Strongest Among the Heavens-Chapter 433: Boiling Cauldron

The water churned like a boiling cauldron, waves rising and crashing. In the center of it, the silhouette of the Bake-kujira began to emerge. Massive, skeletal, and ominous, its form loomed like a dark god. The air around the lake was thick with the stench of decay and an unnatural pressure made it difficult to breathe.

The fishermen that had been sent to scout were trying to get away and dying—until Kazi cast a long-range Ultra Magic Barrier around them. He did not have to be close, his eyes found them, he reached out with fist and squeezed to protect them properly. "Alley-oop!"

He jerked his arm back and sent them flying back. In a matter of seconds, every single fisherman on a boat was saved and hurled back to shore in balls of blue light.

Kazi’s left eye deepened with energy. The sea or the mist, he could see through it like glass. He stood on what seemed like glass too. He was a whole kilometer away too.

"Well, you’re as ugly as they said you’d be," Kazi muttered, crossing his arms and taking in the scene. He levitated and observed.

The monstrous entity wasn’t fully awake yet, but its presence alone was enough to summon swarms of lesser creatures. Around the boiling cauldron in the middle of the lake rose birds with grotesque, mutated features. From the water, shadowy shapes writhed, some breaking the surface to reveal malformed, fish-like creatures with jagged teeth.

’Compared to before, these monsters are less defined. Strength-wise, they appear about the same. Slightly weaker, maybe.’

Kazi didn’t hesitate. Drawing his weapon—a finely forged katana imbued with faint traces of mana—he dropped down to the water and dashed. A countless number of screeching bird creatures dove toward him, talons outstretched and eyes glowing red.

"Ignis Serpens."

Markings appeared along the katana. Fire rushed up.

Kazi slashed upward, cleaving every creature to crisp with two giant fire serpents. Bodies disintegrating mid-air, leaving only puffs of dark mist behind. His grip tightened on the hilt of his sword.

Another swarm of birds dove at him, followed by two dozen fish monsters from underneath. Kazi moved from Marking Spells to Circle Spells. "Veloce Impetus."

A magic circle locked onto the hilt of the katana. Wind blistering and standing on the spot, his blade flashed in precise arcs. He jumped, hacking and slashing over the fish that dared to jump and attack him. Then he rammed into the birds and did the same thing. By five or ten every second, the birds and fish fell. Veloce Impetus was a Circle Spell that turned a weapon nearly weightless.

More came. Thirty, forty, sixty, seventy.

’Just how many...!’

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash!

A one-handed katana cut through them all. Indeed, despite the onslaught, Kazi’s expression remained calm. He only broke away when he sensed a build up of mana. A real attack. Kazi stopped and jumped back to dodge a fireball from a larger bird, this one with three heads and elongated, serpentine wings.

"There it is, a final evolution monster. This is what the samurai faced initially faced," Kazi said, eyeing the three-headed bird.

[ Name: Bake-kujira Three-Headed Serpent Bird

Level: 40

Class: Serpent ] 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

That was when more of them emerged. That was when he realized the Bake-kujira was focusing and deliberately creating the three-headed serpent birds. More and more and more until...

’What the hell?’ Level 40? For each? A hundred of them? The boiling water that spawned and created these monsters did not stop. More emerged.

"Waterfall Barrier."

He slammed a hand down on the water, only for hot mana to spit back into his system. Kazi smiled and ended up reacting to seven monsters who thought they could get the better of him.

"Knew it! It’s just like the professor said! Controlling the lake’s water is impossible with the Bake-kujira here!"

’I have to clear these things out. Now.’

"Cast! Activation! Stablize! Balance! Realize! Cast! Overdrive!" Raising his katana high, blue electricity crackled and grew. Size manifested. Stabilization manifested. From a katana to a giant sword, instantly killing a dozen monsters without swinging it. Taking in a deep breath...

"Gargantua..."

Kazi Hossain jumped as high as he could. Below him came the Bake-kujira and the monsters chasing after him. He created platform after platform, created space of distance after space of distance. The monsters chased and failed.

Kazi Hossain stood on a platform, eyes cast down and the supersized sword piercing the clouds.

His hands flipped down and the mega-electric-sword came crashing down on the monsters and the Bake-kujira. Water imploded and rose up. Monsters were eradicated.

The Bake-kujira was not.

His hands were burned blue. It should have been impossible to keep going. The mana cost of Gargantua Spark Strike alone went beyond his bodily capacity. His soul should have been incinerated by now.

But Kazi Hossain was a genius.

[ Ultra Divine Healing Circulation

Support: Support

Rank: EX

Cost: ? MP/minute

The ultimate self-healing skill. Remove curses, mental interference, and regenerate limbs. By connecting with the soul, it becomes a circuit of near infinite regeneration and mana. Only possible due to the genius of Kazi Hossain. ]

At the peak of his battle with Princess Otohime, he learned to harness his left eye’s infinite pool of mana. Previously, a minute of wait time was necessary for his eye to blip with mana. That was no longer the case. Infinite mana was always in use.

Kazi pointed the katana downward. "Gargantua..." Then slowly, electricity and mana built up rapidly. "Super Strike!"

Again.

"Gargantua Super Strike!"

And again.

"Gargantua Super Strike!"

He struck the whale with the massive spell repeatedly. Targeting its back, targeting the monsters it constantly created, and most of all...

"Gargantua Super Strike!"

Submerging it deep into the water. Kazi Hossain scowled as the giant blade struck the bone whale. ’Come on, come on, come on, come on...!’

It wasn’t dying. He was damaging it but it wasn’t dying. He could hear the loud lurch of mana and bone. He could hear the monsters it birthed die upon their birth.

The Bake-kujira itself felt like denting metal. Kazi could feel a difference but it wasn’t enough.

"Gargantua...Super Strike!"

Bam!

Upon the sixth strike...

"Gargantua...ngh!"

His fingers trembled and the katana slipped away. His hands were numb and fried black. Kazi watched as the katana descended until it plopped into the water.

The cauldron of the Bake-kujira melted the katana to paste.