Chapter 274: Chapter 135: Explosive, Brilliant Fireworks
"D-Damn... it—"
Black Jack’s legs were sunk deep in the mud. The soft earth gave him no leverage. He could only plant his arms firmly on the stone pavement, veins bulging all over as he clenched his jaw and used every last bit of strength to haul himself out.
He stared at the small figure a kilometer away, his heart heavy with frustration. Even when he’d encountered giant monsters in the Deep Sea, he had never felt this powerless.
It was just as he’d expected. With his strength, he had only managed to run a kilometer before he could no longer break free from that strange, binding force.
"Huff, huff... Sh-she’s a monster..."
Behind the dark clouds, the red moon flickered in and out of view, as if trying to pierce the gloom and cast its glow upon this pearl of the West Coast.
RUMBLE.
As several bolts of lightning tore through the dark night sky, Black Jack was stunned to see the strikes converging around the white-haired girl not far away. They formed arcs of electricity behind her, dancing lightly like a pair of wings.
Damn it!
’Wh-what kind of monster is she?’
’Isabella, you bastard, if you wanted her so bad, why didn’t you come yourself?!’
Even with decades of experience rampaging across the Cordo Sea, this was the first time Black Jack had ever encountered someone so bizarre—a small, unremarkable-looking girl who concealed such terrifying power within her.
"Tina... misses home."
Tina stared with eyes as black as ink, her head turning stiffly toward the central district—or more precisely, toward Krimms Cathedral, which had stood there for millennia.
As she spoke, her small, bare white foot took a step.
Immediately, the ground beneath her began to tremble. The slight shaking quickly intensified, spreading outward like an earthquake.
RUMMMBLE!
Buildings collapsed like paper, turning to dust. The ground split open into a spiderweb of fissures, from which crimson, searing-hot magma erupted.
Tina seemed oblivious. With every step she took, the lightning wings behind her fluttered, and she crossed a kilometer in an instant, walking toward the Cathedral at a pace that seemed slow but was deceptively fast.
As she moved farther away, endless lightning struck down, the earth buckled and spewed magma, and violent winds raged... Faintly, a colossal dark figure could be seen standing behind her, its sinister gaze fixed on the world around it.
"Hiss!"
Black Jack stared blankly at the scene before him, a veritable Abyssal Purgatory. Deep within his eyes, Tina’s silhouette was reflected.
He could only feel that she was wreathed in the world’s evils—hate, despair, deathly silence, calamity, misfortune... It was as if the entire world could not bear the weight of that tiny figure.
’Fuck, I really screwed up this time.’
’Well, the mission’s definitely a bust...’
"First Officer, you didn’t have to go to the trouble of giving me such a grand welcome." A sturdy figure landed beside him, his tone flippant. "But first, can you tell me who that is? She’s too damn terrifying, isn’t she?"
The binding force on Black Jack weakened. He staggered to his feet, took a deep breath, and asked, "Waleed, have you ever had that feeling where you’re awake, but it’s like you’re in a dream?"
"Huh? What kind of—OOF!!"
THUD, THUD THUD...
Black Jack clamped a large hand over his mouth and, with his other hand balled into a fist, repeatedly punched him in the stomach. His face was grim. "Me, giving you a grand welcome? In your dreams."
"Mmmph-mmmph?!!"
"Let’s see if I can’t beat you to your senses! And you used a forbidden item to summon a Storm, didn’t you? Don’t you know that using it without the Storm Horn costs you half your life? Who the fuck are you trying to impress?"
"Mmmph, I’wmm wonng, I won’ do i’ agai’..."
"What? I can’t hear you!"
"I’WMM WONNG!!"
...
...
Tina...
The Clown watched the lightning strike in the distance, his gaze fixed on the billowing clouds, dyed a sickly yellow by the erupting magma. His malicious eyes were filled with the image of that small, white-haired, black-eyed girl.
"ROAR—"
The Clown clutched his head and let out a frenzied roar. His crimson eyes struggled in agony. His heart felt as though it were being seized by endless sorrow, hatred, and despair, making the clown mask on his face seem all the more savage and terrifying.
The people around him, affected by his loss of control, could only stare at him blankly, their fear growing with every passing moment.
’Wh-what’s wrong with him?’
’Has he lost control to the point of insanity?’
’This is bad...’
If the Clown had previously given them the impression of a malevolent but partially sane juggler, he was now pure evil, as if he wanted to destroy the entire world.
But Wei’en’s eyes weren’t focused on the Clown. Instead, he was looking toward the Basil District, at that familiar yet alien figure.
"Tina..."
Beyond the small silhouette of the white-haired girl, he could also see the massive, shadowy figure looming faintly behind her. It also had long white hair, a deep and towering bosom, and was dressed in a long black gown whose hem billowed without any wind.
It had the same pitch-black eyes as Tina, with a small canine tooth peeking out from the corner of its mouth. It looked like an adult version of the white-haired girl—sinister and alluring all at once.
As it walked, the night sky tore itself apart with a whimper, and the earth rumbled with an agonized howl...
’Is... this a Calamity-type?’
Seeing Tina in this state, Lisi’s eyes filled with sorrow. ’Why must she be the one to bear such undeserved suffering?’
At that moment, the people nearby who didn’t know Tina felt more than just bitterness; they were filled with despair. The loss of control of a forbidden item comparable to a Class-Three Calamity was already terrifying enough. Now there was another girl, some unknown monster, walking alone through that horrifying celestial phenomenon... It was simply inhuman!
But for those Sealers on the verge of complete mutation, or those who had already mutated, their eyes held a look of release.
’I hope... I won’t have to suffer like this in my next life...’
Amid the crowd’s mix of despair, relief, and sorrow, Tina swept across the southern boulevard of the Dumitru District in a deafening rumble, leaving behind only a whispered murmur.
Comments