Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!-Chapter 59: Versus Mysterious Monster (2)

The Alien T-Rex, unfamiliar with "pain," thrashed around after Cassandra damaged it. This brief opening allowed Eva to gain enough distance and swap her blaster’s battery—reloading in an instant.

We already knew the monster’s exterior was practically invulnerable from our previous attacks. However, with Cassandra’s hit, its weakness finally came into view.

"Eva! Keep that motherfucker steady!"

Hearing my command, Eva nodded before pointing her blaster forward and firing a few beams. However, this time, she wasn’t just aiming randomly—she was deliberately targeting the hole in the monster’s cheek.

After five shots, one of her attacks passed through. It managed to pierce the monster’s cheek, punching a hole straight through its neck and out the back. Blue blood began to seep out of the wound, dispersing into the air like mist.

The pain caused the monster to thrash around again, but the damage didn’t seem fatal—at least, not yet.

Eva quickly moved away, luring the T-Rex to the other end of the hall. As it turned around, the gaping wound on the back of its neck became visible to me.

"Checkmate!"

I aimed the Mining Laser and pulled the trigger.

The blue beam surged forward, entering the hole Eva had made—but this time, it angled diagonally upward, heading straight for its brain.

I lowered my weapon, watching as the monster’s body began to spasm.

It was supposed to collapse right then and there.

Instead, the monster opened its mouth and let out a deafening roar—audible from the vibration of the walls and floor. The entire cavern trembled, amplifying its furious cry. A sound filled with pain, rage… and vengeance.

"Fuck! Again?!" I cursed, watching yet another scenario unfold that completely defied common sense.

The monster should have died from that attack. Yet, it stood tall once more, roaring with unrelenting fury. Its green skin slowly began to change, shifting into a brighter red hue—a telltale sign of a certain "property" that boss monsters possessed.

Seeing this, I quickly warned the girls. "Be careful! This bastard just entered a berserk state! Eva, get out of there!"

Berserk state. When a boss monster’s health drops below 10%, it undergoes a final transformation. In this state, its health and damage output could multiply up to tenfold.

’In short, all the damage we inflicted just got completely nullified!’

As soon as it finished its roar, the T-Rex lowered its massive head, locking its bloodshot gaze onto the closest target—Eva. With a powerful stomp, it dashed forward, closing the distance in an instant.

{Shit…!}

Eva reacted on instinct, ducking low before leaping forward, barely avoiding the monster’s snapping jaws. But dodging its bite was only half the battle.

*BAM!*

As she landed, the monster’s tail swung downward in a brutal arc, smashing her straight into the ground. The impact sent a dull, sickening sound through the comms as I saw her body slam hard against the solid floor. Air was knocked right out of her lungs.

"EVA!"

Shit—this is bad! If we don’t act fast, Eva’s dead meat!

She was about 50 meters away—too far for me to reach in time. I had nothing on me that could close that distance instantly.

{Arthur, cover me!}

A voice cut through my panic, grounding me back into the moment. It was Cassandra. She had already raised a pistol-like device and aimed it directly at Eva—a grappling hook.

’When did she...?!’

As if unaware of my shock and confusion, without hesitation, she pulled the trigger. The hook shot forward, embedding itself into Eva’s left shoulder—a minor injury compared to getting chewed into a thousand pieces.

The instant it lodged in, Cassandra pressed the retraction button, bracing herself against a small, rocky formation under her feet. With a second pull of the trigger, the mechanism reeled in—yanking Eva across the battlefield.

Of course, the T-Rex wouldn’t ignore such an obvious maneuver. It quickly turned, preparing to charge once more.

"Not on my watch!"

Matching its movement, I fired another shot. The blue beam shot forward, entering the previous hole in its cheek and exiting through the other side. The beast shrieked again, writhing in agony, momentarily distracted.

Its bloodshot eyes snapped in a certain direction, raw hatred redirecting to a new target—me.

"Cassandra, take Eva and run!" I shouted, making sure my voice wasn’t trembling. "We just need to survive for five minutes, then the berserk state will end! If that happens, it’s our victory...!"

Right.

After a boss monster enters berserk mode, it burns through its energy at an accelerated rate. Five minutes. That was all it took for it to weaken to the point of collapse. Some people used this as a prime moment to capture monsters—but I had zero intentions of pulling off a risky stunt like that.

{But Arthur, you…!}

"Are you the captain or am I?! Follow the goddamn order…!"

There was no time to argue. The T-Rex had already charged again.

It would reach me in a second.

And all I had was a Mining Laser.

’I’m screwed.’

I quickly activated the Truman Suit’s thrusters at maximum output, launching myself toward the ceiling. Combining it with a jump, the speed was just barely enough to let me dodge the enemy’s charge.

The T-Rex slammed into the solid wall, the sheer force denting it greatly—a testament to the monstrous strength behind its attack.

’If I take a direct hit from that, I’ll be in heaven the next second...!’

I turned to Eva, who had taken a solid hit from its tail, my mind filled with concern.

Thankfully, Cassandra had followed my order, dragging Eva out and sealing the entrance with Eva’s foam. It was nice of her to lock me in here with the boss... Really nice... But honestly, leaving it open wouldn’t have changed anything anyway.

"It’s just you and me now, you reptilian bastard...!" I growled as I touched the ceiling, planting my legs to absorb the impact before aiming with the Mining Laser once more.

Right then, the T-Rex lifted its head, eyes locking onto me—an action I had already anticipated.

*ZIIIN!*

I pulled the trigger, sending another laser rushing forward—

"What?!"

—but at the last moment, the T-Rex tilted its head ever so slightly, causing the laser to glance off its thick outer skin, deflecting harmlessly away.

This bitch just learned to dodge our attacks!

To confirm, I fired again, but just like before, the monster shifted at the last second, making sure my shot never hit an open wound. It wasn’t a coincidence, but intentional!

It had figured out its insides were its weakness, and it wasn’t about to let my attacks land. It even refused to open its maw now!

A moment later, the monster jumped, heading straight for me. Panic surged through my veins as I watched it close in fast. But I had one advantage it didn’t—unlike me, it couldn’t maneuver mid-air!

I kicked off from the ceiling, dodging just in time. As I twisted my body, I aimed the laser at the exposed wound on the back of its neck—but again, the T-Rex twisted with unnatural precision, making my shot miss. The laser bounced off its skin, drilling into the ceiling instead, carving out a 30 cm-wide hole several meters deep.

The sight of that hole sparked an idea in my head. "...Right! There’s that!"

I quickly scanned the cavern and found it—the first hole created when the deflected laser hit. It was the same size as the one I had just made in the ceiling.

"But not for long!"

Still mid-air, I flipped the Mining Laser, aiming at that same hole, and pulled the trigger. Instead of a single beam, I switched it to continuous laser-fire mode. It drained energy rapidly, but it was a hell of a lot faster than firing bursts of beams repeatedly.

After all, if my plan worked, I wouldn’t need the laser anymore to finish this bastard off!

I kept adjusting my thrusters, counteracting the force of the powerful laser pushing against me. But that wasn’t my only problem—the T-Rex had already reached the ceiling and was leaping toward me once again. Without hesitation, I swerved out of the way, dodging just in time—

"Bowoah!"

—but its tail whipped dangerously close, nearly taking me out. I got lucky. If that had connected, I’d be done for!

Before long, the laser flickered and died. The battery was completely drained. I had no more weapons left. But my gamble had paid off.

Firing up my thrusters to the max, I shot toward the red-hot, melted hole, now expanded to about a meter wide and stretching dozens of meters deep. Without hesitation, I dove straight in, plummeting down into the blistering shaft until I hit the end.

"Ugh...!"

But as expected, the molten metal was beyond scorching. My suit was already starting to melt away, and burning my limbs. The pain was excruciating, and every fiber of my being screamed at me to get out—but then, the T-Rex’s head lunged forward, ramming into the hole after me.

My heart nearly stopped. If its head fits through, I was dead meat.

But it didn’t.

Only the front half of its maw could enter.

Relief washed over me for a split second—before the unbearable heat seared through my legs again, making me sweat bullets.

And so, the endurance battle began.

On one side, the berserk T-Rex, waiting out the end of its enraged state.

On the other, I—literally burning alive inside a molten metal pit.

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But I had no intention of losing.

And I wasn’t worried about Eva or Cassandra either. This fight was between me and this overgrown lizard…!

"And in the end, I’ll have the last laugh...!"