Chapter 206: Spiked Turtle
"Down!"
Lukas yelled, activating [Hex Shield] several times. The cursed energy barriers snapped up in front of them immediately.
In that same instant, the spikes tore through them as if they were made of paper.
Lukas’ eyes widened, his heart trembling.
There had been four of them and they were thick as tree trunks, tearing up through the sand and punching through the barriers without slowing, the shields shattering around each one as they passed.
The only reason none of them had been killed by the spikes was that all four of them had already thrown themselves to the ground the moment Lukas had shouted.
Stunned silence filled the air for half a second before Karrakas found his voice, his heart pounding wildly. "That... That was a Spiked Turtle!"
Lukas was already thinking about their next course of action, his eyes narrowed.
"Akira." He looked at her directly. "Take Melody and Karrakas and get away from here as fast as you can. Use the headband to guide everyone away from the spikes. Go!"
Akira’s eyes narrowed. "Lukas—"
"Now!" He held her gaze. "I’ll handle it alone. Go."
She stared at him for one more second, then she grabbed Melody’s arm and turned to Karrakas. "Move."
Lukas turned to face the desert.
The Turtle was still far out, but he could see it. Not its shell as it looked invisible against the sand, exactly as Karrakas had warned.
What he could see was the disturbance it left behind, the sand rising and falling around its movement like a slow wave. It was the displacement of something enormous pushing through the surface at speed.
It was moving towards him, and exactly like Karrakas had said, it was slow by the standards of an Adept. However, it was faster than something that size had any right to be.
He watched the wave of disturbed sand and tried to calculate the distance. It was far enough that he had time to prepare, but not so far that he could afford to stand still and think about it.
Then a faint shadow passed across the sand in front of him.
He threw himself to the side without thinking.
It passed through where he’d been standing just a second before, blurring past. It hit the sand far behind him with a heavy impact he felt through the ground.
He lay flat, breathing hard.
So that was the range. That was why Karrakas had said the attack range was unbelievably large.
The Turtle didn’t need to be close. It shot spikes that could travel long distances and kill with force before its target could even see it.
He gritted his teeth, pressing himself lower into the sand.
Another spike passed overhead, close enough that the displaced air ruffled his hair against the back of his neck.
He turned his head carefully and looked behind him.
Over the nearest dune, three shapes were moving low and fast. It was Akira, Melody, and Karrakas, crawling and scrambling over the ridge.
Akira glanced back once, caught his eye for a fraction of a second, then pulled herself over the crest and disappeared from view.
He was alone.
He turned back to the Turtle. The wave of disturbed sand was closer now, and he could finally make out the faint outline of the beast’s shell.
It was enormous.
He pressed himself flat again as another spike tore through the air, landing a few metres away, the impact sending sand raining down across his back.
He kept his face close to the ground and thought about it.
Several of his [Hex Shield] had shattered against a single spike. [Smite] worked at range but he’d need dozens of casts to even crack the shell.
It was worth trying, but he needed something else.
Just how was he supposed to defeat this thing?
His mind went to the [Monster Ball] sitting in his spatial ring and something occurred to him. The quest hadn’t said he had to kill the beast, only to defeat it.
That meant capturing the beast with his [Monster Ball] qualified as a defeat by any reasonable interpretation.
If he could get the Turtle into the ball, he wouldn’t just complete the quest. He’d have a C-rank beast to deploy whenever he needed it. A walking fortress with a spike-based ranged attack and a shell that could stop a lot without slowing down.
That was not a small thing to have on his side.
But first, the spikes.
He needed to neutralize the ranged attack long enough to close the distance and execute the capture.
[Hex Shield] had already proven useless. He needed something with more substance.
A plan began forming and he felt himself grin despite everything.
He now had a plan worth trying, and if the plan fell apart completely, he had [Black Hole] to help him.
With everyone else now clear of the area, there was nothing stopping him from tearing a rift open above the battlefield. The Turtle would go in with everything else in range, and he’d stand untouched in the center of it.
Even if he didn’t capture the beast, he’d kill it.
And if even that failed, he’d use [Void Step] to retreat.
He lifted his head slightly above the sand, peeking at the Turtle.
The beast was closer now, and he could finally see it clearly.
It stood taller than a three storey building, its body wide and low to the ground, only its four legs and its head fully exposed.
The shell covering its back and sides was dense and layered, and studded across its entire surface with spikes of varying lengths, each one as thick as a grown man’s torso.
That was where the spikes it had been firing were coming from.
Its skin was thick and leathery, folded at the joints where the legs met the body. And its eyes, large, green, and slightly bulbous, were fixed directly on Lukas.
He reached into his spatial ring and wrapped his hand around the hilt of his [Cursed Blade], pulling it free.
The Turtle fired again.
Lukas rolled hard to his left, the sand burning against his hands and forearms as the spike slammed into the ground where he’d been, the impact vibrating through the desert floor beneath him.
He came up onto one knee, breathing steadily.
He just needed it a little closer.
Then he’d make his move.
