Chapter 102: Centipede vs Shrimp
The waves of the dark sea were even more treacherous than they usually were.
It was as if a storm were approaching. I searched the sea using my antennae to detect my sign of life.
After a few seconds I finally found something, but it wasn’t a piranha or the gatorfin.
The creature was massive, roughly the size of an elephant back on earth. Its exoskeleton projected a kaleidoscopic spectrum of different colors.
This creature looked like something from my world but only bigger. Its entire appearance resembled a parrot mantis shrimp.
Back on earth these creatures are capable of delivering punches as fast as a bullet. The force of their punch was so powerful that they boiled the water around them, releasing a powerful shock wave in the process.
One of this size that is also capable of magic must be a C-ranked monster at least!
Seeing the creature, my first act was to hide and look for a way I could safely ambush it, but the moment I moved, the creature immediately turned in my direction as if it could sense even the slightest movement in the water around it.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The moment the shrimp moved its club-like appendage, several sonic blasts went off. Its movements are so fast that it broke the sound barrier multiple times in seconds.
It happened instantly before I could even react. Something hard slammed into my exoskeleton, sending me crashing into the sand.
The impact caused sand and sediments to rise up from the sea floor.
Looking down at the cloud of sand that rose up on the sea floor, the shrimp immediately turned around and continued on its path, thinking that its opponent was already dead.
In its experience nothing could survive a direct blow, so the monster didn’t even bother checking if its opponent was truly dead.
But in the next second a powerful explosion could be heard as something shot towards him.
I vibrated my wings so fast that it boiled the water around me and created a powerful sonic blast that propelled me through water like a jet, my stinger poised to rip through its exoskeleton.
But before I could even close the distance between us, another powerful explosion rippled through the sea.
This time the impact was even more powerful, but just as before, my exoskeleton absorbed the attack without even leaving a scratch.
The only effect was a mild dizziness I felt after the attack. The moment my body hit the sand, I burrowed deep underneath it and came out on the other side behind the shrimp. but the moment I appeared behind the monster, it turned around with lightning speed reaction.
BOOM!
Another violent explosion ripped through the air as I was sent flying once again.
My body crashed into a cluster of underground rock formations. The rocks immediately exploded into several sharp pieces.
Disoriented from the blow, I slowly opened my eyes but just then...
BOOM!
Another violent explosion, stirring up massive waves. The water in the sea spiraled around us, creating several wormholes.
I shook my head to dismiss the foggiest in my mind before looking up.
The massive shrimp lurked above me.
Its speed and strength were far greater than mine. It outmatched me in every stat except for defense.
This is how I could feel him out and understand his strength better and find a weakness to exploit.
Attacking it over and over again was pointless. Unless I could tire him out, but even then there was no guarantee that I would be able to break through his exoskeleton.
Plus, I didn’t know how much more hit I could take, so it’s best I wrap this up now.
Shrimps usually have 1 fatal weakness. Their bodies can’t handle high temperatures. They were built for a cool environment.
The massive shrimp lined himself up just above me, ready to continue his assault.
[Magma Creation]
The water around me began to boil as it was transformed into magma, releasing air pockets of steam obscuring the view of the environment.
Immediately the giant shrimp began to thrash around, throwing wild punches since it couldn’t see clearly.
It became frantic as the boiling liquid seeped into its exoskeleton, cooking it alive.
Still with mana sight active, I could see the outline of the shrimp clearly and knew how to avoid its wild punches.
I weaved through its attacks and snuck up on him from behind before wrapping myself around its armored body.
With this I was in the perfect position. Our exoskeletons mashed against each other as I tightened myself around the shrimp.
The shrimp went crazy and tried to smash me against the sea floor, but I kept my hold tightly around it as our exoskeletons continued to press against each other until there was a loud crack!
The shrimp immediately began to struggle more vehemently. There was a large crack in the monster’s exoskeleton, which was slowly widening.
This was the perfect way to use my defense. By using it to crush my preys alive.
Light green blood seeped out of the shrimp’s exoskeleton, and using the crack to my advantage, I plunged my forcipules through the crack.
My venom is coursed through its body, slowing its muscles and mana use. The shrimp no longer had the strength to fight back, so I tightened my body around it.
More loud cracks could be heard as the lower half of the shrimp was crushed instantly, destroying its internal organs in the process.
More of its blood seeped out, filling the surrounding area until we were swimming in it.
Soon, the rest of its body began to give way.
The whirlpools twisted the water around us, pulling us back and forth like two leaves flowing through a storm.
All around me, I could see more sea monsters gathering, watching and waiting to attack whichever monster manages to make it out alive.
The piranhas looked as if they were growing impatient. So were the Gatorfins, and a new type of monster that looked like a jellyfish.
Even massive crabs began to crawl from the sea floor and the rock formations that were destroyed in our battle.
I pushed their presence to the back of my mind and instead focused on the prey in front of me.
In truth I didn’t have the physical strength to destroy this creature. It was my exoskeleton doing the heavy lifting.
I even covered myself in thick obsidian spikes to make it easier to break through the monster’s thick exoskeleton.
After a grueling half an hour of struggling, the message I had been waiting for finally popped up.
[You have slain a B-ranked Void Shrimp!]
