Beyond the Deep Sea (4)
The brief lull ended, and the battle resumed.
The Pale Mask's fin, boasting a length of several dozen meters, slammed down onto the beach. A minor earthquake shook our bodies, and in its wake an enormous mass of sand and earth surged upward.
A wall of sand, born from the upheaval, came crashing down on us.
｢Danger｣｢Dodge｣
While Adhai, carrying the Mother of the Sky, twisted into an acrobatic flight to escape the baptism of sand and dirt, I scrambled quickly toward No. 26.
｢Uuuungh!｣
She tried to hold the sand in place with her Binding, but it was useless. At her current level, she couldn't bind that much sand in one go. I grabbed her and hauled her onto the carapace of my tail.
[Zzzz (watch out)]
Boulders that could pass for small mountains came pouring down over my head. I weaved at full speed, dodging the massive clumps, and through the gaps the enemy's leg came lashing in.
'Both the Sea Demon and I are immune to poison, but...'
Even so, the sheer weight behind those tentacles was not something I could ignore. I might be able to take the hit, but if No. 26 took one of those legs, she'd be split clean in two.
My erosion tentacles, hidden within my dorsal carapace, responded to my will and burst outward.
Far more durable than the blood-drinking tentacles that extended from my combat arms, the erosion tentacles deflected the Pale Mask's incoming strike.
'Next comes the breath.'
Through the gaps in the sand barrier, I caught a glimpse of the thing opening its mouth.
Not one of us could withstand its digestive acid. Even as I ran, I was calculating where its acid breath would strike — and that was when No. 26, still on my back, stepped in. She seized one of the massive boulders raining down around us and hurled it straight at the creature.
｢Giiii?!｣
Struck on the head by the rock, the Pale Mask snapped its mouth shut at once. In that moment, I broke free of the sand baptism's range.
Adhai, who like me had climbed high into the air to escape the wall of sand, swung around and dove back into the fray.
The faces clinging to the Pale Mask's body spat out shockwaves, but she weaved through them with superb aerobatics, evading every one.
Even with the air detonating violently all around her, her speed never faltered. And just as she closed in on the Pale Mask, the Mother of the Sky made her move. The High Priest's Golden Spear was gripped in both her hands.
"Now!"
｢Confirmed｣
Adhai's speed dropped sharply as she closed in just above the Pale Mask's fin. In that same instant, the Mother of the Sky swung the spear in a great arc.
The moment the blade sank deep into the fin, Adhai accelerated away again. The keen edge of the spear combined with her momentum tore the wound in the fin wide open.
｢Giiiik!｣
Having lost half of the fin in an instant, the Pale Mask moaned in agony. It heaved its body up with its remaining fin, intending to block Adhai with its sheer bulk.
"Tch!"
｢Danger｣｢Dodge｣
The Mother of the Sky might survive such a collision, but Adhai's defenses were nothing special. A crash against a 50-meter monster would kill her outright.
Adhai hurriedly gained altitude to avoid the collision, and the Mother of the Sky's attack was cut short.
While they fought furiously overhead, I thought fast.
We had dealt the Pale Mask real damage, but relative to its colossal bulk it was nowhere near a fatal wound.
I needed something new.
'The Avatar of the Hunt still has about an hour left on its cooldown.'
So using it mid-battle was impossible. I'd have to save it for devouring the thing once it was down.
Aside from the Avatar of the Hunt, there was one more card I could call a trump.
The trait I had gained by devouring a Unique-grade piece of equipment.
'That trait could annihilate the Pale Mask, but...'
Unfortunately, it couldn't be used in this fight. The hypnotic wave made any ability requiring deep concentration unusable — and the Psychic Breath was barred for the same reason.
'And if I used that trait, there'd be nothing left to devour.'
The trait acquired through the Plunderer's Amorphous Polyhedron — I had never once used it until now.
But I could feel it in my gut.
That trait possessed power so immense it would make the Psychic Breath look like a party trick.
If it connected, the creature's corpse would be vaporized without a trace.
'Most of the traits I could harvest from the Pale Mask would be useful, too.'
The common trait 'Giant Organism' shared by creatures over 50 meters long, a trait that would let me grow the parasite organisms that fire hypnotic waves, and so on.
I couldn't afford to burn all of those good traits away.
The situation wasn't dire enough yet, so I'd hold 'that trait' in reserve.
'Instead, I'll use the terrain.'
The thing was a massive marine monster — but not on land. With a body ill-suited for terrestrial combat, its movement was crippled. That was the opening I had to exploit.
I set No. 26 down somewhere safe and charged at the creature.
By then the Pale Mask was slamming its fin into the ground again, trying to raise another sand barrier. Seeing me crawl toward it, the thing stopped and braced into a defensive posture.
But I wasn't aiming for the creature itself.
More precisely — for what was underneath it.
I closed the distance, then stopped running and tore into the ground with my combat arms. In seconds, a pit deep enough to hold my entire body had opened up.
｢Giiii?｣｢Giii!｣｢Giii!｣
Wary of whatever I was up to now, the creature spread its jaws wide. A powerful blast of acid breath fired in my direction.
This time, I was one step faster. By the time it spat its acid, I was already buried beneath the earth.
Having burrowed under the spot where the Pale Mask lay, I tore through the soil below it with everything my combat arms had — so that if the thing shifted its bulk, it would collapse straight down into the pit.
'Dig wide and deep.'
My combat arms and erosion tentacles became excavators, shattering the hardened ground, while the blunt claws studding my body shoved the dug-out earth behind me.
With one arm broken, there were inevitably spots I couldn't reach — my tail handled those instead. The tail, which made up such a large proportion of my body, swept left and right in great arcs, clearing away the debris.
The beach's foundation weakened at an alarming rate, but the creature above showed no sign of noticing. It was far too busy fighting off the ones harassing it.
Having dug deep through not only the ground beneath the creature but the surrounding subsurface as well, I sent out a pulse through my Monster's Tentacles.
[Zzz zzz zzzzz zzzzz (lure it into moving as much as possible)]
｢Understood｣
｢Okay!｣
"What? What are you... ughk?!"
My friends grasped my intent at once and moved with lightning precision.
With the hypnotic wave dampening my auxiliary organs, I couldn't tell exactly what was happening above me. But judging by the way the ground shook like mad, they seemed to be raising one hell of a ruckus.
｢Giii!｣｢Giii!｣
Finally, the Pale Mask apparently could bear it no longer and let out a furious cry. An impact far stronger than anything before seeped down into the earth, making all the prior tremors seem like nothing.
And then —
｢Giik?!｣
The weakened ground gave way, and the creature's fin plunged into the pit. Right on cue, I tensed my tail and drove my body upward with all my strength.
Like a dragon ascending to heaven, my body punched through the half-collapsed ground and launched into open air. The Pale Mask's pupils dilated wildly at the sight of me erupting from underground — an expression that seemed to ask, why are you coming out of there?
Instead of answering, I crashed down on top of it. Half-buried in the earth with its posture broken, the creature had no way to dodge.
A body slam carrying the weight of my long, massive frame — a full twenty meters of it. The moment we collided, the entire shoreline of the island shuddered violently.
｢Giiiik?!｣
The impact of the collision was so immense that the Pale Mask couldn't mount a proper response.
Riding the momentum, I began coiling my body around its head once more. This time, unlike before, I aimed not for the tip but for the section near the torso.
In other words — the part with the eyes and the mouth.
My combat arms and erosion tentacles moved with nimble precision, clamping its jaws firmly shut so it couldn't open its mouth, while my body and tail wound around its head from crown to throat.
｢Giii?!｣｢Giii!｣｢Giii!｣
Sensing a constriction far tighter than before, the creature struggled desperately to break free.
It tried to smash me off by slamming its head into the ground as it had before — but the result was different this time.
I had already churned the surrounding earth into mush. Slamming me down onto soft soil while I hung off its head could do me little harm.
'And one more thing, while I'm at it.'
Keeping its body coiled tight, I surveyed its wounds. Close to me was the injury I had made earlier with my horn.
I split my jaws wide into two branching segments and sank my teeth into that spot. Then I activated the Rot Fungi Organ and the Acidic Fungal Gland simultaneously.
｢Gik?!｣
The creature's hide was extremely thick and conferred immunity to poison — firing rot fungi or acid fungi at it from outside would never pierce it.
But the flesh inside the hide was another matter entirely.
Its resistance to mold and viruses was far weaker than its outer armor, and this was the head region. Even sheltered by the cranial cavity and a thick layer of blubber, it was still dangerously close to the vitals.
Granted, with a body that size, it would take the rot fungi and acid fungi some time to take full effect.
Blissfully unaware of what was happening inside its own body, the creature moved on to its next maneuver: flipping its entire bulk over to crush me flat.
Its weight was more than five times mine. Pinned beneath it, I'd be crushed to death on the spot.
｢Giii?｣｢Giii!｣｢Gii｣
But once again, the creature failed to achieve its goal.
Its body was still half-sunken into the sand. Raising itself on its fins alone would be no easy feat. In the water, such a maneuver would have been trivial — but this was land. Its most powerful weapon, that crushing mass, was nothing here but dead weight.
And it wasn't only me interfering with its movements, either.
I could see the dragon hanging in the pre-dawn sky, and the gryphon beastman riding on her back. Adhai, bearing the Mother of the Sky, dove at the Pale Mask.
The High Priest's Golden Spear in the Mother of the Sky's hands made the pair gleam like a golden meteor.
Then the shining star collided with the savage marine monster.
Fed by the acceleration of the dive, the Mother of the Sky's spear carved through that thick fin with ease.
｢Kiiik!｣
The fin — as good as an arm, as good as a limb — was severed almost in its entirety, and the creature shrieked. The wound alone was over ten meters long, and blue blood poured from the severed stump like a waterfall. The creature, which had been straining that very fin to flip its body over, collapsed where it stood.
A fin that served not only as a weapon but played a vital role in swimming had torn away, leaving barely a sliver behind. Even if it escaped this place alive, there was no telling how long a recovery would take. The thing was intelligent enough to know that too.
｢Giii!｣｢Giii!｣｢Giii!｣｢Giii!｣｢Giii!｣｢Giii!｣
As if to show that nothing but murderous desperation remained, the expressions of the faces on its body twisted all at once. The pale women's faces warped into grimacing demon masks, glaring at Adhai.
The parasite organisms gaped wide in unison and fired their shockwaves. Invisible bullets of air streaked toward Adhai and the Mother of the Sky.
Adhai answered with flight so fast and so precise it was almost hard to believe, slipping past every incoming shockwave.
"Watch it near the right wing!"
｢Confirmed｣
The few waves she missed were caught by the Mother of the Sky, whose keen eyes read the flow of the air and called out corrections to Adhai.
Still, Adhai's injuries hadn't fully healed. She was dodging beautifully for now, but there was no telling how long she could keep it up.
I tightened my coiled body with renewed force. The blunt claws along my tail and torso punched through the Pale Mask's thick hide and dug in deep. As my serpentine coil constricted, a grisly squeal of friction filled the air.
｢Kiik?!｣｢Kigik!｣｢Kik!｣
The cries pouring from the faces turned strange. They had realized their host was in mortal danger.
The creature rained shockwave after shockwave at Adhai while simultaneously lashing at my carapace and hide with every leg on its body.
'Ghk!'
Blows like being beaten with a battering ram washed over me, chunks of my hide splintering away. The pain was no small thing, but I gritted through it on the strength of Pain Mitigation alone.
Then, several of the massive boulders scattered around the beach rose into the air and hurtled toward the creature's legs.
｢Gii!｣｢Kik!｣
Each rock that struck knocked the legs off their trajectory, making them smash down on the creature's own body instead of on me, its coiled prisoner.
｢Big Baby! I'll help!｣
From a distance I could see No. 26 waving her tentacles like an orchestra conductor.
Trees and boulders ringing the shoreline ripped free of the ground and soared skyward, then hurtled down in time with her tentacles, slamming into the Pale Mask's body and legs.
｢Kik!｣｢Kkuk?!｣｢Kek!｣
Compared to that hide-sheathed bulk, the parasite organisms clinging to it were relatively poorly defended. The pale women's faces, battered by stone and wood, were reduced to bloody pulp in moments.
With fewer mouths firing shockwaves, Adhai swooped back in as well. Each time she pressed close to the parts of the Pale Mask's body still jutting from the ground, the Mother of the Sky struck with her spear, stabbing and tearing.
Whenever the creature tried to retaliate, more rocks and wood fragments came flying in. No. 26 was not about to forgive anything that hurt her 'Little Baby'.
And through all of this, my body never once stopped tightening around the creature's head.
｢Giik!｣｢Kiii!｣
As I kept squeezing, I felt something balloon-like being crushed and ruptured from within. Its eyeball had given out under the pressure.
The moment its eye burst, the creature went berserk. It had finally grasped how close death truly was.
Using its one remaining intact fin and its legs, it tore wildly at the earth.
Barely escaping the pit with its life, it began crawling toward its homeland — that sea bathed in the light of dawn.
But.
｢G-Giii?｣｢Giiik?!｣｢Kiik!｣
The creature, crawling so desperately across the sand, staggered violently. The faces, unable to understand what was wrong with their host, let out cries of confusion.
'Good. It's working.'
The rot fungi and acid fungi I had been pumping into it all this while were finally taking hold. The outside looked fine, but inside, its flesh was rotting away under the fungi, and its muscles and blood vessels were dissolving under the acid.
Not much time remained for the creature now.
Besides, my friends — Adhai and No. 26 — had no intention of letting it die peacefully on its own.
Adhai hounded the Pale Mask like a vulture toying with dying prey, never letting it out of her sight. The Mother of the Sky's spear on her back knew no rest either.
As the two of them pressed their pincer assault, No. 26 kept pace as well, raining down Demon Crash after Demon Crash until the creature's hide was a ruin.
Amorph, Gallagon, Sea Demon — and even a Wolf.
Four monsters were tearing the marine horror apart, piece by piece.
｢Hiii...｣｢Hiii...｣｢Hiii...｣
The Pale Mask's movements grew sluggish, slower, until at last it could move no more and stood frozen in place. As its host died, the condition of the parasite organisms deteriorated rapidly. Almost none of the faces still fired shockwaves; the rest could only moan incoherently.
Just a few meters short of the sea, the creature let its head droop. With one last labored breath, it fell silent.
｢Kiyaaaaak!｣｢Kieeek!｣｢Kiiiii!｣
The faces clinging to the Pale Mask shrieked one final, horrible death-cry. Even at the very end, the parasite organisms did not forget their repulsive business — and then they followed their host into death.
Before the dawn had fully broken, the Father worshipped by the Fishrians of the archipelago was dead.