The Giant Crab and the Dark Claw

The two giant mermaids were quite formidable, immediately engaging Po Kong and Xia Duo in a fierce battle.

Among the four, Po Kong’s close-combat prowess was undoubtedly the strongest. Even with the heavy box on his back, he steadily suppressed his opponent. The stone spear in the mermaid's hands was completely unable to break through the net of his sword shadows.

However, they were currently underwater, which was the mermaids' home turf. The opponent’s speed was far greater than that of a human. Although their ferocious attacks were ineffective, they succeeded in pinning down Po Kong’s movements.

On the other hand, with Moen’s assistance, Xia Duo demonstrated a level of suppression that rivaled Po Kong’s, despite being unable to use her bow. Dense wounds soon began to appear on the mermaid she was fighting.

However, her short blades were too small to deal a fatal blow to the thick-skinned mermaid. With the creature's vitals protected by armor, the two were locked in a stalemate where neither could overcome the other.

Seeing that the two had intercepted the leaders for him, Starlight refocused his attention on the distant mermaid swarm.

He had already begun secretly condensing his mana. If the enemy intended to launch a sneak attack, he could counter-attack instantly.

With his previous experience, he was confident he could use magic to hold back the remaining mermaids.

Yet, the mermaid swarm remained cruising dozens of meters away, showing no intention of attacking. They seemed to be wary of his spells.

“Interesting. Are they guarding against the spell I just used? Or do they have some other trick up their sleeves?”

Watching the mermaids spread out in a radial formation, Starlight remained silent and refrained from attacking, maintaining a tacit standoff.

“Starlight, watch your feet! Something is coming!”

Moen, who was commanding the aquatic plants, suddenly shouted through the mental link. She sensed that her connection with some of the seaweed had been abruptly severed by something.

Sensing the anomaly, she alertly looked down and discovered that the sandy seabed was vibrating slightly at an unknown moment.

Something seemed to be squirming beneath the rising mounds of sand. Many strands of seaweed were being uprooted along with billowing clouds of silt.

Just then, a dark shadow as thick as a door burst out from the silt on the seafloor, charging straight for Starlight’s face.

If not for Moen’s warning, Starlight might not have noticed the movement on the murky seabed in time.

Prepared, he immediately used Instant Movement to vanish from the spot. Having lost its target, the dark shadow slammed heavily into the seabed, kicking up a massive amount of sand.

A shaken Starlight looked down and saw a giant crustacean, resembling a cross between a crab and a lobster, emerging from the seafloor.

The thing that had just attacked him was one of its great pincers, which was at least seven or eight meters long.

The monster had used that shovel-like pincer to tunnel through the soft seabed, arriving silently beneath his feet.

“So this is their backup plan? Tsk! It’s certainly tough!”

Starlight retaliated by hurling several spells at the monster, but the ice icicles, though as thick as fingers, only left a few white marks on the thick carapace before shattering into pieces.

After the failed sneak attack, the giant crab slowly turned its body, its long eyestalks staring fixedly at Starlight.

“Fortunately, this thing isn't very fast. As long as it isn't a sneak attack...”

Just as this thought crossed Starlight’s mind, his pupils suddenly constricted. He reflexively twisted his body, performing a full rotation in the water.

A rapid current of water, packed with grit and stones, shot past his arm. The sharp sand sliced through the skin on his shoulder like a blade, drawing a trace of blood. If he hadn't reacted fast enough, that strike could have seriously injured him.

“What is that? Some kind of magic? But why can't I sense any mana fluctuations?”

Under Starlight’s confused gaze, the giant crab raised its other pincer, which had been hidden beneath its body.

This blue-grey front claw looked completely different from the giant crab’s other limbs; it resembled a long pipette with a fist-sized opening at the tip.

The giant crab aimed this strangely shaped pincer at Starlight once more. A murky, surging jet of water erupted from the tip, crossing dozens of meters at high speed.

It turned out the giant crab had collected the swallowed silt and sand, then compressed and expelled it through that specialized pincer. No wonder there were no mana fluctuations.

However, this pure physical attack was not to be underestimated. The impact of the high-pressure water jet, laden with grit, even created a small vacuum pocket underwater.

But Starlight simply drew a circle in the water with his right hand. The water elements twisted into a vortex before him, dispersing the incoming silt and skillfully deflecting the giant crab’s attack.

This was the wonder of elemental magic. Once the enemy's attack pattern was understood, such force could be completely neutralized through clever technique.

The giant crab, however, could not comprehend the principle. In its eyes, the tiny two-legged creature had clearly not dodged the attack, yet it had taken no damage.

After a moment of hesitation, the giant crab raised its pincer again, launching a frantic barrage at Starlight.

“I roughly understand its attack pattern now, but how do I break through its defense?”

After easily neutralizing several more attacks, Starlight had completely seen through the beast’s capabilities. The problem at hand was that his ice magic was completely unable to pierce its thick carapace.

If they were on land, he had many ways to easily finish off the giant crab, but the opponent wasn't stupid enough to swim to the surface to fight him.

Seeing that the giant crab was failing to take down Starlight, the mermaids lurking in the distance began to slowly close in. This time, they cautiously hid behind the giant crab, using its thick shell as cover, intending to strike at Starlight at any moment.

“So they're planning to swarm me since the sneak attack failed? They have some brains after all...”

“I guess I really have to use this.”

Starlight glanced down at the black mark on his wrist and gritted his teeth, making a decision.

“Black Nightmare, Dark Claw, Withering Light.”

As he whispered the incantation, a pitch-black snake composed entirely of dark elements wound its way up from his arm, opening its mouth to reveal a tongue of black mist.

The hideous black snake looked down at the giant crab and the eager mermaids. A bone-chilling coldness instantly swept across the surrounding dozens of meters.

At this moment, even the mermaids, who were accustomed to the freezing depths of the sea, couldn't help but shiver, looking up one after another at the black snake in Starlight’s hand.

Under Starlight’s guidance, the black snake scanned the area, seemingly taking in all the targets. Then, it transformed into a streak of dark light and lunged downward.

Sensing a powerful threat from the snake, the bewildered giant crab instinctively raised its shovel-like pincer to swat it away.

From a distance, the black snake looked as tiny as an earthworm before the giant crab; their presence was on completely different levels.

But before the giant crab’s pincer could touch its target, the black snake’s body expanded dozens of times over, opening its massive maw like a dragon and biting down.