Chapter 577: Natural Disaster - The Crimson Moon
With that huge bite, little Leviathan's condition improved greatly.
It quickly turned its vengeful gaze on the surrounding Giant-Toothed Sea Serpents.
Before they could recover from the bombardment's dizziness, Leviathan controlled the surging currents—
Forming a swirling vortex around itself, sucking the Giant-Toothed Sea Serpents trying to bite again straight into its open maw.
The Long-Necked Mutated Sea Dragon, dragging its heavily wounded body, lunged upward from below.
A hint of admiration flashed in Matthew's eyes as he praised little Leviathan's cleverness. He nodded at Yaya and raised his staff without hesitation.
Crack!
A terrifying bolt of lightning, consuming nearly 400 mana, pierced the water and struck the Long-Necked Mutated Sea Dragon precisely.
The massive, grotesque creature curled up instantly.
Its long neck wrapped around its body involuntarily, contracting violently.
Blue arcs of electricity danced across its body.
"-102!"
A shocking damage number appeared, leaving the dragon with just 1/5 of its HP.
The hideous sea monster didn't recover for quite a while.
When it finally opened its eyes, it was terrified to see Leviathan swallow the last Giant-Toothed Sea Serpent.
The huge wounds on its belly and back had mostly healed.
Intelligent and angry eyes locked onto it.
It saw the same greed and hunger in Leviathan's eyes that it had shown earlier.
The roles of hunter and prey were about to reverse!
The heavily wounded Long-Necked Mutated Sea Dragon let out a screech as blood and shredded organs burst from its gashed belly in a twisting bloody mess.
Its whole body deflated like a balloon and shot several hundred meters away.
Leviathan dodged the filthy mess, ready to pursue again—only for a sharp pain to return in its back.
The largest Giant-Toothed Sea Serpent had coiled around it once more.
It was sacrificing itself to buy time for the dragon's escape.
Furious, Leviathan watched its hated enemy flee and slammed its massive body downward.
It dove rapidly into deeper waters.
In just a few dozen breaths, Leviathan and the serpent reached nearly 2,000 meters below.
It rammed the seabed with practiced skill, twisting its body so the serpent was crushed between it and the ocean floor.
Boom!
The violent shockwave spread out, tearing up dust and debris.
As the dust cleared, Leviathan's massive body appeared on the seabed.
The flattened serpent weakly twitched its head.
Its lower body was already inside Leviathan's mouth.
Like slurping noodles, Leviathan swallowed the peak-transcendent Giant-Toothed Sea Serpent that had caused it such pain.
As little Leviathan enjoyed the satisfaction of digestion, a terrifying pressure descended from the sea surface.
The dazed little Leviathan instinctively looked up, eyes widening.
It recalled its parents' anger—but this was different: deeper, more majestic, filled with an unknowable mystery.
Its eyes darted around in fear, tempted to swim home.
But its mostly healed body no longer hurt.
Curiosity overtook it, and it cautiously swam toward the surface.
As the aura grew stronger, its swimming slowed.
Peeking up at the surface, it caught sight of a massive silver-white figure diving down from the sky.
Boom!
The churning sea split open violently.
The shriveled Long-Necked Mutated Sea Dragon was flung in front of little Leviathan.
The little one resisted the urge to devour it, blinking its big eyes at the still figure before her—Yaya.
A massive 23-meter-long body.
Sleek, powerful limbs.
A tail whose slightest movement stirred crashing waves.
Piercing blue eyes.
"So cool!"
The thought popped into little Leviathan's head. She even forgot the terrifying aura Yaya emitted.
Yaya tilted her head, noticing the starry-eyed expression in Leviathan's gaze. She smiled and asked directly:
"Yah? How's your body? All better? Want to eat it to finish healing?"
Yaya's crisp voice sounded like music to Leviathan.
The little one nodded, then shook her head quickly and murmured something.
Yaya seemed to understand, furrowed her brow, then brightened. She reached out a claw toward Leviathan's head.
The little one didn't flinch from the sharp claw—instead, she bashfully closed her eyes.
A clear consciousness entered her mind.
With Yaya's spell, fun knowledge and imagery turned into understandable sounds.
Fifth-tier Spell—Comprehend Languages.
"Hi there! I'm Yaya. What's your name?"
Little Leviathan opened her eyes and replied with a childish, clear voice:
"Hehe, I'm Menglan! Huh? I can talk to you?"
Overjoyed, she giggled gleefully.
To Matthew, it sounded like cheerful chirps.
Watching her roll and swirl around Yaya, Matthew's eyes gleamed with expectation. Noticing Li's stunned look, he smiled and said:
"When it comes to intelligent magical creatures, Bay Territory never attacks first. We prefer offering a good life."
"Killing yields temporary gain. But long-term development and reproduction bring greater harvests."
Of course, Matthew didn't tell Li—
Bay Territory always intervened in the wild cultivation of magical creatures and plants.
The goal was to make them stronger and provide high-quality breeding templates.
Occasionally, exceptional specimens were released back into the wild.
This not only trained them but improved species quality and talent—pushing them toward valuable evolution.
Even so, hearing her teacher's view left young Li feeling she still had much to learn.
Just as she fell deep in thought—
A large shadow appeared beside her, its curious black-and-white eyes studying the tiny "human."
Menglan felt a familial closeness from Li and giggled.
The sudden "surprise" startled Li.
But when she met Menglan's curious eyes, a strange fondness bloomed in her heart, and her retreating steps halted.
Everyone on Big Fish was awed by Menglan's massive size and speedy recovery.
Just then, Yaya burst from the sea with the dragon's corpse.
Under Menglan's delighted gaze, she placed it on the deck.
Reverting to human form, Yaya leaped onto Menglan's head, waved to Beelzebub and Gater, and calmly continued:
"You can't just eat anything. Some parts are fine raw—but most need processing."
"The heads and guts are too corrupted—hard to digest and dangerous."
"The back meat is rich in mana, shows early mutation signs—perfect for building resistance."
"The hide is the most valuable—full of magical elements and materials."
"Processed properly, it can be used to craft transcendent or even legendary gear worth hundreds of thousands of gold."
As Yaya explained—
Elio signaled soldiers to retrieve the special foods prepared for Yaya.
Menglan sniffed the powerful magic from the sealed food chests.
The air was thick with savory scents.
When the chest opened, fresh red meat filled the deck with irresistible aroma.
Menglan instinctively opened her mouth, revealing sharp white teeth, and urged:
"Hehe, want food!"
Yaya used a large Mage Hand to feed the tender magical meat into Menglan's mouth.
It melted instantly—so sweet and delicious.
The rich mana surged through Menglan's body.
She clearly felt her internal injuries begin to heal with tingling relief.
Overwhelmed with happiness, Menglan rolled joyfully on the sea's surface.
Soldiers leaning on the railing watched in awe.
Though they couldn't understand Menglan's giggles, her joy was obvious.
Yaya gazed at the little one fondly, thinking to herself—
Was this how Matthew looked at her before?
Several hundred kilos of magical food vanished into Menglan's belly.
As she blissfully closed her eyes, Yaya continued her lesson:
"Classifying enemy parts reveals weaknesses."
"Next time, you'll know where to hit."
Menglan nodded furiously. If her parents had said this earlier, she wouldn't have listened.
To her, the sea was a giant playground—go wherever, do whatever.
No enemy couldn't be solved with a single bite.
If not one, then two!
But now she took Yaya's words to heart.
Not just because Yaya seemed strong and mysterious—
But because the food was impossible to resist.
Yaya gently stroked her head and smiled:
"That food should've lasted three days—you ate it all in one go, and it only cost 1/20 of its value in gold."
Menglan remembered this firmly. Then she thought—
There were tons of "trash" back home—hard to digest leftovers.
Her eyes widened as she rushed to tell Yaya.
Yaya's eyes lit up. She patted Menglan's head and gently asked:
"Can we go back now? Where is it? How far?"
At the casual question, Menglan froze in panic:
"Oh no! There's a fight back home—those awful serpents and mutated sea monsters!"
Seeing Menglan's anxious expression, clever Yaya shared a glance with Matthew.
Understood!
"Then we can't wait. Take us there—we need to hunt some mutants anyway."
Menglan looked up, locking eyes with Yaya's bright gaze, and nodded excitedly.
"Hehe, okay! Yaya-sis is super strong—you'll definitely help!"
Despite her nearly 10-meter size, her movements were so adorable they melted everyone's hearts.
The nearby members of the Yao Moon Family were completely stunned.
They couldn't believe that one of the sea's overlords, a Leviathan, could be so "agreeable"—and could even talk.
Very interested in Elio's suggestion to "pioneer" at sea, the Yao Moon Family agreed without hesitation.
If they could establish a good relationship with the Leviathan, at least the nearby shallow seas would be worry-free.
They had seen it clearly just now—this Extraordinary-ranked Leviathan still held absolute dominance even when facing a dozen Extraordinary Giant-Toothed Sea Serpents.
It could even fiercely and terrifyingly retaliate against a Legendary sea monster.
Seeing Bay Territory and the Leviathan interacting so amicably, they couldn't help but feel tempted.
A shipment worth several million gold was certainly important.
But it was nothing compared to establishing friendship with the Leviathan species.
Examples like this weren't rare!
The Grand Arcanist Iolum, known as the "Pioneer of the Grand Arcanists," once summoned three powerful Gold Dragons during the founding war of the Netheril Empire.
With the help of those Legendary Gold Dragons, he withstood the overwhelming tide of the orc army and carved a bloody path forward.
This provided critical support for Grand Arcanist Iolum's decapitation strike.
Many Grand Arcanist families in the Netheril Empire had done similar things.
The Carl Family's Spirit Cat was a magical creature that countless spellcasters and Arcanists envied.
They agreed to this venture but couldn't help marveling at Bay Territory's "madness."
Meanwhile, some members of the Yao Moon Family paid more attention to Yaya, who was unaffected by Dragon's Frenzy.
The fleet advanced at full speed.
Little Menglan, still digesting food, began tasting all kinds of snacks prepared in Yaya's storage space.
The little glutton gradually matured into a refined foodie.
Among her favorites was the newly produced cod jerky from Bay Territory.
When this little foodie heard she could "place an order" with Yaya and receive dozens of tons of jerky within a month—
Her eyes lit up uncontrollably, and she generously spent tens of thousands of gold coins.
Having effortlessly made a small trade, Yaya's mind spun with many new ideas.
If this little one loved to eat so much, surely there wasn't only one Leviathan like her, right?
What about the Leviathans with even bigger appetites?
Joyful Yaya had already started scheming in her heart.
Even Matthew couldn't help but give a mental thumbs-up to Yaya's sharp business instincts, broadening the target demographic in his mind.
The fleet gradually left the shallow sea and entered a deeper region.
Here dwelled many bizarre sea monsters, some radiating brutal and terrifying auras.
A few had even lost their sanity and dared to attack Little Menglan and the massive fleet.
For these blind fools, Yaya didn't let Menglan act—she left them to the fleet.
Before the coming war, it wasn't a bad idea to warm up against weaker foes.
Boom!
Whistling cannon shells shot forth—
Slamming heavily into mutated sea monsters just beneath the water's surface.
The weaker ones were easily wounded by the bombardment.
Astonishingly, as soon as one was injured—
The other mutated sea monsters hunting with it would, after brief hesitation, start biting into it.
Before the real battle even began, they fought among themselves.
Facing this situation, Elio gave the order without hesitation: firepower coverage.
"Might as well injure them all. The fleet will reap the benefits as the fisherman!"
As a result, the mutant monsters fought even more fiercely, their numbers quickly dwindling.
But soon, Elio sensed something was wrong.
The remaining mutant monsters were growing stronger.
Each time they devoured another's corpse, they grew bigger and more twisted.
Their thick armor-like scales, protruding bone spurs, jutting fangs, and deformed meat bulbs became increasingly eerie and terrifying.
Yao Moon Family's Shuyou, recognizing the familiar mutated creatures, couldn't help but say to Elio:
"You can't let mutated monsters evolve too quickly—it's best to kill them simultaneously to prevent stronger ones from forming…"
Shocked by this trait, Elio recalled the mycelial mats and green tide creatures from the Catachan demi-plane.
She didn't know the exact connection between them but quickly gave orders:
"Three combat fleets—each aim at one mutant sea monster!"
Bay Territory's fleet displayed remarkable discipline, quickly locking onto targets. Under Menglan's curious gaze, they fired simultaneously.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Over a hundred water columns shot skyward.
Amid the roiling sea spray, three twisted mutant sea monsters floated to the surface.
Each was now 6–7 meters long, their strength reaching the Extraordinary rank.
Seeing them still struggling, Elio decisively gave the next order:
"Three fleets as one group—use five Dragon-Hunter Ballistas with paralysis toxins!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Heavy ballista bolts with chains embedded easily into the monsters.
As the chains tightened, the still-struggling monsters were hauled up.
The crane on Big Fish activated, lifting them over the ship.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Veteran Gater followed up with arrows into the back of each monster's skull.
The previously struggling monsters went quiet.
But they weren't dead yet—their mouths still opened and closed, serrated fangs clinking with metallic echoes.