บท 160: Chapter 144

Upon Leviathan's words, his surroundings, and especially the water beneath his feet rippled and vibrated from his aura. It was then when his massive body further hardened before he launched himself onto the snow palace.

It was so swift that Naell couldn't even shout for everyone's retreat. Much like how everyone inside the magic palace were all unable to act.

As soon as the monster made sudden impact with the walls, those sheltered within tumbled from the force of his landing. An amused toothy grin beseeched his face momentarily before he then forcibly punched the snow palace.

Cracks followed by powders of shattering ice formed beneath his fist and rushed across the palace's surface. A faint trill and the sound of ice scratching against itself rang in the air as the structure began to lean off-center.

The knights that watched flinched and gripped their swords. Collectively, that one punch had stolen every bit of celebration they just had. As even Ipar, one of the pieces of Lucile, was unable to dent the palace with two pawns supporting him.

Now, the so-called sea king who had done such a feat, menacingly stood up straight without losing his grin. The monster then stretched its arm and once again glared towards Naell as it said, " Impressive…oh, how magic endures.."

He smiled watching the palace glow and repair itself before adding on, "But how long will you..?"

As if knowing Naell's limits, a violent cough followed by blood spilled from the young master's mouth.

"Young master!" Sead exclaimed frightfully, vividly watching a predator enjoy his prey's suffering.

Soon, the monster resumed its attacks, another barrage of punches were sent towards the ice palace, with ear shattering sounds and a force that thoroughly wrecked the sand outside the palace.

"Interesting!" Leviathan said while increasing the amount of aura he poured out of his body.

That made Naell react, amplifying the defense of the snow palace; illuminating the whole shore with his bright white mana.

However, that annoyed Leviathan. It became apparent that no matter how strong the force of his punches, the ice palace would stand strong.

Therefore he changed his mind and immediately began rushing towards Naell who by then formed his ice crystals as a shield. The snow cannon also began firing off nonstop at Leviathan's path.

And yet it only seemed to tickle the monster's thick skin. Sensing the danger, Naell made a few of his ice crystals sneakily take off and remain by his ice palace as a last resort.

Luckily, Leviathan was also a creature of immense arrogance and failed to notice what Naell had done. Rather, he paid no mind to any underhanded tactics, as he was more interested in how far the young mage could entertain him upfront.

"Do not worry, as I said, I will not kill you first!" Upon saying so, Leviathan's attacks became more precise and powerful, which made it seem as if he was lying through his teeth.

Naell dodged and rushed using the opposing air from Leviathan's attacks, boosting himself in any way possible with his wind magic.

Yet his struggle only grew as the adrenaline began to wane and his body began to ache with every ounce of mana he exuded.

From inside the snow palace, those who peered through wanted no more than to help the young mage. Enough time had passed since the initial force they received, and by then the palace was mostly restored thanks to Naell's persistence.

Yet they couldn't act rash as Naell was the one who told them not to. Further, they realized that Leviathan was only tiring Naell out to lure those inside and devour them.

Helplessly, they decided to support him using what they were good at, long-distance archery. However, that also failed to do anything. A meter away before an arrow could hit, it would fall flat from the ground because of Leviathan's thick aura.

And so their battle ensued with Naell slowly losing to Leviathan's speed. He was also refraining from using water magic as it seemed that element only boosted the monster's power.

Luckily Naell could somewhat land some attacks that proved to hurt the monster a little, using ice magic that he condensed with his mana.

Yet every time he did so, Naell also felt that Leviathan was getting closer to spotting a window of weakness and catching him.

His hunch was only proven right as after a mere minute, Leviathan was able to get near him. With a gruesome smile, it widened its hand as claws emerged from its nails.

As he ferociously swung, Naell realized he made the right decision to save some of his ice crystals. Quickly summoning all of them as a shield to his front, Leviathan, brutishly clawed and decimated all of it with an overwhelming blast of aura.

Not even Naell's dense mana shield was spared as it cracked from the collision. Nevertheless, he was still safe as Leviathan's blocked offense managed to push him from harm's way.

Forcefully thrown aback, Naell plunged his staff onto the sand, stopping himself from toppling and allowing him to catch his breath. Yet only for a second as the monster began chasing him once more.