GOD —The Beginning of the End— Volume 2: Elf, Nanny, Thunderous Anger
Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)
Chapter 7: Overlord of the Seas VS Sovereign of the Skies, Part One—translated by Jia Ling (proofread by Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia)
"Whoa, a sea serpent!"
Shooting Star joyfully shouted as he tugged on Alan's sleeve, "Alan, look! It's a huge sea serpent!"
Alan shot a look at Shooting Star and felt a bit helpless. Should I say that Shooting Star has courage, or say that he has no brain? Is this the time to be excited?
However, the elf's worry was reduced by half because of Shooting Star's obtuse personality. He calmed down and studied the giant creature in the sea in detail. Probably only one third of its body was showing, yet it was taller than the ship's highest point at the crow's nest. This body could be described as "long and thin." However, when faced with the fact that it was three times the thickness of the mast of a huge ship, the word "thin" couldn't be applied to it at all.
The other party had a flat head, satiny skin, incomparably gigantic eyes that were long and slender, and long narrow fangs that poked out from its mouth. It did indeed look like what Shooting Star had mentioned, a "sea serpent." Only this one was many times larger than the average sea serpent.
The sailors started to scream in despair. There was only a teenager of about fifteen or sixteen shouting in delight, "There's a sea serpent!"
It was as if he had seen some beautiful sight, worthy of opening a bottle of champagne to celebrate.
At that moment, the serpent moved. Even though it had not touched the body of the boat, the boat immediately began to rock strongly.
The sailors ran around on the deck in panic, yet powerlessly realized that they did not know where they could escape to. The situation was unbelievably chaotic. There was only a young boy gripping a completely unperturbed elf in a death-grip, with an expression of great happiness and joy.
Amidst this terrifying shaking, Alan did not move at all. Upon taking a closer look, one would discover that his feet weren't even touching the surface of the deck. He was floating mid air.
Magic was divided into wind, fire, water, earth and metal magic. The lightning element was not its own branch of magic. Instead, it was a subset of wind magic, considered to be advanced. Therefore, before being able to learn lightning magic, one must be familiar with wind magic.
Alan, who specialized in lightning magic, naturally knew wind magic. The most iconic spell from wind magic was the Spell of Flight.
Currently, he was using the Spell of Flight to float in the air. Therefore, he was not affected by the rocking of the boat. This was also the reason why Shooting Star was so unworried. Even if the boat were to capsize, he still had a flying elf!
"Even though I am an elf versed in magic, I cannot carry both you and Bai Saya in flight. At most, I would only be able to carry one person. And even if I were carrying no one and flying alone, flying across this vast ocean means that the chances of finding land before I run out of magic is very low."
Alan seemed to have utterly seen through Shooting Star's plans. To prevent him from making the wrong judgment, the elf hurried to explain the situation clearly.
Shooting Star blinked. He finally understood the severity of the situation!
"Why didn't you say so earlier? You made me stand by and watch the excitement. If the boat really were to sink, we'll be in deep trouble!"
Even if you did not watch the excitement, would that stop the boat from sinking?
They had not been acquainted for very long, so Alan did not know Shooting Star's strength. However, according to his knowledge, teenage humans did not have much power.
Suddenly, the elf detected danger. He threw himself aside reflexively. A life-threatening ray of lightning magic shot past. Where it glanced the side of the boat immediately turned charred.
Is the magical beast also of the lightning element? The elf raised his eyebrows. This is a troublesome situation. Lightning type magical beasts tend to have high levels of defense against lightning magic. This means that my lightning magic is very likely to be ineffective against this magical beast.
Alan opened his mouth and spoke with severity, "Shooting Star, this magical beast is of the lightning element. My magic may be ineffective against it. What do you think we should do…" Something is odd! Why is Shooting Star so quiet?
Turning his head to look, the elf was so shocked that he darted to one side.
A burnt raven-black figure was standing next to him… Wait, is that Shooting Star? Alan suspected it but was in disbelief as he widened his eyes to stare at the lump of charcoal.
"Whew~~" The top of the charcoal sported a head of hair that was styled by the exploding lightning. His face was entirely black, with only a pair of large golden eyes that could be seen blinking. He then spat out a mouthful of soot. As if recalling past suffering, he said, "So it actually isn't a serpent but an electric eel!"
He turned his head to see Alan judging him with an expression of suspicion. The burnt Shooting Star immediately said with impatience, "When you dodged the magic, you forgot to bring me along. You caused the lightning to graze me. If it weren't for the protective barrier that I immediately set up, I really would have become charcoal!"
"I am so sorry," Alan apologized rather awkwardly.
"Forget it!" Shooting Star was uncharacteristically nonchalant about it because there were more life-threatening matters to solve!
Even though being on the boat was very boring, the time had been spent pleasantly. He definitely did not want to cling onto a wooden plank and experience the excitement of floating across the sea for more than ten days to reach Shaosi Continent. Or worse still, they might never even make it there!
However, if this electric eel that had been mistaken as a serpent still didn't beat it, the journey of floating across the sea would soon start after ten minutes.
Therefore, even though Shooting Star was so lazy that he made it an art, and he only wanted to watch from the side and not put in effort, he still had to think of a way to deal with the electric eel.
Alan had just said that his magic was ineffective, so he could not rely on the elf.
The serpent was also in the sea. Neither he nor Bai Saya could walk on water, so how were they going to fight now? He didn't have to use the fireball magic used for cooking to roast the serpent to make serpent meat skewers, right?
It would take eight hundred years!
"I wonder if it would taste good?" Shooting Star actually started to feel a bit hungry.
"Unless your teeth are sharper than a precious sword, it is impossible to eat it." Alan pointed at the electric eel. "Look."
Shooting Star followed Alan's line of sight. It turned out that during the period of time when he was agonizing over a plan, Dan had already climbed onto the deck and was directing the people around them to deal with the situation. He really behaved in a manner worthy of a one hundred and fifty year old member of the demon race. Even this kind of magical beast that rose from the sea was not enough to rattle him.
"Shooting Star!"
In that moment, Bai Saya had also hurriedly rushed out. He immediately noticed the giant electric eel in one glance. He balked for a moment before hurriedly looking around for Shooting Star. Upon spotting him, he ran over and asked worriedly, "You didn't summon this giant monster, right?"
Shooting Star impatiently rolled his eyes at him and retorted, "How would I have summoned it? Do you think I'm a summoner, or the prince of the electric eel race? If I were able to summon such a large and long fellow, why would I still need to carry a whip as a weapon! Wouldn't it be easier to just summon it to crush my enemies to death?!"
"That is true." Bai Saya smiled, embarrassed. He had been so scared that Shooting Star was going to cause trouble that he forgot that Shooting Star did not even know offensive magic. How could he have the ability to summon a magical beast this huge?
"It's all good now. There isn't a need to think of a plan, and there is also a giant battle that shatters the skies and causes gods and demons to cry to watch." Shooting Star smiled so widely that his eyes narrowed into crescents. He used his hand to knock the person beside him, and said, "Xiao Bai, look how amazing Dan is. He actually is a rarely seen mage blade!"
"Mage blade?" This was the first time Bai Saya had heard of this profession. He immediately turned his head to look.
Dan was wielding his sword gracefully. Even though there was still a considerable distance between him and the serpent, this did not affect his ability to punish this magical beast that had dared to come and make trouble.
Even though Dan had pulled out his sword, it was a bit of a stretch to say he was using his sword to fight. It was more like he was using his sword as a magical staff. He was shooting spikes made of earth as attacks, or suddenly spewing an earth wall to protect against the electric eel's lightning magic.
"He's an earth element mage blade. No wonder Dan's personality doesn't seem to be like someone from the demon race. Rather, he gives off the feeling of someone who is honest and easy to bully, as patient as the ground we step on."
As he finished his sentence, Shooting Star threw a glance at Alan who was standing next to him and said in an understanding tone, "And no wonder a certain elf's personality is not elf-like, always as irritable as lightning."
The elf in question who was always irritable glared at him.
"Is he really a swordsman? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to call him a mage?" Bai Saya was unwilling to group such a style of fighting under that of a swordsman. In his mind, a swordsman used sword techniques that were graceful as a dance to charge forward. They would use superior martial art skills to achieve different attacks, fighting amidst flesh and blood. It was not this kind of offense engaged from a distance.
"That's because the opponent is an electric eel. More than that, we're currently out at sea. That's why he can only fight like this. Otherwise, mage blades would still normally mainly use their sword, with magic as support."
Shooting Star gestured at Dan and the magical serpent beast, explaining, "Look, the distance between Dan and that electric eel is quite large. He can't fly either. Unless you expect him to jump into the sea and wield his sword while swimming?"
After listening to Shooting Star's explanation, Bai Saya started to think that if it were him in the battle… He would have become a meal for the electric eel a long time ago. He had absolutely no way of attacking the electric eel! He was already not very good at releasing battle aura in offensive attacks. Moreover, the distance was rather far. If he sent out a good chunk of his battle aura, having just some of it hit the body of the serpent would be pretty good already!
However, Bai Saya did not believe a fraction of battle aura could do much damage to the electric eel. It might not even notice getting hit.
Dan was actually able to go on the offense and defense, as well as protect the boat. His earth walls were able to foil the attacks of the electric eel, and his earth spikes made the electric eel unable to attack the boat, as it was only able to retreat to protect itself. If not for this, the boat would be unable to survive the battle between man and eel.
"Dan is really amazing!" Bai Saya praised him sincerely and generously admitted to his own mistakes at the same time.
"Duh!" Shooting Star shouted, "Dan is a one hundred and fifty year old member of the demon race! Now you should understand just how powerful that thousand year old Ice Chess is? He doesn't even need one finger to crush us!"
Bai Saya said with even more admiration, "He truly is too powerful. As expected, no matter how powerful a person is, there will always be another person more powerful out there."
"Don't you mean another demon out there?"
"Sorry, I spoke wrongly."
"Aren't you going to help?"
Alan suddenly spoke up and even had on an odd expression as he looked at the two relaxed people. The sailors to the side were all running around, all unbelievably busy. All were desperately thinking of how to maintain the stability of the boat's body amidst the battle. Only the three of them were behaving as leisurely as usual, making them stick out like sore thumbs.
"Are you helping?" Shooting Star rolled his eyes at the elf.
"My lightning magic is ineffective against it. I am also not a warrior. I cannot use weapons to launch an offensive." Alan very seriously explained why he was not helping.
Shooting Star self-righteously said, "But you can shoot arrows. That type of long-distance weapon is the best for this fight!"
"Right. According to legends, elves are inherently godly archers!" Bai Saya had suddenly thought of this point, too. He looked at the elf with eyes full of expectation, hoping to be able to witness the godly archer of legends.
"I have never said I know archery. I am a mage, not an archer!"
Alan felt anger well up in his heart. There it is again! Another stereotype by humans who always think they are right!
Bai Saya was shocked and asked with disbelief, "But every elf knows archery, right?"
Alan shrieked in frustration, "An elf's eyesight and sense of nature are better than other races. So if elves were to learn archery, it would be easier for them to become godly archers. However, this does not mean that every elf would choose to learn archery! Elves are also inclined toward magic. I chose to become a mage, a mage that specializes in lightning magic!"
"Really? So you don't know archery?" Bai Saya was very disappointed. Compared to magic that he did not understand, he would much rather see a profession like an archer's who used actual weapons to fight.
"I don't!" Alan answered savagely and flew off in anger and frustration.
Bai Saya's heart missed a beat in fright. He did not understand why the elf was so angry.
Shooting Star laughed loudly, "Xiao Bai! I really couldn't tell. Your ability to anger people… No, I should say your ability to anger elves is even stronger than mine!"
"What? I did not…"
Just as Bai Saya wanted to clear the record by asserting that he had not meant to anger Alan, the boat's sudden and violent shaking cut him off. The shaking was so strong that he fell flat onto the deck and even slid toward the edge of the boat.
"The element of light, the children of the sun, please use your warmth… Protective Barrier!"
Shooting Star chanted the incantation at three times the speed, setting up a protective barrier around himself and Bai Saya, who had fallen to the floor.
Bai Saya had already been dizzy from sesickness. With the addition of such a hard fall, his head spun and throbbed for a good while before he was able to recover his senses. After recollecting his wits, he lifted his head and saw Shooting Star with his mouth wide open. This fellow who was able to clap his hands excitedly in response to the appearance of an electric eel actually revealed an expression that said "we're doomed."
"Just how unlucky are we going to get! First, it was the electric eel snake"—Shooting Star had personally named it—"and now another thing has actually appeared!" Shooting Star held his head and wailed, "This boat is definitely cursed! No, I want to get off the boat. Please let me off the boat!"
Bai Saya balked. He had barely raised his head by a bit, yet he could already see the incomparably large electric eel snake being enveloped in a shadow. Just how tremendously huge does the creature have to be to be able to cover this humongous overlord of the sea with its shadow?
He raised his head again. He caught sight of two tremendous, muscular wings flapping up and down nonstop. Each downward stroke caused huge waves to form on the surface of the sea. Beautiful red scales covered the creature's entire body, glittering and shining under the sun's rays.
In that moment, its mouth broke open and sent forth an earthshaking and genuine dragon cry!
A dragon, the strongest sovereign of the skies, was now facing the overlord of the seas, the electric eel serpent.
"Heavens! Can't they take this fight anywhere else?"
Shooting Star grabbed Bai Saya's hand, dragging him over to Alan's side. He proceeded to cling tightly on to the latter.
Alan did not scold him as he usually did, saying things like "Elves do not like to be touched." Instead, he tightly hugged the two people back. Then, he used the Spell of Flight to hover in midair at the height of about two people.
Even though the weight of three people slightly exceeded his abilities, it was fortunate that Bai Saya and Shooting Star were not too heavy. Alan considered the limits of his abilities. If it was not for an extended period, he should be able to support them for a while.
Except, will the battle of two such giant creatures end in such a short time?
"The sailors…"
Bai Saya watched in panic as the faces of one sailor after another twisted in screams, and then they were flung overboard by the boat. He even reached out his hand, wanting to grab a sailor who was thrown past him, but was only able to catch hold of a small piece of his clothes. That person's eyes widened with despair, carrying an accusatory trace of "why didn't you catch me," and then the sailor disappeared beneath the tumbling waves.
Bai Saya's chest suddenly felt violently tight. His hand that was still holding on to the small scrap of cloth trembled. He felt as though he had just ended a life…
Shooting Star grabbed onto Bai Saya's forearm and said angrily, "What are you doing? Don't let go of Alan. He's an elf. He doesn't have enough strength to hold on to you!"
Bai Saya hurriedly grabbed Shooting Star's hand and anxiously said, "Shooting Star, all the sailors have fallen into the water. Please help them!"
"You're crazy! Who cares about them?! We're barely able to protect ourselves!" Shooting Star gnashed his teeth together in anger. This Xiao Bai, can't he see how terrible Alan's complexion is? We could become the companions of those sailors in the next second! How could we care about saving others?
"But, those people… they, they are humans, like us!" Bai Saya did not know how to express how he felt, but he was just unable to watch these lives get swallowed by the ocean one by one before him.
Humans my foot. There are demons among them and a few beastmen as well… Shooting Star sputtered for a bit. However, upon seeing how Bai Saya's complexion was just too terrible, he could only speak up to coax him, "Xiao Bai, stop thinking about saving these sailors. If there were a way to save them, Alan would definitely have done so earlier than you. You can't have forgotten that he is of the elf race, who treasures life the most?"
As he heard that, Bai Saya immediately looked at Alan imploringly. Then, he heard Shooting Star say, "However, the current situation is that Alan doesn't have any way to carry any more people. If you catch one person, not only will you be unable to save him, you will send the three of us down with him!"
Alan nodded his head to show that Shooting Star was right. He did not even want to waste energy by speaking. Any little bit of energy saved was still something.
At that moment, another sailor flew closely past Bai Saya and company.
Bai Saya reached out instinctively. However, as he remembered Shooting Star's words, he violently withdrew his hand. Then, he watched the sailor slide into the rolling waves of the terrifying great sea.
Sorry! Bai Saya clenched his fist and strongly suppressed his desire to reach out his hand. Finally, he closed his eyes and chose not to watch. Only by not witnessing the horrible situation that the people were in would Bai Saya not feel his heart tightening again and again. Strong feelings of guilt settled in his chest, making him almost unable to breathe.
"Hah!"
When he heard a familiar voice drift to his ear, Bai Saya wrenched his eyes open. In a glance, he saw Dan stab his sword into the deck. Both his hands were clenched around the sword hilt, and he was exerting a lot of effort to support himself and not be thrown into the sea. Dan's entire body had long been drenched by seawater, his entire appearance haggard.
"Dan!" Bai Saya could not control himself and shouted loudly.
Upon hearing this shout, Dan turned his head to look at him.
Despite already being in danger of falling over, he actually took one hand off the sword hilt and pointed toward a particular direction. He then shouted with effort, "The Western Continent is in that direction. Fly that way."
The call caused not only Bai Saya to balk for a bit. Even the demon-hating elf Alan turned his head to look at Dan, and his heart held some degree of new realization.
"Bai Saya is his 'checkmate?'"
Shooting Star had a glint in his eye as he nodded.
That explains it. Alan looked at Dan. This demon was already finding it hard to ensure his own safety, yet he was still worried about Bai Saya's safety. For the merciless demon race, this was extremely odd. Yet, if he is his checkmate…
Bai Saya stared dumbly at the ragged Dan. The latter seemed about to fall into the ocean at any moment, just like the sailors, and then be swallowed by the sea without a trace.
Regardless of what race one was from, they were all similarly helpless in the face of the raging sea.
Bai Saya suddenly turned his head and said, "Save Dan!"
Shooting Star paused and then shouted, "What? Didn't I already tell you that Alan is incapable of…"
Before he even finished his sentence, Bai Saya suddenly let go of his grip on Alan. He even threw aside the arm that Alan had placed around the other two. An elf mage was too physically weak. In reality, one arm was not enough to support the weight of a man, much less if this man himself threw aside his arm.
Originally, Bai Saya would have fallen onto the deck. However, he used his superior physical abilities to do a few flips in the air and fell off the side of the boat. He fell directly into the tumultuous sea.
Dan revealed a horrified expression as he watched Bai Saya fall. In that moment, he was only able to catch a glimpse of amber eyes, eyes that were so open and frank. They held not the slightest bit of panic and fear of imminent death. The meaning they sought to convey was also clear.
All that I owe you, I now return.
No!
"Saya!"
"Xiao Bai!"
Those gentle amber eyes were buried by the heartless tossing waves…