With the rage of living returned to both of us once again, it was only fair for the two very angry and battle-able individuals to duke it out in the middle of the spiraling sea.
At the same time, I could finally feel and see Kuzunoha's active presence throughout my combat with the Drowned Revenant. From disabling many of his trickeries, to outright disarming one of his limbs temporarily for an entire minute—there were many things that could easily be discernible as the feat of that of an arcane spellcaster.
Though, she was still sometimes displaced to give her enhancement to the Stormhooks that I barely use in favor of the Blightpiercer Harpoon.
"Hueheuhe~ something so big need to be ripped open eventually~"
And I was still not in the best sound of mind.
I didn't know if the sheer presence of the Drowned Revenant himself gave me the heebie-jeebies despite my newfound method of ignoring the horror, but wouldn't still be amazing of me to not succumb under so much influence and pressure?
I might laugh maniacally from time to time and moan with a perverted smile on my face when I was struck by a great wound, but I was still sound enough to make judgment and took pride in myself.
"You're fast and powerful, but too dumb and use the same move over and over again!"
The harpoon clashed with the Revenant's massive anchor mid-air, sending an explosive shockwave across the sickening, blackened sea.
The eerie chime of cursed metal against rotting iron echoed, but neither weapon broke. The force sent me sliding back on my raft of dead sailors and severed tentacles, but I held firm, grinning like a madwoman as my Blightpiercer Harpoon pushed through.
I was fortunate that I had the sanity and time to make this comically large raft out of nowhere. Though, it had been greatly chipped and damaged now that the Revenant knew that it comforted me—and I didn't want to rely on Kuzunoha's spell lasting efficiency so I've been protecting the raft for a while.
Despite the damage, the raft was still comically big, which was very funny in my mind for some reason. seaʀᴄh thё nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
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The Revenant roared, its guttural cry reverberating through the diseased air. With unnatural grace, it landed atop a crumbling wave, the sea warping beneath its form.
The Drowned Revenant slowly morphed into an even more grotesque abomination—flesh melding into rusted chains and barnacle-encrusted armor, its once-human eyes now hollow voids.
"Oh, I think I will be liking the dance~" I muttered under my breath, my body still high on adrenaline and the unhinged glee of the battlefield.
As I spun the Blightpiercer, I could feel its weight pulling at me, its cursed essence gnawing at my skin like acid. But I was beyond caring, as my Valtherion's Blood would cleanse it off my palm like nothing ever happened.
The Revenant lunged again, swinging the anchor down with enough force to split the entire sea in two. I leapt, barely dodging the crushing blow as I said my goodbye to my finely crafted raft.
Black ichor splashed everywhere as the remains of my raft exploded under the weight of the impact, following after it was the insurmountable force of the master of this realm as the black accursed sea was forcefully parted as I predicted.
But despite that, I couldn't really see the bottom of the sea so I won't be giving this guy the title of 'Moses' yet.
"Hahaha, what a mad world I live in."
The sea writhed like it was alive, pulling me under with every chance it got.
The more I clashed with the Drowned Revenant, the more I realized that I had no time to think, only react.
All the time, I was trying to rationalize the action of the Qliphoth Object. But obviously, that was the wrong move.
There was no grandiose reason behind the move and action behind a Qliphoth Object. They moved with their cunningness and their intelligence with the same level of whim as an active and immediate instinctive response.
As such, it would be fair if I utilize more of my instinct than my brain when it comes to fighting in the same plane with that reality-bending monster.
"Now!"
My arms moved on instinct, guiding the harpoon into a deadly arc as I hurled it towards the Revenant's chest.
It struck true, embedding deep into its decaying torso. The star-shaped head tore through its plague-ridden flesh, releasing a torrent of black, diseased blood into the air.
But even as the harpoon pierced its chest, the Drowned Revenant barely flinched. It simply growled, pulling the harpoon deeper into its body with a grotesque grin, as if inviting me to come closer, daring me to face it up close.
And then, everything shifted.
The sea beneath us began to churn, violently bubbling as though the very world was about to implode. The sky above spun faster, dark clouds swirling into a vortex of despair. The winds howled, carrying the stench of death, and the black waves began to rise higher and higher, forming towering walls of water that stretched towards the heavens.
It was as if the very fabric of reality itself was being torn apart, the same time a great damage was inflicted upon its master.
My vision blurred, and the taste of rot filled my mouth as I struggled to stay afloat in the roiling sea. The Drowned Revenant stood still, its presence unchanged despite the chaos.
Then, it happened.
I was probably once again being transported to a whole other different realm. Either that, or the current realm I was inhibiting had gone through a critical changes, a gradual one at that.
The sea beneath me shifted from turbulent to eerily calm, as though some unseen force had commanded it to still. The waves flattened, leaving behind an unnatural black surface that shimmered like liquid obsidian.
The sky above lost all motion, freezing into a vast, inky canvas where no stars shone.
The world twisted further, the horizon folding in on itself. The dark clouds split apart, revealing a pale, white night sky that glowed with an unnatural light, casting everything in a ghostly glow. The air itself felt thinner, as if I were in some forgotten corner of the universe.
Beneath me, the black sea became shallow, stretching endlessly as if there was no bottom. I could see faint glimmers of light from below, dancing like distant stars deep within the liquid darkness.
I tried to steady myself, my mind reeling from the sudden transition. One moment, I was fighting for my life in a storm-ravaged hellscape, and the next, I found myself in this eerily serene realm. There was no sound, no wind, no waves—just the stillness of the sea and the white night above.
For a brief moment, I thought perhaps I had won. Perhaps this was the Revenant's final attempt to flee or some trick meant to confuse me. But then, I saw it—moving silently through the black sea.
The Drowned Revenant emerged once more, rising from the shallow waters like a ghost. Its massive form seemed almost peaceful now, as if this calm world was its true home. The plague and rot that had once dripped from its body seemed to dissipate, leaving only a faint aura of death lingering around it.
"Welcome to my world," its voice rasped, echoing through the silence.
I saw no undead sailors in sight, nor were there any deadly tendrils and voids that summon deadly torrent of water that could tear my flesh asunder.
Maybe, this was a great chance to stall further for time, and maybe get some few meaningful and informative words out of that cosmic-like being.
"Are you intending not to fight anymore?
"We will soon resume our clashes. After all, your suffering is needed to pay for the debt of your sin."
"What is your course of action, now that I've still barely felt any kind of fear and massive discomfort~?"
"The plan is still the same."
"Attacking my spirit?"
"Your soul and mind is still the weakest factor of your existence."
"But you saw that it was useless to cast any kind of long-term curses on me." I sighed.
After all, Kuzunoha would just dispel and sever any kind of suspicious activity within my soul. There was a reason why I was referring to her as my secretary even in this kind of situation, after all.
"You're still vulnerable in one thing."
As the Revenant reached out its hand, I noticed a forceful tug that encompassed every inch of my being. This was different from a mere curse or parasite-like spell—instead, it felt more as if the Drowned Revenant had me trapped in his grasp.
He then started to shift his hand to point down.
At that moment, I realized.
My Sanity was rapidly decreasing every second, as if the Revenant was directly absorbing it from the cornerstone of my mind.
I was anxious and livid, and before I knew it, the very thing that I feared to happen once again had undoubtedly happened, once again.
[Sanity; 0%]