Bab 7: My Turn!
Due to the rules of nature, Dark energy and light energy always stood against each other, being each other's greatest nemesis.
The only thing that can purify dark energy is light. And the only power that can extinguish light is dark energy.
If Ale had used a big amount of his power, there was a possibility of the disaster getting scared and fleeing, so he only used a little to bait the disaster into thinking that he was weak. A weak yet delicious prey.
And just as Ale had planned, although nobody else could sense that small amount of power, the disaster could immediately recognize the power of his sworn enemy.
Ale quickly stopped using his power and pretended like he knew nothing while he watched the disaster pause his attacks for a second.
'Is he confused between whom to choose? Well, I'm sure it's very angry at Rudy and his party for wounding it like that.'
Ale could tell that the disaster was contemplating between its anger and hunger. It couldn't decide whether it wanted to get its revenge on Rudy or gobble Ale up.
Rudy and his team took advantage of the disasters distraction and managed to launch a big attack. It almost blew away one third of its tentacles, making the disaster even more furious.
It then came to a decision. It decided to do both, attack Rudy and his party from one side and prey on the delicious food at the other side.
And just like that, while Rudy was busy dealing damages one after another to the disaster, a few new tentacles sprang up from the other side of the boat, aiming for Ale.
'Hmm?'
'Is it finally here?'
'Did you finally notice me? I'm so happy!'
Ale thought to himself as he looked back at the tentacles coming his way. The two knights beside him also became alerted within moments and came forward to block the attacks.
That much, Ale had already expected. And so began the fight between the disaster and Ale's knights, Phil and Gary.
'I should give them some space. This'll be good practice for them.'
Ale scooted over to the other side as he watched his knights pull out their swords and deliver one after another fatal blow to the disaster.
In one side, the hero and his party. In another, his precious knights and butler (Kevin wasn't particularly doing anything, just observing the fight while alerting and giving suggestions to Phil and Gary once in a while).
Ale decided to enjoy the view to his heart's content.
Ale was feeling bored once again as he kept watching Rudy's party and his own knights fighting against the disaster.
In the beginning, it was fun and exciting, but the more time passed, the more he lost his enthusiasm.
At one point, it felt like the disaster had gotten remarkably weak and that they'd deliver the finishing blow anytime soon.
But that moment kept dragging on and on and on till he finally realized that it was the humans who were getting tired this time around.
The disaster, even at its lowest, showed no signs of backing away. It was persistent to say the least. And Ale was also getting a bad feeling although it looked like nothing could go wrong.
"This is taking a while, don't you think?"
He finally opened his mouth and asked. It felt like he'd fall asleep any second if he didn't do something to stay conscious, so he decided to talk.
Phil blocked one of the water whips lashing towards his direction with his shield and glanced at Ale. His expression was so clear at expressing his boredom that Phil couldn't help but shake his head.
"Please wait a bit more, young master. We're al-"
"Almost done? You said that half an hour ago. Look, even the boatman uncle fainted a while ago."
As Ale pointed towards the direction of the old man who was rowing the boat even a while ago, the other's followed his finger and looked.
"What?!"
"Oh crap! He's really out cold!"
Phil and Gary looked shocked and baffled as they pointed out the obvious. Ale just shrugged his shoulder in response.
"Who's navigating the boat then?"
"Don't tell me we're just free-floating right now...?!?"
Even Rudy's party which was calm and composed from the beginning had a haggard look on their faces as they looked at each other. They looked tired, or fed up, to be more precise.
"We aren't exactly free floating... But we're going nowhere either."
Ale spoke in a somewhat tired voice. He looked like he was having a hard time stopping himself from yawning.
"What are you talking about?"
Asked Stuart, sensing something weird in Ale's words. It wasn't anything special actually, and he wouldn't need to ask if only he looked at Ale's direction once, carefully.
"I'm controlling the boat right now. But since I have a bad sense of direction, all I can do is keep us in one place."
He said while sighing. Only then did the others stop what they were doing and took a look at Ale carefully. Indeed, he was holding the boats maneuvering gears.
"Wh-what... oh wow."
That's all Rudy managed to say before going back into the fight once again. Ale wondered if that wow was out of admiration or bafflement.
He could see the shock and surprise in the faces of the other members of Rudy's party.
On the other hand, his own people didn't seem as shocked or bewildered. They just looked like they were looking at something not that unexpected.
Kevin covered his face with his palms and shook his head making Ale wonder what he was thinking, whether he was cursing him on the inside or not.
After shaking his head like that for a while, he finally stopped and approached Ale, offering his hand forward.
"What?"
Ale asked, wondering what he was supposed to do with that hand, hold it?
"Give it to me. I'll do it."
"You know how to navigate a boat too?"
Ale knew how talented this butler of his was. But it still left him speechless sometimes.
"Yes. I learned when I was a kid."
"Oh. Okay."
Ale stepped back and let Kevin handle the boat. He had one less burden to deal with now.
This was his plan from the very beginning. Occupying the three idiots of his group so none of them can follow him immediately when he jumps down, which he was planning to do any moment now.
"What's wrong with this bastard? Why won't it die already?!"
Ron shouted as he bashed one of the water pillars.
"Is it just me or is this thing getting faster again..?"
Something ominous came out of Stuart's mouth at that moment. And although the others didn't want to accept the truth, they couldn't deny it either. The disaster was gaining back its power again, although slowly.
"Damnit! Did it find something to prey on while stalling for time before?!"
Everyone frowned at those words. The only type of prey a disaster could or would hunt at times like these are intellectual beings, such as humans or other tribes that were on a similar or higher intellectual level.
That only meant that it had probably sunken another boat and was currently in the process of devouring its new preys.
'Yeah, I should go now.'
Finding the timing critical, while everyone else was deeply focused on the disaster that was getting stronger by the moment, Ale simply leaned back and let himself fall to the water, without making much sound.
'Whoa... It's sucking me in like a vortex.'
He didn't even need to dive since the power of the current generated by the disaster was too strong and was dragging him down by itself, making things easier for Ale.
'Would've been nice if the weather was clear.'
He took a peek at the endless darkness ahead of him and wished. If the weather was normal, he could see everything underwater pretty clearly. But due to the storm and cloud, now it was impossible.
So, he had to rely on his senses only as he kept going down. The pressure around him kept increasing the further down he went, making it hard for him to hold his breath at some point.
'Alright. That's enough.'
He finally started channeling the mana inside his body. The first thing he did was strengthen his physique. Muscles bulged on every part of his body, his arms, chest, thigh; ripping the clothes he was wearing from place to place.
It was a temporary boost in power. And as his muscle mass increased, the rate at which he was sinking also increased. It was almost as if he was being dragged around a grassy field by a super-fast horse.
After a few seconds of being dragged around, he finally reached the bottom. It was strange how he could easily stand at the ocean basin with no force pulling him up.
Using his senses that were much sharper than before, he managed to find the source of the disaster, the artifact soon. But unlike what he had imagined, it was neither a small jewelry nor any antique piece.
He looked up, glancing at the huge structure in front of him.
'A castle...?' There was a huge castle underwater, standing in front him with all it's majesty.
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
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Power 
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