Chương 705: The Demon’s Gambit

Luke sank into the ocean. The current yanked him under. Above him, the ships closed in, enormous shadows cutting across the surface. [Demonic Predator Hands] had already deactivated to save mana. He knew he was reaching his limit. Then all three ships passed right over him. He'd have to face them, and the hero on top of that. Taking Maxwell down in his current state would already be a nightmare, especially after burning so much mana against Casper. And now those ships and their soldiers would be backing him up.

As Luke kept sinking through the ocean, thousands of ideas flashed through his mind. He focused on the power of the horns, not their raw magic, but that mental influence. Instead of a thousand ideas, it felt like someone had multiplied them by a hundred. Countless possibilities tore through his head. Then he opened his eyes and seized on one. A black mass formed beneath him. Luke smiled. He burst out of the sea riding his giant kraken. The creature rose between the ships like a nightmare.

Luke sat atop it like a king on a throne of shadow, tentacles, and seawater. The crews panicked.

"Shoot that thing!" someone shouted. Bullets started raining down. The kraken roared. Luke looked at the men on the decks and smiled.

"You came here to kill me? Fine. Let me show you what death looks like." [Maelstrom Dominion activated] The ocean around the ships began to spin. Slowly at first. Then harder. Then it spun like the sea itself had decided to swallow everything. A massive whirlpool took over the area as the kraken attacked all three ships with its tentacles. Wood split. Masts groaned. Men screamed as control slipped out of their hands. The ships were dragged toward the monster, then past it. Toward the abyss.

"Enjoy the drop," Luke said. The whirlpool pulled the ships toward the waterfall that plunged into the Abyssal Zone. Gunslingers ran desperately across the decks. Some jumped into the sea, trying to escape, but there was nowhere to go. All three ships, armies and all, were hurled over the edge and vanished into the abyss. Riding the kraken, Luke moved toward the shore. Maxwell stood beside Zoe. She stared in horror at what had just happened. Luke tilted his head.

"Your army's gone, hero. Didn't you want to fight a demon lord? I'm right here."

"You goddamn son of a bitch!" Maxwell roared.

"My soldiers were on those ships!" Red flames swallowed his body. The scream that tore from his throat sounded less human than before. He shot forward through the air like a torpedo, flying straight at Luke. Luke dodged, and the kraken dragged him underwater. The Demonic Predator Hands are gone. The Horns too. All I can keep up is the cloak. He surfaced again atop the kraken. At least the horns gave me the cold calm I needed to figure out how to get rid of the three ships.

Maxwell came at him, furious and screaming. The kraken's tentacles rose to shield Luke, but the hero punched through them, each blow exploding with fire. The creature flinched in pain, but kept attacking, and Luke launched himself forward right behind it. The heat around Maxwell was even worse now, almost unbearable. He drew his sword, severed one of the tentacles, and unleashed a torrent of flame.

"Running a little hot, hero?" Luke threw a knife. [Shadow Mana Explosion activated] Maxwell cut through the explosion with his sword and roared, "I'm going to rip you apart, you son of a bitch!"

"You've been saying that for a while."

"You're in my Blazing Hell now, you piece of shit!" A hurricane of fire formed over the sea. The flames struck the water, creating a thick cloud of steam, then surged toward Luke with crushing force. The explosion was enormous. The kraken took the full hit. Inside the flash, Maxwell appeared with both hands thrust forward, hurling fireballs at Luke without stopping. One after another. Fast. Violent. Constant. The kraken tried to protect Luke, taking the impacts for him.

The explosions hammered down like machine-gun fire. It's like what Mason did back then. [Your Spectral Beast has been destroyed] In the instant before the kraken disappeared, Luke gathered every bit of momentum he still had. The cloak launched him upward like a bullet. He crossed the distance between them and struck Maxwell, opening a cut across his chest. [Crimson Fang activated] The hero's sword went flying. Maxwell grabbed Luke in midair and started punching him.

The two of them dropped together and crashed into the water. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"I'm nowhere near dead!" Maxwell shouted underwater as they sank. Luke attacked him right there. The hero's flames weakened under the pressure of the sea, but Maxwell still resisted. Then two enormous eyes appeared beneath them. Both of them froze. A gigantic whale stared up at them from the depths. No way. The monster surged toward them, roaring. The force of its movement created a current of its own, launching both of them upward toward the surface. That's the whale. The same damn one that's been chasing me!

Maxwell surfaced right after him, coughing up water. The whale came after them, mouth wide open. Electricity raced through the water. A whirlpool began pulling them in while both of them tried to swim against the current and got shocked at the same time.

"Oh, fuck no!" Maxwell shouted. Luke recognized the direction. The Abyssal Zone. The whale roared and dragged them toward the waterfall. Luke saw his beacon at the edge of the drop, stuck in the rock. For one second, it looked like the monster tried to turn back. Too late. The whale slammed into the beacon with enough force to break the rock holding it. The beacon fell with Luke, Maxwell, and the monster. All three of them dropped into open air.

"Goodbye, you son of a bitch!" Maxwell said, punching Luke. Then he fired flames from his hands and blasted himself upward, flying away from the fall. Luke kept plunging down the gigantic waterfall. He tried to grab anything. Stone. Roots. A ledge. Any uneven part of the wall. There was nothing. Only the endless fall toward the dark water below. The whale hit the black sea first. Luke followed right after. The only thing that kept him from dying on impact was the cloak, cutting away part of the force.

Even so, the shock stole the air from his lungs. A moment later, the cloak shut off. There wasn't enough mana left to sustain it. The waves hurled him against the wall of the waterfall. When they pulled back, they dragged Luke away with everything they had. He sank. Around him floated shipwreck debris. Bodies. Broken wood spinning in the current.

"No!" Luke swam toward the wall of the abyss, but for every two strokes forward, he was dragged twenty back. The black water carried him away, too strong, too cold, too alive. A blue flash of electricity lit up the distance. The whale swam away at absurd speed. Luke was pulled along by the current. By the time he realized it, he was already far from shore, lost in that impossible sea.

"I have to get back!" He tried to activate the horns. Nothing. He tried to activate the cloak. Nothing.

"Luke Moon," Cadmus's voice said, weak and distorted.

"I regret to inform you, but a Leviathan-level entity is approaching the surface." [Your title Myth Slayer has activated its skill!] [A mythological creature is near you! Good luck with your hunt!] The robot appeared near him. Luke kept swimming.

"I have to get back!" The sea carried him farther away.

"I am sorry, Luke Moon..."

"I'm not fucking dead yet!" Luke activated the scarves at full power as he swam. He used the tentacles for leverage, trying to push against the current. I can't stay here.

"Whatever is coming is interfering with my mana," Cadmus said. The light on the robot's visor flickered erratically.

"This is g-goodbye, f-for both of us." Cadmus fell into the water and began to sink. A strange feeling crawled over Luke. Like he was being watched.

"Cadmus!" Luke dove, grabbed the robot, and started swimming again.

"Damn it, wake up! Is there any way out of this place?" Cadmus stayed offline.

"Fuck it. I just need to keep swimming." Then the ocean trembled. Luke felt it before he understood.

"Damn whale!"

"Luke..." Artemis's voice came softly.

"Don't you start giving me last words too." He clenched his teeth.

"I'm getting out of this place. I'll figure it out. I always do." Something rose out of the water in the distance. Very far away. So far that even Luke's eye zoom couldn't make it out properly. It was only a dark shape, a gigantic silhouette breaking the surface. It's far. I can get back. Even if I have to climb that whole waterfall with my kukris. He just had to reach the part where water wasn't crashing down from above. Another silhouette emerged. There are two? Fuck. One was behind him. The other to his side.

Still far. I can do this. I can make it. Then a third enormous silhouette rose from the water directly ahead, near the shore, blocking the way. Luke stopped for one second. Then he let out a dry laugh.

"Now I get it..." He looked down.

"The damn thing is under me." They weren't three different creatures. They were parts of the same one. Luke saw the immense black mass beneath the water, staring up at him from the depths.

"They were just pieces of the bastard. Like fingers closing around prey." The ocean trembled again. Luke tried to swim, but he was pulled in. The water began to churn and sink. A whirlpool formed around him. This wasn't a current. Luke was swimming inside the mouth of something enormous. The silhouettes that had risen out of the water were teeth.

"No. Fuck no. I can't die!" He tried to put Cadmus into his storage item, but couldn't.

"Damn it, fuck!" As he swam, he made the scarf bind the robot to his body, then used his arms and the tentacles to push forward.

"Come on. Come on!" The mouth began to close.

"I can't—" Luke looked down and saw the water in that part of the ocean collapsing into the creature's throat. The monster's mouth shut.

"Die—" And Luke plunged with the black water into the monster. Swallowed whole.