Facing such an inhuman monster, there was no time for idle pleasantries as the battle erupted instantly.
Though Vivian felt somewhat unsettled facing such a twisted abomination for the first time, Greg's command kept her from falling into a disadvantage.
"Ice Wall! Block the front! Three steps to the right, dodge the Earth Spikes!"
Greg's commands were brief and clear in the cavernous prayer hall.
The Thirsting Maw's massive throat suddenly contracted, and several mucus-coated, sharp-tipped dark red flesh spikes shot up from the ground, aiming directly at where Vivian had been standing a moment before.
Vivian, having slid to the right the instant Greg spoke, swept her left hand. A thick, curved Ice Wall rose from the ground to her front left, perfectly blocking an arm covered in bone blades that swept in from her flank.
"Now! Ice Crystal Spike, target the gap on the left side of the third flesh ring at the bottom of its throat!"
Vivian's gaze hardened. Almost the moment Greg finished speaking, the ice-blue magic circle beneath her feet burst into a brilliant glow!
Dozens of reinforced, hardened ice spikes shot out in a cone. Most were deflected by the shock-absorbing flesh on the monster's surface, but seven or eight struck with uncanny precision right where Greg had pointed.
There was a slightly darker fold in the skin—a weakness left behind after Greg had successfully melted through its surface defense with a bottle of strong corrosive acid!
Pfft! Hsssh—!!
The ice spikes buried into its flesh, delivering a completely different feedback from previous attacks!
It sounded like a hot knife slicing through fat, accompanied by the faint crackle of tissue freezing and shattering.
The Thirsting Maw's huge throat shrank violently as it uttered a roar of mingled pain and rage. Its massive body staggered back half a step, dark red viscous fluid seeping from the wound and instantly freezing into eerie dark red ice crystals under the residual frost mana.
From the very beginning, the pace of the battle was firmly controlled thanks to Greg's precise commands and Vivian's exceptional execution.
Greg moved like a master battlefield conductor, seemingly capable of perceiving every minute movement of the Thirsting Maw.
He could shout "Duck," "Roll right," or "Leap back" a fraction of a second in advance, allowing Vivian to narrowly dodge unpredictable flesh spike thrusts or mucus spits.
He pointed out precisely which region of the monster's body had been weakened by previous strikes, or which energy node was gathering power for the next area-of-effect attack, guiding Vivian's magic to strike with maximum efficiency.
As for himself, he rarely attacked the Thirsting Maw's tough main body directly, choosing instead to continually hurl various alchemical potions.
Stagnation Gel splashed along the monster's path of movement, drastically slowing down its surprisingly swift charges.
Flash powder and pungent smoke bombs were used in turn, disrupting the giant throat's lock-on and perception of its prey.
Occasionally, he bombarded small tentacles of flesh trying to break off from floor or wall shadows to ambush Vivian using LV3 Fireball, or washed away dark red bodily fluids splashing toward Vivian using a precise LV4 Water Gun.
Vivian's ice-attribute magic proved unexpectedly effective against a monster composed of twisted flesh like the Thirsting Maw, just as Greg had anticipated.
Extreme cold not only effectively slowed its terrifying self-healing and body-morphing speed, but once the ice crystals pierced its defenses, the accompanying frostbite and tissue embrittlement significantly amplified all subsequent damage.
Combined with Greg's seemingly prophetic command, the Floor Boss—far higher in level than either of them—was suppressed into continuous roars of fury, unable to land a single lethal threat.
Furthermore, deep within the Thirsting Maw's throbbing throat, strange, muffled noises occasionally seeped out amid its enraged roars.
These sounds didn't sound like meaningless growls; instead, they carried the rhythmic characteristics of an ancient tongue.
In the original game, Greg had merely assumed these were meaningless whispers designed by the developers to build a horror atmosphere, never giving them a second thought.
Now, however, thanks to his Ancient Language LV1 skill, he instantly realized it was actually speaking!
Since he didn't recognize any of these words, he dodged a sweeping flesh whip and hurriedly asked in his mind:
"Hajimi! Those mutterings this ugly thing is spewing—it's the Ancient Language, right? What is it saying?"
Nightmare, hidden within his shadow, sounded somewhat surprised. "You... can actually tell that is the Ancient Language?"
Greg: "Never mind that right now, tell me what it just said!"
Nightmare translated: "It merely repeats a few words: Fragmentation, Authority, Mother Goddess, Dismemberment."
She paused, then added:
"The word order is chaotic, neither a coherent sentence nor a prayer. To my eyes, these are likely just unconscious ramblings of the most deeply imprinted concept fragments lingering in its chaotic mind—there is no deeper meaning."
"Fragmentation... Authority... Mother Goddess... Dismemberment?"
Greg chewed on these words briefly, but was similarly unable to piece together a clear picture right away.
And now was hardly the time to ponder it further, so he nodded and pulled his attention back to the battlefield.
The battle continued.
Through their seamless teamwork, wounds accumulated on the Thirsting Maw's body and its movements grew increasingly sluggish. The throbbing frequency of its massive throat slowed noticeably, its color dimming.
Finally, Vivian seized another opportunity after Greg temporarily pinned the monster's lower limbs with sticky potions. She drove a fully empowered Ice Crystal Spike Array straight into the core of its throat. The Thirsting Maw let out an unprecedented wail of agony, its massive body falling backward heavily and crashing into the base of the headless female statue behind it, knocking loose a rain of debris.
Yet this seemingly mortally wounded state caused Greg's eyes to narrow sharply.
Though we got lucky this time and it didn't use that move right off the bat, it should be about time now.
Just as Greg anticipated, the Thirsting Maw's dimmed throat suddenly expanded violently once more after it scrambled back to its feet!
This time, the expansion far exceeded anything before, stretching its entire head area into a nearly transparent funnel of flesh membrane!
Deep inside the throat, spiral-patterned pale teeth and a purplish-black tongue squirmed frantically as an intensely ominous surge of energy gathered in its gullet at unprecedented speed!
The air seemed to be sucked dry, and light warped at the throat's opening, forming a miniature dark vortex!
This was its most terrifying area-of-effect instant death skill—【Fragmentation Screech】, which could reduce all enemies within a certain radius to fine shreds!
In the game, unless interrupted in advance or evaded with specific items, getting hit meant almost guaranteed death; its range was vast, and it was undodgeable.
Yet Greg had been waiting for this exact horrifying attack all along.
"Now!"
A brilliant light flashed in Greg's eyes, and he activated the scroll he had been clutching without a moment's hesitation!
It was none other than the rare consumable dropped from defeating the hidden Boss last time—【Silent Covenant】!
Buzz—!!
An invisible force spread outward from the scroll in Greg's hand in an instant, blanketing a fifty-meter radius!
Within this space, everything fell into a state of absolute silence!
Though it would last for a mere fifteen seconds, the effect was more than enough for Greg!
Rate on N.U.
