Chapter 102: The Hunger Impulse Part 1
Chapter 102: The Hunger Impulse Part 1
The first thought that came across my mind upon seeing that monster was: “Its designer has something seriously bad going on with his/her head.”
The very next thing that came to my mind was: “But points to him/her for trying to create something like that”.
And then another thought was: “You think the root of this monster may lie in something of sexual nature, by any chance?”
And my most recent thought was……
「AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! You fucking piece of sh*t! I’m gonna kill you! I am going to fucking kill you and beat you into a fucking bloody pulp, you piece of sh*t!」
Just to whom was all of that pent up anger directed? The programmers who were directly responsible? Or maybe the management staff that green-lighted this idea in the first place?
The only thing I could be absolutely sure was that the battle with this golden scorpion would not be a quick one. God damn it, I wish I had an energy drink or two on me right about now.
If I was going to characterize the battle with the Golden Scorpion, it would be this: specialized encounter.
Since it was bigger, better “equipped” and possessed more aggressive behavior patterns, it was necessary to adopt a new kind of strategy against this guy. Underestimating it could spell my doom any moment now.
It’s claws and stinger…… It’s unbelievable how much harder they could hit. It was nothing like the regular crystal scorpions from before. I was sure that they would pierce through reinforced heavy armor like a knife through butter with little to no effort at all.
Another difference was the golden crystal that grew all over its body. It was sturdy and my attacks did little to no damage to it, but I got the feeling that it was softer than the regular crystal around here. That being said, since it was this sturdy, I knew that it would be impossible to use some cheap tricks and attacks against it.
Also, even though it was so sturdy and massive, it seems that its mobility was way better than that of regular scorpions, which was kind of bullsh*t if you were to ask me. And since I was unable to back away to the safety of “Inventory” because of its mobility, so far I have died about eight times to it.
But the biggest problem was its stinger. Bigger, longer, more deadly and venomous than that of the regular scorpions.
But instead of following the regular logic of “pierce the enemy THEN inject it with poison”, this guy of course had to possess the ability that would allow it to freely spray the poison all over the arena at its leisure. It also fired it in three different modes: single shot, burst fire and laser. What the fuck is up with that?
All of the above elements combined into my current predicament, one where I was fighting it for at least a few hours and I was unable to make any visible progress.
「Battle of this level of intensity…… This is nuts……!」
And even if I was able to do some amount of damage, this fucker would back away and put some distance in between us instantly! If that fact wasn’t enough, apparently it also possessed some sort of healing ability, for when it raised its claws to the moon, all of its wounds seemed to have closed instantly. This was doing some serious damage to my poor heart, but my fighting spirit was yet to be broken. I was still in the game!
Still, fighting for so long was starting to take its toll on me. But I still managed to fight in such a way to collect as much information as possible. Now, that information would allow me to create a sort of battle strategy for the next encounters.
First of all, contrary to its smaller brethren, it seems to be somewhat less durable. Its overall appearance was fascinating, but when compared to the normal scorpions its armor was full of cracks and crevices. If I succeeded in sticking my blades through those, it should be possible for me to damage it.
The only thing I should be really worried about is the long-range venom spewing attack. The single shots were quite easy to avoid, and the others were manageable too, as long as I remember to maintain a reasonable distance from this beast.
The laser deals a devastating amount of damage, but if I continue to run away from it it should be possible to avoid it completely, not to mention that during this attack which lasted for about five seconds it was impossible for the scorpion to attack me in any other way.
But it should be noted that even though there were opportunities for me to avoid those attacks, allowing myself to be hit by them even once would spell a game over for me instantly.
I don’t even want to think what’s about to happen if that venom touches me.
Its self-restoration is also quite a drag, but it seems that “Moon” is the key to it.
Speaking of which, wasn’t the power of the moon also used by Wezaemon to create an alternate reality where Setsuna’s grave was located? So maybe the way in which the golden scorpion regenerates itself with the power of the moon works in the same way as the solar panels that absorb the energy of the sun?
I wonder if it will be interrupted if the clouds hide the moon behind them? It would be nice, otherwise it will be increasingly more difficult to deal with.
The problem was now how to deal with those hammer-like claws. The solution was pretty obvious, but difficult to carry out…… run away and return.
「The rest is just a matter of avoiding that ridiculously high attack damage…… But, hunting like that was never my forte.」
If I could somehow destroy some of its parts it would somewhat limit its attack options. Not that I cannot try some other means of dodging and evading, but if I could act on the simplest of scenarios, that is what I would like to do.
「Six MP left……」
This means that if worst comes to worst, I could seek shelter inside “INVENTORY” six more times.
Six emergency evasions. But if I could help it, I don’t want to use them at all.
One reason was that I still wasn’t sure if transferring to “INVENTORY” would be treated as fleeing from battle or not. Actually, I know nothing about what’s happening outside “INVENTORY” while I am inside it.
Therefore, even if I was forced to use “INVENTORY”, I wanted to stay inside it as short as possible. But I won’t lie, a brief respite would sure be nice.
However, since this battle was dragging on for so long, my MP recovery potions and recovery items were running dangerously low. So there was that as well.
「Come on, Golden Scorpion, can’t you take down only one person? Is it that much of a problem to you?」
I then swing one of my Swamp Daggers at the Scorpion in an attempt to provoke it. As expected, it bounced off of one of its claws that look more like an oversized shield than the actual claw.