Chapter 119 - Slaying The Whale
Amazement and disbelief. These were the feelings that Hei and his companions were experiencing. Seeing a creature as big as the Bowhead Whale moving by hovering in the air was indeed an incredible sight.
Hei had previously seen a creature of enormous size flying through the air. But the other time, he had witnessed the scene as a spectator. This time, however, he was the target of the creature’s attack, not to mention that he didn’t imagine that a second-level spirit beast could fly.
That sight answered his question whether his little sisters could fly once they reached the second level, but, sincerely, he would have preferred to learn about it in another way. However, it wasn’t the time to get caught off guard. A single mistake could have decreed the death of all of them.
“Old Tohyon, maximum speed again. Let's get out of here.” Hei nervously watched as the whale approached.
The old seaman activated the propulsion mechanism, inserting a new load of spirit stones. The artifact ship made a series of creaking noises from the pressure it was being subjected to.
‘Shit, if we do such powerful accelerations in a row, the system will collapse before long.’ Hei thought to himself as he gritted his teeth.
The artifact ship was pushed forward by the propulsion system and was able to get out of the trajectory of the whale's massive body. However, the ship received a violent impact from the high waves that were generated when the whale fell on the water surface.
‘Has it landed? Why? It could have continued to fly... wait. Could it be that it can fly only for a short period?’ Hei quickly analyzed the behavior of the whale that had once again dived underwater.
"Lian, immerse us in the water again. Ho Yeon-Hong, if you have ranged attacks, attack the whale at my signal.”
Ho Yeon-Hong's face turned pale upon hearing that. If Hei, who was a seventh stage, had barely scratched the whale's body, how could he hope that she could do anything when she was only a sixth stage?
“Attacking the whale?! What? But it's a second-level spirit beast. It wouldn't do any good, not even you- "
"Don’t argue! If you don't want to die, do as I said. Just attack the whale. Lian, get ready to use your full strength as soon as we dodge the first attack. Now dive in.” Hei interrupted her and warned Lian. The young blue-haired woman nodded firmly and pushed Hei back into the ocean.
As before, thanks to Spider Hair, Hei was able to perceive the approaching whale. Then he tugged the silk ribbon tight around his waist again. Lian pulled him promptly, and Hei warned Old Toyon of the whale’s arrival.
The artifact ship once again dodged the whale's underwater assault, which again used the same tactic as before, hovering in the air towards them. This time, however, Hei was ready.
He ordered Old Tohyon to point the bow of the ship against the whale and prepared to receive the impact.
“Old Tohyon, maximum speed. We must not be pushed back. I'll take care of blocking the attack, but you need to keep pushing the ship forward."
"Master Hei, this is total madness. But if you say so, then I will execute the order. "
"Lian, are you ready?"
"Yes, Hei! Whenever you want!"
“Ho Yeon-Hong, get ready as well. Wait until my signal before attacking. Now Lian!"
"Lotus of Love bloodline, Activate!"
"Nightmare Spider Bloodline, Activate!"
'Nightmare Spider Bloodline, Activate!'
'Snake of Darkness bloodline, Activate!'
The spirit power of Lian, Hei, Xing, and Ye experienced a surge in power when their bloodlines were activated. Since they were joined together by the Battle Formation, the amplification effect was even more powerful.
The spirit power of the four of them was then concentrated on the tip of Hei's spear, which absorbed all the spirit power it was receiving without restraint. Suddenly, a slight flicker was produced by the spear as if it was animated, and it was getting excited in anticipation of the battle.
Hei didn't know why this was happening. Perhaps it was because he had infused his spirit power into the spear after activating his bloodline. After all, the spear had been made with his mother's own body. Bao Bei also told him that the weapons created with the bodies of divine beasts were particular. But now wasn’t the right time to worry about it.
All Hei was thinking about right now was the whale before him. The creature was swooping down from above like a huge bird of prey. Hei firmly grasped his spear with both hands and asked Xing to tie his hands on the shaft of his weapon so that he wouldn’t lose his grip.
"Are you ready? Law of Poison, Law of Darkness, Combined Technique, Poisonous Dark Spider Thrust!"
The tip of the spear was suddenly colored in dark purple and pitch black. Two Elemental Laws were linked in one place while the spirit power of four living beings was merged to produce more power.
Combined Technique. The maximum expression of the Battle Formation. In addition to uniting and amplifying the spirit power of multiple living beings, it was able to amplify the very elemental attacks, thus creating an even more powerful technique. There was no need to say that the difficulty was greater than that of the Battle Formation itself.
There were various reasons why Hei and his family were able to use it. First, Xing and Ye had the same mother in common; even though they had different bloodlines, they were still more similar to each other than a divine beast specimen of their species. Second, Hei had the same bloodline as Bao Bei and, therefore, the same as Xing's, while he had the element of darkness as his second element, that is, the same element of Ye's bloodline. Third, in their combination, there was Lian and the Lotus of Love bloodline. That bloodline was related to the Law of Wood. Together with the Law of Water and Law of Light, it had harmonizing characteristics. Thus, Lian, who possessed both the Law of Wood and the Law of Water, was harmonizing the spirit power and the Elemental Laws of their four so that they wouldn’t go out of control.
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Of course, at the level where they were, such a technique was only usable once. And this was already a result beyond what one would expect from someone with their rank of cultivation.
Boom! Screech!
Hei's spearhead violently met the Bowhead Whale's head and stopped it in mid-air. The bones in his arms ached like mad; if it weren't for his high level of pain endurance, he would have passed out on the spot. In truth, if it weren’t for the protective layer of his spirit power combined with that of his little sisters and Lian’s, his arms would have collapsed at the first second of contact.
However, although he managed to block the whale in that position, the artifact ship was slowly and relentlessly being pushed backward. If it hadn't been for the propulsion system, they would have been thrown overboard even if they had blocked the whale's attack.
From above, the two spirit soldiers who were fighting in the sky looked with absolute amazement at the scene that was unfolding below them. Both of them couldn’t understand what they were looking at.
"How is it possible?! How can my mighty spirit beast be stopped that way?” Pang Ja-Kyung, the owner of the Bowhead Whale, exclaimed as if he couldn't believe his eyes.
"How can those kids release so much power?" Sok Yeong-Hong also exclaimed in amazement. The power that was being shown by Hei and his family wasn’t inferior to his; on the contrary, it was even slightly higher.
Ever since he started his pirate career, Sok Yeong-Hong believed he was a genius among geniuses. He had talent comparable to that of the geniuses of the big sects but chose the pirate's way because he didn't want to be tied to an organization. He wanted to create his crew and make a name for himself among the famous members of piracy.
However, his dream was shattered by his arrogance when he bit off more than he could chew, even risking to lose his life. From that day on, he learned his lesson and decided to hide his true nature under a false form of friendliness. He joined the crew of Pirate General Ho Ri-Na, who was the one with the least chains and waited for his moment.
When he became a spirit soldier and learned of the pirate Ho Ri-Na's plan, he thought his moment would finally come to show off his skills and make a name for himself. But, even before the great battle, the spotlight that was to be on him was now focused on Hei, Lian, and those two spirit beasts.
'That's no good. If those brats can unleash such a force even if they are in the seventh stage, what would happen if they were to advance to the spirit soldier rank? Wouldn't they become the protagonists of this great conflict between pirates while I would be relegated to mere extra?’
Sok Yeong-Hong was confused. He couldn't allow those brats to grow even more. But killing them now would have meant his death. He didn’t have the strength to face Pang Ja-Kyung and his whale together. Besides, on the artifact ship was Ho Yeon-Hong, Pirate General's younger sister Ho Ri-Na. There was no way he could silence her. Failing to protect her would mean certain death. Ho Ri-Na was gentle as a boss but knew how to be brutal and unforgiving when she wanted, or otherwise, she wouldn’t have achieved such a leadership position.
In the meantime, the whale's charge had stopped. The huge creature's body was once again floating on the water as it watched the scene in front of it incredulously. Large blobs of blood were pouring out of its head and were staining the ocean waters red. The fat on its head had literally melted into thin air along with its flesh. A hole one meter in diameter had been dug deep. If it weren't for its size, that blow would have hit its brain by now.
The Bowhead Whale was diverted from its surprised state by the twinge of pain that came shortly after that. It opened its mouth wide in pain as it waved its tail.
"NOW! HO YEONG-HONG!” Hei yelled.
Ho Yeong-Hong, who had also been captured by the incredible sight just now, recovered thanks to Hei's scream. She had been ready for quite some time.
"Gas Law, Hot Steam Flows!"
Two light gray flows were produced from Ho Yeon-Hong's hands. Like her sister Ho Ri-Na, she too had awakened the Gas Law, focusing specifically on Steam.
Given the state in which it was, the Bowhead Whale in pain moved its powerful tongue to block the two streams of hot steam. Like any living creature, the internal parts of its body were more delicate than its flesh.
As if they were two small flames, the whale's tongue swept away the streams of vapor with ease. But by now, it had fallen into the trap.
As Ho Yeon-Hong launched her attack, Lian had stood up. The ribbon that held her tied to the ship's railing was now tight around Hei's ankles. So, grabbing her two ribbons, she quickly began to swirl on herself. When she reached sufficient speed, she untied the end of her ribbons tied to Hei's body.
Hei was thus projected like a dart straight into the whale's mouth. On his shoulders, his little sisters were excited as never before despite the current of air slamming against them.
'We are flying! How nice!’(Ye)
'Yeah, let's do it more often!' (Xing)
They didn't seem at all worried that they were going to end up in the mouth of a creature the size of the Bowhead Whale. Hei smiled at their light-heartedness and responded to their enthusiasm.
"Well, we have verified that second-tier spirit beasts can fly, although only for a short time. So you can fly yourself later.”
With those words, Hei finally landed on the whale's mouth. By activating the four-legged mode of Spider Run, he immediately ran towards the inside of the whale. The reason he asked Ho Yeon-Hong to attack was to distract the whale and stop it from using its tongue. The fat of the whale made it difficult to damage it, so they decided to attack from the inside. But they couldn’t enter, like it was nothing, inside its mouth. They had to be sure to distract it at the appropriate time to reveal their actual plan.
Immediately, the whale began to twitch as if it had gone mad. Its tail moved here and there as it tore the specimens of killer whales that had come with it. The orcas, seeing the state the whale was in, went away from that place, abandoning the conflict. They weren't spirit beasts bound by a spirit pact. They had simply been subdued by the Bowhead Whale's strength, but now that their leader was in that condition, there was no reason for them to continue following it.
Pang Ja-Kyung noticed the danger his spirit beast was in and began to rush downward at full speed. But in the same way, he noticed it, Sok Yeong-Hong noticed it too.
"Pang Ja-Kyung! Where are you running?” Sok Yeong-Hong shouted in a high euphoric voice. If he managed to kill Pang Ja-Kyung, he would earn great merits and would be rewarded. Not only would he protect Ho Yeon-Hong, but he would also kill one of the spirit soldiers of Hong Shin. Indeed, if he was lucky, he could then destroy the whale and, therefore, Hei inside, making everything go by like an accident. As for Lian, he didn’t think that the girl alone would be a danger to him in the future.
"Sok Yeong-Hong! Damn you!" Pang Ja-Kyung had to stop his advance and parry the attack of his enemy. With each passing second, he could feel the strength of his whale fading more and more.
"Fuck, fuck!" By making an extreme choice in seconds, Pang Ja-Kyung did the only rational thing - abandoning his spirit beast. There was no way to save his whale if Sok Yeong-Hong got in the way. If he continued to stay there, it was only a matter of time before he received a spirit wound. At that point, he would have had no hope against Sok Yeong-Hong.
"Sok Yeong-Hong! You will pay for this, bastard! The same goes for you, damn brats!” Pang Ja-Kyung left behind a series of curses.
Sok Yeong-Hong tried to chase him, but the beast tamer proved to be more elusive than expected. Meanwhile, the Bowhead Whale had plunged underwater as a last-ditch attempt, but there was now nothing it could do. The last remains of life force were savagely destroyed by the attack of Hei and his little sisters.
As soon as he realized that the whale had lost its life, Hei pulled out the Heart and absorbed the corpse of the whale. By taking advantage of the function that allowed living organisms to refuse to be absorbed, Hei and his little sisters weren’t sucked into the Secret Dimension.
‘I am not sure in what condition the corpse will be as we were inside, but in any case, there is time to find out later on.’ Hei thought to himself as he went up to the surface. Since he didn’t know the Law of Space, he didn’t know well the consequences regarding the spatial displacements nor about the absorption functioning of the Heart. However, they weren’t knowledge he needed to know at the moment. Just the fact of being able to have recovered the corpse of the whale, no matter how damaged it was, was more than enough.