The Abyssal Serpent's tremendous water attack was faster by just a fraction of a second. A tiny difference, to be sure, but it was what proved to be decisive.
It wasn't that the Abyssal Serpent would necessarily win with this move, but more that the full power of the Divine Thunderstorm would be largely reduced, with the highly pressurized torrent negating most of its firepower behind the charging thunderbolt. What mattered, though, was that the Abyssal Serpent could fire off many more of its hydro torrent attacks, but my fleet of Little Anglers and Lantern Fishes and I only had enough juice within us to use Synchronize twice.
That meant this was our last chance to deal a fatal blow to the creature.
Fortunately, we weren't alone.
Xiao Ke swooped in, a freezing beam lancing from his mouth and turning the torrent into ice. The Abyssal Serpent paused in mid attack, caught off guard, and with a single strike of its head, smashed the ice apart. Evidently, it was furious at having its attack thwarted.
Then Da Hai rammed into the side of its head, staggering it. The Abyssal Serpent whipped around with a snarl, its gleaming fangs poised to sink into the War Turtle's shell. However, Da Hai was already propelling himself away in a stream of bubbles, evading the furious sea monster's jaws. I reached out with my mental link and gently guided him in my direction, and he complied immediately, dropping into a surge.
As I expected, the Abyssal Serpent followed suit, its maw stretching wide during the second before it would clamp down on its victim. I sent the mental signal and Da Hai swerved away suddenly. The Abyssal Serpent tried to pursue, but that was when the Divine Thunderstorm arced right into its open mouth and down its gullet.
My armada of Little Anglers and Lantern Fishes and I had been waiting for this precise moment.
The thunderbolt struck thunderously (okay, sorry, I just had to do that), the extreme voltage scorching the innards of the Abyssal Serpent. The lightning took on a life of its own, dancing about in the gargantuan beast's stomach and spreading further like a lethal lattice. Electricity continued to crackle around the Abyssal Serpent as it convulsed after inadvertently swallowing the Divine Thunderbolt. One huge spasm caused it to careen into the trench wall before its shuddering body drifted away in the deep water. Smoke fumes out of its gaping maw, clouding the water in acrid fog.
Even though plenty of the marine life dwelling in the murky depths had evolved bioluminescent organs to light up the trench, the electricity that assailed the Abyssal Serpent illuminated its surroundings for now, sending swarms of panicking abyssal creatures fleeing. They scattered before the haphazardly floating mass, either astonished by the sudden intrusion of a behemoth or not wanting to get into contact with the deadly electricity that continued to crackle around it.
"Did we do it?"
I panted in the waters, feeling a bit drained. That second Synchronization had taken a lot out of me. My aquatic armada was also drifting wearily, too tired to move their own bodies in the water through their own locomotion. I dismissed them back into my summoning space and closed my eyes, taking a few precious seconds to snatch some rest.
Then a sudden turbulence jerked me out of my stupor. My eyes flew open and I saw the Abyssal Serpent rear up once more, hissing ferociously. It was terribly weakened by the lethal thunderbolt that had destroyed its innards from within, but for some reason, it was still very much alive.
"You've got to be kidding me."
I couldn't believe the horrifying sight before me. How was the damned thing still alive? Even if it was peak Mystic rank, it still shouldn't be able to…
Da Hai and Xiao Ke flanked me, getting ready to defend me from an assault. The Abyssal Serpent's movements were incredibly slowed, having sustained a fatal injury from the attack earlier. It was only a matter of time before it died.
But those few minutes before it succumbed to its wounds were more than enough for it to seize revenge on those who almost killed it.
"I just need to survive for the next few minutes, huh?" Pushing my glasses up my nose, I took a deep breath and braced myself for the vengeful assault. As the Abyssal Serpent sluggishly whipped about and propelled itself forward in agonizingly slow motions, I drew my bow and prepared several azure arrows. The qi projectiles flickered weakly, mostly because I simply didn't have the energy left to supply them.
Fortunately, I didn't need to fire off the shots. A notification window popped up in front of me.
-Would you like to make a spirit contract with this Abyssal Serpent? –
"Oh? I can do that?"
That was unexpected. Earlier, the system was telling me to save the spirit contract precisely for this very moment? That was very prescient of it. Or did the system already plan everything from the start? This went beyond mere prediction.
I remembered the so-called game master and the hints he dropped throughout my encounters with him. Now, his words took on an ominous meaning. Was he manipulating affairs from above, leading the situation to develop as he wanted? How much of this was free will on my part, and how much of this was engineered?
Shaking my head, I forced myself back to the present. It was pointless thinking about all this right now. I was too weak, and I had a Mystic ranked spirit beast barreling down on me. Now that I thought about it, it was an excellent idea to forge a spirit contract with a Mystic ranked spirit beast. It would definitely improve my arsenal of summoned creatures to fight against any enemy.
Even though I was only currently advanced Yellow Rank, as long as I could summon a Mystic ranked spirit beast to do my bidding – and a peak Mystic ranked at that – I could overcome an enemy who was supposedly stronger than me.
"Yeah, let's do this."
Holding my hand out, I bound the approaching Abyssal Serpent to a contract. For a moment, it halted, glaring at me defiantly, but spirit circles appeared around it. Chains of light wrapped around its length, restraining it as it thrashed furiously. Its resistance was feeble, though, which made sense because I had dealt considerable damage to it from the inside out.
-Contracted summoned spirit beast is mortally wounded. Forcibly sending him back to the summoning space for recuperation. –
There was a bright flash of golden light, and then the Abyssal Serpent was gone. I sighed wearily, taking note of the notification window that informed me that the spirit contract was successful. It would take a few days before I could summon the Abyssal Serpent because he needed time to fully heal.
-Abyssal Serpent. Rank: Mystic. Elemental Affinity: Water, Darkness. Nature: Ferocious and vicious. Gender: male. Would you like to give him a name? –
"Darkness? There's a darkness element?"
I didn't expect that. No wonder the Abyssal Serpent was so violent. It bordered on demonic. I began to wonder if it was a good idea to bind him to a contract, but I supposed it played into my middle school second year syndrome. The power of darkness at my command! So cool!
…ahem, I was in high school now. I was already seventeen. I needed to grow out of this nonsense. Shaking my head, I decided on a name.
"Hei Ba." Or Black Tyrant, for those who didn't speak Chinese. A suitable name for an abyssal creature that ruled the depths.
"All right, guys. Let's go back."
Exhausted, I needed to rely on Xiao Ke to ferry me back. Like a certain pocket monster, he allowed me to crawl onto his back and drape myself over the shell-like surface before he swam back toward the Abyssal Tomb.
When I returned, I saw that the battle was in full swing. Many of the merfolk have been slain, including several chiefs, but it appeared that the Atlanteans had taken heavy casualties as well. Blood slowly spread across the depths, corpses floating in random directions and spinning idly in the water. Right at the entrance, a tempest of violence continued, with MerArthur and his troops clashing against the determined merfolk.
The battle was far from decided, but with the absence of the Abyssal Serpent that guarded the entrance along with the undersea tribe, it was more even than it would otherwise have been. And now that I had returned, I had a chance to swing the tide back in our favor.
"Phew…"
I had spent some time recuperating during the journey back here, resting on Xiao Ke's back and trying to regain as much qi as I could. Too bad there wasn't any convenient pills or elixirs that I could consume to magically restore me back to full qi. Reality didn't work like a game, after all.
"Honestly, I don't really have enough qi for a proper bombardment, but as long as I take out the small fries, the Atlanteans can focus all their attention on the big guys."
The merfolk chiefs were clearly worn down by the constant fighting, but their contingent held firm.
Studying the situation, I surmised that if I could reduce the enemy numbers, that would take a further toil on the undersea tribe's commanders. As powerful as they were, they were susceptible to attrition.
Standing up on Xiao Ke's back, I drew my bow and pulled the bowstring back as far as possible. Generating a single qi arrow, I took aim and unleashed it. The azure arrow streaked through the depths like a comet, flaring brightly to illuminate the surroundings, before it split apart. Like a shower of shooting stars that split open the heavens, the multiple arrows rained down on the entangled combatants, each of them accurately homing in on an enemy and avoiding an ally.
Azure Rain Celestial Arrows.
Produced by my qi, they responded to my will and weaved through the intense fighting to reach their intended targets. Merfolks were blown apart as arrows pierced them from behind or above, catching them off guard while they were distracted by the Atlanteans. Blood fountained and sprayed the stunned Atlanteans, causing them to recoil and look around in astonishment.
"You're back."
Myria was the first to saw my returning figure and she beamed, waving at me. A merfolk lunged at her from behind, but she twirled her spear around and stabbed it without even turning back to look at her assailant. With a swift stroke, she cleaved the poor thing in half, its blood and guts spilling into the water like a demonic fog.
"Yeah." I smiled back and prepared another volley of arrows, bombarding the reeling merfolk before they could respond.
"I knew you would be able to deal with the Abyssal Serpent."
"It was a hard fight," I admitted, still raining down arrows on the merfolk. A few of them broke away and swam toward me, snarling vengefully, but Da Hai intercepted them. His hard shell broke a few bones and sent them crashing back into the depths, while his claws eviscerated or tore them apart. Xiao Ke added his freezing beam to them, turning a few merfolk into ice sculptures. I shot down another squad before pausing to take a breather. I still hadn't fully recovered my qi and now exhaustion was threatening to swamp me. Still, that didn't stop me from banter. "I almost got eaten by a giant snake, you know."
"Don't worry." Myria sliced a merfolk into two with her spear while saluting me with her other hand. "Once all this is over, Atlantis will be sure to reward you for your services. I will personally make sure of it."
"You had better." I grinned, wondering what kind of treasures Atlantis had at their disposal. "I'll be charging you quite the high fee for all this trouble."