The shores of the grandiose island were a problem itself, with giant crabs roaming the sand, though they were easy enough to slay with the proper firepower.

"Phew," Emilio sighed out, casting away the flame from his hand as a felled crustacean fell onto the shore.

"Another one down!" Everett celebrated.

'Just wait for me Celly–we'll be there soon,' Emilio thought, looking towards the distant trees.

–

On the way to reuniting with his lost comrades, Emilio found himself stopped on the shores as something slithered out from the ocean, riding the side onto the grains of sand.

What walked onto the shore was a humanoid crustacean, like a knight dressed in black-and-red armor, possessing giant pinchers and bright, scarlet eyes.

"Alright..Well, this is shitty luck," Maverick muttered, slowly stepping back with a worried, twitching smile.

Emilio already drew his sword, glancing at the man who was a veteran of the island, "What is it?"

"A real damn menace..A "Dread Cruster"--watch out, they're extremely territorial of the shores and strong enough to protect it!" Maverick warned.

"Alright, got it," Emilio nodded.

Just as he turned back to face the human-shaped crustacean, lifting his sword, his reflexes kicked into overdrive as if churning the gears in his mind, bringing his perception to the point that time seemed slowed down.

In that short span across milliseconds, he found the creature with its black-and-red exoskeleton already in front of him, thrusting its flesh-crushing pinchers towards him.

KLANG.

Reacting swiftly, he deflected the Dread Cruster's claw with his sword, momentarily calling upon [Draconic Burst] to enhance his power and speed. Even though the tall, silent crustacean had its limb bounced back, there was hardly a scratch left on its tough shell.

'It's sturdy,' he thought.

"Alright! Guess I'll chip in!"

Leaping over the Dragonheart's head without any warning, the eccentric, red-bearded map flipped like a top, using an axe kick against the crustacean's head, though having it blocked by the silent creature's arms.

"Ngh–!" Maverick let out as his kick was blocked.

The blocked attack released a small shock wave, parting the sand briefly; Emilio used the opening to dash in, infusing his blade with electricity.

'Let's try this one out,' Emilio thought, running his fingertips along his multi-colored blade as azure electricity ran along it.

["Visceral Bolt"]

Using a spinning slash with his electric-infused sword, the knight-resembling crustacean repelled Maverick in the Dragonheart's direction as a meat shield.

"Woah–" Emilio reacted, stopping his attack.

'It used Maverick as a shield? It's intelligent,' he thought.

"Uumpf–"

He caught the fully-grown man in his arms, giving the island dweller a raised eyebrow without saying anything.

"Please say something! Don't look at me like I'm human trash!" Maverick said, picking himself up and away from Emilio's hold.

"Look out!"

The shielder yelled out his warning, intercepting the territorial fiend's claw strikes with his shield, standing in front of the other two. Everett's shield vibrated like a drum being rapidly beat as the crustacean unleashed dozens of blows within a second.

"Agggh–!" Everett struggled.

"Ev'!" Emilio jumped up, tossing a volley of fireballs in the claw-wielding figure's direction.

Noticing the incoming attack, the Dread Cruster performed consecutive backflips with the finesse off an acrobatic before pointing both of its pincers in Emilio's direction, revealing barrel-shaped protrusions on each.

'Huh–?' Emilio noticed.

Mana condensed in the air like the arrival of humid air; bright-orange energy suddenly released from the exoskeleton barrels, shooting straight towards the man who was still falling in mid-air.

"--Ngh!"

With no time to activate his system in the split-second arrival of the beams, he instead opted to use his own sword, infusing it with magical reinforcement as he blocked the extremely hot rays of energy.

"Hyah!" Maverick dashed in, reeling his arm back as he tossed a stone javelin towards the territorial creature.

The spear missed its mark, but it succeeded in stopping the beams of heated mana as the crustacean flipped back, landing cleanly on its feet.

"Damn, this thing is full of tricks!" Everett said, patting his shield after it was battered.

"Told you–annoying bastards, these things," Maverick huffed.

Emilio looked at his blade, watching as steam billowed from it as he stood alongside his comrades against the surprisingly remarkable foe.

'It's releasing raw mana? With this high volume? What kind of freakish creatures are on this island?!' He questioned.

"Em', I think it's time to go all fiery-and-dragony now!" Everett called out.

"Already on it," Emilio assured, exhaling as his breath released as azure embers.

Around his body, the mystical scales manifested into their armor that felt as natural as his own skin, immediately infusing the mythical strength of dragons into his flesh; his blood ran hot as he felt his heart rate increase.

[Dragonheart System]

[Current Stage: 3/10 | Dragon Warrior]

Attempting to interrupt the activation of the draconic system, the silent defender of the shore jumped up, allowing its own exoskeleton to peel away and regenerate, shooting off its removed pieces as bullets.

"Woah! Is that a spell of some kind?!" Maverick gasped, witnessing the transformation of the Dragonheart for the first time, using his sword to hold off the shards of the crustacean's exoskeleton shot towards them.

The bumpkin shielder snickered, blocking the projectiles as well, "Nah, ain't nothing else like it in this world! Em' is a one-of-a-kind bonafide badass!"

Sand flew in every direction as the Dragonheart kicked off, dashing straight towards the knightly crustacean with his sword in hand.

"Woooo–!" Everett reacted in excitement as sand was cast everywhere.

Maverick was still in shock, unable to look away as he curiously witnessed the man clad in living armor confront the Dread Cruster.

FWOOSH

The black-and-red crustacean unleashed dozens of sharp scales in his direction, forcing the Dragonheart to slide across the sand, using his sword to deflect the high-speed projectiles. Jumping back to his feet as he neared his enemy, he engulfed his blade in bright-blue flames, swiping it towards the sea-dwelling humanoid.

To his surprise, the nimble fiend dodged both the blade and the fire that extended from it, bending over backwards before dropping down, using a sweeping kick in an attempt to trip him up.

Emilio jumped up, avoiding the kick before gathering a bursting fireball into his hand, summoning a massive amount of heat that exuded outwards through heat waves, rippling across the sand.

As he tossed the fireball down upon the exoskeleton-wearing warrior, it exploded against the shore into an azure explosion, blowing sand and flames in every direction.

"Gah—!" Maverick raised his arms as the heat-infused sand pelted his skin.

"Ha-ha!" Everett excitedly laughed, holding his shield forward.

To the surprise of all witnessing the crustacean, the volatile, orange beams of heat shot out from the billowing smoke, dragging around in every angle wildly, forcing Everett to keep his shield raised. historical

"It survived that?!" Everett reacted.

Emilio was just as surprised, flipping around the beam as he landed on his feet just as the figure erupted from the smoke, dashing straight towards him.

'Alright, enough playing around,' Emilio thought.