Chapter 281

Chapter 281

The small baby whale, whose body had gentler contours than Moby Dick’s, was floating in the air just like its mother.

As if it had only just been born, amniotic fluid was flowing down its milky-white body.

The baby whale, which had not yet even opened its eyes, was turning its head sensitively in response to the sounds around it.

Even as Moby Dick breathed roughly, it folded its fins inward to protect its young.

Only then did Lee Jung-ho and Claire realize why Moby Dick had Domainized this place.

“It nested here to give birth.”

“Any lifeform is weakest when giving birth, so it must have used Domainization to protect itself.”

The monsters had clearly realized by instinct that Moby Dick had grown weak and rushed here.

ROOOAR!

At that moment, the monsters, including the Gray Ogre, attacked Moby Dick all at once.

Once time passed, Moby Dick would recover its original strength. If that happened, the monsters’ chance to devour Moby Dick would disappear forever.

Now was their last chance to catch Moby Dick.

The Gray Ogre struck Moby Dick’s enormous body with its aura-infused club, and the Crimson Drake attacked with Fire Breath. The Giant Spider spat webs and bound Moby Dick’s huge body tightly.

Against them, Moby Dick swung its massive tail.

Its enormous one-hundred-twenty-meter body was a tremendous weapon in itself. But because it had to protect the newborn calf beneath its pectoral fin, it had no choice but to move passively.

The Gray Ogre and the Giant Spider did not miss that opening and forced their way in.

Their target was the baby whale.

All offspring were bound to be a mother’s weakness.

They intended to scatter Moby Dick’s attention by attacking the baby whale. And their attempt succeeded brilliantly.

Moby Dick could not swing its tail properly and tried to turn its body to protect its calf.

The three Grade A monsters and the Grade B monsters attacked Moby Dick’s body.

CRUNCH! THUD!

Moby Dick’s thick hide split open, and its flesh was torn away.

Even though it must have been in excruciating pain, Moby Dick stubbornly protected its calf.

After using Domainization and then giving birth, Moby Dick had exhausted all its strength. Because of that, it could not unfold a force field, nor could it use Magic Skills.

It had no choice but to endure every monster attack with its bare body.

Squeeee!

The baby whale let out a frail cry.

It had not yet opened its eyes, so it could not understand exactly what was happening, but it instinctively knew that it and its mother were in danger.

Moby Dick desperately protected its calf while swinging its tail passively.

CRASH—!

The Gray Ogre, struck by Moby Dick’s tail, was sent flying far away and slammed into the ground. Yet it soon rose again as if nothing had happened and charged at Moby Dick.

The same was true for the Giant Spider.

Unlike Moby Dick, their force fields were intact.

Their force fields absorbed most of the impact, so they could rise again without much damage.

After rising, they charged at Moby Dick again.

CRASH! CRACK—!

Their attacks left more and more wounds on Moby Dick’s body.

WOOOOR!

Moby Dick let out a pained cry.

At that moment, Archelon suddenly moved.

It blocked the Gray Ogre and Giant Spider’s attacks with its massive body.

CRASH! BOOM—!

Impacts incomparably greater than anything before struck Archelon. Each time, Archelon screamed in pain again and again.

The sturdy shell that had protected the Mort Clan for long years shattered, and fragments flew in every direction.

At the tremendous impact, Pabilsa and Kaylee, who had been hiding inside the shelter, rushed out.

“No!”

“Archelon, why?”

No matter who looked, Archelon was protecting Moby Dick.

There was no connection between the two monsters. Archelon had no reason to go out of its way to protect Moby Dick. And yet, it was protecting Moby Dick by offering its own body.

Pieces of the broken shell flew off and crashed into the ground.

Naturally, the village inside Archelon’s shell was smashed to pieces as well.

Everything was breaking apart. Even so, Archelon did not retreat a single step.

It was as if it meant to protect Moby Dick with its own death. But it was impossible for Archelon alone to completely protect Moby Dick from the attacks of so many monsters.

ROOOAR!

The Crimson Drake’s Fire Breath struck Archelon and Moby Dick at the same time.

Under the magma-like heat of the flames, Archelon’s remaining shell and Moby Dick’s hide melted.

It was so terrible that even Pabilsa and Kaylee leapt down from Archelon’s shell.

THUD!

Immediately after the two jumped down, Archelon could no longer withstand the impact and collapsed.

Moby Dick too was driven close to death.

By contrast, the monsters grew even more triumphant and attacked Moby Dick and Archelon.

Watching that sight, Lee Jung-ho said to Claire,

“Now is the perfect opportunity.”

“But then Moby Dick will......”

“We have to kill it anyway if we’re going to take Moby Dick’s heart.”

At Lee Jung-ho’s cold words, Claire squeezed her eyes shut.

She truly did not want to harm that mysterious, enormous monster. But she had no choice.

Lee Jung-ho forced her once more.

“Begin.”

“Understood.”

In the end, Claire squeezed her eyes shut and focused on the Rainbow Pendant around her neck.

The Rainbow Pendant was a Grade S item.

It could momentarily turn Claire, who was only a Grade B Tamer, into a Grade S Tamer.

Claire borrowed the Rainbow Pendant’s power and attempted to tame Moby Dick.

The moment she tried to connect to Moby Dick’s consciousness, Claire was startled.

‘Its ego is too powerful. If it hadn’t grown weak after giving birth, even the Rainbow Pendant’s power wouldn’t have been enough to tame it.’

The Rainbow Pendant’s power was certainly incredible. In the past, she had even used the Rainbow Pendant to force the Queen Ghost Dragonfly to molt.

But even with the Rainbow Pendant’s power, taming Moby Dick in a normal state would have been impossible.

As Lee Jung-ho said, if not now, she would not even dare attempt to tame that enormous monster.

Drip!

Blood burst from Claire’s nose.

Because she was concentrating her strength and mind too intensely, her body was being overloaded.

Claire endured the pain and drew even more power from the Rainbow Pendant.

As the Grade S item activated, red light burst out.

She mobilized the Rainbow Pendant’s power, but Moby Dick was still resisting.

At that moment, the Gray Ogre stepped on the collapsed Archelon and leapt high into the sky. Then it brought its club down on Moby Dick with all its strength.

CRASH—!

Moby Dick’s body shook violently under an impact incomparable to anything before.

At the instant Moby Dick’s mind was briefly blown away, the Rainbow Pendant emitted an especially brilliant light.

At the same time, Moby Dick’s eyes turned red.

She had barely succeeded in taming Moby Dick.

“I...... succeeded.”

“Then make it run wild.”

“But......”

“Do not make me say it twice.”

“Understood.”

Claire bit her lip hard and ordered Moby Dick to run wild.

FLASH—!

In that instant, black light burst from Moby Dick’s entire body like the Big Bang.

The intense black light struck the monsters that had been attacking Moby Dick.

The moment it touched the black light, the Gray Ogre’s left arm was blown away, and four of the Giant Spider’s legs exploded.

The Crimson Drake, which had been flying and firing Fire Breath, lost both wings and crashed to the ground.

Needless to say, the Grade B monsters fared no better.

The moment they touched the dark light, their entire bodies vanished in an instant, as if they had evaporated.

It was truly tremendous power.

This was one of Moby Dick’s unique Skills: the authority of death.

Although it bore the same name as Deioden’s authority, it was far stronger, and its effects were immediate.

This ability, which converted its own life force into death and released it, was Moby Dick’s final means of defense.

After using the authority of death, Moby Dick exhausted all its strength and fell.

CRASH—!

Moby Dick’s enormous body collapsed limply onto the ground.

Squeeee!

The baby whale, which had barely escaped the place where its mother fell, let out a sorrowful cry.

Only then did Moby Dick break free from the Rainbow Pendant’s control and look at its calf.

Even though it was on the verge of death, Moby Dick’s eyes were filled with warmth as it looked at its calf.

Just then—

ROOOOAR!

The monsters that had suffered grievous wounds from Moby Dick’s authority roared and crawled forward.

Even after losing one arm, even after losing four legs, even after losing both wings, they charged with only Moby Dick in their sights.

As if wounds like this would be no problem at all as long as they could devour Moby Dick.

A cold smile appeared on Lee Jung-ho’s lips.

The picture he wanted had finally been created.

Moby Dick on the brink of death, and the weakened monsters.

He could clearly see how it would end.

“Now, perish together, beasts who disturb the world.”

“You’ve done something incredible while I was gone.”

At that moment, someone’s voice came from behind him. But Lee Jung-ho was not surprised.

“Zeon!”

The owner of the voice was Zeon.

Zeon, who had arrived late, wore an expression as hard as stone.

The sight of Moby Dick and Archelon dying in such a miserable state was shocking.

With tears welling in her eyes, Kaylee said to Zeon,

“Zeon, Archelon tried to protect Moby Dick, and......”

He did not need to hear the rest to know.

More than anything, from far away, he had witnessed with his own eyes Claire artificially taming Moby Dick and forcing it to run wild.

Honestly, he did not intend to criticize them for making Moby Dick run wild for the sake of their objective. After all, Lee Jung-ho’s original goal had been to obtain Moby Dick’s heart.

The problem was Archelon.

They knew that Zeon and Pabilsa had come here to save Archelon, yet they had allowed it to be wounded like that. Zeon could not simply let that pass.

Zeon glared at Lee Jung-ho.

“I will not let this go.”

“And if you do not?”

Lee Jung-ho also looked at Zeon provocatively.

A chilling killing intent lingered in his unfocused eyes.

His gaze was terrifying enough to make one’s knees weaken just by looking at it.

Zeon did not avoid that gaze.

“You will pay the price.”

“Do you think that is possible?”

“It is not impossible.”

“You are overconfident in yourself.”

“Am I?”

“That is how it looks to me.”

“You are the one too confident in your own ability.”

Lee Jung-ho’s eyebrow twitched.

That was because Zeon’s words had struck his pride.

He acknowledged that Zeon, as a Sandmancer, was absolute in the desert. He had seen it with his own eyes. But that did not mean Zeon was invincible.

Everything had compatibility.

Even the strong had weaknesses, and every attribute was bound to have something that resisted it.

If Zeon specialized in wide-area attacks, Lee Jung-ho was a swordsman specialized in interpersonal combat.

He was the existence at the opposite point from Zeon.

To others, Zeon might be a disaster, but to Zeon, Lee Jung-ho was a disaster-like existence.

He even pitied Zeon for acting so arrogantly without knowing that fact.

“It would not be bad to teach you a lesson before extracting Moby Dick’s heart.”

“A lesson?”

“Yes! A lesson of death.”

SWISH—!

The moment his words ended, Lee Jung-ho’s sword was drawn at terrifying speed. It was an attack aimed at Zeon’s life.

His sword was just about to touch Zeon’s throat.

BOOM—!

Suddenly, a pillar of sand surged up beneath Lee Jung-ho’s feet.

The enormous pillar of sand sent Lee Jung-ho flying far away.

After instantly clearing away the obstacle, Zeon turned his gaze toward Moby Dick.

The monsters were tearing into Moby Dick and Archelon.

Looking at the monsters, Zeon murmured coldly,

“Sand Blender!”

WHIRRRR!