"We meet again." John was already prepared for this attack — he dodged swiftly and countered with several strikes at Mon.
Mon's body wasn't as massive as White's, but it was still huge for a shark. He wasn't particularly strong physically either — what made Mon terrifying was his incredible speed.
Last time, John hadn't been able to react at all to Mon's attack because of that speed.
Even though John managed to evade this time, White suddenly turned his head, aiming directly at John's body before unleashing a focused sonic blast.
"Damn it!" John shouted, unable to activate any defensive skill in time — he had no choice but to take the hit head-on.
His internal organs and mind were thrown into chaos, blood spilling again from his seven orifices.
When he opened his eyes, Mon hadn't stopped. The beast was already just a few meters away, charging once more.
Though Mon had also been hurt by White's attacks, he wasn't nearly as affected as John — and it was clear he wouldn't stop until John was dead.
At that moment, John smiled.
"Good thing I prepared for this exact situation."
...
Far away, as John battled White, a group of humans was moving away from the city.
It was Oscar's group.
"Oh my god! He's incredible! I can see White's injuries piling up!" Oscar exclaimed in awe as he watched the battle in the sky — though it was clearly one-sided.
"Brother, do you think Mr. John has a chance of defeating those monsters?" asked Nika, Oscar's sister, just like last time.
"Chance? I'm sure of it — if this keeps up, he'll kill those beasts!" Oscar replied honestly, his expression bright with confidence.
This wasn't the same tone he had before — it was proof of how much John's power had grown since their last encounter.
Then, the ground began to shake again — though this time, it came from farther away.
"Got you. Tonight's dinner will be crab."
A split Ashura-transformed clone of John slammed the ground with a long spear — one that John had prepared before coming here.
From beneath the earth, the mountain crab Tank burst out after being struck.
He was several hundred meters away from Oscar's group.
"Mr. John? But… who's fighting White up there then?" Oscar muttered, stunned to see two Johns.
"He looks a little different... Anyway, is now really the time to question it? We need to run while Mr. John holds him off!" Nika shouted, quickly analyzing the situation and taking command.
Though Nika was weaker than Oscar, she was the reason their group had survived so far — her healing skill and sharp leadership made her their true commander.
"Looks like your defense is pretty tough, huh?" John taunted Tank mockingly.
Even so, the spear had barely left a scratch on Tank's shell. Tank had the highest defense among the three monsters.
John had guessed Tank's attributes from his name and appearance when he first saw him.
The beast's brown shell and mountain-like carapace made him look like a walking fortress — about as large as Silver, maybe a bit smaller.
"Whatever the case, I'll keep attacking until I break that shell." Determination burned across John's face — if he couldn't do that, there was no way to kill him.
John started attacking with his spear.
The spear was his favorite weapon, but he didn't have enough Silver's scales left to forge more of them.
He couldn't push the material too far either, or Silver's defensive strength would weaken.
In addition to his strong defense, Tank had massive pincers — John knew that if he got hit by one, he'd be severely injured, or even killed.
But John's speed — even for a clone — was more than enough to dodge every one of Tank's strikes.
He had crafted his own fighting styles for every weapon, especially the spear.
"Spear Technique, First Form — Ten Thousand Strikes!"
John unleashed his custom technique at Tank, landing countless blows on the shell — but the result was only minor damage.
"Guess I'll have to change my approach a bit, then."
John began targeting Tank's unprotected limbs.
"Spear Technique, Second Form — Mountain Splitter!"
With a single blow, he severed one of Tank's legs.
"So that's your weak spot," John thought.
He continued striking at Tank's limbs, but after losing one, Tank focused completely on defense, abandoning any counterattack.
John's attacks were starting to leave marks — though not as devastating as the limb he had cut.
While the clone was gaining the upper hand, the original John was barely hanging on — heavily wounded and only a few meters away from Mon.
Still, he smiled.
"Looks like my plan worked after all."
High in the sky, the other John clone raised three fingers — index, middle, and ring.
"Seal Heaven and Earth ."
At once, the surrounding space shifted — into a flat, green land under an endless white sky.
It was as if this world itself had no limits.
John had been preparing for this moment — he knew it was impossible to trap White within the Heaven and Earth Seal due to his colossal size.
To make it big enough, he would need five full minutes of concentration.
White and Mon had clearly noticed the activation of the seal, but John's current self was strong enough to stall them for a few minutes.
Of course, he couldn't kill them — but stalling was enough.
He just needed to buy time for the clone.
Still, John couldn't completely stop the sonic waves from hitting the clone, so he placed it farther away — but not too far, or the spell would take even longer to cast.
The clone was hit by a few sonic waves, but that's why John had forged the legendary shield — it had a special effect that reduced White's sonic attacks by 50%.
That percentage was enough to keep the clone safe, since it was already outside the main damage range.
John had planned every step of this battle — and finally, those plans began to bear fruit.
"Teleport."
The clone manipulated the domain, bringing the wounded original John next to him.
Within this sealed realm, the controlling John could manipulate everything — instant movement, buffing, or even nullifying certain skills.
The clone raised both hands outward.
"Sea__"
"Wait!!!"
Before finishing, John heard White's voice for the first time since the battle began.
He had known that disaster-level monsters possessed high intelligence and could speak human language.
He just hadn't heard White talk before — not surprising, since in a fight for life and death, who would stop to talk?
But when White spoke now, his voice carried fear and sorrow.
"This is a misunderstanding!" White's trembling voice called out.
"A misunderstanding? You destroy human cities, slaughter people, and call that a misunderstanding?!" John shouted back in fury.
"You don't understand… we've all been under the control of Cthulhu!" Mon's voice roared, furious this time.
"Control? By Cthulhu? Who even is that — and why should I believe you?" John kept his guard up even after both monsters stopped attacking.
"Cthulhu is Kraken's real name," White said sorrowfully. "As for proof… I have none."
No one had ever known Kraken's true name, since they always retreated before the second wave arrived.
All anyone had seen was its colossal gray octopus form, covered in dozens of writhing tentacles — and those red eyes filled with rage.
"Ding! System has detected a target with memories that can be searched."
"Would you like to search its memories?"
"What's this? Is it because my Memory Search skill leveled up — or is the system trying to help me? Or both?"
The Memory Search skill was normally only usable on corpses.
Until now, John had never been able to use it on living targets — but in this life, the skill had evolved enough to allow it.
"If it's just because of the skill level, why didn't it happen before? Why now?" John wondered silently.
"Whatever. Thinking won't help. Skill: Memory Search."
"Ding! Skill level insufficient to penetrate a living being's memories without consent."
"So you ask for my permission… only to fail? Really?"
"…," replied the system.
"If you want to prove your honesty," John said to White, "by chance, I have a skill that can help — but I'll need your permission to use it."
"If this skill will prove my words true, then I consent," White replied. He suspected it might be a trap — but he had no other choice.
"Ding! Consent received from target."
"Activating Memory Search."
"What's going on…?" When John opened his eyes again, he found himself inside White's memories.
"Looks like I'm seeing things from White's perspective." Since the target was White, it made sense that the view would be from his eyes.
As he looked around, he saw three others — Tank, Mon, and Cthulhu.
"We can't defy the King!" White shouted at Cthulhu.
"Though I agree with some of what you said, Cthulhu, we cannot betray the King," Mon added.
Tank merely nodded in agreement with them.
"King? What king are they talking about? And what's that behind them… could it be—?!"
John's eyes widened in utter shock.