For a few moments, I could only stare at the rapidly spinning shell, especially when it got too close to a pile of rubble and a leg shot out, sending it careening away with renewed power. In turn, the pile of rubble was completely demolished, with small rocks and debris shooting away as if shot by a gun, making me think it might actually be a viable method to attack. The tortoise itself had at least temporarily given up on actively attacking, instead, it had completely retreated into its shell and kept spinning, bouncing off whatever obstacles it could find in an attempt to level the area and force us into a direct fight. At least I thought that it was its intention, it certainly looked like it.

Or maybe it had simply decided that if I gave it Ice, it would make like a pinball or something like that. I’d have preferred lemonade, but you can’t always get what you want.

Trying to get more attacks past its defence turned out to be difficult, the spinning made it nearly impossible for any liquid attacks to get past its shell while it also created enough wind to prevent gas or mist from getting near it. When I launched an Icicle out of curiosity, it completely bounced, leaving no mark or any indication I had hit at all. When I had a moment after my previous perch was demolished by the spinning tortoise and I had found a new one, I took it to use Observe on it, curious about what I’d find.

Fireshield Tortoise, level 75

Looking at the blue window brought a wide grin to my face, an enemy that was actually at a higher level than I was. Finally a worthy opponent, though one that had evolved in an incredibly annoying direction with high Endurance, some Strength and likely a few additional Traits that nicely countered me. Or countered everyone, I doubted many foes could casually ignore the tortoise’s shell, though the Ice gave it a different mode of movement than running. But whether rapidly spinning and crashing or controlled running and biting was the better option, I wasn’t sure yet. The spinning had to take its toll on the tortoise, so if we simply kept out of its range, with me occasionally attacking it to keep the spin going, it should eventually be completely disoriented and dizzy, making it easy prey. At least I hoped so.

Now, we just had to keep dodging while it moved around, crashing and further demolishing the rubble around the area, showing just how much the world had changed. What had been a warehouse or some other large, fairly empty building near one of the roads through the industrial park was rapidly reduced to, well, an empty lot with a few remaining bits and pieces lying around. Granted, I had to help by adding new Ice whenever necessary but the tortoise alone was acting like some sort of giant Roomba. In addition, I used my Mind Magic, combined with my Darkness Magic, trying to increase its disorientation and confuse it. That way, it should hopefully be completely out of it by the time it came to a stop and Lia could easily bypass its shell and cut into the soft and squishy innards.

Finally, after the tortoise had been rapidly spinning around for almost fifteen minutes, lasting far, far longer than I had thought possible, it started to slow down. Not only was it running out of obstacles to kick off to gain fresh speed but it was also starting to miss its kicks. The second was the more important part, there were more than enough other areas where we could find rubble, but if it started to miss, it meant it was getting disoriented.

With the lower speed came nice physical openings, which I happily took and launched more attacks against the tortoise. Now, in addition to the previous Mind and Darkness attacks, I added freezing mist, especially focused on the front opening, where its head would be. I wasn’t sure if the cold would decrease its mental abilities but given its fiery nature, I had high hopes for it. Additionally, I could feel the other attacks take greater effect, making me think that we almost had it where we wanted it.

Given its previous fixation on me, I decided to act as bait, hopefully getting it into one final spinning charge, ending with its immobilisation. So far, I had almost exclusively moved from perch to perch, never staying on the ground longer than strictly necessary. Meanwhile, the others had taken cover nearby, likely making sure that the noise didn’t attract any additional enemies. Or if any showed up, they’d have taken care of them without letting them get to me. I certainly would have been in a pickle if a few of the fiery birds had shown up to strafe me as I hid on the few remaining structures in the area.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Landing on the ground once more, I moved over to the biggest remaining wall, a brick-and-mortar construction I had avoided for a good reason. It stood almost two stories high and the five-metre stretch I was standing before was the only part that remained of the building it used to be. Staring at the still-spinning tortoise, I waited for it to come for me and didn’t have to wait long. While its next kick was fairly clumsy, it managed another burst of speed, maybe motivated by the fact that I was within its reach for once, and came spinning towards me, the whistling of wind quite intimidating.

Just before it could get to me, I activated Overflow and launched a combined attack of Mind and Darkness Magic, trying to completely disorient it, even as I physically jumped aside, using Darconic Leap to get additional distance. In an attempt to make matters worse, I tried to dispel the Ice beneath the tortoise a split-second before it crashed into the wall, hoping that even if the tortoise managed the kick, the sudden increase in friction would be enough to muck things up.

The result was a thundering crash as a few tons of tortoise hit the wall and caused it to collapse, partially landing on top of the tortoise’s shell. Without the Ice I had conjured, the spinning was nearly impossible and now, the tortoise was confused and partially buried in rubble, effectively immobilising it. Adding to that, I quickly started to conjure Water once I landed, using a runic formation to get it efficiently and supercooled, thanks to the added Ice Runes. That way, the water didn’t just splash against the rocks, it acted as mortar and bound the rubble into a fairly solid whole, further containing the tortoise.

Lia, having noticed my actions, came dashing over, her blade already in hand and a wide grin on her face. She didn’t need any additional instruction, she instantly moved towards the rubble, carefully avoiding the area I was coating while searching for an opening to stab into. It didn’t take her long to find one of the legs and start cutting, causing the previously somewhat lethargic tortoise to suddenly go wild, trying to free itself.

While its physical actions were greatly restrained thanks to the frozen rubble piled on top of it, I could feel a burst of Astral Power from it, making the rubble glow with heat and crack from the temperature differential between the tortoise’s Fire Magic and the Ice I had used.

But, when it tried to move, it became obvious that it was flagging and rapidly nearing exhaustion. The burst of heat must have taken a lot of its remaining power and while it managed to drag itself out of the rubble, leaving large, bright red streams of blood, the fires that had previously glowed all over its body and shell were now nothing but dim embers, its fierce power completely gone. It tried to lunge for me, but I was just too far away and when it opened its beak as if to breathe fire or something along those lines, nothing but a few small flecks of dimly glowing material came out, landing on the ground between us. Then, the tortoise stopped moving, its stamina completely spent.

A part of me felt almost bad for the tortoise, now that it couldn’t move any longer. The best it could do was retract its legs and head to hide in its shell but that didn’t save it. Both Lia and I could easily strike the openings, causing hot, red blood to run down its shell and pool on the ground beneath. Its impressive Vitality only prolonged its suffering, though not for long.

I briefly considered using Blood Magic but I didn’t want to get too close, just in case the thing might get one last twitch or something and catch me off guard. Instead, Lia and I simply kept attacking until the blood stopped flowing and a notification told me we had killed the tortoise, getting a huge chunk of EXP in the process, bringing me to level seventy-two.

Additionally, I gained several skill levels, Water Magic going to twenty-three, Ice Magic going to sixty-two and Mind Magic going to fifty-eight. All in all, an excellent result, though sadly, the tortoise’s body burned away, leaving nothing but a few bones behind and its shell shattered, leaving a large collection of broken bits and pieces. Some of those would likely be useful, Lia found one that she considered turning into a shield, but that was something to investigate once we were out of the area. For now, we had to hurry up a bit, the Sun would soon rise and I wanted to get under cover.