Chapter 136: The Indestructible Magma Crab

"Crack!"
"Boom!"
As expected...
As countless bubbles burst against the same joint of the Magma Crab, its pincer could no longer hold up, and it collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Seizing the opportunity, Ye Da fired several stone arrows in rapid succession. Although he had reached the peak of the third stage, psychic arrows were still too taxing for him; three shots were his absolute limit.
Therefore...
Ye Da did not rashly use his ultimate move, opting to suppress it with stone arrows first.
Regardless, the Magma Crab was now immobile. Although it could still brandish its pincers to intimidate them, as long as Ye Da and his companions kept their distance, the creature was nothing more than a toothless tiger—completely devoid of any offensive threat beyond mere posturing.
"Lord, we did it!"
Chu Ping emerged from the ground with excitement, shouting, "This giant crab is now a turtle in a jar; it won't be causing any more trouble!"
"Indeed. Now we just need to break off its pincers, and tonight we shall..." Ye Da raised an eyebrow at Chu Ping, "Feast like kings—crab for dinner!"
"Braised or steamed?" Chu Ping was overflowing with excitement. After all, he had never eaten a crab this large! He wondered what it would taste like. Just the thought of being able to eat crab to his heart's content was enough to make anyone anticipate the meal.
"With this much crab meat, we can have both braised and steamed," Ye Da said, licking his lips as he looked at the trapped giant crab. "But this crab still has one last pincer left; we must finish it off quickly!"
"Zhang Ya!"
Ye Da called out to her, "Let's take care of the last one together!"
"No need. I am enough on my own."
Zhang Ya emerged from the mist, her expression neither happy nor sad. She looked every bit the aloof female warrior. Yet, heaven knows how much this woman was craving crab—who would have thought she was such a foodie herself?
"Boom!"
"Boom, boom!"
Zhang Ya spat out a flurry of bubbles. However, even as they bombarded the joint of the Magma Crab’s final pincer, the limb remained unmoved. This pincer had withstood even Ye Da’s psychic arrows without falling, so Zhang Ya’s bubble attacks stood even less of a chance.
"Are you trying to tickle it?" Ye Da quipped.
Zhang Ya’s face flushed red at the comment, and she looked quite embarrassed.
Ye Da simply drew his bow and condensed a psychic arrow.
"Swish!"
"Snap!"
Sure enough, the psychic arrow failed to dislodge the crab's largest pincer, leaving only a small pit in the shell. Fortunately, Ye Da had consumed a primary mana potion, restoring his mental energy to eighty percent. Having fired one shot, he still had the strength for another. He didn't hold back, immediately condensing his final psychic arrow to force the Magma Crab to surrender its weapons, turning it into a giant crab completely devoid of claws.
"Blub!"
"Blub-blub-blub!"
Deprived of its claws, the Magma Crab became nothing more than a mountain of meat encased in armor. Ye Da stepped forward and patted the creature; the shell was absurdly thick, like a city wall, emitting a dull thud rather than a hollow sound.
"Lord, let me handle the remaining manual labor!" Chu Ping retrieved Ye Da’s sharp axe and swung it hard against the crab's shell.
The next second, a scream rang out.
"Ah!!!"
But the scream didn't come from the Magma Crab; it came from Chu Ping.
His axe had flown off to the side, and his hand was split open, bleeding profusely. It was clear that his attack had failed to damage the crab, and the recoil had injured him instead.
Clutching his hand, Chu Ping said painfully, "Lord, I'm sorry, I'm useless!"
"It's not your fault; this Magma Crab’s defense is just too monstrous," Ye Da comforted him, patting his shoulder. "You’re only at the first stage, and this is a third-stage monster. The fact that you were able to trap it with your skills is already an incredible feat!"
"Third stage?!" Chu Ping’s eyes widened. "This monster is third stage?"
"Oh my, I must have had the guts of a lion to challenge a third-stage monster! Lord, if it weren't for you, I’d probably be feces in this crab's gut by now. Haha, Mom, I did it! I actually took down a third-stage monster!"
"Thump, thump!"
A look of surprise appeared in Zhang Ya’s eyes. She picked up the axe Chu Ping had dropped and tapped the crab's shell. She was smart enough not to strike with full force immediately. After testing the shell and seeing that there wasn't even a scratch, she shrugged and said, "This crab's shell is harder than a rock in an outhouse. Don't bother; we can't break it."
Ye Da laughed, "So you can tell jokes too?"
"I wasn't," Zhang Ya said calmly. "It was just a metaphor."
"We've worked so hard to get the crab to this state, I can't just give up..." Chu Ping gritted his teeth. "I'm not satisfied!"
"There's no point in being unsatisfied," Zhang Ya said, picking up one of the giant crab legs. "Just these legs alone are enough for us to eat."
"That’s true," Ye Da said, covering both his fists in stone skin, as if putting on a pair of thick gauntlets. "But, as Chu Ping said, I’m not satisfied with just giving up!!!"
"Boom!!!"
Ye Da struck the Magma Crab with a single punch!
Seeing this, Chu Ping and Zhang Ya’s eyes widened, and they both tried to stop him, fearing he would repeat Chu Ping’s mistake and end up hurting himself.
"Lord, be careful!"
"Are you crazy?!"
Their concern was mutual, though their words differed.
But just as their voices faded...
The sound of rock shattering echoed in their ears!
They watched in shock as the incredibly hard back shell of the Magma Crab developed a cracked, concave pit, with countless fissures spreading rapidly in all directions!
Hiss!
Both of them gasped at the same time.
What kind of monstrous strength was this?! It had actually shattered the Magma Crab’s back shell!
"Ora, ora, ora, ora!!!"
"Boom, boom, boom..."
Seeing that his stone-covered fists could actually break the shell, Ye Da did not hold back, raining punch after punch upon the crab. After all, breaking the shell wasn't the goal—the goal was to kill this giant crab so they could claim its rewards, especially the crab meat, the roe, and the beast core!