"Shatter!" "Bang!" "Shatter!"
Almost simultaneously, three explosive sounds rang out.
The Magic Missiles released force field energy upon contacting the Mud Statue's body.
Its body was almost immediately blasted with three craters.
"Mm!!!"
The Mud Statue let out a roar.
Gauss wasn’t sure whether it actually felt pain or was simply enraged by being hit.
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
He sensed that the effect of the Magic Missiles seemed to be weakened by some kind of energy.
His Mud King body also contained a certain special energy.It gave the originally fragile soil a considerable degree of toughness and strength.
So that was it...
If it were just a simple enlarged humanoid Gray Ooze, it wouldn’t be classified as an elite monster.
This Mud Statue’s body nature was somewhat like the non-Newtonian fluid from his previous life: when needed to be thrown, the mud and stones could easily separate from its body, but when facing external attacks, it possessed a strong viscous property that absorbed impact.
Therefore, his previous assumptions might need to be overturned. Attacking its body could also weaken him, but this process would take longer.
While pondering this,
he moved quickly and dodged another thrown attack from the Mud Statue.
He maintained a distance of about twenty meters from the Mud Statue.
Engaging in close combat with a giant monster estimated to weigh several tons was unwise, but if the distance were too far, he might lose aggro, causing it to attack his teammates instead. Also, his Magic Missiles had a range limit—around twenty meters was a suitable distance.
However, its size was a bit too large. If the core inside could move, finding it would not be easy.
Could he rely on a war of attrition, slowly exhausting it until it died?
That didn’t seem impossible; he had the Energy Storage Gland and plenty of supplies. He could fight while retreating and eating.
When its core energy was completely depleted, its ability to transform the soil of its body to resist attacks would likely fail as well...
Gauss was already planning.
"Ca-ca!"
Above, while the Mud Statue focused most of its energy on Gauss, the raven Eck acted as a bomber, dropping seeds onto the Mud Statue.
One by one, seeds glowing with vibrant green life force fell onto the massive body of the Mud Statue.
In the distance, the gray wolf Ulfen stopped moving, and Aria was ready to cast.
Her oak staff struck heavily onto the ground!
"Thud!"
A pale green light swiftly spread from the staff across the ground.
The wave of life force rippled over the soil beneath the Mud Statue's feet, then rapidly traveled upward along its short, thick legs and covered its entire body.
Rustle, rustle, rustle—
The flow of green light was exceptionally smooth.
The seeds dropped by raven Eck, infused with natural energy, quickly took root and sprouted on the Mud Statue.
Vines grew wildly as if possessed, and their roots sank deeply into the Mud Statue's body, drawing nutrients from it.
"Dawn-qi-en-qi-jiu-qi!"
Serpentine vines spread rapidly over the surface of the Mud Statue's body. Soon, the dark brown Mud Statue was covered by a writhing, vibrant green "cloak."
A flicker of surprise passed through Gauss’s pupils.
Indeed, the Mud Statue's body was mostly composed of soil-like material, perfectly able to support Aria’s vines growing freely.
Moreover, the roots were deeply embedded in its body; if it wanted to pull them out, it would have to tear out flesh and sinew as well.
Seeing the Mud Statue no longer launch attacks but irritably tear off the surface vines revealed how effective Entangling Roots was in restraining it.
After absorbing nutrients from its body, the vines would quickly regrow even if torn off.
It was essentially tightly tethered by a constantly active control skill.
Gauss looked at Aria.
He hadn’t expected her to play the key role against this Mud Statue.
"Gauss, combining my natural energy with Entangling Roots, I can vaguely sense its core location," Aria called out loudly as she rode closer.
"Tell me the position," Gauss activated Message.
"Right now, it’s on our direct front, above its left thigh, in the waist area."
"Got it. If it moves, tell me again."
With this information,
Gauss was able to roughly lock onto the core’s location.
Having a general direction meant he no longer had to blindly guess like feeling in the dark.
While the Mud Statue was hampered and extremely irritated by Aria’s Entangling Roots,
he once again condensed three Magic Missiles in his hand.
The target was locked directly onto the part Aria indicated on the Mud Statue’s body.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Three consecutive Magic Missiles tore through the air, striking the Mud Statue’s waist.
The massive body trembled violently, its breath visibly weakening.
It must have been a hit.
Through the crater made by one of the missiles, Gauss seemed to see a slightly different color on the wound.
"Gauss, its core has shifted. It’s now located below the neck," Aria reported.
Gauss nodded and, after receiving Aria’s update, didn’t give the Mud Statue time to react.
Three more Magic Missiles blasted out!
The Mud Statue probably didn’t expect that after Gauss had hit its core once, he could quickly find it again with pinpoint accuracy.
"Shatter!"
The core suffered a second heavy blow.
The impact was more severe this time; the "fat" on its surface began to fall off in chunks like rain onto the ground.
Damage to the core seemed to have affected its control over the soil of its body.
"It shifted again..."
Aria continued updating.
"No! It’s trying to escape."
She said this while continuing to channel natural energy and accelerate Entangling Roots.
The vines and branches around its body sank into the soil, slowing its movement.
Gauss naturally wouldn’t let it escape.
Maintaining the fixed distance, he quickly followed.
At the same time, his hands moved swiftly.
The Magic Missiles followed Aria’s updates, continuously striking nearby spots.
Finally...
After another successful hit,
the Mud Statue let out a resentful wail. Its core was completely pierced through, and its massive body instantly collapsed, crumbling into a mound of soil emitting a faint royal stench.
Maybe even in death, it never understood how that human could always precisely find its core location.
"Elite monster Mud Statue defeated *1."
Upon completing the kill, the third elite monster entry was unlocked in the bestiary.
"Elite Path Stage 2: Defeat five types of elite monsters (3/5), Reward: Randomly obtain one elite monster racial talent."
"Title obtained: Mud Statue Hunter. This title will upgrade as more kills accumulate."
"Current effect: Continuous strike. When fighting Mud Statues, your attacks cause continuous follow-up damage. If magic attacks are used, residual mana effects remain, showing the internal status of the mana-affected area for a period of time."
Text flickered before Gauss.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
He had finally completed the conquest of the third elite monster type!
Moreover, the unlocked title’s effect seemed quite good.
It was equivalent to magic attacks producing local residual vision inside the Mud Statue’s body.
Although not as obvious as the effect of Aria’s natural energy combined with Entangling Roots, launching more attacks left more "vision," which could roughly confirm the core’s position, albeit with some hassle.
The two regrouped and approached the "body" that was gradually losing vitality and returning to ordinary soil.
"Unexpectedly easy," Aria smiled.
"It just happened to be something we could counter," Gauss nodded.
"But, is there any loot from the Mud Statue?"
"The core?" Aria shook her head. She was not very familiar with Mud Statues, so she was surprised by the effect of Entangling Roots earlier. "Probably nothing edible anyway."
She said this while unconsciously giving Gauss a wary glance.
"Ahem, don’t worry, I won’t eat that stuff," Gauss responded seriously upon noticing her suspicious look.
It was mud, after all—king soil—maybe mixed with unknown organic fertilizers...
He didn’t want to seem like some kind of strange eater. The monster meats he consumed were all perfectly normal.
However... was the meat of elite monsters tastier than that of low-level monsters?
Aria’s words reminded him.
If it were something like elite monster nests or crocodile-like creatures, he wouldn’t mind trying. According to the "menu" records, some elite monster nests were indeed delicious enough for the author to specially note.
Thinking this, he swallowed hard.
Aria, who had been watching him closely, noticed this subtle movement and her forehead started to sweat. She unconsciously stopped moving.
No... she hoped he really wasn’t going to eat dirt.
Please, no. If he really wanted to, could she even refuse?