Chapter 498: Sixth Floor: The Chamber of Seven Seas (19)
Jesua darted between enemies, her radiant blade flashing like a beacon in the abyssal dark. An Armored Eel Lord lunged at her, its serrated fangs snapping toward her throat. Jesua twisted, angling her body to let the attack pass inches from her side, then brought her blade up in a sharp diagonal slash. The glowing steel cleaved through the eel's armored plating, severing its head with one clean stroke.
An Angler Reaver came at her from above, its jagged trident spearing downward. Jesua reacted instantly—she kicked off the seafloor, rolling mid-dash to avoid the strike, then countered with a spinning slash that cut through the Reaver's exposed side. Before the creature could retaliate, she flipped backward, using the current created by the Leviathan's thrashing to propel herself into position for another strike.
The Leviathan Horror, furious at her precision, directed a school of Shadow Sirens toward her, their screeching wails distorting the water around them. Jesua narrowed her eyes, gripping her sword tightly. She drew the blade close to her chest, focusing for a brief moment before unleashing a blinding explosion of radiant energy. The sheer force of light disintegrated half the sirens instantly, while the rest recoiled, giving her enough space to maneuver.
She pressed forward, using the opening to slash at another of the Leviathan's tentacles, carving a deep, glowing gash into its dark flesh. The beast roared in pain, thrashing wildly as the energy burned into it.
Cyrus met the Leviathan's rage with his own, his trident crackling with power as he drove it through the onslaught of creatures that tried to stop him. A Coral Colossus barreled toward him, its massive fists aiming to crush him. He didn't back down. Instead, he planted his feet and took the full brunt of the strike against his trident, absorbing the shockwave through sheer brute force. As the Colossus recoiled, he pivoted, swinging his trident in a wide arc that sent a surge of crimson lightning through the water. The energy tore through the Colossus, shattering its coral armor before Cyrus finished it with a brutal downward strike, splitting its massive form in half.
The Leviathan Horror, enraged by his assault, summoned a whirling vortex of shadow magic, pulling him toward its gaping maw. Cyrus gritted his teeth, struggling against the powerful current. He slammed his trident into the seafloor, anchoring himself, then ripped it free and hurled it straight at the Leviathan's face. The weapon struck the beast's glowing core, sending another surge of lightning into its body and forcing it to recoil.
A Venomous Jelly took advantage of his brief pause, wrapping its electrified tendrils around his arm. Snarling, Cyrus flexed his muscles, his sheer strength snapping the creature's tendrils. He grabbed the jelly with one hand and threw it into a charging Eel Lord, the two creatures colliding and stunning each other long enough for him to charge forward and finish them both with one sweeping strike of his trident.
The trio fought with relentless coordination, their movements synchronized as they pushed the Leviathan Horror back inch by inch. Sylus created barriers and redirected currents, Jesua struck with pinpoint precision, and Cyrus shattered anything in their path.
When the Leviathan attempted to unleash a massive wave of abyssal energy, Sylus countered by summoning a dome of compressed air around the trio, breaking the attack's momentum. Jesua used the opening to dive in and strike at the creature's exposed wounds, while Cyrus struck with sheer force, ensuring each blow counted.
One of the Leviathan's tendrils, sensing its imminent defeat, lashed out in desperation, attempting to grab Sylus. Jesua intercepted, slicing through it before it could reach him. Cyrus seized the moment, throwing his trident once more—this time with all his might. The weapon embedded itself into the Leviathan's core, sending another massive surge of lightning through its entire body.
The behemoth roared, its glowing chest flickering violently. Cracks began to spread across its massive form, its body heaving with unstable energy. The surrounding monsters hesitated, their connection to the Leviathan seemingly faltering.
The trio steadied themselves, eyes locked on their enormous foe. They had done the impossible—they had pushed it back.
But the battle was far from over. The Leviathan let out a bone-shaking roar, its body shifting, writhing. Something new was happening, and the trio braced themselves for whatever monstrous form it would take next.
The transformation of the Leviathan Horror into its Abyssal Titan form was a grotesque spectacle, as the water around it seemed to warp and distort in response to its newfound power. The air was heavy with the scent of salt and decay, as if the creature's mere presence had begun to corrupt the very essence of the ocean around it.
Body Structure: The Leviathan's once chitinous exoskeleton had become a mosaic of jagged, interlocking bone and dark, scaled plates, each piece pulsating with an inner malice. The creature's body had expanded exponentially, its limbs now muscular and serpentine, covered in thick, leathery scales that glistened in the murky light. These scales were not smooth or uniform; instead, they seemed to grow spiked protrusions, like shards of obsidian, all seemingly held together by the dark energy that surged beneath its flesh. These patches of sharp armor seemed to form spontaneously, growing and retracting as the Titan adapted, shifting under the constant pressure of its own transformation.
The tentacles that once lashed and swiped at the trio had become grotesquely massive, covered in layers of sinewy muscle and dark, slime-coated scales that glowed with an eerie, unnatural light. They seemed to pulse, writhing like serpents in the water as they lashed out. Their tips were no longer simply barbed—they were now like massive, jagged hooks that crackled with dark energy, leaving trails of shadow and distortion in their wake. These tentacles were hyper-reactive, with a mind of their own, constantly reshaping to strike from multiple angles, their unpredictable movements creating an almost unavoidable barrage of strikes.
Head and Face: The Leviathan's head had elongated grotesquely, the once smooth, skull-like visage now filled with sharp, jagged spines protruding from its jaw and cheeks. Its mouth had grown enormous, with rows of serrated, shark-like teeth that glistened wetly in the water. The skull itself seemed to distort unnaturally, its jaw cracking open like a monstrous abyss, revealing an interior of blackened, jagged bone and roiling darkness.
Above this, its bioluminescent lure, once a small, ghostly light, had expanded into a massive glowing mass of shifting shadows and tendrils, writhing like a living entity in itself. The light it emitted wasn't pure—there was a haunting, sickly quality to it, as if it drew power from the deepest, most corrupt corners of the ocean. This lure twisted and expanded, now resembling an oversized, translucent jellyfish, dripping with ink-like fluid, sending ripples through the water that unnerved even the bravest of warriors.
Its eyes had multiplied, now scattered across the creature's head in jagged, glowing orbs. These eyes were terrifyingly vivid, burning with an unsettling mix of malignant intelligence and animalistic rage. Each of them followed the trio's every movement, glowing with an eerie intensity that seemed to pierce through the murky depths, watching their every step as if the creature had become all-seeing.
Back and Fins: From the creature's back, massive bat-like fins unfurled, their thin, membrane-like surface rippling with shadows and veins of electric blue light. These fins were jagged and spiked, resembling a fusion of shark fins and manta ray wings, each edge lined with venomous, barbed spines. The edges of these fins crackled with dark energy, and whenever they flared, they seemed to send waves of distorted current through the water, disorienting anyone caught within their range.
The fins were not simply ornamental, however; they were weapons in themselves, capable of striking and slicing through the water like razors, and whenever they came into contact with an opponent, they left deep gashes and electric shocks. The tendrils of dark energy that flickered along the creature's back began to extend outward like whips, moving in eerie unison with the fins, adding another layer of attack to the creature's arsenal.
Tail and Limbs: The Leviathan's tail had become an enormous, coiled mass of shadowy flesh—thick and powerful, lined with scalelike armor. Each movement sent ripples through the surrounding water, and the tail could now strike with incredible force, sweeping across the battlefield with devastating impact. As it lashed, the tail cracked open, revealing dark, glowing veins that coursed with corrupt magic, crackling with electric surges that spread outward.
The creature's limbs had become more sinuous—long, muscular appendages covered in leathery, pitch-black skin that looked almost too flexible, able to stretch and twist in unnatural directions. The claws at the end of these limbs were sharp, razor-like, and dripped with poisonous ichor that boiled when it made contact with the water. These limbs moved with an inhuman speed, constantly shifting positions to counter any attack and create openings for itself.
The atmosphere around the creature had grown thick with malevolence. The water had become colder, almost unbearably so, as if the Leviathan's presence had frozen the very currents of the ocean. The constant pulsing from its body sent waves of dark energy through the water, creating powerful vortexes and current shifts that threatened to drag the trio into its grasp.