Chapter 152: Steel Cataclysm (9)

"Now, it's my turn!"

Bracing against four terrifying elemental rays, Mohr hoisted his spiked club and charged forward! In less than a single minute, he had completely adapted to the damage inflicted by these four distinct attacks.

Sensing something was amiss, the ambulatory jellyfish ceased firing its rays.

"Giving up already?! Then take this!" With an excited shout, Mohr leaped into the air and brought his club crashing down!

However, the jellyfish merely extended a single tentacle, catching his attack with a hooked claw...

"Damn it!" Mohr cursed as the sound of whistling wind rushed past his ears.

Six or seven heavy tentacles, adorned with menacing, barbed hooks, struck Mohr in unison and slammed him straight into the ground!

Following that, the ambulatory jellyfish subjected Mohr to a brutal, relentless hammering, leaving him utterly defenseless.

"You've got..." *Thud!* "...trash..." *Bang!* "...guts..." *Clang!*

In truth, forget fighting back; even speaking a word required immense effort.

Yet amidst this frantic battering and tearing, Mohr's status was stacking madly. The hooked claws that could once rip away his flesh gradually grew capable of tearing only his superficial skin. The heavy impacts that once shattered his shinbones were now reduced to leaving behind nothing more than a bruise, and every single one of these injuries healed in the blink of an eye.

In the distance, Artoria had already vanished as her summoning time expired, leaving only Ereshkigal standing atop her spear, flying around to evade attacks while providing interference with her Galura spirit.

Mohr scrambled to his feet, only to be swatted flying once more by a claw of the ambulatory jellyfish.

No matter how strong his resistances or how tough his physique, his raw strength could never hope to rival these monsters.

"What a pain." Glancing at the dungeon entrance's rock wall not far away, which was beginning to fracture, Mohr muttered a curse, then turned on his heel and sprinted toward the metallic lizard!

"Come on, you beast! If I can't hurt you, I'll just bully women instead! You're useless too! Having no parents really ruins your manners!"

Though it was merely casual cursing, under the influence of his innate trait, the metallic lizard still chose to halt its steps, pivot, and unleash a powerful tail swipe!

This time, however, things were different. Possessing a body tough enough to withstand it, Mohr grabbed that massive metallic tail and took the blow head-on, not yielding a single step!

"I said you're useless, and you really are... Heheheh~~ Went soft, did you?" Mohr spat out a mouthful of blood and yelled toward Ereshkigal in the distance. "What are you staring at?! Little miss, your mission is complete! Run!"

Ereshkigal cast a glance at Mohr, her expression somewhat complex, but ultimately turned and departed.

***

Because at that very moment, a massive section of the rock wall at the dungeon entrance had collapsed with a deafening roar!

A metallic monster, nearly twenty meters tall with muscular arms and a flat head resembling a gorilla, burst through the rubble, followed closely by several smaller metallic monsters.

At a single glance, Mohr could tell that this metallic gorilla was extraordinary—most likely an S-rank boss.

"This isn't for that bastard Zhao Tianhe, nor for Gelos, nor for any man, and probably not even for that viciously beautiful summoned beauty. No, this is for my milady maid!"

Roaring fiercely, Mohr used the momentum of the metallic lizard's blow to launch himself directly toward the metallic gorilla!

*Clang!*

The newly emerged gorilla took a solid blow right to the head from the spiked club.

Sparks flew, making it look quite impressive, but in reality, it merely added a few superficial scratches to the creature's hide.

The gorilla blinked in surprise, reached out to pluck the annoying little pest off its head, grasped him tightly in its massive hand, and slammed him down onto the ground before stomping on him twice!

The terrifying, immense force caused the entire first floor to shudder, and those feet, over three meters long, sank completely into the earth.

Seeing this, the nearby metallic lizard and ambulatory jellyfish turned tail and dashed toward the second-floor entrance where Ereshkigal had escaped. Without a doubt, they had tacitly assumed Mohr had instantly perished on the spot.

Naturally, the metallic gorilla lifted its leg and strode forward. Under its serious beating, scum like this ant should have been reduced to absolute nothingness; it didn't even warrant a downward glance.

*Clang! Clang! Clang!*

"Are you blind?!" Mohr picked himself up, raised his spiked club to bash the leg of an ant-shaped metallic monster passing by, and arrogantly taunted the metallic gorilla.

The metallic ant brought a foot down straight onto his head, merely driving Mohr's skull into the earth and bloodying him up, yet he stubbornly strained his neck and continued to hurl abuses.

The metallic gorilla at the very front desperately wished to ignore the strange little piece of trash, believing its peers would surely be able to dispose of him.

"Small brain, lacking IQ, huh?" "Walking around with your ass stuck out just waiting to be violated?" "Why do you keep jamming your hands into the ground? Is your cerebellum fried too? Do you need me to buy you a cane?"

Yet for some reason, the trashy taunts echoed endlessly in its mind, compelling it to involuntarily loop and replay them until finally...

"Shut your trap, you trash!" The metallic gorilla emitted a muffled, explosive roar as it spun around and stomped its foot down, driving the ceaselessly yapping Mohr deep into the ground.

Overflowing with rage, the metallic gorilla stomped down repeatedly, cursing as it struck, causing the entire first layer to tremble.

Other nearby monsters, who had previously been the targets of Mohr's comprehensive taunts, watched him undergo this brutal ravaging and lost all urgency to advance to the lower levels. They simply stood around, waiting to witness the scoundrel's remains, and fully intended to take turns desecrating his corpse!

***

The earth-shattering roars and thuds continued for a full five minutes as the metallic gorilla thoroughly vented its fury. The topography of the first floor was radically altered by its sheer strength; a quarter of the flat ground had caved in, leaving a colossal basin in its wake.

The other surrounding monsters, as well as the metallic entities arriving later, had all been blocked by it.

The later arrivals, seeing the metallic gorilla engaged in such a fierce battle, assumed they were facing some formidable foe, so they kept their distance, maintained their guard, and prepared to offer support at a moment's notice.

Consequently, the only ones who pursued Ereshkigal into the second level were those two previous A-rank boss monsters.

Dozens of surrounding monsters watched the gorilla finally halt its attacks, intending to see what kind of terrifying adversary it had been fighting. But then they reconsidered: under such savage ravaging, the frail creature's body was surely pulverized beyond recognition, leaving nothing worth looking at.

Surveying the earth around it, which had been reduced to a vast expanse of gravel, the metallic gorilla bent down to gather momentum, intending to leap straight out of the basin.

"What's the matter? Wilted?"

Yet that wretched voice, which had lingered relentlessly in its mind, sounded once more!

"Little beast, that won't do. Though I have no idea whether a hollow thing like you is male or female, stamina is a very important matter, let me tell you..."

Mohr painfully dragged himself out of the gravel, a contemptuous and mocking smile plastered across his face as he resumed his incessant yapping...

"I can't take it anymore~~~" Clutching its head with one hand while hammering the ground fiercely with the other, the metallic gorilla thrashed about like Sun Wukong plagued by the Tightfillet Spell.

What Mohr's innate trait stacked was far more than mere recovery and defensive states. As the embodiment of malice, his taunting capabilities naturally scaled up in tandem.

That sickening feeling of being taunted to the point of a churning, tormented stomach, as if a swarm of flies had burrowed straight into one's brain, was something outsiders could never truly comprehend!

"Die, die, die, die, die, die~~~~~~" With a single punch, the metallic gorilla drove Mohr back down into the gravel and unleashed another flurry of ferocious blows!

The gravel within the basin was swept up into the sky by its immense strength, forming a spectacular dust storm.

Every monster that heard Mohr's taunts felt a slight sense of unease, harboring a sudden urge to go up and beat him, but alas, there simply were no vacant spots left.

Ultimately, after hesitating for a moment, the monsters began descending to the lower floors anyway...

This was Mohr's limitation at his current stage. He remained fundamentally a small-target unit; no matter how high his taunt multiplier and damage-resistance stats were raised, he simply lacked the surface area to hold the aggro of a sufficient number of hostile entities.