CHAPTER 25: | FALL OF THE SOUTHERN LORD
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Whizz!
The sound echoed as the immense stalk of kelp shuddered violently, its fronds whipping like mad tentacles in an unseen, supernatural current.
Clack!
Clack!
The sound of heavy, rhythmic thuds vibrated through the water, a massive presence vanishing before my eyes could perceive its form.
Shook!
The dense stalks of kelp trees reeled and swayed, disgorging clouds of disturbed sediment as a colossal figure loomed directly above me, blotting out the faint light from the surface.
Was it a being about ten meters in height and width?
No, it was beyond that.
It was truly colossal, as massive as a mountain itself, three times my size.
It was a gargantuan beast, fifty meters long, a living mountain of scaled flesh that swallowed the distant light, its sheer bulk creating a pressure wave that rippled around me.
Its iridescent golden eyes gleamed with cruelty as its jagged maw slammed into my flesh.
Crack!
Pain exploded across my nerves, as a white-hot agony as blood billowed out from my hands, staining the water in swirling crimson plumes.
But it was all futile.
My hands pulsed with a fierce orange hue, shimmering with liquid heat as molten magma coated them, turning them a vibrant, incandescent gold that glowed violently.
Hiss!
A deafening hiss, sizzled the water around me frothed and churned, steam coiling as my palm smashed into its teeth, shattering it's bone and enamel with effortless ease.
My eyes dilated into predatory slits as the tips of my nails sliced through its flesh and thick hide as if it were air.
An incandescent orange fissure erupted across its face.
Splash!
Blood gushed from its mouth in a crimson geyser, its tongue and facial skin cleaved in half with sickening ease.
My hands, enhanced with molten gold, could easily tear apart a small mountain.
But what about focusing that power into a point, into a line to cut something?
The result was this devastation before me.
Its tongue was cut in half without disturbing the forest of kelp, so as not to attract more monsters.
Now the beast before me ran with its tail tucked between its legs as it shimmered and blurred, its colossal form melting into the dense stalks of kelp.
But it was a futile attempt.
Hiss!
Molten magma gathered above my palm, condensing into a sphere that pulsed with incandescent light as it compressed again and again.
It became something impressive, something powerful, hissing softly as it spun around my palm, its velocity climbing.
Slowly, I propelled myself upward to see where that bastard was rushing.
With its massive body, surely it would cause a disturbance on its way.
"I see, so it's heading deeper, huh. Quite troubling, but this couldn't be helped."
Hiss!
The sphere of molten magma in my palm had now turned into a blur as it spun faster and faster.
I closed my eyes, calmed myself, and gathered my thoughts.
Then I opened them, gazed at its tracks, and sighed.
"Quantum Displacement."
Time seemed to halt as I activated 'Quantum Displacement.'
My form blurred, then vanished, as I used 'The Heavenly Claw of the Mad Demon, Fierce Tiger' to push 'Quantum Displacement' to its limits.
Boom!
The water exploded from a kick as my form vanished, then flickered from kelp to kelp, closing my distance in a matter of seconds.
I gazed at the fleeing figure of the Lord of the South as I snorted.
"Time for you to meet your creator, dumb beast!"
'Quaking Pounce.'
My form flickered a few meters in front of it as my palm glowed with an incandescent orange light.
My palm slammed into its nose.
In that instant, the sphere made of molten magma detonated without warning.
The nonexistent air around me incinerated, and the water boiled away in an instant, replaced by an expanding void of superheated vapor.
Boom!
An orange light blazed, visible for miles.
The whole area convulsed from the impact.
The stalks of kelp and seagrass surrounding us whipped wildly, then shriveled and blackened, dissolving into the water in hazy, greenish plumes.
"Truly... this firepower is beyond what I've imagined."
I clenched my hands.
"Perhaps with this, killing a king... would now be possible."
I gazed at the destruction before me.
The kelp hundreds of meters away was obliterated by the heat of my attack.
My eyes gleamed with anticipation as I kicked the charred body of the Lord of the South before me, a smile curving onto my lips.
"This should be edible, right?"
I lifted its fin, then smelled it.
A smile curved onto my lips as my mouth opened, and I took my first bite of the burnt carcass before me.
"Yuck, it's quite disgusting, especially the charred part, as it's gritty and acrid... but the tender, soft meat of this bastard is quite deliciously good. It melted on my tongue, bursting with a savory, almost sweet richness that I hadn't expected."
I licked my lips in delight.
"I would love to cook this right now, but sadly, I don't have any equipment, and I'm under the water right now."
Haaaa.
"Truly, I couldn't cook it right now, such a waste!"
A smirk bloomed on my face.
"But overall, it's delicious, with just the hassle of removing the charred part."
My hands moved with precision as 'Mantis State' was activated, and my senses heightened to their peak, allowing my hands to pick the charred part with ease.
While the other hand fed me with delight, it felt like I was in heaven right now eating such a delicacy.
Hands seemed to protrude from my back, making me look like an asura, when it was just the speed of my hands moving, creating such an illusion.
"Such a shame... I would love it if there were booze or wine here, but sadly, there are no such things down here."
Hours seemed to pass like grains falling from an hourglass, as nothing but the charred part of the Lord of the South remained.
I devoured its bones for their marrow and nutrients.
"I can't be picky if I want to become stronger."
My eyes gleamed with anticipation of what this beast would offer me.
Would it offer me a powerful skill?
Or perhaps not?
Maybe a core to increase the potency of my fire-type skill?
It was a mystery I would like to dabble in, but it seems we have an intruder.