Chapter 520 - Boss

Once again, it didn't long take for Ryan and Femradiel to find their next dungeon. Fortunately, the dungeon wasn't that deep since it was spawning Giant Crabs, and they liked to fight underwater and out. Their numbers were pretty low, and their levels weren't that high as well, the reason being a certain predator that was moving around the area in search of food.

Megalodon – Lv 490

Health: 150.000/150.000

Mana: 100.000/100.000

Stamina: 60.000/60.000

Strength: 7500 (+1500)           

Dexterity: 5500 (+500)

Speed: 2000 (+500)

Intelligence: 5000 (+1000)

Endurance: 7000 (+1100)

Control: 1800 (+200)

Mentality: 5000 (+1200)

Luck: 2000

Recovery: 50.000 (+10.000)

Willpower: 5000 (+1200)

Coins: --

Status: --

Skill List

Offensive Physical Skills: Bite Lv 400

Passive Physical Skills: Swim Lv 550, Improved Recovery Lv 300, Enhanced Recovery Lv 250

Spells: Water Creation Lv 400, Water Manipulation Lv 320

Support Skills: Underwater Resistance Lv 550, Cold Resistance Lv 600, Freezing Resistance Lv 500

"For Odin's eyepatch…" Ryan furrowed his eyebrows in shock. "Is it just me or that thing is bigger than I remember?"

"It is just ten meters bigger than the ordinary ones," Femradiel said. "I guess it is a boss."

"Still, I don't remember the other one being that menacing," Ryan thought. "Now that I think about it, why those monsters always have too much health, mana, and stamina and other attributes that are more important are completely neglected."

"Those two things are related," Femradiel replied. "The more vital energy a creature has, the more menacing it looks from the perspective of weaker monsters. Creatures like Megalodons find it more appealing to defeat their targets even before the fight. Just look, despite its level, the big guy here is just waiting for the Giant Crabs to spawn. This one probably saw its companions having their ass kicked and decided to build its strength hunting Giant Crabs and Azure Seahorses."

As usual, Femradiel's theories seemed pretty reasonable. Still, that couldn't explain why he found a single megalodon in the area. Maybe the monsters migrated to other areas only to have their ass kicked, but that was just a possibility.

In any case, to enter the Giant Crabs dungeon, Ryan will have to defeat that massive beast. No, he could act teleport to inside the dungeon, but Ryan felt that would be a waste…

"Well, I guess that thing and underwater, I can't afford to pull my punches, '' Ryan thought and summoned several Magic Bows and the activated Power Shot in all of them. "If something else approaches while I am fighting that, I will be counting on you to warn me, Femradiel."

"I think not using Draconic Transformation also counts as pulling your punches, but whatever," Femradiel said.

Ryan concealed his bloodlust, but after a while, the monster noticed his presence due to the vast concentration of energy around him. As expected, the beast dashed toward Ryan since he looked like a pretty decent snack. He had to wait until the very last moment since the monster was too fast. Fortunately, in the end, Ryan made the monster eat his magic projectiles. The creature not only suffered a lot of damage but also was slowed down enough that it granted Ryan the chance to escape by using Teleport.

Ryan immediately prepared for the next wave of attacks. Still, he noticed that the monster was already moving toward and its wounds were being healed at terrifying speed. As expected, just fighting directly fair and the square was a lousy idea…

After firing another wave of Power Shots that have been charged just for a couple of seconds, Ryan equipped his Immobilizing Crossbows and then created several magic copies of them. 

"Oh? Am I really seeing this?" Femradiel asked.

As much as that annoyed him, Ryan decided to shamelessly copy Femradiel's previous tactic. He also decided to ignore her words since it wasn't time for that, and he didn't have time to come up with a good strategy against that kind of foe. It took a while, and even though that was one boring strategy, Ryan escaped by using Teleport from the big shark attacks and then decreased the monster's speed little by little until he becomes much slower than Ryan. With that massive body, the Megalodon just became a practicing target for Ryan.

In the end, Ryan decided to use the monster's spirit instead of just killing. Ryan also considered the possibility of taming the beast, but for science's sake, he created a new magic weapon first.

Aquatic Predator Crossbow

Effect: At the cost of one hundred points of mana, it restores one hundred points of your health every time an aquatic foe is killed.

Dexterity + 150, Intelligence + 110

Durability: 140/140

"Not bad, huh," Ryan thought.

"So, are we just ignoring the fact that you copied my strategy?" Femradiel asked.

"I wouldn't say that I copied," Ryan shrugged. "I would say that use it as a basis for a new one. After all, you charged mindlessly at the boss while I did the reverse."

"I did for a reason, you know," Femradiel said. "Just like you like to fight under several restrictions to make yourself stronger, I did something similar to improve my battle senses. Giving even more advantages to the enemy is risky, but also increases the obtained combat experience."

"Well, let's just be happy that you are learning something from me," Ryan shrugged again.

"You are impossible…" Femradiel sighed.

Ryan laughed, but, in the end, he admitted that he learned something from Femradiel, even though he also realized that was a basic simple strategy that was stupidly effective. Regardless, before upgrading that already powerful crossbow, Ryan decided to tame the next Megalodon. While until now he was holding his own underwater, Ryan wouldn't mind some extra help. Besides, he couldn't think of any other monster that could be even more useful in such an environment.

Without wasting any more time, Ryan proceeded toward the dungeon while making sure to kill the Giant Crabs with bolts that wouldn't ruin their taste. Those would taste even more heavenly once Ryan's diet based on dragon hearts ends.