Chapter 48 - Lakeside (3)

The giant crab slammed its claw down. I narrowly dodged the attack. It was a big, somewhat sluggish swing, so avoiding it wasn't difficult.

But the tremor that ran through the ground when it struck was no joke.

'M-mana first...!'

Steadying my pounding heart, I circulated my mana. A cool sensation spread through my muscles. Practicing whenever I had time had let me respond quickly.

"Gurrrk."

Meanwhile, the giant crab raised its claw again. It was surprisingly agile for its enormous size. The moment I saw it, I got my legs moving. I was better off forgetting about taking that hit head-on.

THUNK!

"Whoa?!"

But the unfamiliar terrain tripped me up. Something caught my foot as I backed away. The world spun for a moment, and then I was looking at the sky. Even as I toppled backward, instinct took over.

"Ngh...!"

A considerable impact jolted my back, but I could bear it. Just before landing, I'd curled up to minimize the impact. That was the result of breaking my fall the way Sword Masta's post had taught me.

THUDUDUDUD!

The giant crab hadn't stopped even while I was stumbling backward. Perhaps thanks to all those legs, it closed in quickly despite its enormous bulk.

I slipped a little as I struggled to get up. In the meantime, the giant crab's claw slowly rose, casting a shadow over my head.

I couldn't get to my feet like this. Instinctively, I raised my shield to block, drawing on as much mana as I could and praying it would protect me.

CLANG!

It sounded like metal striking metal. The impact came through the shield. My arm tingled, but I could withstand it. It was weaker than the muscle mushroom.

I hastily rolled away before a follow-up could land.

BAM!

Apparently, the giant crab had brought its claw down once more while I rolled. Feeling the tremor through my whole body, I got up without a word. Moving its many legs to turn itself around, the crab approached me again.

'Forget about blocking and counterattacking.'

If I kept blocking with my shield, my arm would give out first. I had to find an opening somehow, but that was easier said than done.

'Its attacks are predictable, but the speed is a problem.'

I kept thinking without stopping my feet. That was another tip from Sword Masta: think while you move. That way, you wouldn't give your opponent an opening and could turn the situation in your favor.

BAM!

And Sword Masta's advice worked. The giant crab missed, slamming its claw into the spot I'd just vacated.

This was my chance. I channeled mana into my sword and swung hard. With a haze rising from it, the blade sliced straight through the claw.

SLICE!

The pincer came clean off. It wasn't a particularly telling blow. I'd only severed the pincer, not the entire limb. There was no helping that when it was so huge. I couldn't slice the whole thing apart with a single stroke like certain people.

'One piece at a time.'

But that was enough. If I whittled it down like this, I could kill it.

WHOOSH!

The giant crab swiftly swung its now-pincerless limb. The claw had been a huge blunt weapon to begin with, so even that was plenty threatening. I kept my legs moving as I searched for a weakness.

'Wait. This thing...'

In doing so, I spotted an obvious weakness. A fatal one, at that.

Crabs, by their very nature, could only walk sideways. Getting bigger hadn't changed that trait. In other words, its attack coverage was extremely limited. No matter how much it swung, there was a clear limit to what it could reach.

'Especially with how slowly it turns.'

While the giant crab flailed its claws, I darted around behind it. It tried its best to turn, but it was too slow. Its claws couldn't reach me either. Such was the unfortunate fate of a crab designed only to walk sideways.

SLICE!

As it turned, I cut off its legs rather than its claws. Two legs came off in a single stroke, courtesy of Heavenly Demon's sword and my aura.

THUD!

Losing two legs at once threw the giant crab off balance. Judging by the way one side lurched, it was struggling even to stay upright.

My goal was to rob it of its mobility entirely. It turned as slowly as a turtle, and I exploited that for all it was worth.

SLICE! SLICE!

I kept to its rear rather than its front and cut away its legs. Once I'd severed two on each side, it completely lost the ability to turn. That made taking off the remaining legs child's play.

SLASH!

Finally, I cut off its prized claws entirely. Nothing but a torso remained sprawled on the ground. Perhaps because it was a crustacean, it was still twitching despite having every limb severed.

CRUNCH!

I climbed onto the giant crab's shell and drove my sword down between its eyes, in the center of the upper edge.

SKRRRRRCH!

I pulled the sword downward like a lever. Heavenly Demon's sword sliced through solid wood like tofu, so it moved easily. At last, the blade reached the very bottom of the shell, and I yanked it free with all my strength.

SHLASH!

With all its legs gone, it didn't dramatically split apart into two halves. But I was satisfied that it had stopped moving altogether. I flicked the bits of innards off my sword.

"Whew!"

I let out a ragged breath. Surging adrenaline made my heart hammer. If I hadn't found that weakness, I would've had a seriously hard time.

Forget a hard time—one wrong move and I could have died. It was strangely exhilarating.

"Gurrrk."

"Gurk."

Before I knew it, the smaller crabs had swarmed over and begun picking at the giant crab's carcass. Even with a giant crab, they dutifully performed their role as scavengers. I watched them for a moment, then posted on the forum.

Killed a giant crab

(Photo of an absolutely enormous giant crab carcass)

A giant crab way bigger than a person popped out at the lakeside;; It used its claws like clubs.

Thankfully it turned slow as hell, so killing it was easy. What the hell is with these things;;

I posted without reading the comments. Getting home was more urgent. Not only had I landed on my ass, I'd rolled all over the ground. If I stayed like this, I might get sick, never mind the smell.

'Next time, I'm bringing proper shoes.'

This had taught me just how important footwear was. When I slipped, I even felt my life briefly flash before my eyes. After another heaving breath, I started walking back.

'The dead fish... there it is.'

I hadn't forgotten the way back. There was the dead fish, as well as the half-eaten crab carcass. The thought of trudging all the way home feeling this filthy was already making me light-headed, but I'd have to put up with it.

"Gurrrk. Gurk."

"..."

I spotted a crab along the way and gently picked it up. Then I bought a backpack from the auction house—not a little waist bag, but one that went on my back.

'I can't resist.'

I'd eat it as soon as I got to the cave. Roundfur and the speed-sloth needed some too, so I put in two more. I considered taking one for the dwarf, but unfortunately, I couldn't trade until tomorrow. Crab would make a perfect drinking snack, so I planned to come back then.

'Allfather said they're edible, so they should taste good, right?'

I wasn't particularly worried about parasites. Nor did I think they'd kill each other and spoil. So far, I'd only seen these things eat their own kind when they were corpses.

RUMBLE...

I was inwardly rejoicing when a tremor ran through the ground. Nothing good had ever happened to me when the ground shook. The moment that thought struck, I frantically looked around.

SPLASH! SPLASH!

Giant crabs emerged one after another from deep in the lake. They were about as big as the one I'd just fought, or slightly bigger. There were at least five. I watched them in dismay.

I'd barely managed to kill one, and now five more had popped up. If I hadn't left that spot, I'd have been in danger.

'Is this really a lake? Not the sea?'

There was none of the sea's distinctive salty smell, so it was definitely a lake. I moved cautiously, afraid the giant crabs might notice me. Thankfully, they didn't spare me a single glance all the way to the mouth of the river. They were too busy picking up and eating their dead kin with their claws.

'True to your instincts, huh.'

Apparently, corpses were their first priority. Scavengers was the perfect name for them. I slowly backed away, then turned around. Now I could head back to the cave.

RRRRRUMBLE!

That was when I felt shaking on a whole different scale. It was far more violent than the tremors produced by the giant crabs. For a moment, I panicked, wondering whether this was a real earthquake. Then a noise I couldn't possibly ignore came from the lake.

CRAAASH!

Water surged high into the air and crashed back down. At the sound, I looked toward the lake.

"..."

The sight that greeted me left me utterly dumbstruck. I'd thought the giant crabs were plenty big, but something even worse lived in that lake.

'... Fuck. What is that?'

If the giant crabs were the size of large cars, the crab I was looking at now was the size of a building. In height alone, it rivaled a low-rise apartment block. It was so absurdly huge that it made a mockery of perspective.

Could you even call that a crab? It was practically a walking building.

Spot what's wrong with this video.

Wild Grylls

(Video of a building-sized crab beside a giant crab)

What's wrong with this picture? See if you can find it!

└Heavenly Demon: Hmm? Why does the sky look so small?

└Wild Grylls: Good question. Why does it look so small?

└Sword Masta: I've never seen a crab that big in my life. Something like that actually exists?

└Wild Grylls: Sharp eyes. I can't believe it either, and I'm looking right at it.

└Heavenly Demon: Looking again, it truly is enormous. It piques my interest.

└Wild Grylls: Want to come over? Let's catch it and steam it.

└Heavenly Demon: My aide is vehemently opposed, so I cannot come. My apologies.

└Allfather: Oh;; Ohhh;;; What the fuck is that?

└Wild Grylls: Lmaooo, I don't know either. First time you've seen one too, Allfather?

└Allfather: The species is definitely Garpus crab, but... I don't know whether I should call that a new species. What in the world is it?

└Wild Grylls: I'm amazed too.

└Passing Dwarf: It's a bloody walking mountain;;; Anyway, can I ask you a favor?

└Wild Grylls: Want a crab to snack on with your booze? I can give you one tomorrow because of the trade cooldown.

└Passing Dwarf: Thanks, thanks. Preferably that big one.

└Wild Grylls: You crazy bastard lmao

└Wow;; I'm speechless. Isn't that an actual spiritual beast?

└For real, bet there's an inner core under that shell.

└Something that big definitely qualifies as a spiritual beast lol

└Any plans to kill it?

└Wild Grylls: Nope;; I could never kill that. Even one of the giant crabs was hard enough.

└Nothing is impossible. You just have to try.

└The forum will explode if you kill it lmao

└Wild Grylls: I'll try if someone helps me lol

└(No comments)

└Wild Grylls: Answer me, you little shits.

After looking at the forum, I got moving. I wanted to get home as quickly as possible. Being soaked made my whole body feel heavy.

'Why is the back of my neck so itchy, though?'

Perhaps because the tension had faded, my senses had sharpened. That made the itchy spot all the more noticeable. Unable to bear it, I scratched the back of my neck with my right hand.

Something squished under my fingers. The moment I felt that soft, squishy thing, I stopped dead. My instincts told me that whatever it was, it was definitely bad news.

It wouldn't even come off when I tapped it with my fingers. Swallowing hard, I grabbed it. Then I tugged hard to pull it free. It stretched out like jelly.

POP!

With a sting of pain and a strange sound, something came off the back of my neck. It was slippery and big enough that I had to wrap my hand around it. Slowly, I brought my right hand in front of my face to see what I was holding.

A red slime was wriggling in my grip—no.

A hideous-looking brown leech was squirming in my hand.

An absolutely enormous leech.

"AAAAAAAH!!!"

I want out of here. Now.