Chapter 1246: Wild Whale Rabu
When Lin Li and the others walked out of the private room, they happened to see Bradlor and Monterey, who had also just walked out, and were surprised to see that Queen Halleleah and Prince Cleve were beside Lin Li. However, the surprise was fleeting because to Bradlor, the more important thing to do now was to get a clear idea of what had happened outside. Everything else was secondary.
At the same time, there was also a disastrous scene outside Helena Port as the dark clouds that were accumulating in the sky looked just like ink. There was a storm raging right above the surface of the sea, and waves were surging hundreds of meters high. The roar of the waves crashing against each other sounded incessantly in the sea, as if there was thunder rolling at the bottom of the sea.
There were two fleets belonging to the Gilded Kingdom at the periphery of the sea, and one of them was the Seventh Fleet which was responsible for the safety of this sea in place of the Fifth Fleet. The other was the First Fleet, which was also known as the Gilded Kingdom’s ace fleet. The stark contrast between the two fleets was obvious when they were put together. Firstly, the most obvious difference was in size—the size of the First Fleet was thrice that of the Seventh Fleet. Secondly, it was the number of alchemical battleships. There were 25 alchemical battleships that acted as the main combat power of the First Fleet, making it almost comparable to the Tower of Dusk’s ship, The Star. The other supportive battleships were also well-equipped.
However, at this time, those two fleets—be it the main battleships or auxiliary battleships—were just like tiny boats in a storm that would sink anytime. In such a situation, the two fleets could only barely maintain their formation, but none of them dared to dive deep into the storm to check out the situation.
On the bridge of The Great Wave, a ship belonging to the First Fleet, Cridia, the commander-in-chief, was frowning while looking at the depths of the dark thunderstorm. As a naval commander-in-chief, he could naturally tell that the scene before him which resembled a natural disaster was not related to the climate of the ocean, but rather was an abnormal phenomenon triggered by something.
Cridia could not imagine what kind of terrifying existence could trigger such a catastrophic change in weather, but he was sure that it definitely wasn’t easy to deal with.
The fact that he could rise to such a high position was not only because of the senatorial families, but also because of the accumulation of his merits in battle. As far as Cridia could remember, one of the most thrilling experiences of his was leading the First Fleet on a mission to expel a Sanctuary-level marine magical beast from the kingdom, but the battle then seemed to pale in comparison to the scene in front of him now, even though the Sanctuary-level marine magical beast had also caused shocking phenomena.
That was precisely the reason that Cridia didn’t impulsively send his subordinates to go deep into the ocean to check out the situation. He was well aware that even his powerful flagship would not be able to go deep into the center of the storm easily, let alone the other battleships that were meant for reconnaissance.
Now, all Cridia could do was to wait for the two fleets to be battle-ready, and wait for the being in the storm to reveal itself. Of course, the best-case scenario would be that the terrifying being was just passing by that area of the sea. Otherwise, he reckoned that it would be impossible to stop that existence even with both fleets.
At this moment, the storm suddenly stopped, and the massive waves and ripples all disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye. The surface of the sea was so calm that it even looked like a mirror. However, the dark clouds in the sky did not dissipate, and instead became thicker and thicker. There were also countless bolts of lightning in the sky.
As soon as he saw the situation, Cridia immediately tensed up and instructed his fleet to get ready for a battle.
Once Cridia issued the order, there were once again changes on the surface of the sea that seemed to be shrouded in dark clouds. A massive shadow gradually surfaced like an island rising from the bottom of the sea. At the same time, it was also leaning towards the two fleets.
Finally, Cridia saw the true appearance of the shadow, and it turned out to be a humongous black whale. Although giant whales were not that rare in the Endless Ocean, the one in front of him now was extremely different from the common giant whales. Not only was its body dozens of times larger, it also looked a lot more menacing and ferocious than ordinary giant whales.
This black giant whale, which probably shouldn’t be called a giant whale, had a large, thick black horn that resembled the mast of a battleship on the top of its head. At the same time that it surfaced from the ocean, a huge pair of fleshy wings spread open on its back. They seemed to be large enough to cover the sky, but the slight flapping did not seem to cause any waves.
When Cridia saw the true appearance of the black whale, he couldn’t help but be so frightened that he almost fell onto the ground, even though he usually kept his composure in all situations. Despite remaining silent on the surface, he was screaming crazily in his heart. The Wild Whale Rabu! It’s the legendary Wild Whale Rabu, why is it here?!
Fortunately, Cridia didn’t yell out loud. Otherwise, the people of the fleet would probably lose all their morale after hearing the terrifying name.
The Wild Whale Rabu was said to have the same bloodline as the ancient Barbarous Whale and the ancient demon deities. Hence, besides having the massive and powerful body of the ancient Barbarous Whale, it also had some characteristics of the Abyssal Demons. It was born at the end of the prehistoric times, and was at least a few hundred thousand years old now. It had caused countless disasters in the history of the Endless Ocean, and even another great beast, Myriad Evil, could not compare to it.
Fortunately, the Wild Whale Rabu would often slip into hibernation for thousands of years at a time. Otherwise, the Endless Ocean would have been destroyed by him.
Before the establishment of the Ocean Dynasty, the ones who dominated the Endless Ocean was the Sea Spirit Clan, known as the descendants of the Sea God. The Sea Spirit Clan was said to enjoy the protection of the Sea God. Although they did not unify and rule over all the Sea Clans like the Ocean Dynasty, they were definitely ranked at the very top in terms of strength. At that time, they were also the most likely clan to dominate the Endless Ocean.
In terms of appearance, the Sea Spirit Clan resembled the High Elves of the mainland of Anril, and their talent was not inferior to that of the High Elves. During their prime, the Sea Spirit Clan had nearly 20 Sanctuary powerhouses and countless Legendary powerhouses. Their powerful troops dominated the Endless Ocean, and all the Sea Clans were in awe and respect of them.
However, Rabu’s sudden awakening in a trench in the sea where the Sea Spirit Clan resided resulted in a huge disaster that struck the Sea Spirit Clan. At that time, an evil thunderstorm engulfed the Sea Spirit Clan’s territory in the sea, turning the entire area into the feeding ground of Rabu the Wild Whale. When the storm subsided, the dark clouds scattered, and the Sea Spirit Clan that was once powerful and domineering was completely wiped out of the Endless Ocean, thus becoming a clan that existed only in myths and legends.
Now, the terrifying Wild Whale Rabu actually appeared in the sea territory of the Gilded Kingdom, which made Cridia’s hands and feet clammy even though he had been through all sorts of situations.
“Attack, attack at full power!” Cridia exclaimed at the top of his lungs after coming back to his senses.
All the battleships facing the black whale immediately activated their weapons, and the light of the cannons on the alchemical battleships intertwined to form a massive net. The Sea God ballista bolts that were as thick as human waist darted towards Rabu, almost drowning out its massive body.
However, an attack of such a level was indeed considered insignificant to Rabu. Although the attacks seemed powerful, they were only at the Legendary-level, and it wasn’t that easy to hurt the Wild Whale Rabu.
With the groundbreaking roar, massive ripples once again formed on the surface of the sea that had just calmed down, and numerous waves emerged before smacking against the attacks of the Gilded Kingdom’s fleets. The Sea God ballista bolts that were made of hard metal were powerful enough to pierce even mountains, but they were crushed by the waves that seemed rather ordinary. The light of the cannons on the ship, which was condensed from pure mana, had power that was akin to Legendary-level attack spells, but it was similarly destroyed easily by the waves.
The powerful attacks that the Gilded Kingdom’s fleets launched seemed to be able to destroy everything, but they were extremely powerless in the face of Rabu. The attacks were akin to an ant’s attempt at punching an elephant, absolutely useless.
Immediately afterwards, Rabu retaliated, and the wind and waves on the surface of the sea fell violently, followed by the appearance of large water blades that resembled the dorsal fins of sharks, which charged towards the vessels of the Gilded Kingdom. The large water blades had risen higher than the flagpoles of the alchemical battleships, and broke through the water with sharp, whistling sounds. They seemed to be trying to slice the battleships.
Fortunately, Cridia was very conscientious. Even though he had instructed the fleets to launch a wave of attacks, he did not forget about the defense. In fact, at the beginning of the attacks, he knew that the attacks would be futile, and the goal of his fleet was no longer to expel Rabu, but to survive in its presence.
Hence, while attacking, the fleet had also gotten into a defensive formation and maximized the defensive array. The defensive force field engulfed the fleet like solid crystals.
However, the defense could not really stop the attack of Wild Whale Rabu. The others weren’t aware of the legend about Rabu, so they were still rather confident in the fleet’s defense. However, Cridia couldn’t bring himself to be that optimistic. If the Wild Whale Rabu’s attack could’ve been resisted easily, the powerful Sea Spirit Clan would not have been annihilated.
Just as Cridia feared, when the first water blade hit the fleet’s defensive force field, the latter started shaking; in fact, they could all clearly see the cobweb-like cracks that appeared on the crystal-like defensive forcefield.
The closest battleship, which was protected by the defensive force, had also begun shaking violently under the impact of the collision. Like a lone boat floating on waves, it seemed extremely powerless and helpless.
However, there were countless such attacks launched by Rabu. At this moment, all the people on the battleships began operating the defensive arrays at full power. Even though they didn’t know that the black giant whale was the legendary Wild Whale Rabu, they knew that the attacks were definitely not easy to block.
The Seventh Fleet was the first to bear the brunt. Due to the fact that they were only responsible for the offshore defense, and were deployed for the sake of it, they definitely couldn’t face a powerful enemy like Rabu, even if they could cope with some illegal merchants or pirates.
The water blade slashes that Rabu launched blasted the Seventh Fleet’s defense field, which seemed to be sturdy, one after another, shattering it in the blink of an eye. Even the powerful alchemical battleships were sliced in half by the blades in the blink of an eye.
Upon sight of what happened to the Seventh Fleet, Cridia had no choice but to close his eyes helplessly. It wasn’t that he was being ruthless, but rather his fleet was barely able to support itself under the attack of Wild Whale Rabu, so he didn’t have the means to save the Seventh Fleet at all. In fact, the situation faced by the First Fleet was extremely critical too, and the defensive arrays on the battleships were already overloaded, but they were still as fragile as eggshells, and were on the verge of shattering.
Finally, the flagship of the Seventh Fleet exploded, and gradually sank to the bottom of the sea, thus concluding that the Seventh Fleet had become part of the history of the Gilded Kingdom. Faced with such a situation, Cridia no longer seemed melancholic, because he knew that the current fate of the Seventh Fleet was the future of the First Fleet. Perhaps the First Fleet would follow in the footsteps of the Seventh Fleet in the next moment.
At this moment, a few figures cut through the sky from Helena Port like bolts of lightning, and appeared above the First Fleet. They were none other than the Sanctuary powerhouses of the Gilded Kingdom and the few senatorial families. Now that Rabu had arrived, they had no choice but to intervene, even though they usually stayed out of such matters.
There were also many other figures arriving one after another after them. They were Queen Halleleah and Prince Cleve of the Siren Clan, Grina and the Four Divine Generals of the Great Shark Clan, as well as many other Sanctuary powerhouses of the Thunder Eel Clan, Octopus Clan, Barbarous Whale Clan, and various other Sea Clans. Saint Edmund and Elder Zumar of the Illuminati and High Priest Sendros of the Darkness Shrine, followed by Lin Li and his subordinates of the Tower of Dusk, had all arrived too.
It could be said that all the Sanctuary powerhouses and peak Legendary powerhouse who were on Four Seasons Island had all flown over to this area at this point. Of course, they didn’t share a common goal. Lin Li and the others from the mainland were there only out of curiosity.