"Roar! Roar!"
The massive spiny-backed iron whale roared, no longer charging at the sailing ship. Its enormous body spun in place, eventually even convulsing.
The fishmen on deck—Geger and Gegeduo'er among them—stared blankly at the scene.
That enormous deep-sea creature, which had nearly annihilated the entire fleet, had been reduced to this by a single strike from Mr. Lei? They couldn't even begin to comprehend what method Leilin had used.
In that moment, Leilin received a wealth of awestruck gazes.
But he seemed oblivious, his eyes fixed on the direction of the spiny-backed iron whale's struggles.
As time passed, the whale's thrashing grew weaker and weaker, until it finally went still entirely. Blobs of black blood drifted continuously from the harpoon wound.
Whoosh! The massive harpoon retracted sharply, pulling out a large mass of white brain matter.
When the harpoon returned to the deck, Gegeduo'er discovered with horror that it had transformed into an enormous steel hand, which rummaged through the braincase before presenting a ring of dark, solid material to Leilin. It then shrank back into the cannon mouth, returning to its previous harpoon form, as if it had lost all the vitality it once possessed.
"Truly astonishing power!"
Gegeduo'er felt a trace of apprehension. The thought of that animated metal penetrating one's body was enough to send chills down its spine.
In Leilin's view, making earth-shattering displays every time, as if wanting the whole world to know, was the fool's approach.
A true wizard, one who had grasped the power of truth, should know how to use the minimum force to achieve the maximum result.
So he simply shook his head modestly: "My current strength is still nothing special…"
"Thanks to Mr. Lei's power this time, our fleet would have suffered heavy losses!" Gegeduo'er expressed its gratitude with genuine sincerity.
"Yes! Also, this seems to be the most valuable thing on the spiny-backed iron whale!" Leilin raised the dark solid in his hand. A fishy, rancid smell wafted from it, but as time passed and it was exposed to air, the oxidation process transformed the scent into something fragrant.
"Congratulations, Mr. Lei! That is 'Whale Ambergris'! A specialty of the spiny-backed iron whale—something this large is extremely rare!" Geger said with a hint of envy, though harboring no ill intent.
If it were an ordinary person, Geger would have snatched the precious material and thrown them overboard to feed the fish long ago. But toward Leilin, it didn't have the courage—not even the thought.
"Oh!" Leilin nodded, then tossed the Whale Ambergris to Geger.
"Consider this compensation for my passage on the ship."
With Leilin's perspective, this kind of resource was nothing remarkable, so he casually handed it over.
But in the eyes of Geger and Gegeduo'er, this shrouded Leilin in a veil of mystery. An adventurer who could give away such wealth without batting an eye likely commanded considerable power of his own.
Next, under Gegeduo'er's orders, the entire sailing ship moved to the waters where the battle had taken place and began dismantling the spiny-backed iron whale. A sea monster of the third tier—apart from its specialty Whale Ambergris, every part of its body was an extremely valuable material, potentially worth more than fifty percent of the cargo they had originally carried!
Leilin naturally didn't care about these things, but for Geger and Gegeduo'er, it was a welcome windfall.
Leilin didn't intervene, simply watching as they continuously dismembered the spiny-backed iron whale, cutting away portions of meat and hide, and storing the fat separately.
Meanwhile, Godolik was summoned back. Groups of fishmen sailors transformed into their aquatic forms and applied a semi-transparent gel around its wounds.
This work continued for nearly a day. Although most of the time in the Purgatory World was darkness, the bright moonlight provided sufficient visibility.
When the fleet set sail again, Geger's enormous vertical eye had narrowed almost into a slit from smiling. To reduce weight, they even had to discard some miscellaneous and low-value cargo.
Godolik, having recovered most of its injuries, regained its vitality. Under its pulling force, even against the wind, the massive vessel achieved respectable speed once the sails were lowered.
When the sun rose for the third time, a chain of islands, like strung pearls, appeared before Leilin's eyes.
Several large white seagull-like birds circled overhead, crying out in excitement.
"Iyasi Port—we've finally arrived!" Leilin leaned half against the mast, surveying the nearby shipping lanes.
This was the last resupply point on the way to the Hei'er Continent, and a flourishing center of maritime trade. A casual glance revealed a multitude of ship silhouettes.