The bodies of the three — Ray, Aria, Jason — along with over two hundred beasts, were launched out from the massive mouth of the giant whale, the Orca.
Fwoosh! They flew through the air under the afternoon sun.
Ray shouted and flailed his arms as if swimming in the air before Nixie swooped in, allowing him to grab on. He used his magic beast bag to store all two hundred-plus beasts so they wouldn't fall to their deaths.
In midair, Aria merged with her ice bear and used its ice-claw grip to land heavily on the shore. Hot sand sprayed everywhere.
Jason merged with his wolf, braking his landing with explosive force, bouncing a few times before skidding across the sand as well. Ray, still clinging to the phoenix's leg, slowly glided down toward his friends.
The three turned to face the deep-blue sea — and the colossal beast before them, like a kaiju that could destroy the world.
Name: Ulga
Beast Species: AncientOrca
Level: 50
HP: 50,000 MP: 30,000
Element: Water
Rarity: S-Rank
Info: An ancient beast dwelling in the deep sea, one of the rulers of the seven seas along with Leviathan, Kraken, the Great Naga, and others. Legends say that in its fury, it once sank a prosperous nation beneath the ocean.
Skills: Rain Call, Water Barrier, Water Jet, Devour, Tsunami, Water Control
Its body was unimaginably massive, weighing over three hundred tons — twice the size of a blue whale, the size of a small floating island. Seeing it, Ray, Aria, and Jason were all left slack-jawed.
It began charging water energy at its mouth. Ray's group immediately realized trouble was coming.
"Damn it!? What do we do!?" Jason shouted.
"Get behind Arnol first," Aria ordered. She canceled her fusion, using her ice bear as a shield for them, since the small island offered no room to dodge.
"Moon, Spirit Fusion. Gravity Control." Aria, in stag form, pinned the giant bear to the ground.
The AncientOrca fired a high-pressure water cannon straight at the ice bear.
The bear's body began sliding back slowly despite Ray and the others pushing against it. Without the gravity control skill, they would have been blown into the sea by now.
Seeing things going badly, Ray flew with flaming wings and breathed fire to counter the water, reducing the impact.
It worked — Arnol, taking the attack, stopped sliding back.
Fire clashed with water, steam hissed into the air, and the Orca's attack ended. Ray quickly used Phoenix Heal to restore Arnol's HP from one-third back to full.
Meanwhile, Jason seized the moment after its attack. With explosive acceleration, he charged toward the Orca — sprinting across the beach and kicking up bursts of water wherever he stepped.
"Gorgon, Poison Mist!" He opened his bag, summoning a two-headed giant snake, which sprayed deadly poison mist into the massive killer whale's face.
The ancient beast was poisoned. From now on, its HP would continuously drop based on its max HP. But Jason, midair, didn't realize the Orca was surging through the purple mist to bite him. It burst out of the haze—
"Artemis Arrow!"
BANG!
Before the whale could bite Jason, Aria loosed a giant magic arrow from her wooden bow, slamming into its face and staggering it.
Ray swooped in to catch Jason, unleashing golden sacred flames from his palm while flying away. However, all his fire was blocked by the Orca's water barrier. He returned Jason to the ground, then used light wings to circle around behind the whale.
Aria attacked from the front while Ray breathed fire from the back.
The Orca chased Ray with its water cannon, firing in circles after him as he flew. Ray dodged at high speed while countering with fire, but couldn't break its water barrier.
Aria's arrows hit occasionally, but her mana was running low — she held back her attacks, saving enough to defend.
Most of the damage came from Jason's poison, but it didn't last long. The poison faded, only shaving off 5,000 HP.
From the look of things, they wouldn't survive like this. Even Aria's strongest attack dealt only 500 damage, and Ray's fire barely scratched the barrier.
"We have to do something fast." Ray's mind raced for a way to break the barrier. None of his nature-element beasts were suited for this fight, and the dragon he'd just acquired was still level one.
"Damn, the poison's gone," Jason clicked his tongue, downing an expensive mana potion and charging at the Orca while Ray kept it busy in the air.
Above, Ray timed the end of its attack, blasting the barrier with sacred flames until a small hole formed. He dove into the gap and summoned Rogue.
"Rogue, Copycat — Poison Mist!"
The black cat spewed poison into the whale's face again. This time, the Orca dove underwater to escape.
"What the—!?" Ray exclaimed, holding Rogue.
"Don't just stand there, idiot!" Jason shouted, sprinting with explosive speed to shove Ray aside.
He knocked Ray away just as a massive water pillar erupted beneath Jason.
BOOOOM!
"Jason!" Ray yelled, as his friend took the full hit.
Jason's body was launched high into the sky. Ray, holding the cat in one arm, caught him with his light wings before being thrown far away.
Luckily, Jason's body only suffered air impact from the launch, so it wasn't instantly fatal — but he was gravely injured.
Ray healed him just enough to save his life, though Jason lost consciousness. The phoenix boy flew him back to Aria for safekeeping.
Gritting his teeth in anger, Ray turned back toward the enemy — only for the ancient beast to summon a massive tsunami that blotted out the sun, crashing toward them.
True despair.
"YAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Ray poured his mana into fire to shield his friends.
As the wave's force lessened, Aria used gravity control and had her ice bear slash upward with all its might, freezing part of the wave before it overwhelmed them.
Ray grabbed Aria and Jason, flying them up into the sky just before the tsunami swallowed the island.
The giant wave destroyed everything — palm trees snapped, rocks were hurled, the island vanished beneath the sea. Aria reduced gravity so Ray could carry them more easily.
But at that moment, the Orca charged up for another water cannon, aiming at the airborne trio.
"I won't let you hurt my friends again, you damn fish!" Ray yelled, releasing Aria and Jason, and flying straight at the beast head-on. He downed a mana potion.
"Wait, Ray! Don't—don't do anything crazy!" Aria shouted, reaching for him, but it was too late.
"Spirit Fusion — Rogue, Copycat — Ice Armor!"
Ray's black cat form was coated in ice before the massive water cannon blasted him skyward, flinging him kilometers away, breaking through the clouds into the stratosphere.
When the torrent ceased, Ray hovered in the vast sky — this was the moment he'd been waiting for.
He pressed his arms to his sides, diving down, gravity accelerating him.
"Spirit Fusion — Nixie! Spirit Fusion again — Geed!" He forced a forbidden triple fusion, which caused immense spiritual confusion and pain, but in phoenix-winged, rabbit-eared, black-cat-tailed form, Ray ignored it all.
He had to finish it now — or nothing would stop it. If he didn't act here and now, all his friends would be killed. It was worth the risk.
Even if it meant dying alone.
"YAAAAHHHHHH!!! Hyper Mode! Wings of Light! Shadow Blade! SUPERRR SONIC!!!"
He shouted his skills in rapid succession — red aura flaring, golden wings spreading, giant shadow blades in both hands, and foot thrusts breaking the sound barrier.
BOOM!
BOOMMMM!
BOOOOOOMMMM!
THUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!!!
Ray's golden form plummeted at light speed, slicing the Orca's body clean in two with a full swing, cleaving air and sea alike.
The ocean split in two.
SPLAAAASH!
FOOOOOOOOOOM!
The legendary beast died in a single blow.
Ray, forcing his body beyond its limits, was left with only 3 HP and nearly died from atmospheric friction.
But then, the system announced—
Geed leveled up to 25!
Rogue leveled up to 31!
Nixie leveled up to 37!
Ray leveled up to 20!
Aria, blown back by the shockwave, rushed across the Orca's corpse using root vines. She pulled a phoenix feather from her bag to revive it, restoring 10 HP.
Then she shouted to the barely conscious Ray lying on the whale's body—
"Ray, it's yours! Capture it!"
With his last bit of strength, he absorbed the legendary beast into his bag—
Then fell.
And lost consciousness.
Thud!