With no one making a sound, the sea monster beneath the waves remained equally still.
Both sides were waiting.
The sea monster was waiting for some noise to come from the ships, while Valsa was waiting for the creature to make its next move.
Only a dozen minutes passed, but to the crew of the Overlord Pirates, every second felt like an eternity.
Finally, the sea monster couldn’t hold back any longer.
Beneath the ship on the far right of the Overlord Pirates’ fleet, the sea suddenly began to swirl into a massive vortex, seemingly intent on swallowing the entire vessel.
A purple-red fin broke through the surface.
It circled around the vortex, slicing through the sea and shattering the eerie silence surrounding the pirate fleet.
“A…
a shark?!”
Suddenly, the fin disappeared beneath the water.
But no one believed it had simply left.
Sure enough, the next moment, a gigantic maw appeared beneath the surface, completely enveloping the entire ship.
The monster’s appearance was finally revealed before everyone’s eyes.
It had a dark-blue body, and the portion emerging from the water alone was more than fifty meters long.
That meant its total length could easily reach a hundred meters!
Its entire body was covered in purple-red scales, while its savage eyes glowed crimson.
Its mouth was filled with enormous, razor-sharp teeth, each one five or six meters long.
“Help!
Somebody save me!”
The pirates aboard the targeted ship screamed desperately for help.
They were already terrified out of their minds, their legs giving way beneath them as despair and fear filled their eyes.
“Come here!”
Valsa spread both arms to his sides, his right hand pointing directly at the giant shark.
The gale whipped through his black hair, sending it flying wildly behind his head.
His lips curled into a grin, his brows slightly raised, his eyes sharp as blades.
The shadow cast by his brow made his already fierce appearance even more intimidating.
[Facebreaker]!
A tremendous current of air erupted from Valsa’s palm.
The immense suction force instantly overwhelmed the giant shark dozens of meters away, dragging its massive body toward him.
Everyone who witnessed the scene nearly had their jaws drop.
Their eyes widened in disbelief.
Someone had actually managed to control such an enormous creature with nothing but a single ability.
What kind of monstrous power is this?!
A conceptual ability.
As long as you don’t have super armor, just obediently come over here.
At the same time, golden light wrapped around both of Valsa’s hands.
[Knuckle Down]!
Valsa suddenly pushed off the ground and soared into the air.
He chose an uppercut.
BOOM!
His heavy fist slammed into the giant shark.
The tremendous force sent the creature upward.
But that wasn’t enough!
Valsa followed with another right uppercut.
Left and right.
Again and again.
His alternating uppercuts rapidly lifted the giant shark completely out of the water.
Its enormous body blotted out a huge portion of the sky.
Unable to find anything to brace against in midair, the creature could only thrash helplessly.
Valsa’s fists slammed relentlessly into its body, causing it to unleash furious roars that rolled across the sky like thunder.
Then something unexpected happened.
The purple-red scales covering the giant shark suddenly began shining brilliantly.
Its eyes turned blood-red.
“Not good!”
The giant shark somehow managed to twist its body in midair.
It opened its enormous jaws, revealing its terrifying fangs, and lunged straight at Valsa.
The attack came too quickly.
There was no time to dodge.
Valsa could only cross his arms in front of himself and take the attack head-on.
“Captain!”
Everyone aboard the ships watched in horror.
They saw the giant shark bite down on Valsa and drag him into the sea.
When the monster hit the water, it generated a towering wave more than a hundred meters high.
The wave crashed down with tremendous force, sending every ship rocking violently, each one like a leaf caught in a raging current.
Meanwhile, beneath the sea…
Valsa stood motionless in the deep water, his body glowing with golden light.
A horrifying scar stretched from his shoulder all the way down to his lower abdomen.
Damn it.
Fighting this thing in the sea had increased the difficulty exponentially.
Yet Valsa didn’t panic.
Instead, he calmly observed the giant shark’s movements.
He couldn’t see clearly into the deep sea shrouded in darkness.
He could only rely on instinct to sense the creature’s presence, using the underwater currents generated by its movements to determine its position.
Behind me!
The giant shark shot out from the darkness at incredible speed.
Its crimson eyes were terrifying.
Its enormous jaws opened wide as it lunged toward Valsa, intending to swallow him whole.
Valsa suddenly kicked against the water.
He narrowly slipped past the creature’s razor-sharp teeth.
Now!
Valsa immediately struck.
As the giant shark passed beside him, he grabbed hold of its scales.
The creature carried him along as it continued forward.
The giant shark violently twisted its body, trying to shake Valsa loose.
But Valsa gritted his teeth and held on with all his strength, refusing to let go.
I only have one chance to unleash Haymaker.
That last attack has given me a massive amount of Grit.
If I don’t kill it this time, I won’t get another chance to build up enough Grit.
It’ll definitely become wary.
Even a small Sea King like this has considerable intelligence.
It will keep harassing me in the ocean until my stamina is exhausted, then strike the moment I can no longer fight back!
Valsa watched the golden light around his body gradually weaken.
He knew that if he didn’t act now, once his Grit dropped even a little further, Haymaker would no longer be powerful enough to kill the creature in a single blow.
Time was running out.
But Valsa didn’t panic.
Instead, he became even calmer.
This was experience he had gained countless times from surviving situations where death seemed inevitable.
He used every ounce of his strength to climb onto the giant shark’s back.
Then he suddenly yanked hard on its dorsal fin.
The giant shark cried out in pain and accelerated.
Valsa continued wrenching its fin, though no one could tell what he was trying to accomplish.
The giant shark began moving erratically.
Before long, it burst out of the sea, only to plunge back beneath the waves.
It was attempting to use the tremendous impact generated by repeatedly breaking through the surface to shake Valsa loose.
Clearly, the method worked.
During yet another plunge into the sea, Valsa’s grip finally slipped.
The giant shark’s eyes took on an almost human-like look of contempt.
With an even more bloodthirsty gaze, it lunged toward Valsa.
But it failed to notice one thing.
When Valsa saw the giant shark coming, He smiled.
“Eat this hammer!!!”
At that very moment, a furious roar came from the sky.
Adrian had entered the battle between the two!
The giant shark had been continuously provoked by Valsa and had become so enraged that it had completely forgotten to watch for threats around it.
An enormous force crashed through the surface of the sea, raising waves dozens of meters high.
The immense power slammed into the giant shark, bringing its body to an abrupt halt.
A clearly visible crater appeared on top of its head.
The impact rattled its brain, leaving it dazed for several seconds.
“Cast the net!!!”
Suddenly, an enormous fishing net descended from above.
The Nautilus and its two thirty-meter-long auxiliary ships pulled it between them and cast it toward the giant shark.
Although the net was only large enough to cover the creature’s body around its head, and although it could probably tear itself free within a few seconds…
Valsa had already assumed his punching stance.
Golden light erupted from his entire body.
Looking at the giant shark struggling desperately in the net, baring its teeth and thrashing wildly, Valsa couldn’t help finding the sight amusing.
He threw his head back and laughed wildly.
“Hahahaha!!
You stupid fish!
Weren’t you having a great time beating me up just now?!
Now it’s my turn!”
[Haymaker]!
BOOM!
A deep, thunderous impact rang out beneath the sea.
The next moment, the ocean split apart!
The surface of the sea rose violently, forming a terrifying underwater cliff.
Raging waves surged hundreds of meters into the air.
The area struck by the attack was instantly turned into a vacuum, and it took a long time for seawater to rush back into the void.
Golden light pierced through the giant shark from the front and into its body.
In an instant, every one of its internal organs was destroyed.
Blood poured from its fins and mouth.
Its life was completely extinguished.
The giant shark had used the surface of the sea to shake Valsa loose.
But hadn’t Valsa also used the giant shark surfacing to relay instructions to his crew?
By interfering with the creature’s dorsal fin, Valsa had managed to briefly control its direction, steering it toward the waters near the pirate fleet.
The giant shark’s corpse floated to the surface.
Blood stained the surrounding seawater red, transforming the area into a sea of blood.
Even the raging waves and torrential rain couldn’t disperse the blood in a short period of time.
Valsa quietly stared at its corpse.
Your strength was formidable.
In the South Blue, there are practically no humans capable of defeating you, especially in an environment that completely favors you.
But in the end…
I was still one step better.