Chapter 129: Ria's Plan Against The Leviathan
Just as she was about to make her way to the next area, she noticed a few of the Hunters turning their gaze toward her.
'Seems like I can't hide it huh… Though to be honest, I am running on the Leviathan's back. Even with its size, it's pretty hard to miss me.' She mused to herself as she continued to jump across the spikes, making her way to the cavity on the chest.
Meanwhile, Haerun furrowed his brows as he didn't think anyone would be gutsy enough to climb onto the Leviathan's back. The moment it decides to sink into the waters, she'll be in trouble.
However, he wasn't concerned about what she was doing as she should be bound by the Law of Agreement to keep her contribution to a minimum. All he could see her do was shoot arrows into its body.
"Look at her! Here you are hiding on the ship while she's actually taking the fight to the beast! That's what I call dedication!" He grinned as he shouted at the other Hunters, blaming them for their laziness.
Even though the Hunters felt wronged, they couldn't say anything as he was their employer.
"What was her name again? I'll grant her a bountiful reward at the end of this hunt." Haerun smiled as he asked Fulton, who was in charge of that ship.
"I believe her name was Ria sir. The crew on that boat were besieged by Sirens and they were lucky enough to escape. But as they were bound by the Law, they had to continue their journey here. She has three Sigils and her friend has two." Fulton reported.
"Three Sigils huh? Quite brave she is. Alright, support her and make sure you don't hit her by accident! We'll be taking this beast down tonight!" Haerun commanded as he conjured a ring of golden energy that fired a pillar of lightning toward the beast, attracting its attention.
He didn't need to hold back at all as he was the one going for the Sigil!
Curling his lips up into an excited grin, he could feel the hunt coming to an end.
Four Sigils lit up on his body as lightning flashed around him.
*BANG!!!!
A bolt of lightning crashed down on him as he emerged with a full suit of silver and gold armour. A helmet appeared on his head and it a set of wings could be seen on the side.
Cracking his knuckles, Haerun gathered all of his power as the skies seemed to darken as his yellow lightning turned to a violet shade with two large arms of lightning manifesting next to him.
Without hesitation, he jumped into the air and he pulled his arm back before launching a punch towards the beast, causing it to stumble back.
Grabbing it by its mouth, Haerun gathered his lightning into a large arrow before shooting it into the opening.
*BANG!!!!!
"Woah!" Almost falling off the back of the Leviathan, Ria saw this and furrowed her brows. She had to hurry it up or else it'll become impossible to keep up with his contribution!
She wasn't doing much right now but that was because her attack was being charged up!
On top of all the Thunder Caller Arrows that she had planted, she had also spread out as many nodes as she could within the beast's body.
Even though the Storm Leviathan was a beast of lightning, it wasn't completely immune. Especially after it had tried to evolve!
Channelling her lightning across her body, Ria gritted her teeth and dashed up the back with her new boots giving her an extra speed boost.
Jumping off one of the spikes, Ria pulled out two Thunder Caller Arrows and notched them into her bow.
Pulling back as far as she could, she narrowed her gaze and fired it into the mouth of the beast.
'Just one more arrow then I'll be done.' Ria thought to herself as she was about to land when she noticed one of the Leviathan's eyes snap towards her direction.
Seeing the bloodshot eyeball stare at her with fury in its pupil, Ria felt a chill down her spine as countless coils of lightning appeared around her.
Landing on the beast's back, she tried to jump out of the way but the coils followed her.
With each passing second, she could sense the lightning gathering into the coils ready to explode at a moment's notice!
"Sh*t!" Ria cursed out loud as there was no way for her to dodge this attack.
A flickering figure appeared in her peripherals as Ria turned to her right and saw Alice launched herself up the side of the beast.
She had transformed her dagger into a pair of gauntlets that dug deep into the Leviathan's scales, allowing Alice to climb up its back without any issue.
After their training session in the Howling Depths, scaling up a wall was as a simple task for Alice.
"Ria! Come to me!" Alice shouted out.
She had noticed how the coils stayed around Ria, tracking her movements and there was only one solution that she could think of!
Nodding her head, Ria dived down head first as the lightning energy reached its peak and the clouds rumbled above her.
Reaching out her hand, Alice grabbed onto Ria as she pulled out a shard from her bag.
Allura had mentioned that the Blight Caller was essentially the enemy of the Storm Leviathan. Using it would allow her to manifest the powers of the Blight Caller and use it to cancel out the lightning used by the beast!
'This is probably what Allura meant by attacks that Ria can't dodge.' Alice thought to herself as she activated the shard without hesitation.
*BANG!!!!!
Lightning crashed down on them as a pillar of energy connected the water to the sky.
But it wasn't over. From the sky, countless flashes of lightning struck down on the same spot as the realm was illuminated by the attack.
Each Hunter that saw this took a step back out of shock as they didn't expect the beast to still have this kind of power but what was more shocking was that there was a spot of darkness within the storm of lightning that only continued to grow.
Gritting her teeth, Alice was currently blocking the lightning with everything she could muster. After activating the Blight Caller Shard, a black and purple malevolent energy erupted from the shard and wrapped around her body, conjuring a robed spectral figure that overlapped her own body. Countless orbs of black and red fire with eyes and a mouth grinned at the lightning.
Opening their maws, they started to eat away at the attack while Alice had covered Ria with a dome of shadows, protecting her from the attack.
With each bite, the orbs continued to grow as ribs started to form before manifesting limbs and a tail.
With each second she stayed in this state, she could feel her stamina and power draining rapidly while the malevolent energy invaded her own body.
Myriad of hollowed whispers echoed out in her ear but Alice tried her best to ignore it.
The robed figure that loomed over her seemed to sneer at her struggle as it was growing larger with each subsequent lightning strike.
*BANG!!!!
With a final bolt of lightning, the Leviathan's attack had finished and Ria was unharmed!
Panting heavily, Alice glared at the beast before taking a deep breath.
Ignoring her pain, she had a brief window to weaken the beast so Ria could finish it off!
Wrapping herself in the dark energy, Alice shot up as she understood the properties of the Blight Caller from the first activation!
The Blight Caller Shard allowed her to conjure familiars that would consume all of the lightning nearby and empower itself, making the source of the lightning weakened to the point even its own power would harm it!
For a beast like the Storm Leviathan, such a state was practically a death sentence! With how much lightning it has coursing through its own body, this weakness would cause it to almost kill itself by just existing!
Glaring at the beast from above, Alice dived down head first as dark orbs appeared around the Leviathan.
Absorbing the power that the familiars had gathered, Alice snapped her fingers and large spikes erupted from the orbs, piercing deep into the Leviathan's skin!
*ROARRRRR!!!!!
Letting out a cry of pain, the Leviathan tried to escape its bindings but was unable to. Each spike dug deep into its skin as black markings spread across its skin like countless tentacles, clawing away at its scales.
Seeing this, Alice could feel the power fading from her body as she understood that her task had been completed! The Storm Leviathan was now extra weak to lightning!
Just as she was about to shout towards Ria, she noticed that Ria was already on the move.
'Seems like she knows what's going on.' Alice thought with a smirk as it was now too late for the other Hunters.
Everything was now set up for Ria to claim her victory!
Speeding up the Leviathan's back, Ria was holding the last Arrow she needed to plant.
There were over 30 nodes within the Leviathan's body as of this moment. She didn't think she had a limit but any more and she would not be able to control them, causing them to detonate and losing most of their power!
She had to act fast before the Blight Caller Shard lost its effect as this was her best chance to kill the beast.
Jumping over the beast, Ria was akin to a firework, shooting up into the sky as the Haerun and his Hunters understood what she was planning.
This power that she was gathering, the preparations that Alice had done for her, it did not belong to a Harvester that wanted him to get the kill. No, this was someone who wanted to steal his glory!
"Stop them! Stop them now!!!!" Haerun shouted out in a panic but it was already too late.
Gathering lightning into the arrow, Ria curled her lips up in excitement and fired the final arrow infused with everything she's got!