Read Novel Full Chapter 496: Change in Tactics?
Chapter 496: Change in Tactics?
[12:05 AM]
A swarm of tentacles erupted from the sea, following after a two-headed Leviathan, who struggled under the spiky appendages that dug in between the gaps in its scales.
The Twin-headed Leviathan bit through the tentacles attached to its body, intending to free itself from the sticky clutches of Nearlo, who had risen out of the water beside it.
Nearlo, who had taken the form of an imposing kraken of the sea that rivalled the size of the Leviathan, regrew his tentacles and lashed out at the seabeast.
The single eye on his spear-like head glowed a deep blue as he tried to drag the seabeast under the surface of the water, enduring the scalding pain that appeared with the radiant blue glow from the Leviathan’s struggling body.
Lillian, who watched this happen, continued to clutch the Drowned King’s forearm with an amazed look on her face.
Seeing that the Drowned King was still distracted, Lillian quickly summoned the Black Maw into her right hand and managed to cleave through the arm that still kept a firm hold on her neck.
SWISH.
The Drowned King, noticing something amiss, felt his control over his right arm disappear.
He looked back around and found Lillian plummeting down with his arm that soon fizzled out of existence and returned to him.
Lillian coughed rapidly, her throat sore as she still felt the man’s cold grip on her neck. She was lucky the Captain managed to distract him, otherwise she might’ve had her neck crushed!
Putting back her Black Maw for now, Lillian summoned her shortsword and created a water platform underneath her before looking up and finding the Drowned King diving straight for her.
With a shocked and wide-eyed expression, Lillian activated an enchantment on her boots—[Riptide Dash—that managed to repel her out of the way.
But only barely.
Turning back around to face the Drowned King, who had made an abrupt turn in the air towards her, Lillian pulled out the Regular Cutlass.
With both the cutlass and her shortsword in her hands, Lillian activated an enchantment on her gauntlets.
[Rememberance], an enchantment that would allow her to copy a person’s fighting style she had fought before.
And the target... It was only obvious who it was.
"[3rd Technique of the Crimson Nocturne: Sanguine Waltz]!"
If she used the Captain’s combat style to fight, the Drowned King would ultimately devise a series of counters for each technique. Thus, it would be most logical to turn to another combat style!
Charging forward with the force of a crashing wave with the help of her boots, Lillian began to unleash a spiralling attack.
The Drowned King, having created a harpoon made of water, stabbed forward and watched as Lillian managed to miraculously weave past his thrust.
[12:09 AM]
In mere seconds, Lillian’s body blurred as her movements fell into a dance of slashing arcs. Unfortunately, no Expressions formed from her attack, given that she had copied Marionette, who had yet to enter the Knight stage.
But even so, it was enough to leave the Drowned King surprised.
Weaving in between attacks, Lillian slashed at the man—overlapping her attack with her spin—but was inevitably parried. However, with her sudden change of fighting style, it had left the man subtly befuddled.
Not only was her past rhythm of attack completely gone and replaced with a new one, but the way she fought was far more refined and elegant, as though this was her true way of fighting.
Unlike the Deep Sea Hunter, which specialised in a larger area of attacks, this one was different. Lillian was now aiming for areas that would be considered lethal for a normal human—his fatal "organs".
[12:16 AM]
As Lillian continued to dance with the Drowned King, Nearlo and the Leviathan were having one of their own under the surface of the water.
Scales were torn off, severed tentacles lingered in the water as blood oozed out of them, bite and puncture marks covered their bodies as they tangled with one another.
It was difficult to see who was winning, but one thing was certain... Nearlo was giving the Leviathan trouble—and a large amount of it.
It won’t be long until the result of their battle comes.
SWISH!
Both Lillian and her attacks buzzed with electricity as she managed to side-step one of the Drowned King’s casual attacks again; he seemed not to take her as seriously yet.
’That’ll change soon!’
Once managing to avoid his step, Lillian yelled out:
"[5th Technique of the Crimson Nocturne: Lament of Thorns]!"
Calling out the name of a technique that acted as a counter, Lillian lashed her swords at the stretched-out arm of the Drowned King with keen precision.
With mixed attacks between puncturing and slashes, Lillian carved through the arm of the Drowned King in mere seconds—albeit not doing much damage.
However.
That wasn’t to say her attack was futile.
With a deep purple glow around her body, Lillian applied a randomised curse on the Drowned King’s body before backing away.
Bleeding, Slowness, Shocking.
These were the three curses that could be applied to a target. Luckily, for a target that had no blood and wasn’t that affected by electricity, the curse of slowness was inflicted.
As the one-on-one fight between her and the Drowned King continued, she could feel her strength continue to rise with the effects of [Desperate Resolve], which increased her physical stats by 1% each second when she was desperate.
And right now... She was more than desperate to win.
"[1st Technique of the Crimson Nocturne: First Bloom]!"
They can win this!
"[2nd Technique of the Crimson Nocturne: Thorn’s Kiss]!"
They all can win this!
"[3rd Technique of the Crimson Nocturne: Sanguine Waltz]!"
If everyone played their part, then they could win!
Lillian pulled back her arm for a wide, horizontal slash and yelled:
"[4th Technique of the Crimson Nocturne: Scarlet Embrace]!"
With a step forward, she made a sweeping slash that caused a deep gash to appear on the side of the Drowned King’s Harpoon.
’We’ll all get out of here alive...!’
And return to their loved ones in one piece!
Preparing herself, Lillian crossed her weapons over each other with a bright blue glow in her eyes as she activated her boots’ enchantment once again, except in several sequences.
The Drowned King, who had felt as though his body had become rather sluggish and slow, found himself frowning as he watched Lillian rush in for another attack.
"[6th Technique of the Crimson Nocturne: Bloodbloosom Mirage]!"
Dashing forward in a blur, Lillian appeared before the Drowned King before quickly disappearing—appearing around him—and delivering multiple deep slashes in near-simultaneous sequences.
The Drowned King, who had raised his harpoon to block these slashes, found the air around him tighten before sharpening.
In an instant, he began to feel as though the air itself was attacking him, cutting into him.
[12:20 AM]
Lillian felt her muscles become rapidly sore as the negative effects of the Crimson Nocturne affected her body. Unlike last time when she used it, she had something as a source for her regeneration.
But now...
’Crap...’
She was feeling the full force of its consequences.
Soon enough, blood began to leak out of Lillian’s left nostril as her eyes became bloodshot. Her muscles felt like they were on fire as they flexed and died at a rapid rate. Due to using so many techniques of the Crimson Nocturne in such a small span of time, this was the backlash.
But it was worth it, because with this attack, she had managed to inflict direct wounds on the flaming body of the Drowned King, who quickly healed himself.
’What a pain... Is this what it was like to fight me?’
Even if her body and internal workings were in turmoil because of the Crimson Nocturne, it didn’t matter.
Because she...
’I...’
Need to keep on moving forward and apply pressure, at least until Nearlo was done with his own battle to assist her!
Upon summoning another platform to stand on, Lillian twisted herself around to get a good look at the Drowned King. And what she was met with was a death glare that caused her breath to hitch.
The Drowned King, even though immune to pain, couldn’t help but feel the flame that made up his body burn with rage at the humiliation of being hit with an attack.
Especially to someone far weaker than him!
Even if he was going easy on her to analyse her attacks, this was too much of an embarrassment!
Lillian, who felt as though the entire world around her darkened, felt a soul-crushing pressure fall upon her. She immediately fell onto her knees, her face dripping with sweat as it took all of her willpower to at least keep the platform stable.
In that exact moment that her weakness showed, the Drowned King took a step forward and drew his fist back.
"[1st Technqiue of the Abyssal Harpoon: Tidefist of the First Harrow...]"
DUM!