Ch.134Beyond the Deep Sea (4)

The brief lull ended, and the battle resumed.

The creature’s fin, boasting a size of several dozen meters, struck the beach sand hard. A small earthquake shook our bodies, followed by an enormous wall of sand and soil erupting upward.

The wall of sand created by the overturned earth rushed toward us.

“Danger” “Evade”

While Adhigh carrying the Sky Mother avoided the shower of sand and soil with acrobatic flying, I quickly crawled toward No. 26.

“Grrrrrr!”

He tried to “bind” the sand in place, but it was useless. With his current abilities, he couldn’t bind such a large amount of sand at once. I grabbed him and placed him on my tail carapace.

[Zz-zz (Careful)]

Clumps of earth large enough to be called boulders poured down over my head. As I moved at high speed to avoid the large sand masses, the enemy’s leg came flying through the gaps.

‘Both the Sea Demon and I are immune to poison, but…’

Even so, I couldn’t ignore the massive strength contained in those tentacles. I might be able to endure it, but if No. 26 got hit by that leg, he’d be split in half.

The erosion tentacles hidden inside my back carapace responded to my will and shot out.

The erosion tentacles, far more durable than the blood-sucking tentacles from my combat arms, deflected the Pale Mask’s incoming attack.

‘Next comes the breath.’

Through the sand barrier, I could barely see the creature opening its mouth.

None of us could withstand the creature’s digestive acid. While fleeing and calculating where the acidic breath might fly, No. 26 on my back took action. He controlled one of the large boulders falling toward us and shot it at the creature.

“Giiiii?!”

The Pale Mask, hit in the head by the rock, immediately closed its mouth. In that gap, I escaped the range of the sand shower.

Like me, Adhigh flew high to avoid the sand barrier and circled around to attack again.

The faces attached to the Pale Mask fired shock waves, but he demonstrated excellent acrobatic flying and dodged them beautifully.

Even amid the air violently bursting around him, his speed didn’t decrease at all. As he approached the Pale Mask, the Sky Mother took action. In both hands, she held the Golden Spear of Shaman.

“Now!”

“Confirmed”

Adhigh’s speed drastically decreased as he approached the creature’s fin. In sync, the Sky Mother thrust the spear forcefully.

As the spear deeply pierced the fin, Adhigh quickly accelerated away. The sharpness of the spear combined with his acceleration caused the wound in the fin to widen rapidly.

“Giiiiik!”

The Pale Mask groaned in pain after instantly losing half its fin. It used its other fin to raise its body, attempting to ram into Adhigh.

“Tch!”

“Danger” “Evade”

Unlike the Sky Mother, Adhigh’s defense isn’t very high. A collision with a 50-meter monster would mean instant death.

Adhigh hurriedly increased his altitude to avoid collision with the creature, and the Sky Mother’s attack was interrupted.

While they fought fiercely, I quickly thought.

We’d inflicted significant damage to the Pale Mask, but considering its enormous size, it wasn’t yet a fatal wound.

We needed something new.

‘The Hunter’s Emblem still has about an hour of cooldown left.’

So using it during battle is impossible. I need to use it after killing the creature, when I eat it.

Besides the Hunter’s Emblem, I have one more trump card.

The trait I gained from consuming unique-grade equipment.

‘That trait could annihilate the Pale Mask, but…’

Unfortunately, I can’t use that trait against the Pale Mask. The hypnotic waves prevent me from using abilities that require concentration. I can’t use Psychic Breath for the same reason.

‘And if I use that trait, consuming it would be impossible.’

That trait obtained from the Plunderer’s Amorphous Polyhedron—I’ve never used it before.

But I could tell intuitively.

That trait possesses tremendous power that makes Psychic Breath seem trivial in comparison.

If the creature were hit by that trait, its corpse would completely vaporize.

‘Most traits obtainable from the Pale Mask would be useful.’

Like “Giant Creature,” a common trait of beings over 50 meters, or traits that allow creating parasitic organisms that emit hypnotic waves, and so on.

I can’t afford to lose all those good traits.

Since the situation isn’t that disadvantageous yet, let’s hold off on using “that trait” for now.

‘Instead, let’s use the terrain.’

The creature is a massive sea monster but not on land. Its body isn’t suited for land combat, limiting its movement. I need to exploit that weakness.

I put No. 26 in a safe place and rushed toward the creature.

Meanwhile, the Pale Mask tried to create another sand barrier by striking the ground with its fin. Seeing me crawling toward it, the creature stopped and took a defensive stance.

But I wasn’t aiming for the creature itself.

More precisely, I was aiming for underneath it.

After closing the distance, I stopped running and dug into the ground with my combat arms. Instantly, I created a hole large enough for me to enter.

“Giiiii?” “Giiiii!” “Giiiii!”

Wary of what I might do next, the creature opened its mouth wide. A powerful acidic breath was fired in my direction.

This time, I was faster. By the time it released its acidic breath, I had already hidden underground.

Crawling beneath where the Pale Mask was lying, I frantically dug through the ground with my combat arms. I needed to weaken the ground enough that the creature would be buried if it moved significantly.

‘I need to dig wide and deep.’

My combat arms and erosion tentacles became excavators, breaking through the solid ground. The claws all over my body pushed the excavated soil backward.

Due to my broken arm, there were inevitably some areas I couldn’t process, but my tail handled those. My tail, which makes up a large proportion of my body, swung widely from side to side, clearing away the soil.

The beach’s foundation was rapidly weakening, but the creature above showed no signs of noticing. It was too busy fighting the others who were bothering it.

After thoroughly digging deep under and around the creature’s position, I used the monster’s tentacles to send a wave signal to the others.

[Zz-zz zz z-zzzzzz zzzzzz (Make it move significantly)]

“Understood”

“Yes!”

“What? What are you—ugh?!”

Understanding my intention immediately, they moved nimbly.

The hypnotic waves were weakening my auxiliary organs’ functions, making it impossible to grasp exactly what was happening above. However, judging by the tremendous shaking of the ground, they seemed to be doing an excellent job.

“Giiiii!” “Giiiii!” “Giiiii!”

Finally, the Pale Mask couldn’t stand it anymore and let out angry cries. A powerful impact, making all previous vibrations seem like nothing, penetrated the ground.

And then.

“Giik?!”

As the weakened ground collapsed, the creature’s fin fell into the hole. At that exact moment, I used my tail to forcefully push my body upward.

Like a dragon ascending to heaven, my body broke through the half-collapsed ground and flew into the air. The Pale Mask’s eyes widened upon seeing me suddenly emerge from underground, as if asking why I was coming out from there.

Instead of answering, I pounced on it. The creature, half-buried in the ground with its posture broken, couldn’t avoid me.

It was a body press with the weight of my long, massive 20-meter body. When I collided with the creature, the entire beach of the island shook violently.

“Giiiik?!”

The Pale Mask screamed, unable to respond properly due to the massive impact from the collision.

I continued my momentum and began wrapping my body around its head again. Unlike before, I targeted not the tip of the head but the part closer to the body.

That is, the part with eyes and mouth.

My combat arms and erosion tentacles moved nimbly, firmly gripping its jaw to prevent it from opening its mouth, while my body and tail wrapped around its head from top to bottom.

“Giiiii?!” “Giiiii!” “Giiiii!”

Sensing it was being constricted much more tightly than before, the creature struggled desperately to break free.

It tried to slam its head into the ground to shake me off like before, but the result was different.

I had already dug up the surrounding ground, so it wasn’t solid at all. Naturally, the creature couldn’t inflict much damage by slamming me into the soft ground.

‘Now for the next step.’

While wrapped around the creature, I examined its wounds. Near me was the wound I had made earlier with my horn.

I widely split my jaw and sank my teeth into that area. Then I simultaneously activated my decay fungus organ and acidic fungal gland.

“Gik?!”

The creature’s skin is very thick and provides immunity to poison, so spraying decay fungus or acidic fungus wouldn’t penetrate it.

But the flesh inside is a different story.

Compared to the outer skin, it has lower immunity to fungi and viruses, and this is the head area. Even protected by cerebral fluid and thick fat layers, it’s still close to vital points.

Of course, given the creature’s size, it will take some time for the decay fungus and acidic fungus to take effect.

The creature, not yet realizing what was happening to its body, moved to its next action. It tried to flip its entire body to crush me underneath.

The creature’s weight is more than five times mine. If crushed under it, I would be pressed to death.

“Giiiii?” “Giiiii!” “Giiiii”

But once again, it couldn’t achieve its goal.

The creature was half-buried in sand. Even raising its body with its fins wouldn’t be easy. This action would be simple in water, but here on land, its massive body—its most powerful weapon—was merely a hindrance.

Moreover, I wasn’t the only one hindering its movements.

In the dawn sky, I could see a dragon floating with a griffon humanoid on its back. Adhigh carrying the Sky Mother was diving toward the Pale Mask.

With the Golden Spear of Shaman in the Sky Mother’s hands, the two resembled a golden meteor.

Then the shining star collided with the ferocious sea monster.

Thanks to the acceleration from the dive, the Sky Mother’s spear easily cut through the thick fin.

“Kiiiik!”

The creature screamed as its fin, which was both an arm and practically part of its body, was almost completely severed. With the wound exceeding 10 meters in length, blue blood poured out like a waterfall. The creature, which had been exerting force on its fin to flip over, collapsed to the ground.

The fin, important not only as a weapon but also for swimming, was gone except for a tiny portion. Even if the creature escaped from here safely, it would take an unknown amount of time to recover. Being intelligent, the creature surely understood this fact.

“Giiiii!” “Giiiii!” “Giiiii!” “Giiiii!” “Giiiii!” “Giiiii!”

As if showing that only malice remained in the creature, the expressions of the faces on its body changed dramatically. The pale women’s faces distorted into demon-like visages and glared at Adhigh.

The parasitic organisms all opened their mouths wide and fired shock waves. Invisible air bullets flew toward Adhigh and the Sky Mother.

In response, Adhigh performed surprisingly fast and precise acrobatic flying, avoiding all the incoming shock waves.

“Watch out near your right wing!”

“Confirmed”

When he missed something, the Sky Mother, with her sharp eyes, read the air flow and relayed it to Adhigh.

However, Adhigh’s injuries hadn’t fully healed yet. He was dodging well now, but it was uncertain how long he could keep it up.

I applied even more force to my constricting body. The blunt claws all over my tail and body pierced through the Pale Mask’s thick skin and dug in firmly. As my snake-like body tightened, an eerie friction sound was heard.

“Kiik?!” “Kigigik!” “Kik!”

The cries from the faces became strange. They must have realized their host was in extreme danger.

While continuously firing shock waves at Adhigh, the creature used all its legs to strike my back carapace and outer skin.

‘Ugh!’

The impact felt like being beaten with logs, and pieces of my outer skin shattered. It was considerable pain, but I endured somehow, relying solely on pain reduction.

At that moment, several of the large boulders scattered around floated up and flew toward the creature’s legs.

“Giiiii!” “Kik!”

Each time a boulder hit a leg, its trajectory twisted, causing it to strike its own body instead of mine.

“Big baby! I’ll help you!”

In the distance, I could see No. 26 waving his tentacles like a conductor.

Trees and rocks surrounding the beach were uprooted, floated into the air, and then, following the movement of his tentacles, flew to embed themselves in the Pale Mask’s body and legs.

“Kik!” “Keok?!” “Keaek!”

Compared to the body covered with thick skin, the parasitic organisms attached to the creature had relatively lower defense. The pale women’s faces became bloodied instantly when hit by rocks and wood.

With fewer entities firing shock waves, Adhigh flew back toward us. Each time he got close to the parts of the Pale Mask protruding above ground, the Sky Mother stabbed and slashed with her spear.

Whenever the Pale Mask tried to respond, more flying rocks and wood fragments came. No. 26 wouldn’t forgive the creature for tormenting his “little baby.”

Throughout all this, my body was steadily constricting the creature’s head.

“Giik!” “Kiiiiii!”

As I continued to squeeze, I felt something balloon-like being crushed inside. The creature’s eyeball had been damaged, unable to withstand the pressure.

When its eyeball burst, the creature went berserk. It must have realized death was imminent.

Using its remaining somewhat intact fin and legs, it frantically dug at the ground.

Desperately managing to escape from the hole, it crawled toward its home—the sea illuminated by the dawn light.

But.

“Gi, giiiii?” “Giiiik?!” “Kiiik!”

The creature, diligently crawling through the sand, staggered greatly. The faces, not understanding why their host was behaving this way, made questioning cries.

‘Good. It’s working.’

The decay fungus and acidic fungus I had been continuously injecting were starting to take effect. Though the outside appeared fine, inside, the flesh was rotting due to the decay fungus, and muscles and blood vessels were dissolving from the acidic fungus.

The creature didn’t have much time left.

Moreover, my friends, Adhigh and No. 26, didn’t seem inclined to let the creature die on its own.

Adhigh pursued the Pale Mask relentlessly, like a bald eagle toying with dying prey. The Sky Mother’s spear on his back never rested either.

While the two launched their coordinated attack, No. 26 didn’t fall behind, continuously firing “Demon Crash” to shred the creature’s skin.

AMorph, Gallergorn, Sea Demon, and Volf.

The sea monster was being torn apart by four monsters.

“Hiiii….” “Hiiii….” “Hiiii….”

The Pale Mask’s movements gradually became sluggish until it finally stopped moving. As the host was dying, the parasitic organisms’ condition rapidly deteriorated. Almost none of the faces could fire shock waves anymore; the rest just emitted incomprehensible moans.

Just meters away from the sea, the creature dropped its head. It took one last labored breath and then fell silent.

“Kyaaaak!” “Kieeeek!” “Kiiiiii!”

The faces attached to the Pale Mask let out terrible death cries. The parasitic organisms, not forgetting their repulsive behavior until the very end, soon followed their host.

Before dawn fully passed, the father worshipped by the Fishrians of the archipelago was dead.