Above The Sky
Chapter 77 - 77 72 Key of the Sea

77: Chapter 72 Key of the Sea 77: Chapter 72 Key of the Sea “Shush…

this is no longer your territory.

Mountain Master, do not act hastily and with rage…”

Just as the enormous crocodragon had pushed down the city gates and gazed into the city, its anger swelling, a weak voice came from above.

Between the two prominent, spiky scales on the crocodragon’s forehead, there was a vague silhouette of a person, faintly breathing as if seated cross-legged atop a throne constructed of layers of beast flesh and blood.

But upon closer inspection, one could see that the so-called flesh throne was in fact the distorted and blurred lower half of a person, with crimson, twisted blood-flesh tendrils spreading out beneath the seat.

These tendrils, formed from mutated blood vessels and nerves with the indistinct figure as their source, penetrated the crocodragon’s skull, exchanging a deep purple fluorescent liquid back and forth.

The Native Great Shaman, Animu Deepswamp, breathed gently, his lower body transformed into a grotesque blood-flesh pedestal that embedded him atop the Mountain Tide Spirit’s head, among the many hard, spiky crowns.

Half of his body leaned against a large stone spike, his eyes missing, leaving only deep, sunken holes.

However, conversely, as the Great Shaman spoke, the crocodragon’s eyeballs rotated lively, following his will.

The beast, which had been accumulating rage and preparing to roar, declaring its return to ancestral land, no longer moved anomalously and actually suppressed its urge to destroy.

It merely growled softly, the invisible field of Spirit Energy vibrating in all directions, and the surrounding city wall structures slowly collapsed within the trembling earth and stone, like a sand castle melting in the tide.

At the same time, the soil in the nearby land also began to surge against gravity—sand and mud, under the will of the behemoths, solidified into a sturdy mud road, and the muddy water, mixed with a large amount of impurities, washed away all the debris on it.

“Go ahead.”

The Great Shaman ordered softly, and the behemoth stepped onto the mud path it had created.

Several young shamans and warriors followed closely behind, with not many natives rushing into the city.

Animu was already very old.

Decades ago, when the first generation of Empire immigrants arrived at South Ridge Bay under the escort of the Old Grant Viscount’s Knight Order and began constructing Harrison Port, he was already one of the most prestigious shamans among the Redwood Forest Tribes.

When the other esteemed shamans fell in battles against the Imperial People, killed by the crystal sword and air blade of the Old Grant Viscount, the one who had always been lucky to survive gradually became the only Great Shaman.

Then, it was him alone shouldering the heavy burden, engaging in endless battles, slaughter, and sacrificial rites with the Imperial People…

And finally, the negotiations.

To be honest, Animu didn’t harbor any extra hatred towards the Imperial People.

To him, The Empire was just a very large tribe on the Terra Continent, with its own chieftains, warriors, shamans, and hunters.

And their invasion was no different from the mutual conquests and the plundering of sacrificial offerings among the natives.

He even envied the Imperial People for possessing their unique Sublimation Power without the need to offer sacrifices to the many Mountain Masters and Sea Spirits.

At least, they wouldn’t starve; they didn’t have to eat people.

“Isn’t that quite good?”

If possible, he too would like to be one of the Imperial People, just like those Mountain People further to the north who, after their defeat, readily accepted the invitation to join The Empire.

They began to go against the teachings of their ancestors, learning agriculture, husbandry, and settlement.

And the once valiant hunters even became the backbone of the Southern Border Legion.

“Unfortunately…

we are not them.”

—The Redwood People have their own mission and secrets.

Animu raised his head, his empty eye sockets looking towards the south where a storm was raging—with that, the crocodragon beneath the Great Shaman also turned its head, its six crimson eyes, like jewels, staring into the distance.

—There lay the sacred ground of the Redwood People, as well as the legacy passed down by their ancestors.

For the sake of that legacy and Sacred Object, the progenitors of the Redwood People split into various tribes, killing and sacrificing each other, losing countless inheritances and secrets, leading to their retreat in the face of the Empire’s immigrants.

Despite holding an advantage at that time, the Redwood People were forced to retreat step by step in the face of a single Knight Order’s offensive, losing the entire Misty Bay and swamp area and allowing them to establish what is now Harrison Port.

This was not necessarily a bad thing.

Because…

if humans wish to unite, they must have a common enemy.

By now, the four major native tribes had united, and the many small tribes had long been consolidated—under the threat of the Imperial People, the Redwood People were united as they had been a millennium ago.

“If it weren’t for the great storm eight years ago, which caused the loss of one of the Heritage Keys…

the Keys might have been gathered long ago.”

Withdrawing his gaze and sighing, the Great Shaman’s eyes returned to Harrison Port, then firmly locked onto the direction of the Viscount’s Mansion: “But these are just trivial matters.”

“It is right there.”

The massive crocodragon roared, sensing the ‘excitement’ and ‘calm’ conveyed by the human on its head, which it found extremely uncomfortable.

It wanted to unleash destruction to vent its fury.

But the behemoth was utterly unable to throw off the mental control of the human on its head and could only obediently follow the other’s instructions and move forward.

The crimson blood tendrils that spread out from beneath the Great Shaman and the crimson Blood Ink he had offered during the pure sacrifice two months prior were strikingly similar.

These mixed tendrils of blood vessels and nerves sank deeply into the crocodragon’s brain, capable of overtaking all of its thoughts and actions when necessary.

These roots were a concentration of pure life essence, a fusion of the lives of dozens or hundreds, perhaps even more people, whose lives had been refined and merged.

It was the power of these roots that allowed the aged Great Shaman to take root on the crown of the Spirit of the Mountain Tide and to control its every move.

——The Mountain Master desires a life sacrifice…

Then give it life.

But the price is.

“Your life is my life.”

Muttering softly, the Great Shaman keenly sensed a faint call guiding him from within the Viscount’s Mansion.

It was the fluctuation of one of the four sacred objects of the Redwood People, the ‘Key of the Sea’!

“The holy ground is boiling over, raising towering waves and storms, and so is the key——Despicable Imperial People, you cannot hide the ancestral relics you have stolen from our Redwood holy ground!”

After confirming the target’s location, the old man sneered.

That was also why he was willing to consume the essence of the Forest Ocean Spirit for over a decade, consume the Foreseeing Bifoliate, and prophesy the date of the Southern Sea storm as well as Viscount Grant’s movements——only during anomalies on the holy ground does the key exhibit abnormal changes, and only the Redwood People whose blood runs deep with the Primordial Heritage Key can sense this.

Those Imperial People without the same blood would never know.

“Crush them.”

The Great Shaman issued the command.

And so the Mountain Master advanced.

Terrifying tremors originated from beneath the feet of the Crocodragon.

Ordinary Swamp Crocodile Dragons are mostly First Energy Level, with a few at the Second Energy Level, typical mid to low-level Magical Beast species, generally standing at one and a half meters tall, not exceeding eight meters in length, yet a First Energy Level Crocodragon could face a formal Knight in combat.

And a Second Energy Level Swamp Crocodile Dragon, even the smallest of which exceeds fifteen meters in length, growing taller than the average person; normal specimens, over the course of time, can grow five to six meters tall and more than twenty meters long, requiring the leadership of elite professionals to have a chance of victory.

But a Crocodragon that serves as a Totem Spirit and Mountain Master, worshiped, surviving for over one hundred and fifty years, with a basic Spirit Energy Field, nearing the Third Energy Level…

could not be judged by its species.

This behemoth, standing over ten meters tall, with its head held high towering over even city walls and five-story towers, and a body length exceeding seventy meters, was infinitely close to being a High-Level Magical Beast; it only lacked the near-human intelligence and skills of a High-Level Magical Beast.

But now, it was not the Crocodragon that was controlling this mighty body.

It was the Redwood Great Shaman, Animu.

In the instant the Crocodragon took a step, the violent tremors made the surrounding houses shake violently, glass shattered, doors and windows warped, and the weaker ones collapsed directly.

The wind swept the broken fragments of buildings into the sky, stones and wooden pieces, accelerated to dangerous speeds, crashed into the windows and doors of rows of nearby houses, and it was indeed fortunate that there were no pedestrians on the road at the time; otherwise, it would have been a massacre.

Even the sturdy bluestone pavements couldn’t withstand the weight of the behemoth, starting to sink, but with the will of the Great Shaman, the surrounding earth converged like a living creature, supporting their master’s body.

Yet, this process also completely destroyed the streets of Harrison Port, leaving behind an uneven muddy path wherever the Crocodragon passed.

Like scars.

At this moment, every surviving defensive tower in Harrison Port had noticed this majestic gigantic creature.

After a brief moment of shock, they all launched their attacks simultaneously.

Boom!

A dazzling light flashed, pulling out a two-meter-long electrified fire tongue, as a sonic barrier cloud appeared; the atmosphere filled with heavy rain and strong winds was pierced instantly, leaving a cylindrical void.

One after another, Alchemy Cannons fired continuously like thunderous roars shaking the earth, with cannonballs shaped with a point in front and a column behind, speeding at rates too fast for sound to catch, hurtling straight towards the body of the Crocodragon.

However, the Crocodragon simply closed its eyelids.

Its powers had already been activated—the moment it had embarked.

Earthy yellow mud, like a living creature, flowed upward from the ground, crawling and wriggling slowly over the surface of the massive beast.

In the dim light, one could see tiny earthy yellow Crystal Stones flickering in the center of the Crocodragon’s scales and atop its spines.

These densely-packed glimmers interconnected, forming a complicated network of luminescent patterns.

It was a magnetic field, and more than just a magnetic field…

An invisible field spread, with the several-meter thick non-Newtonian fluid armor made of viscous mud as the first layer, making contact with those Alchemy Cannonballs capable of shattering city walls.

——Then came the explosion.

Boom, boom, boom!

The powerful shockwaves, like translucent rings, dispelled all surrounding rainwater while lifting vast amounts of dust and steam, causing the rows of houses closest to the battlefield to collapse.

But, as the dust settled, all the tower gunners were shocked to find that although the layer upon layer of mud shields covering the Crocodragon’s body had indeed been blasted away, and the semi-metallic scales beneath oozed with blood…

They had indeed harmed the enemy, but such injuries to a Second Energy Level Magical Beast were equivalent to a thorn pricking a fingertip.

Painful, but not enough to affect the fight…

it could instead accumulate rage and enhance strength.

And now their positions were exposed due to their attack.