There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 601 - 595. The Sea Serpent

Chapter 601: Chapter 595. The Sea Serpent

Senia gritted her teeth.

No--she wasn’t her old self! She was no longer someone surrounded by people who wanted to hurt her. She was no longer alone.

So she turned toward the one she could rely upon the most. "Gus!"

At the girl’s call, the swordsman returned to the ship and saw the swarms of water beasts moving on the surface, as well as sensing even more swimming down below. All coming for their ship.

This ship might be tough, but the barrier couldn’t prevent a ship from capsizing.

"Damn it--cannon 3 and 5 to the sea!" Gus divided the ship’s artilleries immediately. Unfortunately, there was only one mana railgun strong enough to harm the bosses, and there was little he could do in the sea.

Should he use the floating ice pieces? He frowned and paused when he saw something he thought was a boulder suddenly move on the horizon. The roundish head lifted past the water’s surface and a high-frequency shriek blasted, impairing their hearing and disturbing the balance of those standing on the ship. The guns and support halted as the espers fell and closed their ears tightly.

Fuck--it was a boss.

Gus remembered visiting a marine museum in the Southern Kingdom before, and he was fascinated by the big ones, wondering how they could even float with that huge body. That head on the horizon--opened up to a row of sharp teeth--reminded him of one of them. What was it called--ocra? Yeah, looked like an Ocra.

Only if the Ocra had been dead without decaying for a few decades.

Gus shook his head to get rid of the ringing sensation and grabbed the support magician. "Sav! Deploy a sanctuary!"

The support magician spread out a soothing circle to get rid of the negative effects of the boss’s shriek. That momentary lull in the attack was used by the beasts to rush over and tackle Senia’s ice wall together. Cracks appeared on the thick wall, even though it was made with the help of the elemental spirit.

"Senia, can you hold on?"

"Not long..." she shook her head, and gritted her teeth as some beasts had tried to attack the bottom of the ship too. She had to extend her wall into the dock, and more importantly...

Senia pointed to the waterspout with her chin. "That swirly thing sucked up my mana so much."

"Then cancel it," Gus said. "Most of them are getting too close to the ship anyway, so just use projectile magic or make a whirlpool somewhere."

"Ugh--okay..." Senia clenched her fists in the air and sent the waterspout to a colony of horned dolphins one last time before dispersing it. But she didn’t even have the time to take a deep breath when she grabbed the swordsman’s arm and gasped. "H-hey, that fish-like thing is coming here..."

"Tsk--" Gus clicked his tongue and turned toward the upper turret. "Is the Raygun ready?"

"Fifty seconds!"

"Shit," a lot of things could go wrong in fifty seconds--that ocra-like thing seemed like it could reach the ship in thirty. "Senia, let’s do what we did in the riv--what is that?"

Suddenly, the sea parted on the horizon; a big wave soared like a curtain, and when it crashed against the sea, a big figure with a triangular head and a pair of flowy horns howled into the dark canopy. It reminded Gus somewhat of Bassena’s Giant Serpent, but this one was definitely a sentient being; a beast.

"Another boss?!"

Even from afar, they could see it was as big as the Ocra--if not bigger. And it didn’t waste any time to rush toward the ship too, following the other beasts.

Gus took out another sword from his inventory. "Fuck! Let’s--"

Once again, his words could not get out properly.

The Sea Serpent was fast--faster than the Orca--and reached the colony in no time. Gus was having an internal meltdown and had a flashing thought that they should abandon the ship, gambling with the land battle.

But then, something unexpected happened that got his voice stuck in his throat.

The Sea Serpent crashed into the Orca; biting the Orca’s horned head while its body trashed the water beasts around.

"What?" Gus blinked dumbfoundedly, and so did the espers who were attacking the sea.

"What is that?"

The sea became turbulent due to the clash of the giants. The waves crashed into the shore and the ship like a small tsunami; lightning crackled from the dark canopy. Harsh winds blew, twisting like a hurricane amidst the eerie and colorful magic surrounding the trashing Orca and the Sea Serpent. The beasts around them were the first casualties, torn and blasted away from each swat of their tails and crackled of their magic.

At first, Gus thought it was a case of a boss trying to take over another boss’s territory. It happened with commander classes in the dungeon sometimes, where one colony would fight with another to determine the dungeon’s hierarchy. Espers loved that kind of scenario since it became easier for them to face the surviving beasts after the territorial fight.

But after looking at it closely, the Sea Serpent came alone. There was no sign of its minions going against the other water beast colony. If anything, the Sea Serpent was doing a solo hunt against the rest of the sea.

"Wait--is that one fighting the others?"

"It seems so..."

They were dumbfounded. The tall waves and heavy rocking of the sea made them stop fighting, as the scenery of two monsters battling it out was akin to an unfolding natural disaster. Not to mention, the confusion of a monster seemingly ’helping’ them was enough for a shock that got them stunned for quite some time.

Gus snapped from his trance and clapped his hands loudly so that the whole deck could hear it. "Don’t lose focus! The fight is not over!"

He looked at the sea, where half of the beasts decided to smarten up and ran away from the clashing giants. They shifted their focus back to the ship and started their attack again; not only ramming against the ice wall, but also shooting out magic and needles from their body. Some even tried to jump above the wall, or use their sharp, carnivorous teeth to break the ice wall apart.

On the other side, the enemies also seemed to be endless. While they had eliminated half of the ones spawning in the city, even killed one of the bosses with the help of the mana raygun, more of them kept coming from the cliff. There were even some dungeons that had yet to break, meaning the number of beasts could increase over time.

"Those with long-distance skills change to the seaside!" Gus started to divide the crew. "The rest of you are to hold down the ground--don’t let them go past the port! Stella, detonate the cliff!"

At any rate, they just had to defend themselves until Bassena and the Eastern Sun arrived. In a worst-case scenario, they could activate the emergency barrier and retreat through the sea, which had become more manageable thanks to the weird Sea Serpent.

He just wished the fight would last long enough for them to clear the rest of the water beast, or until help came.

He just wished the Sea Serpent, who seemed to be winning, did not attack them next.

But of course, men could wish all they wanted. Didn’t mean the universe would grant it.

The Sea Serpent, finally ripped the Horned Ocra apart, wasted no time rushing toward the ship. It blasted and fried the water beasts on the way, which was helpful, but it didn’t change the fact that they would be in big trouble once the creature reached them. From the looks of it, this one seemed to be the boss of a black dungeon too.

"Damn it!" Gus spat and gripped his swords tightly, He was about to send mana to them when he felt someone tugging on his arm.

"Hey that thing--uhh...what should we call it? Sea Serpent? That thing--" Senia pointed at the approaching giant.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"The spirits say it’s different!"

Gus paused and glanced at the tiny creatures around Senia. "Different how?"

"Different from the other beasts!" Senia moved her hands frantically, trying hard to understand the buzzing elemental spirits. "Wait--huh? What? Pure? Umm--they said that one is...pure?"

She looked at Gus with doubt, who voiced out the same confusion. "What do you mean pure? The only pure thing here is the sha...rd..."

They blinked and, as if a firework crackled in their head, turned toward the command bridge. There was a vault there, with two shards inside that told them about how the shard kept moving around swiftly in the sea.

"No way..."

Senia gasped and grabbed the swordsman’s hand as the Sea Serpent became close enough to be observed clearly. Despite their concern, it stopped moving about forty meters away from them, and started attacking the other beasts. It dove deep and surfaced quickly, biting the neck of a Queen Siren, rendering the creature mute.

It had attacked another boss.

And this time, Gus was sure it wasn’t just for territorial conquest.

Because he could see it clearly now; the deep green and blue scale covering its body, as well as the translucent blooming fins and iridescent horns. It was majestic and beautiful amidst the dark-colored miasmic beast and their glowing red eyes.

Not only that; the water around the Sea Serpent was noticeably clear, as if receiving purification. Perhaps because something embedded between its two horns.

An unmistakably bright crystal.

"The shard..."

So that’s why! Gus exclaimed inwardly. The shard must have purified one of the bosses in the sea and used it to move around. It was also great to hide and escape in case the enemies found it.

[Gus!]

At that moment, the communication channel that had been obstructed before lit up, and they could hear a familiar guide’s voice.

"Zein?" Gus turned around in surprise, seeing another Giant Serpent on a cliff far away.

"Zein!" Senia shouted to the commlink. "The shard! It’s he--"

Before she could say anything more, however, an explosion sound came from the port city; from the remaining dungeon that had yet to break. A cloud of miasma filled the port city, and in the middle of it, a loud, agitated scream resounded.

The Fallen Star rushed out toward the sea.