Chapter 38: | A Draconic Turtle
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Ah, how gratifying, the surge of strength roaring through my veins was nothing short of intoxicating.
Impossible to ignore.
Irresistible to restrain.
My physique had changed, dramatically so.
I couldn't quantify the increase in power, but I could feel it, like magma coursing beneath my skin, expanding, hardening, growing stronger with each breath.
My gaze drifted downward, settling on the mural below.
There it was, the depiction of the grouper.
Majestic.
Terrifying.
Cast in runic engravings and ancient symbols, its image loomed with the presence of a forgotten god.
Lines of incomprehensible script spiraled around its form, detailing its so-called glory.
And I was struck, stunned, even, by how revered it was here.
The mural portrayed a sovereign beast, a divine executioner of the depths.
But what I had fought... was not that.
No, something didn't add up.
The creature I devoured had been formidable, yes, but not worthy of this level of reverence.
Perhaps the dungeon had tampered with it, degraded it.
Stripped it of its full mythos and reduced it to a mere fragment of its original terror.
Still, that didn't matter now.
My tendrils flickered in and out of reality like blades of ethereal lightning.
Without hesitation, I unleashed a flurry of attacks on the mural.
The stone groaned.
The ground trembled beneath me, echoing with every thunderous strike.
Cracks splintered through the sacred image, webs of destruction racing outward as I poured my fury into each blow.
Then.
Boom.
The wall ruptured with a final, deafening snap.
The mural shattered, splinters of stone raining down into the abyss below.
And just like before, a portal tore open, faintly glowing, swirling with gravity-defying madness.
A bitter laugh escaped my lips.
Damn it... not this again.
Still, I moved forward.
My form twisted the moment I entered, my limbs dragged in every direction as space folded in on itself.
Gravity flipped and spun, over and over, twisting like a serpent knotting itself around my bones.
My vision spiraled.
My balance failed.
Nausea twisted through me like barbed wire, and for a brief moment, I nearly vomited from the sheer sensory assault.
Enough.
I growled.
I want no more of these cursed portals.
Then.
Like a curtain drawn back.
The torment ceased.
And before me stretched a plain of jade grass, endless and gleaming beneath a pale, spectral sky.
Aquatic monsters roamed the field.
Some clashed in fierce, honor-bound duels.
Others lurked in the shadows, striking only when a beast was weakened and bleeding, a feast of convenience and cruelty.
Survival.
The law of this place.
And I had just arrived.
The space warped.
And then, it appeared.
An oppressive aura surged through the world, slamming everything into the ground.
Space itself distorted under the weight of its presence, the currents bending, groaning, warping.
My gaze shifted, and locked onto it.
Marvel was all I could feel.
A turtle... no.
A draconic turtle.
It had no horns, no whiskers like the myths might suggest, but its exoskeleton bore the majesty of a dragon, etched in runic scars and glinting with ancient power.
The scales across its shell shimmered with regality, each one was like a polished obsidian woven with gold filigree.
Then its eyes met mine.
Twin golden slits, luminous and ancient, staring straight into my soul.
Its beak wasn't rounded or harmless like I expected, it was serrated, lined with vicious teeth that jutted both inside and out.
Then came its roar.
A shockwave tore through the plains.
The ground trembled.
The air split.
Its throat began to swell, once, twice, then thrice its original size, glowing with a molten orange hue.
A warning of what was to come.
Then, flash.
A beam of red light screamed from its mouth, tearing across the battlefield and striking me squarely in the head.
My flesh erupted.
My exoskeleton shattered.
Agony seared through my nerves like a thousand firebrands as flames gnawed my face, my mind staggered, stunned by the sheer power behind that breath.
I reeled.
It was charging another.
Its beak widened again, light pouring out like the rising sun.
But this time, it was too slow.
Blur-Lance Execution Drive.
My form blinked, gone.
A blur in the current, invisible to mortal sight.
I surged forward, twisting in mid strike, tendrils bared like jagged spears.
Blood sprayed.
The draconic turtle howled as my attack landed, its left eye obliterated, fluids spurting like geysers.
It lashed back, jaws snapping, tearing several of my tendrils clean off.
But it was too late.
Again, Blur-Lance Execution.
I vanished once more, slicing through space like a phantom.
Sparks ignited as I reappeared mid-strike, blades of flesh and bone dancing across its armored form.
The battlefield rang with the clash of flesh and shell.
Every collision distorted the currents, each impact warping the space around us, bending it to our fury.
Its beak snapped at lightning speed, a blur of serrated destruction, ripping into my limbs, but my barrage did not stop.
Tentacles rained down like divine punishment.
Strike after strike.
Slash after slash.
Tiny glowing marks, dots, began to pattern the surface of its exoskeleton.
I smiled.
My eyes closed.
My breath steady.
Its pressure was waning.
Impressive... to withstand a thousand of my attacks.
But even the mightiest shell will crack under a barrage of attacks.
And so it did.
Boom.
The marks detonated, cracks spread like lightning across its shell.
Plates of armor ruptured, torn asunder.
The Overseer's body twisted violently, its blood erupted, then dissolved into the flowing current.
It was dead.
The towering monstrosity collapsed, defeated.
And then, ping.
A hologram materialized before me, gleaming with elegant light.
Depictinf of my flawless victory.
I grinned.
---
[You have slain the Overseer of this floor]
• [Draconic Snapping King Turtle 5★.]
[Flawless Victory achieved.]
[You have let the Overseer feel despair.]
[You have gained 15 levels.]
[Access to the next floor unlocked.]
---
[You have successfully devoured]
• [Draconic Snapping King Turtle 5★]
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[New Skills Acquired:]
• Draconic Core [Passive]
• Exoskeletal Ridge Plating [Passive]
• Frill-Sensory Crown [Passive]
• Neuromuscular Lockstep [Passive]
• Serrated Beak Ridge [Passive]
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[Your grotesque physique would like to devour.]
• Draconic Core [Passive]
• Exoskeletal Ridge Plating [Passive]
• Frill-Sensory Crown [Passive]
• Neuromuscular Lockstep [Passive]
• Serrated Beak Ridge [Passive]
[Would you allow it]
[Yes] / [No]
---
Beneath me, a mural can be seen gloriously, etched in glowing lines across the ground.
It depicted a figure... one far grander than the draconic turtle I had just slain.
The Draconic Snapping King Turtle.
But this was no mere beast.
The image exuded power, majesty, divine regality.
Its stance was proud, towering with coiled strength.
Its gaze… arrogant, intelligent.
Not the dull eyes of a monster, but the cold judgment of a god looking down on ants.
Then I saw it.
A majestic horn, curved like an elk's antler, jutting from its forehead, framed in radiance.
I couldn't help but admire it.
That form was divine.
Overflowing with dominion, crowned in ancestral glory.
It was a symbol of what that turtle should have been.
And yet… now it was dead.
Reduced to a bloated corpse and scattered flesh now inside of my stomach.
That's the fate of the defeated, I mused bitterly.
I frowned.
If I fall here someday... will I be reduced to this very fate?
Another slave to the dungeon's?
Just a name buried in runes, power rewritten, history erased?
Would I be reincarnated?
Would I even be remembered?
...Curiosity killed the cat, I muttered to myself with a faint chuckle.
And I'm not ready to die.
Then, no hesitation, I struck.
Time slowed around me as I unleashed hell upon the mural.
My stinger danced in a blur, hammering the divine image with a thousand consecutive strikes.
Blow after blow, so many that my limbs went numb.
Lines and dots spread like veins across the surface, spiderwebbing outward.
I exhaled.
And time resumed.
The ground groaned beneath me.
Space twisted.
Currents shuddered and split open.
Cracks radiated across the mural like the fracture of reality itself.
Then.
BOOM.
The mural exploded, raining shards into the abyss.
The earth collapsed, crumbling into nothingness.
And in its place, again, that damned portal opened.
I hovered there for a moment, staring at the swirling vortex with pure disdain.
I hated this portal.
But I had no choice.
With a reluctant sigh, I delved.
Instantly, my insides twisted.
Gravity turned upside down.
My form spiraled like a leaf in a hurricane, vision spinning, stomach lurching.
I tried to hold it in, but.
Urghhh!
I vomited mid-flight, my body spasming.
I gasped for breath, heaving between gulps of corrupted water.
Haaa... haaaa... damn it...
I cursed.
I hate this portal.
A tendril curled up and wiped the bile from my face as I steadied myself.
My gaze turned to the swirling abyss.
My composure returned, cold, sharp, and focused.
Dungeon, I muttered darkly, my mind trembling with rage.
Toy with me one more time… just one more... and when I reach the end of this place...
I grinned with a predator's resolve.
I will devour you.
Slowly.
Then, clarity.
My vision snapped into focus.
Lush jade grass stretched before me, an endless expanse, a biome spanning thousands of miles.
Glimmering rivers carved paths through the fields, and the sky shimmered like it had been painted with opalescent ink.
But something was off.
I squinted.
And then, I saw it.