[NR] Looking For That Shot - Chapter 497

Back with Jason, despite each hit pushing him back, it was the tardigroid’s fists that failed first. The cracks spread far enough that the chitin shattered, leaving the monster with jelly-like hands. This forced the boss to switch to using their buckler-like chitin guards on its arms to defend itself.

Except in doing so, the boss had given up the offensive. Now forced to defend without a clear line of attack, the beast takes a step back, then another. Though not a third. Well, technically it did take not only a third, but many more steps back, but this is because it forcefully disengaged, threw Lily off of its back, and retreated.

Even an animal will react when cornered, let alone a dungeon boss. If anything, Jason should be happy that he was able to shatter the enemy’s claws. While not quite at the level of regeneration, as a boss monster the tardigroid had a much more advanced natural healing factor. Simple cracks in the chitin would have been a matter of moments to heal if it hadn’t kept pounding away.

The same is true for the deep wounds on the tardigroid’s back. Sure, the pin pricks from Lily’s hair healed almost instantly, but her claws left gouges which were even harder to heal. At least the monster’s hands still had all the pieces of chitin to work with. Lily’s energy infused claws had not just cracked the chitin, but scraped out material as well.

In all likelihood, even if the boss was left to heal, the damage on its back would never fully go away. It is much harder for special material to grow back than it is for it to grow in the first place. Though this is partly because the newly grown bits will always be behind the older sections in toughness.

Of all the injuries though, the face was the worst off. While Lily hadn’t really managed to get much of a chance at it, Rosha followed up just fine. Without hands, the boss is forced to live with her arrows sticking out of its face. A horrible weakness as it provides a shortcut directly into the monster’s head. If the group had a lightning mage with them, those arrows would spell the end.

As it is, they still represent a wound that can’t heal. Even worse than an arrow stuck in a human, the arrow head is stuck behind the chitin. Chitin which has healed around it. At this point removing the arrows would likely deal more damage than leaving them in.

Then the boss is charging back at the group after they had a chance to see the damage they had caused. It had actually taken a decent amount of time for the beast to return as it had done a full circuit of the arena. Time the boss had needed to fix up some of the damage, though Courtney was able to get a sense with her magic that despite the superficial fixes, not much actual HP had been recovered.

Now they faced the situation that had started this fight all over again. The tardigroid charging at them. Except this time everyone wasn’t doing too hot. Jason certainly couldn’t do a repeat to stop the charge. Though the boss wasn’t firing on all cylinders either.

While its four back legs had gone completely unscathed, the damage to the tardigroid’s back more than made up for it.  Each step was pain and yet it charged. How could Jason do anything less than take advantage of it?

So as the beast charged up to him, Jason threw a dagger at its face. Not really that much of a threat, but it certainly got the boss to look away and block with an arm. Then as the dagger pings off the chitin plates buckler, he moves around the now undefended side, and with the dagger in his other hand, stabs the tardigroid in the middle shoulder.

Not as an attack, but rather to create leverage. Then as the beast continued forward, Jason used the as a pivot point to toss himself up on top of the monster's back. It was a bit of a rough landing, but he managed to stick it.

Even better, the boss wasn’t able to actually reach its own back. While more flexible than a normal tardigrade, the tardigroid boss still had a broad back that prevented its own limbs from reaching around in the way needed. Not that it didn’t try to jostle him off.

This however only left it open to more damage from Rosha and stopped its charge. Though it did stop Jason from going all out in attacking it. Rather, he was forced to basically hold on with everything, only occasionally being able to use one hand to pound on the thing’s back. While not super effective, this did do some damage as his body blast skill let him easily penetrate the chitin.

If only Jason could manage to stand up. His war stomp would have been a lot more effective at the job. In the end though, this was fine as distracting the thing fulfilled his role as the party tank. Even if he wasn’t really armored for it.

Though if Rosha was honest, she kind of preferred this. Up until now Jason had acted as the main DPS as well as being the tank. She didn’t blame him, the party just hadn’t been really challenged. Now though?

Rosha kept having to move around as she sniped at the boss. A strange yet familiar action. All of her training always said to move after a shot so you can’t be pinpointed. Yet none of the fights they had been in were such that she needed to do so. Now, finally, she was putting her training into action or she would end up squished.

Then the perfect shot presented itself. Rosha had just moved next to a new pillar in the area room. In theory it wasn’t the best place to stand, yet it opened up a clear view of her target. The forehead where many arrows were already sticking out. So without a second thought, she released an arrow with a skill kicker.