Chapter 69. Cataclysm (2)
Kugugugugugugu.
The sea around the Root was in chaos.
Mikael Christopher, the patriarch of Lighthouse, one of the Six Pillar clans, made an expression of disbelief while looking at this.
“…It’s the first time I hear of the Calamity Fish thrashing about in 20 years.”
The Tsunami created by the Calamity Fish was sweeping through all directions.
The other adventurers of the Red Zone would be making similar expressions as well.
Since the fact that the thing that made such a thing thrash about did something close to pushing away a hurricane or a tsunami with their hand.
It meant that something affected an existence that humans could not fathom to deal with.
‘What the hell happened inside its stomach…’
Christopher looked towards the distant sea with a calm expression.
***
Kugugugugu.
The artery trembled crazily.
The poison that was flowing inside the artery was fatal in itself but surprisingly the perfectly balanced body of the Dragon Race withstood the poison while constantly pushing it back out.
Hansoo made exclamations inwardly.
‘As I expected.’
Then he thought to himself.
That a Human’s body was truly feeble.
The fact that they had survived in the Abyss for 50 years with such a body was almost a miracle.
No, even it it wasn’t just physical there were still many other things they lacked in.
If you look at the fertility rate of the the Kakilas then each person had to kill at least ten thousand to fit the numbers and their ability to work together was nothing in comparison to the Repron Race who shared the same experience and feelings with each other.
They might not be at the level of Dragons or Demons but there wasn’t a single race weaker than the humans.
‘That’s why I’ve gotta do well.’
Hansoo, who had been thinking, clenched his teeth while looking at the tentacles rushing up to him.
<Renovation> was something he would do starting from the Orange Zone.
He just needed to focus on the tasks of the Red Zone for now.
Kudududuk. Uududududuk.
Hansoo sliced apart the tentacles without stopping and at the same time poured out the hardening liquid in his pouch endlessly.
The Hardening Liquid started to quickly flow out into the torrent-like artery like a small paper boat caught in rapid waters.
Kyaaaaak!
The tentacles which touched the Hardening Liquid screamed as they squirmed their entire body.
The tens of thousands of tentacles which were charging towards him all turned into stones as soon as they touched the blood of the Calamity Fish which contained the Hardening Liquid as they got crushed as they fell on top of other pieces of tentacles and then turned into dust.
Chwaaaaak.
Even during this the tentacles acted as if they couldn’t leave the invader alone and constantly stabbed into Hansoo’s body.
Kiriririk.
The dragon’s scales and bones were madly pummeled by the Tentacles as they started to crack.
“Kuuk!”
Hansoo clenched his teeth at the pain that was pummeling through his entire body.
Then he madly used up the Regeneration Runes he had stolen from the guys earlier.
‘Damn… This is the bad part of my abilities going up.’
The Regeneration Runes are something that was set on a human’s level so it could not catch up to the increased health of the Demonic Dragon race.
One of the two hearts that had been crushed had regenerated but the heart that was crushed from the tentacle earlier had received a curse and was not regenerating.
But it was better to swing the sword one more time during the time he would complain.
Hansoo ruthlessly swung around the Galadriang’s Relic as he cut up the Artery.
Hansoo, who had been rushing down at an extreme speed, caught his balance while clenching his teeth after looking at the distant light.
‘I’ve arrived!’
The fact that there was light meant that he had almost arrived at the <Divine Stone Fragment> which was inside the heart.
But that light was quickly covered up.
By the huge amount of tentacles which had gathered inside the heart.
‘Damned bastard. How does he not get a heart attack by having things like this in his arteries.’
The size of the heart befit the size of the Calamity Fish as it was big as a couple sports stadiums combined.
And hundreds of thousands of Tentacles were squirming around in this wide space.
The heart had prepared for the worst during the time the Core was getting attacked.
‘Damn. There’s more than I expected.’
He was scared for a moment.
To the point where he thought of retreating for a moment.
The tentacles gathered were showing off an oppressive aura.
But Hansoo clenched down onto his teeth.
‘Bullshit!’
Once he retreats then he will have to continue to retreat.
If he were to get scared and retreat to prepare himself again then he will have to continue to go backwards.
The few days he had spent preparing for this was regrettable already.
When would he climb up if he were to retreat here.
Every second was precious and the faster he moved, the higher the chances of winning as well as enabling him to save more people.
‘Let’s go.’
The tentacles started to rush up to Hansoo who was getting pushed towards them from the blood.
It was like hundreds of thousands of herrings charging to catch one measly anchovy.
Hansoo looked at these things and then opened up the pouch by his waist to the full.
This wasn’t the time to save things.
There wouldn’t even be a chance to use this if he failed here.
Soon the Hardening Liquid that he had prepared resonated with the earthquake-like beat of the heart as it spread out quickly.
Kyaaaak!
The tentacles quickly started to turn into stone.
The tentacles turned into stone after touching the larger amount of Hardening Liquid in comparison to the amount before and broke apart.
And Hansoo constantly searched for the direction where the Light was coming from during this time.
‘Divine… Divine Stone Fragment!’
A power plant which supplied all the energy throughout it’s whole body.
Logically speaking, how could such a large organism maintain its body by consuming things.
This thing didn’t even digest the things it ate.
It just stored them within the stomach that was maintained by the Core.
This thing wasn’t born to eat something and use the thing it ate.
It was a creature born to just devour everything.
And the power plant which allowed such an abnormal organism to keep living.
<Divine Stone>
The thing which acted as the foundation of the World Tree but had now broken into numerous fragments, hid within a part of the Five Calamities and acted as the origin of the energy which allowed them to live on.
Something could be seen giving off light in the center of the Heart.
The thing which was lighting up the entire heart despite being covered up by tens of thousands of ligaments, tubes and mucus.
‘Found it!’
The Divine Stone Fragment was within that thing.
Hansoo withstood the attacks of the tentacles as he charged towards the strange cocoon that shrouded the Divine Stone.
Kwadududk.
Then he madly started to rip apart tens of meters of cocoon which held the Divine Stone within.
‘This damned parasite!’
The Divine Stone was not something that was created to supply these guys with energy.
But they were draining that energy and using it to eat up the World Tree.
The Ligaments and Mucus were so tough and sticky to the point that the Galadriang’s Relic, which could cut anything, had to cut multiple times in order for him to proceed forward.
Hansoo’s remaining two hearts madly pumped blood into his whole body.
If the powers of his Magic Force had not multiplied a few times from his transformation into a Demonic Dragoneer or the tentacles had not been swept up by the Hardening Liquid then his whole body would’ve been crushed apart.
But even then Hansoo’s whole body was getting crushed bit by bit from the tentacles stabbing his whole body.
Kudududuk.
At that moment one of the hearts, which Hansoo had painstakingly regenerated, got smashed.
‘Kwaaaak!’
The amount of remaining hearts were now one.
Hansoo felt strength draining out of his whole body but then smashed apart the Cocoon crazily while clenching his teeth and dodging as many attacks as possible.
‘Bastards. Let’s see if you can still fight after your battery runs out!’
The Core, tentacles and the Calamity Fish all moved around with the energy from the Divine Stone as their basis.
The Divine Stone was that mighty.
On the other hand, these guys cannot continue to maintain this humongous body once the Divine Stone was pulled out.
About the moment when his left arm was destroyed to the point where it couldn’t act as a limb anymore, the Cocoon Hansoo was slashing at made shredding noises as it ripped apart.
Soon a light that looked like small sun stabbed down onto Hansoo’s body.
‘Kwuuuu…’
As the Cocoon got destroyed and lost its usage, all the energy from the Divine Stone didn’t get absorbed onto the Calamity Fish and instead burned Hansoo’s entire body.
Hansoo focused all of the magic force within his body onto defense and then ruthlessly smashed down onto the ligaments of the cocoon surrounding the Divine Stone.
Once. Twice.
As he continued to smash down onto the Cocoon, the ligaments started to get cut apart one by one.
Tiing!
And suddenly.
The Divine Stone fell out from the Cocoon and then started to quickly sink onto the torrent of the heart.
‘Nope!’
Hansoo quickly tied the Divine Stone, which was the size of his head, with the Cocoons Mucus that he had cut off.
After covering it up until it was the size of his whole body the light started to fade.
‘It might even be due to the fact that the Calamity Fish’s stimulation which was applied to draw out the power disappeared…’
Anyways, Hansoo quickly stored the Divine Stone into his pouch.
Though the Divine Stone was indeed a stone, it was still something that the Elvenheims had created.
It seemed like it could be stored within the pouch.
The moment Hansoo pulled out the Divine Stone, the beat of the giant heart slowed down noticeably.
Kuuuuuunggg.
At the same time the tentacles slowed down considerably.
Since they couldn’t handle the huge amount of work after the Divine Stone, which supplied them with energy like a sun, disappeared.
But as if the remaining ones were trying to pour out the remaining bits of their rage, they squeezed out all of their remaining strength as they started to stab down onto Hansoo.
Pupupupul.
‘Kuhuk!.’
Hansoo groaned out loudly from the attacks which smashed onto his whole body.
The attacks had become much more fierce since the Hardening Liquid had dispersed quite a bit.
But he could not leave yet.
His goal was the Calamity Fish.
But at the same time killing the other ones.
He had killed the Calamity Fish but there was something he needed to get for the guys after.
‘Calamity Fish’s offspring!’
Though the Calamity Fish was a fish in name, it was closer to a mammal like a whale.
And surprisingly the offspring was placed in the heart to mature.
It would complete its maturing in the heart where there were plenty of energy from the Divine Stone.
‘Where is it!’
Hansoo was getting hit all over his body and cut up the tentacles as he searched for the offsprings.
And soon he was able to find it.
The offspring of the Calamity Fish which tried to run away somewhere by the arteries of the heart.
Though it was a baby, it was so huge that it was larger than whales.
‘Where are you going. You need to give me your heart.’
Hansoo madly swam as he chased it.
It would be impossible to beat an aquatic creature within the blood but that thing’s speed had slowed down quite a bit as if it had taken a gulp of the Hardening Liquid.
Hansoo rushed up to it and then stabbed his sword onto the back.
The offspring thrashed back and forth as it started to smash its body onto the walls of the artery.
‘Kuuuuuk!’
It’s size was a lethal weapon.
Hansoo spat out groans as he got crushed between the offspring and the artery wall.
But his hands and sword continuously slashed apart its body.
At the same time the tentacles which had followed them squeezed out the last bits of their strengths as they smashed Hansoo.
Hansoo clenched onto his teeth and then continued to reach deeper into the body of the offspring.
Kuuuuuung!
The Calamity Fish’s offspring made a cry of despair but it could not do anything against an invader within its own body.
Hansoo shoved his way into its body and then started to cut up the heart.
To be precise, the most important seed of the heart.
Even if it was just a seed it was still as big as his head.
Hansoo cut it up and then breathed out heavily.
He had forgotten to breathe because he was fighting so hard.
‘It’s done!’
Since he had acquired the most important material to create the poison with, it was now time to escape.
Hansoo stored the heart he had cut up and then started to madly swim.
But at that time an attack flew up and then smashed Hansoo’s one remaining heart.
Puuuuk!
Hansoo couldn’t even scream out and instead exhaled roughly.
When he turned around he could see a few strands of tentacles turning stiff like a rock.
A final attack squeezed out from last bits of its strength after getting its energy supply cut off.
The curse had been lifted since the Calamity Fish had died so the hearts started to regenerate but all three of his hearts were currently injured to the point where they could not function properly.
‘Damnit… It needs to heal enough before my transformation ends.’
Hansoo gazed at the half smashed heart that was barely working as he started to slowly lose consciousness while clenching his teeth.
Soon Hansoo’s body swept down on the rapid torrents as he quickly disappeared into a corner of the Calamity Fish.