Chapter 458: A Fierce Showdown [Part 1]
Northern soared through the air, his twin-bladed staff glinting in the early morning light.
Black Mamba and Night Terror flanked him, their sleek forms cutting through the salty breeze like living shadows.
As they approached the monstrous creature, its true size became apparent-it easily dwarfed their ship.
The beast's maw gaped open, revealing rows of teeth as long as a man's arm.
It lunged forward, attempting to swallow Northern whole.
With a swift twist of his body, Northern dodged the attack, bringing his staff down hard on the creature's snout.
The impact sent shockwaves through the water, momentarily stunning the smaller beasts that swarmed around the monster.
Black Mamba seized the opportunity, diving into the churning sea.
His form weaved through the stunned creatures, the white lines on his body moving towards his hands and elongating into white, razor-sharp claws that ripped through flesh as he swam between monsters.
Night Terror also followed, plunging the claws of all four hands deep into the monsters' skin, heavily lacerating them and causing a cloud of blood to fill the water.
The colossal beast roared in fury, its voice shaking the very air.
It thrashed wildly, sending massive waves crashing against the ship.
Northern gritted his teeth, realizing he needed to draw the fight away from their vessel to protect it and Jeci.
"Night Terror, Black Mamba! Lead the smaller ones away!" Northern shouted, his voice carrying over the cacophony of battle.
His creations understood immediately. Night Terror jumped out of the water, landed on the wall of the ship's bow for a moment, then dove towards the sea, skimming the surface and drawing the attention of the swarming creatures.
Black Mamba erupted from the depths, his massive form serving as an irresistible target for the hungry predators.
Together, they began to lead the school of monsters away from the ship, leaving Northern to face the ancient behemoth alone.
Northern jumped off the deck of the ship once again, diving directly into the ocean.
With the necklace he had gotten from Hao, he didn't even need to worry about breathing, so he dove deep without concern, searching for the point where the creature's leg was.
As he sighted it, Northern glared at the point and snapped his fingers. Immediately, a black rift opened at the bottom of the ocean.
It began to swirl, pulling everything around it with a mighty force. Even the water itself could not resist its pull.
However, the monster was too big to be affected. It needed to be rendered in a position where the vortex of the rift could gain a proper edge to pull it in.
'I need to make it collapse,' Northern thought, swimming back up, contemplating how to bring the monster down into the ocean.
At the very least, he needed to make it crumble. It was like a standing beast, two legs deeply rooted in the ocean while the other two were like actual arms.
Every aspect of it was appalling, and even Northern couldn't deny the fear he felt.
However, it was still a Maelstrom and not even at apex level. Otherwise, the Kirithon wouldn't have been able to move a monster like this.
Thinking about the Kirithon at this point made Northern boil with anger.
As he swam back to the surface, he disappeared and reappeared in the air above the monster, slinging his arm backward with an overwhelming amount of Void essence showering his weapon.
Grenger blazed with darkish purple energy, resembling a flame from the depths of a netherworld.
Northern narrowed his eyes, and with a sharp throw of his hand, he hurled the weapon. The bizarre object streaked across the air, impaling the beast with the force of a battering ram and causing it to stagger back, albeit slowly.
Northern didn't relent; as the monster staggered, he was already falling towards it.
"Speed Burst."
As Northern muttered the words, he immediately felt a heavy burden lay upon his body, along with a shattering force. Lightning streaked along his body, tearing even the Twilight Dawn, but Northern, in that moment, was the fastest he had ever seen himself.
The trail of his speed parted the air in that particular distance, meaning that trail was devoid of all aerial properties, including oxygen.
Northern crashed onto the monster's torso with a force that made the entire ocean tremble. Ripples traveled far and wide across the surface of the ocean in that fleeting moment.
The monster collapsed into the ocean, causing an enormous flush of water that seemed like the entire sea was being divided by some titanic force.
The lightning streaked off Northern as he pushed the monster into the sea-specifically, into the rift below.
As speculated, the moment the monster fell, the vortex created within the depths of the sea slowly pulled in the monster's mass from its legs until its entire body was consumed. Northern followed immediately.
As the creature fell through from the other side, every single creature in the Limitless Void, spread far and wide in different areas-some at the Red mines, mining red crystals, others at the glacier and volcanic mountains, harvesting ores from the caves and the mountain bases- all raised their heads to see the enormous creature fall from the sky.
Splashing into the unnatural force of water that now formed a large lake between the glacier and volcanic mountains.
The force of water rose powerfully like a wall, immediately splashing out the water of the sea that had been falling from the rift in the sky before the monster itself came.
It forced them out side by side-onto the volcanic mountain and the glacier mountain.
And when the monster itself fell, the ocean began to swirl into itself, evoking a level of vortex that Northern had never seen.
The entire lake was like a force intertwining, trying to crush itself.
Northern watched the phenomenon in amazement as he fell from the sky. He repositioned himself, putting his feet down as if he were standing in midair.
Of course, it wasn't a perfect repositioning. He held out a hand, and immediately a black shimmering rod appeared in his grasp.
It looked like it was coated with black lightning and crackled ominously. Northern looked down, threw his hand back, breathed steadily, and flung the black lance towards the monster.
It was a one-hit death.
Not just the monster was affected-the entire lake, along with the creature, was split into
two.
However, almost immediately, tendrils of darkness from the ground began to pull everything
back together like glue.
Northern watched as the Limitless Void healed itself in less than a minute, and it was as if the catastrophic destruction that shook the entire soul scape had never happened.
However, the monster was left on the lake's bank, its body perfectly cleaved in two.
Northern's mouth was slightly open. He didn't expect that the Black Lance would be different
now that he had gained the true Void.
But this level of destruction was intense-pure calamity.
In that moment, he could only thank his stars that he decided not to use it outside for the sake
of Jeci and his ship.
Northern disappeared from the Void just as the notifications rang.
[You have slain a Devilish Maelstrom, Sea Walker]
[You have gained 20 talent fragments]
Night Terror and Black Mamba were actively dealing with the rest of the monsters but were at
a disadvantage. They had to come out of the ocean at times because they weren't essentially
water breathers.
Besides, more and more sea monsters kept swimming towards them.
'At least there are no big ones for now...'
Northern had thought that for a moment, but he suddenly smacked his lips in utter regret of
his thought pattern.
'Ah, shit. Fuck me.'
A slimy tentacle plunged out of the ocean depth and fell on the deck of the ship. As it did, Northern flashed across the land, his feet barely touching the ground.
He swung the Dark Mortal that appeared in his hands microseconds before and severed the tentacles, immediately kicking the edge off his ship.
Deep purplish blood splattered on the concrete deck of the ship, and a low growl emanated from beneath. The depth of the water vibrated intensely.
Northern's face contorted in anger, and he raised one hand. Crimson flames licked off his
forearm, dancing sleekly in the wind.
Northern looked forward and screamed,
"How about you summon enough courage to face me again? I could melt this entire ocean with these flames in my hand. I don't care if I'll have to walk to my destination-at the very
least, you will die with the sea!"
Northern paused, glaring at the subtle waves riding the surface of the sea.
"If you're confident enough, come face me directly, and let's get this over with." Just as Northern spoke, darkness slowly enveloped the clouds, the waves rose higher, until
they shadowed the entire sea. In just a moment, what was morning now looked like a dark
night.
Northern's gaze did not waver. He kept his blue eyes on the storm with cold determination as
he muttered,
"Yes, that's it... Come face me."