Chapter 156: Ten-Thousand-Mile Giant Island, Super Danger Beast
"I am very generous, after all. Since we are companions, shouldn't we get along harmoniously like companions?" Chelsea tasted her morning black tea with great satisfaction and smiled.
"Nonsense! Yesterday, when I was at my weakest, you bullied me mercilessly. You two-faced woman," Kurome glared at Chelsea with a protesting look.
"You seem to get along quite well. Once I finish eating, I'll be heading over there. Leaving two extremely dangerous individuals alone might lead to unforeseen developments."
"What excuse are you looking for when you're just in a rush to be all buddy-buddy with two great beauties? Perhaps the next time you see General Esdeath, she'll be bringing a child over to ask who the father is."
"Puff, cough, cough..."
The one who choked was not any of the girls, but the person involved, Qi. When Leone made that remark, the scene from last night flashed through his mind.
Seeing everyone staring at him with strange expressions, Qi smoothed his breath and maintained a bland expression. "As for my girlfriend..."
"You said your mind wavers easily and that you're a flirtatious philanderer. You told us not to approach you or fa... fall in love with you, because it would trouble you greatly," Mine suddenly interrupted him.
"So Esdeath, who fell in love with you, made a very aggressive move, and you simply couldn't hold your ground," Chelsea added insult to injury.
"I believe in Xiao Qi. Even when Sheele practically threw herself at him, he didn't want her," Akame stated her opinion.
"Sigh, did I really throw myself at him?" Sheele asked blankly.
"It's useless for you guys to corner him; he's already bolted," Najenda said with a smile, pointing at the motionless Qi.
...
Beneath the ocean, the three of them—Qi and the others—were wearing diamond helmets, searching for powerful Danger Beasts to use as sparring partners. Because of the water, it felt as though a pair of shackles had been placed upon their bodies, with every movement hindered by the resistance of the water.
They fought until midday, when Hong Meiling's stomach began to rumble, and the three of them gathered together once more.
Just as Qi was about to speak, he suddenly felt the hairs on his body stand on end, a sensation of being watched by an apex predator.
"A powerful presence is approaching, and its strength is exceptional. It's a big one," Hong Meiling sensed it as well.
"My feeling is very strange. Although it's powerful, it also feels intimately familiar. My relatives should all be dead by now," Esdeath muttered with a frown, her eyes instinctively turning toward the north.
"Let's get ashore first. Our strength is compromised in the water," Qi decisively led the two of them, swimming swiftly toward the island.
The formidable presence grew closer and closer. After the three of them reached the shore and looked back, they watched in horror as an entire island parted the wind and waves, barrelling straight toward them. At that speed, an island several times larger than the one they were currently on would undoubtedly submerge this landmass upon impact.
"Ascend." Qi grabbed Esdeath and flew up into the sky, with Hong Meiling following closely behind.
Thousands of feet high in the air, Qi truly grasped the sheer scale of the island. It was an irregularly circular landmass with a shortest diameter of five thousand feet, while its longest stretch approached ten thousand feet.
The wind pressure generated by such a massive island moving at high speed whipped up violent gales and towering waves in the surrounding seas. It was safe to say the local coastal fishermen were going to have a rough day.
"Could that island itself be a Danger Beast? Though I've seen plenty of bizarre Danger Beasts before—even mechanical ones—I've never heard of an entire island turning into a Danger Beast."
Qi twitched the corner of his mouth into a bitter smile.
"My blood is boiling. No... it's the blood belonging to the Imperial Tool's Danger Beast that is boiling. If I'm not mistaken, this Danger Beast is the legendary super Danger Beast that dwells in the northern lands. Drinking even half a flask of its blood allowed me to manipulate ice so freely, but the creature itself... we have no chance of winning."
Even the confident, arrogant, and almost maniacal Esdeath had to acknowledge the adversary's might in the presence of such a legendary Danger Beast.
"Meiling, do you have confidence?" Qi narrowed his eyes, watching the massive island grow closer and heavier with oppressive presence.
"If I go all out, I can fight it. As for the outcome, we'll only know after exchanging blows," Hong Meiling said, eager for a fight.
"That's enough. Let's see what kind of Danger Beast this really is!"
"The island seems to be slowing down. It looks like it's coming straight for us." Esdeath broke free from Qi's grip and domineeringly pulled him into her embrace instead.
Qi rolled his eyes. Even at a crucial moment like this, she was still acting this way, but he couldn't be bothered to argue.
When the two islands were roughly a thousand feet apart, the massive island finally came to a halt. Then, a gigantic bulge of water swelled up on the surface, spanning nearly a thousand feet in diameter.
"It's coming out. Keep your guard up," Qi warned.
The bulge of water burst open, and a gigantic head—neither quite dragon nor snake, yet somewhat resembling a turtle—jumped out of the water. Extending thousands of feet upward from behind the head was what appeared to be a neck or a body, reaching the trio in the blink of an eye.
Its massive, pitch-black jaws were already agape, leaving Qi and Esdeath completely unable to react in time.
"Hua Arts: 'Splendid Brocade of Blossoms'," Hong Meiling cried out musically. Her entire body's aura surged violently, channeling centuries of cultivation through her frame, enveloping the ferocious, hundred-foot-wide head of the super Danger Beast.
On that head—neither dragon nor snake, yet tortoise-like—the hundred-meter-wide, ash-black, cold pupils betrayed a look of astonishment. A layer of transparent ice materialized on its surface, only to be instantly consumed by a blinding, magnificent barrage of fiery energy.
Only at that moment did Qi and Esdeath recover their senses. This super Danger Beast gave them the exact same feeling they had experienced when encountering the Phoenix and the White Tiger at the volcano: the sensation that a single breath from it could tear them to shreds.
As the light dissipated, the gigantic head was revealed, seemingly unscathed. It stared vigilantly at Hong Meiling, who was no larger than an ant.
"This junior pays respects to the senior. May I ask why senior has launched a surprise attack upon us?" Subconsciously, Qi reverted to the etiquette of the Immortal Cultivation World.
"Do Danger Beasts even speak?" Esdeath asked in mild surprise.
"I felt it. My bloodline is right here," came a deep, magnetic voice that nonetheless carried an icy chill. Even though the massive head's jaws had not been seen moving, the voice echoed directly inside the minds of the three.
"Uh, we haven't encountered any... entities similar to you," Qi answered honestly.
"No, it's looking for... me," Esdeath said calmly, releasing Qi from her embrace.
"Yes, I sensed the aura of my bloodline from you. You are a human, so you must have integrated that flask of blood I bestowed upon humanity a thousand years ago. I originally thought no one could bear that immense power and destructive desire. To think that a human actually managed it a millennium later."
The voice held a hint of surprise, cold yet laced with a trace of excitement.
"What is your purpose here?" Qi stepped in front of Esdeath, his voice neither servile nor overbearing. Hong Meiling prepared herself for another round of battle; their brief exchange just now hadn't decided a victor yet.