88 Chapter 87: The Void Whale (1/2)
”Incoming!” one of the Iron Mountain Sect disciples, Ni Shan, shouted.
”Steer to starboard!” Chuan Zhang was shouting inside the bridge, directing his crew in evasive maneuvers. ”Avoid the Void Whale!”
The ship began to bank hard to the right, but the speed at which the Void Whale was approaching meant that we wouldn't be able to evade it in time. The sheer mass and velocity of the Void Whale was more than enough to break the Mo Bi Di Ke in half if it successfully rammed into us.
No wonder so few people were willing to take up this mission. It carried such a high risk of death and danger…
”Leave it to me!”
Lao Tou jumped up, and cocking his fist back, he drove it right into the forehead of the Void Whale. Another bright flash of light – this time it was white – illuminated the sea, and the Void Whale was thrown back a few meters. Lao Tou was also flung backward, his body streaking across the air like a comet before he vanished into the water in a gigantic splash.
”Tou!” Lao Ren shouted.
A few seconds later, Lao Tou burst out of the water, spitting and cursing. Gritting his teeth, he hopped out of the sea and jumped back onto the deck in a single bound, looking none the worse other than being completely drenched.
”Damned Void Whale,” he complained. I glanced at his opponent. Even though Lao Tou's punch was more than enough to obliterate a Kraken, the Void Whale was only wounded. It flailed about for a bit before spinning around to face us once more. Its jaws yawned open and it emitted a soulful cry that caused all of us to drop to our knees, clutching our ears.
”The Whale's Song!” Du Yan swore.
After emitting that horrifying shriek, the Void Whale seemed to take a deep breath, and then it lunged for the Mo Bi Di Ke again.
”Get up! All of you!” Lao Tou was first up on his feet, as usual. Despite his ears bleeding, the bald old man surged to his feet once more and jumped off the deck to confront the immense enemy. ”Don't make this old man do all the work! Come on and fight!”
Wincing as I clutched my ears, I shakily rose to my feet and followed suit. It wouldn't be a good idea to leave all the work to Lao Tou, as he mentioned. Hauling myself over the railing, I landed on the swirling sea. Using my footwork, I stepped on beads of seawater that sprayed from the white froth of the churning sea and used them to propel myself forward. Drawing both swords, I swung them and unleashed a ranged ice technique that froze the vicinity around me.
However, the Void Whale was too large. Despite my best attempts, I only managed to freeze the front part of it. The Void Whale smashed the ice in an instant, its enormous body beaking free from its icy shackles.
Fortunately, my freezing attack had delayed it momentarily for a second. And a second was all Lao Tou and Lao Ren needed.
I didn't know when the latter joined in, but he was acting in concert with Lao Tou, and the two old men drove their fists into either side of the Void Whale, elicting a sorrowful wail from the humongous beast. The shockwaves from their attacks buffeted me, sending me sliding across the very ice I froze across the sea.
”Kuh!”
It wasn't as if there was much ice left, anyway. I managed to arrest my slide right before I went over the edge and jumped off. As the last remnants of my ice broke beneath my feet, I began navigating my way through the treacherous sea by jumping from one spray of seawater to the other. Using the churning waves as footholds, I weaved through the raging sea and closed in on the Void Whale. Swinging my sword, I slashed at the thick hide of the Void Whale, but didn't leave much of an impact. Still, I managed to draw some blood.
I wasn't alone.
Behind me, Qiang Zhe and Du Yan were also barreling forward while brandishing their respective weapons. They almost seemed to be using their qigong to fly above the sea, their feet not touching the violent, watery surface. Unlike me, who was using a mixture of my footwork techniques and freezing some parts of the sea to traverse the sea, the two of them had resorted to more powerful means of travel. I guess it was true that martial artists could ”fly”.
No. I narrowed my eyes as I studied their movements. They weren't ”flying”, at least not in the literal sense of the word. They had used their sheer physical prowess to propel themselves across the vast distance in a single bound. That was just a mere jumping action, and in that single leap they crossed over a couple of hundred meters.
Both veterans landed on the top of the Void Whale and immediately plunged their weapons in. Qiang Zhe scythed a huge chunk of meat and blubber from the shrieking Void Whale, sinking in his spear deeper to avoid getting thrown off by the thrashing Void Whale. In contrast, Du Yan was almost everywhere at once. He went along with the flow, running along the side of the Void Whale while slashing unfettered with his sword.
”Whoa! Ha ha ha!”
Lauging joyfully as the Void Whale shuddered underneath his feet, Du Yan jumped up and did a cartwheel in midair before landing on another section of the Void Whale and carving a bloody scar into its hide. Unlike Qiang Zhe, who was a rock of unmoving stability, Du Yan was all animation and movement, never ceasing in his attacks and running.
I had neither their strength nor skill, and I thoroughly lacked their combat experience. Hence my movements were a lot clumsier. Unable to anchor myself firmly onto the Void Whale or predict its movements and go along with the flow, or even to fly in midair like the streaming Lao Ren and Lao Tou, I had no choice but to compensate with my footwork tehcniques, disappearing and crashing back into the seea. Fortunately, my footwork techniques allowed me to skim across water and charge at the Void Whale once again, and in the event that I made a misstep, I managed to freeze small sections of the seawater to find tiny floating islands of footholds across the wide sea.
”Not bad, kid!”
Lao Ren grinned at me as he flew by, diving under a massive fin from the Void Whale and slamming his fist against the underside. The Void Whale screeched as it was overturned, its immense body rolling about in the waves.
”Hey!” Du Yan hollered as he was forced to make another jump to find a safer place that wasn't underwater. ”Watch your attacks!”
”Or maybe you should pay more attention to your surroundings.”
Even though he was the one staying stationary and not constantly moving around, Qiang Zhe had apparently moved when I wasn't looking and was now standing on top of another part of the Void Whale. He had plunged his spear into the creature once again, gouging out another enormous chunk of flesh and blubber. Blood was bursting upward like a geyser, but miraculously none of the red liquid hit Qiang Zhe and stained him.
I had no idea how he did it. Decades of experience, maybe?
Taking a deep breath, I pressed on with my attack. Jumping up from spray of water to spray of seafoam, I slashed at the Void Whale's immense bulk again, leaving a trail of ice expanding across its black skin.
Landing on the water, which was slowly freezing because of my frosty qi, I skidded back for half a meter before launching myself at the Void Whale again.
”!”
Too late I realized that the Void Whale was spinning around, one of its gigantic fins lashing out in my direction. I activated my footwork, executing Tui to withdraw to a safe distance, but I was too slow and the Void Whale was too close…
Boom!
A gigantic fireball connected with the Void Whale's head, rocking it backward before it could collide with me. The inferno was followed by a chain of lightning that sent spasms throughout the Void Whale's enormous body. I didn't see much clearly, having been in the midst of using Tui, but when I reappeared on the seawater, I quickly glanced in the direction of the Mo Bi Di Ke and saw that Mo Fa had covered me. She smiled and gave me a little wave with her free hand.
I bowed gratefully and then resumed my attacks. That Mo Fa was providing support fire and covering the weaker members of the team was a great relief.
”How enviable. I wished I had a big sister looking out for me too.”
”Eh? Zhao Shi?”
I spun around in surprise when I heard her voice right behind me. Zhao Shi and Da Ge had finally arrived on the scene, having boarded a small motor boat that had silently sailed through the darkness, under the cover of the din our battle with the Void Whale was making.
”We can't let you hog all the fun to yourselves!” Da Ge told me with a genial grin on his face. He had already unsheathed his broadsword and was getting ready for battle.
”Yeah, sure…where did you guys get the boat from?”
It looked nothing like the lifeboats that hung on the side of the Mo Bi Di Ke. Those didn't have motors, at least not from what I remembered. Was it stashed away in the storage hold of the Mo Bi Di Ke? Even so…
”Brother Wu!”
A familiar child-like figure popped her head out of the back of the boat. Zi Xiao Ji waved at me, a huge smile plastered on her cute face.
”What are you doing here?” I demanded, shocked. Zi Xiao Ji had little to no combat capability. Being this close to the Void Whale was just suicide on her part.
”Mistress is the one who forged this boat,” Zhao Shi replied almost lazily, her focus on the Void Whale rather than me. ”Naturally she's the only one who can operate it.”
Oh, that was impressive. I guess Zi Xiao Ji wasn't just some charge who needed her bodyguards' protection all the time. There were times when she could actually be useful. Come to think of it, she was tha daughter of the greatest blacksmith and Spirit Engraver in the Middle Continent. Of course building a boat like this was no problem for someone of her caliber. I had a feeling that she would rival Tang Qi Hong in ingenuity and innovation.
If Tang Qi Hong and Liang Shao Yang weren't recognized by the Spirit Engraved Pillars and triggered a reaction out of them, surely Zi Xiao Ji would be next in line to inherit the leadership of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect from her father. She was on par with Hu Mei Er at the very least. And I would trust her more than the sly, shadowy assassin Liang Shao Yang.
”Remember to keep a safe distance!” Da Ge reminded Zi Xiiao Ji, who nodded determinedly. The two Blood Blades bodyguards then jumped from the boat and attacked the Void Whale with their swords. Da Ge's broadsword scored a large, swathing cut through the Void Whale's humongous figure while Zhao Shi left a bloody trail in her wake.
Not to be outdone by the pair of them, I also kicked off the ice and launched myself at the Void Whale again. Slashing out with my pair of swords, I scored a criss-crossing pattern of shallow cuts across the Void Whale's hide. Of course, such injuries were superficial at most, and the Void Whale seemed completely unaffected.
However, I had never intended to deal any real damage to the Void Whale. Crystals of frost clung to the Void Whale's thick hide, the low temperatures and cold slowing its movements ever so slightly. While they might not seem to make any real difference, for experts such as Lao Tou, Lao Ren, Du Yan and Qiang Zhe, even a second's delay might mean the difference between life and death.
Therefore I continued my efforts to incapacitate the Void Whale with cold ice, hindering its movements as best as I could.
”Gr…”
A low grow rumbled from within the Void Whale and it lashed out with its massive bulk, forcing the tiny assailants to scatter. I landed a few hundred meters away, using footwork techniques to stay afloat. Meanwhile, Da Ge and Zhao Shi landed nearby, finding the safety of Zi Xiao Ji's boat. The cute-looking girl had steered her boat to be at the pefect location for where they landed.
Lao Ren and Lao Tou continued their gravity-defying stunts and flew around the Void Whale like bonafide immortals while Du Yan and Qiang Zhe shifted their positions.
”Hold it still!”
Yi Shan had finally arrived. Swinging his huge sword down, he used the Mountain-Cleaving Slash that he had used on other sea monsters before this, which had always succeeded in slaying them outright.
Against the Void Whale, however, it was nothing more than a little scratch.
”HUUUU!!!!!”
The Void Whale let out another deafening wail, which was most likely another version of its Whale Song. Everyone crashed downward again, other than the pair of old men, clutching their ears and wincing. Even Lao TOu and Lao Ren were not completely immune, their hands clamped over their bleeding ears as they soared around the thrashing Void Whale.
”Just what do we need to do to take down this monster?!” Qiang Zhe roared in frustration. He probably knew the answer because this wasn't his first time hunting the Void Whale, but that did not stop the frustration from mounting up.
”A lot of attacks,” Lao Ren replied calmly, though I was pretty sure he was aware that Qiang Zhe's question was rhetorical. That didn't stop him from being facetious, though. He grinned wolfishly as he hammered another devastating fist into the Void Whale's side, causing it to flip over in the sea. ”Don't tell me you're already tired, youngster?”
”Who the hell is tired?” Qiang Zhe snapped before he executed a flurry of spear strikes that carved a bloody crater somewhere in the middle of the shrieking Void Whale.
”We're only annoying it…we haven't delivered a fatal blow yet.”
”Be patient,” Du Yan reprimanded me when he heard my complaints. His single eye narrowed and he sliced deeply into an incoming fin when the Void Whale rolled over to lash out and the other tiny humans. ”Every cut matters.”
”Death by a thousand paper cuts, huh?” Zhao Shi remarked, her voice grim.
”They never said this mission would be easy!” Da Ge chirped in amusement. The guy had just joined the battle so he still looked refreshed. He wouldn't be as exhausted as me, Du Yan or Qiang Zhe. Actually, I wondered why the old men Lao Tou and Lao Ren were still in shape to continue flying around so much.
Well, if we talk about clichés, the older you are, the stronger you are, right?
Deciding not to think too much about that, I readied myself for a fresh strike. While the Void Whale continued to loll around, retaliating against the ducking and weaving Lao Ren and Lao Tou, I jumped from wave to wave with my footwork, and slashed both swords down again to leave another gleaming trail of ice on its thick hide.
”Phew!”
Flipping in midair, I executed another footwork technique to kick off a shattered ice crystal that had broken free from the rest of the ice and was flying on the air, and withdrew to a safe distance before the Void Whale's massive bulk filled the space where I was sailing through a few seconds ago. Bouncing on the surface of the sea, I then readied myself for another charge.
”Watch out!”
Zi Xiao Ji's warning came almost too late, but I halted myself in midair and pulled back. Fortunately, Mo Fa was covering me, Zhao Shi and Da Ge, and her hail of fire and lightning attacks struck the Void Whale before it could rear up and consume us. The three of us retreated, with Zhao Shi and Da Ge hastily returning to Zi Xiao Ji's boat.
”I've to thank that big sister later,” Zhao Shi muttered under her breath, cold perspiration forming on her tomboyish face. ”Otherwise we would have ended up being food for that huge whale.”
”Ugh…” Da Ge grimaced. ”I would rather eat food than be food for other…creatures.”