Chapter 28
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Chapter 28: How Dare a Mere Cricket Challenge Vertebrates in Reflexes?
"Ah—!"
"Uh…"
"Cough, cough…"
After being hurled by the Thunder Scorpion Sankalabi, the battleship "Giant God’s Radiance" tumbled across the seafloor. Its battered hull crashed and rolled multiple times before coming to rest.
When the jolting finally ceased, the crew could assess their situation.
"Am I still alive?"
The Old Prophet examined himself in disbelief.
His luck held remarkably true.
Despite bruises and scrapes, he remained largely unharmed.
"Quick! Clear these debris!"
"Hang on, Brother Alberta! I’m coming!"
Solar Knights regained composure faster than the prophet, scrambling to salvage the "Giant God’s Radiance."
This vessel was forged almost entirely from divine "skin" and "bones" bestowed by their god—a sacred extension of the deity’s own form. Every component held immeasurable sanctity!
Abandoning her was unthinkable.
Meanwhile, Sulya leveraged her status as a "living saint" to step through a fissure. She stood on the hull, gazing into the abyss where deities clashed.
Noticing the Old Prophet crawling out, she flashed a triumphant smile.
"See? Our sacrifice bore fruit."
Just then, the tailless Thunder Scorpion Sankalabi entered the old man’s view.
"We baited the enemy with this ship, buying time for the Giant God’s ambush."
"He’s now gained the upper hand."
The Old Prophet froze, thunderstruck.
His mind reeled:
Are these Solar Knights and Giant God worshippers utterly mad?!
How could they face Chaos deities—beings of pure destruction—without a shred of fear?!
Is the Giant God’s power truly this… miraculous?!
Mortals commanding warships to assault gods? Unprecedented in this realm!
The chasm between human and divine ran deep. Mortals bore an innate, almost branded dread of gods—an unbreakable psychological shackle.
Even Order-aligned humans never conceived of attacking Chaos deities!
Such was this realm’s iron law!
That unjust Creator had imposed this harsh, unfair decree without reason!
But in this living saint and this group of Solar Knights, this rule was shattered!
Mortals bared their fangs at the deities!
They even took a vicious bite!
"What a shame…"
"That bite was wasted…"
"The Giant God didn’t strike a vital spot."
Indeed, whether Order-side deities, Chaos deities, or those eerie Outer Gods—when manifesting in the primary material world—their true power rarely lay in their Divine Bodies. The Divine Body seldom decided a battle’s outcome.
What made deities formidable was their terrifying spellcasting capability.
Forbidden spells that could scorch the earth? A deity needed only to lift a pincer, gather minimal energy, and unleash them effortlessly.
"Only by destroying their magical organs can we fully neutralize Chaos deities."
"But the tail spike the Giant God bit just now wasn’t a magic-generating organ. Alas…"
"At this rate, the prophecy will still…"
"What?!"
The Old Prophet’s sigh choked off in his own gasp!
He realized the Thunder Scorpion was slowly turning like a fool—yet the forbidden spell remained unfired!
—-
Sankalabi’s massive limbs groaned as they pivoted; magic had numbed the pain, and his energy flow smoothed momentarily!
He clutched a single-target forbidden spell, ready to unleash it with one lunge.
"Hahaha!"
"This forbidden spell tailored for you is the famed ‘Spear of Falling Stars’!"
"Its power is colossal. Any deity struck—even high-ranking Chaos Council members—would be crippled."
"Lesser ones would perish outright!"
"And it follows my psychic guidance!"
"You—hey! Stop dodging!"
"Face me head-on, you brat!"
"Spineless coward!"
…
Reality proved less rosy.
The fish-shaped foe darted through the sea with startling agility, streaking like a torpedo and churning currents.
Sankalabi’s scorpion form struggled desperately.
His sluggish agility forced constant adjustments—all four limb pairs straining to track and target his enemy.
But…
“Whoosh—!”
“Whoosh—!”
The giant fish swam back and forth.
Several times it paused briefly, as if teasing the Thunder Scorpion, waiting for it to turn; but just as Sankalabi aimed carefully and readied a devastating forbidden spell at that slippery creature, which moved like an eel…
“Whoosh—!”
The giant fish-like deity turned into a gray streak of light and vanished, leaving only wild currents!
Later, it popped up again from another direction, waiting for Sankalabi to turn around!
This teasing made Sankalabi furious!
As a deity, he even wanted to “throw his Divine Body in anger.”
“Damn it!”
“I’m a deity! You can’t treat me this way! Show some respect! Fight me honorably!”
But the opponent still didn’t respond to Sankalabi.
However, the "giant fish" seemed to tire of this game!
“Whoosh—!”
This time, it suddenly circled behind Sankalabi, but instead of pausing, it turned sharply and charged at Sankalabi’s flank at top speed!
—-
“Whew… whew… whew…”
“Test over…”
“This Duncker’s fish body is really hard to use.”
Trilobite swore he wasn’t deliberately teasing the Thunder Scorpion.
Before hunting, he carefully disabled the Thunder Scorpion’s most dangerous tail spike, then circled around and saw no other predators nearby to bother him, and started the test.
The main goal was to check how well the armored fish body worked.
The results…
“Hmm, my current Duncker’s fish body is long and streamlined, but it’s still tough to handle; the heavy head and light tail issue wasn’t fixed well.”
While many documentaries showed the Duncker’s fish as a big-headed tadpole-like thing, evidence suggested that the Duncker’s fish, like the great white shark, was an active predator. Dragging its big head and short body to hunt, its poor movement likely meant it only got leftovers from other meat-finned and cartilaginous fish.
So Trilobite bought lots of muscle to boost his movement, making his body longer and more streamlined.
This gave Trilobite, this one-meter-long "Reeve Duncker’s fish," strong agility, letting him swirl playfully around the sea scorpion!
But…
For you, a vertebrate, to play with a one-meter-long limb creature without Myelin Sheath, wasn’t that amazing?
It was like a car maker bragging, “We built a car faster than a tricycle! Hooray!”
Hooray, my foot…
“Sure enough, the mobility of the armored fish was still poor.”
“I got tired after swimming at such high speed for a while, and I had to rest now and then.”
“The speed was also lacking; it was probably not as good as early cartilaginous fish.”
“It seemed that once the armor grew to a certain size, it indeed became a major constraint on movement and breathing.”
“This was probably the reason for the complete extinction of shield fish.”
“Ah… test completed!”
“Slaughter began!”
Trilobite’s powerful caudal fin swirled vigorously as he suddenly circled behind the Thunder Scorpion, but this time, he did not pause or gasp while waiting for the scorpion to react.
Instead…
“Accelerate!”
“Dash!”
“Boom——!”
His heavy, massive body lunged forward, unleashing a terrifying “Boom,” causing the massive stones on the ocean floor to tremble, and even some “gravel” forming little mounds began to collapse!
Meanwhile, Duncker’s fish’s scissor-like giant teeth fiercely sank into the side of the Thunder Scorpion!
“Crunch—crack—!”
Crisp!
“Zizz, zizz, zizz——!”
The Thunder Scorpion twisted its body wildly, but the chitinous shell proved almost useless against Duncker’s fish’s razor-sharp teeth, easily sliced through like a guillotine cutting paper!
A huge and terrifying gash opened on the side of the scorpion’s body, and various scraps within began to disperse into the sea, while its vital organs were devastated by the horrific bite.
The accumulated Magic Power began to dissipate, and the forbidden spell got trapped inside its body.
“Thud——!”
That “one-meter-long” Blond Scorpion collapsed on its side on the ocean floor, with only the occasional twitching of its legs signaling that this creature was still alive…
Of course, it wouldn’t last for many minutes.
Feeding was about to begin!
“Ding——!”
At that moment, the System’s notification sound rang out!
“Ahem, long time no see.”
“Um, it’s not that I intentionally ignored you.”
“I’ve been a bit busy lately.”
“Uh, you have gained a new achievement: ‘Equivalent Slaughterer.’”
“I need to give you a reward now, just like before, a random Skill!”
