Chapter 188: Look at Me, I am The Captain Now.
"I am not..." Ash’Kral hovered in front of Levi’s face and added with a grave tone, "Levi... Don’t you get it? This is a fine opportunity to win over the Void Seed... Sure, it is dangerous and borderline crazy, but it is doable... Beasts are one of the few entities with the strength to terrorize nations, but a mind that can be tampered with... In addition, the Sandscale Leviathan will be weakened for the sake of the game’s level; its spiritual aura is sealed, and access to less than 20% of its strength."
"Fine opportunity, my ass..." Levi muttered under his breath, "I am still technically a Rookie Daywalker, and you want me to control the mind of a Beast a hundred meters long and twenty meters wide? Before it, I am smaller than an ant."
"That’s why it’s a fine opportunity." Ash’Kral scoffed, "You think the Void Seed can be impressed with anything less? Boy, Aetherius has decided to play it safe too, and he ended up stuck in Rookie rank for more than a decade... The Void Seed refused to evolve him."
"Say what now?" Levi’s lips parted slightly.
Levi always assumed that his evolutions were safe as long as he brought in the evolutionary formula and helped the seed reach the evolution stage in each rank.
To hear this... was a shocker, leaving him doubting if Ash’Kral was lying to him for the sake of pushing him to do that crazy plan.
"I know what you’re thinking, and I am not..." Ash’Kral stressed, "The three origin seeds possessed their own intellect... although their programming is to prioritize growth like any other seed, their intellect can disturb this if they notice that the host is not worth investing their time in."
"I already told you... Nine Senses Seed and Sun Seed won’t turn their backs on you unless something grave happens... But, it’s different for the Void Seed."
Levi remained silent, his brows knitted together. Indeed, Ash’Kral did tell him that the Void Seed hadn’t accepted yet, but he didn’t expect the consequences to be as grave as holding his evolution hostage.
But it made sense for a seed based on Void... it fit its character too nicely.
"Ahhh... those three brats, I swear they will be the end of me." In the end, Levi sighed with a helpless smile and asked, "How do I learn Frequency Hijack?"
"It’s really simple... All you have to do is..."
***
Back to the present... or more precisely, inside Sandscale Leviathan’s closed mouth.
’God damn it, Ash’Kral... there is nothing easy about this.’ Levi cursed while holding the staff tightly for his dear life.
If it wasn’t for the sound blades piercing through the Leviathan’s gigantic skull on both ends, he would have already gotten either swallowed or spat out each time its tongue flickered outside.
Fortunately, he had chosen a location behind the tongue... If the blades were piercing through the tongue too, the moment it flickered, Levi would find himself outside with his staff.
Right now... getting swallowed wasn’t giving Levi the most problem... It was the process of hijacking the Leviathan’s controlling frequency center.
The staff’s bladed edge shifted its pitch, producing frequency waves that drilled into the Leviathan’s brainstem.
Every living being, Levi knew, ran on electrical oscillations: rhythms of thought, reflex, and instinct through brain waves (delta, theta, alpha, beta, gamma).
That rhythm was a frequency... one that could be amplified, jammed, or replaced. By piercing the nervous system directly, the staff could broadcast a stronger, overriding frequency, seizing control of the body’s functions like stealing a signal from a radio tower.
This was the theory of the Frequency Hijack technique that Levi learned after days of hard work... he even attempted it on Ash’Kral, failing hundreds of times before finally succeeding once.
In that single successful attempt, Levi was allowed to override Ash’Kral’s nervous system and control his little wing to slap himself.
Although this pissed off Ash’Kral, Levi played it off as an innocent mistake. But Ash’Kral refused to allow him any more practice... killing his brief joy once and for all.
Luckily, Levi was able to understand how the technique worked at last... With thorough network research on how Sandscale Leviathan’s brain frequency worked, Levi believed that he had it in him to pull it off in real life.
That’s why Levi didn’t want to target Sandscale Leviathan once he found out that Sandwitch was controlling him. He knew it would be nearly impossible to override its nervous system when she was influencing it.
The only reason this technique was supposed to work was due to the Beast’s lack of intelligence and weakened state, making it a prime target.
Yet, research, preparation, and practice were one thing... application was another.
Right now, Levi’s dark world was transformed into a massive, living labyrinth... the interior of the Leviathan’s nervous system.
Each command the Leviathan made became a blast of frequency, exploding into torrents of crimson, violet, and gold that shook his bones.
He tried to track them, to find the ones controlling motion and body parts, but the task was maddening.
The Leviathan’s brain was too immense. One order didn’t move along a single pathway... it fractured into dozens, overlapping and echoing like a thousand voices screaming at once.
’This might be it...’
Levi followed a crimson surge, thinking it belonged to the jaw, only to watch it split into streams powering tail, scales, and even the heart!
’Damn it...’
The beast’s size turned every command into a chorus, reinforced by redundant layers that ensured nothing could be stopped by disrupting just one signal.
Levi didn’t have all the time in the world to make it happen... The breath’s toxins were simply too much; once he stopped holding his breath, they would get to him.
In addition, Levi needed to gain control over the Leviathan before the next mark was decided.
Right now, it was slithering in a single direction, getting closer to the remaining Rifters, who were accompanying Levi earlier... However, once the marks were chosen, the Leviathan’s movement would be too much for Levi to handle.
Knowing this, a cruel smile took shape on Levi’s face.
’If I can’t find the right frequency...’ he muttered, ’...then I’ll bend the whole orchestra.’
Levi forced the sound blade centered inside the Leviathan’s brain to hum with a violent resonance!
Instead of chasing a single thread, he struck the nexus where dozens of pathways converged... This flooded the Leviathan’s nervous system with his intrusive rhythm!
The results were instant.
The world around Levi convulsed, the corridors of light quaked as signals collided and colors clashed into storms of static!
Krrrrrrrrr!!
Outside, he could feel the massive body of the Leviathan thrash... its tail smashing against the sides of the tunnel.
Levi gritted his teeth, holding more tightly.
He wasn’t controlling the beast yet... he was drowning it in interference, forcing its symphony to bend toward his will!
If he could keep the signal strong long enough, he might not need to find the exact frequency.
He would rewrite the entire rhythm itself... giving him full access to the Leviathan’s nervous system!
’Come on,’ he whispered coldly amidst the dying chaos, ’Dance to my tune... Accept it as your new will, and the pain shall melt away...’
The Leviathan’s brain seemed to have understood him as the colorful frequencies began to align from a screaming chorus bent to a single rhythm... His rhythm .
Then... silence took hold.
The corridors of light no longer beat on their own. They throbbed with Levi’s... Each beat of his heart sent waves of command flowing through the beast’s nervous system, radiating like a conductor leading an orchestra.
His heart and thoughts were telling the Leviathan... Look at me, I am the captain now.
Outside, the Sandscale Leviathan stood still, no longer thrashing the tunnel... If it wasn’t for the tight space keeping him in place, it would have gone badly for Levi.
But, this wasn’t luck... he went for this move because he anticipated it.
Now... he saw the fruits of success.
’Open your mouth and extend your tongue slowly.’
With a thought, the Leviathan did as it was told... its jaw widening and tongue extending slowly forward.
-What’s going on...-
-Brother... I have been confused for a while now... None of this is making any sense.-
-Wait... It’s the Celestial. He is stepping out!-
The viewers were left confused and stunned by the unexpected sight of Levi walking slowly on top of the Leviathan’s extended tongue...His Glider was stored inside his dimensional wallet, which also had its appearence changed.
The dimensional wallets were allowed in the games, but with a limited capacity... The external items and such unrelated to the game couldn’t be summoned.
Then, their hearts started racing as they watched the tongue lift slowly until it reached the Leviathan’s head.
Levi slid down and rolled once, ending up in a sitting position... left leg tucked in, right knee lifted up... then, he rested his elbow on his knee while using the other arm to support his body.
He appeared relaxed... like this was a regular Tuesday evening.
Then, he pointed his finger in the direction of the Frontrunners and ordered calmly, his cosmic voice echoing inside the tunnel.
"Move."