Chapter 283 You Said You Had Experience

"There's something big under the swamp, be careful."

As soon as Sherlock summoned the Mud Eagle, he immediately warned his companions: "When I summoned the Mud Eagle, I felt a very strong pressure coming from the swamp."

Originally, the feeling of summoning a mud eagle was like plucking a few lumps from a half-kneaded dough. But Sherlock felt as if the dough was squeezing his hands from all sides as he did so...

That usually means there's something massive swimming in the swamp, exerting pressure on it. Or there's some kind of barrier beneath the swamp.

Just in case, Sherlock first reminds everyone of the most dangerous possibility.

And soon, his reminder came in handy—

The ground suddenly began to shake violently, causing Sherlock to stagger and almost fall.

At this moment, a gray silk thread came out from behind him and hung him on the tree.

Sherlock finally breathed a sigh of relief. But before he could say thank you, the ground began to shake more violently for the second time.

It was a strange and huge creature that was about fifteen or sixteen meters long and had an oval shell on its back.

It resembled a giant tortoise, a soft-shell turtle, and a cockroach. Its widest shell was about six or seven meters long, six times larger than Haena's bedroom. And it pushed the trees out.

Its head was a hideous mass of white bones, but the gaps between the bones were completely blocked by damp, soft mud, making its head look like a giant taro.

Its limbs were not flat like a turtle's, but rather thick and powerful—also made of bone and clay. Its shell was made of thick black rock.

As soon as it appeared, it swallowed up a headless undead that was close to it in one gulp, making a crunching sound as if it were chewing some kind of crunchy snack.

Aiwass suddenly became serious.

"It's a mud turtle," Aiwass warned. "At least level four—and it lives in groups!"

This thing is a classic gregarious monster in version 3.0.

They're not incredibly powerful, but they're incredibly annoying... because they're like mine-like trigger monsters. Stepping on one will cause a swarm to rise up from all sides, instantly surrounding you. And their sheer size can easily split a team... And if a squishy class is left alone, even with a crushing power level, it's still very dangerous.

Generally speaking, the bigger this thing is, the more powerful it is. However, without other mud turtles for comparison, Aiwass is not sure whether this thing is large or medium.

It also has a sixth-level elite monster called the Dragon Skeleton Turtle. After swallowing a large number of bones, it turns into a dragon-headed undead covered in a turtle shell. Although it is not a dragon, it can also spit out dragon breath.

...But this thing was considered a miscellaneous soldier in 3.0, but it is not the case now!

Faced with a giant turtle that is two meters tall when lying down, three or four meters tall when standing up, and fifteen or sixteen meters long... it is really a bit difficult for these people to deal with it.

The mud turtle is obviously very aggressive.

As soon as it appeared, it let out an extremely unpleasant roar.

It was a sound like a throat clogged with mud, but it triggered a very terrible change.

Earthy yellow ripples spread outward from its body, softening the already soft mud, turning it even more viscous and pliable. It was no longer able to exert any force, becoming slippery and disgusting. Yet, it was able to swim freely through the mud, even faster.

Fortunately, Lily was there—she reacted immediately and hung her teammates on the tree one by one. She stepped on the branches and let the gray spider webs stabilize her body.

When the mud turtle crashed into the tree under someone, Lily immediately waved her fingers and swung her companion on the tree to another place.

At least until all the surrounding trees were knocked over, they should be safe... probably.

"What's its weakness?"

Sherlock asked Aiwass urgently.

For some reason, he subconsciously felt that Aiwass should understand.

It should be said that, as expected...

Aiwass answered without hesitation: "It's a large area in the middle of the back! But the thickness of the back shell is nearly one meter..."

If a melee fighter is of a high level, he can just climb up and kill the enemy with one blow.

But now, whether it was Lily with her dagger, Haina with her bare hands... or the young griffin, it was clearly not easy to deal with it. It wasn't that they couldn't defeat it, but their attack range was too short, and they couldn't penetrate the sticky, mud-covered rock armor.

Even among monsters, this thing would be considered a dung monster... Its hard shell is covered in a thick layer of mud, and it can continuously create muddy ground, while also sliding around at a very fast speed. If it feeds on undead, it can even restore health.

Most importantly, the mud armor behind it wasn't made of undead tissue, but pure rock. Even Aiwass's purification couldn't cleanse it.

Aiwass hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should summon the Flame-Rebellious Butterfly directly.

...But the problem is not as simple as just killing a small monster and then using a big move.

It's because this place is a swamp and a dense forest. There is methane everywhere, and this forest is also connected to the surrounding mountains and forests.

If the turret-type summon, the Flame Butterfly, was used here... it might directly cause a large-scale forest fire.

But Aiwass made up his mind.

If they were truly in danger, they would not hold back, even at this cost...

"Let me try first!"

Sherlock shouted decisively.

——In this complicated situation, it is time for the mage to take action.

He casually picked up a mud eagle from the side and transformed it into pure elements.

Aiwass warned: "Don't hit it with earth-attribute attacks!"

"Why didn't you say so earlier!"

Sherlock cursed, "Lily, throw the wine in my backpack over here!"

He is too small now, so all his luggage is placed with Lily.

And Lily reacted quickly.

Sherlock had already sorted the things into different categories, so she easily found the glass bottle that was about a finger high and looked like lipstick.

She quickly threw the object towards Sherlock, and Sherlock raised the earth element in his hand and rolled it towards him.

The brittle glass shattered in an instant. The glass and the alcohol within it, mixed in the vortex in Sherlock's hand, immediately underwent a drastic change. A ball of sticky flame erupted from it, crackling and burning.

Aiwass recognized Sherlock's spell.

This is "Sharp Rock Spear", an earth-attribute spell.

But Sherlock had obviously learned the secret of attribute transformation. He now cast this spell by mixing alcohol with some fire attribute magic power.

——But can this thing penetrate the tortoise shell?

But Aiwass quickly realized that Sherlock was not trying to penetrate the tortoise shell, but the flesh!

It can't penetrate rocks, but skeletons and mud can still penetrate!

In that case...

Aiwass had an inspiration.

He took out two tubes of chamomile essential oil and helichrysum essential oil from his pocket, crushed their stoppers, and then poured the two tubes of essential oil directly into the palm of his left hand.

"I call upon the Candle-bearer, the god of the sacred number three, the god who binds the sins of the body, the god who burns and banishes the darkness—"

Aiwass chanted: "Give me the fire of purification!"

The essential oil in his hand immediately burned, emitting golden flames.

And Aiwass quickly covered Sherlock's right hand with the flame burning in his left hand, which scared him.

"you--"

Sherlock was about to curse when he found that his spell was not disturbed.

Instead, the golden flame was sucked in, accelerating the formation of his spell.

Finally, the flame in Sherlock's hand was restrained into an arrow without a tail.

But its tip burned with golden flames.

Sherlock looked at Aiwass in disbelief, then gritted his teeth and released this spell he had never seen before.

A streak of golden light flew by—Sherlock used his will to guide the spell's impact.

It drilled into the mud turtle's head. The purifying fire instantly melted the skeleton, and the remaining mud was unable to stop Sherlock's spell.

It easily drilled into the body of the mud turtle.

After a while, it staggered and collapsed. Sparks of fire could be seen bursting from its body. The bones quietly burned with golden flames, gradually dissolving into nothingness. The mud, without support, also gradually melted.

It quickly lost its shape, leaving only its giant shell and the mud that blocked the five gaps.

"It's really dangerous..."

Aiwass sighed: "It seems that we..."

Just as he was about to say something, he saw a prompt appear in front of him:

Kill the fourth-level monster and gain 26 free experience points.

Um?

Aiwass suddenly raised his head and his eyes lit up.

——Have experience?

"...Looks like we have to help the villagers clean up. Otherwise, it would be bad if they get into danger."

Aiwass immediately changed his words.

Update completed!

(End of this chapter)