SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will-Chapter 335: Jade Turtle...

Moon and Mirage rested until they were both back at peak condition.

His mana was full, his injuries healed, and the lingering debuffs from death had finally faded.

With blazing eyes that yearned for what his heart desired, Moon made his way back to the crater, knowing this was the last fight with the turtle.

His gaze had never left it. Not once during the entire resting period he had given himself. He wasn’t going to let the turtle leave this place...at least not alive.

When he arrived atop the crater’s walls, the turtle was hiding inside its shell in the center of the crater motionless.

Moon’s brows furrowed in confusion. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t expected another ambush from the turtle given their past history.

"This must be a new tactic." Moon muttered under his breath, thinking of what the turtle could be planning.

He expected it to be clever given the creature had adapted to almost everything he’d thrown at it so far. The battle needed him to adopt a gorilla tactic for several rounds, something that no beast had ever needed.

He tried to think of what it could be planning, but it was difficult because turtle was just sitting there.

’Unless...’

Moon’s eyes flashed with a sudden glint. A thought crossed Moon’s mind that hadn’t occurred to him until this very moment.

’What if...’

A sly smile formed on his face as he began charging two of his strongest skills at once.

[Ignite] and [Lightning Raiju] built in his staff and hand respectively. The air around him grew hot on one side and chaotic on the other.

Yet despite the incoming carnage, and the growing energy, the turtle had yet to make a move.

Rather than making Moon worried, this made him excited. He was almost certain now. His thought was exactly right.

He released the fireball once it reached the desired strength.

~Boom~

The explosion tore through the crater. The shell took more damage, another web of cracks splitting across its surface.

But surprisingly it still held its strength.

Moon’s eyes remained on the shell, and still there was no movement from it.

Anyone else would have assumed the creature was dead given its silence.

Moon’s grin widened mischievously.

Rather than releasing the lightning wolf, he kept it crackling in his right hand and began channeling a second [Ignite] to replace the first.

"Mirage, get ready."

Moon unleashed the second fireball.

It tore through the air and detonated against the shell. This time, a large chunk of jade broke away entirely, crumbling to pieces on the crater floor.

The moment it did, the ground beneath Moon shook.

His face beamed happily. "There you are!"

Moon jumped into the air and landed on several hardened slabs of wind beneath his feet. The earth where he had been standing erupted a split second later.

The jade turtle burst from the ground directly below him, its massive jaws snapping shut on empty air where Moon’s body had been a heartbeat ago.

It had tunneled underneath the shell. Left its own armor behind as a decoy while it dug beneath the surface, waiting for Moon to release his strong attacks, become vulnerable...then jump and devour him.

Moon sent the lightning wolf streaking toward the turtle immediately from the air.

The lightning wolf arrived before the turtle in a mere second, but to Moon’s absolute horror, the turtle dodged it with the grace of a feline.

"This turtle is fast...and flexible outside its shell!" Moon’s eyes went wide. The creature had been fast before. As fast as Mirage with its shell on, but without the weight of the jade armor holding it back, it was something else entirely.

The fastest beast Moon had ever encountered in the First Sanctuary, excluding the golden fish whose origins and rank he still didn’t understand.

Within an instant, the turtle closed the gap between them. It was in his face, mid-air, jaws opened to chew him alive.

Moon’s heart skipped a beat as he faced the turtle mid air. The distance between them being less than a meter.

The turtle’s mouth remained open, as it waited for Moon’s head to arrive to its palate in the next moment—

Before it could, Mirage’s clone launched itself through the air and collided with the creature from the side.

The impact knocked the turtle off course. Its attack missed Moon by inches and the creature tumbled downward, falling toward the crater floor.

The clone vanished into thin air from the collision, saving Moon from an imminent death.

In the air, Moon re-directed the lightning wolf towards the turtle. It slammed into the turtle as it fell, electricity flooding through the creature’s exposed body. Its muscles locked up. Its legs seized mid-air.

Moon seized the moment. His sword materialized from his storage ring and lightning coated the blade in a crackling sheath that promised death.

"Mirage! Let’s kill this turtle!"

He dropped from the wind slabs and landed on the turtle’s back while it was still spasming from the attack. His blade came down before the creature could recover, the lightning-coated edge tearing through unprotected flesh.

This time, there was no jade shell to protect the turtle from Moon’s powerful attacks. It was as vulnerable as the fox, or perhaps more so given the number of attacks it had faced.

Moon continued to swing his sword, again and again. Each slash cut deeper than the last, blood pouring out of the turtle’s body.

At the same time, Mirage reached the fallen turtle and brought his hooves down on its skull. The two of them attacked at once, blade and hooves working in tandem, giving the creature no chance to recover from its injuries nor move away from their attacks.

The one-sided beating continued for several minutes. Every time the turtle tried to rise, Mirage’s hooves drove it back down.

The turtle thrashed, rolled, tried to crawl, tried to drag itself toward the tunnel where its egg lay.

Moon didn’t let it.

He stayed on top of it and kept cutting. His arms burned, his mana flickered dangerously low with every lightning-infused slash. But he didn’t stop nor could he afford to.

Mirage matched him blow for blow, stomping on the creature’s head and legs whenever it gained even a fraction of momentum.

After what felt like an eternity, the turtle’s movements began to slow. Its body grew weaker and its legs stopped pushing.

Then it stopped moving altogether.

The notification Moon had been waiting for flashed across his retina like fireworks in a starry sky.

[You have killed the Level 25 Supreme-Rank Jade Turtle]

[You have gained 5 Super Lives]

Moon stood on the turtle’s back, chest heaving, sword dripping, every muscle in his body screaming at him.