The Price of Power: A New Threat Emerges

White Feather’s sudden return genuinely surprised Ming Yu. However, there was no time to ponder it now.

Leviathan’s pained cry reverberated through the sky. Jiang Chen had pierced its scaly hide, burrowing deep into its flesh like a festering disease.

Ming Yu glanced at White Feather, then at the belated Old Man Jiang. She tightened her grip on her blade, fixing her gaze intently on Leviathan’s massive eyeball.

Her eyes regained their fierce intensity.

“White Feather, I apologize… but it has come to this. Let’s go.”

“I’ve been waiting for you to say that!”

White Feather’s spirits soared, its mood shifting with the swiftness of a child. Its tone once again brimmed with its usual fervor.

Ming Yu nodded, signaling White Feather to release its talons. Her body plummeted from the sky, her blade aimed directly at Leviathan’s eye.

Meanwhile, Jiang Chen wielded his twin blades, veins bulging on his forehead. He gritted his teeth, a fierce grimace distorting his old, resolute face.

Years, perhaps decades, had passed since he last shed his cynical facade, no longer concealing the murderous desire buried deep within his heart.

Jiang Chen, originally a wanderer, had become a sea beast hunter solely to find an answer, risking his life to protect this city.

Memories that should have long been forgotten inexplicably flashed through his mind.

“Master, you say we only live a few decades, so why do we fight so desperately? Aren’t we all destined to die, whether sooner or later?” Young Jiang Chen blinked in confusion, facing the vast sea and sky.

On a swift speedboat, a man with two blades at his waist looked at the empty liquor bottle in his hand. He shook it, then let out a burp.

“Little Jiang, that’s not right. Your way of thinking is quite dangerous,” the man, referred to as “Master,” chuckled.

“The meaning of life lies in the process, not the outcome… Never mind, I suppose you wouldn’t understand. Let me put it this way…”

“Today we have wine, today we get drunk~~~”

He opened another bottle, guzzled a large mouthful, then wiped his mouth. He then burst into a joyous laugh.

“If I drink myself to death here, then my life will be immortalized in a moment of pure joy. If I don’t, then I’ll just wait for tomorrow’s sun to rise and keep drinking…”

“In this wretched world, one must, after all, have something to believe in…”

“I wonder if there’s a god of wine in this world…”

****

Inside Leviathan’s body, Jiang Chen, having injected three consecutive gene-enhancement serums, was barely recognizable as human. His entire body was covered in fine, grayish-white scales.

His atrophied tailbone had pierced through his skin once more, emerging as a bone tail gleaming with a cold light.

His eyes began to degenerate, his vision blurring, yet he gained the ability of echolocation.

This S-rank hunter, who had retired from the front lines years ago, now reignited his life’s flame upon returning to battle. At the cost of his lifespan, he ascended to the ranks of legends.

In truth, Jiang Chen had kept something from Ming Yu. The reason he retired from the front lines years ago was due to the worsening of a genetic illness.

However, their respective conditions were entirely different. While theoretically possible, it was the first time he had encountered a genetic disease that altered one’s gender.

By the time both his blades shattered, Jiang Chen had painstakingly carved numerous holes into Leviathan’s lungs, strong currents of air constantly rushing in and out of the wounds.

Before he could recover, Leviathan used its psionic energy to grasp the ‘insect’ that had burrowed into its body. The immense, roadroller-like force made Jiang Chen spurt a mouthful of blood, his vitality instantly waning.

For ordinary individuals incapable of wielding psionic energy, such abilities were akin to a dimensionality reduction attack, virtually impossible to defend against.

Just as he believed everything was about to end, the terrifying pressure on his body abruptly vanished, immediately followed by an earth-shattering shriek.

****

Outside.

Ming Yu, as if slicing through tofu, effortlessly shattered Leviathan’s eye defenses. The searing blade light plunged directly into its vulnerable eyeball.

Its screams were utterly piercing.

But this was only the beginning.

Seizing the opportunity, Ming Yu took out another syringe and injected herself. Her ferocious aura intensified, and a sharp, crimson malevolent light tore through the weakened defenses, wreaking havoc within.

Molly, observing from a distance, wore a grave expression. She had become profoundly aware of the chasm between herself and a legend, feeling an inevitable shame for her past arrogant notions.

Just then, a shrill alarm suddenly blared across the entire fleet.

“Enemy attack! All units, be on alert!”

“Steam Squids and Red-Hot Octopi are approaching!”

The information provided by the alarm sent a chill through everyone’s hearts. As Dresa’s sea beast hunters, they naturally knew these two sea beast species were kin to the North Sea Kraken.

It was precisely these creatures that had largely destroyed their homeland. Enemies meeting made their eyes burn with vengeance.

Molly drew her laser blade, walking from bow to stern, her gaze fixed on the shadows beneath the distant sea surface.

However, none of them had anticipated that this shadow would completely ignore them, surging instead towards the battlefield where Pharos and Leviathan were engaged.

Molly’s heart skipped a beat. She looked back at the distant giant crocodile, unable to help but worry for the silver figure, and then let out a deep sigh.

She desperately wanted to rush in and help, but her mission was reconnaissance, not hunting.

She still had her father to support, and her subordinates had family and friends waiting for them to return home. They couldn’t die here in vain…

Molly bit her lip, her gaze fraught with complexity.

Self-awareness, more often than not, could prevent needless sacrifices.

‘Good luck, Ming Yu.’

A trace of fear naturally arose within Leviathan. The first ‘ant’ had struck it with a punch that rattled its mind, leaving it disoriented even now.

It couldn’t even focus a tenth of its energy, let alone fully unleash its unparalleled psionic power.

If not for that ‘ant’, it would have long since crushed all these annoying flies surrounding it. How could it have allowed them the chance to wound it?

Despite possessing superior strength, it was gradually being pushed onto the defensive… It was unwilling to accept this.

Only now did Leviathan begin to truly take these ‘ants’ seriously, regarding them as equals. Alas, it was too late.

Even though Leviathan had felt a vague unease, suspecting that ‘thing’ might be nearby, it never imagined it would arrive so swiftly.

An incredibly thick tentacle pierced Leviathan’s abdomen from below, churning violently within its body.

Whummm—!

This whale-like cry was louder than any before. The powerful air current expelled Jiang Chen and Ming Yu, along with fragmented flesh, from the giant whale’s body.

Cackle—

The enormous octopus head emerged from the water, an eerie sound continuously emanating from its mouthparts.

Kraken then thrust another tentacle into Leviathan’s injured eye, its terrifying power penetrating deep into the giant whale’s brain, extensively damaging its brain tissue.

Mid-air, with the dissipation of her energy shield, Ming Yu violently spat out a mouthful of blood, her internal organs seemingly shattered by the shockwave.

White Feather tightly gripped her arm, vigorously flapping its wings to ascend higher, all the while keeping a watchful eye on Ming Yu’s condition, its eyes filled with worry.