Chapter 124

Chapter 124 A war at sea, not on land, was reaching its peak on the shores of Atlantis City’s District 3.

One of the Four Masterpieces, the Moby Dick, had turned into an enormous monster through the Outer God’s power.

The phantom ship the Pequod was vehemently chasing the beast.

And one of the other Masterpieces, the Aquamarine, was trailing behind the Pequod to provide support.

The three ships—no, the incessant chase between the two ships and the one monster was terrifyingly intense. The ocean, which hadn’t had a single wave, was now shaking all over, and water sprays and whirlpools were appearing everywhere, as if a major storm had come.

“Aim at Moby Dick’s expected trajectory and fire the Ice Cannon at maximum power!” Frances shouted with an urgent voice. The vessel understood the command and shot the Class 6 spell Freezing Ray at its maximum strength. The firepower was equal to an attack from dozens of high-rank mages. seaʀᴄh thё NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The frightening rays of light skimmed the surface of the ocean and froze it. When Moby Dick tried to cross over the ice, it suddenly froze in place due to the cold, which it had never experienced as an inanimate object.

“I knew it! I don’t know how intelligent Moby Dick is, but it’s acting based on primal instincts. I did think it was strange how it became frightened after the Pequod rammed into it,” Frances exclaimed.

Even if Freezing Ray landed a direct hit on the monster, it would not have been able to harm it much, but Moby Dick was not used to experiencing sensations, and the cold was an unknown factor that it didn’t want to approach. Even its wound from Ahab’s sword had finished healing, yet it kept avoiding the Pequod’s path, making for quite an amusing sight.

It was a monster that was unaware of its own strength.

But we can’t let our guard down. If the Pequod and the Aquamarine corner it too hard, it might break through our line.

To the untrained eye, the two ships were hunting the monster, but in reality, their positions could reverse at any time. They were only posturing.

The Aquamarine had comparatively less offensive capabilities than the other Masterpieces, and after becoming a phantom ship, the Pequod had lost most of the functions it had before it sank.

“Ugh. I didn’t even consider that we might end up short on firepower,” Frances muttered to herself.

Russell heard her and blinked. “On the contrary Fran, according to my calculations, if Gordon and I assist in the fight, we should be able to seriously harm Moby Dick.”

“Yes, it would be possible to land a decisive blow. However, we must consider what happened with Pablo again. If Moby Dick has those same healing abilities, it will run away as soon as it survives your and Gordon’s attacks. If it goes so far as to submerge into deep waters, neither the Pequod nor the Aquamarine will be able to chase after it. Because it’s an actual whale now.”

“So you’re saying we can only guarantee victory if we put it in a position where it cannot escape?”

Frances nodded. “We’ll have an opportunity to cut off Moby Dick’s retreat. Please wait a little longer until that time comes,” she beseeched.

“I am still a member of the Aquamarine Expedition Team, even if I’m only an honorary one. I will follow the captain’s orders.”

“Thank you, Russell.”

After successfully convincing him, Frances took a deep breath. From here on out, her own skills would be tested.

She placed a hand on the crystal ball in front of her and spoke. “Ah. Ah. Mr. Ahab?”

—Please refer to me by my title of vice-captain, Captain.

A voice came through the surface, sounding murkier than she remembered; it was the response of a specter who’d seen his flagship for the first time in eight years.

The speaker was Aquamarine’s former vice-captain, “The Maestro” Ahab.

“Understood, Vice-Captain. Can you hear me all right?”

—Yes. There is no static at all, in fact.

“That’s good to hear. I was worried your device wouldn’t work because it hasn’t been used in eight years.”

But that very connection between the flagship and its auxiliary vessel was what allowed Frances and the Pequod’s—Frances and Ahab’s initial encounter to be so successful.

Undead harbored blind envy and hatred toward living beings, but vocally communicating over a crystal ball was fine.

“From here on out, please act according to my commands. I will not tolerate any unpermitted actions, such as when you struck the whale.”

—Yes, Captain.

Although Ahab looked composed, the actual reason the Pequod had rammed into Moby Dick was that it had gone mad with the resentment from its past life. It was proof that she couldn’t let her guard down in front of undead, even if one was the specter of a Master. If she thoughtlessly approached him directly, a disaster could occur.

Frances pushed those awful thoughts aside.

“The Moby Dick is no different from a newborn whale. It cowers back at the slightest bit of pain and is naive enough to get frightened by the cold, which can’t even hurt it. However,” she refuted the optimism, “after being attacked a few times, it will inevitably realize that its fear is unfounded and that it is stronger than us. If that happens, the tides will turn and the monster will start pursuing us. And it’s ten times harder to guide a target down a certain path when you’re the one being chased.”

Therefore, they had to avoid injuring it like the first time. It would eventually get used to sensations, and once it did, it would no longer be afraid of the situation it was in.

The two ships’ mission, their top priority, was to push Moby Dick to the beach.

Ahab pondered for a moment before he spoke.

—So in that case, we will have to incite it with bracketing shots.

“Exactly!”

They couldn’t wound the creature, but if they stopped attacking, the whale would calm down and possibly launch a counterattack. They had to maintain its sense of confusion.

To do that, the best option was to goad the whale with their attacks at a close distance, rather than hit the monster itself. Usually, they would fire on their target directly, but Moby Dick would feel more threatened by attacks that landed near it instead of on it.

“It’ll be like walking on a tightrope. If we make even a single mistake, it’s over. If you need to cry, do it now,” Frances finished.

—Bahahaha!

Ahab let out a hearty laugh at her teasing provocation. He never imagined that he’d be reborn as an undead, but it was nice to be reunited like this. Who knew that the day would come when the little girl who didn’t even reach his hips would become such a dignified captain who gave him orders?

The old memories subsided, and Ahab spoke again from the other side.

—Provoke me all you’d like, Captain. And don’t forget that not even Njord was exempt from my lectures about navigation.

“Haha. Sounds good.” Frances smiled, feeling a similar sense of nostalgia.

Then, she concentrated. As soon as she mentally connected with the Aquamarine, everything came into focus, as if they were in the palm of her hand.

She grinned, baring her canines like a beast.

“Now then, it’s time for revenge!” she cried.

* * *

The sky filled with an ominous color as a tempest raged beneath it.

Two ships came closer and closer to a giant monster.

Attacks from the Aquamarine would split the waves just next to Moby Dick, and when it cowered back, the Pequod would take that opportunity to race after it. As soon as it sensed the other vessel approach, the whale would move to shallower waters.

It never even occurred to the creature that the two ships were cutting off its escape routes.

“It’s coming,” Gordon whispered.

The waves were now several meters high, and he pushed them back with a single gesture of his hand. However, even he felt something adding resistance to his control.

It was proof that the monster was weakening the natural laws of the world.

As a Class 8 Archmage, he wasn’t ignorant about the Outer Gods, but he didn’t think their power would be so powerful. It was shocking that it could simply use its apostle’s blood to create a beast that could intimidate five or six Masters.

Though, of course, the whale wasn’t born from nothing. It was created from one of the Four Masterpieces.

“It will be a close battle,” Gordon said. It was an objective assessment of the situation. The Aquamarine and the Pequod were doing very well, but the distance between them was shrinking.

The whale was instinctively beginning to realize that it had no reason to run away. If it mustered the courage and let itself be hit even once to test how much the artillery fire could harm it, the hunter would become the hunted.

They had to rein the monster in before that happened, but their chances of success didn’t seem too high.

“I don’t like him, but Russell should be able to read what I’m doing and join in. It will be a long day.” Gordon shot into the air without any prompting. “Hm. Should I use the tidal forces?”

He traced the air with the cane he was always carrying. He had to cast his magic in a way that Moby Dick wouldn’t notice.

He didn’t use a spell that was aimed at the monster directly, but after all, magic was about fulfilling a goal as efficiently as possible.

A moment later, Moby Dick could no longer endure its predicament.

Fwoooooo—!!

It turned around to face the Pequod, just as Gordon had predicted.

The whale was pushed far back when it collided with the ship, which had accelerated to close to a hundred knots. However, the Pequod’s entire hull caved in, making it look like it would sink at any moment. It only managed to maintain its form because it was a phantom ship. If it were a physical boat, it would have broken into pieces.

The Pequod could still move in that state, but that wasn’t the real problem.

Reeeeeee!!

Moby Dick realized that the ship it had been afraid of wasn’t even that dangerous, and it felt rage and humiliation for the first time in its life. It let out a horrible shriek and rammed into the Pequod.

The Aquamarine landed a direct attack instead of using bracketing fire in an attempt to block it, but it wasn’t enough to stop the monster.

Things were becoming desperately dangerous.

“Recede, O waves.” Gordon Haywood’s voice cut through the storm and echoed. “O goddess who caresses the stars, O sister of the sun god, lend me your power. Let me be your hands in these fierce winds and raging waters. May nothing defile the places where moonlight resides.”

The Class 8 mage’s mana condensed to one point, summoning a subdued light unlike sunlight.

For a moment, Moby Dick’s eyes were transfixed on the magic.

Gordon spoke the command.

“Come forth, Selene!”

A pure-white moon rose into the sky, which had been dirtied by the Outer God. She did not give off the hot, intense light as Helios did, but that wasn’t the reason he called upon her.

Shwaaaaaa...

The high tide hadn’t even reached its peak yet, but the waters shrank past low tide bizarrely fast.

District 3’s beach grew several hundred meters longer in a matter of seconds.

The fish that couldn’t keep up with the flow were left behind, flopping on the sand. Coral, clams, and all kinds of sea creatures lay scattered in abundance. The ocean was laid bare, spraying humid, salty mist into the air.

Krrrrr?! Kreeeeeeee?!

As Moby Dick was suddenly beached, it began to flail and convulse like mad.

Cold sweat trickled down Gordon’s forehead as he watched.

If Moby Dick made a single good jump, it could jump into the waves that had magically receded and return to the ocean. If that happened, all their plans would essentially fall apart.

But Jack Russell’s command quickly followed.

“Come forth, O dawn. O chariot that ends the night, O light that has flowed between the sea of stars from the birth of the universe. I summon thee to the depths of the ocean, where the light does not reach. Lend me your power. Bring forth your purifying light to expel the darkness of this world.”

Russell had a disgruntled expression on his face, as he was forced to cast the supreme magic that came as a pair with Selene.

“Come forth, Helios!” he shouted.

A brilliant sun materialized next to Gordon’s moon.

Selene and Helios. The two advanced spells were named the two mythological siblings, and they fed off each other’s power, making them three times stronger when cast together than when they were cast separately.

The waves, which had already receded hundreds of meters back, pulled back even further with one movement, creating enough distance so that Moby Dick couldn’t jump back into the water.

And that wasn’t all.

Kreeeeeeeeeee—!!

The synergy of the two spells made the light several times hotter, burning Moby Dick’s hide and making it roll around in the sand to mitigate the heat in any way it could. It became the slightest bit more bearable as it coated itself in wet sand, but the light itself was still there, making it thrash in pain.

At some point, Russell and Gordon encountered each other in the air. They exchanged their opinions about Moby Dick.

“What ridiculous power. All we did was scorch its hide a little bit,” Russell muttered.

“It can’t be helped. That monster was created by the Outer God itself. There is a clear limit to how much damage we can do with indirect attacks.”

“Are you saying we need to make a concentrated attack? I don’t think it’s possible for me and you to muster that much power while maintaining advanced spells,” Russell pointed out.

“But if we dispel Selene and Helios, it is very likely that Moby Dick will get away. However, we are not the main fighting forces on this battlefield,” Gordon mused.

“Then who is?”

“Don’t you think we should leave that to our friend over there?”

Both Archmages turned to look in the same direction. There, two swordsmen were flying toward them on their blades, as fast as arrows.

It was Leonard and Herman Melville.

“Wow, this is fun. What did you say it was called?” the older man asked.

“Sword Flight.”

“A technique that allows you to fly by controlling your sword... It’s too simplistic. It has no depth. I’ll have to think of my own modifications to add.”

“You can do whatever you want.”

As they exchanged small talk, the two swordsmen turned to watch Moby Dick, which was thrashing on the ground.

Even though the whale lost over half its power and mobility when it was pulled out of the water, its aura was as mighty as it could be. Even a graze of its tail could shatter an augmented energy shield.

Leonard and Herman were aware of this, but they jumped to the ground without a hint of hesitation.

It’s damp. Leonard felt the surface of the sand, which was soaked with ocean water. It was a little different from treading through a bog. Leonard’s hands tightened around his sword.

The blade was a little smaller than the one he’d used against the Mind Kraken, but the power infused into his sword was more than three times denser.

If he didn’t fight with everything he had, he wouldn’t be able to cut any deeper than its surface flesh.

One Origin Five Elements Sword Art

Five Elements Style

Ultimate Secret Technique

The Five Elements Augmented Qi sprung forth from his blade and writhed like flames.

It was a technique on par with the Black Tortoise’s Wall and the Azure Dragon’s Flash.

It was half a step below the heart devil’s Heaven’s Annihilation, but it was strong enough to rip through the ultimate counter technique, Controlling Otherness.

Vermillion Bird’s Assault

Leonard’s sword blazed with the beautiful color of a red lotus as he swung it.