A smaller version of the World Serpent. Jörmungandr.
This Apex Leviathan was simply that—a force, a monstrosity, a godless entity that could coil around continents and not even notice. It was massive, stretching so far that my mind could barely comprehend its sheer scale. If I had to guess, its length alone could reach triple digits in kiloters. Two hundred? Three? More? Its width was enough to dwarf entire islands, making even smaller Leviathans seem like re parasites clinging to its hide.
A beast in its own right.
A freak of nature.
A nightmare given form.
Every glimpses I had of it, every flash of lightning that gave more pieces to join. All of that reinforced one thing.
I was glad I wasn't being hunted by this beast.
Because it I was, I couldn't run. I couldn't hide. I couldn't fight.
I would simply die.
This creature, no this godless entity was not a creature to chase prey. It was not sothing that needed to exert itself to hunt. A single movent, just a flick and the from hundreds of kiloter would die from its wave.
I wouldn't be a prey. I wouldn't be a battle.
I would be a collateral damage, an insignificant casualty in a storm it didn't even realize it created.
Just a speck in the waters. Sothing so fragile, so aning less in the grand sche of thing that I won't even register in its mind.
Such a irritating thought, to be caught up on fantasies like this. Fantasies of being caught up on stuff to large for to handle, to grand for to change.
And yet, here I was, standing, waiting.
Waiting for the Apex Leviathan to finish its sky-soaring leap and to be grounded by the natural law I knew of. Waiting for the mont. Waiting for the mont the Apex Leviathan goes away or gets busy eating.
Waiting for the chaos that is about to happen.
Even the lightning stopped for a fleeting second. The world was bathed in an unnatural, unsettling darkness, as if sothing had swallowed it all. The colors. The rain. The storm. The Lightning.
And then I heard it a plop.
A sound so absurd that even my busted ear could hear it.
A plop. Like a pebble thrown into a pond.
Except it was no re pebble.
It was a beast. A godless, unfathomable thing returning to the depths it called ho.
And then a splash.
The ocean did not welco its return. The beast didn't care. It shattered the surface. A wave exploded outward, a force so titanic that even the Whale class Leviathan I stood on was sent drifting afar.
And ?
As always, I was at the rcy of the waves. The water slamd into , knocked far away from where I stood. Was it Luck or sothing I didn't fall into the waters. At least, not this ti.
I clang on the unsteady ground beneath , soaked even more on the stormy rain. The force alone was enough to make reconsider everything I was doing.
Every single reckless choice.
Every single defiance.
Every single gamble.
Maybe, just maybe, I should have not veered into the pitch dark. Maybe I should have played it safe. Maybe I was a fool to think I could best fate in gamble. Maybe I was a fool to think I could dance with monsters and co out alive.
Like I had the luxury to decide.
Yet reconsidering ant hesitation.
Hesitation ant losing the gamble.
So, I stopped thinking.
My two chips were small in the gamble. Life was aningless in the water. Life was aningless to . Even my own. But my pride. My pride ant everything to . My pride was the one that kept going.
So, I stopped thinking.
Not for life but a chip I bet. My pride. My pride would accept no loss. Not in this gamble.
I did what I had always done.
I steadied myself.
I endured.
I waited.
Because once these Leviathans began to move, the chaos would truly begin. And in that chaos, in all the storm of beast and blood. I could slip away and sohow win the gamble.
Drift. Swim. Claw my way to sowhere unknown.
Sowhere, Anywhere but far, far away from this.
And then by the grace of the Lightning that struck closer with every fall, I saw it, the first movent.
It wasn't the Apex Leviathan. Sothing much smaller. But I knew it.
It was a Leviathan I had seen before.
It was a Anglerfish Leviathan. Except, this one was much, much bigger.
The light that acted as its beacon, a burning sun in the depths, dangled in front of it. It looked red, bright-blood red to Even by rough estimate, the lure alone was five to seven tis larger than the one I had encountered before. The one that got swallowed by the Apex Leviathan.
And if just the lure was that big, then the monster attached to it must be even bigger.
Even without the lightning lighting up the background from ti to ti, I could see few beacon of light erge from the waters. There were a bunch of Anglerfish Leviathan under water.
While I don't know if this is because they were not patient hunter? Or if the Apex Leviathan had gone away?
I was sure of one thing. The chaos was beginning.
Yet the whale beneath wasn't moving. Still as it was before. Was it still scared? Or did it sense so kind of danger that the Anglerfish Leviathans couldn't sense? Sothing much worse? I had a gut feeling that said it was much better if I stayed with the whale for now.
The whale wasn't moving and neither was I.
I knew nothing of the waters nor much about the Leviathans that called it ho. But whales? I knew a bit more about whales than the Anglerfish. Even if the world and water around didn't work with logic. But I had sothing.
Reference.
If I could compare, connect anything from what I knew before to what I was seeing now, then maybe, just maybe I could piece sothing useful. sothing useful to plan.
And because I knew a lot about whales from Animal Planet and Nat Geo. This lead a lot of questions. Especially since I saw the whale pod and the fucking baby whale that tried to drown .
Why was this whale alone?
Shouldn't it be in a pod? Guarding its young, traveling to food-rich area? Was it a lone male hunting in the water? A male kicked out from the pod? Or are there any whales beneath the waters, hidden in depths I couldn't see?
And more importantly, Why was this whale so much bigger than all the others?
This was big. A Leviathan Class big.
I had walked for who knows how long and I still hadn't seen the blowhole that let out the water. Granted I was slow with injuries but it is massive in its own right.
The Whale wasn't moving anyti soon.
So I kept my eyes on the Anglerfish Leviathan. They were feasting. Swarming on the hole made by the Apex Leviathan, their bodies tangled together, lures bumping and clashing as they fought for a share. Teeth tore into flesh and chunks were ripped with every mouthful they got.
There weren't just a few of them. There were dozens. Maybe even more.
Why?
When I had approached the wound before, there had only been one. A smaller one.
Now, there are twenty? Thirty? All scrambling over each other for a mouthful of flesh.
Why?
Why are there so many Anglerfish at once? While I just saw one.
And more importantly—
Why did the first Anglerfish look at ? Why had it reacted so violently when I showed it my two bricks from the Cathedral?
I should have brushed it off. Left it alone. Moved on.
But I couldn't.
The questions wouldn't stop circling in my head. The more I think of the thought. The more it circles around. The less I think of it. The more it clouds my thought. The thought wasn't going away.
Would the bricks have the sa effect on all of them?
Could I control them with it? Control their movent with it? They crave for it, don't they? Would they devour for it?
Could I use it to kill? Could I use it to eat the Leviathans?
I slapped myself across the face. What am I thinking? If I went down the last line, I am sure to die without a grave. It was a wicked thought from desperation.
But, unfortunately—
I was full of wicked thoughts.
And even worse ideas.
So, I took out the two bricks.
The one I had taken for myself.
And the one the kids had given .
Both had grown. A lot.
And the mont I did,
The Anglerfish stopped eating.
One by one, their lures twisted toward .
Dozens of pale lights, flickering in the dark, locked onto like predators spotting prey.
The feeding frenzy halted. They had been starving. Now, it seed they had found sothing they wanted more.
The bricks.
Just like before.
Even the whale beneath trembled.
Not in fear. Not in panic.
Excitent.
Like it knew.
Like it had been waiting for this.
The whale was trembling, vibrating. I could feel it. It wasn't fear. It was almost as if it let out a call. A call for its pod.
A chill ran down my spine.
I should put them away. If I didn't want to be food for the Leviathans. If I didn't want to die.
But I questioned myself. Sure, I could do this once, twice and run every single ti. But will I get answers. Answer to enter the Cathedral. No, I would be just running from it and I needed to go in there. No matter the cost.
I tightened my grip instead.
If I put them away now, I would put them away forever. Hesitation I had already forgo it. I had already decided to stop hesitating. So why am I hesitating?
The Leviathans can hunt all they want. All I need to do is survive and get answers.
And the bricks are the answer.
So I focused my full attention on the bricks. Not the Leviathan that were chiming to hunt down.
The bricks felt different. Bigger. Heavier. Yet weightless. Even with my busted vision in the dark. I could see it.
And I felt it.
Familiarity. Warmth. Coldness.
Sothing deeper. Sothing inevitable.
The sa feeling I had in the Cathedral.
The sa feeling I had in the fog.
The sa feeling I had in front of the kids.
Sothing I couldn't run from.
Sothing I couldn't stop.
Sothing I didn't want to stop.
Sothing I didn't want to run from.
I smiled. I had a small part of the answer
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Not the best Chapter as it didn't go according to my plan. But I have been awake for two days without sleep. So mistakes are common. And I will give it a pass. Now I plan to finish the whole Leviathan part in a Chapter and a half and in the remaining half the MC will make contact with the pirate crew.
Oo, and you will get to see one of the functions of the brick.
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