Read Novel Full Chapter 506: Abyssal Reckoning? [1]
Chapter 506: Abyssal Reckoning? [1]
[12:35 AM]
Shudder. Shudder.
As the Mana Realm of the Drowned King continued to tremble, the Sea King was going through a predicament of his own.
The spiritual flames that made up his ethereal body had begun to become loose, flickering at the tether to his physical body, and ceased to exist.
Through the eyes of his other self, he had realised that his Mana Core had been destroyed!
"WHAT’S WRONG, DROWNED KING!? SOMETHING WRONG WITH YAR MANA CORE!?" Nearlo took a step forward, pressing his thumb against the area beside his heart with a mocking grin.
Twirling the black swords in his hand, Nearlo took another step, whilst throwing a glance back at Lillian to find her still healing her wounds and possibly even mana.
He needed to buy time.
"Yar had another body, didn’t yar!? Most likely in a weakened state from yar confrontation with the Storm, ain’t that right? It must be filled with the Storm King’s soul poisons, is it not?"
He took another step forward, continuing to watch as the Drowned King’s spiritual body became unsteady by the second.
"To avoid any further damage, yar split yarself apart from yar physical body... I know first-hand the terror of damage to the soul, but I also know one more thing."
He then stopped in place.
"The soul cannot exist outside one’s body unless held together with a tether... Since the very moment I attacked yar, I realised one thing, yar were rather stingy with the use of yar mana...
"It is said that Sea Kings were granted an unprecedented mana reserve and mana restoration. But here’s the thing, yar aren’t showing any of those rumoured features..."
Raising the black cutlass towards the Drowned King, Nearlo’s smirk broadened even wider.
He then shouted:
"SO, HERE’S MY THEORY! TO KEEP YAR SOUL ALIVE, BUT OUT OF YAR BODY, YAR RESORTED TO USING YAR VERY OWN MANA AS A TETHER!"
The Drowned King, who had now stood up from his kneeling, cringed at what he heard, which led Nearlo to believe that his theory was right—and it indeed was correct.
From his war against the Storm King, he was left with a ravenous soul-eating poison that was still lingering on his physical body.
And by creating a tether made solely by mana, his spiritual body was able to exist outside as long as his body still continued to absorb mana from the environment around it.
However, due to the injuries he sustained, the rate at which he used to restore mana was a far cry from what it was in the past. Thus far, he had already burned through 6 months’ worth of mana.
Without his tether to his now-destroyed Mana Core, he was now on track to perish! Currently, the hovering crown above his head was keeping him together—an artifact that was capable of storing mana.
For without it, he would surely perish; souls cannot restore mana on their own without a mana core.
He had at most 5 hours until his soul perishes, but.
That was if he held back from using mana.
However... With his current situation, he didn’t have that sort of luxury.
"You... Human. What is your name and affiliation with Noah’s Ark?"
"Yar wish to know my name?" Nearlo smirked, "If yar wish to know the name of the one who put yar down, like some dog, then remember this name when yar get to hell..."
Moving into the Deep Sea Hunter stance, Nearlo shouted:
"I AM NEARLO FARLAND! THE SUCCESSOR OF THE BLACKBEARD CUTLASS OF NOAH’S ARK!"
The Drowned King watched as Nearlo moved into a fighting stance, but that wasn’t what got his attention.
It was instead... His name, more specifically, his last name...
"A Farland...? The Farland of the Blackbeard Cutlass...? So, that bastard William had a child after all these years..." The Drowned King’s eyes turned sharp as his spiritual flaming body and crown glowed maliciously.
The Sea King’s bloodthirst drenched the air and flooded the surroundings, startling Nearlo a bit as he watched a harpoon made of water manifest in the Drowned King’s hand.
"It seems it was fate for us to meet, then, Child of the Farland... But, I can’t help but pity the fact you must atone for your father’s sins."
As Nearlo was about to inquire the meaning of the Sea King’s words, he watched as the Drowned King leapt towards him, crossing over 20 metres in an instant with his harpoon raised for attack!
Seeing that it was time to get his get-back—
"KAHAHAHA! ATONEMENT OF SINS?! I COULD SAY THE SAME FOR YOU!".
—Nearlo couldn’t help but laugh wildly as he swung his cutlass, clashing with the Drowned King.
[12h: 36m: 20s]
BOOM!
A thunderous shockwave exploded out from their clash, causing the already fractured coral around them to crack and blow outwards.
And in that moment, both eyes of the two men glowed with a burning light to reign victory over the other, determined to end the other’s life!
With those thoughts in mind, the moment their weapons disengaged, they immediately began to move with extreme speed, crossing over the coral ground beneath them.
They chased after each other, unwilling to give the other even the slightest moment of rest between each attack.
In the past, Nearlo would’ve been too slow to catch up to the Drowned King, but with Lillian’s shortsword, he had managed to barely cross the line needed to reach the hateful Sea King.
With their speedy and rapid attacks, they had also employed the use of Mana Pulses in their mix.
Like flashing lights, translucent domes of mana exploded out from their bodies within short intervals; either tearing up the ground or being used as a radar to detect each other’s next attack or location.
Not only that, but they employed their other abilities in the battle.
The Drowned King, no longer stingy with his mana reserves, summoned a crushing pressure that would crush a human flat and a storm of water projectiles with... Ice in the mix?
The Drowned King, just like Nearlo, had already reached the stage of Mana King, but it was more accurate to say that he was a stage above Nearlo—a Mana Emperor!
With both water, ice, and a crushing pressure mixed in with his attacks, how could Nearlo possibly dodge all of them?
...
{Request: Element of Transformation -> Element of Change granted}
Through branching his element off into a different concept, he was able to seamlessly dodge these attacks by an inch of hair.
By swapping places with destroyed pieces of coral, he was able to contend with the Drowned King’s speed even further!
[12h: 36m: 59s]
The Drowned King gripped his water harpoon with both hands before moving into a thrusting stance.
"[5th Technique of the Abyssal Harpoon: Surge of a Thousand Fangs]!"
Nearlo, hearing this, immediately moved into a stabbing stance of his own, albeit awkward at first.
"[2ND TECHNIQUE OF THE DEEP SEA HUNTER: HARPOON THRUST]!"
In the next 20 seconds, two storms made of illusory harpoons collided between Nearlo and the Drowned King.
The storms were filled with illusory harpoons numbering in the hundreds, closing in on the thousands as the two—
"HRAAAHHH!" x2
—Stabbed with all their might and speed, their eyes glowing even brighter as the fight went on.
The illusory harpoons that were hit off course collided with the ground, ripping it apart as shattered pieces of coral flew into the air—blown away by the shockwaves.
However, that was not all that happened to them.
In the middle of his stabbing, the Drowned King summoned another Mana Pulse that sensed the flying coral around him. Then, a millisecond after sensing them, mana became wrapped around the coral.
Mana that didn’t belong to him.
In that moment of discovery, he watched as a chain of explosions around him appeared—all originating from the coral that was ripped apart by the storms of illusory harpoons.
But the one behind it? It was the Nearlo!
With Unorthodox Elements like his, unless he was near or had direct contact with what he wanted to transform, he wouldn’t be able to apply his mana onto them remotely.
But now? He could definitely do it!
In the middle of his stabs and emitting Mana Pulses to dodge the Drowned King’s stabs, Nearlo had begun to explode the flying bits of coral around the Drowned King.
[12h: 37m: 19s]
The two broke away from their competition of stabbing and escaped the massive smoke cloud that appeared with the explosions of shattered coral, which detonated like activated grenades—coral shrapnel flying everywhere.
They raced across the area, causing thunderous cracks and—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
—Hundreds of explosions to appear all over the coral ceiling, which had already begun to fall apart the moment the Drowned King’s mana core was shattered.
By now, both of them were injured to an extent.
The Drowned King, reluctant to expend mana to heal his injuries, was covered in shallow and deep slash marks, while Nearlo was more or less the same, with the difference being that he was bleeding.
But that wasn’t the only difference, for the Drowned King’s injuries pulsated a deep purple light as electricity sparked over him.
Curses inflicted by the black cutlass.
The two curses, Shock and Bleeding, held no value against the Drowned King, but the last curse did—Slowness.
After several brief clashes, they soon charged at each other head-on, clashing and unleashing a flurry of blows onto each other.
Through continuous and persistent attacks, Nearlo had managed to drag the Drowned King’s speed down to his level, as his only increased the longer the battle went on.
His desperation was strengthening him!
At this current moment, his physical prowess was comparable to the Drowned King, now!
The two pulled back for a split second, the air and moisture between them thick and heavy. The mana in the air vibrated intensely as the two entered into a stance.
Then, with a barbaric and earth-shaking roar that caused the very air to tremble—
"HRAAAH!" x 2
—They unleashed another barrage of stabs of illusory harpoons.
[12h: 38m: 00s]