Chapter 394: Gold Trophy Subjugation Complete
"Hoo... hoo..."
After entering their frenzied state, the breathing of the three Furious Rajang grew heavier and heavier.
Misty white smoke puffed from their mouths and noses, while their thick forelimbs, entwined with red light, kept pounding the ground, producing muffled thuds.
"Bang!"
The next second, the three Furious Rajang moved at a speed akin to golden thunderbolts.
Two of them lunged toward Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna respectively, while the third noticed Iwanaga Kotoko and Yamauchi Sakura hiding in the dense forest and charged toward them with a deafening roar.
The Holy Genie summoned by Yamauchi Sakura attempted to block the Furious Rajang's advance, but the Furious Rajang instantly flanked it and sent it flying several meters away with a single punch.
Its tall body of holy light gradually dissipated after crashing through several thick trees.
"IBM!"
Seeing two black humanoid figures formed from Black Particles approach it, the Furious Rajang vanished from its spot once again.
When it reappeared, it had already bypassed the IBMs' obstruction and lunged directly at Iwanaga Kotoko and Yamauchi Sakura.
The speed is too fast...
Watching the Furious Rajang lunging toward her and Yamauchi Sakura, a look of facing a formidable enemy appeared in Iwanaga Kotoko's dark purple eyes.
She realized that even with the protection of summons like the IBMs and the Holy Genie, she and Yamauchi Sakura could not see the Furious Rajang's movements at all.
That made it very difficult to lock onto the opponent with mental power, let alone block the beast's attack.
At this critical moment, Kato Megumi, who had avoided the Furious Rajang's perception by activating her exclusive talent, stepped in front of the Furious Rajang while holding the white Oracle Shield.
"Boom!"
The Furious Rajang's thick forelimbs slammed directly onto the surface of the Oracle Shield, sending Kato Megumi's body flying.
Seeing this, Iwanaga Kotoko immediately condensed a burst of Black Particles, catching Kato Megumi's body in the most force absorbing way possible.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
Kato Megumi took a deep breath, feeling a slight numbness and stinging pain in her left arm.
Looking at the triumphant Furious Rajang in front of her, a serious look could not help appearing in her eyes.
If she had not intentionally let herself be knocked back just now, and had instead gritted her teeth and taken the hit head on, her left arm holding the shield would likely have shattered instantly.
Even her legs supporting her body would have been injured by the terrifying recoil.
Kato Megumi was, after all, an illusion type assassin.
Compared to Iwanaga Kotoko, who was a warlock, and Yamauchi Sakura, who was a priest, her melee ability was strong, but facing a monster of the Furious Rajang's level, it truly was not enough.
Moreover, because she had to protect those two, she could not use the stealth assassinations she excelled at, nor could she hide in the shadows and slowly whittle down the Furious Rajang's stamina and health with the Nightingale Blood Crying Bow.
After realizing this, Kato Megumi made the wisest choice without hesitation.
"I can't hold it here. Help!"
Hearing Kato Megumi's cry, Yuuki Asuna could not help showing a look of anxiety.
After quickly dodging the fists slammed down by the Furious Rajang in front of her, she tightly gripped Shimmering Light in her hand.
"Sword Skill, Space Killing Art!"
Facing Yuuki Asuna's attack, the Furious Rajang merely raised its arms, which were entwined with red light.
After taking dozens of spatial slashes head on, its arms had become a bloody mess, and even the bones inside had developed cracks.
But it had successfully shielded its vital head, avoiding being killed instantly.
"It didn't cut them off directly..."
Seeing that her sword skill, Space Killing Art, had failed to directly sever the Furious Rajang's arms, Yuuki Asuna could not help furrowing her brows.
The power of the sword skill Space Killing Art itself was absolutely impeccable.
But Shimmering Light was, after all, only a Purple grade weapon.
It was top tier equipment for ordinary Players, but for Yuuki Asuna, whose abilities and stats stood at the top level among current Players, and who constantly challenged difficult levels every time she entered a Dungeon, it was already beginning to fall behind.
If she had switched to a Red grade weapon, that previous Space Killing Art would surely have chopped the Furious Rajang's hardest arms into pieces.
Seeing that Yuuki Asuna could not pull away for the moment, and that Kato Megumi was also in a difficult situation, Asagiri sidestepped the fists slammed down by the Furious Rajang and began thinking of a way to resolve the current situation.
Sleepy Mita?
No.
If he summoned Sleepy Mita, Kato Megumi and the others would also be affected.
Moreover, monsters in a frenzied state were immune to all negative effects. This was a classic setting in many games.
If Sleepy Mita's ability only affected his own side while the three Furious Rajang remained completely unaffected, that would be counterproductive.
Just then, the Furious Rajang fighting Asagiri launched another relentless attack.
It stood upright, raised its thick arms entwined with red light high, and let out a violent roar, preparing to smash the scrawny human in front of it into pulp.
"Heh."
Seeing the Furious Rajang about to unleash its finishing move, Asagiri revealed a smile.
"Acting tough? I'll make you fly!"
"Come out, Walrider!"
The moment Asagiri's voice fell, a burst of dark gray nanoparticles instantly condensed.
Walrider's hands grabbed the Furious Rajang's horns, completely ignoring the monster's struggling movements, and flew directly into the high sky with the Furious Rajang.
Asagiri did not waste a second and spoke softly.
"Castling."
On the other side, the Furious Rajang that had been pounding the Oracle Shield with its fists, watching Kato Megumi, who held the shield, retreat continuously without the ability to fight back, had already entered a state of complete frenzy while letting out constant, violent roars.
Then, suddenly, the shield in front of it disappeared.
In its place was the human dressed in black.
"Switch."
Seeing Asagiri suddenly appear in front of it, the Furious Rajang's previously violent roar stopped abruptly.
Fear appeared in its eyes, but its left fist, already swung out, was now too late to retract.
"Bang!"
Asagiri crouched low, dodging the fist swung by the Furious Rajang, and took advantage of the momentum to perform a textbook shoulder throw, slamming its burly body hard onto the ground.
"Necro!"
"Understood."
Looking at the Furious Rajang that had been slammed onto the ground and was unable to move for a moment, Iwanaga Kotoko immediately raised her hands, a strange light gleaming in her dark purple eyes.
"Got you."
The next second, four Pale Ghost Hands emerged from the ground, firmly gripping the Furious Rajang's limbs.
Asagiri stepped directly onto its abdomen, and the sharp Rope Dart of Deathly Grievance plunged emotionlessly into the Furious Rajang's left eye socket.
"Roar!"
The Furious Rajang let out a cry of intense pain, but Asagiri's movements did not pause for even an instant.
He even let go of his hand, raised his foot, and stomped hard directly onto the Rope Dart of Deathly Grievance embedded in its eye socket.
"Nothing more than this."
Asagiri pulled on the chain, yanking the Rope Dart of Deathly Grievance out of the Furious Rajang's skull, then looked toward Iwanaga Kotoko and Yamauchi Sakura.
At that very moment, Yuuki Asuna also finished slaying a Furious Rajang.
And a dark shadow plummeted rapidly from the sky.
"Bang!"
The Furious Rajang that had been lifted nearly a hundred meters into the air by Walrider and then dropped straight down crashed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Amid the loud crash, Asagiri's voice, carrying a relaxed smile, could be heard.
"Gold trophy, subjugation complete."
...
Before entering the cave to investigate, the five person squad first cleaned up the corpses of the Furious Rajang and the blood on the surrounding ground.
After all, beasts with keen senses of smell could detect the scent of blood. That was common knowledge.
If other monsters smelled the blood of the Furious Rajang in this area, which had originally been occupied by the Furious Rajang, they might come over and fight for the territory.
Therefore, it was better to clean up all traces.
"This place is unexpectedly clean..."
Iwanaga Kotoko, who had originally walked in while pinching her nose, could not help feeling surprised when she saw that the cave was very clean and had no strange odors.
Asagiri, however, explained with an expression that seemed to say it was only natural.
"That goes without saying. There's an important water source nearby. Although the Furious Rajang live in the cave, they must know not to pollute the water source, so they definitely keep things clean."
"I see..."
At this moment, Kato Megumi noticed a slightly unnatural black mark exposed in the crevice between some rubble inside the cave.
After squatting down to observe it carefully, she cautiously used the Crescent Scimitar to hook out the black object.
"There's a black notebook here."
"Hm?"
Iwanaga Kotoko took the black notebook handed over by Kato Megumi and began analyzing it the moment she touched it.
"The cover is made of genuine leather. A very high end type."
Immediately after, Iwanaga Kotoko opened the first page of the notebook.
[Today is the first day of the island investigation. Something must have happened here. The island's ecological environment has undergone changes that exceed natural laws. Is this caused by those monsters? Such powerful monsters that can change the ecology, even if they can fight against the supernatural, will completely destroy the human living environment. Why would the higher ups formulate such a stupid plan?]
Seeing these lines, Iwanaga Kotoko did not say much.
She simply pondered in her heart while turning to the second page.
However, the content that came into view made her freeze in surprise.
[Traces of a Furious Rajang discovered. The Furious Rajang is a special species among the Rajang population, constantly in an excited state where its fur turns gold. But why? Why would they appear in the peripheral areas of the island? And why have they changed from originally solitary animals to living in groups?]
.....
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