Chapter 280
The Gray Ogre went berserk.
Its eyes rolled back as it madly pounded on Moby Dick’s shield.
Bang! Bang!
Every time the aura-infused club slammed down, Moby Dick’s shield rippled as though it would shatter at any moment.
If it had only been the Gray Ogre’s attacks, the shield would never have shaken this violently. It was only possible because the assaults of the other demonic beasts were added on top of it.
The Crimson Drake continuously spewed Fire Breath, while the Giant Spider hammered at the shield with all ten of its legs.
With even the small and mid-sized demonic beasts joining the frenzy, the chaos within the area reached its peak.
KWA-JIK!
Kieeek!
Demonic beasts were constantly being trampled to death beneath gigantic monsters like the Gray Ogre. Even so, not a single beast retreated.
The obsession the beasts showed in trying to break through Moby Dick’s shield surpassed all imagination.
No one knew what was driving those beasts to such extremes.
But there was one thing that seemed certain.
They were desperate.
It was right as the beasts’ assault was growing increasingly fierce.
Srrrk!
The tiny dust-like particles floating through the air like plankton suddenly began moving soundlessly.
But the crazed beasts failed to notice the change at all.
Every time the beasts struck the shield, the air shook violently.
Riding those wave-like currents, the plankton-like particles drifted down onto the heads and bodies of the beasts.
Some of them were inhaled into the beasts’ bodies through their respiratory systems.
Kreeeeh!
Kaooo!
At that moment, the smaller beasts began going insane.
The plankton-like particles were a kind of parasitic lifeform.
Microscopic organisms that survived by parasitizing Moby Dick’s enormous body.
They possessed the characteristic of synchronizing with Moby Dick’s emotions.
Normally they had no effect whatsoever, but the moment Moby Dick harbored negative emotions, they transformed into deadly toxins.
After entering a creature’s body through the respiratory system, they stimulated the brain and drove it into madness.
The only fortunate thing was that B-rank beasts and above, which could protect their entire bodies with force fields, were unaffected. But lower-ranked beasts immediately lost their minds.
Just like now.
The low-ranked beasts forgot all about attacking the shield and instead turned on the other beasts.
The already maddened creatures attacked even A-rank monsters like the Gray Ogre and Crimson Drake with overturned eyes.
Enraged by the fearless lesser beasts charging at them, the A-rank monsters switched targets.
They intended to slaughter all the lesser beasts first before resuming their assault on Moby Dick’s shield.
No matter how numerous the lesser beasts were, they could never match an A-rank monster.
But they could still be annoying.
And the more numerous they were, the more troublesome they became.
And right now, there were more than enough low-ranked beasts here.
Like endless waves, they surged forward to attack the A-rank monsters.
Among them were even C-rank and B-rank beasts.
The B-rank beasts were also protected by force fields, so Moby Dick’s parasitic organisms could not affect them. But instinctively, they understood that they could never approach Moby Dick without first bringing down the A-rank monsters, so they joined the attack as well.
KWAHHH!
KAOOO!
BOOM! KWA-RUMBLE!
The roars of the beasts and the thunderous explosions from their collisions filled Moby Dick’s territory with deafening noise.
“Insane!”
“This makes no sense…”
Pabilsa and Kaylie forgot all about the fact that Lee Jeongho was threatening them as they stared blankly at the clash of beasts.
Pabilsa had wandered the desert for nearly a hundred years.
But even he had never before seen so many demonic beasts mixed together in battle.
“What in the world is Moby Dick for this many beasts to…?”
At first glance, the scene looked chaotic, but even demonic beasts had their own ecosystem.
Within the territory of an A-rank beast, another A-rank beast would almost never intrude unless it was absolutely certain of victory.
Since a one-hundred-percent chance of victory did not exist in the world of beasts, they avoided conflict.
The same applied to B-rank and C-rank beasts.
Once they established territory, they never left it unless something extraordinary happened.
That was why it should have been impossible for so many different kinds of beasts to gather and fight in one place.
At least under normal circumstances.
Moby Dick was clearly the problem.
Something about that mysterious whale was undoubtedly disrupting the ecosystem of the demonic beasts.
Pabilsa looked toward Lee Jeongho with an anxious expression.
Even while they wasted time here, Arkelon was steadily weakening.
If this dragged on any longer, they might miss the golden window to save Arkelon.
The moment he realized that, Lee Jeongho’s blade no longer felt threatening to him.
‘Let’s go, Arkelon.’
He spoke to Arkelon in his heart.
Having spent over a hundred years together, they understood one another without needing words.
Thud! Thud!
Until then, Arkelon had remained motionless out of concern for Pabilsa’s safety, but now it finally began moving with heavy steps.
At once, Lee Jeongho’s expression changed.
“Why did you move Arkelon?”
“It wasn’t me.”
Without changing his expression, Pabilsa calmly lied.
But Lee Jeongho did not believe him.
“If you don’t want to die, stop Arkelon immediately.”
“Heh heh! How could I possibly stop a giant turtle like this? You’d be better off killing me.”
“Killing you probably won’t cancel the order. Then what about your granddaughter?”
Lee Jeongho’s blade moved toward Kaylie’s neck.
Gulp.
As the cold blade touched her throat, Kaylie swallowed nervously.
But like Pabilsa, she did not beg for her life.
Seeing the grandfather and granddaughter refuse to budge even under threat, Lee Jeongho’s expression grew even fiercer.
He had never expected them to resist.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Even at that moment, Arkelon continued walking toward Moby Dick.
Lee Jeongho’s blade dug into Kaylie’s neck, and blood trickled down.
“Hngh!”
Kaylie gasped in shock.
But even as tears welled in her eyes, she still did not ask Pabilsa to stop Arkelon.
Suddenly, Lee Jeongho laughed.
“So you’ve been looking down on me this whole time. Since we’ve already made it this far, I have no more use for you.”
He had ridden Arkelon because he needed a guide to reach Moby Dick.
Now that his objective had been achieved, he no longer cared what happened to Arkelon.
Nor to Pabilsa and Kaylie’s lives…
Just as Lee Jeongho was about to slash through Kaylie’s neck—
BOOM!
With an explosive crash, Arkelon’s enormous body shook violently like an earthquake.
Lee Jeongho briefly lost his balance from the impact.
Pabilsa and Kaylie did not miss the opportunity and immediately leapt into a hidden space inside Arkelon’s shell.
It was a kind of shelter.
Normally it remained hidden from sight, but the moment Pabilsa gave the signal, it appeared and activated.
From the instant Lee Jeongho began threatening them, Pabilsa had already been preparing the shelter.
“Damn it!”
By the time Lee Jeongho realized what had happened, the two had already vanished inside the shelter.
Slash!
He swung his sword, but it cut through empty air.
The shelter was something akin to a subspace.
“Goddammit!”
Lee Jeongho clicked his tongue at the rare failure.
If he had his way, he would drag the two of them out immediately and cut off their heads, but the situation was not that simple.
BOOOOM!
With a thunderous crash, Arkelon’s body shook violently once more.
When he looked outside, he saw the Gray Ogre attacking Arkelon with its aura-infused club.
Arkelon’s gigantic body made it the perfect target.
Moreover, Arkelon had already lost its force field and was wounded, leaving it with virtually no means of defense.
To the Gray Ogre, it was the ideal target.
It was already furious after being harassed by the lesser beasts. There could be no better outlet for its rage than Arkelon.
That was why the Gray Ogre attacked it.
BANG! BANG!
KUUUOOOH!
Each time the enormous aura-infused club smashed into its shell, Arkelon let out agonized cries.
Even so, Arkelon stubbornly continued walking toward Moby Dick.
KRAK!
Arkelon’s shell shattered under the Gray Ogre’s assault.
The destructive power was truly terrifying.
Kaylie shouted at Lee Jeongho.
“At this rate, we’ll be in danger too. We need to escape!”
“Can’t you control Arkelon?”
“It’s impossible with my current abilities. To take control of Arkelon, I’d have to use the Rainbow Pendant, but then I wouldn’t be able to use it on Moby Dick.”
“Then we have no choice. We abandon Arkelon.”
“You finally made the right decision.”
The two simultaneously jumped down from Arkelon’s back.
The moment they landed, they ran into another problem.
The ground was swarming with demonic beasts.
Slash!
“Don’t fall behind. Stay with me.”
After cutting down the beast in front of him, Lee Jeongho spoke to Claire.
Claire silently nodded and stayed close behind him.
The area was literally overflowing with beasts.
Small demonic creatures rushed toward Lee Jeongho and Claire.
Their gaping jaws, razor-sharp teeth, drooling saliva, and crazed eyes filled Claire with terror.
If she had been thrown into this situation alone, she would have become prey in an instant.
Fortunately, she had someone protecting her now.
Swoosh! Slash!
The man effortlessly cutting down the lesser beasts was Lee Jeongho.
Claire did not like Lee Jeongho.
She knew he was cold-blooded enough to kill even his own family if it was for a mission.
Yet for that very same reason, there was no one more reliable when he was on your side.
Claire stayed close behind him as they moved.
Kieeek!
KWAHH!
Even then, the lesser beasts continued surging forward like a tidal wave.
And there was also the Gray Ogre attacking Arkelon.
There was no room to let down one’s guard even for a moment.
Then it happened.
KWAHHHH!
The Crimson Drake, which had been attacked by flying lesser beasts, suddenly let out a massive roar and unleashed Fire Breath.
The Fire Breath incinerated not only the nearby flying beasts but also the lesser beasts on the ground.
The Giant Spider’s webbing contributed as well.
The webs spread wide like giant nets and dissolved countless lesser beasts.
Most of the beasts that had blackened Moby Dick’s territory were wiped out like that.
Only a handful of gigantic beasts remained, including the Gray Ogre.
Among them was Arkelon.
“Haa… Haa…”
Claire breathed heavily.
Her face was blackened with soot.
She had barely avoided the Crimson Drake’s Fire Breath.
If her reaction had been even slightly slower, she would have been roasted alive.
The same went for Lee Jeongho.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and looked around.
The scenery had changed drastically from before.
Most of the lesser beasts had vanished, and the plankton-like parasitic organisms floating in the air had burned away as well.
The area became so quiet that it was hard to believe such chaos had erupted only moments ago.
Then—
FWHAAAA!
The shield protecting Moby Dick suddenly shone intensely like a candle about to go out, then vanished in an instant.
As the shield disappeared, Moby Dick’s form, which had only been faintly visible before, became completely clear.
A colossal demonic beast over one hundred twenty meters long and with a body circumference exceeding thirty meters floated in the air while looking down at them.
At that moment, Lee Jeongho and Claire felt their minds go blank.
It did not feel as though they were looking at a giant beast.
It felt as though they were gazing upon an omnipotent god.
The overwhelming difference in existence made them tremble.
‘Insane…!’
Just meeting Moby Dick’s gaze inflicted severe damage on Lee Jeongho’s mind, causing blood to trickle from the corner of his mouth.
There was no need to mention Claire, whose mental strength was even weaker.
Then Claire noticed a creature staring at them directly beneath Moby Dick.
A pure white baby whale, resembling a miniature version of Moby Dick reduced to one-hundredth its size, peeked its head out.
“D-Don’t tell me… it gave birth to a baby?”