971 Chapter 971 Dangers from the Deep 'Level eighty-seven! How is that even fair!' Marcus thought as he appraised the fortress turtle charging towards them.
This island prevented anyone from outside of it that was over level eighty form setting foot on it, yet the indigenous creatures that lived here clearly did not have to adhere to this rule.
Now they had a legendary grade beast several levels higher than any of them coming up from the bottom of the lake to kill them all.
And even though he wanted to do something, Marcus had his hands full just defending against the ceaseless bombardment of compressed water balls that the fortress turtle was firing off from the dozens of cannons protruding out of its shell.
'Everyone up top will just have to protect themselves. At this rate it is going to ram us if I don't do anything to slow it down.'
Having made his decision to go on the attack, Marcus changed his posture so that he could swim towards the fortress turtle.
Except, right before he launched himself through the water, a streak of light came from the surface and rocketed towards the fortress turtle.
With his enhanced vision Marcus tried to follow the projectile, but he could not get a read on it until it impacted against the barrier protecting the fortress turtle.
A bright flash of light shone through the water as the arrow aimed at the fortress turtle's head struck what looked like a sphere of translucent armored plates.
All around the massive beast from the depths of the lake was a spherical barrier unlike anything Marcus had ever seen.
Without a doubt he figured that this must have been a race ability of this turtle, giving it an added layer of defense over its naturally armored body.
Still, despite this barrier being impressive, after a few seconds the arrow broke through, and a powerful explosion shot through the fortress turtle.
When everything cleared Marcus could see that there was a several dozen meters wide hole in the fortress turtles shell slightly to the right of its head.
While the attack had been aimed to pierce directly through its head, the turtle's powerful barrier had diverted the arrow and corresponding explosion away from its most vital area.
Nevertheless, the attack had been quite effective in slowing the colossal beast's charge. Of course, Marcus could not think of many creatures that could keep going after suddenly receiving such a grave wound.
From the front of the fortress turtles' shell, Marcus could see clearly through to the other side of it and stare down into the depths of the lake through the hole.
'That arrow must have come from Fianna since she is the only archer in expedition squad. I never imagined she could unleash such devastating power with just one attack.'
Marcus was truly impressed by Fianna's display and figured that for the first time she had elected to use one or multiple of her unique skills. If she was capable of launching an attack of this level with only normal skills, Marcus would have to completely reevaluate how the powers in this world worked.
A few seconds after Fianna's attack, several more people dropped into the water and swam over towards Marcus and Miguel.
Of those that had joined them, it was mainly the magic casters that would be able to attack from afar.
'Are you sure that you should be joining us, Evette?' Marcus asked with telepathy.
He had figured that she would remain up top on the ice platform Mrazivy had created, but here she was leading the reinforcements.
'Yes, it is imperative that we kill or drive this beast away quickly. This is not the time for me to sit on the sidelines. The other three leaders are on the surface to give out directions, so I will be taking charge here. Also, let me thank you for your quick action in protecting everyone.' Evette responded.
She then linked up her telepathy with the underwater group and issued commands.
Luckily, they had a few moments of reprieve from the fortress turtle's attacks to organize themselves. After being heavily injured by Fianna's arrow, it had backed off in order to allow its regeneration to restore the damage done to its body.
It did not stay away for long, however. Once its wound had sealed up it initiated its next assault.
Several openings appeared in its shell and smaller turtles that each only had one cannon protruding out of the center of their shells began flowing out in droves.
Marcus could only loom out in astonishment as this happened. He never expected this massive turtle to be carrying a fleet of smaller turtles within it.
'I think I am finally starting to get used to this world and crazy creatures like this just keep appearing.'
Shaking off his shock, Marcus took up his position within the underwater teams' formation and prepared to use his iron magic to its full extent.
All manners of magic clashed with the fleet of smaller cannon turtles that swarmed out of the fortress turtle.
At first the members from the expedition squad were easily pushing back their attackers, but soon the sheer endless number of cannon turtles attacking from every direction slowly was overwhelming them.
Yet, before the pressure became too great, several attacks from above fired into the water and blasted away the cannon turtles.
The team that had remained on the surface were providing support from above and using their skills to thin out the swarm.
However, whenever one of the cannon turtles died, its body did not remain and instead burst into motes of light that returned to the fortress turtle. Apparently, these were not separate entities, but smaller copies being created by some sort of ability.
'And unlike before, it shows no sign of getting closer to us. It is being cautious after taking Fianna's attack.' Marcus thought, observing the battlefield.
The fortress turtle was making sure to keep a fair distance and was not allowing any attacks to solidly connect with it again. It no longer was trying to use its immense size to ram them but instead wear them down with its disposable soldiers that it could create endlessly so long as it had mana.
Still, this only left them at a stalemate. The fortress turtle was unable to overwhelm them with numbers, but none of their attacks could cause enough damage to bring it down.
'At its level I am sure it has a great deal of mana, but there is no way it can hope to outlast us all. There must be something else that it is planning.'
Casting a suspicious look at the beast, Marcus tried to gleam any insight into its strategy.
That was when he noticed that all of its cannons had been retracted into tis shell.
At first, he thought it had done this to allow for the creation of more of its spawned cannon turtles, but this did not seem to be the case. He remembered that at the start it had contoured its bombardment even while releasing its minions.
'Shit! It must be doing the same thing as us.'
Unfortunately, the moment after Marcus relaxed what their enemy was up to, the fortress turtle made its move.
A giant cannon far larger than any others on its body extended out from its open mouth and was pointed directly towards the entire expedition squad.
A powerful pulling current followed, and Marcus could visibly see the surrounding water being drawn into the fortress turtle.
Marcus cast his gaze towards Evette to see if she was ready to unleash her own attack, but she just shook her head to indicate she was not finished with her preparations.
'I will stop its attack. Everyone else focus on protecting Evette while she constructs her spell.' Marcus broadcasted over telepathy.
He then launched himself directly towards the fortress turtle and braced himself to intercept its attack.
As he closed in on the fortress turtle, he applied every defensive buff spell he had and held his shield out in front of him.
'Proliferating iron chain.'
Casting his tier eight iron magic spell, Marcus quickly multiplied the original iron chain until he had created a giant rounded shield made of chains.
The magic continued to grow infinitely so long as Marcus gave it mana, but he was not given as much time as he wanted to solidify his largest defense.
The fortress turtle was soon ready to launch its strongest attack, and a blast of water unlike anything else it had fired shot out from the cannon jutting out of its mouth.
Even before the attack hit, Marcus could tell that his magic would not be able to hold out for a single second. However, he had one final trump card to play.
'Shield of the Just!'
A shimmering white aura flared up around Marcus as the unique skill he had received upon earning the Savior title activated.
This skill had several restrictions that made it difficult to utilize, but this was the perfect time to use it. Marcus' enemy had attacked first, and he was acting to protect his allies.
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