Chapter 276

Chapter 276

At a glance, the main body looked smooth, but if one looked closely, countless seams were visible. The texture of the hide differed at every seam.

That was because the hides of different monsters had been stitched together.

The same was true for the tentacles swaying above its head. The tentacles, like a woman’s long hair, had each been pulled from different monsters.

Some tentacles were bumpy like octopus suckers, while others were transparent like jellyfish tentacles. There were also tentacles mixed in that were sharp as blades.

Zeon did not know who had made such a grotesque Chimera, or what they had been thinking, but he could easily tell that their aesthetic sense was terribly lacking.

The black sea anemone, Bessie, attacked Archelon the moment Pantshi gave the order.

SCHLURP—!

A tentacle covered in octopus suckers instantly stretched nearly one hundred meters and wrapped around Archelon.

WOOOOR!

Archelon struggled after being caught by the tentacle. But the more it struggled, the more tightly the suckers wrapped around it.

Bessie’s octopus tentacle was like a Venus flytrap that could never be escaped once it seized its prey.

SCHLURP—!

At that moment, another tentacle flew in.

It was dozens of tentacles as sharp as blades.

Startled, Pabilsa shouted loudly.

“Archelon!”

He wanted Archelon to avoid the tentacles, but unfortunately, Archelon’s movements were far too sluggish to evade them.

WHIP, WHIP, WHIP—!

Countless tentacles wrapped tightly around Archelon.

Pantshi shouted loudly.

“Become Bessie’s nourishment.”

“Who says?”

At that moment, Zeon answered coldly and raised his right arm.

SCHLURP—!

Far more streams of sand than Bessie’s tentacles surged up from the ground.

They were sand snakes created by Zeon’s Skill. They were Vipers.

The Vipers bit into the tentacles wrapped around Archelon’s body.

SLASH—!

The blade-sharp tentacles were torn and cut apart by the Vipers.

Only one tentacle with octopus suckers remained.

Even under the Vipers’ attack, the octopus suckers did not let Archelon go.

Unlike the other tentacles, the octopus suckers regenerated almost immediately even when wounded. Unlike ordinary tentacles, they possessed powerful regenerative power.

Zeon knew well how to deal with monsters that had strong regenerative power.

“Fire Rain!”

When Zeon swept his hand, countless fireballs poured down like rain toward the octopus suckers.

Fire Rain seared the wounds the Vipers had torn open.

The burn wounds could no longer regenerate.

Against monsters with regenerative power, fire was the perfect remedy.

When the wounds stopped regenerating, Bessie heaved violently as if in pain. Even so, it clung stubbornly to Archelon and refused to let go. Then it tried to absorb Archelon’s bodily fluids.

“You really are persistent.”

Zeon murmured quietly and moved the sand again.

At his will, dozens of Vipers wrapped around the tentacle resembling an octopus sucker.

“Claymore!”

BOOM—!

The Vipers exploded on the spot and struck the octopus sucker.

KIIIIII!

Bessie let out a high-frequency scream and writhed.

That was because the octopus-sucker tentacle had been torn to shreds.

Bessie withdrew the tentacle, now reduced by half, and glared at Zeon.

The countless eyes located beneath its main body turned toward Zeon.

Pantshi shouted in panic.

“Wait! Not him. You have to absorb the turtle.”

Under normal circumstances, Bessie would have listened to Pantshi, but this time it rejected his command.

It was a monster whose instinct preceded reason.

Rationally, it was correct to absorb Archelon and stabilize its interior, but its instincts were whispering that it had to kill Zeon, the one who had inflicted great pain on it.

Like the monster it was, Bessie chose the whisper of instinct.

WHIP, WHIP, WHIP—!

Countless swaying tentacles shot toward Zeon all at once.

Each tentacle was thicker than Zeon’s torso.

Zeon unfolded Sand Walk and retreated. Bessie’s tentacles pursued him like guided missiles.

CRASH—! CRASH—!

Tentacles that missed Zeon slammed into the ground and released thunderous roars.

As Zeon dodged each of Bessie’s tentacles one by one, he shouted,

“Hurry to Moby Dick with Archelon.”

“But......”

Pabilsa hesitated.

He was uneasy about leaving Zeon alone against such an enormous monster.

Knowing how Pabilsa felt, Zeon shouted,

“It’s harder for me to fight while protecting Archelon. Hurry and go.”

“Understood.”

In the end, Pabilsa concluded that leaving this place quickly was the best thing he could do for Zeon as well.

“Let’s go, Archelon!”

At Pabilsa’s words, Archelon moved its heavy steps.

After taking another attack from Bessie, its strength had plummeted sharply. Even so, Archelon somehow did not collapse and walked with difficulty.

Claire, who was riding on Archelon’s back, carefully spoke to Lee Jung-ho.

“Shouldn’t we help him?”

“He would not want that.”

“But......”

“Claire!”

“Yes!”

“Remember. What our mission is, and why we came all the way out here.”

“I know.”

“Then stay faithful to the mission. He will handle that Chimera himself.”

Lee Jung-ho’s expression was indifferent as he looked toward the place where Zeon was.

Because of his unfocused eyes, it was impossible to guess what he was thinking.

But one thing was certain.

Zeon’s safety was not in Lee Jung-ho’s mind.

For him, the mission given by Jin Geum-ho took priority.

His mission was to secure Moby Dick’s heart.

Nothing else mattered to him.

The same was true of Zeon’s life.

Even at a glance, the black sea anemone was extremely dangerous.

The sight of countless tentacles stabbing toward Zeon like missiles was chilling just to watch.

If he had been attacked by the black sea anemone, instead of dodging like Zeon, Lee Jung-ho would have cut them all down one by one.

The tentacles flew at terrifying speeds that human eyes could not perceive, but he had Mind’s Eye.

Mind’s Eye allowed him to detect and react even to attacks at speeds and in domains humans could not perceive.

To Lee Jung-ho, the black sea anemone’s attacks were not threatening. If he cooperated with Zeon, they could bring down the black sea anemone far more easily. Even so, the reason he did not was because he needed Zeon to exhaust some of his strength.

‘He will have to consume no small amount of power to bring down that Chimera.’

Zeon was a person whose grain differed from his own.

They had not clashed over any particular opinion, but from Zeon’s tone, actions, and gaze alone, Lee Jung-ho could tell that he was a person with different intentions from him.

He could not leave such a person in perfect condition.

CRASH—!

One tentacle struck Zeon.

Fortunately, Zeon raised a sand wall at that moment and avoided taking the direct impact. But Lee Jung-ho could still tell that he was having a difficult time.

“That should be enough.”

Lee Jung-ho turned his gaze toward Moby Dick’s domain.

Archelon was taking one step, then another, into the domain as dark as the deep sea.

A chill unlike anything before assaulted him and Archelon.

From the corner of his eye, Zeon watched Archelon disappear into Moby Dick’s domain.

“Where do you think you’re looking?”

With Pantshi’s shout, Zeon’s body suddenly grew heavy.

‘A curse?’

Strength drained from his muscles, and his breathing quickened. Objects overlapped into three or four images, and an intense fever made it feel as if his brain were melting.

While Zeon’s attention had been focused on Bessie, Pantshi had secretly scattered a curse.

Because it had been spread over a wide area, its power was not strong, but it was enough to momentarily render Zeon powerless.

WHIRL—!

During the brief moment when his movements slowed, a transparent tentacle wrapped around Zeon.

“Urk!”

“Caught you, you rat-like bastard!”

Pantshi shouted triumphantly.

The transparent tentacle squeezed Zeon with terrifying pressure.

There was no way to escape the tentacle through ordinary means, so Pantshi grinned, revealing his yellow teeth.

Zeon did indeed struggle, but the transparent tentacle did not budge.

Bessie tried to suck out Zeon’s bodily fluids. But Pantshi stopped Bessie.

“Wait! Bessie, bring him here. I want to see his face.”

Perhaps its anger had subsided after capturing Zeon, because this time Bessie obediently followed Pantshi’s command.

The transparent tentacle brought Zeon in front of Pantshi.

Pantshi looked into Zeon’s face.

“What are you? Where did you come from, popping up out of nowhere and interfering with me?”

“Then why are you targeting Archelon?”

“Archelon? Ah! That turtle. It is nourishment. Nourishment to make our Bessie grow.”

“So it really is an incomplete Chimera.”

“Shut up! Our Bessie is perfect. It is an existence more beautiful and perfect than any other lifeform.”

“You call that beautiful?”

“Yes! What a perfect lifeform it is. Even across all of Earth, no lifeform more beautiful than this exists.”

“To my eyes, it looks like patchwork rags.”

“You dare insult my Bessie?”

Anger appeared on Pantshi’s face.

He could endure being insulted himself, but he absolutely could not tolerate Bessie being insulted.

Pantshi shouted,

“Absorb him, Bessie!”

The tentacle wrapped around Zeon writhed violently.

It could absorb the bodily fluids of a small lifeform like Zeon in a single second.

Pantshi thought it would be the same this time. Contrary to his expectations, however, no matter how hard the tentacle struggled, no bodily fluids were drawn from Zeon’s body.

That was because the robe made from Leviathan’s hide was perfectly protecting Zeon from the tentacle.

On top of that, there was Zeon’s super-regeneration ability.

No matter how remarkable Bessie’s ability was, it was impossible to extract all of Zeon’s bodily fluids and life force. And Zeon had no intention of letting it happen.

WHOOSH—!

Flames suddenly surged from Zeon’s body.

The tremendous heat made the tentacle loosen on its own.

The instant he regained his freedom, Zeon opened his subspace.

What he took out from his subspace was a giant scythe.

It was Reaper’s Scythe, obtained after killing the Grim Reaper.

Zeon swung Reaper’s Scythe toward Pantshi, who still had not grasped the situation.

Just before Reaper’s Scythe fell upon Pantshi’s neck, Bessie wrapped a tentacle around him to protect him.

SLICE—!

The tentacle was cut, and a long wound appeared across Pantshi’s chest.

“Aaaargh!”

Pantshi screamed and hurriedly fled backward.

“That was shallow.”

Zeon clicked his tongue.

Because of the tentacle, he had failed to end Pantshi’s life. Still, that did not matter.

Thanks to that, all the curses poured onto him had disappeared.

Zeon stored Reaper’s Scythe back in his subspace.

Reaper’s Scythe was not an object he could hold for long. Unless one was a Curse Caster, one had to endure an enormous backlash.

Pantshi, who had hurriedly hidden behind Bessie, shouted,

“Kill him, Bessie!”

SCHLURP—!

No sooner had his words ended than Bessie attacked Zeon.

Hundreds of tentacles shot toward Zeon all at once. Unlike before, Zeon did not dodge them.

Dozens of Sand Soldiers were summoned around Zeon.

The soldiers made of sand blocked the incoming tentacles with their bodies.

CRASH—! CRASH—! CRASH—!

The Sand Soldiers burst apart with explosive roars, but Zeon did not so much as blink.

He had not expected the Sand Soldiers to block those tentacles.

The Sand Soldiers were only there to buy him a little time.

“The real thing starts now.”

Zeon’s eyes turned toward the ground where Bessie stood.

SSSSSS!

At some point, the sand had begun rotating around Bessie. But Bessie was so focused on launching its tentacles that it did not notice. It also lacked the reason to judge the situation calmly.

Zeon passed a death sentence upon Bessie.

“Sand Blender!”

WHIRRRR!

The sand rotated at high speed.