Limbefey - 65
Bell sighed in defeat before following after them.
…
Now that they were walking across the open fields with no path in sight, more and more sounds began to emerge from the surrounding area.
"Woaa... What's with all these sounds?" Marc exclaimed as he looked around, trying to pinpoint where each one was coming from.
..
Juro casually replied, "The sounds of creatures. It'd be more weird if we were adventuring around and didn't hear any sounds."
"They all sound really cool!" Marc exclaimed.
Before he could say anything else, however, he suddenly felt the ground tremble beneath his feet.
"Wait… what's this feeling?"
A huge shadow suddenly fell over them, blocking out the sunlight. Marc slowly turned around, and his expression immediately changed.
A massive creature stood behind them, towering nearly forty feet into the air. It had two long legs and six incredibly thin arms, three extending from each side of its body.
"Watda???!!"
The moment Marc said those words, Juro quickly grabbed both Marc and Bell and dashed sideways.
The creature aggressively swung all six of its long arms down toward the ground, each limb striking where they had been standing only moments before.
"Ehhhhhh, what is that????" Marc exclaimed as Juro set him back down.
Juro looked at the creature and smiled.
"That creature is called a Limbefey. That creature can't bend whatsoever, and it uses its six long arms to capture its targets and feed itself."
The Limbefey
The Limbefey is a towering creature found throughout Demanas, typically reaching between 40 and 50 feet (12–15 meters) in height and weighing approximately 2,200 kilograms. Despite its immense size, the Limbefey possesses an unusual and distinctly alien biological structure that sets it apart from most creatures of its kind.
Its legs are completely incapable of bending. Rather than possessing flexible joints like ordinary animals, each leg functions almost like a rigid support structure. Because of this, the Limbefey cannot walk in the conventional sense. When traveling, it must lift one entire leg high into the air, move it forward, and then drive it straight down onto the ground before repeating the movement with the opposite leg. This gives the creature its characteristic slow, deliberate, high-stepping gait.
The Limbefey possesses six exceptionally long arms, arranged symmetrically along its upper body with three arms on each side. These elongated limbs allow it to reach far below its towering body without needing to lower itself. When hunting, the Limbefey uses its arms to suddenly reach downward and snatch unsuspecting prey from the ground, pulling them upward toward its mouth.
Once captured, the prey is placed directly into the Limbefey's mouth, where rows of sharp teeth tear into and chew the victim. Its feeding method allows the creature to remain standing at its full height while using its extraordinary reach to hunt creatures far beneath it.
The Limbefey's bizarre anatomy gives it an unusual hunting strategy: rather than chasing prey, it relies on its enormous reach and towering height to capture creatures within its range, making the ground around a Limbefey particularly dangerous for smaller beings.
…
Juro smiled as he looked between the creature and the two kids.
"Do you think you two could defeat it?"
"Eehhhhh? You want us to defeat that??" Marc exclaimed.
Before Juro could answer, the Limbefey suddenly turned toward them.
Two of its long arms swung across the ground.
Bell noticed immediately.
"Jump."
Marc understood without hesitation. He flowed mana into his legs and launched himself upward alongside Bell, both of them narrowly avoiding the sweeping arms below.
But the Limbefey wasn't finished.
While they were still in the air, two more of its arms swung toward them.
Juro casually raised his palms and flowed mana through them, turning it into wind. The sudden burst pushed him downward, allowing him to descend safely toward the ground.
Bell did the opposite.
He flowed mana beneath his shoes and released a burst of wind downward, pushing himself even higher into the air.
Marc, however, was caught by surprise.
He didn't have enough time to react, so he quickly reinforced his entire body with mana. Then, focusing the mana around his arms, he reinforced them a second time by turning the mana into solid rock.
The Limbefey's arm slammed into him.
Marc was sent crashing into the ground.
"Eugh… that made me dizzy," he exclaimed, rubbing his head as he slowly sat up.
Juro walked over to him.
"You think you could take it down with Bell?"
Marc looked at Juro for a few moments.
Then he smiled.
"Alright. I'll give it a try!"
Bell looked down at Marc and noticed the smile on his face. He silently smiled as well.
The Limbefey suddenly sent two of its arms toward Bell, trying to catch him.
Bell immediately twisted his body, narrowly slipping between the two limbs as they swept past him by only an inch.
He landed directly on one of its arms.
Then he started sprinting toward its body.
Marc noticed Bell running toward the creature. He quickly raised both hands toward it and released a strong surge of mana. The mana rushed forward, surrounding the creature's remaining arms before rapidly taking the form of solid rock, trapping them in place.
Bell smiled when he saw what Marc had done.
With the creature's arms restrained, Bell closed the remaining distance and reached its face. At point-blank range, he immediately cast, "Pyrini Sfaira."
The moment those words left Bell's mouth, a powerful burst of flame erupted from his palms and blasted straight into the creature's head, completely tearing it away.
"Weeeew," Juro exclaimed as he watched.
Marc looked up at Bell in admiration.
"Bell! You did it!"
The creature's enormous body slowly began to tip sideways.
"Eeeh?!"
Marc and Juro quickly ran in the opposite direction while Bell jumped off the creature's body, landing safely on the ground.
Marc immediately ran toward Bell with a joyful smile.
"Bell! You did it! That was a very cool magic!"
Bell smiled.
"We did it."
Marc's smile grew even wider.
Juro laughed as he reached the two of them and ruffled both their hair.
"Ahahah! You two did great!"
Bell quickly moved his head away from Juro's hand before looking toward Marc.
"Thanks to Marc stopping the creature's other arms. It made things a lot easier."
Marc smiled, a little flustered by the praise.
"Hehe! I just thought about it when I remembered trapping that guy back at the competition."
Juro nodded.
"Your flow of mana has gotten faster, huh?"
"Really??" Marc exclaimed with a smile.
"Mhm. I could definitely tell. You got stronger."
Still smiling, Marc turned toward the fallen creature.
"What should we do with this, Teacher Juro?"
Juro smiled.
"We just leave it here and run."
"Eh?"
Juro had already started jogging away with Bell.
Marc stood there for a moment, confused, before turning back toward the creature.
Several pairs of eyes were glaring at him from the woods.
"Ah…"
Marc immediately understood.
He turned around and sprinted after them.
Juro was laughing as Marc caught up, while Bell simply smiled. As they ran, Bell said, "The other creatures will likely just eat the dead one."
"Yeah, now I understand why we quickly left," Marc said with a chuckle.
After a while, they finally stopped running and continued walking through the forest at a much more relaxed pace.
Marc still had a big smile on his face.
Bell noticed and looked toward him.
"You seem really happy, huh?"
Marc nodded.
"Mhm! There's so many things to explore! And I get to experience all of them with you guys!"
He said it brightly, his excitement obvious in his voice.
As they continued walking, Marc suddenly looked toward Juro.
"Teacher Juro, where does mana crystal come from? Do they only come from dungeons?"
Juro thought about it for a moment.
"Hmmm… well, not really. You know Horlenses, right? If you actually open up their bodies, they have these small mana crystals inside. Creatures that are born with the ability to use a specific magic typically have a tiny mana crystal inside them."
"Oooo… That's interesting," Marc exclaimed.
Juro continued, "But yeah, most mana crystals come from dungeons."
Marc smiled as he took out his own mana crystal and held it up, staring at it as it caught the light.
"These are really pretty…"
Suddenly—
A creature raced past them at incredible speed.
Before Marc could even react, it snatched the mana crystal straight from his hand and disappeared ahead of them.
"Ehhh??!! My crystal!"
Marc quickly turned toward Juro.
"Teacher Juro, what was that?!"
Juro casually looked in the direction the creature had gone.
"That creature is called a Kyetra. It has a nickname, the mana crystal snatcher."
Juro paused for a moment.
"Hmmm… I think its main diet is mana crystals, sooooo…"
A strong surge of mana suddenly piled into Marc's legs.
Then it burst outward.
Marc lunged forward after the Kyetra.