Chapter 102: That Impulse is Hunger

The first thing I thought was, "The person who designed this monster has sense."

The next thing I thought was, "The guy who designed this monster has good taste."

The next thing I thought was, "The bastard who made this monster is rotten to the core."

And what I think now is...

"Aaaaaaah! Damn itttt! I'll kill you! I'll absolutely kill youuuuuuuuuuuu!!"

Who is this killing intent directed at? The Golden Scorpion in front of me? The programmer who made this? The game's operation staff?

One thing I can say is that I've been fighting the Golden Scorpion for several hours now. While fiercely regretting not drinking an energy drink, I continued to fight.

If I had to describe the Golden Scorpion in one word, "Combat Specialized" would fit perfectly.

The pincers for cutting and grabbing crystals have evolved into a more aggressive form, clearly intended for killing living things. In appearance, they look thinner and more fragile than the normal Crystal Scorpion's pincers, but that is a big mistake.

If the normal species' chelicerae are iron lumps, those are steel... hard when defending, heavy when striking. It's like a heavy armored greatsword user is attached to both pincers.

The golden crystals growing from its whole body seem somewhat softer compared to the normal species, as I found out after slashing them a few times. That said, even if titanium changed to iron, I know full well that half-hearted attacks won't even scratch it.

Moreover, it seems mobility has increased in exchange for reducing hardness; its instantaneous movement speed is on a different level from the normal species. Without Emergency Evasion (Escape) via Inventoria, I would have died eight times.

And the troublesome part is the tail—more accurately, the thick, sturdy poison stinger compared to the normal species.

Scorpions basically release poison by "stabbing and injecting" like a suppository, but this Golden Scorpion shoots poison liquid from the tip of its stinger as if it's natural. And with the dexterity to use three types: Single-Shot, Shotgun, and Laser. Isn't this guy in the wrong game series?

But the most, most, most... yes, the biggest reason I've been forced to fight this guy for hours is...

"Regeneration ability at this level range is... unfair...!"

When damaged to a certain extent, the Golden Scorpion blatantly distances itself from me. Then, posing as if spreading its arms toward the moon shining in the sky, it repairs the wounds all over its body in the blink of an eye. When it did that after what felt like an hour had passed, my heart nearly cracked, but I kept my spirit strong and am still continuing the battle.

However, I'm not endlessly continuing a completely disadvantageous battle. Information guessed from Crystal Scorpions, information gained during combat... by compiling them, I was forming a certain degree of a strategy chart.

First, its durability is lower compared to the normal species. While eyes tend to be drawn to its flashy appearance, gaps are scattered in its crystal outer shell overall compared to the normal species. If I can insert a blade skillfully, damaging it is possible.

Next, the troublesome long-range poison liquid bullets. Honestly, regarding this, the only thing to be wary of is the Shotgun Type. The Single-Shot Type can be tracked with eyes reasonably well, and evasion itself is easy if I'm careful about the splatter of roughly one meter in diameter upon impact.

The Laser Type is bonus time; the homing accuracy is poor, so it won't hit if I'm running, and continuously firing poison liquid seems not easy even for the Golden Scorpion, as it stops moving for about five seconds.

What I should be careful of is the Shotgun Type. With a wide impact range and attacking a wide area at once, getting hit is unavoidable if I mess up my positioning.

I don't want to think about or verify what happens if I touch the poison liquid.

And the troublesome Self-Regeneration. It seems the trick lies in the "Moon."

Come to think of it, I feel like Setsuna of Distant Days said something about the moon's magic power when Wethermon created the Inverted Garden. Probably like a solar panel, the Golden Scorpion recovers HP by bathing in moonlight.

As proof, self-regeneration is abruptly interrupted when clouds cover the moon. Besides that, inflicting a certain amount of damage also interrupts self-regeneration.

The problem is how to close the distance against the Golden Scorpion who rapidly pulls away... but regarding this, there is only a primitive solution: run and catch up.

"The rest is how to whittle down that stupidly high HP, but... this calls for the basics of hunting games."

Destroy the parts that serve as the base for troublesome attacks and take away its options. Jumping over the spinning tail sweep attack performed at terrifying speed like long rope jumping is quite difficult, but at least evasion is easier than rapid-fire poison shotguns, and it saves Inventoria usage counts.

"MP recovery potions remaining: six..."

Emergency evasion remaining: six times. Inventoria is an escape for emergencies, but at the same time, I try not to use it as much as possible.

After all, the suspicion from my first guess—that entering the storage space is treated as "Escape"—hasn't been cleared. Even if I get camped, there's no way to know from the storage space whether combat is continuing or if combat ended once and the scorpions were repositioned in a camping state.

Therefore, even if I have to use escape via Inventoria, I keep the stay in the storage space as short as possible. Fighting for hours only for the punchline to be "It got away" would prevent me from recovering for a while.

However, since it requires the important action of reloading concentration that was about to run out in a long battle spanning several hours, the number of Magic Recovery Items (Inventoria's remaining uses) is slowly decreasing.

"Come on, Golden Scorpion. You're not soft enough to let a cheeky human go, right?"

Ahead of my gaze, the Golden Scorpion with one Marsh Dagger stuck in its left eye slams its forelegs—which look more like shields or greatswords than pincers—into the ground as if linking anger directly to action.

Although I threw Marsh Dagger A intending to half-discard it, blinding one eye is a huge victory. If I can recover it safely, I'll strengthen it together with B.

The Golden Scorpion approaches me with agile movements unimaginable from its huge body. Identifying crystals of a size that can serve as footholds from the crushed crystal floor resembling cobblestones of uneven sizes, I run over them. The next moment, the Golden Scorpion's tail, forcibly rotating its body half a turn like a drifting car, sweeps through where I was.

The moment the Golden Scorpion's tail attack was released, I turned around and found a foothold on the flat surface of the pincer-sword that happened to be pointing straight at me.

"First, I'll chip away your projectile weapon...!"

The Paired Blade Sword category is extremely excellent in that it can both build gauge and chip durability, and the fact that it functions normally even as a single blade is wonderful.

Every time I swing Togetsu [Waxing], HP is chipped away by the effect of [Waxing] along with the sensation of a critical hit.

Every time I swing Togetsu [Waning], HP is recovered by the effect of [Waning] along with the sensation of a critical hit.

I feel like I'm performing acrobatics with the balance of a scale. I should learn from Scale of Compensation-senpai, who always makes it 50:50 (Fifty-Fifty) no matter what you throw in.

"Uhahahaha! Somehow it's getting more and more fun!"

Using up the HP gathered by the effect of Waning without reservation, I activate Nitrogain. I also reactivate Lone Wolf [Transient], which I've already used dozens of times, activating skills in succession intending to release everything except one skill.

If Empire Bee Twin Blades had durability left, I would have attacked the tail, but unfortunately, I used up most of the durability in the first few tens of minutes, and due to the accursed self-regeneration, the decay poison infliction went to waste.

"Then I have no choice but to break it by force!"

Double Jump via Skywalker, which has become the key to combat. Forcibly leaping onto the Golden Scorpion's back, I activate Seven-Boat Leap using the crystals growing on its back as footholds.

Putting the momentum including the acceleration of the jump into it, I slam Growing Pierce into the base of the Golden Scorpion's tail stinger... Four hits, not bad.

The Golden Scorpion's poison stinger, released from the stiffness of the charge, targets me, but I immediately activate Vorpal Blade Arts [Water Mirror Moon].

Against the poison stinger turning right behind, I release the skill evolved from Infinite Slash, Beast Slaughtering Infinite Slash (Juuou Mujin).

"Damn, hard to use...!"

The effect of dealing continuous attacks until stamina runs out remains unchanged, but in exchange for the DPS dramatically increasing due to increased firepower per hit, the motion became large and swinging, which is extremely frustrating in the current situation where even 2 frames are precious.

"Damn... [Transfer: Storage Space (Enter Travel)]!"

Although I dealt damage, having used up my stamina, I evacuate to the storage space. While recovering MP and Stamina, I quickly relax my body stiffened by tension.

It's not my actual flesh, but mental tension directly affects the avatar's movement. Pencilgon is the type to create openings by provoking the opponent while fighting, and both OiKatzo and I trained our resistance to provocation skills by fighting her.

"Return... Like I'd let youuuu!!"

I sprint full speed while roaring at the Golden Scorpion, which distanced itself with daka-daka cheerful steps attempting self-regeneration. Circling around to the blatantly open front of the Golden Scorpion, I smash the pommel of the still-embedded Marsh Dagger as if pushing it in with a wound-up (Hand of) fist (Fortune).

Attacked from the inside by the Marsh Dagger pushed in by the Lite Version Human-Powered Pile Bunker while creaking, the Golden Scorpion writhes, and I distance myself from it.

"Just... cut off already!"

The pair of blades transforms into a single sword. The blade of Togetsu [Twin Moon] harbors the light of the crescent moon, and furthermore, a flash imbued with Destruction Attribute for a single hit by the effect of the skill "Single Stroke Bisection" (Isshin Ryoudan) is swung down from overhead, timing it with the indiscriminately rampaging Golden Scorpion's tail sweep.

Like passing a kitchen knife through meat frozen in a freezer... the sensation of cutting through a hard object yet slicing it brings me the conviction of achievement.

"Allllllriiiiiight!!"

Following the swing of [Twin Moon], the needle-less tail passes right next to my body, and a few frames later, the separated golden needle pierces the ground a little behind me, obeying gravity.

"Haaa-hahahahaha!"

At this moment, just for this moment, all charts vanish from my mind. Priority one is recovering the needle! As long as I can recover the needle, I don't mind dying now!

Perhaps due to the betrayal of the Goddess of RNG last time, falling into such a frenzied state, I rush toward the needle with a full sprint reminiscent of a black sprinter.

"Got it!!"

Storing the Golden Scorpion's Needle into Inventoria with the greatest efficiency in history, I immerse myself in the afterglow of fulfillment for about two seconds before turning back to the Golden Scorpion.

"Hah, Rage Mode? Finally feels like time is moving."

Perhaps unable to stomach having its needle stolen, it continues to beat the ground incessantly with its sword-pincers while making its golden crystals glow vermilion.

Every time the sword-pincers strike the crystal tatami, small explosions occur, and enormous magic power rampages inside the golden crystals to the point where they might spark.

Chance of winning... well, maybe 20% at best. If it were ten minutes into the battle, I might have fought a bit more, but I know the tension I should have maintained in my body dissolved the moment I recovered the needle. This is bad; I'll probably be defeated by the Golden Scorpion before I can reignite the tension.

"However, if there is a next time, for that time... no, I correct myself."

The moon begins to set. The sky brightens, and the sun peeks a fragment of its light from the horizon.

I want to go home already, but I don't intend to Death Return. Then what to do?

"Suuuuu............ WAKE UP YOU IDIOTSSSSS!!!"

Wake Up, Crystal Scorpions!

Author's Afterword
I announce that while writing down the settings for Crystal Scorpions, I exceeded 3000 characters and am confident I can write more...

A little setting disclosure for the Golden Scorpion aka Goldy Scorpion
Among Crystal Scorpions, "Unbalanced Eater Individuals" are occasionally born. Usually, they die early because they refuse to ingest anything other than their specific diet, but among them, there are individuals who prefer to ingest only "crystals growing from living kin."
Such individuals change their body shape to "hunt kin." This is an application of the Crystal Scorpion's amazing regenerative power. Such individuals possess a nature more accustomed to combat than normal individuals and become Wandering Individuals (Transients) separated from the community. Crystal Scorpions have a characteristic of intercepting intruders with the entire community, but responding to kin only individually, so when a cannibal individual appears, the Crystal Scorpion community takes a heavy hit.
And since they hunt kin, they act at night when Crystal Scorpions enter a dormant state, so their crystals become strongly imbued with the moon's magic power. If there is an individual who has continued to accumulate the moonlight's magic power in its crystals while devouring kin and sometimes intercepting over a long period, its appearance would surely be a divine golden color.