Wolf jumped away. He watched a head bigger than his torso spring out of the ground. Wolf soared through the air, observing the earth spray everywhere. He tried to discern the monster through a thick dust cloud, attempting to figure out what attacked him. The scaly, reptilian head was the greenish-blue color of bronze patina. It looked like an alligator snapping turtle, but the beak was sharper and more curved, resembling that of an eagle.

In the slowed flow of time, Wolf watched the beak open, then clamp down with a hair-raising metallic clang. Even in Wolf’s stretched perception of time, the biting motion was lightning quick. A regular person couldn’t catch it. They would only hear the ear-numbing din of metallic jaws snapping shut.

Following the head, a broad and flat turtle-shell emerged from the ground, followed by a pair of fins which ended in sharp, claw-like protrusions. The giant turtle looked like a shark jumping out of the ocean, grasping for a seal with its terrifying jaws.

After what seemed like a full minute, Wolf landed two meters away from where he stood previously. Then he dashed away, dodging the flapping fin and the falling turtle’s bulk.

*Boom!*

With a loud crash, the turtle landed, knocking down a tree and flattening bushes. Then the reptile turned towards Wolf and gave chase.

The Demonic Beast was five meters wide and seven meters long. Its heavy shell was thick, but flat, built for smoother earth travel. The turtle trampled bushes and bashed trees aside while pursuing Wolf. With all those obstacles hampering it the Demonic Beast moved much slower than Wolf expected.

It’s slower than a Thornshell.

After a dozen meters of awkwardly flapping its fins, the turtle sank into the ground once more. It no longer lumbered forward, struggling with its oversized fins. Instead, it swam through the earth, moving like a sea turtle in an ocean.

The turtle gradually picked up speed as more of its bulk descended into the ground. Finally, nothing other than its head and a stretch of carapace stuck out of the soft forest soil. Once mostly submerged, the Demonic Beast’s movements no longer disturbed its surroundings as much. Soil and shrubbery even moved back into place after the turtle passed.

This entire scene reminding Wolf of a turtle he’d seen years ago.

It’s like a Giant Metal-Shelled Earth-Swimming Triceratops Turtle, only smaller and without the horns, he thought, inadvertently recalling his father.

Should I climb a tree? Wolf thought, then smirked at his absurd and nostalgic idea. He was both stronger and faster than his enemy. It was much more sensible to kill it, or run away, rather than scale trees.

Wolf nodded, then turned around.

He assumed an open stance, still wielding Van Dale’s burning sword. In this stance Wolf gave himself space both for a swift counterattack and easy dodging. Just in case, he even started casting Subtle Arcane Storm, his last one for the day.

Wolf silently observed the turtle approach. That sluggish face and those dull, dark eyes revealed no trace of the explosive speed with which the Hornless Metal-Shell attacked moments ago.

We’re both bluffing, he thought, thinking about how under his calm exterior Soul Force surged like a stormy sea, ready to manifest and assume a corporeal form.

Wolf waited until the turtle drew to four meters away. Then, a torrent of purplish missiles tore through the air towards it. The Demonic Beast sensed the threat and immediately drew its head into the hard shell. Its fin emerged from the ground, blocking the head hole.

*Pa! Pa! Pa!*

The missiles pelted the flipper, breaking and dissipating into purplish specks. The barrage appeared impressive, but caused little harm. Demonic Beast’s fin was just as sturdy as its shell. It seemed to be made of metal, the top part the dark color of rusty iron mixed with the bronze patina, while its bottom side was the shiny color of brass.

I only shook off some earth stuck to its skin. Wolf’s lip twisted at the minuscule impact of his attack. That means that the head is its only weakness.

Wolf was in a tough spot. Even though the turtle protected its head, the only real weak spot were most likely the eyes. Otherwise, the head couldn’t burst out of the ground the way it did.

Speed, offense, defense and intelligence. Those are the four key characteristics of Monster Beasts. This one obviously gave up on speed, and its only offense is a powerful bite. Considering it’s a turtle, its defense is probably at the peak of Seventh Order, while its intelligence should at least be above average.

Watching the missiles impotently rain on the turtle, Wolf considered retreating. However, that would just be delaying his problem. And considering his rough idea of how to bring down the demonic tree, Wolf would run into this exact turtle before the week ended.

Several moments after the last magical dart shattered against the turtle’s giant fin, the Demonic Beast slowly revealed its head, only to find Wolf hadn’t moved from his original spot. The young man was deep in thought, trying to come up with a plan to kill the Demonic Beast as quickly as possible.

The turtle waved its fin. It feigned a forward move, but its head shot towards Wolf like a missile.

The bizarre sight stunned the young Mage for a split second before he realized what had happened.

Its neck is actually so long? Wolf gawked at the Hornless Metal-Shell’s serpentine neck before regaining his senses. He ducked under the attack. The turtle’s head whizzed above him, snapping its jaws where Wolf’s head stood not a moment ago.

As the metallic beak flashed past him, Wolf reflexively stabbed with Van Dale’s sword. He didn’t have the time to execute a maneuver, nor enough expertise to coat the blade in Internal Energy without preparation. And yet, the sword plunged into the serpentine neck with surprising ease.

Even though the blow lacked power, half the sword’s blade sunk into the soft, leathery neck. The turtle screamed shrilly as its flesh sizzled from the flaming weapon’s heat.

Compared to its bulk, the attack dealt as much damage as a manling being stabbed into the neck by a needle. However, as the head shot forward an extra meter, the tiny puncture grew into a ghastly wound on the Demonic Beast’s neck.

This is great! Wolf thought as the turtle let out a loud guttural howl and twisted its head. But no matter how the Demonic Beast struggled, it only increased the extent of its damage. Despite the flames cauterizing the wound, the laceration was so wide that steaming red blood gushed out, drenching Wolf.

Finally, in its agony, the turtle retracted its head in a single lightning-quick motion. This defensive reflex further aggravated its already fatal injury. As it moved, the Hornless Metal-Shell’s jawbone smashed into Van Dale’s sword, knocking the weapon out of its flesh, nearly sending it flying out of Wolf’s grip.

The giant turtle thrashed its way out of the ground. It hid its head inside its shell and howled as blood flowed from its open mouth. The metallic carapace shook violently, and the turtle flailed its mighty fins. But no matter how much the Demonic Beast rampaged and damaged the surrounding landscape, it couldn’t save itself.

Its erratic movement died down. Wolf’s skin crawled from the coughs, gurgles and drowning noises coming from the rusted metallic shell. He watched as a river of steaming ruby-colored blood flowed out of the carapace.

Focused on the dying reptile, Wolf failed to notice the faint tremors underneath his feet. Luckily, his senses remained fully awakened. He suddenly felt hatred for an enemy directly beneath him, and jumped away without thinking.

There were two of them? Wolf regretted being absorbed with his enemy’s death. He reacted too slowly this time. He watched as the metallic beak emerged from the ground, opened, and then clamped down on his left foot. Wolf sent a surge of Internal Energy to shield himself, but that bit of force only bought him a split second.

The jaws snapped shut like a foothold trap. The sharp beak destroyed Wolf’s shoe, scraped impregnable skin and tore off muscles from half Wolf’s foot, leaving behind bones, tendons and bits of mangled flesh which kept it all together.

Shit. Wolf felt as if his foot was on fire, but he had no time to treat the injury. He waved the flaming sword behind his back, but just as he’d expected, it harmlessly bounced off the metallic beak, showering it with sparks.

However, not everything was bad. This time Wolf was luckier than the last. He jumped to the turtle’s side, and not the front. Thanks to that, he wasn’t in imminent danger of being crushed.

Wolf somersaulted through the air, regaining balance for a proper landing. When his feet slammed onto the ground he didn’t even have the time to wince in pain. The earth beneath him swelled then erupted as a giant metallic fin emerged from the ground.

The fin sent him flying once more, but this time there wasn’t as much danger. Wolf had time to assess his situation.

Even with an injured foot, I have more than enough time to run away, heal up and then fight this turtle one on one. If I can force it to attack by shooting out its head like the other one, then I can slit its throat. Just as Wolf was thinking that, the dying turtle let out a weak whine, then went silent.

As Wolf landed and winced, the turtle died. Its muscles relaxed and its head slid out of the carapace, revealing a long and bloodied viper neck.

Suddenly, Wolf felt three more enemies appear out of nowhere. One of them burrowed out next to the turtle’s corpse, while two others were some thirty to forty meters away from Wolf, forming a solid encirclement.

The Demonic Beasts’ didn’t attack. Instead, they let out low, throaty sounds and the one closest to the dead body slowly nudged the lifeless head with its beak.

While the turtles wailed, Wolf hobbled away from the nearest turtle, feeling their pain and sorrow. Their emotions were so human, it made Wolf’s skin crawl. However, just as Wolf started sympathizing with them, the mourning turtle turned around, locking its bloodshot eyes on him. With a loud guttural harrumph, the Metal-Shell awkwardly lumbered towards him, as did the other three.

They are pack hunters, Wolf realized, then understood just how terrifying these turtles were. They could plan. One drew his attention, allowing others to attack from the ground. Luckily, I killed one and ruined their plan.

However, Wolf knew that these four Demonic Beasts had him boxed in. He moved into the optimal position, but that’s about all he could do in the few moments he had.

No room for escape. He calmly shifted his gaze from left to right, looking for a safe way out. Ironically, what Wolf wanted the most was a tree sturdy enough to climb and heal his injured foot, but that was wishful thinking. These Demonic Beasts could knock down all the surrounding trees with ease.

Just as he thought things couldn’t get any worse, Wolf picked up a familiar tremor under his feet.

There’s another one? Wolf prepared to dodge the attack. He realized these four Hornless Metal-Shells intentionally dragged their heavy bodies along the ground, providing cover for the unseen assailant. But after being ambushed twice and with his senses fully awakened, Wolf recognized the familiar feeling.