Leviathan was both the calamity and the king of the sea.
That was true in the Demon Realm and on Earth alike.
The sea was Leviathan’s birthplace, a battlefield where it had never known defeat. Within that vast territory, granted to it at birth, nothing could escape the king’s watch.
Or so it should have been.
Fwoooooosh!
In an instant, the monster stopped, its prey before it and greed filling its thoughts. At the same time, Leviathan’s senses, numbed by its long starvation, awakened.
What is this?
When had it begun?
As realization struck, the world seemed to slow. Leviathan could see and feel it clearly now.
A mighty force, swift as lightning and carrying the heat of the sun.
The flames plunging down and swallowing the blue surface were headed straight for it.
Splaaash!
There was no time to hesitate.
The enormous maw it had opened to swallow its prey turned sharply underwater. An instant later, Leviathan bit down on the flames with hundreds of teeth imbued with magical power.
It had no doubt it would crush them.
Krrrk!
Then flame met teeth, and an impact strong enough to rattle its skull struck.
Krrrrrrk!
“……!”
What?
Leviathan’s enormous eyes widened in pain and shock.
The teeth that had sunk dozens of aircraft carriers during the Great Cataclysm—those sharp, destructive weapons—had shattered in a single blow.
How? How is this possible?
Leviathan froze, unable to make sense of it.
Then the countless bubbles stirred up by the collision scattered, revealing the cause.
A spear.
Gooooong.
The silver spear trembled, wreathed in flames that refused to go out even amid the water and waves.
As though it were alive. As though it liked the touch of the hand holding it.
And through the owner of that spear flowed the blood of a species Leviathan had killed countless times.
“How can a mere human…!”
At the cry of the mythical beast, filled with undisguised astonishment, the small and insignificant human answered by merely moving his lips.
One Annihilation.
A distant flash of light dyed the sea.
People often say that life comes down to one big shot.
I agree. Especially since going for that one shot can be exactly how you throw your life away.
Rrrrrumble!
A thunderous roar, as if the sky—or rather, the sea—were splitting apart.
A tremendous shock wave sent my spent body flying. Swept up in a swirling current, I heard warnings sound again and again as my vision faded.
Beep. Beep-beep!
System
You have exhausted all your internal energy and stamina!
Your body cannot withstand the recoil of One Annihilation!
Status abnormality, Internal Energy Depletion, has been applied!
Status abnormality, Exhaustion, has been applied!
Status abnormality, Anemia, has been applied!
Status abnormality, Muscle Tear, has been applied!
Status abnormality, Internal Injury, has been applied!
Warning! Warning! Remember that every action comes with a price!
Excessive use of power may turn into a blade against you.
Special debuff, Broken Body, has been applied!
All combat-related attributes decrease by 50 until recovery! Depending on how recovery goes, you may permanently lose some attributes!
Strength temporarily decreases by 50!
Agility…
.
.
.
High risk, high return.
That was exactly it.
As I grew stronger, the power of One Annihilation had risen exponentially—until even this nearly perfect body, one that people in Murim might mistake for a Heavenly Martial Physique, could no longer withstand it.
Damn it.
I was dizzy. My breathing was ragged.
My body had gone beyond exhaustion and was screaming in agony. My dantian, dry as a desert, begged me to stop.
The backlash was so severe I could not move a finger.
But if I had not anticipated a situation like this, I would never have attempted something as insane as firing One Annihilation in the first place.
Open Inventory. Summon.
The System responded to my thought. A silhouette appeared in my blurred vision, and someone’s curt voice rang inside my head.
“You look awful. It suits you perfectly.”
I never thought I would be so glad to hear that rude tone.
Seeing me grin despite the pain, the Skeleton King clicked his tongue and shoved a small crystal bottle into my mouth.
A solution available only in this world.
A treasure known as a Top-Grade Potion.
Gulp.
The moment I managed to swallow it, a refreshing energy spread through every part of my body.
Ding!
System
You have used Top-Grade Potion!
All status abnormalities have been removed!
My empty dantian filled to the brim. My torn muscles knitted back together, and my hazy vision became clear and sharp.
Healing power on par with a Level Up.
But the warning that followed caught even me off guard.
Beep!
System
The special debuff, Broken Body, rejects the effect!
This debuff cannot be removed by artificial means!
The effects of Broken Body remain active!
…What the hell?
For a moment, I was thrown by something I had never experienced before. But I had no time to work out what the warning meant.
The fight was not over.
Grrrrrrrrrrr!
A roar rang out, clear even underwater.
Leviathan’s enormous body writhed in pain. Not even the countless wrecks and corpses sunk deep beneath the sea could conceal it.
KABOOOOOM!
It was some distance away, but I could see how badly it had been hurt.
The maw said to have once torn an aircraft carrier apart in a single bite had been ripped halfway off, along with one eye. Green blood poured from its flank, where hide and bone had been stripped away, staining the water for hundreds of meters1 around it.
Even so, the monster had been incredibly lucky.
If it had not instinctively turned its head at the last moment—and if this had been land instead of underwater—it would have met its end long ago.
I should have finished it with one strike.
A shame, but there was nothing I could do about it.
My opponent was Leviathan, the calamity of the sea.
They say even a mutt has the advantage in its own yard. Fighting a creature born in the sea, one that had ruled it ever since, was several times harder underwater than fighting the Arch Lich.
But…
I’ll kill it. I have to.
Splaaaaash!
The Skeleton King and I shot forward together. The powerful current in our path did nothing to slow us.
I tightened my webbed hand around the spear shaft. The transparent webbing was an effect of the Water Rescue Worker Title I had earned by completing a Quest at Dongting Lake a few months ago.
It lasted only twenty-four hours each time I activated it. Worse, its clash with the Scorching Yang Qi I had learned reduced all my power by a full twenty percent. But the effect was worth the cost.
Fwoooooosh!
I moved as quickly as though I were using a movement technique on land.
Still howling in pain, Leviathan spotted us closing in and roared.
“GRAAAAAAAH!”
The instant it opened its half-torn maw as wide as it could—
Krrrk. Krrrrrk!
The flow of the water changed. Though there was not a breath of wind underwater, everything around us was sucked toward its maw as if caught in a tornado.
It was a scene worthy of a disaster.
But I did not stop. I planted a foot on a nearby piece of wreckage and kicked off, picking up speed.
Toward the mythical monster. Toward the immense magical power stirring within it.
Then—
Gooooong.
The water and wreckage gathering around Leviathan burst outward in a massive wave.
KRAAAAAAAASH!
Was this what the Breath of the Dragons that once existed felt like?
The wave, charged with tremendous magical power, shot forward and erased everything in its path.
“You treacherous human!”
The Skeleton King shouted urgently behind me.
I did not answer. Instead, I drew on the internal energy filling my lower dantian and set an undying flame in the blade of White Flame.
Sssssss!
Heat spread in every direction. The raging current and pressure seemed to melt away. An energy like molten lava took the place of the sea’s chill.
For this moment, at least, this space belonged to me alone.
Nothing else could intrude.
Cut.
With that single thought, I brought the spearhead down.
Blue-white flames stretched out like a snake and struck the enormous wave just before it hit me.
No. They cut it.
Shhk!
The wave split cleanly in half and scattered to either side.
In that instant, I saw Leviathan’s eye widen in shock.
Then I saw its enormous body swimming at unbelievable speed toward something in the distance—something giving off a chilling energy.
The Magic Gem!
Now I understood why the monster had suddenly reappeared after decades in hiding. What had drawn it to these islands.
“Stop it!”
The Skeleton King reached out a hand with a shout that sounded almost like a scream. Bones rose upward like a growing tree and forcefully pushed against the tips of my feet.
Bang!
A dull boom sounded as I shot forward, cutting through the current toward Leviathan.
GRAAAAAH! KRRRUNCH!
Its crocodile-like maw swallowed a massive tangle of wreckage: steel beams from what had once been a cargo ship, concrete from a collapsed building, and something tiny by comparison that held an energy more dangerous than any of it.
Crunch.
Leviathan chewed and swallowed everything in one bite, then turned its head.
Fear and mockery mingled in its eye as it watched me approach. Then it swam away faster than I had ever seen it move.
Not toward me or the Skeleton King. Toward the open sea it had come from.
“It’ll take time to absorb the energy! Kill it before then!”
I heard the Skeleton King’s shout and gripped White Flame in reverse.
Barely a hundred meters2 separated us. But no matter how effective the Water Rescue Worker Title was, I could not match Leviathan’s speed.
Once. Just once.
I gathered every bit of internal energy I had left and poured it into the spearhead.
This time… I’ll finish it.
I focused. I felt the flow of the water and steadied my breathing. Every nerve and muscle seemed to come alive, the force of them gathering in my fingertips and shoulder.
Krrrrrk.
The veins across my body stood out.
Then, like releasing a bowstring drawn taut, I hurled the spear with all my strength.
KRAAAAAAAASH!
A single line of flame streaked through the deep water.
But no scream from the monster followed.
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