One of the serpent's heads lunged toward me.
It was fast—faster than anything I had fought in the dungeons of Westminster. But to my eyes, sharpened by the adrenaline of the Sin of Pride, its trajectory was obvious.
I didn't run. I didn't roll. I simply shifted my weight slightly to the right.
Whoosh.
The massive jaw missed me by inches, the displacement of air ruffling my hair. The beast couldn't grasp my lack of movement; its momentum carried it forward, unable to stop.
CRASH.
The head slammed into the starboard railing behind me. Wood splintered and iron groaned as the creature plowed through the ship's hull like a battering ram, sending debris flying into the dark ocean.
"Tch."
I clicked my tongue, brushing a splinter of wood off my shoulder.
Now. While it is recovering.
[Active Skill: King's Aura]
I slammed my cane onto the deck, channeling my will into the ether. I intended to crush the beast into the floorboards, to make it kneel before me.
My vision blurred. The air around me shimmered, but not with my usual royal blue light. Instead, the atmosphere was choked by the Red Ether radiating from the monster. My gravity field collided with its Crimson Aura... and shattered.
The pressure I tried to exert simply dissolved. It vanished as if nothing had happened.
It didn't even flinch.
"Useless," I muttered, gripping the cane tighter until my knuckles turned white. "This power is useless against something of this size."
Around me, the screams continued. The other three heads of the Leviathan were busy feasting on the crew. I saw a sailor get bitten in half, his legs falling to the deck with a wet thud.
I didn't care.
Perhaps it was the Pride taking over, or perhaps I was just that cold, but their deaths meant nothing to me. They were background noise. My only concern was the insult standing in front of me.
I have to kill it. But how?
Gravity wouldn't work. My physical strength wasn't enough to pierce those scales.
I looked at the beast as it pulled its head out of the broken railing, shaking off the debris. It hissed, its eyes glowing with that hateful red light.
An idea struck me. A theory born of desperation.
My primary ability, [Event Horizon], creates an infinite distance between me and an attack. It keeps things 'away'.
If I could manipulate space to keep matter away from my skin... could I do the opposite?
Could I create a space where nothing exists?
If I applied the Event Horizon to the air around its head—pushing the oxygen away infinitely—I would create a perfect vacuum.
No air. No pressure. Just the void.
"Well," I whispered, watching the head rear back for another strike. "I might as well try it."
I raised my hand, pointing my palm directly at the serpent's face.
The creature roared, opening its maw to swallow me whole. I could smell the rotting meat on its breath.
Focus. Push the world away.
[Skill Modification: Event Horizon (Inverted)]
I felt my mana drain instantly, like a plug pulled from a drain. A sphere of distortion appeared around the serpent's head.
POP.
The sound was sickening. It wasn't an explosion; it was the sound of air rushing to fill a sudden empty space.
The serpent stopped mid-lunge. Its eyes bulged. The blood vessels in its eyes burst instantly due to the sudden drop in atmospheric pressure. It thrashed silently, unable to roar, unable to breathe, suffocating in a bubble of nothingness.
"It works," I grinned, feeling a rush of triumph.
But my arrogance blinded me.
I was so focused on the head in front of me that I forgot about the other three.
I didn't see the shadow looming from the left. I didn't hear the whistle of the tail cutting through the air until it was too late.
WHAM.
The impact felt like being hit by a train.
The Leviathan's tail slammed into my side, shattering my Event Horizon before I could fully deploy it for defense.
I felt my ribs snap. All of them.
My body was launched across the deck. I flew through the air, crashing through the wooden door of the captain's cabin and slamming into the back wall.
"Gah—!"
I tried to breathe, but only blood came up.
I slid down the wall, leaving a streak of bright crimson behind me. My vision swam. The world was tilting sideways.
Ah... so this is pain.
I looked down. A piece of jagged wood from the door had pierced my abdomen. Blood was pooling beneath me, soaking my tuxedo, turning the pristine black fabric into a wet, sticky mess.
The Leviathan roared—a sound of victory.
My hand trembled as I tried to reach for my cane, but my fingers wouldn't obey. They were cold. So cold.
A blue holographic screen flickered into existence before my dying eyes. For a split second, I felt a spark of hope—my passive regeneration.
But the text that appeared wasn't a lifeline. It was a death sentence.
[System Alert]
[Triggering Passive: Shadow Weave (Lvl 2)...]
[Error: FAILED.]
[Reason: Critical structural damage. Injury exceeds current regeneration capacity.]
I stared at the floating blue letters as they blurred into the darkness.
Shit.