I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 293: Nature’s Gift

For the crabs present, this was likely the most terrifying sight they would ever witness in their lives.Imagine being an ordinary Ironclaw Giant Crab.

You were originally enjoying a leisurely summer life in the familiar reed marshes.

Your tribe was the most powerful monster group in the vicinity.

Then one day, like manna from heaven, food practically delivered itself to your doorstep.

Just when you thought this might be the best day of your crab life...

The next moment.

The sky suddenly darkened.

A terrifying pressure that made your crab soul tremble descended like a physical weight.

You stiffly lifted your eyestalks.

And saw a crimson dragon that only existed in the ancestral fear memories passed down through your bloodline, staring at you with the cold gaze one reserves for snacks, with sulfurous smoke still lingering at the corners of its mouth from its recent flame breath.

What a... what a horrifying sight.

The transition from heaven to hell couldn't be more extreme than this.

This was exactly the situation facing the Ironclaw Giant Crab population at Shattershell Shallows.

"Gurgle?!"

"Click-clack!!!"

After a brief deathly silence, what followed was an uncontrollable, plague-like spread of fear.

The crab swarm instantly erupted into chaos.

Not just one, not just two, not three... almost all the ordinary giant crabs went berserk.

Some crabs closer to the water instinctively tried to flee back into the familiar river.

But after taking a few steps, they saw the blazing wall of flames before them, emitting lethal temperatures that completely cut off their escape route.

The flames from the red dragon's breath weren't ordinary fire, so even though the reeds grew in water and wetlands, it could still ignite everything and maintain burning for quite some time.

Only those few elite crabs could barely maintain some composure, though they were only slightly better off.

From their trembling bodies, one could still observe the shock brought by the dragon's arrival.

"ROAR—"

Hephaestus roared.

It was a petty drake.

It wouldn't feel an ounce of pity for the crabs' fearful appearance below.

It suddenly beat its wings.

The next moment, its body crashed down like a crimson meteor into the most densely populated area of the crab swarm.

"BOOM!!"

The earth trembled.

Crabs that couldn't dodge in time were instantly crushed into crab paste.

Shattered shells, white crab meat, and various unidentified bodily fluids splattered everywhere.

The size of ordinary Ironclaw Giant Crabs was only enormous compared to normal crabs, but for a red drake like this, crushing them was no different from stepping on insects.

"Ironclaw Giant Crab killed*1"

"Acquired title [Ironclaw Giant Crab Hunter], this title will upgrade as kill count increases."

"Current effect: Armor Break. In battles against Ironclaw Giant Crabs and related advanced species, damage effect against target creature's shell is additionally increased by 30%."

Gauss glanced at the changes on his panel.

This effect was quite good.

Although it might not make much difference against ordinary Ironclaw Giant Crabs, since his attack power was probably already excessive, it would be quite useful when facing elite individuals or even stronger ones among the Ironclaw Giant Crabs.

At least it would save some effort when breaking their metal-like shells.

With the unlocking of the Ironclaw Giant Crab encyclopedia, his ordinary monster encyclopedia types had accumulated to 48.

Shifting his attention away from the panel and back to the real world.

The drake beneath him was still madly slaughtering the ordinary Ironclaw Giant Crabs.

Every part of its body had become a weapon - feet, wings, claws, sharp teeth.

And when those crabs, driven by life-or-death crisis, rarely mustered the courage to fight back, waving their majestic large pincers, they couldn't cause any killing effect at all.

The drake's skin was simply too tough.

Because of the fire wall, the crab swarm couldn't directly escape back to the river, and with an enraged drake rampaging in the middle of the battlefield, the crabs could only flee chaotically toward both sides.

However, Albenia, Aria, Serlandul, Ulfen, and the clay constructs Gauss had released earlier were already waiting on both sides.

They had constructed two "human walls" and control nets.

Every crab fleeing here trying to leave the battlefield was either controlled, or directly chopped in half by Albenia's large axe, or died at the hands of the clay constructs.

The difficulty of this commission for Gauss's team was never in the combat itself.

But in trying to capture the entire crab swarm in one net.

From the current situation, the effect had clearly achieved the planned goal.

The crab swarm was numerous, but like turtles in a jar, they were firmly trapped in this localized battlefield.

Gauss, atop the drake, looked down upon the entire battlefield from his high position and nodded with satisfaction.

Only then did he turn his gaze to those few alert elite crabs at the rear of the battlefield.

The dragon's close-range pressure had stripped them of their control over the crab swarm.

After several failed attempts to issue commands, they abandoned these worthless clan members, observed the battlefield, and silently retreated toward the woodland behind them.

"Weren't they supposed to have a warlike temperament?"

Gauss noticed their intention and shook his head.

The ordinary crabs were understandable given the massive power difference, but even these elite individuals and the leader were so pathetic.

Probably their true nature was to bully the weak and fear the strong.

After quickly slaughtering dozens of ordinary crabs around, the drake Hephaestus also found it somewhat boring and turned its gaze to those few obviously larger crabs.

Especially the leader.

Remembering that it had eaten part of what should have been its own food made it somewhat angry.

After receiving Gauss's instruction, it beat its wings and rose, stirring up strong winds.

The crab leader noticed that Hephaestus was no longer paying attention to the other clan members in the center of the battlefield but had focused its attention on itself, and its retreating movements paused.

The dragon's flight speed was too fast.

In the blink of an eye, it was above its head.

With the momentum of a crushing weight, a pair of dragon claws fiercely grabbed toward it.

Sensing the obvious speed difference between itself and the dragon, the crab leader probably understood it couldn't escape.

It could only stop, lifting that pair of pincers larger than an adult human's body.

Black energy surged at the tips of the pincers.

In an extremely short time, the black energy completely enveloped the pair of pincers.

Making the already incredibly hard iron pincers now emit an ominous aura.

Its small eyes gradually turned crimson, firmly locking onto the diving Hephaestus, its massive body slightly sinking, assuming a posture of desperate struggle.

Some kind of toxin enchantment?

Gauss on the dragon's back noticed this detail.

But he wanted to see how much strength the drake Hephaestus, whose power was sealed by the white egg, still retained.

So he didn't intervene in its battle.

Anyway, as long as he was on its back, he could equally share the kill numbers it brought.

He had been working hard for so long, what was wrong with enjoying himself a bit?

Besides, he was also testing Hephaestus's strength.

Hephaestus's golden vertical pupils clearly also noticed the energy gathering on the crab pincers, but its diving momentum didn't weaken.

However, just as the dragon claws were about to contact the crab leader, the trajectory of the claws originally aimed at the crab suddenly changed, switching from grabbing to slapping.

The massive dragon claws, carrying howling wind pressure, fiercely slapped toward the relatively vulnerable side of the crab leader's body and the joints connecting its legs.

"CRACK!"

"!"

The power of the dragon claws was immensely strong.

Just upon contact, it instantly sent the crab's heavy body flying!

During the flight, there was also the sound of brittle cracking.

Clearly, Hephaestus's strike, concentrated with terrifying power, had directly damaged the crab's joints.

However, the energy entwined on the crab's pincers also shot out when the dragon approached, the energy hitting Hephaestus's chest, leaving some black corrosive marks.

Hephaestus scratched its head in annoyance, looking down at its claws.

If it were at its full strength, that slap could have directly crushed that crab into pieces on the spot.

But unfortunately, its strength was sealed.

It was always in a "soft and powerless" state.

It was precisely because of this "weak" state that its appetite had recently increased dramatically.

Normally, it didn't need to eat so much food every day.

"Gurgle-crack!"

The crab leader rolled on the ground several times before finally stopping itself.

It let out a pained grunt, its massive body swaying.

Hephaestus's slap had directly broken some of its joints.

So much so that when it tried to support itself up from the ground, its movements were twisted and crooked, like a drunkard unable to control its body balance.

A starved camel is still bigger than a horse.

Hephaestus's attack instantly made it despair.

After resting on the ground for a moment, Hephaestus rose into the air again.

The crab leader had several legs broken, making escape even more difficult.

But the drake didn't engage in close combat like before.

Although that black energy was unknown, it caused waves of burning pain when it coiled around the body surface.

It naturally didn't plan to suffer it a second time.

"ROAR!!!"

It lowered its neck, aimed its dragon head at the crab leader's position, and spat out surging flames.

"WHOOSH-BOOM!"

The flames poured down like a scorching waterfall, continuously drenching the mobility-impaired crab leader.

Its black shell rapidly turned red under the high temperature.

The most fatal thing was...

The high-temperature dragon breath flames poured frantically into its body through the shell cracks and broken joints caused by the earlier dragon claw slap.

"Screech—"

The crab leader let out a series of miserable screams.

Its body convulsed and rolled in the continuous rain of fire that followed.

The broken walking legs and heavy body made all its struggles seem futile.

The soft meat and internal organs under the shell were rapidly being cooked by the high temperature, emitting a mixed aroma with intense roasted fragrance.

Those eyes also lost their luster in the flames, eventually being roasted pale, losing activity.

After more than ten seconds.

It completely stopped struggling.

The massive body finally collapsed on the riverbed stones that were also roasted red.

Multiple places on the shell cracked open, revealing the pure white crab meat inside that was already cooked and smoking.

"Elite monster killed, Ironclaw Giant Crab Leader*1"

Gauss looked at the reddened crab leader below and couldn't help but swallow.

When alive, its shell was reflective black, but after being cooked, it became quite beautiful.

Showing a gradient of interwoven light and dark red colors that made one very appetized.

But now was clearly not the time for a meal.

He directed the drake Hephaestus, which had its eyes on the same target, to fly toward other areas of the battlefield. The battle was far from over.

Receiving Gauss's command, although somewhat coveting the crab leader, Hephaestus still obediently carried out the order.

After Gauss and Hephaestus, one human and one dragon, joined the battlefield.

Within a few minutes, the battle ended.

"Ironclaw Giant Crab killed*1"

"Total monsters killed: 7978"

Gauss jumped down from the dragon's back.

What a pity, just a bit short.

But he didn't really mind that much.

Later, he could search around some riverbeds with dense aquatic plants nearby and should be able to find some water ghosts to make up for this last bit.

After the battle ended, he began scanning the monster corpses with the Mission Recorder.

"213"

"214"

The numbers displayed on the crystal kept jumping.

Finally stopping at 558.

Among them, the crab leader provided the most points.

A full 90 points.

While the remaining three elite Ironclaw Giant Crabs provided 10 points, 15 points, and 30 points respectively.

"558 points now!"

"According to this morning's ranking, did we break into the top ten?"

Aria clapped her hands.

After discovering the existence of that leaderboard this morning, she really wanted to see Gauss's name climb upward.

It's just that others temporarily had the first-mover advantage, so Gauss's ranking was quite low.

"Hard to say."

Gauss shook his head.

"That was the ranking we saw this morning, and others might not have gotten up as early as us to update data. They might have also set out to do commissions and hunt monsters now."

Of course, Gauss estimated that they had probably jumped from over a hundred places into the top ten.

He said this just out of caution.

Although he arrived late, his advantage was actually quite significant.

He saved a lot of time on travel and searching for monsters along the way.

"Lord Gauss, is there any reward for first place?" Albenia asked curiously.

"It seems higher rankings allow choosing some curiosities and magic, the higher the rank, the more choices available."

"I heard first place also gets some Lake God's Blessing or something."

"I asked around and it seems not very useful." Gauss shook his head.

He had also asked about the previous session's rewards from a few years ago.

But being able to choose some curiosities was already good enough.

The Living Bag, Fold House, Eagle Eye Monocle - these curiosities were still being used frequently by Gauss's team even now.

"Next..."

"Let's eat first."

After some activity, breakfast had been digested.

Gauss's gaze, like Hephaestus's, turned to that massive crab that was still emitting wisps of smoke.

The team members walked to its side.

"It really is fragrant."

Even Aria, who usually had some psychological resistance to eating monsters, had to admit that this crab leader smelled very enticing.

Looking at the other ordinary crabs, although some were also roasted by dragon flames, they didn't have such compelling aroma.

Was it because it was special as the leader?

Under Gauss's direction, Albenia swung her sharp large axe and began disassembling it.

"Thump thump thump!"

After being roasted by dragon flames, the crab leader's joints had lost activity. Albenia swung her axe a few times and completed the disassembly work.

A pair of massive crab pincers.

Four pairs of walking legs.

And when the crab's upper shell was lifted open.

A rich aroma rushed out as if finally released.

Under the crab shell was crystal clear, plump and full crab meat and crab roe.

Because it was evenly heated from inside by the dragon breath, the crab meat was perfectly cooked, emitting steaming heat without a trace of burning.

Instead, the high temperature had forced out the oils, making it appear oily and tempting.

The massive crab roe in the abdomen was like flowing gold, emitting an unparalleled rich aroma.

"Gulp—"

Everyone present, whether human, dragon, wolf, or bird, simultaneously swallowed.

Thanks to nature's bounty.

What a wonderful day!