The mountain and jungles were baptized in blue flames.

  Terraclaws piled out in the hundreds to defend their nests, but many were either thrown away by the colossal serpent-tailed brutes or incinerated with azure fire.

  Glad I finally managed to get these two to cooperate.

  In the end, it took promising that the jungle would be revitalized with the help of Thousand Acre to get the luxe to cooperate, and even then, they were still hesitant. They were all behind Triton, hands raised up to a briar wall that reached around the area, conjured and strengthened using their collective arts.

  As for the Ryugu, it took the mention of free booze and food to get them to calm down. Fortunately, Lukey’s [Whisper] about holding a party at Bum’s Break came at just the right time to help address the situation. They were all in front of Triton, transformed into their draconic forms as they spewed blue flames at anything and everything around them.

  Triton watched the events unfold with experienced calm. Everything was going smoothly, and there were no more holdups. Indeed, nothing happened for a while, up until a shadow shot toward one of the giant Ryugu.

  The shadow aimed for the neck, and Triton stared in confusion as the warrior stopped breathing fire to grab his throat. A few moments later, the bulk of his body crashed to the ground as he went limp and motionless.

  What in the world…

  Triton tried to make out the shadow against the flames, which grew increasingly clearer the more he ran towards it. It was composed of a humanoid upper body, six bulky legs, and four massive arms, all covered in jet-black chitin. The creature looked down, then turned to face Triton with a face that was reminiscent of Lukey’s helmet.

  [Assassin Terra-Highclaw Lv. 114]

  …

  Lukey continued running along the shallow tide, pushing himself forward every so often to avoid the oncoming barrage.

  Overhead, three balls of glass, each the size of Lukey's head, arched through the air as they sought to bombard him with frightening accuracy. After reaching the peak of their arch, they each began their descent, gaining momentum along the way as gravity helped propel them downwards. Their speed kept gaining momentum until each one had attained both the speed and power of a rocket.

  Finally, they hit the water.

  The glass balls trailed behind Lukey as he kept pushing himself forward, bombarding the water and creating three massive explosions that sent the water sky-high. Lukey could hear the rumble from behind as he continued to avoid them but didn’t dare look back out of risk of losing focus. He could only continue to dodge as his stance was pushed to the limit, propelling himself forward with short bursts of speed.

  Damn, crazy snail. Instead of leaving me alone, it’s aiming for me from a distance like it did before. I guess it figured out that if it can’t fight me in close combat, it can just wipe me out from a distance. What should I do now?

  Escaping was now a viable option, since Saphina was already out of the water and could run away with him if things looked bad. The problem, however, came in the form of Norman himself. His makeshift cannon could launch those glass balls from extremely far away, far enough that it could even reach Bohdi’s shack if it launched from the shoreline. If Norman didn’t give chase, then everything would be okay, but Lukey doubted that he would let him get away considering the damage Lukey had already done to him. Norman may have been blind and needed the water to track Lukey, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t just keep randomly shooting out of pure spite.

  There was also another thing to consider: the farther those glass cannonballs went, the more destructive they would become due to gravity. If Lukey considered this carefully, then the most reasonable thing to do wasn’t to get away at all. Swordsmen came to the island as well, and one of the techniques they liked to brag about was moving inside a strike to avoid the momentum of the tip of the blade and gain an advantage.

  I’m guessing the same logic applies here.

  Lukey kept accelerating his body forward, charging in the direction of where the shots were being fired. His eyes scanned the horizon and saw bursts of water in the distance, which he immediately began charging toward. All the while, columns of water trailed in his path as the glass cannonballs continued to fly in his direction.

  I can do this. I can do this.

  Lukey continued approaching Norman while watching the sky for glass projectiles. He also switched his gaze downwards on occasion as well, and it was fortunate that he did so because one lone cannonball was barreling straight towards him from the front. Lukey nearly panicked as he dodged to the side, barely avoiding a glass ball that left water trailing in its warpath.

  It's switching tactics. I need to be careful.

  Lukey accelerated forward in a burst of speed as he pounced forward and onto his feet. He continued the pursuit, this time avoiding cannonballs that were launched into his path, in addition to the occasional straight shot that tore through the waves.

  It’s anticipating my movements. It’s no longer aiming where I am, but where I’m going to be.

  The assault was fierce, but Lukey’s luck wasn’t something easily beaten. It allowed him to sense the most opportune time to dodge and cautioned him when danger approached. His luck helped him to avoid the worst of it, but that didn’t make the barrage any easier to deal with.

  Eventually, Lukey reached the area where a large snorkel was sticking up out of the sand. He promptly used [Ripple Sense] and immediately knew that Norman was waiting below. The tyrant tried to escape beneath the sand once more, but Lukey was having none of that as he charged his legs and pounced. Lukey leapt into the air and thrust through the sand to injure the tyrant once more. Norman was immediately startled out of hiding, and he thrashed from the pain, throwing up sand and revealing his fleshy body as Lukey went on a stabbing spree.

  Once, twice, then three times. Lukey reeled his arm back and threw everything he had into every thrust, piercing flesh and driving the spear into Norman’s fleshy foot. His goal here was to do as much damage as possible, to the point, hopefully, that it would either kill or leave the cannoneer too injured to continue. Unfortunately, neither was the case, as Norman righted himself and dove back into the sand.

  Aw, c’mon. Again?

  At first it looked like Norman was going to run away again, as it charged off into the sand. Lukey was about to chase after it too, but further observation revealed this wasn’t the case. Norman had his cannon aimed at the sky during his escape and quickly launched a few shots that sailed upward before the snail circled back and charged right toward Lukey.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Lukey was forced to do two things at once. On the one hand, cannonballs were above him, ready to plummet down to Eterna; on the other, Norman was barreling straight toward him. Lukey calmed himself as he chose to deal with the cannonballs first, side-leaping left and right to avoid the distraction, which left him wide open for an attack from the front.

  Norman threw its body out of the sand and water as it heaved itself toward Lukey, who was just recovering after a previous jump. This time, Lukey was forced to watch helplessly as Norman opened his flesh to envelop him.

  Well, I do have one option, but it’s risky.

  Lukey readied his spear, charging it as much as he could. This time he went for a much more traditional approach as he flooded his arms with aether, far more than what they should reasonably be able to handle. Lukey truly approached the limit of his muscles as he concentrated everything into a single thrust.

  “Eat this!”

  With Norman’s underside spread before him, Lukey’s target was clear. He aimed for the radula, a maw filled with thousands of teeth in the lower center of the snail's foot. Presumably, it led towards the critical organs that kept the tyrant alive and would hopefully stun the tyrant long enough to do damage. With a clear plan in mind, he let loose.

  As Norman began closing his body around Lukey, the spear was driven forward and sunk through the teeth. The reaction was immediate; Norman began flailing as he fell over and writhed on the ground in pain. Lukey had become an afterthought as Norman struggled to get rid of the object sticking out of his mouth.

  Instead of removing it, Lukey strode forward and grabbed the haft. He then proceeded to twist and push the pole-spear while it was still in the snail’s body, with the aim of causing as much internal damage as he possibly could. Norman, meanwhile, continued to writhe around as it was forced to endure the assault without any means of defending itself.

  C’mon, just die already! I think I must have stabbed every inch of its body, but it’s still kicking. Either this tyrant has some extremely high vitality, or my pole spear is a genuinely terrible weapon. Either way, some serious changes need to be made after this.

  Lukey continued to twist his spear, but he slowly lacked the vigor he initially had when the fight began. He had spent so much energy dodging back and forth, and Lukey was genuinely becoming worn out by this point. All he wanted to do was collapse in the water, but he couldn’t do that so long as Norman was alive.

  Unfortunately, it would seem that the tyrant had one more trick up its sleeve.

  While Lukey was focused on the execution, Norman had begun pulling himself into his shell. Its massive body gradually began to crinkle and shrink, then seemed to disappear altogether as the fleshy mass pulled itself into its shell and sealed it shut.

  “Are you serious!?” Lukey cried. “Tch, I guess I’ll need to wait for it to come out or maybe come get Saphina to whack it to oblivion.”

  Norman had different ideas.

  Suddenly, the cannoneer’s snorkel, which it used to launch glass balls, seemed to peek out of the seal on its shell. It then reached down and seemed to suck up the water, visibly contracting and expanding as the water was slowly siphoned into its shell. Lukey watched all of this unfold with an equal measure of confusion and curiosity.

  What is…

  The snorkel then pointed itself away from Lukey. Then, it stopped contracting and instead kept expanding, bloating up like someone stung by a wasp.

  Like it was going to explode.

  Lukey narrowly managed to dive to his right in time before the snorkel shot out a jet of water that launched Norman’s shell forward. The long, man-sized, sky-blue shell instantly became a projectile as it rocketed right past Lukey. Lukey, meanwhile, had landed on his rear end, left gawking at the new attack.

  “What even is that…” Lukey mumbled in confusion.

  What could only be described as a shell torpedo was spinning as it skimmed the water, propelled by a large jet of water. The shell wasn’t hard to control either, as Lukey visibly saw Norman change direction by turning his snorkel. The tyrant had functionally turned itself into a fully controllable projectile, one that was protected by an extremely tough shell.

  Lukey watched as the shell began turning around before stopping entirely. Then, the snorkel began to swallow water once more, and the process repeated itself as the torpedo homed in on his location. Lukey, in response, tried to run to the side to avoid it, but unlike the cannonballs, the shell was operated directly by the tyrant, who knew exactly how to track Lukey through the ripples in the water.

  The shell torpedo swerved to the left, and it nearly caught Lukey before he leaped up and out of the water. This left it sailing beneath Lukey and continuing for a short distance before having to stop and refill. When Lukey finally landed, a sharp pain shot up his leg, forcing him to involuntarily grab the area to ease the stress.

  Dammit! I’m at the limit of what my stamina can handle, and I bet my aether bank isn’t that far behind either. Running out of resources, running out of options… What to do, what to do…

  Panic arose within Lukey as he did his best to think of how to combat Norman in his current form. Normally his head was swimming with ideas, but the only thing he could think of now was how screwed he was in his current predicament. It didn’t help either that the torpedo kept aiming for him every chance it got, forcing him to repeatedly dodge and burn his stamina even further.

  Is this what I get for fighting a tyrant? Am I so useless that I can’t do anything but dodge? It took everything I had to get this far, and now I’m going to die because I’m not strong enough to destroy its shell? What kind of bullshit is that!?

  As he continued dodging the shell torpedo, his eyes frantically scanned the area in search of anything that might help. Unfortunately, the horizon was empty, save for the shoreline in the distance and Saphina cheering him on.

  Wait… Saphina!

  Saphina had enough brute force to smash the shell. If he could lead the torpedo toward her, then maybe she could end it. Lukey immediately turned in her direction, then began a mad dash as he rushed through the water to reach her. Meanwhile, Norman was persistent in his assault as he continued targeting Lukey. Each attack forced Lukey to leap, and each leap caused greater and greater pain.

  Lukey was forced to endure it all until he finally got close enough to call out to Saphina.

  “SAPHINA! YOU HAVE TO SMASH IT!” Lukey yelled. “GET YOUR CLUB!”

  Saphina showed a hint of understanding as she immediately got her club out in preparation. She practiced a few swings, and Lukey could tell that she was ready. From behind, the shell torpedo exploded into action once more, aiming straight for Lukey as it skidded over the surface of the water.

  Okay, here goes nothing…

  Lukey charged his legs once again, and with agonizing pain, he jumped one more time. The torpedo rocketed towards him and beneath him, and Lukey watched the torpedo fly toward Saphina as he lost all remaining feeling in his legs.

  Saphina grew two feet higher, and then four feet. She built a second layer of muscle, and then a third. She manually pushed [Primal muscle] far beyond what it should’ve been capable of in preparation for the strike. Then, she set her club over her shoulder and crouched her knees.

  The Norman rocketed forward, unconcerned with what was about to happen. It didn’t sense what was beyond the shoreline, and it didn’t care, so long as it could still target Lukey. Unfortunately, the shell torpedo would soon reach an object it couldn’t smash.

  Once the shell reached a certain point, Saphina used [Primal Thrash] with overcharged force. She swung the club with both hands in an arc around her side, and her timing was perfect as the club made contact with the shell. The clash had caused a sharp crack to be heard, even from where Lukey was, and he worried if the club could even endure something that strong.

  Lukey fell to the water but continued to watch with rapt attention as Norman’s shell fought against Saphina’s club. Saphina put everything she had into her swing, but Norman fought back in equal measure with a stronger jet of water from its snorkel. The two forces fought for supremacy, and Lukey watched as Saphina visibly struggled to combat the tyrant.

  Cracks showed on the surface of both the club and the shell. Neither was made for this type of stress, and sooner or later one had to give way. It looked like it would be the club that broke first, as Saphina wore the struggle on her face. The club was slowly being pushed back, and Lukey began to worry if they would have to continue this fight again.

  Then, Saphina pushed back with redoubled force.

  “JUST… DIE ALREADY!” She roared.

  Saphina drove the club forward, and a sharp crack could be heard all over Bum’s Break as both the shell and the club exploded into pieces. As a result, the [Spatial Compression] embedded within the shell immediately broke, spilling Norman’s organs all over the water as they were sent flying into the air.

  Lukey watched the giblets fly as he lay in the water, gently swaying with the coming tide.

  “Great… Job…” Lukey mumbled, too tired to even speak.

  Lukey didn’t even try to resist as he closed his eyes and passed out.

  …

  …

  …

  “Mmmm, where am I?” he asked, grabbing his head.

  A voice called out to his side.

  “Welcome, traveler. Care to rest a while?”