Fighting a Great Demon as an Ascended was suicide. Even the greatest Masters in history would be slaughtered quickly and unceremoniously. And in this situation, many Saints (besides those from the House of Night) would be hard pressed to survive.
The jelly fish was truly enormous. If it were to float in the air, it would have been able to wrap completely around one of Goliath's arms.
Honestly though, that was more of a testament to the Fallen Titan's enormity than anything.
At that moment, he was very thankful for his current attire.
Though he was still very partial to the [Hunters Attire] due to its familiar weight, he would be a fool not to adapt to his circumstances. He had a wide variety of new armor-type Memories to work with after all, and his current one was quite useful at the moment.
Memory Name: [Harrowed Requiem]
Memory Rank: [Transcendent]
Memory Tier: [IV]
Memory Type: [Armor]
Memory Description: [Have you got a screw loose? Or is it your... animal intuition…You hunters have got more blood on your hands…Die! Die, die! Hunters are killers, nothing less! You call ME a beast? A Beast!? What would you know? I didn't ask for this…Rancid beasts, every last one of us...]
Enchantments: [No Longer Human], [Beasts Solitude]
[No Longer Human]
Enchantment Description: Those who wear this garb are hated by the world. As such, they reject the world as well. The need for Breathing, Drinking, Eating, and Sleeping are nullified.
[Beasts Solitude]
Enchantment Description: When alone, the wearer's physical strength increases.
The [No Longer Human] enchantment was the crux of this potent Memory. Before, he could hold his breath for up to an hour or so, but now there was nothing at all limiting him from existing peacefully and completely under the water.
Furthermore, there was a lot less limiting him from fighting underwater.
It was still his least preferable battlefield, but after gaining experience fighting in the air, the inclusion of a "z-axis" no longer became an achilles heel.
As proof of this, he noticed movement below him the very second a few creatures started to move.
Sitting idly, Gehrman was very thankful for his previous ambivalence to the Hamlet folk. For though they mobilized, the Great Demon had not yet moved to attack him.
Instead, a great number of Corrupted moved in perfect unison, ascending from the depths where they lay packed and vacuous. They swirled around him, creating strong currents and swift ripples in the ocean waters.
Soon, a small grey parasite was detached, itself a Corrupted Beast, and it floated towards Gehrman, stopping before him.
'Beholden of the Moon. Leave now. The Seas are disturbed by your presence.'
Gehrman considered his next move. Truthfully, he had expected some sort of guardian in the Ocean. Even with the tumultuous waters, leaving the beached Kos's corpse completely undefended would have been nonsensical for the army of parasites.
In fact, it was surprising that they were still speaking with him relatively peacefully.
…at least that was what it seemed like.
But Gehrman's [Sixth Sense] was still active, combined with his Awakened Ability he could see exactly what was happening.
These things are more clever than I thought. How odd, Beasts don't possess intelligence, but since there is something of a hivemind speaking through them, they act as though they do.
This behavior was akin to something like thralls of a Tyrant.
Gehrman's eyes narrowed.
All around him, the Corrupted Beasts continued to accelerate. These were fairly similar to the Fishing Hamlet folk above, but their fish features had completely extinguished any remnant humanity they may have once had.
At the same time, the Great Demon was spreading its long blade-like tendrils slowly, spreading them like a barrier.
The Great Monsters also seemed to be mobilizing.
All of this just for me? I'm flattered.
There was no way to fight all of these creatures, but he didn't necessarily have to fight all of them.
"I'm surprised," Gehrman said, voice warbling in the waves, but clearly understood.
"You have a pincer invasion going on yet you send so many to block me? Surely you can tell, there are much more dangerous men up there."
The parasites seemed to seethe.
'Wrong. Lies. Your words are mockery. Your stench foul. You are wrong. Great Kos, Venerable Kos, has whispered, murmured, told of fake things. Fake world. Dreams. And you. You. You.'
A chill ran down Gehrman's spine.
This version of Kos had realized the nature of the Nightmare then.
…Or was this the true Kos? The Great One that had Dreamed in Yharnam now came across the Void, pulled to the realms of the Nightmare Spell by a recreation of their dream and kin. Perhaps also pulled by Paleblood.
A convergence of Great Ones on the Nightmare Spell.
They were not stronger than it, not by a long shot.
In terms of raw energy they were incomparable.
But the Great Ones were an esoteric existence, perhaps even more so than the Cursed, Sacred, Unholy, and Divine beings that populated the Dream Realm.
More akin to thoughts and ideas than living entities.
The Nightmare Spell had precautions against such things, but Paleblood, whose existence centered on meddling, had opened the smallest and most imperceptible crack in putting Gehrman in this reality.
The Great Ones could not enter this reality.
But perhaps their murmurs could. Perhaps they were watching.
In the swirling ocean, Gehrman felt very small all of a sudden.
A wry, faltering smile appeared on his face.
"This is all quite crazy isn't it. What a world this is, what a Dream. I think you should keep in mind though, I've been in similar Dreams before."
Gehrman paused and let the [Invoker] Attribute thrum and crash through him. Yellowish-orange aura cut through the waves, making the smooth currents convulse.
"And I have slaughtered this Hamlet and its people. I have struck down your parasites. I have reached your corpse before, and I have killed the thing that came out of it."
Fog still clouded that specific Memory, but that flash he had glimpsed in that bout of deep insanity after taking on the Devouring Cloud and Heart of Darkness.
That harrowing existence that crawled from the corpse of Kos.
Arcane, absolute lighting called from the heavens, the flash of a Church Pick lit with bolt paper.
That was all he remembered.
But knowing Johann, it was obvious what happened after that thing appeared and the Paleblood Hunter approached.
And in that moment, all movement stopped.
The waves, the creatures, it seemed the whole Nightmare held its breath.
Then it screamed.
A painful, vengeful, and powerful scream of rage and sorrow.
He could see it then, a humanoid shape, wet from birth. Face stretched cheeks breaking with the breaking force of tearing its jaw downward to let out its scream.
At that moment, a single word rang in his mind. And he felt pain.
The pain of the bolt destroying his body. The pain of being cut, bludgeoned, destroyed, decimated. The pain of that yell.
Orphan.
Gehrman's jaw clenched hard.
Through gritted teeth he laughed.
"Seems you stopped gaining momentum. Wrong move."
Sparks formed and glass broke. Leaving only 2 Vials left over, a pond of Blood leaked and spread throughout the surrounding ocean, a deep stain marking a wound in the divine space of Kos.
And it moved, and it spread, and there was chaos.
The convulsing currents made by the surrounding and speeding Corrupted Beasts were suddenly hijacked, Blood seeped into those routes of water and spun fast, catching up to the creatures that inadvertently helped form the swirling tornado of blood.
Great Blood.
Indeed Gehrman had not been idle for the past month.
He had snuck into the heart of Hintertomb, the ruins of a once powerful city-state and he had encountered many Great Nightmare Creatures. The blood of those elite warriors who had been lost to beasthood, their hounds turned into infernal hell-beasts, and more.
Gehrman had killed more than enough to build up this supply of Blood of the 5th Rank.
It was heavy, and tough to move. The gap between the 3rd and 5th Rank was a yawning chasm. But Gehrman overcame it with his familiarity with blood, his Will, and his weaponized insanity.
Indeed by invoking different types of Madness, specifically Frenzy, Bliss, and Obsession, he could better control the willful blood of the long dead Great creatures.
And control it he did.
The tornado of blood severed and cleaved the hundred Corrupted Beasts easily, and it managed to keep the rest at bay simultaneously.
Stunned by the mention of Kos's child, the Madness, and the sheer magnitude of the attack, even the Great Monsters were slow to react.
But the Demon wasn't.
Though it was of the same Rank, a single, seemingly half-hearted flick of one of its tendrils broke apart the tornado, cutting off its devastating momentum and reaching Gherman in a mere moment.
Using the bloody water, he pulled not only the surrounding liquid but also his internal blood to dodge.
Even with taking advantage of everything he could, it was still dangerously close.
The murder of the Corrupted parasites were swift and efficient, but the situation would not remain that way.
The bottom of the tornado of blood had ended with several layers of devastating protection. The Great Monsters launched themselves, cracking it. The layers would not kill them and they would not stop them, but they would delay them.
3 seconds were all he gained.
In that time, he managed to pull the Corrupted Blood that was now lazily spreading across the ocean towards himself. His supply had greatly increased now that those 100 creatures had offered themselves up.
With it, he continued to reinforce and compact his defenses. All the while, he summoned a Memory.
A deadly scythe formed in his hands.
Instantly all the creatures who beheld it reeled.
The Great blood could perhaps harm them, but nothing else that Gehrman could throw at them would be able to truly kill a Great creature.
For that, he would need a Supreme weapon.
And so he made one.
Like with Yharnam, the final upgrade that could be applied to a weapon was a singular Blood Rock. 16 were not needed, just a single of this resource.
Of course, even scouring Yharnam and several dreams, Johann had only found 2. One in the Nightmare of Mensis, and one quite close - in the depths of the Fishing Hamlet.
For all the killing of Great creatures he had managed, he had received no Memories, and only a single Blood Rock.
But that was enough to turn one Memory into one of the Supreme Rank.
He was tempted to boost his Charm even further, and to be sure that would be next. But for now, he needed deadliness and reliability.
He needed to wield his scythe.
The reason became clear from the reactions around him
The Nightmare Creatures cowered and hissed, knowing that the blade Gehrman carried could kill them.
The [Burial Blade], a Supreme Weapon.