"This... is a Spiny Iron Whale?!"
Gegeer's spiritual fluctuations even carried a trace of fear: "How is this possible? In these coastal waters, how could a deep-sea predator of this kind possibly exist?"
The Spiny Iron Whale was a colossal creature unique to the deep sea. Every adult specimen possessed immense power, but what was truly terrifying was their temperament—once they set their sights on a piece of prey, they would pursue it day and night without rest, relentless to the very end.
The horrifying aura emanating from this Spiny Iron Whale actually surpassed that of Guduolike, and this could not help but fill Gegeer with dread.
"Watch out!"
At Leilin's warning, the Spiny Iron Whale charged forward with explosive force. The iron spines lining its massive thorned back drove deep into Guduolike's body.
"Moo moo!" Guduolike cried out in pain as the two colossal beasts collided, sending violent tremors through the enormous sailing ship above them.
Bang! Like a magnitude-nine earthquake erupting without warning, the entire hull shuddered violently. At one moment it was flung completely off the water's surface before crashing back down with devastating force.
"Aaah..." Even Gegeer's numerous tentacles couldn't hold, and it collapsed onto the deck, wrapping itself tightly around a mast with its many appendages like vines.
Its situation was actually fortunate. In truth, the instant the collision occurred, several fish-person sailors stationed at the edge of the deck had been careless and were sent hurtling outward by the tremendous inertia, letting out sharp screams before plunging into the sea—where they were swept up alongside their underwater kin into the battle between the two monsters, ultimately reduced to scattered chunks of flesh and blood that tinted the ocean surface a faint red.
"Cut the chains!"
The iron chains fastened to Guduolike had been of tremendous help to the ship's navigation under normal circumstances, but now they had become nothing but a crippling liability.
Gegeduoer, who had noticed this immediately, issued the command without a moment's hesitation.
Several of the burlier fish-person guards, eyes bloodshot with fury, rushed to a control valve and brought a massive axe crashing down upon it.
Clang! The enormous chain connecting to Guduolike snapped free, and the ship's violent rocking immediately subsided considerably.
"Full rudder! Get us out of this area!"
Gegeduoer's voice had somehow already reached the bow. Its entire body hovered in midair as vast spiritual waves swept outward, forcibly commanding the fish-person sailors and driving them to work with wild, bloodshot eyes.
Creak! Creak!
The great sailing ship swung around sharply, leaving that stretch of sea to the two behemoths.
Waves surged skyward, and terrifying sounds continued to rumble up from the seabed. Even with the augmentation of their wizardry, many of the fish-person sailors still trembled uncontrollably.
"Prepare the bow cannon! We must destroy that Spiny Iron Whale, or it will follow us forever and drag our ship to the bottom of the sea!" Gegeduoer flew toward the center of the battle, while Gegeer seemed to have recovered somewhat, driving the terrified crew to bring out the giant cannon mounted at the ship's prow.
"Hurry! Get it ready!" Gegeer's enormous vertical eye was shot through with red veins, and even the tentacles it had extended had transformed into powerful whips, lashing the fish-persons relentlessly to drive them to mount a massive, five-meter-long harpoon onto the cannon.
"The Spiny Iron Whale possesses [Iron Skin], and its body carries an effect similar to [Physical Weakening]—we have to use this!"
Gegeer pulled several black-and-white stones from its body and struck them together like flint.
A layer of alternating black and white light spread across the surface of the steel harpoon.
"Oh? Temporary enchantment techniques? And this kind of carrier—is it from a ritual or a scroll?" Leilin's eyes, watching from the side, suddenly flickered with an unusual gleam.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the roars of the massive beast were unceasing. The towering waves it generated kept the ship heaving from side to side.
The fleet's Guduolike was clearly no match for the Spiny Iron Whale. Even though it possessed the potential to grow to Dawn Star-level strength, years of servitude as an enslaved mount and deliberate sealing had prevented it from fully unleashing its bloodline power.
The Spiny Iron Whale, by contrast, was the exact opposite—it had grown up from the very beginning in the perilous deep-sea environment, with battle experience honed to the utmost.
As a result, almost from the moment they clashed, Guduolike had a huge chunk of muscle torn from its body by the Spiny Iron Whale's bite. More than that, those razor-sharp iron spines had gouged numerous wounds across its flesh.
Great gushes of blood sprayed forth continuously. Compared to this, the earlier spray of blood from the fish-persons was nothing—indeed, the entire stretch of sea had been stained crimson.
"Moo moo..." Guduolike's roars grew fainter and fainter, even taking on a note of pleading.
"Damn it!" At that moment, Guduolike's reinforcement—Gegeduoer—arrived at the battlefield. Seeing this scene, its enormous vertical eye immediately blazed crimson with rage.
This Guduolike was the shared asset of their Yidong Trade Association. If something went wrong under its watch—or if the creature perished outright—the compensation it would be forced to produce would be an astronomical figure, enough to drive it into bankruptcy and send it, along with Gegeer, off to the Barbarian Regions or the Dark Zones to toil as forced laborers. Moreover, aboard the sailing ship was a portion of critically important cargo that absolutely could not be lost!
In a towering fury, Gegeduoer struck immediately. Invisible whips of spiritual energy rained down from the void in massive quantities.
The surrounding seawater surged inward as well, coalescing into enormous walls of water.
"Hm?" At that moment, Leilin, standing on the deck, paused in surprise—he had clearly noticed something.
"What is it, Lord Leilin? What do you make of the situation?" Gegewu, who had managed to divert a fraction of its spiritual attention here even in the midst of the crisis, immediately picked up on Leilin's reaction and sent a telepathic message.
"Oh! The battle is at a stalemate for now! Your honored father and Guduolike have joined forces and are even holding a slight advantage!"
Leilin offered a few words of reassurance, then added with a note of gravity: "But that Spiny Iron Whale clearly possesses a very high resistance to spiritual attacks—you'll need to be careful!"
According to conventional theory, monsters of this massive size that relied primarily on physical strength would naturally be lacking in the mental and spiritual departments. But this Spiny Iron Whale had clearly defied that common wisdom.
Not only did it withstand Gegeduoer's spiritual energy attacks with formidable resistance—it rendered nearly all of them completely ineffective.
"The Spiny Iron Whale naturally possesses the [Iron
"Mr. Leilin..." It gazed at Leilin with hopeful expectation.
"Rest assured! As repayment for your rescuing me, I will lend a hand when the time comes!"
Leilin nodded, and Gegewu visibly relaxed. It then personally took control of the turret, aiming at the colossal Spiny Iron Whale that was battling Guduolike and Gegeduoer.
Boom! The great cannon roared! The tremendous recoil sent the entire ship lurching backward, its stern plunging downward.
Whoooosh... A terrifying sound of tearing air erupted, like the shriek of some monstrous beast, as a beam of dark light several dozen meters long shot straight out and struck the triangular fin on the Spiny Iron Whale's back.
"ROOOAR..." Massive sprays of blood erupted from the wound, drawing a furious bellow from the Spiny Iron Whale.
Snap! A rune-inscribed iron chain snapped taut.
"Now! Full power!!!" At the other end of that chain was the sailing ship itself. Gegewu's spiritual fluctuations surged to their absolute limit as it screamed in rage.
The entire sail was hoisted, and the hull began to rock violently.
A scene resembling a tug-of-war materialized between the Spiny Iron Whale and the sailing ship. And seizing this opportunity, Gegeduoer, hovering in midair, finally unleashed its ultimate strike!
"Evil King's True Eye!
A massive beam of dark crimson light surged forth from Gegeduoer's enormous vertical eye, piercing straight into the Spiny Iron Whale's colossal eyeball.
The creature's entire body shuddered violently. It squeezed both eyes shut and rolled ceaselessly through the water.
"Moo moo!" Guduolike immediately let out a roar and charged in.
After firing that beam, Gegeduoer seemed to have lost all its strength. It swayed drunkenly through the air before dropping onto the deck, unable even to keep itself upright with its tentacles.
"Father!" Gegeer rushed over immediately, supporting the other with numerous tentacles.
"ROOOAR!"
With a berserk howl, the Spiny Iron Whale opened its eyes once more—but now they were flooded with a deep, bloody hue.
"Its [Bloodlust Berserk]! I never expected this Spiny Iron Whale could awaken that bloodline trait!"
Gegeduoer watched the Spiny Iron Whale explode with power, sending Guduolike flying in a massive spray of blood, and its spiritual fluctuations rippled with complex emotions.
"Mr. Leilin! I must ask you to act this time!"
When the maddened Spiny Iron Whale charged toward the sailing ship, Gegeduoer immediately flew to Leilin's side and made its plea.
"Rest assured!" Beneath the Mask of the Dreamless, Leilin's face showed a gentle smile as he walked up to the great cannon.
At this point, due to the chain and harpoon, the entire sailing ship had become a liability—like some abyssal demon gripping the chain from below, attempting to drag the entire vessel down into the depths.
"The power system of this world seems to revolve around discovering one's innate bloodline talents, along with ritualistic elements... I shouldn't stand out too much..."
With these casual thoughts, Leilin stood beside the chain and pressed his palm against its surface.
The cold sensation of metal met his skin, along with a faint trembling, allowing him to feel viscerally the Spiny Iron Whale's tremendous strength in its maddened state.
"[Metal Activation]!"
The most appropriate spell template was drawn up by the Chip, and immediately a layer of dim light enveloped Leilin's hand.
The entire chain seemed to undergo some kind of transformation, as ripple-like waves propagated along its surface, traveling all the way to the other end.