Fran awakened as she looked down at the midgard wyrm from Urushiâs back. She went full throttle right off the bat and immediately activated Brilliant Lightning Rush.
The electricity radiating off her body caused Urushiâs fur to stand on end.
ăLetâs start by provoking it and making it raise its head.ă
ăGot it.ă
ăWoof.ă
ăAnd when it opens it mouth, we hit it with everything weâve got.ă
ăNn! Urushi.ă
ăWoof woof!ă
Urushi slowed down, bravely placed himself right in front of the midgard wyrm, and fired several spells at the creatureâs submerged head.
ăLeave attacking it while itâs still underwater to me.ă
Urushiâs attacks werenât having too much of an effect, so I asked him to relinquish his role as an attacker for the time being.
Taking his place, I dove underwater. I made a beeline for its face and started blasting it with lightning and explosions.
It ignored the first strike, but the second and third ticked it off enough for it to start to twitch.
ăAlright, this should do the trick.ă
I threw in a telekinetic catapault just for good measure and charged straight at the monsterâs head. I didnât expect it to do too much damage given the amount I was being slowed by the water resistance, but for some odd reason, the attack managed to get a huge reaction out of the midgard wyrm. It stopped moving and loosed a loud roar the moment it got hit.
ăGyobobobobooo!ă
The sea stirred. The massive shockwave spawned from its bellow caused the oceanâs waves to violently rock through my surroundings.
ăWoah!?ă
I didnât take any damage from the shockwave, but it sure as hell fucked me up. The resulting water pulses knocked me around and disoriented me to the point where I couldnât tell up from down.
I was surprised. It seemed really mad, and I didnât understand why. The telekinetic catapultâs damage shouldnât have differed much from my spellsâ.
After hurrying back to Fran, I realized that the wyrm was totally locked onto us. It raised its head out of the water and stared us down with its neck curved like a gooseâs. Though its face lacked eyes, I could tell it was giving us a hateful glare. It wanted to kill us so badly that its body had started radiating pure enmity.
ăDid something?ă
ăDunno. It suddenly got all pissed right after I hit it with a telekinetic catapult.ă
ăRemembered last fight?ă
ăLast fight?ă
ăNn? Last time, blasted face off with telekinetic catapult.ă
ăWait, thatâs the same one we fought last time?ă
ăNn.ă
The monster had higher hp than it did last time we saw it, and Iâd known that it was possible for the midgard wyrm to grow infinitely, but Iâd still presumed it a different individual.
Fran, however, was somehow able to tell that it was the exact same individual. Maybe itâs just a beastkin thing?
But that would mean that this wyrmâs the exact same one we fed all the monoliths.
ăSo it remembered me even though itâs dumb as a single celled organism?ă
Does it not forget grudges? Oh well, itâs not the only one that still wanted to fight. It was time for us to show it just how much weâd grown since our last conflict, even if we had to end up running away.
It tried chasing Urushi down, but it was far too big to catch him. He could easily slip somewhere it was harder for the massive creature to reach.
The act of him running around bought me enough time to get my spell ready.
ăIâm good to go, Fran.ă
ăNn!ă
We struck the moment it tried to attack Urushi, and launched our attacks straight into its mouth.
ăNow! Kanna Kamuiiiii!ă
ăHaaaah! Black Lightning Advent!ă
My spell, a dragon made of pure white lightning, mixed with Franâs, a burst of jet black lightning, and flew straight into the wyrmâs interior.
I used the sorcery skill to put 80% of the mp I had left into the attack and hit the midgard wyrm with the most powerful Kanna Kamui weâd ever used to date. Likewise, Fran had also poured every last bit of her mana into her black thunderbolts.
The wyrmâs head exploded into a million pieces. Blood and flesh, its body parts, flew all over the place and fell around us like pieces of a deflated balloon. The explosion had been huge; it covered an area 50 meters in diameter.
It caused waves to pour through the ocean and crash into the Algieba. I quickly turned towards the ship out of concern to check on it, and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming it was still fine.
The only reason it didnât get capsized was because the wyrmâs thick ass body had absorbed most of the impact. In a sense, one could say that the wyrm had actually stopped the ship from flipping over.
Speaking of which, the wyrm itself was a terrible sight to behold. A third of its body was flat out missing. Serpent and centipede type monsters were known for their vitality, but the wound was so bad it looked like it wouldâve been more than fatal for any normal member of either of the two aforementioned types.
But the midgard wyrm was an A ranked magic beast, a creature far outside the realm of human imagination. Though its defenses were lackluster, the injury weâd given it was far from fatal.
It still had over two thirds of its max health, and it was already started to rapidly regenerate.
ăFuck, that thingâs a monster. But we at least managed to sloâoh shit.ă
ăNot⌠goodâŚă
Wait, what the fuck!? That thingâs headed for the Algieba even though it doesnât have a head!? How is it already moving!? Arenât you normally supposed to wait for your missing body part to regenerate before you start doing shit again!?
Is its brain not in its head, or does it have multiple, like how it has a bunch of different hearts? Wait, does it even have a brain in the first place?
Fuck! Thinking about this shit is just a huge waste of time!
ăUrushi, get in front of it again!ă
ăWoof!ă
The only choice I had was use the rest of mana to hit it with another Kanna Kamui. And if that didnât stop it, Iâd have no choice but to use my real trump card.
ăMasâŚter⌠okay?ă
ăYeah. Iâll be fine. You can sit back and rest for now.ă
ăNn.ă
I left Fran to Urushi and leapt off so I could focus on casting my spell. I wasnât expecting it to do much, I didnât have enough mana.
ăI really want to avoid using Latent Potential Release unless I really have to.ă
Things were looking pretty grim. I was probably going to have to have to use it in the endâor at least that was what I thought was going to happen.
ăHuh?ă
The situation suddenly took an unexpected turn.
I felt a powerful, imposing presence. It was several kilometers away, but it was incredibly overbearing nonetheless. The speed at which the thing came at us was incredible. It looked like it was somewhere around the 500 km/h range.
ăFuck, that thingâs huge!ă
There was no other way to put it. The only part I could see was the part sticking out of the water, the thing I presumed to be its dorsal fin. That alone was already 20 meters high and 100 long. I was certain that the thing coming at us was some sort of monster.
ăUrushi, get the hell out of here!ă
ăW-Woof!ă
Retreating, I returned to Franâs side. Urushi was terrified; he was trembling with his tail between his legs. Fortunately, he still somehow managed to move his way back over to the Algieba.
ăMaster, that, what?ă
ăNo idea. Appraisal wonât work because I can only see its fin.ă
That said, I had more than enough information to guess. Its aura carried way more magical energy than the midgard wyrms. It was clearly a monster even more powerful than the one weâd just fought.
ăMaster, that.ă
ăI knew it!ă
The mystery monster rushed the midgard wyrm and attacked it.
ăGaaaaaoooooooooooooooooo!ă
It drove its fangs into the midgard wyrms body and lifted it, and in doing so, showcased its 100m long neck. It was adorned from head to tail in beautiful scales, like a kingfisher. I couldnât help but feel that it both resembled a dragon and a sort of serpent.
Appraising caused me to break into laughter. There simply wasnât anything for me to do but laugh. It was so strong I couldnât even see its skills. It was a veritable S ranked monster, a ridiculously overpowered creature capable of destroying the entire world if it wished to.
Just appraising it had completely drained me of the will to fight.
I immediately began to think of the worst case scenario, and what I needed to do. If the Leviathan attacked, then my only choice would be to abandon the Algieba and focus on preserving Fran.
I would have to teleport us away the moment it showed even the slightest sign of aggression.
Right as I started working out the details, the leviathan looked at usâbut its eyes lacked even the slightest semblance of hostility.
Its gaze instead seemed to momentarily reflect a sense of amusement, as if it was entertained. The impression only seemed to last for a second, so I wrote it off as just my imagination. Me hoping it wouldnât antagonize us seemed to have led to a delusion of sorts.
Either way, the leviathan ended up leaving; it turned around and nonchalantly carried off the midgard wyrm despite its desperate struggles to break free of the more powerful monsterâs grasp.