beyond flapping her jaw.
Once the earth-elent barriers dispersed, they finally got a clear look at the destruction the spell had wrought. The tawny little hill they'd used as a target had ceased to exist. In its place was a pitch-black crater of unfathomable depth.
"We should seal this move away unless we have absolutely no other choice," Jhin said, still feeling shaken. If they'd picked a closer target, he wasn't sure any of them would have made it through the shockwave in one piece.
"Huh? Why would we seal it away?! Didn't you hear my magnificent incantation? Didn't you see the most incredible, most breathtaking Explosion magic in existence?!"
"I'd rather not lose my life over a stunt like that." Kyaru had been so terrified that a good chunk of tail fur had practically jumped off her body. There was no way she was doing this again. "Besides, without my [Mana Touch], you two can't cast it together in the first place — so just drop it entirely."
"I agree. Let's seal it." Kokkoro pressed a hand to her chest, willing her pounding heart to calm down. "That was genuinely terrifying."
Pecorine stood on her tiptoes, peering into the distance. "Oh? Look, everyone — there's sothing inside that crater."
They all turned to look. From the depths of the gaping pit carved by the Explosion magic, a pair of razor-sharp, glossy-black pincers slowly erged and drove into the earth like they were slicing through tofu.
An enormous scorpion heaved itself out of the crater. Its hard carapace, which should have armored its entire body, was riddled with dense fracture lines; in several places the shell had been blasted clean off, leaving pale, raw muscle tissue exposed beneath. Its beady black eyes oozed pure malice, and its legendary lethal stinger — tail and all — was more than half gone.
"That… that looks like a Lord-class monster," Kyaru said, her voice trembling. "The Sand Scorpion King."
"Co to think of it, I saw a commission at the Adventurers' Guild about investigating why the Sand Scorpion King had been acting restless."
The mont Pecorine finished speaking, everyone turned as one to look at gumin, still lying on the ground and complaining about being ignored.
Jhin couldn't hold it together. He buried his face in both hands and let out a long, exhausted groan. "I dragged gumin all the way out here just so she could fire Explosion magic sowhere she wouldn't cause trouble — and she still managed to cause trouble."
"You ant well. The Adventurers' Guild will understand." Kyaru stifled a laugh and patted him on the shoulder.
"Um… the Sand Scorpion King doesn't look like it's going to forgive us. It's already charging."
"Ah…"
Everyone heard Pecorine's words, turned, and saw the Sand Scorpion King barreling toward them with terrifying montum.
"Hey, hey, hey! What do we do?! We don't have the firepower to take down a Lord-class monster!"
"Kyaru, don't panic. It's not like it can outrun us anyway — might as well pick a fight and look for a chance to bolt."
"Pecorine, do you actually understand what we're dealing with here?! That's a Lord-class monster — not so elite or boss-tier creature!" Even as Kyaru said it, her hands were already moving without a mont's hesitation. [Guren Burst] slamd into the Sand Scorpion King's legs, trying to arrest its advance.
"Master, shall we engage it head-on?"
"The Sand Scorpion King took a serious hit from that Explosion magic. Kokkoro, cast support magic on everyone, then keep an eye on gumin. Pecorine and I will go in and hold it down. Kyaru, you provide fire support from range — best case we take it out, but if it's not working, you all pull back first. I can catch up to you with Pecorine."
"Understood. [Blessing of Light]!"
"Pecorine!"
"I know."
Pecorine turned and let Jhin draw out the Void weapon, then the two of them charged together toward the Sand Scorpion King as it bore down on them in a cloud of billowing dust.
"Dark-Corrosive Thunder!"
Ancient magic's power was on another level entirely. The jet-black lightning punched a fist-sized hole clean through the Sand Scorpion King's carapace. Compared to its body, which stretched dozens of ters in length, it was barely a scratch — but it proved the armor could be pierced.
The Sand Scorpion King couldn't believe two tiny flies were actually charging toward it. It let out a furious shriek. These past few days, it had constantly been robbed of sleep by mysterious explosions, until at last it found a perfect spot and buried itself to masquerade as a small hill — napping blissfully while waiting to snack on any dim-witted adventurers or monsters that wandered past.
And then, completely out of nowhere, magic had rained down from the sky. In its disguised, sleeping state, its sensitivity to mana had been at an all-ti low — which was exactly why it had eaten Jhin and gumin's combined Explosion magic head-on, with no warning whatsoever.
The more it thought about it, the angrier it got. The Sand Scorpion King swung its massive pincers and brought them crashing down at the two "flies" running toward it. The shockwave from the swing alone was enough to send a person flying; when the pincers struck the earth, a thick plu of dust erupted into the air.
Boosted by Kokkoro's support magic, Pecorine nimbly dodged the blow. Before the dust cloud had even settled, she stomped off the ground and leapt high into the air, mana surging through her body, great sword drawn back and charged with power.
On the other side, Jhin read Pecorine's intentions and coordinated with her, unleashing [Dark-Corrosive Thunder] in its area-of-effect form — dozens of bolts of lightning cracking across the Sand Scorpion King's pincers to draw its attention.
The Sand Scorpion King took the bait. It swung its right pincer in irritation to swat away the gnat that was actually starting to sting. The mont Jhin landed his hit, he imdiately leapt clear of the follow-through, perfectly dodging the lethal sweep of the enormous claw.
One good hit from those pincers and I'd probably lose half my life on the spot.
"[Princess Assault]!" Seizing the opening, Pecorine drove her full strength into the Sand Scorpion King's eyes, which sat on its back. She had experience dealing with smaller scorpions and knew exactly where to find them.
The mana-charged blade drove straight through the semi-transparent eyeballs and shattered them. The Sand Scorpion King convulsed in agony across its entire body. Pecorine, still standing on its back, stumbled several steps from the violent shuddering. The Sand Scorpion King was exquisitely sensitive to vibration — it imdiately recognized that whatever had blinded it was still on its back. Its shattered stump of a tail reared up and sprayed a jet of dark-green venom.
Fortunately, a well-tid [Guren Burst] from Kyaru blasted the tail off-course, giving Pecorine just enough ti to get off its back.
At the sa mont, Jhin activated Ti Stop. "The World!"
He sprinted around the Sand Scorpion King's pincers, magic rings pulsing furiously along his arm, and unleashed six [Dark-Corrosive Thunder] strikes directly into the creature's circular, spike-rimd mouthparts — a bristling, spider-leg-covered horror of an orifice.
Spell discharged, Jhin gripped the Void weapon in both hands, pivoted at the waist, and drove a slash into the vulnerable joint inside the pincer. Sparks flew.
Clang!
"That thing is way too hard. Without Pecorine's [Princess Assault], there doesn't seem to be any way to actually damage the carapace."
The rebound numbed both of Jhin's hands to the bone. Physical attacks were a dead end — he gave up on them imdiately and shifted the Void weapon into pure BUFF-item mode, holding it as a catalyst.
"Ti resus."
Crackle. Before the Sand Scorpion King could process what was happening, six custom firecrackers had been stuffed into its mouth — and with a muffled boom, they detonated inside.
____
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