After receiving the instruction from Gauss.
It soared into the sky, stirring up a strong wind around it.
The Crab Leader noticed that Hephaestus was no longer paying attention to other clansmen in the center of the battlefield, but focusing on himself, causing his retreating movement to freeze.
The dragon’s flight speed was too fast.
In the blink of an eye, it was above his head.
With the imposing momentum of Mount Tai pressing down, a pair of dragon claws fiercely reached for him.
Sensing the obvious speed gap between itself and the Giant Dragon, the Crab Leader roughly understood that he couldn’t escape.
He could only stop his steps, raising those pincers that were larger than an adult’s size.
Black energy surged at the tips of the pincers.
In an extremely short time, the black energy completely wrapped around the pincers.
Making the already incredibly hard iron pincers emit an ominous aura at the moment.
His small eyes gradually turned crimson, locking fiercely onto Hephaestus who was diving down, with the massive body slightly sinking, posing a stance for a desperate fight.
Some sort of poison enchantment?
Gauss on the dragon’s back caught this detail.
However, he wanted to see how much capability the Dragon Beast Hephaestus still retained after being sealed by the white egg.
So he didn’t intervene in its battle.
Anyway, as long as he was on its back, he could share the kill count it brought as well.
He had fought for so long, what’s wrong with enjoying a bit?
Moreover, this was also to test Hephaestus’s power.
Hephaestus’s golden vertical pupils clearly also caught the energy gathering on the crab’s pincers, yet its diving momentum did not weaken.
However, when the dragon claws were about to touch the Crab Leader, the trajectory originally aimed at grabbing suddenly changed to slapping.
The giant dragon claws with whistling wind pressure slammed toward the relatively weaker side of the Crab Leader’s body and the joints connecting the crab legs.
"Crack!"
"Boom!"
The power of the dragon claws was incomparably strong.
In just the moment of contact, it instantly flipped the heavy body of the crab away!
During the flight, a crisp cracking sound accompanied it.
Obviously, Hephaestus’s terror-filled strike directly damaged the crab’s joints.
However, the energy wrapped around the crab’s pincers also shot out as the Giant Dragon approached, the energy striking Hephaestus’s chest, leaving some dark and corrosive marks.
Hephaestus annoyingly scratched its head, looking down at its claws.
If it were at full strength, that slap just now could have directly smashed that crab into pieces.
But alas, its power was sealed.
Always lingering in a state of "soft and powerless."
It was precisely because of this "weak" state, that its appetite had recently greatly increased.
Normally, it wouldn’t need to consume so much food daily.
"Gu-ga!"
The Crab Leader rolled on the ground a few times, finally halting its movement.
He emitted a painful groan, his massive body swaying slightly.
The slap from Hephaestus just now directly broke some of its joints.
As a result, when it tried to support its body from the ground, its movements were all awry, looking like a drunken man unable to control his body’s balance.
A lean camel is bigger than a horse.
Hephaestus’s attack filled it with despair instantly.
Hephaestus had hovered briefly on the ground before taking off again.
With several legs of the Crab Leader broken, it became even harder for it to escape.
However, the Dragon Beast did not engage in close combat like before.
The black energy unknown earlier, though not identifiable, brought burning pain when wrapped around its body surface.
It naturally did not intend to suffer a second time.
"Roar!!!"
It lowered its neck, dragon head aiming at the Crab Leader’s position, spewing raging flames.
"Boom boom boom!"
Flames poured down like a scorching waterfall, continuously drenching the Crab Leader who had difficulty moving.
Its black shell quickly turned red under the high temperature.
Most fatal was...
The high-temperature dragon breath flames ferociously poured into its body following the shell cracks and ruptured joints caused by the dragon claw slap earlier.
"Gu-ah——"
The Crab Leader emitted a heartrending scream.
The body convulsed and rolled continuously in the raining fire.
The broken legs and heavy body made all its struggles seem futile.
The soft meat and viscera under the shell were being rapidly cooked by the high temperature, emitting a strong burnt aroma.
Those eyes also lost their shine in the flames, eventually roasted to an ashy white, losing vitality.
Tens of seconds later.
It completely ceased to struggle.
The massive body finally fell on the riverbed rocks, which had also turned red from roasting.
The shell cracked in many places, revealing the pure white crab meat inside, already cooked and steaming.
"Elite Demon Slain, Ironclaw Crab Leader*1"
Gauss looked at the reddening Crab Leader below, and couldn’t help swallowing.
When it was alive, its shell was a glossy dark color, but once cooked, it became truly beautiful.
It presented an interwoven gradient of deep and light red, making it very appetizing.
However, now was clearly not the time for a meal.
He directed the dragon beast Hephaestus, who had its eyes set on the same target, to fly to other parts of the battlefield, as the battle was far from over.
Upon receiving Gauss’s command, despite being somewhat tempted by the Crab Leader, Hephaestus obediently followed orders.
After Gauss and Hephaestus, one man and one dragon, joined the battle.
Within a few minutes, the battle was over.
"Iron Claw Crab*1 defeated"
"Total monsters defeated: 7978"
Gauss jumped down from the dragon’s back.
What a pity, just a little short.
But he wasn’t overly concerned about this matter.
Searching the riverbed with abundant aquatic plants nearby later should help find some Water Ghosts to make up the final number.
After the battle ended, he began scanning the monster corpses with the Recording Crystal Stone.
"213"
"214"
...
The numbers displayed on the Crystal Stone constantly jumped.
Finally, it stopped at 558.
Among them, the Crab Leader provided the most points.
A full 90 points.
While the remaining three Elite Iron Claw Crabs each provided 10, 15, and 30.
"558 points, huh!"
"Based on this morning’s rankings, have we squeezed into the top ten?"
Aaliyah clapped her hands.
After discovering that list this morning, she eagerly wanted to see Gauss’s name make a charge up the ranks.
However, others had a temporary head start, so Gauss’s ranking was quite far back.
"Hard to say."
Gauss shook his head.
"That was the ranking seen this morning, and others may not have gotten up as early as we did to update their data; they might also be setting out now for monster hunting tasks."
Of course, Gauss estimated that he most likely squeezed from over a hundred into the top ten.
He said so just to be cautious.
Though he came late, his advantage was actually quite significant.
He saved a lot of time on traveling and searching for monsters along the way.
"Lord Gauss, is there any reward for being first?" Albena asked curiously.
"Apparently, ranking high allows you to choose some magical items and Magic; the higher your rank, the more you can choose."
"Seems like there’s also some Lake God’s blessing for being first."
"I heard it’s not very useful," Gauss shook his head.
He had also inquired about the last session’s, which was a few years ago, rewards.
But being able to choose from some magical items is pretty good.
Bio Bags, Folding Houses, Eagle Eye monocles—these items were still in frequent use by Gauss’s team.
"Next..."
"Let’s eat first."
After a bit of activity, breakfast was also fully digested.
Gauss’s gaze, like Hephaestus’s, turned toward the giant crab still emitting wisps of cooking smoke.
The team members walked up next to it.
"It truly smells delicious."
Even Aaliyah, who usually had slight psychological resistance to eating Demons, had to admit, the Crab Leader smelled very tempting.
Looking at other ordinary crabs, though some were also roasted by dragon flames, none had such overwhelming fragrance.
Was it because it was somewhat special as a leader?
Under Gauss’s direction, Albena picked up her sharp axe and began dissecting it.
"Crack crack!"
The joints of the Crab Leader, having been roasted by dragon flames, had lost their vitality; Albena swung her axe and completed the dissection in a few strokes.
A pair of giant claws.
Four pairs of legs.
And when the crab’s top was lifted.
A rich aroma, as if finally being released, surged forward eagerly.
Under the crab shell was translucent, plump, and luscious crab meat and crab roe.
With dragon breath evenly heating it from within, the crab meat was perfectly cooked, wafting with steaming heat, yet without a hint of overdone scorchedness.
Instead, the high heat had extracted its oils, making it appear glossy and enticing.
The huge crab roe in the abdomen was like flowing gold, emitting an unparalleled rich aroma.
"Gulp——"
Those present, whether they were human, dragon, wolf, or bird, all collectively swallowed.