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CHAPTER 43

Kreegan was chipping away at the beast with every spell and slash, but this fight differed from any previous fight. Before, if he landed a good hit, the fighting was done, but the beast was too big, and he didn't have anything big enough to wound it mortally.

But it was going down slowly, his speed was too high for the beast, and he kept using hit-and-run tactics. He still had 2 minutes of buff left; he dodged another strike from the beast and used his last Flame Burst on the beast's left eye. Its right eye was already hurt, but the beast blocked the Flame Burst using its tentacle and protected its eye. Half of the tentacle he used to block the spell had been burned to pieces. One of its eight arms was almost falling off.

At this time, Lex, who had prepared the cannons on the ship, fired the four cannon and managed to hit the beast. The badly injured creature turned towards the ship and was preparing to attack, but taking advantage of this gap, Kreegan used one of its tentacles as a springboard, jumped high into the air, and used another Jolt Nanajuni Pound Ho (72 Pound Phoenix).

The spiraling sword energy hit the beast right on top of its head and managed to stun it just for a second, but that was all Kreegan needed. While falling from the air, he grabbed his own left arm and swung Ichinami with all his might,

"Shocking Grasp Hiryu Kaen (Flying Fire Dragon)"

Blue flames that shaped like a dragon started flying towards the beast's head while bolts of lightning were crackling around the flames. With a startling clap of thunder, the attack hit the beast. A big gush was opened at the head of the beast, and the area of the slash caught fire. The beast's body went limp on the ground, and its lifeless body marked its demise. After an exhausting fight, the beast was down. At that moment, a bat came flying down and said,

"You have managed to defeat the first guardian of the treasure of the Ocean's Navel. If you defeat the other two, you can make your wildest dreams a reality."

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Both of them were sitting on the ground, exhausted. They weren't too surprised to see a talking animal because they had encountered talking animals before, but Lex said,

"I never knew there were so many talking animals."

"I am not an animal, I... I am a guide to those who seek the treasure. Now come, let's go for the next guard. You are so close to the treasure."

Kreegan ignored the bat and said to Lex,

"Let's go to the village and learn what is going on."

"Okay."

In a panicked voice, the bat said,

"Why are you wasting time going to the village? I already told you. You must defeat the guards to reach the treasure."

Kreegan turned to the bat and said in a murderous voice,

"Fuck off; I don't know you, and only idiots would follow a suspicious beast to where it leads. Anyone with half a brain could realize you have a hidden agenda."

Kreegan swung his sword at the bat, but it dodged and flew away. Lex said,

"Do you really think some idiots would follow that beast?"

"To do that, they have to be really greedy to lose themselves the second they hear the word treasure."

After resting for a while, they slowly moved toward the ruined village.

...

Thanks to the whispers coming from behind closed doors and the faces looking at them through the windows, they realized that this village was not deserted. At that moment, a child came running at them, and behind him was a young woman with dark blue hair.

"Hamu, come here right now! We don't know who they are."

The boy came towards them with great hope on his face.

"Did you come here after seeing my messages? Did you come to help us?"

"I am sorry little guy. We never saw your messages."

Kreegan pointed at the Ocean's Navel and said,

"We fell from there by mistake, trying to find our way out. Do you know how we can leave here?"

The boy's smiling face fell suddenly, and he said desperately,

"You can't. The monsters won't let you leave here."

The boy continued his speech in tears.

"I thought... I thought you came here to help us."

The boy went into the house crying, and the blue-haired girl came to them and apologized,

"I am sorry about how Hamu acted. Using the uplift, he sends countless messages to the outside world asking for help."

The girl's name was Meroie, and she told them what happened there. They were a peaceful village until five years ago, but everything changed when Captain Joke and his crew heard about the treasure of Ocean's Navel and discovered it here. They plundered the village and slaughtered almost everyone. Once, a flourishing village and a community with hope turned into a ghost village, a shell of its former self. On the faces of the villager, all you could see was despair and fear.

Now there were, at best, 30 people in the village. Because Captain Joke had desecrated the mountain of the God, the monsters living inside the mountain had come out. Because of these monsters, it was not possible for them to use the uplifting wind and go outside. Hamu's mother also died while trying to stop Captain Joke.

"We already killed one of the beasts. Didn't you guys hear the commotion of our fight?"

"The wind here is too strong, and it is not possible to hear what is happening even if it is only a kilometer away."

Meroie was right; the howling of the wind was strong, and it was able to suppress every other sound. Hearing what Kreegan had said, she didn’t believe what he had said, but when they described the creature in detail, she wondered if it could be true because lying to her would gain them nothing. In this depressing place, this news felt like a ray of warm sunlight.