Chapter 255: Leviathan (3)

Thalion moved with glacial slowness, inching toward the end of the tunnel. The battle in the chamber had grown more ferocious. The leviathan twisted and thrashed as the fishpeople pressed their advantage, launching a storm of ice-based attacks. Their coordination had reached a new level of precision. They had already shattered one of the beast’s massive tentacles, targeting the frozen sections with focused, relentless strikes until it cracked and fell away. Swirling currents of water now churned across the chamber, clouding the leviathan’s vision. It blinked and turned in confusion, often losing track of its prey just long enough for them to slip out of its snapping jaws.

Using the chaos to his advantage, Thalion slithered downward, hugging the farthest wall from the fight. His body clung to the stone like a shadow, and he hoped his passive skill Camouflage of the Depths would keep him hidden. No one paid him any attention. With the clash of monsters and warriors taking center stage, Thalion reached the seaweed—an eerie curtain draped near the chamber floor. He dove in it, letting the dense vegetation hide his form completely.

He had no intention of engaging the fight yet. First, he had to see whether he could secure the crystal.

It was better to claim part of the prize early than risk losing everything. As he approached the giant blue crystal, he began applying partitions—small, rune-etched seals that allowed large crystals to be safely stored in spatial rings. With crystals of this magnitude, a single partition was rarely enough. Thankfully, Thalion had more than fifty left, and he wasn’t afraid to use a few. He placed ten around the base of the crystal, then tried to place it into his spatial ring.

To his amazement, it worked.

In an instant, the towering crystal vanished, leaving behind only a void of swirling water. Thalion stared at the space where it had stood, equal parts satisfied and astonished. He hadn’t expected it to work while the leviathan was still alive. But there it was—gone.

The surrounding seaweed began to drift downward, no longer anchored by the crystal’s massive form. As it sank, Thalion realized, too late, that he was fully exposed.

His danger sense screamed.

The leviathan had noticed him.

With a slow, dreadful turn, the creature's massive body coiled around, and those soulless, black eyes fixed directly on him. Its gaze was heavy, ancient, and angry.

Thalion resisted the urge to shift back into his humanoid form. Doing so might have been satisfying—meeting the monster eye to eye—but it would also reveal that he was a shapeshifter. The fishfolk might already suspect something. After all, how else could a crystal of that size disappear without a trace? Perhaps they thought it was the catacomb itself, teleporting the relic away. The walls were indestructible and the place carried strange magic. Still, even if they did guess his nature, it wouldn’t make much sense for him to be involved in the fight, not with the ancient barrier pillar still active.

Besides, shapeshifters rarely acquired such potent marine forms. It was likely the fishpeople saw him as nothing more than a mysterious ally. They continued attacking the leviathan from behind, ignoring Thalion entirely.

Mission "steal the blue crystal" accomplished.

"Now," Thalion thought with a crooked grin, "let’s see what I can plunder from this bastard’s skillset."

Even as the leviathan surged toward him, maw yawning wide, Thalion remained calm. His bloodline skill granted him a unique ability. Teleportation paired with near-instant regeneration. The healing was probably unnecessary, given the monstrous recovery speed granted by the Outsider, but the ability to blink away at will made him nearly untouchable. As long as he avoided those gaping jaws, there was little that could truly threaten him. Getting caught in that maw, though, would be fatal.

Time to return the favor.

Thalion began channeling an Aqua Lance, aiming straight for one of the leviathan’s eyes. The Tidecaller Serpent’s body had grown more powerful with every crystal consumed. His magical output now surpassed anything he had unleashed before. The Aqua Lance roared from his mouth, not nearly as large as the leviathan’s own devastating jets, but focused and deadly.

The lance struck its mark.

A surge of bubbles erupted as the spell slammed into the beast’s head. Its thick eyelid tried to close in time, but the force was too great. The eye burst, black fluid leaking into the water like ink, and the leviathan let out a roar that made the chamber quake.

It lunged forward with fury, its speed doubling as it raced toward Thalion. But the serpent had already pivoted, swimming at full velocity toward the fishpeople. He intended to draw the leviathan behind him, lead it into their trap. The monster thrashed and twisted, jaws wide open, trying to catch him in a vortex of suction.

He had expected this.

Just as the pull began to drag him in, Thalion activated his bloodline skill. His body vanished into flickering light blue flames and reformed several meters behind the leviathan’s tail. It shot past him, now barreling directly toward the fishpeople, who were still working to freeze the remaining tentacles wrapped around the creature’s midsection.

From this angle, Thalion noticed something unsettling.

The tentacle they had destroyed earlier—it was already growing back.
Compared to the sheer mass of the severed tentacle, its regeneration was alarmingly fast. Blue sinew and hardened tissue wove together like roots seeking soil. Thalion could feel the leviathan’s confusion through his title—it had no idea where he’d gone. That alone told him he was nestled in a blind spot. He had assumed the creature possessed 360-degree vision with its many eyes, but clearly, that had been a mistake.

At the moment, the leviathan was venting its fury on the fishpeople. It surged forward in a wrathful charge, aiming for one of the darting hunters. Their fighting style was chaotic yet precise—threads of coral silk lashed around the monster’s limbs, tugging it off-balance at the last moment, causing its jaws to snap at empty water. They split off in different directions, forcing the creature to divide its attention. When they found an opening, they charged their glowing spears and hurled them at its tentacles and fins. The fins, thickly plated in iridescent scales, weren’t vulnerable targets—but the intent was clear: wear it down.

Thalion took a moment to assess whether he would be targeted himself. One of the female warriors even glanced straight at him and then turned away, uninterested. That was enough. Confident that his presence wouldn’t be questioned—for now—he joined the fray.

He was faster than the fishpeople, his serpentine form weaving through the water like a bolt of living lightning. Careful positioning gave him a huge advantage, and as a last resort, he still had his bloodline teleportation skill. Confidence surged through him. The leviathan would fall, eventually—but Thalion wouldn’t overexert himself. He had plans. After the beast was slain, the fishpeople would need to die too. They might be allies for the moment, but they wouldn’t survive the trial once the pillar fell. Thalion suspected they had the same task as the stonekin before: protect the pillar or perish. That meant their fate was already sealed.

Besides, he wanted the experience points. Why was he even debating this with himself? They were the enemy, and when the leviathan fell, they’d turn on him without hesitation. No need to dwell on such thoughts in a place like this. Better focus on killing the giant leviathan.

Charging another Aqua Lance, Thalion launched it toward the joint connecting the leviathan’s left dorsal fin to its main body. The fishpeople had been hammering that same area, and he wanted to strip the scales clean so they could finally do some real damage. His spell struck true—several thick scales tore loose, and blue ichor sprayed into the water as the lance carved shallow wounds into the monster’s flesh.

Annoyingly, that was the extent of his offensive capabilities. Most of his skills were ineffective in this fight. Water Barrier wouldn’t stop anything other than shockwaves or sonic roars. Tsunami Breaker lacked the piercing force to damage such a heavily armored opponent. It had worked well against other aquatic foes, but this creature—nearly twice the size of a blue whale—shrugged it off. His bite was useless here, and even the Water Slash lacked the cutting depth to be meaningful.

It was frustrating. Even boring.

Still, there was an advantage: at least he wouldn’t have to reveal his entire arsenal in front of the fishpeople. Against them, a well-placed Tsunami Breaker would be devastating. For now, he had to be patient.

Flames flickered to life in the water around him—an oddity from his bloodline that sometimes ignited the sea without warning. He didn’t fully understand what they did. They didn’t burn or freeze, but they created visual distortion and confusion—perfect for misdirection. Thalion darted through the shifting veils of blue fire, vanishing and reappearing like a phantom. The leviathan had long since given up chasing him directly. The creature simply couldn’t match his speed when Thalion was uninjured and swimming at full capacity.

That made things complicated.

Thalion was also the one dealing the most consistent damage, and yet he was too elusive to catch. He fired off another pair of Aqua Lances, pushing his mana reserves slightly beyond comfort, while the blue flames coiled and danced around him. He didn’t even know if they affected the leviathan—but they made everything feel better, sharper. Inside them, he could swim faster, react quicker, and aim more precisely. If nothing else, they empowered him.

Despite his growing aggression, the damage he dealt remained superficial. His lances stripped more scales and carved shallow wounds, but nothing deep enough to matter. The leviathan’s regenerative abilities were absurd—flesh healed within seconds, and only the toughened scales seemed to regenerate at a slower pace. The fishpeople, for all their courage, still hadn’t made a significant dent either.

In Thalion’s eyes, they were fools.

Even with his help, the odds of victory weren’t great. Without him, they’d already be dead. They began to charge their spears with more fervor, clearly hoping to break through, but it still wasn’t enough. The leviathan was no ordinary monster. It was a force of nature.

Perhaps, Thalion mused, he should keep his current form a bit longer—use it to breach the fishpeople’s defenses when the time came to turn on them. But there was one issue: the form he planned to shift into might be significantly weaker. He hadn’t yet tested whether he could assume an E-rank form while still technically classified as F-rank. There was no reason not to try… though the uncertainty nagged at him.

What irritated him most, however, was his inability to truly harm the leviathan. It made him realize something: his Aqua Lance needed an upgrade—more penetration, more raw output. This was the perfect opponent to push its limits and evolve the skill.

The beast wasn’t just an obstacle.

It was an opportunity.


<author note>

Hey so this is it for this week.
I will try to upload the two beastmaster chapters today but i cant promise.
Iam still sick and the last days were horrible.
Next week Thalion need to find a way to defeat the leviathan and after that it is time to find a path to the last standing pillar. One way or another this tutorial will come to an end and the final showdown is getting closer.

Cheers

<author note>