Chapter 586: The Monster That Devours Everything

Wendy emerged from the mist, greeted by a towering mountain rising from the sea.

To be exact, it was a massive arm that resembled a mountain. Upon close inspection, it was covered with jade-colored scales, akin to stone slabs.

It was so enormous that the air barely moved around it.

It seemed otherworldly.

But what made it even more surreal was its immense size.

Starting from the ocean’s surface, it stretched all the way to the sky.

Its sheer size was overwhelming, making it hard to breathe just by looking at it.

It was something that even the heroes of myth would hesitate before.

For proof, Hook, who had been steering the ship despite wild winds, rough currents, and numerous creatures, was left speechless, even forgetting to breathe.

The normally aggressive creatures had their will drained; all they could do was gape up at it in awe.

For a moment, thought itself stopped.

Only Oliver kept his composure.

He had already seen this once in Gallos, aided by the ringing in his ears and the following hallucination.

‘Leviathan. Strike it down.’

Memories of the day Jane was kidnapped replayed in his mind.

As if by chance, the arm of the sea monster he had thought was a mountain suddenly twitched and then lunged at Wendy.

The sounds of air being crushed, mashed, and torn apart spread across the sea as the jade-colored arm of the sea monster crashed down toward the surface.

━━━━CrashCrashCrashCrashCrashCrashCrashCrashCrashCrash!!!!

Like the earth itself splitting, the sea was torn in two.

“……!!”

Fortunately for Wendy, the arm had missed its mark, brushing past instead of hitting directly due to two factors.

First, just like when it attacked Oliver before, the monster’s arm didn’t move properly.

It was unnatural, slow, and inaccurate as if it were being controlled by someone.

Oliver seized this opportunity, extracted a large amount of emotion, cast the Black Magic Blessing on Wendy, and maneuvered the ship out of the way.

It wasn’t perfect, though.

Kuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhung!!!

As the sea, split in two by the immense force, closed back together, a tidal wave rose. Wendy couldn’t withstand the shock and was flung into the sky, flipped upside down before crashing back into the ocean.

With water droplets scattering everywhere and some crew members falling into the sea, First and Second used blood and body manipulation to cling to Wendy Ho, desperately trying to avoid being thrown off.

Oliver tried to stabilize Wendy with Blessing but ended up being pulled into the air himself.

At that moment, Hook regained his senses and drew his rapier, issuing a command to Wendy.

“Hold on!”

Multiple ropes on Wendy moved like snakes and secured Hook and Oliver to the deck.

Hook shouted,

“I’ll hold it, so don’t worry! Just do what you need to do!”

The captain was ready to hand over control of the ship to a passenger.

Whether it was because Wendy reacted or Oliver hesitated less, Oliver exerted an even more powerful control and moved Wendy as if she were an extension of himself.

Miraculously, Wendy stopped her freefall and turned herself right side up again, gracefully landing on the waves.

It was like a giant, invisible hand was guiding her.

Hook looked at Oliver, awestruck, not quite believing what had just happened.

Black Magic, but something different from the ordinary.

But Hook didn’t bother to ask what it was.

His tumultuous childhood and years sailing the vast seas had taught him that there were many things in the world that couldn’t be understood.

He knew it was far less harmful to your sanity to accept things as they were rather than try to make sense of them.

Besides, something more urgent was happening right now.

“Oh, my god….”

Hook, who had almost been buried at sea with Wendy, instinctively called out to a god he hadn’t prayed to since becoming a pirate.

Even Hook had some conscience left.

But at the sight before him, Hook found himself praying again without even realizing it.

Something was rising from the entire horizon, creating a frothy white surge.

Its simple yet massive movement collided with the ocean currents, causing small islands to crumble and the sea to rage.

Wendy, despite her considerable size, rocked like a dinghy on the open sea.

In the vast expanse, Wendy might as well have been a piece of driftwood.

While everyone was stunned by the enormity of it all, First yelled.

“Is land rising from the sea?!”

To which Hook replied,

“Something similar.”

“Similar!?”

“Yes, a sea monster… as large as the land itself.”

‘A sea monster.’

As soon as Oliver repeated that name, the water rising from the sea cascaded down like a waterfall, revealing the massive form of the sea monster.

No, revealing might not be the right word.

Only a tiny part of its body appeared, just its eyes and the top of its head.

“Oh… oh….”

“Ah… uh….”

“Gah….”

But even that was enough to shock Wendy’s crew, First, and Second.

Even just the creature’s eyes and the top of its head were large enough to remind them of a giant island.

It wasn’t a joke; the sea monster’s entire body could rival a small continent.

“Did Fen create that thing?”

“Yes… though it seems… larger now.”

Hook, sweating in fear, answered Oliver’s question with difficulty. His hook-like arm clutched tightly to his chest.

Its eyes!

The sea monster, with a head as large as an island, widened its eyes and stared directly at Wendy.

Even a single eye of the sea monster was bigger than Wendy. The mere sight of it drained their mental strength.

It wasn’t some kind of special power.

It was just a natural, primal fear, instinctual in any living creature when facing something far above them in power.

A fear that’s overwhelming and impossible to describe logically.

Whether it was Hook, a human, or the artificial lifeforms like creatures, that fear gripped them all.

Their bodies began to freeze like stone.

Until Oliver spoke.

“Snap out of it.”

Hook and the creatures, caught in the invisible grip of fear, were jolted back to reality by Oliver’s words.

Even the sea monster seemed surprised. Its reptilian pupil narrowed in shock.

‘Or was it the creature controlling the sea monster that was surprised?’

Oliver noticed a faint trace of ‘The Burned One’s’ energy within the monster and its unfocused gaze. He shouted to Hook that they had to flee.

Although he doubted their chances personally, Hook immediately took the helm and started steering the ship.

Meanwhile, Oliver combined Ptah’s Assistant and the Black Suit to create a giant black hand.

He then used Extract on the passing mist, gathering a massive amount of malice and will to live, holding it in his palm.

The black hand demonstrated incredible power, extracting even more emotion. With this overwhelming power in hand, Oliver turned to face the sea monster.

Even the slightest movement from such a colossal creature was threatening.

Seeing Oliver’s resolve, the sea monster responded.

The eyes and upper part of its head, which had risen from the ocean, began sinking back down.

Boom!!

Even though it re-entered the water relatively calmly, its enormous size and weight sent up a white spray and triggered massive waves.

“Hold on tight!” Hook yelled.

Following the Captain’s orders, Oliver grabbed hold of the ship with his black hand, while First and Second clung to him.

“… .”

“What? Why?”

First asked as Oliver stared at him silently, and soon after, the massive waves started to push Wendy away.

Crack! Crack!

Wendy groaned as she advanced forward, riding the enormous waves.

“Are you sure we’re alright?” Oliver asked, feeling the ship vibrate beneath him, Hook shouted back.

“We can withstand this, at least! It’s better than facing that sea monster!”

Hook meant it. No matter how rough the waves were, they didn’t compare to the sea monster.

“It’s the lesser evil, at least! …Luckily, it still seems like Fen hasn’t fully gained control of it.”

“What!?” Oliver questioned.

“The sea monster… Leviathan! Fen might have created it, but he doesn’t control the creature! I was worried when it showed signs of activity again, but it’s clear Fen still can’t control it!!”

Hook felt genuine relief.

The sea monster was a monster among monsters, even Fen, its creator, couldn’t control it.

That’s why he never expected or wanted to encounter it here.

There would only be despair, and knowing about it wouldn’t change anything.

Thankfully, Fen still seemed unable to fully control the creature.

If not, there was no way they would have been allowed to just leave.

Hook shared his good fortune with Oliver.

But Oliver had a sobering response to that.

“It doesn’t look like the sea monster is letting us go.”

“What!?” Hook, who had lost one of his hands to Leviathan while stealing Fen’s treasure, responded in shock.

Before Oliver could fully explain, Hook saw for himself that Oliver was right.

In front of them, a massive waterspout appeared, forming eight gigantic water pillars. They aimed straight for Wendy.

It was clearly an attack with malicious intent.

The enormous water pillars would have easily destroyed Wendy with a single strike, so Oliver quickly used all the emotion he had extracted from the mist to cast his black magic.

[Serpent of the Human Face]

Using creative black magic, Oliver utilized the massive amounts of malice and will to live from the mist to create several creatures with a woman’s face and the body of a snake.

He twisted the emotions he had controlled, sending the creatures to intercept the water pillars and sacrifice themselves in Wendy’s place.

ThwackThwackThwackThwack!

However, the giant water pillars shredded Oliver’s creatures made of malice with ease.

CrashCrashCrashCrash!

The only result of their sacrifice was a slight deviation in the pillars’ trajectory, allowing Wendy to narrowly avoid a direct hit.

Instead, the deflected water pillar struck the massive wave Wendy had been riding on, shattering it and flinging Wendy into the air again.

[Bless]

Once more, Oliver used Blessing to control the ship, trying to land it safely on the water.

As Wendy touched the ocean’s surface, Oliver contemplated joining forces with Hook to escape at top speed, but just as this thought crossed his mind, a massive vortex formed beneath the water, dragging Wendy down.

It was like pulling the plug from a water-filled bathtub.

At the vortex’s center, the sea monster revealed its giant eye.

For such a massive creature, it had been aiming for this from the start.

Perhaps as a precaution, or maybe for fun. Or to prevent any possible escape.

Caught in the whirlpool, Oliver and Hook desperately tried to break free, but Wendy was steadily pulled closer to the vortex’s center, unable to escape the power of the vast ocean.

Perhaps they were destined for this from the start.

At that moment, the sea monster at the center of the vortex raised its head and opened its massive jaws wide.

A mouth so vast, filled with countless teeth.

Just as Armand had described, the sea monster’s maw was horrifyingly vast. It was clear why it had earned the terrifying name ‘The Monster That Devours Everything.’

‘Tick-tock. At the end of the world, a giant hole appears as time moves. The black sun rises from the land, a monster that devours everything stirs in the western sea, the false gatekeeper relinquishes the key, and the wandering child becomes a boy.’

Oliver recalled the words written on a piece of paper that had been tucked between the pages of the books he’d taken from the Flesh Cook’s safe.

The giant hole opening at the end of the world.

‘The Land of Ice.’

The black sun rising from the land.

‘The Flesh Cook.’

The Monster That Devours Everything, awakening in the western sea.

‘The sea monster.’

Oliver was faced with a series of coincidences he desperately wanted to deny.

He hated it. It felt like these happenings weren’t mere coincidences at all.

To make matters worse, Oliver’s shadow began to writhe, and his burned right arm throbbed

as if it were urging him to use them.

In that time, Wendy and the sea monster drew closer together. They could almost touch.

Oliver murmured in a voice tinged with sadness,

“It’s terrifying, as expected.”

Oliver pulled a rod from his pocket.

It was a distress signal flare he’d received from Merlin. With just the grip strength of his left hand, he snapped the rod, and an enormous amount of stored magic erupted from the flare, intricately intertwined with magical formulas.

It expanded into a large sphere of brilliant magic, pushing back against the whirlpool and the sea monster’s jaws that seemed about to swallow the entire island.

Ka-boomKaboomKaboomKaboomKaboomKaboom!!!

The sea monster reacted to the sudden surge of magic, trying to crush it with both the whirlpool and its gaping maw.

Steam spewed from its mouth as it bit down on the magical sphere, while the whirlpool spiraled like a drill, attacking the sphere from all angles.

For a moment, the sphere of magic, tangled with countless formulas, contracted, but then it exploded in a burst of blinding magical light.

Thoooomsshhhhhh!!!

The light was so intense that both regular sight and the Warlock’s eye were blinded for an instant.

When Oliver opened his eyes again, the whirlpool had vanished, replaced by a rain made of seawater.

The blast of magic had sent seawater spraying into the sky, from where it now fell like rain, and standing within that rain was a single man.

It was Merlin.

“Did you miss me?” Merlin asked jokingly.

Oliver, in a tone of utmost sincerity, responded,

“Yes… I’m sorry to trouble you.”

Oliver repeated the request he had made before leaving to Bean City.

Please fight the sea monster in his place.

Even in retrospect, it was an unreasonable request, but the man in question, Merlin, just waved his hand as if it were nothing.

“Hurry along!”

Despite the simplicity of the response compared to the gravity of the situation, it was enough for both Oliver and Merlin.

Without the slightest hesitation, Oliver asked Hook to steer Wendy Ho away.

The sea monster tried to pursue Oliver, but at that moment, with the fluttering sound of paper, a massive magical force covered the sky, splitting the sea in half.

It wasn’t through strength but as if following the orders of someone.

Thus the sea monster rose out of the water.

The sea monster froze in confusion, and Merlin walked toward it.

“Come play with me, you little salamander.”

He ran his hand from his chin up to the top of his head.

Wherever his hand passed, the wrinkles faded, and even his hair began to grow back.