Chapter 454 The Wu Gorges Twelve Peaks (1/2)

”Why is the White Crocodile King here? Haven't we already given it this year's offering?” said the captain of the boat, his face going white.

Anyone who wished to travel across the river would have to pay a fee to its ruler for protection against turbulent currents and monster attacks. Even a ship made out of steel wouldn't be completely safe from the dangers that lurked in the river.

The White Crocodile King was the river's ruler. It had never caused an incident, at least not until that day.

”Sis, what is that? Why is it so big?” said the young girl, her face, too, going white. She was gripping tightly onto the railing. Then, as if not at all reassured by the cold hard metal, she turned around and held fast to her sister's arm.

Her sister seemed shaken as well. However, looking at the young girl's shivering form, she tried to put up a brave front. Holding the young girl's hand, she said, ”Don't worry, I'm right here.”

The White Crocodile King surged upward, revealing its light gray abdomen in the water.

”Why has it suddenly appeared here? We already gave it an offering half a month ago. Is it not satisfied?” said the captain, frowning. The offering in question was worth thousands of Alliance credits. These monsters seemed to be getting greedier by the day.

Whoo—

Suddenly, the water began rising and flowing back against the boat. The mountains on both sides of the gorge hummed as huge rocks creaked and swelled. Dirty brown energy began spreading across the river, disturbing the mud and water near the riverbed. In an instant, the clear, green river was transformed into a shade of murky yellow.

The ruckus that the White Crocodile King had caused not too long ago seemed trivial in comparison to what was going on just then.

Sploosh! Without warning, the water parted as a massive, brown shape rose to the heavens.

The boys and girls on the boat fell back in their seats, gazing in awe and fear at the appearance of this towering entity. The creature was impossibly massive.

A brown glow was emanating from its body. It was almost palpable, weighing down on everyone and everything around it. Then the river calmed down, its waves subsiding. Only this massive mountain of a monster stood towering over the middle of the river.

This wasn't Stripey's true body, but rather the result of its elemental ability. Being capable of manipulating the earth element in its surroundings, Stripey was naturally able to build a temporary ”armor” around itself, making it surge up to 3,000 feet tall.

Gao Peng, who was sitting on top of this mountain, yawned. The hut that he had set up on Stripey's back was completely ruined. Only the two orange trees on its head had survived its transformation.

Putting away his fishing pole, Gao Peng walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the river below.

Despite being an enormous thing itself, the White Crocodile King seemed like a puppy in comparison to Stripey. The crocodile shakingly looked up at the mountainous creature.

Receiving the full brunt of Stripey's aura at such a close distance, the White Crocodile King had completely lost all its will to fight. It had never seen such a massive creature in its entire life.

Back then, it had sensed the presence of a powerful aura in the river. Outraged, it had decided to emerge from the water and confront its intruder personally. It hadn't expected something so big to be floating down its river.

”What is that? There's someone on its back!” A few people were shouting and pointing at the figure perched atop Stripey's head. Said figure belonged to Gao Peng, who was now calmly tying up his fishing line.

”That... that's not his familiar, is it?”

”No familiar is that big. If that's just its head above the water, then its entire body must be bigger than a mountain!”

People began shushing each other on the boat, fearing that the noise they were making might anger the behemoth.

”I've been to one of the Mountain Spirit rest stops that were built on Mountain Spirits as big as this one here. Is this thing also a Mountain Spirit then? I've never heard of anyone taming these creatures.”