After going into the sea, I met the witch.

The war is about to break out!

Chapter 29 Intense Pressure! A Bloody Battle!

The surging waves crashed against the coastal rocks, exploding into a cloud of white foam.

On the beach, Ryan stared calmly at the giant dragon-headed crab in front of him. As he got closer, a gray-text notification gradually appeared before his eyes.

[Dragon-headed Giant Crab: A beach crab that, with immense courage, shattered its original shell and burrowed into a dragon-shaped skull, ultimately survived and underwent a fusion mutation. After absorbing a large amount of spiritual power, it became the king and a unique species among beach crabs. With the birth of the Dragon-headed Giant Crab, the beach crab race was finally able to thrive and multiply for a long time. Even ordinary bird-dragon species are no match for it. Its shell is as hard as a rock, its pincers have terrifying clamping power, its dorsal horn can easily crush reefs, and it possesses a certain degree of ability to manipulate water...]

—You feel immense pressure!

Upon seeing the description "you feel heavy pressure," Ryan actually felt relieved.

Compared to the initial encounter with Freyne and Cecilia, where the message was "This person's strength far surpasses yours, you cannot defeat him, please stay away as soon as possible," the current message only mentions "heavy pressure" and does not explicitly state "you cannot defeat him," indicating that there is still a possibility of victory.

Even if the possibility is extremely small, it still exists.

Ryan remained expressionless, his right hand resting on the longsword at his waist. He leaned slightly forward, sprinting with short, rapid strides.

Compared to the nearly three-meter-tall dragon-headed crab, his size was simply too small. With his frail flesh and blood, he charged towards the enormous monster without hesitation, creating a strong sense of visual conflict.

The giant crab is enormous, and correspondingly, its stride is much longer. Although it may seem clumsy, it actually moves at an astonishing speed.

With the relative movement, the distance between the person and the crab was soon reduced to less than three meters.

"Tear--"

A massive, dark blue pincer, larger than a person, crashed down from the sky. Before it even landed, a fierce gust of wind whipped Ryan's hair back.

Compared to the pounding of the beach crab, it's not even worthy of carrying its shoes.

"clang!"

With his longsword held horizontally in front of him in a defensive stance, Ryan flipped his wrist just before the giant pincers came down, attempting to deflect the force.

But the moment the longsword made contact with the giant pincers, Ryan's face flushed red and his pupils contracted. Without hesitation, he changed his mind and used the longsword as a fulcrum to forcefully shift his position.

"boom!"

The ground roared and exploded, sand flew everywhere, and the violent tremors caused Ryan to stumble and nearly fall.

At this moment, blood was flowing from the tiger's mouth of both hands that were holding the sword.

The power of the dragon-headed crab far exceeded his imagination. Even the indirect contact was almost unbearable for him. It was conceivable that if he had taken that blow head-on, his fate would probably not have been much better than the deep pit on the beach.

Different! Completely different!

Upon first contact, Ryan understood that unlike the beach crab, the dragon head crab was not something that could be forcibly confronted by brute force.

If the traveling clone is level 10, there is a possibility of a head-on confrontation.

But right now, it's far from enough!

Its terrifying size and weight endow the giant crab with unparalleled strength; for a human to wrestle with it is practically suicidal.

After regaining his balance, Ryan disregarded everything else and immediately did a side roll. Just as he finished this action, the other giant claw of the dragon-headed crab swept horizontally, and the fierce wind pressure even formed a fan-shaped blowing zone on the sand.

The giant pincers, covered with sharp little spikes, were less than three centimeters from Ryan's body. If he hadn't rolled over, he probably would have died on the spot.

The reason he was able to react in advance was mainly because he had fought the beach crabs so many times that Ryan was already familiar with their moves. The dragon head crab was derived from the beach crab, and their fighting styles were of the same lineage, so they naturally had something in common.

Despite missing its first attack, the giant crab did not stop its assault. Its immense strength allowed it to easily pull its massive pincers, which were stuck deep in the sand, out of the ground. It raised its pincers like two giant hammers and slammed them down towards Ryan.

"Damn it!"

Cursing under his breath, Ryan hastily retreated.

The two pincers followed for nearly ten meters before gradually stopping, leaving Ryan's forehead covered in cold sweat.

He knew that if he were hit head-on by the dragon-headed crab, he would be seriously injured if not killed, and if seriously injured, it would only be the difference between being hit by the dragon-headed crab again and dying.

In the battle against the dragon-headed crab, you must not be hit even once from the front!

As this realization dawned on him, Ryan's gaze grew even more serious.

After the "giant pincers strike," the giant crab paused for a second before launching another attack.

This time, it opened its pincers and moved sideways in a gesture similar to a human hugging, moving several times faster than before. It caught up with Ryan after starting later, and then swung its huge pincers down to "scoop" him up.

It was too late to dodge now. Ryan opened his mouth and roared, "Kill!"

[Soaring Battle Cry], activate!

Visible ripples spread out, brushing across the body of the giant crab, causing it to stiffen abruptly.

The knockback effect of the [Soaring War Cry] was ineffective against the dragon-headed crab, but the powerful sonic boom did have a significant impact on it.

Could it be that the huge internal cavity of the dragon's carapace causes sound waves to vibrate back and forth within it, resulting in extremely high damage?

With this thought flashing through his mind, Ryan perked up and, taking advantage of the moment when the dragon-headed crab was stiff, launched his attack.

The "morale boost" effect caused a faint white glow to appear on Ryan's body, and his strength and speed both increased by 12%.

He exerted force with both legs, his muscles bulging, tearing his loose trousers apart. After a brief moment of gathering strength, he leaped high into the air, his longsword aimed at the eyes of the giant crab with the dragon's head.

The giant crab with a dragon head covered in "armor" has only two weak points.

One is a pair of bare eyes, and the other is a mouth that opens and closes.

However, unless the mouthparts penetrate deeply and cause significant damage, they are not very effective and could even bite the sword. Therefore, Ryan chose to attack the eyes.

"Ding--!"

The longsword pierced out swiftly, as if sensing danger. At the critical moment, the dragon-headed crab forcibly broke free from its "intimidation" state, its eyes shrinking downwards.

"Just a scratch..."

Disappointment crept into Ryan's heart as he realized his attack had failed to blind one of the crab's eyes. He then used the momentum to flip and land on the giant crab's claws.

Ryan took several steps back to create distance, then squinted at the giant crab with its dragon head blocking the way with its pincers, forming a massive shield.

What is it doing?

Ryan felt a sense of doubt.

Could it be that the damage from [Soaring War Cry] and the eye abrasion caused the dragon-headed Cancer to cower?

Chapter 30 [Loot: Crimson Horn]

Just as Ryan was wondering what to do, the dragon-headed crab suddenly moved.

With all four of its retracted legs exerting force simultaneously, its body leaped high into the air before crashing down towards where Ryan was, much to Ryan's astonishment.

"!"

In the face of danger, Ryan disregarded everything and lunged to the side. As soon as he landed, he felt the ground shake violently. At the same time, the impact, carrying sand and gravel, sent him tumbling forward several times until he crashed into a rock about half his height and came to a stop.

"Cough cough..."

The seawater washed over his thighs, causing a burning pain to surface on his abrasion-covered skin, but for Ryan at this moment, this pain was nothing.

Blood kept oozing from the corner of his mouth. Ryan knew that he had suffered a fairly serious shock injury, and his internal organs were severely damaged.

Supporting himself on the reef with one hand, he struggled to his feet and gazed at the giant dragon-headed crab swaying as it rose from the huge sand pit in the distance. His heart was filled with emotion.

As expected of a special species, such strength is simply breathtaking!

Is this the true value of the "heavy pressure" indicated on the panel?

Ryan knew he had lost.

This initial campaign is now nearing its end.

He has done his best.

However, apart from the spiritually imbued sonic wave, "Soaring War Cry," which injured the dragon-headed crab, he did not inflict any effective damage on it.

The gap in strength between him and the dragon-headed Cancer is simply too great.

Of course, Ryan also has his advantages.

That is, his wandering clones can be resurrected and try again and again.

One day, when he becomes familiar with all of the dragon-headed crab's attack methods, he might be able to defeat this terrifying monster.

But now...

Ryan gave a bloodstained smile.

Let's use this broken body to try and figure out the attack methods of the beach crab.

Two seconds later, the dragon-headed Cancer, who had finally stood up, turned around and looked at Ryan.

The pain in its eyes enraged it.

A tiny "insect" dared to harm a great king—unforgivable!

The giant crab raised its pincers, and red veins quickly spread across its entire body, with some dense areas even faintly forming something resembling "flares".

A terrifying aura settled on the dragon-headed crab, and its intense spirituality erupted completely at this moment.

Knowing that the beach crab has a "berserk state," Ryan's lips curled into a bitter smile.

"It seems our plan to continue probing is going to fail..."

In its berserk state, the dragon-headed crab could probably smash its own heavily injured body into mincemeat with a single blow.

"So I guess I can only try again next time..."

Although he knew long ago that his first challenge would most likely end in failure, Ryan was still unwilling to give up when the time came.

But what good is it if you're so weak and unwilling to accept it?

Reflected in his pupils was a ferocious giant crab with a dragon's head, lunging at him with its hideous spikes on its back. Ryan gripped his longsword tightly.

Even if the final outcome is death, he will fight to the last moment.

"Hoohoo!"

Just as the hideous bony needles were three or four meters away from Ryan, a sudden sound of water breaking reached Ryan's ears.

A crimson and silver shadow swept past, and the raging dragon-headed crab tilted to the side under the force of the impact.

A giant shark, nearly ten meters long with regular red veins covering its silvery-white body, bit into the carapace of the dragon-headed crab.