Becoming The Strongest Using My Would-You-Rather System!-Chapter 28 - D-rank Ironclaw

The moment Iris and Theo stepped through the barrier, the air changed.

A dense pressure crushed down on their lungs, making it hard to breathe.

’The mana,’ Theo thought, forcing himself to remain calm. ’It’s so dense here.’

The ground trembled beneath his boots, forcing him to use his spear as support.

"Where do we go?" Iris shouted, her voice barely audible over the deafening explosions.

Theo glanced around quickly, spotting a group of soldiers dashing toward the east.

"Let’s follow them!" he shouted, pointing at them.

Iris nodded once and took off, Theo following close behind.

As they ran, Theo’s gaze was drawn to the shoreline.

Each time an explosion lit up the sea, hundreds of dark figures became visible as they crawled out of the water, with thousands more behind them in the ocean.

’Our military should be able to hold this... right?’ Theo thought, a flicker of hesitation passing through his mind.

The dark figures varied in shapes and forms, and even from here he could tell there were some powerful creatures mixed in with the wave.

Just then, Iris suddenly pointed ahead.

"There!" she shouted.

Theo followed her gaze.

Up ahead, the group of soldiers they had been chasing suddenly split apart, half of them dashing to the shoreline while the others continued further east.

Finally, he noticed a pack of nearly twenty creatures that had passed through the explosions and the first defensive line, which were now charging toward them.

Theo squinted his eyes for a moment.

The creatures were roughly the size of cows, their bodies covered in slick dark shells while multiple hooked legs carried them rapidly across the sand.

"Are they all E-rank Ironclaw crabs?" he muttered. "No, there’s a much larger Ironclaw in their midst. That one must be the D-rank."

The soldiers in front of them raised their weapons, two of them charging forward while another remained at the back while charging up a spell.

For a moment, the soldier charging up a spell locked eyes with him.

"Intercept them!" he immediately shouted.

At the same time, a large green wind blade shot out from the soldier’s hands, slicing one of the E-ranks in half in an instant.

"Got it!" Theo shouted back.

Without slowing down, he pushed off the sand and sprinted forward together with Iris.

The remaining group of sixteen Ironclaws closed the distance rapidly, meeting the first two soldiers head-on.

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

Their massive claws snapped violently as the front four Ironclaws collided with the two soldiers.

Sparks flew as steel met shell, the soldiers barely holding the creatures back.

"D-rank in the middle!" one of the soldiers shouted.

The man charging the spell quickly glanced across the battlefield, his eyes locking onto Theo and Iris.

"You two!" he barked. "Pull the E-ranks away!"

Theo frowned for a split second.

"What?"

"Split them!" the soldier shouted. "Circle around and kite them away from the D-rank!"

Understanding flashed across Theo’s face.

If they dragged the smaller crabs away, the soldiers could focus everything on the D-rank leader.

"Got it!" Iris shouted.

Without hesitation she changed direction, sprinting toward the right side of the pack.

Theo immediately veered left, pouring mana into his forked spear.

"Hey!" he shouted as his spearhead lit up in a yellow color.

Closing the distance with the first Ironclaw, the first razor-sharp claw opened up right in front of him.

’I have to make them mad to bait them,’ Theo gritted his teeth, not stopping his charge.

Only once he was a few feet away from the crab did he twist his body, swinging his spear straight down.

The spear collided with the claw for only a split second.

CRACK! 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The lightning spearhead carved straight through the razor-sharp claw.

As he sliced the claw in half, lightning that had been bouncing between the spear’s blades shot out in every direction, striking the Ironclaw’s body and the sand all around it.

For a brief moment, the crab froze in place, its legs twitching as the lightning paralyzed it.

Then its legs gave out completely.

Its dark shell collapsed on the ground as its remaining claw swung helplessly through the air.

It desperately tried to get up, but quickly found it couldn’t.

The lightning that had struck the ground had melted the sand beneath it, turning it into glass shards that had fused around the creature’s legs and belly.

’That worked way better than I thought,’ Theo grinned, creating some distance. ’That one is practically done for.’

He watched as the Ironclaw screeched violently, its limbs thrashing as it struggled to break free.

Then several sharp clacks echoed across the sand.

Theo looked up, his grin slowly vanishing.

The remaining Ironclaws had all turned toward him.

Even the massive D-rank in the center had stopped fighting the soldiers for a moment, its large body slowly rotating toward him.

Theo took a slow step back, tightening the grip on his spear.

"Maybe... it worked a little too well."

Not only did the Ironclaws on his side start charging toward him, even some on Iris’s side went in his direction.

Theo immediately turned and sprinted across the beach, keeping just enough distance to keep their attention.

Behind him, the soldiers continued clashing and shooting spells at the massive D-rank Ironclaw.

They made cut after cut on the creature’s shell, trying to draw it back toward them.

But the creature’s attention had already shifted.

The massive crab slowly raised its body higher than the others, its enormous claw opening wide as it faced Theo.

Water condensed rapidly between the edges of its claw, forming a swirling sphere of blue mana.

The sphere grew larger and larger.

Then it suddenly stopped.

’Fuck,’ Theo thought, eyes wide.

His instincts screamed at him to move.

He immediately abandoned his stance and threw himself sideways with everything he had.

A split second later—

BOOM!

A concentrated beam of water blasted across the beach, slamming into the sand where he had been standing just moments ago.

The impact tore a trench through the sand as water and rocks shot into the air.

Theo rolled across the beach before scrambling back to his feet, his heart pounding.

’Of course, it can use mana!’ he thought. ’It’s a D-rank after all.’