Read Novel Full Chapter 497: "Maybe... I should just give up...?"
Chapter 497: "Maybe... I should just give up...?"
"[1st Technique of the Abyssal Harpoon: Tidefist of the First Harrow...]"
Having moved into a jabbing stance, the Drowned King shot his fist forward, his muscles flexing as an air cone erupted behind his swing.
His fist dangerously neared Lillian’s face before quickly redirecting to the centre of her chestplate.
Was it out of the kindness of his heart that he went for her chestplate instead of her face? Or chivalry?
DUM!
At this given moment, Lillian wasn’t given much of a chance to wonder why as she felt the space around her fold in on her body from the mighty blow.
The living coral of her chestplate dented inwards from the force of his punch, trying their best to resist the tremendous strength behind the punch.
And as they did this, an invasion of venomous black foam leapt from his fist, making their way in between the gaps in the coral and infecting it.
The Drowned King’s knuckles, which had formed illusory tips of a harpoon, punctured through the chestplate—almost reaching Lillian.
However, as though from the grace of the gods, the sharp illusory tips didn’t reach her as she was thrown back several hundred metres.
Lillian became a ragdoll as her arms and legs struggled to gain control due to the speed at which she was moving.
SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH...!
[12:24 AM]
Bouncing along the surface of the water, Lillian’s body began to spin and flip backwards.
She gritted her teeth, felt both the need to throw up and catch her breath—she felt suffocated.
The punch had caused her to feel winded! Even a bit... Lightheaded as her blood began rushing to her head from her flipping...
Crack... Crack...
And with each bounce along the water, Lillian’s chestplate began to crack from the inside as the black illusory foam began to take root.
Due to the enchantment, [Dried Coral], which granted the armour more resistance to physical and water-based attacks, she was able to survive that fatal blow that wouldn’t have ripped a hole through her chest.
But.
The chestplate wasn’t some high-grade piece of gear that would allow her to survive against all of the Drowned King’s attacks.
Just because it managed to protect her from one named attack didn’t mean it would save her again.
The evidence for this would be the black illusory foam that acted as some sort of venom and sickness for the living coral, causing them to transition to a darker and more sickly colour.
However.
Like most things, it came to an end.
SPLASH...
With Lillian’s last bounce, she fell into the water with a dazed and pale look on her face. She felt like she wanted to hurl.
Upon becoming submerged underwater, her armour began to fight back against the illusory black form like it had suddenly developed antibodies against it.
It had even begun to go as far as to repair the damage inflicted on it and cause Lillian’s aching body to become less fatigued, regaining energy.
This was the work of [Sea Rejuvenation], the chestplate’s second enchantment that only took effect once underwater.
After recovering herself, Lillian created an air bubble around her head and thirstily breathed in the air.
’Almost died!’
[12:26 AM]
As she was filling her lungs with air, she felt the water around her suddenly become turbulent and erratic. She looked around and immediately moved out of the way as a massive tentacle swung past her.
Lillian looked off to the side and found a titanic kraken wrestling a two-headed leviathan, who had now lost all of its eyes.
They were still tussling it out.
After the kraken wrangled its tentacles around the leviathan’s left neck, it opened its giant black beak and bit into it—biting through the worn-out shell of the two-headed serpent.
They seemed to be nearing the end of their brawl.
Lillian immediately began to swim away from their battle, not willing to disturb them before having her ears twitch to a loud splash.
She gazed up and found the Drowned King breaching through the surface of the water, diving towards her and grabbing her by the left arm.
Stunned and startled, Lillian tried to swing the cutlass—she wielded in her right hand—at the man, but found herself beginning to spin.
The water above them began to swirl inwards, gradually forming a large whirlpool. And after a minute, a human was thrown out from the very centre of its spin.
[12:27 AM]
Lillian was thrown high into the air, 10 to 20 metres at least.
"Ptui-!"
Spitting out the water in her mouth, Lillian felt the gravity of the Mana Realm suddenly take an abrupt turn.
The gravity that had once pushed everything towards the sea was now pushing everything that wasn’t the sea upwards—including her, the two bloodied kaijus!
Looking back and staring at the coral roof, which she was destined to land on soon at the speed she was moving, Lillian readied herself.
Or...
That was what she wanted to do.
DUNG!
Lillian grunted, parrying a strike from the Drowned King, who had already chased her up to her current location.
Unable to create a water platform, Lillian battled the Drowned King in the air, but ultimately struggled, unlike before.
Because...
[12:29 AM]
10 Minutes had long already passed; the duration of her gauntlet’s copying enchantment.
Without the Crimson Nocturne or the ability to dodge in the air, she was soon overwhelmed. And the Drowned King knew this within only two moves.
Lillian swung her swords once more, intending to push back against the Drowned King, but found herself parried and even—
SWISH!
"SHIT!"
—Disarmed.
With a single swipe of the Drowned King’s water harpoon, he had caused her to lose a grip on her weapons, causing them to fly off into two different locations and land on the coral roof.
Without her weapons, Lillian’s eyes flashed with fear as she raised her gauntlets in defence. And at the same time, shielded her body with a thick layer of solid mana.
The Drowned King saw this and quietly muttered with narrowed eyes, surprising Lillian:
"Futile effort..."
Taking a stance in the air, he moved with blurring speed as he began to stab rapidly towards Lillian, who wasn’t able to react in time.
PSHT! PSHT! PSHT!
Within mere seconds, holes began to appear through her chestplate and... flesh, puncturing through her body.
Her chestplate, which had tried its best to defend against the rapid stabs, was rendered useless as it suddenly broke apart into a cloud of reflective dust.
{A Shard has been Shattered.}
"PUAGHK!"
Blood erupted from Lillian’s mouth, the scent and taste of iron painting the inside of her mouth as the Drowned King delivered one stab towards her shoulder, piercing through it.
And with that stab, the gravity around her intensified, causing her to fall back even faster and—
DUM!
—Crash into the harsh ceiling of vibrant pink and blue coral.
Close to them, the two kaijus crashed onto the coral ceiling as well, falling on top of each other; bloodied and severely wounded from their brutal battle in the sea.
The Drowned King paid them no mind, not even showing a care for the condition of his mount as he stood over Lillian and yanked his water harpoon out of her shoulder.
He then stared down at the girl, who laid sprawled underneath him with a dazed look in her eyes.
Her body, which was littered with narrow—but deep holes—still carried the breath of life.
Seeing this, the Drowned King slowly held the tip of his harpoon over the area next to her heart; her Mana Core.
It was said a person’s Mana Core would also remain in a spiritual and intangible state unless the person were to use their mana.
Thus, whenever the Mana Core would become a solid state, it would also be in a state where the destruction of it could cause the person to become crippled forever.
This... This was what the Drowned King was intending to achieve—crippling Lillian of her mana and...
"You shall make a great addition to my army..."
... To resurrect her as an undead.
"Give up, human... Any last words...?"
Lillian heard this, half consciously, and smiled slightly as her mind started to become foggy.
The pain was unbearable, like knives and spears stabbing not only her body but also her mind... She felt suffocated and freezing at the same time.
This... This might actually be the day that she died...
’And not even in a cool way...’
"Ha—... ha..."
Lillian gave a hoarse and self-deprecating laugh as her vision of the Drowned King began to blur and worsen. It felt... A bit cold...
Ah... Was this what dying slowly was like? Unlike being killed instantly by that truck all those months ago...
’Was this similar to what mom felt...? I don’t like it...’
If this was what dying slowly felt like, then... Maybe she should’ve let her mother pass peacefully instead of making her endure it with medicine that barely even helped her...
{The Shard [Regular’s Last Grasp] had awoken—...
It was because of her selfishness that she wanted to prolong her mother’s life as long as she could... It was also this selfishness that was about to get her and everyone else in this Trial killed...
Lillian, who was trying to stop the bleeding with her mana, stopped her efforts as a crestfallen look appeared on her face.
... It will now begin a temporary takeover.}
’Maybe... I should just give up...’
If selfishness were a sin, then she might as well repent by allowing herself to get killed, right...?
Wasn’t that something people used to do to repent for their sins?
...
’Yeah, right.’
The Drowned King, who stopped waiting for Lillian’s last words, moved to administer the killing blow with a stab to her Mana Core.
But then—
Schwoop!
—A random fresh corpse of a plump monstrous boar appeared right beside them.
He raised an eyebrow, wondering where it had appeared from, but then focused his gaze on Lillian’s arm, who was slowly and weakly reaching towards it, wrapped in a sleeve of mana.
Once Lillian’s hand landed on the furry hide of the boar, translucent lines shot out of her arm and injected themselves into its body.
{The Enchantment [Clutch Instinct] had been Activated—Error}
The Drowned King turned his eyes back down to Lillian’s face, locking eyes with her, who glared back with a glittering glow of determination in her eyes.
"G-give up...?" Lillian repeated with a growl before shouting, "Give up!?"
Did she get this far by giving up? Did she go through every little pain she had experienced just to give up?!
In a parallel world, she might’ve given up on the Entrance Exam because it was too hard. But if she did, how would she have gotten into the Paragon class with everyone else?
How would she have entered into her Second Trial with Marionette and birthed a seed of relationship between them?
Did she stay weak by giving up? No. She didn’t! In fact, every moment she felt like giving up, she didn’t! She kept pushing forward; she kept on getting stronger!
Life waits for no one, and she didn’t expect it to wait for her to make up her mind! She spent too long in this Trial already, and unlike in her past life, she had someone waiting for her back home!
Lots of people, in fact! She wasn’t alone anymore!
So... She can’t just give up now... She can’t ever! Because...
"Giving up... IS FOR LOSERS!"
The Drowned King, watching as Lillian had begun to heal the fatal wounds in her body, was shocked but also annoyed.
Gripping his harpoon, he spat:
"Futile!"
He then stabbed down towards Lillian’s Mana Core, causing her to momentarily close her eyes in fear.
With the position she was in, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to dodge or block it.
But—
"YAR THINK I WOULD STAND ASIDE AND LET YAR KILL ONE OF MY CREWMATE?"
DUNG!
—That didn’t mean she had to be the one to stop it.
"IT’S ABOUT TIME I SHOW YAR ALL THE TRUE POWER OF A PIRATE OF THE BLACKBEARD CUTLASS!"
[12:31 AM]