abcnovels
Chapter 148:
Chapter 148:
Chapter 148:
I’m a licensed teacher now.? Thanks to galaxytl, translator community and readers for your support.? You helped me pass my exam with confidence. As a token of gratitude, I’ll give 5 chapters each for my novels today. Enjoy?!
Chapter 148
It felt like the world was moving slowly.
The spray of water that had shot up was pulled down by gravity.
Splash.
Salt water stained with the sunset light rained down heavily.
Thwack!!!
The tilted body of Moby Dick fell sideways and was sucked into the sea.
As the huge mass hit the water surface, another spray of water rose up and created a huge wave in the middle of the sea.
“Hold on tight!”
“Aaah!”
The sailors rolled on the deck as the huge swell hit the side of the ship in an instant.
Only fragments remained where Moby Dick had disappeared, as if to prove that there had been a fifth gunboat there just a moment ago.
Between the occasional fragments, human bodies floated on the sea.
They were smashed beyond recognition.
They looked like broken jointed dolls, not humans.
Neither collectors nor sailors.
There were no survivors.
“Get your harpoons ready!”
“Take out your weapons!”
“Secure your positions!”
The sailors moved quickly, despite their fear.
That was because they were veterans of the sea, but more importantly, because they felt a sense of life-threatening danger.
If they hesitated for a moment here, they would all die.
A strong survival instinct that forced them to do something to survive made their bodies move involuntarily.
“What is that…”
The collectors who had seen Moby Dick’s appearance with their own eyes only stared blankly with their mouths open.
They didn’t see its true form properly.
All they saw was the shadow of the creature that shone through the water column.
Even so, they were overwhelmed by its enormity.
“How can it be so big.”
Yu-hyun also muttered in awe at Moby Dick’s size.
It felt like being suffocated by his eyes.
The blue whale, known as the largest animal on earth, was only 33m long at most.
Even though it was a fantasy creature, he thought it would be bigger than that. But he thought 60m would be the maximum.
‘But that size just now…’
It smashed a gunboat that was over 27m long with a single blow.
And the height of the water column that rose up and the glimpse of the creature’s appearance.
Estimated size, about 230m.
Considering that a normal sperm whale grows up to 12m long, it was a whopping 20 times bigger than that.
‘Are we supposed to catch that?’
It’s 20 times bigger in terms of length, but its mass and volume are much larger than that.
There was no need to approach it scientifically.
It was a collection of giant monster stories that embodied the devil of the sea.
Moby Dick itself was the strongest and worst marine creature imaginable, without any rivals.
“What are you all doing! Do you want to die standing still!!!”
What snapped Yu-hyun out of his trance was Captain Ahab’s roar.
Yu-hyun quickly took out his Baekryeon and held it.
Kwon Jia and Kang Hye-rim did the same.
es, there was no way to avoid a fight anyway, since they had come this far.
“Everyone, stay alert!”
Yu-hyun scanned Moby Dick’s location while sharing his vision with Baekhyo.
The creature had attacked vertically from deep under the sea where its shadow was not visible.
Then there was no reason why it wouldn’t do that again.
‘If only there was a way to know its precursor…’
Yu-hyun’s eyes focused on Ahab.
“Captain. Can you tell which direction its smell is coming from?”
“Below. It’s heading down right now. Knowing its personality, it’s not running away. It must be planning to attack again from deep sea.”
“Its next target will surely be one of the remaining three regular ships.”
“Why are you so sure?”
“He’s a cunning hunter who knows how to use his head. He strikes suddenly and targets the weakest prey first.”
“The weakest prey, huh. I see.”
Ahab thanked Yu-hyun and grabbed a harpoon, standing by the railing. Yu-hyun approached Park Cheol Oh.
“Team leader. We need to gather all the collectors from the other boats here. Moby Dick is planning to eliminate the smaller boats one by one.”
“Even if what you say is true, it’s hard. The waves have widened the distance between the boats a lot. Even if we call the people left behind, they won’t be able to come over.”
Not to mention, one of the five Thousand-Character Cannons had vanished in an instant.
The net they brought looked useless against Moby Dick’s bulk.
They were ambushed, and their movement was greatly limited on the sea.
The situation was heading towards a hopeless end.
Wooooooong!
“!”
“He’s here! He’s coming!”
“Helmsman, turn the wheel!”
The sailors clenched their teeth at the sound of the cry from the deep sea.
They knew that Moby Dick’s top priority was the smaller boats.
The helmsman thought that he was aiming for his boat and turned the wheel as much as he could.
“Where is he!”
In this situation, Ahab laughed as if he was enjoying it.
On one side of Yu-hyun’s sight, he saw a black shadow rising from under the rightmost whaling boat.
“It’s the rightmost one! Number four!”
“Number four?”
Ahab and the collectors ran across the deck and stood on the opposite side.
The crew of number four whaling boat must have guessed that it was their turn next, as they were running around frantically on top.
The boat moved as hard as it could to the side. But Moby Dick’s attack was slightly faster.
Splash!!
A huge splash of water exploded again. The air vibrated finely from the blast and their ears went deaf.
This time, a huge column of water rose up again.
Unlike before, when he only showed his shadow, this time they could see Moby Dick’s appearance clearly.
A white sperm whale with scars all over its head.
He looked very similar to how he was described in the media.
‘Except that he’s over 230 meters long!’
Yu-hyun stared at Moby Dick’s body with his eyes wide open.
For a moment, it seemed like their eyes met.
Moby Dick rose up vertically like before, then slowly tilted to the side.
“Now! Attack him!”
Ahab threw his harpoon and shouted, not missing this timing.
Bang bang bang!
Harpoons flew from dozens of whaling guns and stuck into Moby Dick’s body.
The sailors tried to cheer at that sight, but soon saw that he didn’t show much reaction and turned pale.
Moby Dick had very thick skin that matched his size.
That’s why the harpoons couldn’t pierce his skin properly.
They were special items for hunting whales, but they looked much smaller than toothpicks against Moby Dick.
“Ca, captain!”
“You fools! Aim for his eyes! His skin is thin and weak there!”
Ahab shouted that, but there wasn’t enough time to attack again.
By the time they prepared another harpoon and loaded it into the whaling gun, Moby Dick would have disappeared into the sea.
It was also impossible to shoot a Thousand-Character Cannon.
It was very powerful, but it required a lot of preparation to shoot.
It wasn’t something to use in such an urgent situation.
That’s when it happened.
“Everyone get out of the way!”
Kang Hye-rim shouted loudly and jumped into the air, stepping on the railing.
She immediately stepped on number two whaling boat that was close to the right side of Pequod and ran across the deck, drawing her sword.
Crackle!
Blue currents gathered at the tip of her Saladin sword. Kang Hye-rim swung her sword horizontally with the current in it.
[Heavenly Thunder Sword]
Crackle!
A blue current tore through the air with a thunderous noise and shot towards Moby Dick.
The lightning split into branches like tree roots and was sucked into the tip of the harpoon instead of the surface of Moby Dick.
Everyone stared at the scene with wide eyes.
?????!!
Moby Dick, who had been unfazed by the harpoon, showed a proper reaction for the first time.
He opened his eyes wide and writhed in pain from the current flowing through his body.
“Th-the attack worked!”
“Kuhm-hoo damaged him!”
The collectors gained courage from the sight. Some of the collectors who could strike from a distance raised their traits and poured attacks towards Moby Dick.
A sticky flame covered Moby Dick’s skin, and a translucent arrow hit his eye area.
Moby Dick felt the pain and shook his body violently on the water surface.
“He’s suffering!”
“Let’s press on!”
The captain of Ahab, who had crossed over to the ship, joined in as well.
“Hahaha! Long time no see! You’re the one who took my leg!”
The harpoon in Ahab’s hand flew in a straight line.
The harpoon he threw was twice as big and thick as a normal one.
The tip of the harpoon had more vicious saw teeth that made it hard to pull out when it pierced.
Thwack!
Ahab’s harpoon hit Moby Dick’s skin above his eye.
Splat!
Blood spurted from Moby Dick’s body for the first time. The sailors cheered at the sight.
“As expected of our captain!”
“He wounded him!”
Ahab, who had fired the harpoon, bit his tongue.
He had aimed for his eye, but the wave caused by Moby Dick made the ship shake and his aim was slightly off.
As Ahab grabbed another harpoon to throw, Moby Dick tried to dive into the sea.
“He’s trying to run away!”
“Stop him!”
They couldn’t let go of this opportunity. But there was no one who could stop that huge mass from moving.
Moby Dick had a power that didn’t need anyone’s permission.
That’s when it happened.
[Did you forget about me?]
Boom boom boom!
As soon as Nemo’s voice came out of the square bridge of Nautilus, giant explosions occurred one after another under Moby Dick’s belly.
Water columns rose sequentially, and Moby Dick opened his mouth and let out a scream of agony.
Ahab burst into laughter at that.
“Hahahat! No-tang! You have some interesting stuff, don’t you?!”
What Nautilus fired was a torpedo.
A weapon that could never exist in this world with 19th-20th century as its background.
That was only granted to Nautilus, who had crossed over hundreds of years of time. It was the steel fang of Nautilus.
[Torpedo 5 to 8. Open all.]
Boom boom boom boom!
Four torpedoes fired from Nautilus hit Moby Dick’s side properly.
Moby Dick shuddered from the heat of the flame and the shock of the explosion.
Moby Dick, feeling a sense of crisis as a beast, didn’t try to counterattack and dived straight down.
Moby Dick was huge, but the ocean was wide enough to embrace him.
Moby Dick, who dived with a splash, soon disappeared without a trace.
“D-did he run away?”
“W-we survived.”
Some sailors collapsed on their seats, and Ahab fiddled with the harpoon in his hand with regret and bit his tongue.
“Tsk. The scent is gone. He got away completely.”
The fight was over, but they couldn’t be happy.
“What’s the damage?”
Yu-hyun immediately checked on Line 4’s situation.
Line 4 was lucky. Unlike Line 5, who had been hit by Moby Dick’s tail without knowing anything, they had turned their rudder to the side in advance after reading his attack.
I couldn’t dodge the attack perfectly, and it grazed the left side of the back of the ship.
Even though it was just a graze, the 4th line was reduced to dust. It was as if a person’s left foot was hit, and their lower half flew off.
‘What kind of power is that?’
It was an impossible result with just physical force from a giant.
There was some kind of force in Moby Dick’s ramming that was meant to sink the ship.
“Are there any survivors?”
“There are still some!”
The sailors on the 4th line’s deck were still alive.
The ship was tilting and sinking in an instant, but most of them survived.
The few dead sailors were those who stayed on the hull.
They were unlucky.
There was no time to be happy about driving away Moby Dick.
The rescue of the 4th line’s sailors began.
‘The damage is severe.’
As I watched the sailors being rescued one by one, my expression didn’t brighten up.
[The spirits are amazed by Moby Dick’s size.]
[Some spirits are worried about the clearability of this world.]
As spectators, the spirits must have found Moby Dick’s existence quite entertaining, but it was a very serious problem for me.
I had no way to defeat such a huge creature.
‘Even Hye-rim’s Thunder Sword would barely scratch it, using the harpoons as lightning rods.’
Moby Dick was still alive after taking eight torpedoes that could destroy a whole ship.
‘How can they expect mid-level collectors to catch this thing?’
I had doubts about the difficulty level, even if it was a fusion-type world.
I remembered something I had forgotten while watching the surviving collectors gather on the Pequod.
‘Wait a minute. Where did those guys from the Twilight Veil clan go?’
I couldn’t see the three people I had noticed before entering the world.