When the plot-skips players into the game world

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

Just as Sherlock had summoned the Mud Hawk, he immediately started to warn his companions, "When I summoned the Mud Hawk, I felt a tremendous pressure coming from inside the swamp."

The original "feel" of summoning a Mud Hawk should be like pulling out several chunks from half-kneaded, loose dough. But Sherlock felt like that as he was pulling, the dough was squeezing his hand from all directions...

That usually meant that something very large was moving in the swamp, which was why pressure was being exerted there. Or it could be that there was some kind of barrier beneath the swamp.

Just in case, Sherlock decided to warn them about the most dangerous possibility first.

Soon enough, his warning became necessary—

The ground suddenly began to vibrate violently, causing Sherlock to stumble and nearly fall.

It was at that moment that a grey silk thread shot out from behind him and hung him up in a tree.

Sherlock breathed a sigh of relief. But before he could even say thanks, the ground began to shake even more violently—

It was an odd, gigantic creature, fifteen to sixteen meters long with an oval-shaped shell on its back.

It resembled a giant turtle, yet also a snapping turtle, and even a cockroach. The widest part of its shell was around six to seven meters across, and its body was six times larger than Hayna's bedroom at home. The trees were being toppled by it effortlessly.

Its head was a fierce white skull, but the joints in the bones were completely clogged with damp, soft mud, making its head look like a giant taro.

Its limbs were not flat like a turtle's, but thick and powerful—also made of white bones and clay. And the shell on its back was made of thick black rock.

As soon as it appeared, it swallowed a headless undead creature in one bite. It made cracking sounds as if it was chewing on some crispy snack.

Aiwass suddenly became very serious.

"This is a Mud Corpse Turtle," Aiwass warned, "at least fourth energy level—and these creatures are social!"

These creatures were a classic low-level mob in version 3.0 of the game.

They weren't particularly strong, but they were very annoying... because they were land-mine style triggered monsters. Stepping on one would cause a large number of them to emerge from all directions, quickly surrounding a person. And with such a large size, it was easy to split up a team... and for squishy classes to be in danger if they ended up alone, even if they were of a higher level.

Usually, the bigger they were, the stronger. However, without other Mud Corpse Turtles to compare with, Aiwass was not sure whether this one counted as large or medium-sized.

There was also an elite monster version at the sixth energy level called the Dragon Corpse Turtle—after consuming a large number of bones, it had become an undead creature with a dragon head wearing a tortoise shell. Although it was not a dragon, it could still breathe dragon fire.

...But if such creatures were just low-level soldiers in ver. 3.0, now they were certainly not!

Facing a gigantic creature that was two meters tall when crouching and could stand up to three or four meters tall, stretching fifteen to sixteen meters in length, they indeed had some trouble making a move.

And the Mud Corpse Turtle's aggression was obviously very high.

As soon as it appeared, it let out an extremely unpleasant roar. Find your next adventure on My Virtual Library Empire

It was like the sound of a throat clogged with rotting mud, yet it triggered a very terrifying transformation.

Yellow-brown ripples spread out from its body, softening and moistening the already soft mud, making it even more sticky and malleable. It was practically impossible to move normally, and the sliding, slimy sensation was utterly repellent. However, the turtle was able to swim freely through the mud, speeding up even more.

Luckily, Lily was there—she immediately reacted, hanging her teammates up in the trees one by one. Standing on branches, they let the grey spider webs secure their bodies in place.

As the Mud Corpse Turtle crashed against the tree below someone, Lily swiftly moved her fingers, swinging the comrade on that tree to another spot.

At least until the surrounding trees were knocked down, they should be safe... perhaps.

"Where's its weak spot?"

Sherlock urgently asked Aiwass.

For some reason, he subconsciously thought Aiwass would know.

And indeed...

Without any hesitation, Aiwass answered, "Right in the middle of its back, a large area! But the shell on its back is almost a meter thick..."

If melee professionals were of a high level, they could get on its back and directly execute it with one slash.

But now, whether it was Lily with her dagger, or Hayna with bare hands... or even the young Gryphon, it was obviously not easy to deal with it. It wasn't that they couldn't beat it, but their attack range was too short to penetrate the slimy, mud-coated rock shell.

This creature, even in a monster encyclopedia, would be considered a crap beast... with a hard shell wrapped in a thick layer of mud, capable of continually creating swampy terrain and slipping around at high speed. If it managed to consume undead, it could even regenerate health.

Most importantly, the mud shell on its back was not made of undead tissue, but purely rock. Aiwass's purification couldn't remove it.

Aiwass hesitated for a moment, considering whether to directly summon the Defiant Flame Butterfly.

...But it wasn't as simple as just using a powerful ability when encountering a minor monster.

It was because this area was a swamp and also a dense forest. Methane gases were everywhere, and the forest was connected to the surrounding woodlands.

If the turret-like summoning of the Defiant Flame Butterfly were used here... it could directly lead to a large-scale forest fire.

However, Aiwass made up his mind.

If they truly faced danger, they must not hesitate even if it meant that kind of consequence...

"Let me try first!"

Sherlock decisively called out.

— At times like this, it is the moment for a mage to take action.

He casually grabbed a Mud Hawk from beside him and then transformed it into pure elements.

Aiwass reminded, "Don't use Earth attribute attacks against it!"

"Well, you could have said that sooner!"

Sherlock cursed, "Lily, throw me the flask from my backpack!"

Since he was currently too small, he kept his luggage with Lily.

And Lily reacted quickly.

Since Sherlock had already organized his belongings categorically, she easily found the flask about a finger tall, resembling a lipstick, made of glass.

She quickly threw it towards Sherlock, and he directly raised the Earth element in his hand to swirl it toward him.

The brittle glass was instantly crushed, and the glass and alcohol inside merged into the vortex in Sherlock's hand, immediately causing a violent reaction. A sticky flame burst forth, crackling as it burned.

Aiwass recognized the spell Sherlock was using.

It was the "Sharp Rock Spear," an Earth attribute spell.

But Sherlock clearly had mastered the mystery of attribute transformation, and he was now using a mix of fire attribute mana through the alcohol to cast the spell.

— But could that actually penetrate the turtle shell?

However, Aiwass quickly realized—Sherlock was not trying to penetrate the shell but to enter through the flesh!

Rock can't pierce through, but it can penetrate a mingling of skeleton and mud!

If that's the case...

Aiwass had an inspiration.

He pulled out two vials of Chamomile Essential Oil and Everlasting Flower Essential Oil from his pocket, crushed their caps without hesitation, and then directly poured the two vials of oil into the palm of his left hand.

"I entreat the Candle Master, God of the Holy Trinity, The God of Thorns Bound, The God Who Burns Body and Pursues Darkness—"

Aiwass chanted loudly, "Grant me purifying fire!"

The essential oils in his hand immediately ignited, emitting a golden flame.

And Aiwass quickly placed his left hand, burning with golden flames, over Sherlock's right hand, startling him.

"You—"

Sherlock was about to curse out loud but realized that his spell hadn't been disrupted.

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

Finally, the fire in Sherlock's hand solidified into an arrow without fletching.

But its tip burned with a golden light.

Sherlock, unable to believe it, gave Aiwass a glance and then, gritting his teeth, released the spell he had never seen before.

A streak of golden light flew—Sherlock guided the hit of the spell with his will.

It drilled into the head of the Mud Corpse Turtle. The purifying fire instantly melted the bones, and the remaining rotten mud couldn't stop Sherlock's spell.

It easily entered the Mud Corpse Turtle's body.

After a while, it staggered and fell over. Tiny sparks of fire burst from within, and those bones burned with a quiet golden flame, gradually turning to nothing. The rotten mud, without support, also slowly dissolved.

It quickly lost its form, leaving behind only the huge turtle shell. And the sludge that had blocked five openings.

"That was really dangerous..."

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

He was about to say something when a prompt appeared before his eyes:

[Killed a fourth Energy Level Magical Beast, gain 26 free experience]

Huh?

Aiwass suddenly looked up, his eyes lighting up instantly.

— There's experience?

"... It looks like we need to help the villagers clean up. Otherwise, it won't be good if they run into danger."

Aiwass immediately changed his tone.