Versatile Mage c1-2021, page 434
The Black Sea Drake let out a painful cry. The spikes on its back rose suddenly and belched out a cloud of black smoke at Mo Fan.
The smoke was pitch-black, with a rather unpleasant smell.
Mo Fan knew the black smoke was poisonous. He did not dare to go any closer, but immediately fled outside the area of the smoke.
He flung the Dark Noble Mantle up, producing a shadow looming over the place. Mo Fan was basically invisible within the shadow, and his speed was several times faster than when he was casting Fleeing Shadow!
With the Dark Noble Mantle, Mo Fan no longer needed to worry about finding a shadow. The Dark Noble Mantle was able to provide him with the shadows he needed...
Against a creature like the Black Sea Drake, the Blood Tabi was simply too weak to make any difference. The Dark Noble Mantle had actually secured Mo Fan the upper hand in the fight. It was worth the strenuous effort that Mo Fan had put in just to claim it!
The Black Sea Drake twisted its body. It was clenching its teeth against the pain from the burning wound on its back. It had the urge to tear the detestable human into pieces. Most frustratingly, it was still having trouble finding where he was!
Where was he hiding?
The Black Sea Drake scanned the area, but even with its outstanding senses, it was unable to locate the human with the Shadow Element.
"Nine Halls!"
Suddenly, nine stunning fiery pillars rose under the Black Sea Drake. Five of them struck the Black Sea Drake's fleshy rump!
The Nine Pillars constructed with the Calamity Fire were far stronger than before. The flames rising into the sky were like the eruption of nine volcanoes, scorching lava splattering across the place. The Black Sea Drake was jumping up as the heat was just too unbearable!
The Black Sea Drake finally realized how tough the two humans were. It was unable to attack by controlling the water on the surface.
It glanced at the water and discovered that the electricity unleashed by the simple-minded Lightning Explosion Cuttlefish had started to weaken. It immediately stayed away from Mo Fan's flames and dove into the ocean!
BANG!
To its surprise, the Black Sea Drake ended up smashing its head on a layer of sturdy ice when it tried to dive into the water. Despite the impact, it had failed to break the ice, showing how strong the ice was!
While the Black Sea Drake was fully focused on Mo Fan, Mu Ningxue's Domain had already spread more than a kilometer into the distance, turning the area beyond the reef into ice. The ice was at least thirty meters thick, no longer just a thin layer on the surface. The Black Sea Drake was seething with anger after realizing it had been tricked by the human!
"Subdue it!" Lingling said to Mu Ningxue.
Mu Ningxue had long awaited this moment. Her eyes were doors to an icy white world that was deeply asleep. As they flickered sharply, an enormous Icebound Coffin descended from the sky and landed heavily before the Black Sea Drake.
The Icebound Coffin immediately gave the Black Sea Drake a fright. Luckily, the enormous thing did not land right on it. Otherwise, it would have had trouble resisting it!
However, before the Black Sea Drake could feel relieved, an icy glow suddenly appeared above it as another spectacular Icebound Coffin landed behind it!
The third Icebound Coffin came down and sealed off the Black Sea Drake's left!
The Black Sea Drake finally realized that something was not right. When it was about to head for its remaining path of escape, the last Icebound Coffin plunged down onto the ice and trapped the creature!
The Black Sea Drake raised its head and saw the biggest Icebound Coffin above it. It slammed down heavily before the creature was able to jump into the sky. It was the final piece of the puzzle for the formation consisting of five Icebound Coffins!
"Five...five Icebound Coffins..."
Bobby almost dropped his jaw to the ground. He had met some extremely talented Ice Mages from the Hunter Alliance, yet he had never seen anyone Summon five Icebound Coffins at once. Wasn't this woman a bit too terrifying?
Bobby immediately recalled how he was whistling at Mu Ningxue back in the alleyway. He glanced at the previously-imperious Black Sea Drake trapped by the Icebound Coffins and immediately drew a cross on his c.h.e.s.t in cold sweat!
"The maggot is making its move," Lingling said.
"What?" Mo Fan asked confusedly.
"Take a look for yourself!"
Mo Fan glanced at the Black Sea Drake and saw a strange reaction from it. Its scales were falling off suddenly, as if they were gradually disappearing.
In addition to its scales, its flesh had started to rot out of nowhere, too. Countless white tiny little creatures were jumping up and down on the rotten flesh.
"What are those?" Mo Fan exclaimed in surprise.
"The larvae, the form before the Drowning Curse Maggot," Lingling said.
The Black Sea Drake could no longer move as its body was frozen in ice. It had no chance of breaking free from Mu Ningxue's Icebound Coffins in a short period of time.
Meanwhile, the white little larvae that were growing out of its flesh were devouring it continuously. It clearly did not look pleasant!
Normally, the creature could easily eliminate these annoying little pests with a single energy ripple or a dragon breath, but it was unable to do anything in its current state. It could only watch its flesh being devoured by the larvae.
More larvae showed up like a whole nest of white ants. The Black Sea Drake soon lost its glittering scales and was n.a.k.e.d, only its flesh remained.
To Mo Fan's astonishment, the Black Sea Drake's enormous figure was shrinking at a shocking pace, too. It was like a huge chunk of meat had been thrown into a pond full of piranhas, which would eventually end up as just a few pieces of bones!
"Oh my God!" Bobby screamed as he watched the bizarre sight from the boat.
It was like the Black Sea Drake was being disintegrated. The creature's appearance beyond recognition after it was eaten alive by the countless white larvae. It no longer had the imperious presence of a drake!
"This...this..." Mo Fan too was dumbfounded.
Even though Mu Ningxue had managed to freeze the Black Sea Drake, it would still take them a long time to kill it. As a matter of fact, they could not tell if they actually had enough firepower to kill the creature.
And now, before the creature could even break free from Mu Ningxue's ice, half of its body had already been consumed by the eerie, white larvae that had grown out from its body!
The larvae were now devouring the creature at an even quicker pace. It was impossible to tell how many layers of the white larvae were on the Black Sea Drake. The creature went from struggling at the start to losing consciousness, until it eventually turned into a mere specimen...
When the Black Sea Drake gradually turned into a bloody skeleton, Mu Ningxue could not help but cover her mouth. Her eyes were filled with disbelief!
The word scary was no longer enough to describe the sight, as who could possibly think that the insignificant, transparent maggot was able to eat the whole Drake down to a skeleton in just a short period of time!
Chapter 998 - The Maggot Turns Into a Drake
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
In the end, all that was left of the Black Sea Drake were a bunch of white bones. There was not a drop of blood or a tiny bit of flesh remained. The hollow skeleton was frozen inside the ice.
Mo Fan, Mu Ningxue, and Bobby took a long time to recover from the shock. Even Lingling, who already knew it would happen, was staring at it in astonishment.
"Where are the larvae?" Mo Fan had to ask.
The larvae had all vanished into thin air. Mo Fan was unable to see them anywhere. He was already having difficulty explaining the strange sequence of events.
"Wait, just wait on the boat. When the time comes, I'll tell you where the larvae went," Lingling said.
The three returned to the boat. The Lightning Explosion Cuttlefish in the water had stopped releasing electricity, returning the area to calm. However, when they recalled how the Black Sea Drake had died just like that, they could not help but have a bad feeling about it.
The group stayed on the boat and waited silently as Lingling had instructed.
---
Lingling did not sleep much. In the past three days, she had only slept for three hours every day. Her eyes never left the monitor displaying the activity of the maggot, as if she was scared of missing something.
The next day had arrived. The blazing red of the rising sun happened to shine right on a flat cloud, forming a spectacular sight along the horizon.
Mo Fan walked out from the cabin with a huge yawn.
He walked to the deck and saw Lingling waiting patiently in front of the screen with a huge coat dr.a.p.ed over her shoulders.
Mo Fan was utterly impressed by Lingling's determination. Most girls at her age would go off on a tantrum if they were asked to do some mere household chores!
Mo Fan felt sorry for Lingling when he saw her bloodshot eyes. He sat beside her and patted on her head, "Why are you working so hard? The maggot is just below us, there's no way it can run away."
"It's the most difficult job I have ever done, apart from the operation that wiped out the Black Vatican on Chongming Island. You know that I've no interest in studying, I just want to be a Hunter," Lingling replied seriously.
Mo Fan was speechless. She was really a problem child!
"There's some movement," Lingling said, staring at the screen.
"I'll go wake Mu Ningxue up," Mo Fan quickly went into the cabin and woke Mu Ningxue up.
Bobby had woken up from the noise. The three gathered before Lingling.
"The maggot is now in its complete form. Go into the water and wait. Once the immune cells are available, we'll secure them and leave," Lingling told them.
"It's done at last!" Bobby let out a long sigh with a relieved smile.
It was the most thrilling adventure Bobby had ever been on in his life. He could easily boast about it to the old Hunters in the bars for the rest of his life. It was a Black Sea Drake, an extremely savage exotic beast, and he had participated in the job that needed to kill the drake!
"I'll go," Mu Ningxue said. Knowing that Mo Fan had just stepped on the Lightning Explosion Cuttlefish's tails recently, it was safer for Mu Ningxue to go.
"Wait, hold on," Lingling suddenly said, signaling everyone to keep quiet.
The three were utterly confused. The maggot was already in its final form. They just wanted to hurry up and get its immune cells, and deliver them to the Hunter Union!
Mo Fan was about to ask something when Lingling looked into the water and said with a frown, "It's swimming toward us."
"Isn't that what we wanted? It saves us the effort of going to look for it," Mo Fan said.
Lingling shook her head. Her expression was saying that something terrible was about to happen.
Lingling's tablet started beeping with a warning. The frequency of the beeping gradually increased, implying that the target was getting closer to them.
The boat was not moving, thus it simply meant that the maggot was approaching them rapidly.
"Such incredible speed!" Mu Ningxue glanced at the device and realized that the red dot representing the maggot was moving toward them at a shocking pace.
"I'll go stop it," Bobby stood on the edge of the deck and stared into the water.
The little thing was transparent, thus it was extremely tricky to see it in the water. They could only rely on Lingling to spot the creature. However, Bobby was still staring at the water with all his focus, trying to detect any trace of the creature. Either way, he would never let that son-of-a-b**ch run away!
The boat swayed as the waves splashed at it occasionally. The blue water had suddenly turned black.
Bobby did not notice the change at the start as he was focused on something else. However, he soon noticed a giant black shadow approaching the surface in the water.
The shadow was blurry initially, but as it moved closer to the surface, Bobby immediately took a deep breath, as their boat felt extremely tiny when compared to the shadow!
"Watch out!" Mu Ningxue sensed the approaching danger. She waved her hand and f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y dragged Bobby back to the deck with a strong gust of wind.
Meanwhile, the terrifying shadow under the water rammed fiercely into the front of the boat. Its huge fangs biting half of the boat off!
The metal hull broke into pieces. Amid the rolling waves, Mo Fan saw an enormous, pitch-black figure rising up. The little boat could not even survive a single attack from the black figure!
Bobby almost wet his pants. Luckily, Mu Ningxue had lent a hand in time. Otherwise, he would have been eaten together with half of the boat.
"Why is there another Black Sea Drake!?" Bobby screamed.
The creature that attacked the boat was a Black Sea Drake, similar in size to the one they fought against before. It had totally taken them by surprise.
"Where's the maggot? Wasn't the maggot swimming toward us just then?" Mo Fan protested with an utterly confused look.
"This guy is the maggot!" Lingling said.
Mo Fan sat on the half of the boat that was left. The waves kept pouring down at him like a storm.
He lifted his gaze and stared at the enormous, pitch-black body of the creature. The Black Sea Drake was less than fifty meters away from him. The man, the drake, the roaring ocean, and the boat that was on the verge of collapsing combined into a breathtaking sight!
The maggot!
The maggot had turned into the drake!
Mo Fan clearly sensed an enormous pressure from the creature before him. It was on par with the pressure that the Black Sea Drake from before had given him. However, when Mo Fan recalled that the creature used to be a maggot that he could pinch to death easily, he was struggling to accept the truth!
The Maggot Drake opened its enormous mouth and roared at Mo Fan.
It was not trying to attack Mo Fan, but purely to assert its dominance. Somehow, Mo Fan felt like the maggot was mocking him.
It was mocking these naive humans for trying to use it to resolve the Drowning Curse. Unfortunately, it had now evolved into a drake, one of the strongest creatures that its species had ever turned into successfully. It no longer needed to live in the dark, or live inside a human body as a little parasite. It was now a drake, a Black Sea Drake!
It now possessed every ability of the Black Sea Drake, allowing it to roam freely in the ocean while killing and eating any sea creature it came upon. The pitiful sea monsters had no choice but to submit to its powerful presence...
The Maggot Drake did not attack Mo Fan, but Mo Fan clearly sensed how arrogant and proud the little maggot was feeling.
"Do you really think you can escape death just because you've turned into a drake?" Mo Fan stood on the wreckage being washed by the strong wind and waves. However, his dark brown eyes showed no sign of fear or intention to back off, but a stronger will to fight atop the cold seawater!
Even if Mo Fan was against a true dragon, he was willing to fight it to the end of the world, let alone a drake!
"Lingling, are you sure it has the cells we need?" Mu Ningxue had stepped forward with an utterly serious look.
"Yes, its gall bladder is the initial maggot, so we just need to kill it and secure its gall bladder!" Lingling said.
The Maggot Drake seemed to understand human language. It glanced down at the wreckage and the people on it and puffed heavily.
The maggot that had inherited the drake's intelligence was confident in its strength.
It was true that anyone could easily kill it in the past, considering how weak it used to be.
If these humans knew their place, it would consider sparing their lives since they had been protecting it just so it could turn into a drake. However, did they seriously think they could stand a chance against it?
It was now a Black Sea Drake, not a parasite that they could kill with a single pinch! It would not mind killing these idiotic humans to celebrate its first day of becoming an almighty sea drake!
The Maggot Drake had a long fish's tail, with sharp scales that could spread out like a fan.
The Maggot Drake drew its tail out from the water and raised it in the air. It emitted a destructive blue light as it slapped its tail heavily at the boat.
The water was split in half as the boat was smashed into pieces. The great impact knocked the four on the boat flying. The waves rolled fiercely at them and washed them far away...
Mo Fan was in charge of Lingling's safety while Mu Ningxue kept an eye on Bobby. The four immediately fled to the sunken reef. It was the only place they could take on the Black Sea Drake.
The Maggot Drake was utterly proud. Even though it knew it would not be able to utilize the Black Sea Drake's full strength close to the surface, it still chased the humans boldly while releasing a terrifying dragon breath. The black gust of wind destroyed everything it swept over with its destructive power!
"We have to kill it, we can't let it run away," Lingling reminded Mo Fan as she quickly retreated into the distance.
"Don't worry, I don't care if it's a real dragon or a drake, it's still as good as dead in front of me!"
Strong flames were burning fiercely in Mo Fan's c.h.e.s.t!
Chapter 999 - Ultimate Lightning Conduct, Explosion!
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
Mo Fan jumped into the air when he saw the dragon breath to dodge the wave of destruction surging at him.
The Maggot Drake raised its head and released another black dragon breath at Mo Fan while he was in the air.
"Telekinesis!" Mo Fan spread his will out and took control of the wreckage of the boat scattered across the water.
The remains of the boat formed a layer of defense in front of Mo Fan. The dragon breath struck the remains and disintegrated them.
"Silent Deadly Bolt!"
Mo Fan unleashed a powerful Lightning Death Bolt at the Maggot Drake. The lightning beam landed on the Black Sea Drake's back fin and blew a hole through the scales and the flesh!
