Chapter 1060: 1059: Ice and Crimson
Simon cut through another pair of jaws and watched the body fall.
Before it reached the water, something below caught it.
He stared as the carcass disappeared between rows of teeth.
"Are you all fucking starving?"
He had killed more than a dozen already.
He had expected the others to avoid him after seeing what happened to the first few. Instead, every corpse seemed to attract something else.
Some fought over the floating remains. Others continued launching themselves at him, apparently convinced they would succeed where the last creature had failed.
Simon was getting tired of this.
He sent a blade of wind through another attacker, then reached toward the space ahead.
He was about to teleport but a stronger presence entered his perception.
His hand stopped.
The water beneath the feeding beasts bulged.
Several scattered. One disappeared underwater with a violent jerk, leaving a trail of blood behind it.
A broad head broke the surface.
Small amber eyes sat high above a mouth lined with thick, crushing teeth. Behind it rose an enormous, barrel-shaped body covered in grey-green hide. Two muscular forelimbs ended in wide paddles, their edges were rough and heavily ridged.
Its back pushed floating corpses aside as it surfaced.
"A Brineback Mauler?"
Simon’s annoyance eased slightly.
A Minor Catastrophe Beast. Its power was comparable to that of a Minor Demon King.
He looked at the creature with interest.
What would he gain by devouring it?
Finding something like this beneath an ordinary stretch of sea would have required considerable searching. The blood and disturbance had brought it straight to him.
The first carcass was already being torn apart below.
This one, he intended to keep.
ROOOARRR!
The Mauler lunged upward.
One forelimb swept through the feeding beasts. A smaller creature burst beneath the blow, while another was thrown clear of the water.
The paddle continued toward Simon.
He began moving aside to dodge the attack, but then he paused as he had an idea.
His fifth star shone brightly.
Black scales spread across his right forearm beneath the Chaos Wraps.
Simon raised it.
BOOOOM!
The blow launched him across the sea.
His arm slammed against his chest, and the air tore past his face. For an instant, his entire right side went numb.
He drove a current of wind behind himself.
His flight slowed, then stopped above a rising wave.
Simon looked at his forearm.
He examined it with his perception, following the overlapping scales beneath the wraps.
They were intact.
So was the flesh beneath them.
His shoulder was another matter. It throbbed, and the force of the blow had travelled through his upper arm and across his ribs.
He rolled it carefully.
The ache was already easing.
"Not bad."
The scales had stopped the limb from being crushed. They hadn’t prevented the impact from throwing the rest of him around.
He would have to account for that when using them.
The Mauler roared again and drove itself toward him, churning the water with its limbs.
Simon lowered his arm.
He had learned enough from letting it hit him once.
The creature rose, sweeping its other paddle toward his head.
This time, he vanished.
Its limb struck empty air.
Simon appeared farther to the side, the scales withdrawing beneath his skin as he stopped supplying them with energy.
The Mauler turned sharply.
Water climbed around its shoulders.
Two rising streams joined before its open mouth, swelling into a sphere larger than a house. The surface twisted under the creature’s demonic energy, dragging nearby water into itself.
Simon watched it grow.
Then the Mauler thrust its head forward.
BOOM!
The sphere shot toward him.
Simon extended his left hand.
Pale icy mist streamed from his palm.
It touched the approaching water, and frost spread across the surface. White lines branched through the sphere, joining into thick sheets of ice.
His peak S-grade Ice affinity answered readily.
He pushed more energy into the mist.
The front half of the massive water sphere froze.
Water still churned behind it, carrying the immense weight toward him.
Simon’s gaze sharpened.
His Seed of Pride stirred and his Will caught the sphere.
The force dragged him backward through the air. He steadied himself, tightened his control, and stopped the half-frozen mass mere inches from his outstretched hand.
The remaining water surged against the ice causing cracks to spread across its surface.
Simon pressed his palm against it and more ice elemental energy rushed inward.
The cracks sealed. The churning water slowed down, thickened, then stopped as the frost reached the far side.
A colossal sphere of ice hung before him.
Simon exhaled a thin cloud of white mist.
That had been much easier than it would have been with his old Ice affinity.
The pressure on his Will was still considerable, but he had no intention of holding it for long.
He looked past the frozen sphere and stared at the sea beast.
"My turn."
His wrist turned against its surface.
CRACK!
Lines spread through the ice.
The sphere split apart.
Dozens of thick icicles separated from it, their broken edges smoothing as Simon shaped them. They turned in the air until every sharpened tip faced the Mauler.
The creature’s jaws remained open and Simon could see the faint disbelief and fear in its eyes.
Its next roar was caught in its throat.
Simon smiled slightly and coldly.
"Why don’t we add a little lightning?"
He snapped his fingers.
Thin currents of wind curled around the icicles. Crimson sparks travelled through them, branching across the ice until red light ran from each broad base to its pointed tip.
The water below reflected the flickering glow.
The Mauler roared and raised both forelimbs.
Simon’s smile faded and his expression became cold and indifferent.
He lifted two fingers.
Then he pointed them at the beast.
SHIIIIIII!
The first icicle crossed the distance before the creature could finish raising its guard.
It pierced the thick paddle.
The next tore through its shoulder.
BOOM!
Ice and crimson lightning erupted from the wounds.
The Mauler reeled backward.
More icicles followed.
One entered beneath its jaw and burst through the side of its neck. Another punched into its chest, leaving a bloody opening before tearing out through its back.
The larger projectiles drove deep into its torso.
Those that passed through struck the sea behind it, throwing up columns and waves of water.
The Mauler’s roar became a broken, choking sound.
Crimson lightning crawled across its hide.
The sparks reached the open wounds and spread inside them. Its muscles seized, pulling its forelimbs tight against its body before another discharge forced them apart.
Simon watched the remaining icicles strike.
Blood poured from the holes in its chest.
Frost gathered around each wound, spreading across the hide while crimson flashes burned beneath it.
The creature tried to dive.
A final cluster struck its exposed head and neck.
Its body convulsed.
Then the limbs went slack.
The pressure coming from it rapidly faded.
Below, the sea flashed red.
Lightning spread from the collapsing body and the icicles embedded around it. Several beasts feeding nearby stiffened as small bolts of crimson lightning passed through them.
One rolled onto its back, smoke escaping its open mouth.
Another tried to swim away, only for its body to jerk and sink.
Farther out, dark shapes scattered beneath the waves.
Ice spread around the points where the icicles had landed. It joined into uneven sheets, catching floating remains and freezing the spray before it could fall.
For the first time since Simon arrived, the creatures beneath him seemed interested in leaving.
"Finally."
The Mauler’s head dropped.
Its massive body began collapsing into the sea.
Simon reached toward it with his Will.
The carcass stopped just before its head struck the frozen surface.
His brows drew together.
’It’s heavy.’
He increased the power feeding the Seed of Pride and spread his hold along the creature’s body.
The lower half remained submerged.
Simon pulled.
Water streamed from the hide as the rest emerged. The corpse shifted sideways, and he corrected its position before one dangling limb smashed into the ice.
A dull pressure gathered behind his eyes.
He could lift it, but doing so required far more effort than moving the frozen sphere.
Simon looked along its enormous body.
He had never properly tested how much weight he could carry with his Seed of Pride.
Usually, he moved people, weapons, or whatever he needed during a fight. None had required him to find his limit.
This thing was giving him a reason to investigate. But that would have to be later.
He drew the corpse closer, keeping it suspended above the water.
Its head was badly damaged. Holes ran through its chest and shoulders, and several icicles still protruded from the thick hide.
But most of its body remained.
There should be plenty left to devour.
Simon moved beside it and placed his palm against an unbroken section of its flank.
He was about to activate Devour when his attention shifted.
Several presences were approaching.
Then he distinguished more.
Dozens of demons.
They were coming from the direction of the distant island city.
Simon kept his hand against the corpse and turned his head.
Sky Eye.
His vision sharpened.
He looked toward the approaching group.
Then he frowned.