Chapter 425: The Final Stand?

Chapter 425: The Final Stand?


{A Shard has been Shattered}


{The Shard [Regular’s Last Grasp] had awoken. It will now begin a temporary takeover.}


{The Enchantment [Clutch Instinct] had been Activated—Error}


...


{The Enchantment [Clutch Instinct] has now been deactivated... The Shard [Regular’s Last Grasp] has now fallen back to sleep...}


==


The Leviathan continued to float in the centre of the sea, sensing that the water had been replaced by others. It had also felt as though the rain lightened up slightly, and the amount of roars in the cloud subsided a bit.


It had endured countless injuries, one more lethal than the last, each taxing in its own right as they began to take a heavy toll on its large and bleeding body.


The Seawater Leviathan continued to stay still, processing the loss of its vision and how difficult it would be to heal in the future.


Luckily, it was now safe.


It had felt its mana pulse make contact with the humans and scorch them alive. By now, they should’ve perished from such burning wounds, and if not, they would most likely be incapacitated.


Unlike before, when the situation found it impossible for it to escape due to the humans’ speed and tenacity to hunt it down, it can take its leisure time.


Although its mana had now been reduced to a little under a quarter, it should be enough to take care of the surrounding wildlife if needed, despite its major disadvantage of the loss of sight.


The Leviathan remembered that there was a wooden vessel the humans were travelling on when it first encountered them. Perhaps it should begin its search for it and mark it as the beginning of its healing.


As it was about to turn away and try to find its way to the ship...


RUMBLE!


The clouds growled and turned dark once more, as if enraged at the thought of the Leviathan leaving.


The Seabeast instinctively raised its head towards the sky and found the weather strange... Was there going to be another storm?


Streaks of jagged light stretched across the sky like snakes before coincidentally gathering above the Leviathan, who felt the moisture in the air becoming more static.


Then, unaware of what was going to happen next—


BOOM!


—The weather had suddenly struck it with a branch of lightning, as though scolding it for its earlier thought.


It let out a painful growl and snapped its jaws at the sky, hissing and flicking its tongue at it before turning away to leave in spite.


However... It immediately froze in place.


Its senses had suddenly become heightened.


Why was it now feeling a strong concentration of mana activity in the air?


And... Why was it starting to feel a sense of weakness on top of the decrease in its remaining mana?!


It twisted its head around and looked towards a direction with the greatest concentration of mana.


Past the dense mist and several hundred metres away... A massive wave stood in place, unmoving, yet still shifting around.


Lillian stood atop the wave, but something was different about her... Her lower half was now a part of the crest of the wave, as though she had fused with the wave itself...


How had she survived the Mana Pulse?


...


Captain Righthook slowly lowered himself from the air, his entire body charred yet still operating. His wings were beyond black, yet still continued to flap energetically.


Right before the Mana Pulse could swallow them whole, he had managed to bring Lillian away, albeit only just barely.


Currently, they were around 500 metres away from the Seabeast.


His floating body was then suddenly hit with hundreds of crimson and light blue lines, which caused his body to regenerate rapidly. And this was the same for Lillian as well.


Connected to Lillian’s body were over a hundred Parasitic Lines, each filling her body with the resources needed for her next attack.


"Two minutes... Left..." Lillian breathed in a hoarse voice.


That was the amount of time she had left with her gauntlet’s technique-copying enchantment. It was just enough time for one Leviathan Descent.


Her FIRST and MOST powerful Leviathan Descent.


Lillian summoned her Black Maw and took in a deep breath as she slowly raised it over her head. Although her injuries had fully recovered... Her mind wasn’t.


On top of surviving the pain from almost having her entire body burnt alive, she had to endure the effects of her mask...


With what was left of her mind and what she could push forth, this next attack will be her last.


And she had to make it strong. She had to kill it in one strike... No matter what!


"I’ll be taking it on myself, Captain... I’d rather you don’t interfere..."


Captain Righthook, watching as Lillian adopted an awfully familiar stance, couldn’t help but stare in awe at the amount of mana going into her blade.


The corners of his lips curled upwards, "Is that so, matey...? Very well..." After saying that, he flapped his wings and took to the skies.


The Seawater Leviathan, sensing an extreme amount of mana in the distance, quickly deduced that a powerful attack was coming—one that could kill it in its current state!


Its face dropped slightly, but then hardened and became firm.


With its intellect, it had deduced that whatever was coming at it would be the enemy’s last attack against it by going off the amount of mana being concentrated...


It breathed a shaky breath, almost human-like, before snapping its mana-infused jaws down and separating the Parasitic Lines connected to its body.


Its scales then began to glow, radiating their blue light. And when it reached its head, it opened its maw and revealed the burning light within its mouth, which was far weaker compared to previous times.


If this were its prey’s last attack, it would respond the same. Its body had already neared the end of its life and didn’t have much hope in the future to recover...


...


That was one of the reasons for this final stand it was taking.


The true reason... The MAIN reason... Was that its pride would be shattered if it ran away now.


Did this contradict its earlier thoughts of escaping and recovering from its wounds? It did—it absolutely did...


However!


It was still...


"Nothing more than a filthy beast..." Lillian muttered quietly as she watched the Leviathan charge up its plasma beam.


It seemed it had decided to take its last stand against her, just like she was taking a last stand with this final attack.


Lillian adjusted her grip on her odachi. For a split moment, she felt it tremble, almost as if she could sense it shaking from pure excitement at what was to come...


’It must be my imagination...’


Lillian took in a deep breath and released it. She then waited. And waited... Building up her mana as rain continued to fall from the clouds and thunderous roars echoed from the heavens.


Lightning began to strike around their general location, as if they were building up the dramatic tension.


Once Lillian had finished building up her mana, she could almost sense an illusory entity floating above her—overshadowing her.


Compared to Captain Righthook’s past Leviathan Descents, hers was much larger, at least double and possibly even triple his!


However, that also brought an unbearable weight, which threatened to crush the bones in her arms and rupture her muscles.


She winced and clenched her jaws as she continued to keep her Black Maw raised high over her head.


’It also... Looks blacker...’


Unlike the Captain’s, the illusion of her technique had a darker shade to its scales and even had arms and legs with humongous, deadly claws that could definitely rip her apart with just a single swipe...


She widened her eyes, but then shook her head. Such details were irrelevant to her current situation.


The Leviathan, having fully charged up its Leviathan’s Wrath, looked towards Lillian with a mouthful of its scorching hot plasma.


This was it...


The Seawater Leviathan swung its head towards the sky and quickly shaped the mana inside its mouth before gulping it down.


Then, after a moment, it swung its head down and released the beam it had built up with a loud booming sound.


The light bluish plasma beam shot across the surface of the ocean, causing it to evaporate and turn into steam.


Lillian, watching as the Leviathan’s Wrath blasted towards her with immense speed, responded in kind as she moved the wave she was riding forward.


This...


This was the moment that was going to decide whether they lived or not.


Whether they would come out on top like a winner or fall to the depths of the sea like a loser...