Chapter 134
Chapter 134
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 134
Chapter Title: Ep. 134
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The brief lull ended, and the battle resumed.
The fins of the massive creature, boasting a size of dozens of meters, slammed down hard onto the beach sand. A small earthquake shook our bodies, followed by an enormous wave of sand and dirt erupting upward.
The wall of sand created as the ground flipped over came crashing down on us.
"Danger." "Evade."
While Adhai, carrying the Mother of the Sky, dodged the barrage of sand and earth with acrobatic flight, I quickly crawled over to Specimen 026.
"Kkuuuh!"
It tried to hold the sand in place with 'Binding,' but it was no use. With its current abilities, it couldn't restrain such a massive amount of sand all at once. I grabbed it and hoisted it onto my tail carapace.
[Zuzu (Be careful)]
A lump of earth the size of a boulder poured down over my head. I dodged the huge clumps of sand at high speed, but in that moment, the enemy's leg came flying at me.
'Sea Demon and I are both immune to poison.'
Even so, I couldn't ignore the sheer brute force packed into those tentacles. I might endure it, but if that leg hit Specimen 026, it'd be bisected on the spot.
The erosion tentacles hidden within my back carapace sprang out in response to my will.
They had far superior durability compared to the bloodsucking tentacles from my combat arms, and they deflected the incoming attack from Pale Mask.
'Next up is the breath.'
Through a gap in the sand wall, I caught a glimpse of it opening its mouth.
None of us could withstand its digestive acids. Even as I fled, I racked my brain trying to predict where its acidic breath would fly. That's when Specimen 026 on my back stepped up. It manipulated a massive boulder hurtling toward us and hurled it at Pale Mask.
"Keeek?!"
Pale Mask snapped its mouth shut after taking the rock to the head. Seizing the opening, I escaped the range of the sandstorm.
Adhai, who had similarly soared high to avoid the sand wall, looped around and charged back in.
The faces attached to Pale Mask unleashed shockwaves, but it evaded them spectacularly with its masterful aerobatics.
Even as air exploded wildly in the sky, its speed didn't falter in the slightest. As it closed in on Pale Mask, the Mother of the Sky made her move. The priestess's golden spear was gripped in both her hands.
"Now!"
"Confirmed."
Adhai slowed drastically right above Pale Mask's fin. Matching the timing, the Mother of the Sky thrust the short spear with all her might.
The spear plunged deep into the fin, and Adhai accelerated away again. Combined with the spear's sharpness and Adhai's momentum, the wound in the fin began tearing open rapidly.
"Keeiik!"
Pale Mask groaned in agony after losing half its fin in an instant. It tried to ram Adhai with its body, using its other fin to prop itself up.
"Tch!"
"Danger." "Evade."
The Mother of the Sky might survive, but Adhai's defenses weren't that high. The odds of it emerging unscathed from a collision with a 50-meter behemoth were slim.
Adhai pulled up sharply to avoid the clash, and the Mother of the Sky's assault halted.
While they battled fiercely, I thought quickly.
We'd inflicted serious damage on Pale Mask, but it wasn't a fatal blow compared to its colossal size.
I needed something new.
'Emblem of the Hunt still has about an hour left on cooldown.'
So it was impossible to use mid-battle. I'd have to save it for after capturing and devouring it.
Besides Emblem of the Hunt, I had one other trump card.
A trait obtained by preying on Unique-grade equipment.
'That trait could annihilate Pale Mask...'
Unfortunately, I couldn't use it against Pale Mask. The hypnotic waves disrupted my concentration, making it impossible to activate traits that required focus. Psychic Breath was out for the same reason.
'And if I used it, predation would be off the table.'
The trait from the Plunderer's Irregular Polyhedron—I'd never used it once so far.
But instinctively, I knew.
It possessed power so immense that Psychic Breath would seem trivial by comparison.
If Pale Mask took a hit from it, its corpse would evaporate without a trace.
'Most traits I could gain from Pale Mask are too useful to waste.'
Things like the common trait 'Colossal Being' shared by creatures over 50 meters, or the ability to generate parasitic organisms that emit hypnotic waves, and more.
I couldn't squander all those great traits.
The situation wasn't that dire yet, so I'd hold off on 'that trait' for now.
'Instead, let's use the terrain.'
Pale Mask was a massive sea monster, but not on land. Its body wasn't suited for terrestrial combat, limiting its mobility. I had to exploit that.
I set Specimen 026 down in a safe spot and charged at it.
Meanwhile, Pale Mask slammed its fin down again, trying to erect another sand wall. Spotting me crawling toward it, it halted and assumed a defensive stance.
But I wasn't targeting it.
More precisely, its 'underside.'
I closed the distance, then stopped running and tore into the ground with my combat arms. In an instant, a pit large enough for me to fit into formed.
"Keei?" "Keei!" "Keei!"
Wary of what trick I'd pull next, it gaped its mouth wide. A powerful acidic breath blasted toward me.
This time, I was a step faster. By the time it unleashed the breath, I was already buried underground.
Having tunneled beneath where Pale Mask lay, I went all out, ripping through the earth with my combat arms. If it moved its body significantly, it would collapse into the hole.
'Gotta dig wide and deep.'
My combat arms and erosion tentacles acted as drills, shattering the hard ground. The excavated dirt was shoveled backward by the claws dotting my body.
With one arm broken, some spots were inevitably missed, but my tail handled those. My disproportionately large tail swept side to side, clearing the debris.
The beach's foundation weakened rapidly, but Pale Mask above showed no sign of noticing. It was too busy fighting off the pests harassing it.
Having hollowed out not just beneath it but the surrounding underground as well, I fired psychic waves at my allies using the monster's tentacles.
[Zuzu zu zuzuzuzu zuzuzuzu (Lure it into making a big move)]
"Understood."
"Got it!"
"What? What are you doi—ack?!"
Grasping my intent immediately, they sprang into action nimbly.
The hypnotic waves weakened my auxiliary organs' functions, so I couldn't precisely gauge what was happening above. But from the tremendous shaking, it seemed they were really going at it.
"Keei!" "Keei!"
Finally unable to endure, Pale Mask let out a roar of fury. An intense shockwave permeated underground, dwarfing all prior vibrations.
And then.
"Keek?!"
The weakened ground collapsed, and its fin plunged into the pit. Matching the moment, I tensed my tail and propelled my body upward with force.
Like a dragon ascending, my body burst through the half-collapsed earth into the air. Pale Mask's pupils dilated hugely at me erupting from below. Its eyes seemed to say, Why the hell are you coming out there?
I answered by slamming down onto its back. Half-buried in the ground with its posture crumbling, it couldn't dodge.
It was a body press backed by my 20-meter-long, massive frame. The instant we collided, the entire beach of the island shook violently.
"Keeiik?!"
The impact was so immense that Pale Mask couldn't respond properly.
Riding the momentum, I began coiling around its head with my body once more. This time, unlike before, I targeted the section near the torso.
In other words, the part with the eyes and mouth.
My combat arms and erosion tentacles moved deftly, clamping its jaws shut to prevent it from opening its mouth, while my body and tail wrapped from the top of its head downward.
"Keei?!" "Keei!" "Keei!"
Sensing the far tighter constriction than before, it struggled desperately to escape.
It tried slamming its head into the ground to shake me off like earlier, but the result was different.
The surrounding terrain had been thoroughly churned by me, leaving it utterly unstable. It was only natural that slamming me into the soft earth while I clung to it dealt no significant damage.
'Now for the follow-up.'
While coiled around its body, I eyed its wounds. Nearby was the gash I'd made earlier with my horn.
I split my jaws wide and sank my teeth into that spot. Then I activated the rotting mold organ and acidic fungal gland simultaneously.
"Gik?!"
Its hide was incredibly thick and granted immunity to poisons, so rotting mold or acidic fungi couldn't penetrate from outside.
But the soft flesh inside the exoskeleton was a different story.
It had lower resistance to molds and viruses compared to the exterior, and this was the head. Even protected by cerebrospinal fluid and thick fat layers, its proximity to vital areas remained unchanged.
Of course, given its size, it would take time for the rotting mold and acidic fungi to fully take effect.
Not yet realizing what was happening inside its body, it attempted its next move: flipping its entire body over to crush me.
Its weight was over five times mine. If it succeeded, I'd be flattened.
"Keei?" "Keei!" "Keei!"
But once again, it failed.
Half its body was buried in the sand. Even propping itself up with its fins would be difficult. It could do this effortlessly in water, but this was land. Its greatest weapon—its massive bulk—was nothing but a hindrance here.
And I wasn't the only one obstructing its movements.
A dragon floated in the pre-dawn night sky, with a griffonkin mounted on its back. Adhai, carrying the Mother of the Sky, dove at Pale Mask.
Thanks to the priestess's golden spear, the pair resembled a blazing golden meteor.
The shooting star then collided with the ferocious sea monster.
Boosted by the dive's acceleration, the Mother of the Sky's short spear sliced effortlessly through the thick fin.
"Kkiiik!"
As the fin—practically an arm and leg—was severed almost entirely, it shrieked. The 10-meter-plus wound gushed blue blood like a waterfall. Having tensed its fin to flip over, it collapsed onto the ground instead.
Beyond use as a weapon, the fin played a crucial role in swimming, and now only a fraction remained. Even if it escaped unscathed, recovery would take ages. With its intelligence, it surely knew this.
"Keei!" "Keei!" "Keei!" "Keei!" "Keei!" "Keei!"
As if only malice remained, the expressions on its attached faces twisted dramatically. The pale woman's visages warped into demonic grimaces, glaring at Adhai.
The parasitic creatures gaped their mouths in unison, firing shockwaves. Invisible air bullets hurtled toward Adhai and the Mother of the Sky.
Adhai evaded them all with astonishingly swift and precise aerobatics.
"Watch the right wing area!"
"Confirmed."
Any it missed were caught by the Mother of the Sky's sharp eyes reading the air currents, relayed to Adhai.
However, Adhai's wounds weren't fully healed. It was dodging well now, but how long could it last?
I tightened my coil even further. Blunt claws across my tail and body pierced Pale Mask's thick hide, digging in firmly. As my serpentine body constricted, a chilling friction sound echoed.
"Kkiik?!" "Kkikik!" "Kkik!"
The cries from the faces grew bizarre. They must have sensed their host was in mortal peril.
While blasting shockwaves at Adhai nonstop, it swung all its legs at my back carapace and exoskeleton.
'Guh!'
It felt like being beaten with logs; chunks of my exoskeleton shattered. The pain was far from negligible, but I endured solely on pain reduction.
Then, several massive boulders scattered nearby floated up and hurtled toward its legs.
"Keei!" "Kkik!"
Each hit threw off its legs' trajectories, making them strike its own body instead of me.
"Big baby! I'll help!"
From afar, I saw Specimen 026 waving its tentacles like a conductor directing an orchestra.
Trees and rocks encircling the beach uprooted and soared into the air, slamming into Pale Mask's body and legs in sync with the tentacles' movements.
"Kkik!" "Kkek?!" "Kekaek!"
Compared to its thickly armored body, the parasitic creatures had comparatively weak defenses. The pale faces were bloodied in seconds by stones and wood.
With fewer shockwave emitters, Adhai flew back toward us. Whenever it hugged the exposed parts of Pale Mask's body above ground, the Mother of the Sky stabbed and slashed with her spear.
Whenever Pale Mask tried to counter, boulders and debris flew in again. Specimen 026 wouldn't forgive it for bullying 'little baby.'
All the while, my body steadily crushed its head.
"Keek!" "Kkii!"
As I kept squeezing, I felt something balloon-like inside burst under pressure. Its eyeball had ruptured from the strain.
The eye's destruction sent it into frenzy. It must have realized death was imminent.
Using its remaining intact fin and legs, it tore at the ground desperately.
Barely escaping the pit in a last-ditch effort, it crawled toward its home—the sea bathed in dawn's light.
But.
"Ki, keei?" "Keeik?!" "Kkiik!"
As it frantically clawed through the sand, it staggered badly. The faces, unable to comprehend their host's state, uttered puzzled cries.
'Good. It's working.'
The rotting mold and acidic fungi I'd been pumping in were finally taking effect. The exterior looked fine, but inside, flesh rotted from the mold, and muscles and blood vessels melted from the fungi.
Its time was running out.
Moreover, my friends—Adhai and Specimen 026—had no intention of letting it die on its own.
Adhai hounded it relentlessly, like a bald eagle toying with dying prey. The spear wielded by the Mother of the Sky on its back never rested.
As the two pressed their pincer attack, Specimen 026 relentlessly hurled 'Demon Crashes,' turning its hide into a mangled mess.
Aimorph, Galleron, Sea Demon, and even the wolf.
The sea monster was being reduced to tatters by four monsters.
"Hiii...." "Hiii...." "Hiii...."
Pale Mask's movements grew sluggish before halting entirely on the spot. As the host neared death, the parasites' conditions plummeted. Almost no shockwaves came, just incomprehensible groans from the rest.
A mere few meters from the sea, it dropped its head. With one final ragged breath, it fell silent.
"Kkiyaaaak!" "Kkieeek!" "Kkiiiii!"
The faces on Pale Mask emitted horrific death rattles. True to form, the loathsome parasites followed their host to the end.
Before dawn fully broke, the father worshipped by the Fishrians of the archipelago had died.