CH 269

Episode 269 – Injury and Decision

It was spinning its short, sharp claws at a barely visible speed and simultaneously spinning its arms around in circles, kind of like how a little kid would flail its arms around. But unexpectedly, its movements were extremely difficult to predict, making it seem threatening.

But with it not being able to dodge Aruna’s first arrow, and with these spinning attacks…

Perhaps because the Big Desert Mole was the only big monster in the desert area, there were no other monsters that could contend with it, and its battle sense seemed to be on the same level as that of a goblin. It was most dangerous when it was moving around inside the sand, so we’d to do our best to fight it above ground so it wouldn’t dive into the sand.

“I’ll try to stop its attacks. If I succeed, come in and attack as well, Rosalie-san. If it shows any signs of trying to dive under the sand, try to stop it with your shots, Aruna-san.” (Lewin)

“Understood. I’ll match your movements!” (Rosalie)

“Got it.” (Aruna)

After giving the two of them instructions, I stepped out and approached it. Its flurry of swings was raising a strong wind that was causing the sand around it to scatter and dance about. It looked stupid at a glance, but it also showed how much power was behind each of its attacks. If I tried to exchange blows with it directly, I would probably get blown away with each attack, so I could only pour my efforts into dodging them while weaving in attacks where I could.

As I stood there, the Big Desert Mole suddenly rushed forward with great force, arms whirling rapidly. After reading its movements, I ducked underneath the reach of one of them and swung my sword along its momentarily outstretched arm.

I smoothly circumvented its power and matched the sword strike to the swing of its arm, opening up a deep gash in its right arm from its elbow all the way down to its wrist. A moment later, fresh blood gushed out of the Big Desert Mole’s arm.

The response in my hands was excellent, with the spurting blood confirming it. After that strike, I relaxed for a short second, thinking that the damage that I had inflicted would stop its movements. But much to my surprise, it continued to swing its nearly bisected right arm towards me as if nothing happened, slamming directly into my side.

I quickly retaliated, cleaving through its right arm once again, but the Big Desert Mole had more strength, smashing me into the floor with such strength that I rebounded painfully off the ground. It immediately followed up by swinging the claws of its right arm down on me, tearing into my body.

I had managed to avoid fatal injuries by twisting my body out of the way at the last moment, but its claws tore a set of deep gashes from my left shoulder down to my stomach. In addition, the impact from its attack had smashed my body into the ground with such force that I felt my bones crack in several places in my body.

“C-Cover me,” I croaked miserably, bearing the terrible, coursing pain surging throughout my entire body. I pulled out a mid-grade Recovery Potion and sprinkled it over my entire body.

The Big Desert Mole was already moving to attack me while I was down, but Rosalie immediately stepped in while Aruna unleashed a barrage of arrows, successfully interrupting its efforts.

I desperately dragged my body back to Aruna’s position in the rear guard.

“You almost died. You got wrecked so fast that we hardly got there in time to cover you.” (Aruna)

“…Sorry. Based on the response in my hands, I thought I had done enough damage, and I got careless.” (Lewin)

“Well, that first strike was flawless. Its right arm seems to be completely useless now. [Breakshot].” (Aruna)

I watched the trajectory of the arrow that Aruna had shot and saw that the right arm of the Big Desert Mole was hanging uselessly at its side. The attack that I had inflicted on it seemed to be very deep, and it appeared to be unable to use it anymore as it was facing off against Rosalie with only its left arm and the single horn growing out of its head.

Aruna’s arrows hardly ever missed, and its entire body was now covered with blood, but… the Big Desert Mole didn’t show any signs of relenting, and it started to use its useless right arm as a whip to attack Rosalie.

“It’s right arm doesn’t work anymore, so it can’t go underground anymore, right?” (Lewin)

“I think so. There was a big opening for it to dive underground when you and Rosalie switched. Even now, with Rosalie alone in the vanguard and me attacking from the back, it has had a few opportunities but it’s never tried to dive underground.” (Aruna)

Its way of making up for its complete lack of battle sense with physical ability alone was troublesome, and Rosalie didn’t seem to be able to put out any moves of her own. While we were used to fighting against monsters like the Elemental Golem where the damage inflicted did little to impede their movements, the Big Desert Mole did not remain stationary like that. I could feel a tenacity from it similar to the Angry Wolves found on Mount Cornello.

“Huh? What are you up to, drinking that many potions?” (Aruna)

“Glug, glug―I’m going back to the front line.” (Lewin)

“It’s a waste; I wouldn’t if I were you. Even if you don’t strain yourself, we’ll defeat it shortly.” (Aruna)

“No. I’m somehow getting a bad feeling about it. Let’s defeat it quickly as three.” (Lewin)

The Big Desert Mole was giving me a different impression compared to any of the Dungeon monsters I had encountered so far, so I ignored Aruna’s words and drained another two potions.

I was confident in my ability to drink massive amounts of potion to power up, so I gulped down the additional potions without choking once and then picked up my weapon and ran towards the front line.

From the claw gashes and the broken bones, there were parts of my body that still hurt, but I gritted my teeth and endured it as I pulled up next to Rosalie.

“Sorry to leave you alone on the front line.” (Lewin)

“I’m fine, but are you okay Lewin-san? Taking all the heat, and… watch out!” (Rosalie)

“I’m okay. Let’s settle this right away.” (Lewin)

After talking with Rosalie, who had barely managed to block an attack, I synced my movements with hers and brandished my sword. Rosalie blocked the attacks while I attacked where I saw openings, and Aruna followed up.

With excellent coordination, we fought a tough battle against the Big Desert Mole, without the slightest room to relax. At last, with Aruna firing off a [Breakshot], we managed to successfully defeat the Big Desert Mole. Even though the battle had become one-sided after I rejoined, it still took about 20 minutes.

Both Rosalie and I were panting heavily and sweating buckets, but it seemed that my hunch that it wouldn’t go down easily was correct. I was glad that I had used additional potions to return to battle instead of just sitting there and watching.