The [Lvl 12 Craggy Crabore] slammed down its claws, their sharp hooked tips burying into the ground. Its claws secured, it pulled itself forward, its numerous legs pushing mightily against the floor. It was like a meteor hurtling towards me.

Unlike before, I didn't evade its charge attack.

BAM!!!

The ground shook. Dust clouds flew upwards, mixing with the haze of [Rusting Grounds].

I got pushed back a couple of meters but I quickly regained my footing. The force was tremendous. The impact coursed through my arms, and my legs strained against it. Of course, the game didn't allow actual pain. Minute static shocks bathed me. It was akin to the numb and itchy feeling of a leg falling asleep, but it was all over my body.

"Hey, you didn't break my shell," I said as I raised both of my shields. A satisfied grin was on my face. Since [Greater Pyro Shell] didn't fully absorb damage, my health bar did suffer a loss that I quickly healed. I was mildly surprised that my shell held firm. Only mildly. I was a tank after all, and it was only expected that I'd eventually trivialize the threat of enemies as I grew stronger myself.

But survivability wasn't the issue here. It was my damage output up against this overgrown crustacean's annoying pharmacy kit on its back.

The Crabore made clicking noises with its mandibles that I assumed to mean anger. It skittered close to me, both claws held high. Then the sledgehammers dropped down. Unlike before, I didn't evade both claws. A couple more slight jolts as the claws met my shields.

BOOM!

"You did it!" I cheered it on mockingly. Same as my experience with the Hermit Crabores, I was concerned that I had grown too tanky for this guy. Fortunately, its damage was extremely high for its level—other players probably won't think that as fortunate.

With the Craggy Crabore's two most powerful attacks used, it resorted to its normal moves, headbutting me and snapping at me with its claws. This was the time to reduce my tankiness by taking off the pieces of armor without the retribution damage stat. I even unequipped my [Thatched Buckler], retaining only my [Thorny Worn Targe] because of its massive retribution damage, especially when I performed a Head-On Block. In turn, I equipped my sling so I could also attack it and hopefully burn it—in an emergency, I'd remove my sling to be able to use [Healing Touch].

I was surprised at how easy it was to block a single enemy with one shield. My practice sessions with the Hermit Crabores were paying dividends.

I had gotten used to blocking several enemies at the same time—using two shields, I might add—that a one-on-one match was a more relaxed affair. I didn't need to evade anything and I only had to concentrate on what was in front of me.

Sure, the Craggy Crabore had multiple limbs, it was a crustacean with extra-human hands, but it wasn't like it could attack with all of them at the same time. It was simply an upgraded whack-a-mole game where I had to catch each incoming attack with my [Thorny Worn Targe].

"I come in peace!" I said, bashing away a claw with my shield. "If you don't attack me, you won't get hurt." I cackled maniacally as its health bar became shorter and shorter like a Dolly's hotdog getting eaten. Hold your Mardukryons! That can be a great advertising tie-up with MCO. Even in this situation, the powerful brain of Herald Stone continued to belch the smoke of genius.

My [Greater Pyro Shell] finally exploded. I was mentally counting its duration so knew that it expired rather than depleted. Despite reducing my armor, my enemy's normal attacks were still too weak. Thankfully, I had the good sense—no, the amazing sense—not to take the Aritu Form Ocadule skill. It increased tankiness and would only reduce my DPS in this fight.

"Where are you going?" I called out as it scuttled off.

A few meters away, it turned to me and lowered its body to the floor. It was barely a minute when we fought and it was already trying to heal? Then I noticed the damage I had dealt. I was too focused on the fight that I didn't realize I had already lopped off a fifth of its health in such a short time.

Two of its hands each plucked a small crystal from its back. This was the first time I had seen it do this. It ate them both in turn and its health slowly filled back up. And I couldn't do anything to stop it—perhaps if I took [Fiery War Stomp], I could've stunned? Annoying, but only a small setback. I continued pelting it with stones as I stood on [Rusting Ground] waiting for its next charge.

Eventually, it'd run out of small crystals and die. My only concern was the three large crystals jutting out of its back—I had no idea what they were for.

The Craggy Crabore stood back up and spat out sticky liquid at me.

"At least it's from the mouth," I said as I held up my arms. The gooey substance dripped down like melted mozzarella.

The negative status of [Incapacitating Stickiness] debuffed me. I mentally commanded the system to display information about it to refresh myself on what it did—it had been a few days since we last fought.

"Evasion, movement speed, armor," I muttered as I read it. I wasn't going anywhere, I wasn't evading anything. As for the armor, the only thing I could say was, "Thanks for helping me get less tanky!"

The Craggy Crabore launched itself at me once again. Even with reduced armor, my shell still didn't explode. I was far from any danger, as far as Egret City to Swamphenshire where Sawyer's ranch was located. And [Incapacitating Stickiness] wasn't the airplane ride to close the distance.

After a short scuffle of another minute, my enemy disengaged and fled to heal. The armor reduction allowed me to pop an extra shell this time around. And because of that, it ate three small crystals.

"Five down, seven to go," I said. As I hit it with my sling during its downtime, I slowly trotted in a wide circle—the webs or strings terribly hampered me—to get a good look at its back. There were only four empty notches on its shell; a new crystal had grown. I was net four. Slowly but surely, I'd take it down. "Huh? What is it doing?" I raised my brow when I noticed all four of its arms firmly grabbed one of the larger golden crystals and pulled it out of its carapace.

Its hands brought the crystal to its mandibles and it began to feed. Again, there was nothing I could do to stop it other than continue chipping away with my sling attacks. And as it ate, its rocky exterior took on a reddish hue reminiscent of the Mirdabons when they were enraged. Perhaps the same thing was happening because the bumps on its knobbly armor extended and sharpened into spikes.

A [Lvl 15 Craggy Crabore] turned around to face me.

With my sling, I whipped myself to full stacks of [Ancestral Constitution], then I switched to my [Thatched Buckler] and cast [Healing Touch]. I also reequipped all the armor I had. The Heal over Time ticked as the Craggy Crabore—that was more on the spikier side now than craggy—threw itself at me. I bent my hind legs and hunched my shoulders down. Both shields up, ready to take the brunt of the ramming claws.

WHAM!!! BOOM!

Shell up! The double claw attack came next.

BOOM!

And then another double claw slam. A large portion of my health bar disappeared even when I fully blocked both claws. I cast [Healing Touch] and ate more healing herbs. The crab monster wasn't done. With both claws opened wide, it crunched my flanks.

But I wasn't dead.

Still quite healthy. My incredibly fast regeneration speed made sure I stayed in the land of the living.

"That's new," I said. The juiced-up attacks of the [Craggy Crabore] were almost unreasonable, but it was similar to the Mirdabon mechanics.

I assumed the player was supposed to dodge these blows given the lessons one was assumed to have learned from killing a pack of Mirdabons solo. It was a logical difficulty progression. However, I was the one who taught the lessons. And this enraged crustacean should learn of my hardness.

Normal attacks followed. If it had more combo moves with massive damage, I would've been in trouble.

I held on, stomping and blocking, waiting for the cooldown of my shell. Once it was up, it lasted for several seconds and exploded right when the next one was ready. I popped three more shields after that, slicing away at its life. [Rusting Ground] made the later explosions more powerful.

"You're just killing yourself fast—Wait, what?" The Craggy Crabore deflated in front of me, its spikes receding into the rough surface of its shell. It had also lost its reddish hue. I was right—the player only needed to survive its enraged state, which lasted only about half a minute or so.

My weakened enemy retreated to eat four smaller crystals to patch up its significant injuries. This feeding session took a long time and was probably meant as a window of opportunity for a DPS to dish out damage as revenge for being forced to dodge for half a minute.

I did try to damage it, pitiful damage at that. Small embers danced on its shell as the burn from the sling procced. Then it ate the second large crystal it carried, returning to its more powerful form.

Before beginning our next round, it sprayed me again with gunk. Even the [Incapacitating Stickiness] received a power-up, removing more of my armor. More popping shells was the positive way to look at it.

Its next charge came, I held up both shields, and my shell exploded, along with about a third of my health chunked away. This was practically a one-hit-kill for any non-tanks. As a tank, I also thought that it was too high for me. It reinforced my belief that when the devs designed this mini-boss, they just cranked the damage up to eleven intending to make sure the players who did this were forced to dodge or else they'd die. But I wasn't just some player.

I am Herald Stone! And I'm not going to dodge!

However, that didn't mean I wouldn't block. And I also did dodge its attack during our first encounter, but no one should know about that. It was only between me and this Craggy Crabore, and I was dead set on killing the only witness to my shameful dodging.

It gained a new move, a flurry of claw swipes that increased in damage with each blow. A few times my health bar reached as low as a fifth of it left while my [Greater Pyro Shell] was on cooldown. But I never moved away from my spot. Each time my health was brought down, it rallied back up with my regeneration like a bull run in the stock market.

After my enemy ran out of gas—only a few cars ran purely on gas nowadays; most were hybrid—it skittered back as expected and ate all its remaining small crystals. But the damage it took during our last clash was too great, in addition to the continuous rain of puny stones from my sling, and it wasn't able to return to full health.

With the remaining large crystal on its back, it strengthened itself for one last time—I was going to make sure it was the last time.

Instead of waiting for it, I stormed forward, my heavy hooves thundering on the ground. Holding my shields close to my body, I leaned my upper body forward to meet its charge. We clashed in the middle of the arena. My exploding shell made the impact more epic.

The Craggy Crabore's attack speed had doubled by eating the last crystal. But that was to be its downfall. I couldn't block all of its blows because of its speed, but it didn't matter.

My shell exploding every six seconds brought my prey closer and closer to its end. Retribution damage ticked away at its health with every hit, its faster attacks rushed it to its death. It also provided me with more opportunities to perform Head-On Blocks. I cast [Healing Touch] every time I could, and my stocks of consumable herbs were depleted.

But eventually...eventually...

"Yes!" I said, waving my shields in the air as my shell showered the Craggy Crabore with fire, blasting away its remaining sliver of health. The latter crumpled. Its feet folded beneath it, and it rolled over like a dead spider.

[ Loot: 254 Artas, 3 Shell Fragments, 3 Crab Legs, 3 Exotic Clumps of Chitin, (Unidentified) Ocadule Shard ]

[ Quest Completed: Proving Your Worth! Again! ]