Although the weight increased significantly, the flying speed of the Dragon Beast Hephaestus was still very fast.
Before long, Gauss and the others arrived above their destination, the Broken Shell Shallow Beach.
Gauss looked at the flat shoals, with a slight smile at the corner of his mouth.
If he really wanted to compete for rank, how could others possibly beat him?
For other adventure teams, just reaching here might take several hours.
The straight-line distance may not be that long, but ground travel is nowhere as convenient as flying, and the nearby area is crisscrossed with waterways, often requiring frequent crossings of rivers and streams, severely slowing down progress.
Flying mounts are indeed too advantageous.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Hephaestus flapped its giant wings, stirring up sand and gravel, and slowly landed on a relatively flat open area at the edge of the Broken Shell Shallow Beach.
Gauss and his companions dismounted.
"So fast," Aaliyah said sincerely.
What kind of hard life it was before!
"Still, we need to take it easy. For long-distance travels, we still need to go by land," Gauss said casually.
For one, Hephaestus is, after all, a juvenile dragon, and its size and physical strength are not enough to support long-time flights. On the other hand, prolonged flying in the sky is too conspicuous, increasing the risk of being spotted by other creatures.
Whether it’s humans or other flying demons in the sky discovering the Dragon Beast’s tracks, it always brings some trouble.
The former could attract unnecessary coveting and trouble, as for the latter...
The wilderness skies, especially those areas far from towns, are not absolutely safe.
No one knows if there are other powerful flying demons hiding above the clouds.
Therefore, currently, Gauss only rides Hephaestus around areas near towns, without going too far away.
After landing, Gauss began to observe the surrounding environment.
This shoal truly lives up to its name.
The water is shallow, and under the crystal-clear surface, it’s covered with various shell fragments and heavily weathered reefs.
Several small fish shadows freely shuttled among the underwater debris in search of food.
"It seems these broken shells were left by those big crabs smashing shells and conchs."
"Of course, there should also be injuries from mutual fights."
Gauss observed the water surface and said softly.
The Iron Claw Giant Crabs are extremely pugnacious demons.
This combative nature is not only shown towards enemies; even when facing their own kind, they occasionally engage in fierce battles.
Broken arms and legs are quite common.
Fortunately, their appendages have the ability to regenerate, taking only half a month to a month to naturally grow new limbs, and then molt multiple times to recover to their original size.
"I wonder how they taste?"
Gauss couldn’t help but swallow.
He used to like eating crabs in his past life, but after coming to this world, he hadn’t eaten much of them.
If there were any, it was only small river crabs made into side dishes, snacks, or sauces.
After conducting a brief reconnaissance and confirming no other demons were present, Gauss and the others went in search of their target for this journey.
The process of finding the Iron Claw Giant Crabs was not troublesome.
It’s now morning, the sun had already climbed into the sky, releasing the last remnants of summer heat, and the high water temperature was causing insufficient dissolved oxygen in the water, prompting the Iron Claw Giant Crabs to escape from this high-temperature, low-oxygen environment, crawling onto the shore to find more suitable conditions.
Gauss, holding an Eagle Eye monocular, firmly locked his gaze on the lush reeds by the shore.
The reeds swayed intermittently.
That was not the wind.
It was the movement created by the big crabs inside.
Though they are low-level monsters, never underestimate their combat power.
Their shells are very hard, and coupled with their fondness for living in groups, ordinary fishermen or anglers facing their attacks would find it difficult to escape unless they fled in advance.
Even some adventure teams would feel daunted facing these tough creatures.
Moreover, the scale of this tribe is evidently extraordinary.
Gauss counted the numbers; due to them hiding in the dense clusters of reeds, he couldn’t pinpoint the exact number, but there should be more than a hundred.
Several significantly larger elite Iron Claw Giant Crabs boldly crawled onto the shore, occupying a shady spot under a few trees, half-burying themselves in the moist soil to enjoy the shade.
While resting, the giant crabs didn’t forget to grind their black, metallic-glossed giant claws against the tree trunks.
Leaving no doubt, they could easily snip through metal and steel.
The most eye-catching to Gauss was one particularly large elite giant crab, its shell covered with crisscrossed scars.
It was clearly a battle-hardened and fierce leader.
"It should be almost two meters wide, right?"
Albena said in a muffled voice.
It was also her first time seeing such a big crab.
"Yeah."
Gauss agreed.
No wonder this task had few takers.
Even a Level 5 Professional team might not be able to defeat this tribe of Iron Claw Giant Crabs.
Moreover, the threat they pose is moderate.
By simply restricting nearby villagers from coming to the Broken Shell Shallow Beach, ninety percent of the risk can be solved, so it remained unaddressed.
However, Gauss didn’t care about that. After defeating the Red Dragon Beast, he didn’t find these elite monsters very challenging.
He was thinking about the taste of the crabs.
It’s well known that crabs don’t have much meat and aren’t satisfying to eat, but with such a large Iron Claw Giant Crab leader, he couldn’t imagine how full the meat in those claw halves the size of half a person would be.