The moment that Fiery-red, brilliant crystal block entered his claws—
A scalding current of heat surged through Caesar's clawed arm and straight into his heart!
His energy, which had been dried up to the bottom, was like an oil depot ignited in an instant, exploding with a roar. The surging energy frantically filled every exhausted mana circuit in his body, even giving him the illusion that he was about to burst.
His vision changed.
The cold raindrops, the violent currents, the hideous giant crab—the colors and structure of the entire world seemed to be reconstructed into a polyhedron composed of countless crystal facets.
Caesar's body was still in mid-air, his massive inertia carrying him forward in a glide. Unwaveringly, he landed right on the Giant Crystal Crab King's massive pincer—
He looked up, his golden dragon pupils staring directly into the other's compound eyes, which were filled with astonishment and rage.
The land dragon grinned, revealing an extremely wicked smile.
"You want it?"
"Too bad, it's mine now."
In the next second, a dazzling light soared into the sky from Caesar's body.
The light was so intense that it forcibly reflected the pouring rain into a magnificent red.
Terastalization!
[⊹ System Notification: Connecting to key item 'elemental resonance crystal'!]
[⊹ Attribute Resonance: Fire]
[✣ Terastalization Charging... Complete!!!]
"Wh... what is that?"
In the distance, Cecilia, who had finally managed to catch her breath, widened her eyes. She wiped the rain from her face with the back of her hand and stared fixedly at the red light.
Instructor Raymond and the other students were also completely dumbfounded.
Under everyone's gaze, above the head of that blue shark-tailed dragon, majestic energy converged frantically, finally condensing into a massive, Candelabra-like Crown that seemed carved from red crystal!
Terastalization: Fire!
[Terastalization]: Unleash potential, create possibilities! Change your own attribute and enjoy the Terastal attribute boost!
A layer of transparent crystalline shell covered Caesar's entire body. The cold rain that had been falling on him now landed on it and immediately made a'sizzle' sound, evaporating into billowing white steam from the high temperature.
An unprecedented sense of dry heat filled Caesar's entire body.
Although his species was still Garchomp, at this moment of Terastalization, his defensive attribute had become pure Fire!
Although he was weak to Water, it didn't matter much to Caesar.
Because in his skill pool, a brand-new option emitting a piercing red light had appeared.
[Tera Blast]!
Caesar was familiar with this thing.
Terastalization was a phenomenon unique to the Paldea Region, allowing pokémon to shine like gemstones and change their attributes.
But in the games he had played, the Move [Tera Blast] was a Normal-type Move that required a Move Tutor to learn.
But now, the rules of this world seemed somewhat different.
This skill had appeared directly in his skill pool!
Caesar didn't have time to overthink it... the opportunity was fleeting!
Because its secret treasure had been stolen, the Giant Crystal Crab King had completely fallen into a frenzy. It ignored Caesar, who had landed on its pincer, and instead aimed the Hydro Pump it had been charging for a long time at that damn silver thief in the sky.
"Don't even think about it!"
Caesar didn't hesitate. After a brief charge in his dragon's kiss, a brilliant beam of red crystal light erupted!
[Tera Blast]!
"Boom—!"
At point-blank range, this beam of energy slammed squarely into the Giant Crystal Crab King's face!
"Hiss—!!!"
The Giant Crystal Crab King let out a shriek of pain. Even in the torrential rain, the effect of the four-times weakness caused visible charring and cracks to appear on its carapace.
"Roar!!!"
Everyone present was stunned by this scene.
"With one Move... it heavily wounded that Overlord?" Instructor Raymond muttered to himself, almost dropping the staff in his hand.
What exactly was the origin of this blue fish-tailed dragon?
However, the moment the attack hit, Caesar exerted force with his feet, jumping off the crab pincer and retreating backward like a shadow flying close to the ground—
He didn't follow up with another attack.
Because his sonar organs had already sensed something even larger and more terrifying surfacing from beneath the lake.
The real battle was probably just beginning!
The heavily wounded Giant Crystal Crab King roared, abandoned its attack on Cecilia in the sky, and actually dragged its injured body to turn around and plunge headfirst into the lake!
"Is it running away?" a student asked instinctively.
"No!" Instructor Raymond's face was pale as he stared fixedly at the lake's surface. "It's not running! It's... summoning!"
Before his voice could fade, the entire Yan Yan Lake began to churn violently like boiling water.
A mountain-like giant shadow rapidly surged out of the water from the depths of the lake's center, kicking up a towering wave over ten meters high, appearing extremely terrifying in the rainstorm.
"Boom—!!!"
The waves slammed fiercely toward the shore!
"Defend! Quick, defend!" Instructor Raymond shouted at the top of his lungs, pouring all his remaining mana into his staff as a tattered flame shield rose once more.
Caesar was also forced back repeatedly by this giant wave. He crossed his arms in front of him, and the energy within his body surged instantly.
[Protect]!
A transparent barrier lit up, shielding him firmly.
When the waves subsided, everyone saw the scene in the lake and then collectively lost their voices.
It was a monster larger than a residential building, over thirty meters tall!
Its appearance was remarkably an enlarged version of the 'Giant Crystal Crab King'! And the original LV.40 Overlord was now integrated into the chest of that colossal entity, with countless blue energy threads connecting it to its surroundings, looking very much like a pilot operating a giant mecha!
That colossal entity was remarkably an exoskeleton armor formed by thousands of Crystalline Rock Shell Crabs stacked, combined, and spliced together!
"A Gundam?"
Caesar's scalp tingled.
What was this? Boss phase two? Or some kind of combined robot made of rock insects?
The 'crab king mecha' in the lake, which could be called a mobile fortress, slowly turned its body. The compound eyes of countless crabs lit up with red light simultaneously, looking down at these tiny ants on the ground.
It raised a super-pincer composed of hundreds of crabs and slammed it fiercely against the water surface!
Another earth-shattering wave!
The human adventurers there immediately fell into chaos. Magic shields of various colors lit up and then extinguished, and screams of pain rose and fell.
"Lao Zhai!" Caesar roared at the Silver Dragon in the sky. "Use Tera Blast! Fire, its weakness is fire! Aim for the head and hit it!"
Cecilia in the sky had also come into contact with that elemental resonance crystal and had long since entered the Terastalized state.
Her entire body was covered in a layer of transparent red crystals, and she also wore a Candelabra-like Crown on her head, sparkling in the rainstorm.
This feeling made her both curious and excited.
"Got it!"
Of course, despite saying that, Cecilia didn't understand what the land dragon meant by 'Tera Blast' at all.
In the Silver Dragon's Legacy memory, there was no such magic at all.
But she could clearly feel a restless fire element power rampaging within her body.
Since she had to use fire, then fire it would be!
Cecilia prepared for a moment and then released the magic she considered the most magnificent and most fitting for her noble status.
Rejoice...!
—Cecilia used the secret technique [Celebrate]!
A ball of multicolored energy converged in front of her chubby claws. In the next second, a majestic firework erupted from her palm.
Originally, this was just a skill with zero lethality, purely used to enhance the atmosphere.
But now, under the enhancement of the Fire-type Terastalization, the brilliant fireworks actually produced a strange chemical reaction with the restless fire elements in her body!
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!!!"
Streams of 'fiery trees and silver flowers' mixed with golden flames and silver light debris drew a brilliant trajectory in the air, unerringly shooting toward the 'crab king mecha's' massive head!
Boom!
The power of this Move was far inferior to Caesar's [Tera Blast], but the fireworks and light debris that exploded everywhere achieved an unexpected effect.
Countless tiny sparks and crystal shards pelted the 'cockpit' of the 'crab king mecha'—which was the face of the Giant Crystal Crab King's main body.
The crackling sounds accompanied by piercing flashes caused the Giant Crystal Crab King's vision to blur instantly.
"Roar!!!"
The Giant Crystal Crab King was completely enraged. It snapped its head up, wanting to use a Hydro Pump to shoot down that annoying silver lizard flying around in the sky.
However, the moment it looked at the sky.
Cecilia seemed to have found the knack. Her crystal claws closed, and another firework stream shot out!
"Bang!"
This shot was even more accurate, directly hitting one of the Giant Crystal Crab King's eyes!
"Hiss—urghhh!!!"
The Giant Crystal Crab King let out a shrill scream as one eye went blind instantly!
"Nice one, you carry-dog!"
Caesar seized this opportunity. His shark tail flicked back, and he suddenly accelerated through the mud left by the receding giant wave—
He rushed toward a towering tree on the shore that had been tilted by the wave, sprinted along the steep trunk, and leaped with all his might when he reached the top!
His entire dragon body was like a blue cannonball, crossing a distance of dozens of meters and landing heavily on the 'crab king mecha's' massive shoulder, which was composed of countless crabs!
"Thud—!"
[Heavy Stomp]!!!
Violent power was transmitted down through the soles of his feet. The 'armor plate' beneath him, composed of over a dozen Crystalline Rock Shell Crabs, was instantly crushed to pieces!
A large number of crab corpses and carapace fragments fell down like rain.
"Hiss!!!"
Hundreds of Crystalline Rock Shell Crabs on the mecha's back were immediately activated. They detached from their original positions and surged toward Caesar, the intruder, like a tide, waving their sharp pincers.
However, at this moment, Caesar was like a tiger among a flock of sheep!
Terastalization: Fire!
Wielding sharp claws burning with shadow energy, he carved a bloody path through that 'jungle' of crabs and crystals!
The tearing effect of [Shadow Claw] was simply a dimensional strike against these small mobs around LV.20. One claw swipe took out three or four, and the sound of carapaces shattering was constant.
The Giant Crystal Crab King had made a huge mistake.
It thought that by assembling this massive exoskeleton armor, it could rely on the Bug + Rock attribute of the 'components' and the rainy weather to negate the super-effective effect brought by Caesar's Fire Terastalization.
But the rigid body structure of arthropods made it impossible for it to reach the enemy on its back who was currently going on a killing spree!
Caesar's blue figure sprinted through the mountain-like swarm of Crystalline Rock Shell Crabs, dodging the crab pincers flanking him and constantly climbing upward. Finally, he reached the 'pilot' embedded in the mecha's chest—the Giant Crystal Crab King!
"Roar!!!"
The Giant Crystal Crab King twisted its body frantically, trying to shake Caesar off.
But Caesar lunged forward, betting everything, and bit down hard on the cluster of hardest rock crystals on the back of the Giant Crystal Crab King's main body!
[Bite]!
Teeth ground against crystal, producing a tooth-aching 'creak' sound. Caesar fixed himself firmly onto the big guy's body.
At the same time, his other claw, burning with shadow energy, sliced frantically at the carapace on the Crab King's back!
Squelch!
A chunk of crystalline body connected to flesh was forcibly torn off by him!
Caesar didn't even look. He stuffed it directly into his mouth, chewing and swallowing the carapace and flesh together!
A stream of extremely pure energy exploded in his stomach instantly. The sharp Rock-attribute power almost burst his stomach!
[⊹ System Notification: Detected high-purity 'Rock Attribute' factors... beginning absorption!]
[⊹ Pre-requisite skills [Quicksand Abyss] and [Sand Attack] proficiency have reached the limit!]
EVOLUTION!
(Skill Sublimation!)
A brand-new power awakened within the land dragon's body. The two originally separate skills now merged into one, turning into an even more powerful authority!
[｜Learned Advanced ✣ Skill—[Sandstorm]!]