Read Novel Full Chapter 504: The Otherside? [6]
Chapter 504: The Otherside? [6]
The Drowned King, waving off the blood on his harpoon, was immediately met afterwards with a newly recovered Jungle Lord.
CLANG!
While Viesta tried to nurse Emilio’s fatal wound and tried to stop the bleeding, but... to no avail.
Viesta quickly tore off Emilio’s cloak from his shoulders and wrapped it around his abdomen tightly, trying her best to seal the gaping hole in his gut with a serious expression.
She couldn’t crumble in fear here, not when she was still healthy and Emilio was in need of her help! They had already lost one; she couldn’t lose another!
Viesta glanced at the door, gazing at it with a gloomy expression as she bit her lower lip.
From what she had gathered, only the Drowned King had access to open or close this door; most likely, with his death, it would open on its own.
But what then, what if they somehow won? They would still have to face the countless dozens or even hundreds of undead pirates outside...!
Was this... A trap? Did Lillian set them up?
No... She wouldn’t, especially not for foolish reasons like treasure. She didn’t seem like the person to betray others for something so simple...
Gritting her teeth with no idea in mind, Viesta looked towards the Jungle Lord and his battle with the Drowned King, who was buying them time to think of something.
CLANG!
Now, without his battle axe or spear, he only had Lillian’s greatsword as a weapon to use.
At first, he was able to hold his own due to his strength and speed that seemed to be comparable to the Drowned King, who stated that he was operating at 30% of his power, but as time went on... It got drastically harder.
The Regular Greatsword, a weapon with a curse to grow ever heavier to the wielder’s mind with each parry made or made against it and with each attack made with it.
FWOOSH!
The Drowned King watched as the Jungle Lord began to bounce across the hall of his temple with exceptional speed. He analysed the monster’s swift movements and made preemptive movements to parry his strikes.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Like a monkey leaping through the branches of jungle trees, the Jungle Lord leapt from pillar to pillar, only coming down when he noticed a gap in the Drowned King’s guard.
Although that was easier said than done, for the Drowned King’s Combat Style seemed to be on a far higher calibre compared to the Deep Sea Hunter Style.
If the Deep Sea Hunter represented an imposing wave that destroyed everything, then the Abyssal Harpoon would represent a stray thunderbolt that would pierce a hole through the wave!
The Drowned King’s attacks were swift and precise, always striking their mark.
FWOOP!
With a single mistake, the Jungle Lord was unable to block another strike and lost a part of himself—a hole where his stomach would be.
However, that was part of his plan.
His blood, which was laced with blades of grass, had now partially covered the entire inside of the temple.
Why was that a good thing? Well, that was because... They acted as budding vines.
Vines that he can rapidly grow and expand!
The Drowned King paused in the centre of the temple hall, looking around as the pillars around him had begun to become wrapped in thick vines that pulsed with energy.
With that singular moment of curiosity, he was suddenly surrounded by vines that shot towards them with speeds nearing bullets.
But as expected, the Drowned King’s physical prowess was enough to allow him to react at this speed, enabling him to slice through the vines with ease.
However, that changed once the Jungle Lord was put into the mix.
CLANG!
Now, he wasn’t only being attacked by the vines, but also by the Jungle Lord!
Who—
SWISH!
—Was able to land one attack that drew blood.
Drip... Drip...
The Regular Greatsword, which now psychologically weighed roughly close to a minivan, was dripping in blood as it was able to land a shallow diagonal slash mark on the Drowned King’s chest.
Step... Step...
The Drowned King took two consecutive steps back as he held a hand to his chest and found his hand painted red.
He... Was injured...
The Jungle Lord’s eyes flashed with white before quickly shifting to a dark greenish colour. He can deal actual damage! It was possible!
Usually, when one would want to protect themselves from harm, they would deploy a layer of mana to stop the attack from landing on them.
However.
Having seen Viesta be able to pierce through the back of the Drowned King with the nail and Nearlo’s Eclipse Beam do some form of damage, the Wendigo was able to conclude one thing...
The Drowned King was purposely withholding the right to use his mana! As long as he could catch the Sea King by surprise or when he lowered his guard, he would be able to draw more blood!
Which would mean... He would be able to claim victory over the Drowned King!
That was what he lived for, after all... It was his birthright!
Victory!
He desired nothing more than victory!
Moving with immense speed once again, albeit slowed by his greatsword, the Jungle Lord continued to test and prove his theory with the help of his ever-growing vines.
By now, he had already claimed the inside of the temple as his!
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Cuts after cuts landed on the Drowned King’s body, each drawing thin lines of blood—not enough to kill him, but irritating to anger him.
[12:32 AM]
Casting a brief gaze towards Viesta and Emilio, he found the young man’s face was becoming paler and paler by the millisecond.
He was running out of time.
Moving with even greater speed, the Jungle Lord tried to finish this as fast as he could.
CLANG!
The Drowned King, blocking another attack, felt his composure faltering slightly. Why was he being pushed back? By a beast on two legs no less?
Even if 30% of his physical prowess was on par with a low-level three-Shelled Waver, that should be enough to take care of this bunch of riff-raffs!
...
"You’ve gained some worth, Blesseds..."
He had enough of this farce.
[12h: 32m: 42s]
Before the minute could even end, something unexpected erupted from the Drowned King—it was a Mana Pulse!
The Jungle Lord, who was rushing the Drowned King from behind without him knowing, felt it wash over him. Then, he suddenly watched as the Drowned King twisted his entire body around.
FWIP-BOOM!
His harpoon shot through the air with enough force to cause a sonic boom, ripping through the Jungle Lord’s left arm.
[12h: 32m: 44s]
The Jungle Lord retreated, only to return to attack after reattaching his arm. But no matter what he did, the Drowned King would always be able to locate him!
[12h: 32m: 50s]
FWIP-BOOM!
It was only after losing his arm again that the Jungle Lord decided to enact a different tactic.
After reattaching his arm again, he commanded all the vines he had access to around the hall to charge towards the Drowned King from all sides—making sure to give him no wiggle room!
Looking around, the Drowned King found himself trapped in an enclosing spike of stake-shaped vines. Not even a sliver of a gap was between these vines.
But.
Without anyone there to hear or see it, he muttered something under his breath before moving into a stance.
Mana, unlike before, rushed through his entire body in a single second, pulsating at the rhythm of his heart. Then, on beat with his heart, his body began to blur as his harpoon lashed and stabbed outwards in all directions.
The Jungle Lord, having willed all of the surrounding vines to attack, watched as the ground beneath him turned murky before spinning like some kind of illusory vortex.
An illusory vortex of both ink and black seawater originated from where the Drowned King was.
With caution, the Jungle Lord immediately retreated. But unfortunately...
[12h: 32m: 53s]
He was too late as the vortex suddenly exploded outwards.
The vines that surrounded the Drowned King from all sides were ripped and shredded apart as a storm of illusory harpoons, numbering hundreds, shot outwards omnidirectionally.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Too slow to dodge, the Jungle Lord’s entire body was ripped apart. His deer-skull head, his skinny and lanky body, his pale bones and heart...
Viesta shielded Emilio’s body from the waves of harpoons shot towards them, managing to miss them by an inch of hair. And carried along with their journey was the remains of the Jungle Lord, still clutching the Regular Greatsword that had yet to awaken...
THUD!
Crashing against the double doors, he laid still.
Viesta, frightened by the state he was in, immediately looked towards the Drowned King, who shrugged off the remains of vines on his body. He then began to slowly make his way towards the invaders.
Quickly pulling out her Soundblaster and revolver, she fired them off simultaneously.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Click-DING!
Click-DING![12h: 33m: 0s]
Besides, only causing the Drowned King to pause in his steps, Viesta barely did any damage besides irritating his already bloody wounds.
BANG! BANG! Click...!
Viesta, hearing her revolver run out of bullets, fished inside her spatial rings for more, but then realised... She had run out...
"Shit!"
Wrapping an arm around Emilio, she crawled back, continuing to fire her Soundblaster in hopes of putting down the Drowned King with it. But... She knew that wouldn’t ever happen...
Click-DING!
Upon taking another sound blast head-on, the Drowned King shrugged it off without a smidge of discomfort on his face.
On the contrary, it seemed as though he was annoyed, while almost amused at the same time by Viesta’s efforts to survive.
A cornered rat that was approached by a monster many times stronger than her.
[12h: 33m: 10s]
But as all things that crossed the Drowned King’s way, Viesta and the others would soon fall to the pressure of the sea.
In the next moment, without warning, mana exploded out from the Drowned King in a translucent dome, rushing towards them with malevolent intent.
An offensive Mana Pulse!
Viesta, without any other way but her wings to shield herself, folded them around her and Emilio with a fearful heart and closed eyes.
...
But what she had expected next shocked her beyond belief.
The weight of Emilio’s body vanished, as though he never existed, and had somehow escaped her clutches, only to be replaced with a fist-sized metal nail and a feathery black cloak.
Noticing the change, Viesta opened her eyes and was met with a barrier of blinding light mixed in with pure darkness—dark enough to make her gaslight herself into thinking she was blind!
But.
Her direction of thinking soon shifted towards one singular and important question. Where had the barrier of light and darkness come from?
...
It was none other than Emilio Von Nightraven, the wielder of the Eclipse Element. And currently lingering inside his mouth was a dissolving blue pill that infused mana into his core, causing him to overflow with it!
Standing on his own two feet, with one foot past death’s door, Emilio pushed back against the Drowned King’s crushing Mana Pulse that knocked against his Eclipse Barrier.
Drip... Drip...
As blood continued to leak out of the fist-sized hole through his gut, he took a single step forward, trying to push against the Mana Pulse pushing down on his barrier.
But even if with the boost given to him by the pill, he was forced back—the bones in his arms feeling the weight his barrier was experiencing.
His eyes and mind were flickering between consciousness and unconsciousness. And he knew the moment he fell asleep, then... That would be it.
No second chance to wake up ever again...
’So, that’s why...’
"I... *cough!* can’t die now...!"
Coughing blood, Emilio gritted his blood-stained teeth as he tried to take another step forward. But as if he was being pushed back by the wind, he stumbled back again.
Despite his noble lineage, he had barely been able to do anything with it other than flaunt the wealth and fame of his family. He was a black sheep and a good-for-nothing who was sheltered from the world by his two sisters and parents.
So, that’s why...
He wanted to finally do something that he could be proud of—something he knew he had tried without the constant need for protection from his family!
Even if he might not be able to live past this day...
Even if he might not be able to see his family again or take revenge for his Bodyguard...
He would at least be able to die with pride that even the weakest of the Nightravens was able to land several blows on a member of the Four Mighty Sea Kings!
[12h: 33m: 20s]