The instant it tumbled through the portal, the Bell-Borne Geochelone felt its stomach lurch into freefall. Before it could even process what had happened, blue sky and white clouds filled its vision again.
Those two humans had launched it back into the air.
But the ground was rushing up fast.
No matter. Not a problem.
Sure, ordinary turtles had been known to die when eagles snatched them skyward and let them drop, their shells shattering on impact. But this was a Calamity Class Tacet Discord. Its defense was so absurdly high that a fall from this height meant nothing. Why else would it regularly leap into the air and body-slam its enemies with its own weight?
Except... something felt off.
"...!!!"
The realization hit a second too late. Its posture was wrong. Shell facing down, all four legs pointing at the sky.
There was no time to correct it. The Geochelone slammed into Bell-Borne Ravine like a meteor, accompanied by a deafening crash that cratered the mountain lake several meters deeper.
"GROOOOAAAHH...!!!"
A roar of agony tore from its throat. Never in its long existence had the Bell-Borne Geochelone known pain like this.
"Its defense is impressive, sure, but..."
"Its Whisperin Core is on its back."
The Rovers laughed so hard they had to brace themselves upright again.
They wiped the tears from the corners of their eyes and stared down at the flailing, upended turtle, neither of them having expected their improvisation to produce something so... magnificently ridiculous.
The Whisperin Core on the Geochelone's back, the universal weak point shared by all Tacet Discords, had taken the full brunt of the fall damage head-on. Given the creature's weight of at least a dozen tons, it was a miracle the core hadn't shattered outright.
The Bell-Borne Geochelone had nearly become the first Calamity Class Tacet Discord on Solaris-3 to die from fall damage. A shame it had survived by the thinnest of margins.
"Well then. Nothing to worry about anymore."
"Mm. That is... one very large punching bag."
Both Rovers fixed the Geochelone with grins that radiated pure, wholesome malice, drawing their Originite: Type II swords in unison. The Calamity Class giant turtle, flipped on its back and thrashing uselessly, had lost all ability to resist.
And from the Geochelone's perspective, staring up at two red-eyed, smiling Rovers...
Bell-Borne Geochelone: (Uh... can we talk this out?)
"Slash it!!!"
A few hours later...
Daylight bled into dusk, the blue sky catching fire and turning to burnished gold.
SNAP.
A crisp, brittle crack echoed through the ravine.
"..." x2
In stunned silence, both Rovers watched the blade of their sword shatter on the final swing, the broken shard spinning through the air before clattering to the ground.
Nineteen identically broken Originite: Type II swords lay scattered around them.
"...Isn't its defense a bit overkill?!"
"Ugh, Uncle Wei is going to lecture us again."
She winced. He'd bought twenty swords just yesterday, and between fighting Tacet Discords and Scar, they'd burned through nearly all of them in a single day. Today she'd been the one to buy the replacements, and now...
Her gaze drifted to the Bell-Borne Geochelone, still sprawled on its back.
Twenty swords. An entire afternoon of hacking between the two of them.
The old turtle's health bar hadn't budged.
"Even for a turtle boss, this defense is insane!"
He couldn't hold back the frustration. The situation was almost comically awkward. The Geochelone, flipped helplessly onto its shell, couldn't mount any real resistance and had to endure their attacks in silence.
But its only weak point, the Whisperin Core, was now pinned against the ground beneath its own weight, completely out of reach.
Worse still, the creature had retracted its limbs and head deep into its shell. Thick ice armor, so dense it reformed the moment it was chipped away, sealed every opening shut.
Total lockdown. They had nothing.
Bell-Borne Geochelone: (Go ahead. Hit me. With those garbage swords of yours, if you can break through my defense, I'll turn myself into an Echo voluntarily.)
"Tch!!"
"Waaah! This jerk is so infuriating!!" Abby wailed.
Even Abby was stuck. It could absorb a Tacet Discord's Frequency, but the Geochelone wasn't in a weakened state. Against its devouring pull, it had more than enough reserves to hold its Frequency steady.
In Abby's words: it struggled too much. Hard to eat.
He and she both glanced at their broken blades. The lack of damage wasn't their fault. Their strength alone was enough to threaten the Geochelone.
The swords were the problem. The Originite: Type II's material was too brittle.
These blades couldn't withstand the force of either Rover swinging at full power. Even reinforcing them with Resonance and using time-stop on the edge to prevent breakage wasn't enough. The ceiling on these weapons was too low to channel what either of them was truly capable of.
"Our weapons can't keep up with us."
"They never could."
Against other enemies, the swords could scrape by. As long as any damage got through, their combat skill meant they could whittle down an opponent eventually, no matter how slowly.
But against a Calamity Class Tacet Discord with maxed-out defense, swords that couldn't break through were worthless.
Two options. Either we find high-grade weapons that can handle our power, or... we wait until we unlock Havoc and its defense-ignoring properties.
Neither was happening today.
He shook his head and caught her hand mid-swing. "If neither side can finish the other off, let's call it a draw. It's getting late. Time to head back."
"Fine. But one day, we're taking it down for good."
"Of course. And that day won't be far off."
They cast one last look at the Geochelone, then drove their broken blades into the dirt. There would be other chances. Until they dealt with this Calamity Class turtle, they could hardly call themselves Tacet Discord killing machines.
Bell-Borne Geochelone: (They're finally leaving...)
Once the two terrifying Rovers disappeared from sight, the Geochelone cautiously poked its head back out. In all its years of existence, it had never come so close to the edge. For a moment there, it had genuinely thought today was the end.
But soon enough, pride swelled back in. Invincible, as expected. With defense this high, who could possibly take it down?
Only... a new problem presented itself.
The Geochelone stared in silence at the upside-down world.
How exactly was it supposed to flip back over?
In the days that followed, adventurers from the Pioneer Association discovered that Bell-Borne Ravine now had what appeared to be an Overlord Class Tacet Discord stuck on its back. Until the two Rovers finally returned to finish the job, the upended turtle became the hottest tourist attraction in the region.
Tomorrow, big things were coming for both Rovers.
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