Chapter 250: An SS Rank Beast

Chaos.

That was exactly what Renelle was currently looking at.

None knew exactly how it started, but from the looks of their attackers, it was obvious enough that the cult had planted a couple of its followers with the crew.

Or rather, they chose to make use of the spies they had planted within the Grand Duke’s men.

The corrupted humans were attacking whoever was in their path; fortunately, the spirit mages far outnumbered them.

And unlike against the Kraken and Hydra, they were not completely useless against these corrupted humans.

Grand Duke Zephir, feeling a headache coming on, extended his hand and vines immediately grew on the Sea Guardian’s deck.

Before the corrupted humans could realize what was happening, the vines suddenly encased them all, with the Grand Duke being careful not to trap his actual men with them.

The corrupted humans below deck were handled by Seth, and Adrian didn’t have to move a single muscle.

Not that he wanted to anyway.

After all, presently, there were only two thoughts in his head: laying his head on Renelle’s lap or going for a swim….even though he couldn’t actually swim.

He had absorbed a lot more corrupted mana than intended.

Noctis silently looked at its contractor, not really surprised at how drunk he had gotten; after all, the cat was still actively absorbing the corrupted mana around.

Adrian soon glanced at Zephir, who was trying to interrogate the corrupted humans, but he simply chuckled and said, “It’s useless; their loyalty is completely with that man, so it’d be easier to get rid of them now.”

And by getting rid of them, he meant to kill them.

“I agree with the kid,” Alvíss said before pausing and after a short pause, he added, “besides, they should have cores within them at the moment, so it’d be a waste not to make use of those cores.”

He knew that because the countless corrupted human corpses Adrian previously had in his [Shadow Vault] were all delivered to him.

The Grand Duke looked at the two before letting out a sigh and nodding.

With a clench of his fist, the vines gripped the corrupted humans tightly before crushing them all.

But during that moment, Adrian realized something.

Instead of fear, the corrupted humans had grins on their faces, almost as if they were excited to die.

And he soon learnt the reason for that.

A visible black miasma suddenly rose from their corpses, a miasma that Noctis immediately recognized as it was once a part of it.

Corrupted mana.

The mana soon flowed directly into the water, causing Adrian to mutter, “That can’t be good.”

The group watched as the corrupted mana sank deeper into the water, but after a few seconds, it dispersed.

“Is that… all?” One of the spirit mages asked, and he soon learnt to keep his mouth shut, especially after jinxing them.

The once calm ocean soon started forming large waves that threatened to drown the Sea Guardian.

But that was only a by-product of whatever was emerging from the depths of the sea.

Before whatever was coming could even emerge, a heavy pressure fell on them all, one that made it almost impossible to breathe.

Most of the spirit mages immediately fell to their knees thanks to the unbearable pressure.

Even Adrian felt the pressure trying to force him to his knees, but he refused…. If he were kneeling, then it would be for only one person,

His lady.

It didn’t affect it as much as it did the others, but the cat was still surprised that the pressure affected it at all.

This meant that whatever was coming was leagues above whatever they had faced so far.

The water suddenly started glowing as the waves got higher by the second, and soon enough, the water split, letting the creature out.

Most of the spirit mages immediately froze at the sight of the beast, whilst even weaker ones passed out.

Even after a couple of minutes, the beast was still emerging, and by the time it was done, its head was tens of meters above the ship.

The beast was human-like…or rather, it had a humanoid shape, but that was where all resemblance to humans stopped.

Its head seemed to be made entirely of writhing appendages, dozens of them, each one moving independently like they had a mind of their own, constantly shifting and rearranging themselves into shapes that the human mind couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

It neither had eyes nor a mouth, making it seem even more terrifying.

Its arms seemed to be made completely of scales, and at the very end of each finger were sharp claws.

“…” Adrian looked at it for a while before turning to Noctis, “Can you—”

He didn’t get to finish his words when the cat cut him off.

“How useless,” the butler muttered and turned back to the beast.

He wanted his cat to eat that thing as it had done the Ouroborus, but it seemed the damned thing was uninterested.

“As if,” Adrian answered, “if you’re interested in eating it, then fight it yourself.”

Adrian then looked towards Renelle and asked, “Are you okay, my lady?”

“Hmm,” Renelle nodded before looking around, “but it seems most of them are useless for this fight.”

And she was right; all the spirit mages were either passed out or too scared to even breathe, hoping that the creature’s gaze would not fall on them.

Unfortunately for them, the creature didn’t seem to have eyes, so its ‘gaze’ falling on anyone was already a moot point.

The appendages on its head continued their restless movement, constantly shifting, and Adrian had already noticed that they seemed to be sensing rather than seeing, orienting toward whatever had the highest corrupted mana concentration in the vicinity.

Which was currently Noctis, who was lying on Renelle’s lap.

“Well then,” Adrian muttered, “I guess I’ll have to quickly take it down.”

Before he could make a move, though, Renelle suddenly stood up and said, “I’ll help.”

Adrian looked at her for a second before nodding…. Given the corrupted mana he was sensing from that thing, he was uncertain he would be able to take it down alone.

Hell, he wasn’t even certain that the two of them would be enough to handle it.

But a third voice soon called out from behind them.

“I’ll also help.” The two turned around and noticed Grand Duke Zephir approaching.

His steps seemed heavy, and there was blood dripping out of his nose, but the man simply wiped it off.

He was clearly being affected by the creature’s pressure, but he also couldn’t let his two guests handle it all alone.

Besides, as the Grand Duke, he was the one who was supposed to ensure the safety of everyone on board.

That was the least expected from a leader.

“Alright, ” Adrian muttered and turned back to the beast whose head was still moving in response to Noctis’ movements.

It suddenly lifted its clawed hand high, intending to simply swat the ship away, but the trio reacted just in time.

Renelle’s ice and Adrian’s shadow seemed to merge into one as they formed a large barrier around the ship.

A layer of vines was then formed above it, and seconds after, the beast’s hand slammed into the barrier.

Although the attack never reached the ship, the force of it as it slammed into the barrier caused the ship to rumble.

The vines easily gave way, but it did successfully slow down the attack, which was stopped by the ice and Shadow barrier.

However, that didn’t hold on for much longer, but it allowed the waves to carry the ship to safety.

The creature ‘glanced’ towards them, then extended its arm and from beneath the ocean, giant tentacles rose from beneath the ship before grabbing it and keeping it in place.

Adrian turned towards the tentacles and then back to the monster.

The tentacles didn’t seem to be an extension of its body, which meant that it was controlling an entirely different beast, which meant that it was most definitely the boss of this dungeon.

And if they wanted to get out of here, this giant beast was what they had to defeat.

“My lady,” Adrian suddenly called out, and Renelle focused on him, “please handle the monster holding down the ship; I’ll handle the overgrown tentacle monster.”

That decision was mostly brought on by his drunk brain, but there was also the fact that the beast before them was releasing waves of corrupted mana, and as much as he could continue absorbing it, he was uncertain about letting Renelle do the same.

“No,” Renelle firmly said, shaking her head.

“I promise I’ll be fine,” he said with a grin, “besides…”

He slightly unbuttoned his shirt and added, “I’m quite hard to kill.”

Renelle looked at the snake tattoo wrapped around him with a frown before letting out a sigh, “Please don’t die.”

“I won’t,” Adrian assured before turning back to the beast, “now then, let’s see what you’ve got.”

Here’s another book for y’all to check out, whilst this author fixes his chapters.