Without any hesitation, the hexagram in Charles’s palm flashed as he summoned his mystical beasts, Mousie and Max.
Despite their tiny size compared to the massive salivate over a humpback whale—looking like mere ants at its feet—Mousie and Max stood boldly in front of Charles, baring their teeth at the approaching behemoth.
“Mousie, create a copy of that whale, try to delay it as long as possible,” Charles instructed Mousie through [Mind Communication].
With the temporary power boost from Ezra, Charles had gained the strength of a Tier 4 Beast Master, and with his enhanced abilities, Mousie and Max’s combat levels had approached Lv30.
Even if Mousie’s clone couldn’t defeat it, it could certainly cause significant trouble.
“Max, wait for my command before you attack!” Charles commanded Max in a low roar.
Standing at the edge of the abyss, Charles watched the whale swooping in, gripping his supreme spear tightly. He knew that strength alone wouldn’t suffice to defeat a much larger adversary.
Soon, he identified the ferocious beast’s weakness—its sluggish movements. At the moment it lunged, Charles issued a combat command to Max:
“Max, circle around to its back, and use your skill [bone-achingly cold]!”
Whoosh!
Upon receiving Charles’s command, Max shot out like an arrow released from a bow, his paws barely touching the ground as he elegantly arced over the salivate over a humpback whale’s tentacle attack.
The whale opened its massive maw in attack, but Max dodged again, even using the momentum to leap onto its back. Max’s body ignited with pale flames, lighting up the dead silence of the night. The extreme cold and heat from the flames spread from his feet, quickly engulfing the entire body of the salivate over a humpback whale.
With a pained howl, the whale cried out in agony, desperately twisting its body. But the flames grew fiercer. Unable to handle the white wolf, it turned its focus to Charles on the ground and launched the skill [Gaping Chasm].
Though its body was clumsy, the salivate over a humpback whale was the ocean’s ruler not for its agility, but for its massive size.
As the salivate over a humpback whale opened its cavernous mouth and swooped toward Charles, the dense set of teeth within made it clear that one bite could grind him to dust.
The whale’s huge body nearly blocked out the sky, its mouth spanning dozens of meters, cutting off all of Charles’s escape routes.
“Mousie, attack now!” Charles shouted.
The long-restrained Mousie in the sky activated its skill [mimetic illusion], creating a perfect replica of the salivate over a humpback whale, positioning it directly in front of Charles.
Caught off-guard, the real whale collided heavily with the duplicate.
The dull sound of their massive bodies smashing together was grotesque, and surprisingly, the blood that oozed from the wounds was a sinister black.
With its large size now a disadvantage against Mousie’s mimetic duplicate, the whale couldn’t utilize its physical superiority and became an easy target for Max, whose ice spears quickly riddled it like a hornet’s nest.
The small ice spears didn’t cause significant physical damage due to their size, but the sheer number and the piercing pain each inflicted were unbearable.
The relentless barrage of attacks enraged the salivate over a humpback whale, which suddenly opened its mouth wide and sprayed saliva towards Charles’s location…
The saliva, with a foul stench, dissolved even rocks on contact, turning them into dark smoke.
“This must be its skill [eerie saliva]. Talk about a tough creature with four abilities; if we drag this out, it could attract more abyssal creatures,” Charles thought to himself.
This salivate over a humpback whale wasn’t the only creature in the abyss; Charles had spotted several ferocious beasts of over Lv40 writhing below. Drawing them here could be disastrous.
Without hesitation, Charles activated the skill darkness cloak, instantly breaking through the layer of corrosive saliva to get up close.
He slowly raised the steel nail glowing with silver light, channeled attribute energy into it, and then executed puncture thorn, hurling the [spirit nail] with tremendous force!
When the spirit nail struck the salivate over a humpback whale, it penetrated like a steel needle through a sponge, encountering no resistance. The spirit nail emitted a silvery glow, and upon contact with its pitch-black body, it actually corroded a hole one meter in diameter!
“Is this the restraining effect of a silver weapon against dark attribute creatures?” Charles couldn’t help but whisper in awe.
The attack of the salivate over a humpback whale was interrupted by the spirit nail, its massive body freezing midair before crashing heavily to the ground.
“Perfect chance! Mousie, Max, finish it!” Charles didn’t stop his assault, continuing to issue combat commands.
Whizz—
The arm-thick spirit nail zipped through the whale’s body, leaving large holes with each attack.
Meanwhile, Max and Mousie’s energy attacks bombarded the salivate over a humpback whale like artillery, hitting it repeatedly.
Finally.
The movements of the salivate over a humpback whale began to slow, its cries of pain filling the air as it struggled less and less on the ground.
At this point, Charles could have approached to subdue it as his third mystical beast.
However, considering what Emma had told him, the best path for him was to become an all-attribute Beast Master, and this salivate over a humpback whale’s dark attribute overlapped with Mousie’s.
He issued one final combat command to Mousie. The projected shadow of the salivate over a humpback whale opened its massive jaws, diving towards the dying whale on the ground to tear it apart.
The huge body was bitten cleanly in two.
[Ding! You have defeated the ferocious beast [salivate over a humpback whale] (Lv32·Gold Quality)!]
[Your mystical beast Max (Lv.21) loyalty +1! Experience +5000!]
[Your mystical beast Max has leveled up, current level Lv.22!]
[Your mystical beast Mousie (Lv.21) loyalty +1! Experience +5000!]
[Your mystical beast Mousie has leveled up, current level Lv.22!]
“Victory in battle!” Seeing the system notifications, Charles could hardly contain his excitement, embracing Max and Mousie tightly. As if remembering something, he suddenly let go and dashed towards the body of the salivate over a humpback whale.
The whale’s blood-red eyes had already lost their luster. For some reason, as Charles looked at it, he felt as if it wore a smile of relief on its face.
The massive body of the salivate over a humpback whale decayed and corroded at a visibly rapid pace until it transformed into a mass of pitch-black energy, which drifted upwards towards the ten ‘suns’ shackled in the sky.
Before the last piece of flesh vanished, Charles thrust the [spirit nail] into it, preserving the final fragment of tissue.
—
Back at Lily’s home, Charles made sure no one was around before heading to the underground garage. He locked the garage door and retrieved the piece of salivate over a humpback whale flesh and two oddly-shaped candle holders from his storage space.
“Now, I finally have all the materials needed for Mousie’s evolution,” Charles thought, his heart pounding as he turned the blob of flesh into lamp oil and added it to the candle holders.
When the wicks were lit, they burned with a dark, ghostly glow, and between the two candle holders, a circle filled with ancient script appeared.
[Specified Evolution]: Evolution requirements met. Dark Sacrificial Candles 2/2, Salivate over a Humpback Whale Oil 10/10 kg.
[Initiate Evolution?]
Without hesitation, Charles chose [Yes!], and following the system’s instructions, placed Mousie between the candle holders on the circle.
The dark attribute energy in the surrounding space began to converge between the candle holders, eventually enveloping Mousie completely in a shroud of black mist.
Having experienced Max’s evolution, Charles wasn’t too anxious this time. He knew he just needed to wait quietly by the side. During the evolution and promotion process, a mystical beast is at its most vulnerable and needs protection.
While waiting, Charles checked the [Mystical Beast] panels for Max and Mousie.
— [Shadow Flying Squirrel]—
[Name]: Mousie
[Attribute]: Dark
[Level]: Lv22
[Quality]: Gold (Evolving…)
…
—[Nine-Tailed Demon Wolf]—
[Name]: Max
[Attribute]: Ice, Fire
[Level]: Lv22
[Quality]: Platinum
…
Since Max reached Lv21, a month had passed to get to Lv22. The slow pace of leveling up for a second-tier mystical beast was beyond Charles’s expectations.
With Ezra’s help, Charles had temporarily gained the strength of a Tier 4 Beast Master, allowing him to kill the Lv32 salivate over a humpback whale and level up. This was just the beginning. Each level up would require more and more experience. At this rate, it seemed unlikely he would become a Tier 4 Beast Master by next year.
“Grace has been making rapid progress at Aredale Academy. At this rate, how could I possibly be a match for her in two years?” Charles sighed quietly.
Even with the system’s help during his trials in the Ferocious Beast Mountains, using every trick at his disposal, he only managed a draw against Grace.
If he couldn’t level up faster, he feared that in two years, he would indeed be defeated and become a puppet under Grace’s human contract.
“Indeed, that girl truly has some unusual talents. I’ve traveled across this continent for many years and never seen anyone with such strong natural gifts,” Charles mused, his thoughts interrupted as the shadow beside him twisted and a figure emerged abruptly.
Seeing Ezra, Charles snapped back to reality and hurried forward, bowing respectfully, “Elder, thank you for your assistance just now. Without your help, I would never have been able to defeat a Lv32 salivate over a humpback whale.”
“Heh, no need to thank me. The talent you displayed in the fight has indeed surprised me,” Ezra said, leaning against a car nearby, suddenly becoming serious. “There are only 20 days left until the departure to the Abyssal Depths. The flying beast will be leaving soon.”
“Have you really decided not to join me on the journey to the headquarters of Cyber Academy?”
Cyber Academy… the headquarters…
Wait, he wasn’t talking about one of the three major academies of Genosha, Cyber Academy, but rather the famed Cyber Academy located beyond the Abyssal Depths in the Ethereal Grove…
The headquarters?!
Startled, Charles shot up from the ground, looking at Ezra with surprise.