Ch.235235. Shark Bite (2)

Grum Sharkbite. A figure who had accomplished enough to have a clan named after himself, he was an extremely cold and cunning orc, regardless of his achievements that had marked a significant chapter in orc history.

‘Those fools. They fight even when they can’t win. They don’t feel fear. They treat fear like it’s stupid. Fear… you need to feel it to survive.’

While ordinary orcs were berserker warriors living in an extremely martial society governed by survival of the fittest, he was born with a more rational and level-headed mindset.

In truth, by orc standards, he was the one with the mental disorder while other orcs were normal, but regardless, this mentality played a crucial role in Grum Sharkbite’s survival at sea.

Back when Grum wasn’t yet called Sharkbite, orcs of that era were merely disorganized bands of pirates at sea.

To put it metaphorically, they were like goblins of the sea—lacking cohesion, with mediocre combat ability, and in a position to be crushed whenever they fought.

Naturally, in such circumstances, rather than being obsessed with fighting like typical orcs, simply fleeing was more advantageous for survival. Consequently, Grum proved the law that the survivor is the strong one through his own life.

Especially as Grum belonged to the shaman class—simultaneously feared and despised in orc society yet absolutely necessary—finding his place wherever he went wasn’t particularly difficult. Thus, Grum tenaciously survived and accumulated experience…

At some point, after awakening to mid-tier following a bloody battle with a shark beast where he lost an arm, he began calling himself “Sharkbite” and expanded his clan… his influence.

He expanded his power by beating other orcs into submission and gradually increased the size of his group by bringing down competitors (other pirates) through various schemes and strategies.

His fanatical progress, as if obsessed with something, soon transformed his clan into a term referring to the entire orc pirate fleet. In this process, he reached high-tier and became a major power in the southern seas of the western continent.

And for someone like him, there was no special reason for attacking the port city of “Iztel” located in the “Death Desert.”

It was simply that the subordinates in the fleet he directly commanded had recently been showing signs of breaking from his control due to lack of exciting battles, so he wanted to raid a suitably vulnerable city to restore control and replenish supplies.

In particular, the city he chose to attack, Aztel, was actually an ideal target from the Sharkbite Clan’s perspective.

A place with a population just under 10,000. Being in the Death Desert, it had a high proportion of “those who know how to fight,” but above all, there wouldn’t be any high-tiers like Grum Sharkbite among them.

However, even Grum couldn’t have anticipated what would happen.

On the very day he and his main force decided to attack Iztel, by sheer coincidence, there happened to be an exploration ship carrying a high-tier temporarily docked at Iztel—something beyond the realm of prediction.

To be frank, predicting that would have been divination rather than prediction, and orcs’ “divination” is crude and rough, so it’s reasonable to consider it unreliable.

And so, Grum, who ended up fighting that high-tier unexpectedly, now—

—KWAAAANG!!

“Damn! Damn you! Fish-human! Cursed fish!”

Even as he watched his main force sink during the battle between the two high-tiers, he was genuinely enraged at seeing everything he had built turn to dust and evaporate.

The main force of the Sharkbite Clan. This fleet led by their leader, Grum Sharkbite, was a massive orc pirate armada of about several hundred ships.

Of course, the majority of vessels were small to medium-sized junks barely better than dinghies. The proper fighting force—medium to large junks capable of ocean voyages—numbered just under 50.

But in truth, even these alone were more than enough for the Sharkbite Clan’s main force to be hailed as the strongest pirate fleet.

The captains of each junk, especially those of medium-large size or larger, were mostly mid-tier. Considering the number of orcs aboard each ship—at least dozens to hundreds—their fighting power… easily exceeded 10,000.

Therefore, they were a powerful force fully capable of crushing Iztel like a casual snack.

—KWAAAANG!!!

—KWAJIK! KUGUGUNG!

—PUEEEONG!!!

And now. This mighty fleet was being gradually eroded just by the aftermath of the battle between the two high-tiers.

Facing the enemy high-tier who threatened him by transforming into a giant mermaid over 5 meters tall, Sharkbite countered by using his abilities to transform himself.

From his left arm, which had been cut off and replaced with a hook, grew a claw resembling that of a crustacean.

His skin was overlaid with tough, durable leather like a shark’s, rough to the touch, and a shark’s tail fin grew between his legs.

Additionally, shark gills sprouted from his collarbone area, his mouth full of sharp teeth elongated, and his hair transformed to writhe like octopus tentacles.

Having taken on an appearance that seemed to chaotically mix dozens of marine creatures, he exchanged blows with the giant mermaid before him and began chanting the power of sinister magic.

[■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■!!]

—KWANG! CHAENG! CHAENG! CHAENG!

The ability to use “evil magic” obtained through a contract with a sea witch. He thought that by activating it, he could manifest the sea as his domain and take control of the ocean from his opponent.

Of course, it was a ridiculous notion.

—KWAJIK!

“—?!!”

A trident that replicated a divine weapon. The degraded replica created directly by a god was not something that could be blocked by mere crab claws.

Rather, the fact that they had held up through dozens of exchanges until now was remarkable in itself.

As Grum’s newly grown left arm shattered into pieces, his shock caused the evil magic to finish incompletely.

The spell, which should have summoned an ancient sea predator, the high-tier primitive beast “Gigalodon,” instead called forth dozens of mutated sharks.

These were grotesque beasts with ivory-like horns along their spines, fins replaced by tentacles or other marine creature body parts, and dozens of eyes.

Each had upper mid-tier combat power. Though they were on the verge of internal collapse due to inherent instability and self-contradictory nature, their combat ability alone exceeded the limits of ordinary mid-tier summons.

Of course, Grum didn’t have the slightest expectation that they could defeat the high-tier before him.

Grum’s goal, changed by the spell’s failure, was to use those sharks to buy time while preparing a spell that could land a solid hit on that high-tier.

—KWAGAGAGAK!

So while the shark swarm he summoned was being one-sidedly slaughtered by the giant mermaid, Grum created something new to replace his destroyed claw arm, based on the sea witch’s sorcery.

And just as Grum finished regenerating his shattered arm—

—WOOOONG!!

Seeing the mermaid approaching after dispatching all the sharks in that short time, Grum extended his newly grown arm forward and unleashed its function.

—KWAAAANG!!!

Ejecting internal fluid as a high-speed, high-pressure jet, the evaporated fluid formed bubbles that collapsed under pressure, creating a shockwave.

The arm of a mantis shrimp-type beast, the cannon shrimp. The power of the shockwave it released was so tremendous that the surrounding seawater churned as the expanding shockwave literally blew the giant mermaid apart!

The cannon shrimp’s shockwave carried a unique magical wavelength that could disrupt magic, so he had expected some degree of critical damage, but…

To think it would completely destroy the entire body in one strike!

‘Excellent!!’

In a situation where anyone could see his victory was assured, Grum was grinning despite the tingling pain in the arm that had fired that powerful shockwave, when…

‘…Huh?’

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind that made his expression harden.

The body should have exploded, so why wasn’t blood or bodily fluid spreading through the water?

Especially for Grum, who had transformed into a shark-like form, to be unable to smell blood…

“…?!!”

Convinced that something was terribly wrong, Grum frantically tried to move when—

—POOK!

“Kheuk!”

A trident pierced his side, cutting through the sea like a shot.

From the impact, Grum coughed up a mouthful of blood as the kinetic energy of the spear carried him all the way to the surface… specifically, crashing him directly into one of the junks.