Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 151
Chapter 151: King Crab Battle
The crustacean-type secret monster, ?Increasing King Crab?.
An evolution of its kind after battling with its long-clawed relatives, it boasts a massive body measuring eight meters in length, armored with a tough shell—a true king of crabs.
Its sharp pincers endlessly seek strong opponents, wandering through the deep sea.
This is the episode about the giant crab that the support system, ?Lucifel?, shared with me.
The conditions for its appearance require defeating a certain number of its crab brethren within 30 minutes and then completing the quest as the primary condition.
The second condition is that it’s a random encounter, with a very low probability of less than 3%.
So, to put it bluntly, the fact that this thing has shown up is more than half my fault.
Its level is 70, with a weakness to the lightning attribute.
But what’s truly terrifying for adventurers are its two pincers, which destroy equipment ranked C or below without question.
In fact, a knight’s shield that hadn’t even reached B-rank was sliced in two, ignoring its defensive skill, and anyone who tried to guard with their weapon was also destroyed and vanished after having their weapon shattered.
To provide covering fire and consider worst-case scenarios, the NPC crew members on the ships in the harbor fire the cannons, but the ?Increasing King Crab? easily deflects the attacks after activating its defensive skills.
It’s a true first-time killer.
For those without high-rank equipment, it’s as if the monster is saying they don’t have the right to challenge it, mercilessly destroying their gear and delivering death as an overwhelming force.
Considering the time and effort spent on their equipment, it’s certain they’ll suffer a double blow and be unable to recover.
Indeed, it is strong.
Right now, the third unit of ?Hell and Heaven?, including Sophia, is fighting valiantly, but it’s still tough.
After managing to chip away at one of its pincers, the enemy’s movements change.
Despite being a crab, it jumps high, using its full mass to launch a stamp attack on the ground. The shockwave generated stuns all the adventurers nearby.
—This is bad.
Having arrived at the harbor, Sora drew the ?Silver Magic Sword? and issued commands to the two following behind.
“The enemy’s pincers can destroy equipment ranked C or below, so it’s better to avoid taking hits.”
“So that means we should focus on dodging and attacking.”
“Got it!”
While running, Inori drew a high-quality arrow from her storage and got ready with her bow.
As Sora stacked four ?Attack Power Boost Enchantment? and one ?Lighting Attribute Enchantment? on Inori, she released a golden lightning bolt from her arrow while swiftly nocking another arrow to her bow.
“Alright, let’s show them what I’ve got after a month of inactivity!”
The girl licked her lips, aimed, and consumed MP.
Against the approaching crab that aimed to cleave the knight in two, Inori unleashed her first strike with all her might.
“Pierce through, ?Thunder Spiral Arrow?!”
The bolt of lightning shot forth from her hand, flying straight toward the crab’s right eye, where it pierced in and generated a bright red damage effect.
“Garrrrny!?”
With a deep, gravelly scream, the King Crab redirected its aggro from the adventurer at its feet toward Inori.
Filled with murderous intent, the King Crab charged at her, angry at the critical hit that had reduced its HP by about 20%.
However, that was a critically flawed decision.
Two streaks of light raced along the ground, soaring into the air with silver and pale lavender blades in hand.
“If you ignore us, you’ll die.”
The two executed a combination technique called ?Lightning Sword?, blending a level 5 lightning attribute boost with the charge attack skill ?Sonic Sword?.
The blades, imbued with lightning, dodged the enemy’s retaliatory strike and slipped inside, marking two Xs on its soft underbelly.
Red damage effects appeared.
Combined with the damage from the hit to its eye, the King Crab’s HP was suddenly reduced by about 30%.
“Sora!”
The enraged monster shifted its target to Sora and Kuro, brandishing its two pincers to activate ?Dual Scissors?.
After drawing in the massive pincers, the two swiftly evaded by jumping straight back with ?Sonic Step?.
Seizing the moment when the monster paused after its skill attack, Inori took a precise shot at the remaining eye.
As the arrow struck, a different type of lightning coursed through the monster’s body.
Its HP dropped another 10% due to its weakness, and it was further afflicted with the status ailment ?Paralysis?.
“?!”
With both eyes blinded and now suffering from ?Paralysis?, the King Crab became temporarily immobilized.
Seeing it enter auto-recovery mode due to the loss of its eyes and become vulnerable, Sora and Kuro stepped forward simultaneously.
The two of us activated the speed boost skill ?Accelerator? and the attack power boost skill *Strength*.
Additionally, the two swords, enhanced by the three attribute skills ?Strength?, ?Sharpness?, and ?Critical Hit?, emitted a dazzling light due to the skill effects.
The King Crab’s HP was down to about 60%.
With my maximum strong attack, could I defeat it using the technique I had secretly come up with?
“Here I go!”
Kuro, who had taken the lead, delivered a horizontal double strike using ?Lightning Stream?, then canceled the final thrust just before impact.
Without losing momentum, she activated ?Rising Slant? with her straight sword held low.
She carved a diagonal line from the lower right to the upper left with lightning, reducing the King Crab’s HP to about 30%.
“Sora!”
“Just like I expected from my partner, great job!”
In response to Kuro’s words as she entered skill cooldown, I held my sword horizontally and activated ?Rising Strike Sword?.
A brilliant blue flash effect illuminated the surroundings.
With the piercing skill ready in my right hand, I charged at the King Crab, piercing the center of its chest with the ?Silver Magic Sword? at missile-like speed.
At that point, the enemy’s HP was nearly depleted, but my attack wasn’t over yet.
I executed a double activation of the one-handed straight sword category skill ?Rising Vertical Slash?, which was a higher-tier lightning skill, and the higher-tier jump skill, all while maintaining my stabbing position.
Kicking off from the air, I leaped upward, sword in hand, surging from the middle stance to the upper stance in one go.
“Woooooah!”
With a mighty roar, I swung the silver sword.
Confirming that the ?Increasing King Crab?’s HP hit zero after receiving the beautifully connected series of lethal stabbing and vertical strikes, I entered skill cooldown.
The giant crab burst into particles of light.
As expected of a secret monster, I received an enormous amount of experience points, and my level increased by two.
Furthermore, an item called King Crab Shell dropped.
I fell to the ground on my back, unable to roll with the impact.
However, Inori, who had run over after fulfilling her role, caught me just in time.
“Phew, we managed to take it down.”
I muttered with a sigh, and Inori looked at me with an exasperated expression.
“Considering you took it down without a scratch, you really shouldn’t say that.”
“That’s just how it is. This avatar’s build isn’t designed to take enemy attacks.”
My original style is balanced, but in this body, I’m limited by the capacity, leaving me with no choice.
In the first place, if you take a hit, there’s a high chance you’ll be unable to counterattack due to knockback or flinching.
Taking a hit is a last resort. If possible, evasion is always the best option in any VR battle.
This raises the question of whether a tank is even necessary in a boss fight. Continuously avoiding the attacks of a large boss can greatly drain your concentration, so it’s essential to have people who can take hits, considering the potential for accidents.
This topic has been discussed for a long time on the tactical boards of VRMMORPGs, but there has yet to be a definitive conclusion on whether tanks are needed or not.
As I pondered this, Kuro, whose cooldown had lifted, separated from Sophia and the others in the same party after chatting for a bit, and walked over to us with a smile, offering words of encouragement.
“You two did great!”
Inori smiled at her in response.
“I had heard rumors, but you really did well, Kuro. This unexpected dark horse has entered the ‘main wife war’.”
“Right? Kuro’s skill level is amazing. She’s caught up to us in just a few months!”
“H-Hearing praise doesn’t mean anything will come of it, you know?”
Perhaps unaccustomed to being complimented, Kuro’s face turned bright red in embarrassment.
It was during this moment, as Inori and I were grinning and watching her, that a familiar, majestic fanfare echoed, and a window screen appeared before all the adventurers.
—- —- —- —- —- —- —- —- —-
?Update Notification?
– The update will begin in one hour.
– Please note that if you do not log out using a safe zone or a temporary tent, your ?Life Points? will be forcibly reduced by one.
—- —- —- —- —- —- —- —- —-
After reading the notice, Sora, having regained composure, considered the situation while receiving the gazes of the two.
“For now, let’s call it a day. I’m heading back to the inn to log out, so Inori, will you join me?”
“Absolutely, I’ll accompany you!”
“Yay! This time, Inori-chan is coming along!”
As I watched Kuro and Inori dance joyfully together, I led the two of them toward the inn.
However, Sora had forgotten one important thing.
That the inn they were staying at only had a “double bed.”