The 7.3 million bounty does his best to jeer through the pain. "The fuck does it matter to you?"
His gray matter splatters across the deck as the gun discharges.
+700 Exp!
You have reached Lv. 53! You have 25 points to spend!
"No reason."
Freeing the marines is the next task and as I go about it I can't take my eyes off the, frankly speaking, brobdingnagian beast overhead. It's still meager in size compared to the literal leviathans of the Calm Belt but that is scant comfort as it just..stands there. It's standing there. Why, why is it just standing there?
I finally turn my attention to Yuriko and Mira-jane where the former has, despite the level difference, literally pinned the latter against the wall. The lieutenant hammers her sword against the pirates own like a woman possessed. The Witch sinks to her knees as her frantic defense continues to weaken and her eyes are wide with panic..at least until she finally notices her summon waiting on standby.
"Help me! Help me!" The jewels of her cutlass appear to almost pulsate at her cry and the air itself seems to shake as Lorthos rumbles with an odd mix of a wet bubbly growl and a warble.
The figurative light bulb over the head finally illuminates. 'It's the sword!' Two tentacles whip forward at frightening speed '[Rankyaku]!' and though I sever the tip of the one coming for me, the one aimed at Yuriko slams into her with force of a semi-truck, nearly knocking her off the boat.
Lorthos roars in pain at what is probably the equivalent of losing a 1/3 of a finger and the colossal green eye focuses on me. "Help your lieutenant!" I order to the freed men. "[Geppo]!"
I soar higher and higher into the air and the multi-meter long pupil tracks me as I go. '[Observe].'
Lorthos, the Tidemaker, Lv. 12
Lorthos is a Giant Cyclopean Octopus who migrated from the Grand Line into the South Blue a century ago in order to seek hunting grounds that were free of Titanic-sized Sea Kings who could threaten it. Although never directly aggressive towards human vessels, Lorthos's attacks on Whales, Sea Beasts, and adolescent Sea Kings have often greatly disturbed the oceans waves and led to more than one small ship overturning into the sea. In some instances his disruptions have been so severe that one isolationist tribe has come to believe Lorthos to be a deity who actually controls the ocean tides.
[BEWITCHED] Lorthos's mind is not fully his own due to Mira-Jane's influence. His mental traits are being reduced by 90%.
Health: 16,572/16,800
STR: 1,575
VIT: 1,680
DEX: 800 INT: 78 (-90%) = 7.8 WIS: 78 (-90%) = 7.8 LUK: 0 More appendages rise up to swipe at me. All it would take is a single sucker on their underside to make contact and I'm a goner. And yet it just doesn't matter. [Geppo] and [Kami-e] provide me so much freedom of movement, so much airborne nimbility, that the monstrosity really doesn't have a hope of catching me.
A second [Rankyaku] slices through the boneless muscle of another limb and the creature screeches angrily. 'Aww don't worry beastie. That will grow back. Pretty sure.'
I zip and dash around his enraged thrashings until I land atop the curved plane of his head. Drawing the Meito from my back, I stab the sword straight down, earning a sizable spray of blood as a reward. I realize that in reality this is probably the equivalent of stabbing a normal-sized octopus with a toothpick but.. pretty certain they wouldn't like that either.
Lorthos drops into the water, creating a surge of water that nearly overtakes the Bloody Jewel, and raises three tentacles to grab at his own head. I withdraw the blade and evade back into the clouds where Kiwi is circling and attentively watching the action.
The octopus begins to coil his limbs, clearly planning a different tactic, but I have one of my own already in motion. A page I'm shamelessly stealing from Kaku.
'[Rankyaku]: Storm!'
Both legs kick wildly, erratically, slinging dozens upon dozens of smaller weaker [Rankyaku]'s down upon the cephalopod. A tactic like this would never work on a Sea King. Their hide is too thick or their scales too armored. Lorthos however is soft. He may have far more muscle and literal tons of more mass than Slinn Voda did but his only protection is the thin coat of slime on his skin.
The damage notifications fill my vision almost as quickly as the sea-creatures screams do my ears. His limbs move to protect his face only for them to rip and bleed in its place. My heart goes out to the poor animal. I probably should have just gone for the Witch's sword instead, attempted to subdue him that way. Unfortunately I'm committed at this point though. Even as gravity pulls me down I don't let up on barraging the monster with flying slashes.
At least not until the unexpected happens.
Alert! Lorthos has broken free of Mira-jane's influence!
I cut the hailstorm. 'That can happen?'
Alert! Lorthos is retreating!
'Wait, really?' Ding!
Quest Completed!
Quest: Defeat Lorthos, the Tidemaker! Reward: 15,000 Exp.
You have reached Lv. 54!
You have reached Lv. 55!
You have 75 points to spend!
I blink. "Oh! Well... that's a lot more anticlimactic than the last time I fought a giant sea-monster.."
My boots land back down on the floorboards of the pirate vessel to a sight I wasn't expecting. Mira-jane kicking a Seaman in the stomach while parrying the sword of another. Her jeweled cutlass is gone from her grip and instead replaced with the more generic saber Yuriko had been using. The lieutenant herself is off to the side nursing a vicious wound across her shoulder and trying to get back on her feet. All in all the situation is almost a complete reversal of how I left it.
Mira-jane locks onto me and bats the Seaman away with a wild unkempt look in her eye.
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