Next, Richard, wielding his magic gun, advanced and destroyed one trap after another with a sweeping motion. He rapidly delved deeper, hardly encountering any significant obstacles.
Richard discovered that the ultimate treasure of Yadisi Village and the treasure found in the tombs outside White Stone City were similarly designed, both consisting of a network of passageways and large halls. If he wasn’t mistaken, many of the traps within the treasure vault could be bypassed in a special way, without the need to destroy them all, which would be a taxing effort.
In other words, these traps were most likely designed to prevent the ignorant from intruding and carelessly obtaining the treasure. If he were a descendant of the Black Spirit King or someone who possessed complete information, he would be able to reach the end with ease, without any need for combat.
In fact, had he been willing to spend the time researching, he might have been able to achieve a similar result. However, with time being of the essence and the showdown discussion with Deep Blue Castle imminent, he did not want to be delayed and become entrenched in this war.
Therefore, he resolved the issue in the most time-efficient manner. He planned to secure the treasure and unravel the secrets of the Black Spirit King before the showdown discussion, and before the battle began, and then depart.
With that in mind, accompanied by the "bang bang bang" of his metallic firearm, Richard had already passed through over a dozen large halls.
He then entered an immense corridor over five meters tall and seven to eight meters wide and made his way to the end in one breath. Richard saw before him a colossal hall spanning nearly three to four thousand square meters, about half the size of a football field.
This hall was very similar to the first—empty with nothing inside, except for a massive black door standing directly opposite the entrance of the corridor.
"Behind that door, could the ultimate treasure be hidden?" Richard thought as he stepped into the hall.
No sooner had he taken a step forward than the ground suddenly shook violently, cracks appearing all around and a large area rising up in the middle.
Richard’s eyebrows raised, then he realized it wasn’t an earthquake.
He saw that in the middle of the hall, with a huge amount of dirt being cast aside, a fierce-looking giant turtle emerged from the ground, its eyes fixed on him menacingly.
Richard was slightly taken aback, focusing his gaze on the large turtle.
The turtle bore a striking resemblance to a crocodile as if a crocodile had burrowed itself into a turtle shell. Its head was bulky, its neck short and thick, with many fleshy protuberances around its head and neck—quite intimidating. Also, the turtle’s shell was lined with three rows of spikes, similar to those of a hedgehog. But Richard knew that this creature was not a hedgehog; it resembled the alligator turtles from Earth.
Yes, an alligator turtle.
The alligator turtle is one of the largest freshwater turtles on modern Earth and is known as the king of freshwater animals. A full-grown alligator turtle can have a carapace length over seventy centimeters and weigh more than two hundred kilograms. Their lifespan is also extremely long, living up to over seventy years under human care and potentially surpassing a century in the wild.
However, the large turtle before him was different from the alligator turtles on modern Earth.
The most significant difference was its size.
The largest recorded alligator turtle on modern Earth was 79 centimeters long and weighed 218 kilograms, but the turtle before him was several times larger—it measured over three meters long and its weight had to be calculated in tonnes.
Another point not to be overlooked was the habitat of the large turtle.
The alligator turtles of modern Earth were typical aquatic turtles. Although they could come ashore to bask in the sun, they mainly lived in water, unlike the creature before him that dwelled deep underground, more akin to a land turtle.
Its thick legs, resembling those of an elephant, the dry skin, short toes without webbing, and the presence of protective membranous bones on the front limbs all pointed to this.
So, is this some kind of mutated alligator turtle in the current world?
It looks ferocious and extremely aggressive, as if it possesses considerable strength.
Is that a demonized alligator turtle?
While Richard thought this, the large turtle, without any courtesy, launched an attack, opening its mouth. The surrounding air violently undulated as moisture condensed and cooled, forming a barrage of sharp ice cones that shot towards him.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
The ice cones hissed through the air, approaching like bullets.
However, for Richard, this posed no threat at all; he easily dodged them.
Blinking his eyes, he gazed at the large turtle and muttered to himself, "So it possesses Shape-shifting Magic Water System Ice Branch Spells? Useless."
Having said that, Richard flipped his hand and pulled out a magic gun that had been cooled, pulling the trigger ruthlessly at the large turtle.
Alloy Bullets flew out, densely directed at the large turtle, brutally exploding upon impact on its body with a "boom boom" thundering noise.
As if sensing danger, the turtle retracted its limbs and head into its shell, allowing the bullets to unleash their force on the shell. With its tremendous weight, the turtle stubbornly didn’t move from its spot.
Richard narrowed his eyes and adjusted the firing rate of the magic gun, causing the bullets to hit the large turtle’s body in an even denser burst, exploding continuously.
"Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom!"
Just like that, in the blink of an eye, a magazine was emptied. Richard looked intently and was slightly surprised to see that, apart from a few white marks, the turtle’s shell showed no significant damage, not even a crack.
To know, even his fourth-form Shield couldn’t achieve this level of durability—to withstand a full magazine of Alloy Bullets without a problem.
As Richard pondered, the alligator turtle, noticing the attack had stopped, quickly extended its limbs and head, reverting to its ferocious demeanor and moving to bite.
Don’t be fooled by the turtle’s large size and heavy weight; its speed was extremely fast. Accompanied by a shake of the ground, it charged like a locomotive head, opening its sharp beak to deliver a vicious bite. It looked like if it managed to bite down, it could crush a person’s head entirely.
Naturally, Richard wouldn’t let his opponent have its way; he stamped his foot, flashing to the side.
The alligator turtle agilely turned around and charged at Richard again, unyielding in its attempts to bite.
Richard had to keep dodging, leaping up and falling to one side. But just as he was about to land, he suddenly felt alarmed. Waving his hand, he stirred the air around him and tilted his body to land several meters away.
Upon landing, he saw where he was originally going to land, "swish swish swish," more than a dozen stone cones, about twenty centimeters long, very sharp at the ends, like cones. If he had really landed on them, even if he wasn’t severely injured, being pierced through the foot would be troublesome.
Seeing this, Richard turned his head to look at the alligator turtle, his eyes flickering slightly.
In just a few encounters, the alligator turtle had displayed two entirely different magical abilities. It seemed that the opponent was not so easy to deal with. In that case...