Without any retaliation, the ten attacked the baby dragon turtle non-stop. Even so, the dragon turtle’s HP went down significantly slowly. The dragon turtle’s skill, total defense, was indeed tough to crack.

Luckily, John brought one player who was a dragoon. His name was Hemale, one of The Man’s lieutenants. Dragoon class had many ignore-defense skills. Also, Hemale had learned Drilling Stab, A similar skill to Jack’s non-standard skill, drilling thrust. While Drilling thrust could only be learned by classes branching from the Warrior class, Drilling Stab was for classes branching from the Knight class. Both skills reduced the enemy’s defense by 30% for 30 seconds at their first levels.

Hemale had upgraded this skill to the max. At level 20, Drilling Stab reduced the target’s defense by 70%. Although the duration was a short 30 seconds, the skill’s cooldown was also a short 1 minute. Hence, he could use this skill often. The others synchronized their attacks to hit the dragon turtle with heavy attacks during that 30-seconds window.

Also luckily, they were dealing with a newborn dragon turtle. It was a rare elite grade but was only level 32. So, its HP wasn’t too high. With it staying still like a punching bag, the continuous attacks wore down its HP steadily. Getting the dragon turtle’s HP down to 30% was a certainty, it was just a matter of time.

But John knew that they couldn’t afford to relax. It was not certain how long the other side could hold the adult dragon turtle. If that dragon turtle managed to break through and returned here, then everything would be ruined. Despite this newborn’s low level, its HP and defense were a whole league above other creatures of the same level. Adding the turtle’s total defense skill, they still needed some time to reduce its HP.

“Hurry up, you people!” John urged. He had summoned all his minions who were now also attacking the dragon turtle frenziedly to increase the damage output. Aside from all his standard summons, there was a non-standard summon spell he had learned from a technique book.

The spell was Summon Water Elemental. The spell summoned a serpent-like being made of water. It could dish out melee attacks as well as shoot water pellets. The water pellets were considered standard attacks so there was no cooldown. The water elemental was highly resistant to physical attacks but weak against magical attacks. This summon had an extra advantage when it is in or near a water environment. It could absorb the nearby water to heal itself, so it gained a passive recovery ability whenever there was water nearby.

“Move aside! I will use my ultimate move!” Jet shouted.

The others were skeptical, but they still made space. The melee moved back, only the ranged players kept on attacking. Jet first activated Strength of the Wild. With increased strength, he forcefully flipped the dragon turtle. Its domed shell was now touching the ground while its plastron was upward.

He then accumulated mana to his two fists and started hitting the dragon turtle at specific spots on its plastron.

What Jet was executing was his Seven Injuries Fists. The dragon turtle’s physiology was not the same as humans, so Jet didn’t use this martial art from the start. He had to use his mana sense and previous attacks to detect the dragon turtle’s weak spots first. Now, he had identified those weak spots to be on the turtle’s underside. It was time to impress the others with his martial art.

Jet hit the weak spots one after another. The spot that was hit had a lingering glow. When a second spot was hit, a thin light linked the second spot with the first spot, and so on.

“Taste the might of my Seven Injuries Fists…!” Jet yelled while landing the seventh strike.

The dragon turtle’s HP was around 60% after their relentless assaults. Once Jet completed his Seven Injuries Fists, an impressive explosive display was seen on the dragon turtle. Its HP shrank down a large chunk. All the players watched with awe as the dragon turtle’s HP bar reduced rapidly. Jet was visibly satisfied as he wore a proud expression.

However, everyone’s expression went from awe to worry when they saw the HP bar continue to go down rapidly even after passing the 30% mark. They all wondered if Jet’s art could end up killing the dragon turtle? If it was so, all their efforts would become a waste.

Fortunately, the HP bar stopped when it reached around 5%.

“Damn, friend! You should learn to recognize how much damage you inflict with that art of yours. If this dragon turtle dies because of your attack, you won’t be able to explain to everyone,” John chided.

Jet was also having a cold sweat. But no one could blame him. Although he knew his Seven Injuries Fists inflicted massive damage, he rarely managed to pull it off. He could only perfectly pull this art off on very slow monsters, after all. When he saw this dragon turtle was not moving at all, he considered it a golden opportunity to impress the others.

John threw the Giant Capturing Cage on the ground below the near-death dragon turtle. The cage appeared and confined the newborn dragon turtle within.

“You know what to do,” John said to Jet. He had already given Jet several Tame Aquatic Guardian scrolls before they departed. Jack had also given Jet pointers on how to use it. Jet used the scroll and started the mini-game

The newborn turtle’s head and limbs had come out once it sensed itself getting tamed. Even though it had no offensive capability, it still banged on the cage, reducing the cage’s HP slowly.

While Jet was taming the dragon turtle, John went to one of the watery orbs that imprisoned the merfolk children. One adult merfolk was there. When the adult merfolk saw John approach the children, he became agitated. He shouted at John and hit the water orb that imprisoned him, which was of course, a futile effort.

John ignored the adult merfolk. He paid attention to the watery prison in front of him. The merfolk child showed a frightened expression. John thought this watery prison was similar to his spell, Living Water Prison. But this was more like an enchantment rather than a spell, because it didn’t expire.

After studying the watery prison, John went to the one that imprisoned the adult merfolk. This adult was still shouting incoherent words at him. This adult wore a thin green scale armor and carried a long green trident on his back. John used his Inspect.𝒩𝒐𝗏𝓮𝑳𝑵𝑬xt.𝕔𝒐𝓂

*

Nogg Drowner (Rare elite merfolk, Sea warden), level 60

HP: 650,000

*

‘As expected, this merfolk is the one mentioned by Ama. Their competent but rebellious warrior,’ John thought.

This merfolk had gone by himself to search for the dragon turtle because he was suspicious it had something to do with their missing children. He found the dragon turtle and proved his theory was right but ended up captured by the turtle as well. The turtle had kept Nogg alive to be its offspring’s prey once it came to maturity.

“Hi, warrior Nogg?” John greeted him.

“You… You can talk underwater…?” Nogg responded in surprise.

“Well, it’s obvious since you can hear me, isn’t it? Now, do you want me to free you from this bubble prison?” John asked.

Nogg felt like he couldn’t believe his ears. Of course, he wished for that, but John’s words and tones indicated that it was not a free offer.

“What do you want in return?” Nogg asked.

“I…,” John’s words stopped when he heard a commotion from behind. The cage that confined the dragon turtle had broken. The dragon turtle was back to full HP and everyone was back to hitting it again.

“For the love of… You failed to tame it?!” John shouted.

“Give me a break, will you? It’s not exactly easy. I’m still getting used to it!” Jet responded.

“Excuse me for a minute,” John said to Nogg and went over to help them hit the dragon turtle.

It didn’t take as long as before this time. Since they knew Jet’s Seven Injuries Fists could reduce half the turtle’s HP instantly, they just hit it until it was around 80% HP and let Jet execute his special technique.

“Don’t f*ck up this time!” John warned. “We don’t exactly have unlimited cages and scrolls for taming. Jack tamed a youngling eight levels higher when his level was much lower than yours. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“Damn it, youngster! Is that how you talk to me? I’m still your elder!” Jet fired back.

“And I’m your leader!” John didn’t bother to be courteous.

He returned to Nogg again, leaving Jet to do his things. “Now, where were we?” He asked Nogg. “Oh, yes! Do you want me to free you?”

“What do you want in return?” Nogg repeated his question.

“Hehe, I like smart people,” John remarked. “My request is simple, be my companion.”

“What?!”

John didn’t repeat his words. He just stood there with folded arms waiting for Nogg’s decision. The merman was noticeably pondering his options. He looked at the imprisoned children around him. If he was to help those children, he needed to get out first. He looked back at John again.

Life Runner, who was nearby, came after hearing John. He asked, “You want this merfolk for a companion? Will he be able to fight on land?”

“He is one of the few merfolk who had the amphibian ability,” John answered.

“Amphibian?” Life Runner was not among the ones John had brought when he approached the merfolk’s town yesterday, so Life Runner was not aware of this ability. John explained the ability to him.

John returned his attention to Nogg, he could see that the merman was close to relenting. He said, “It’s not a bad deal for you. You will gain a fast-leveling ability which should help you serve your community better. For example, if you have been higher in level, you won’t get imprisoned by the dragon turtle now, would you?”

“But I will have to heed your call every time you wish,” Nogg countered.

“A small price to pay for the benefit and your freedom,” John said. “Don’t worry, I won’t be bothering you too often. Only once in a while when I need a meat shield.”

Life Runner shook his head. ‘This guy didn’t even bother to dress up his intention,’ he thought.

Nogg finally sighed and said, “All right… I accept.”

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