Chapter 57: VS Alter・Monster Tree

No matter how you look at it, it was a giant crab.

It was as big as a haul truck.

From the look of its body, it was indeed a crustacean.

The trunk was kinda black, it might be because it always hid inside the soil, but there were also some shiny spots.

The huge crab claws corresponding to its huge body had rugged protrusions.

Rather than cutting sharply, it seemed to be specialized to rip things apart with brute strength.

What made it unique was the trees on its back.

Because of the trees, it almost looked like a hermit crab.

The eyes were completely white and cloudy, as if it was already dead.

Perhaps, its consciousness was taken over by the trees on its back.

It was very similar to the monster that appeared in the game of battles with famous monsters.

Besides, crabs were aquatic creatures, right?

Why was it here in the first place?

It wasn’t good for this creature to be in a forest like this.

But, Mallow didn’t have time to think about it.

It started to move its legs.

The giant crab (it’s called Alter・Monster Tree from the quest name tho) rushed toward Mallow.

「Uoowowoー!」

With all of her might, Mallow immediately dodged to the side, it grazed her a little.

It passed through Mallow while destroying the trees in front of it.

What a terrifying destructive power.

She imagined if it hit her earlier, it would be horrible.

「Damn it! Since I got a rare item, I won’t die here! And… why the heck does a crab move forward like that!?」

While grumbling like that, Mallow held the God of Destruction’s Battle Axe and took a stance.

Then, before the giant crab could turn around and launched a rush attack again, Mallow swung down the axeー

「【Heavy Lumbering】！」

A giant axe appeared and hit the giant crab directly.

Crashー!

It pressed the giant body of the enemy to the ground and greatly reduced its HP.

「（Huh. How disappointing. This enemy is not a big deal at all）」

Right after she thought that way, the giant crab took an unexpected action.

Stapー!

「Whaー!?」

Mallow unintentionally opened her mouth in surprise.

Because the enemy jumped up to the sky all of a sudden.

The giant crab turned around in the air and landed along with the rumbling earth sound.

Mallow’s feet were caught by the shaking ground.

Her eyes make contact with the empty crab’s eyes.

It lifted its giant crab claw, and swung down right towards Mallow’s head.

This is bad.

It’s too late to dodge.

【Maximum・Protect】already used.

No other way than to receive it.

「As ifー! 【Gigant Punch】！」

Mallow let go of her battle axe for once, put her whole strength into her fist, and did an uppercut.

The fist and the giant claw collided.

Butー Mallow’s punch was stronger.

The giant crab claw separated from the joint and flung into the air.

Perhaps it was because its arthropod body parts were not attached together properly.

「【Quick Set】！」

Mallow then re-summoned her battleaxe.

And immediately swung it horizontally.

「【Flashing Sword of Void】！」

It was the skill with the quickest attack she had.

Actually, this attack has a ‘special effect’….. But, let’s leave that aside for now.

Her flash attack splendidly hit the enemy’s body and scraped off its HP.

Only a few HP remained.

Still, she wasn’t letting her guard down, because there was a possibility that the attack pattern would change, or it would transform into another form.

Thus she focused on killing it as soon as possible.

「【Heavy Lumbering】！」

A giant axe swung down for the second time.

This time, the giant crab’s shell cracked and split in half.

The cross section opened, and she saw the roots of the trees on its back were stretched like nerves around its body.

Mallow’s guess was right.

Alter・Monster Tree.

Its true identity was a fragment of life energy separated from the Monster Tree, the giant tree that once grew in this Black Forest and was cut down by Mallow herself.

And it was controlling this giant crab.

But, why the monster that was being controlled was a crab, only the administrator knew.

「Fiuh… Finally a short break」

Mallow took a breath and began to check the drop item.

What she got were『Giant Crab’s Shell』,『Giant Crab’s Claw』, mostly the materials from the crab’s body.

Andー

「『Monster Tree Wood Fragment』?」

It seemed that she got this item when she cut the glowing black tree that was actually a part of the Alter・Monster Tree’s body.

Mallow was cutting it down easily, but actually the glowing black tree had a high defense. Moreover, it would trigger the Alter・Monster Tree to appear after you touch it, so it was extremely difficult to obtain this item actually.

But she was able to cut it easily thanks to the God of Destruction’s Battleaxe that has an object destruction effect, and her extremely high STR.

It was the first time Mallow got the item related to the Monster Tree, since she only got a huge amount of Exp and titles when she defeated the Monster Tree before.

Perhaps if she defeated it after this update, this item might also have dropped.

Well, it’s no use thinking about it right now tho, since she already defeated the Monster Tree long ago.

「Anyway, I got two pieces of high rarity wood material. Maybe it’s time to go back」

While murmuring like that, she looked at her HP bar.

No, to be precise, she looked at the very bottom of the UI

Right below the MP bar.

There was a ‘third gauge’ besides HP and MP that shouldn’t exist before.

「（Haah, I didn’t even have to use this ‘new power’ to defeat it）」