UNLOCK: I CAN SEE MY STATS

chapter 30 : giant sea serpent

"Hmm, what is it? What do you see?"

Both Erin and Dice asked when they noticed Marcus’s expression change. He lowered the spyglass from his eyes and tossed it back to Dice.

"This definitely isn’t a coincidence..." Marcus thought grimly. "Their ship’s course is headed straight here, which means they’ve found out I’m the one who killed the Celestial Lord. But how? How did they figure it out..." His mind was crowded with questions that had no logical answers.

Three days had already passed since the Celestial Lord was killed, yet somehow the Grand Council of Unions had managed to pinpoint the killer’s location. Marcus couldn’t help but feel a cold fear at the terrifying reach of that council.

He ignored both Dice and Erin, who were bombarding him with questions.

"It’s better to take the fight to them than wait for them to get close..." Marcus muttered bleakly as he prepared to transform.

"Hey man, what’s wrong with you? What nonsense are you talking about?" Erin asked, stepping closer and patting him on the shoulder.

"If I’m not mistaken, that ship belongs to the Council of Unions..." Dice said as he lowered the spyglass, staring at Marcus, who nodded, then under their stunned gazes, sprinted to the edge of the ship and leapt into the sea.

"Wait..." Erin shouted, trying to stop him, but it was no use. He and Dice ran to the edge but saw no trace of Marcus.

"Damn it... did he drown?" Erin muttered.

"If I’m right, this Marcus probably has problems with the Council. He’s likely committed some crime and is scared of them..." Dice analyzed, rubbing his chin. If Marcus were there, he would have praised the man’s sharp thinking.

Marcus dove rapidly into the depths. "Hmm, swimming with one hand is tough." He thought gloomily as he went deeper.

After a while, he stopped swimming, lifted his head, and looked at the distant surface. "Hmm, I’m far enough away from them now..." Marcus thought, then closed his eyes.

The reason he’d dived was because he didn’t want Dice and Erin to see that he could transform into a Sea King.

Even if they connected it to a Dreambringer ability, it wouldn’t make sense when they saw he could freely swim, unlike other Dreambringer users who lost their power and sank the moment they touched water.

With a single thought, his skin began to turn dark purple.

It rippled, then like magic, scales started to form, while his body expanded and twisted until he finally took the shape of a giant sea serpent.

Roar!!

He let out a terrifying bellow that scared away distant fish and even some smaller Sea Kings.

[New rare life form detected...]

[Do you confirm DNA scan...]

"No, not now..." Marcus replied without hesitation to the energy bracelet’s prompt. He’d already instructed it not to scan any new DNA without his confirmation, afraid of ending up in the same situation he had with Erin.

If Erin hadn’t been so different from other adventurers, he would no doubt be dead by now. Despite his pride, Marcus bitterly admitted to himself he couldn’t even overpower Dice, let alone Erin with his fire ability.

That experience reminded him of something he had forgotten... without the bracelet, he was nothing.

His enormous body twisted as he began swimming at high speed toward the black dot above. He closed the distance to the Council’s ship rapidly.

On the deck of that ship, there were five figures, all wearing white masks and cloaks. Suddenly, one of the Special Shadow Squad’s expressions changed. He ran quickly to the rail and stared down at the water below with a scowl.

"Hmm... strange..."

Another member noticed his reaction and asked, "What is it, Tovar?"

"The target’s position has changed..." Tovar answered, eyes still fixed on the sea.

"Oh, did he spot us and decide to run, clever little rat..." one of them sneered. But the other who’d asked before saw the seriousness in Tovar’s face and questioned again.

"Tovar! What is it? Where is the target now?"

Tovar, the one with the aura ability, didn’t answer right away. It was a weak combat skill but extraordinary for tracking, able to sense the aura of any living being, and if it hadn’t been more than seven days since that aura was left behind, he could easily follow it.

They’d received orders from their commander to investigate the Celestial Lord’s murder. Luckily, they had already been on a mission in this part of the sea, escorting an important treasure from the kingdom of Gua to the Union’s Red Headquarters.

With his ability, Tovar could create images or illusions of people who had died based on remnants of their aura, provided they hadn’t been dead for more than seven days. Through this, they’d seen the Celestial Lord’s final moments and identified his killer. Then Tovar had used his ability again to track Marcus’s aura signature, which had led them here.

But only now did Tovar feel Marcus’s position suddenly change. He sensed it clearly, Marcus was directly beneath them, approaching at a speed that showed no sign of stopping.

"His position changed, he’s right beneath us... and he’s coming fast..."

"What?!"

The rest were surprised but didn’t seem too concerned, feeling instead that he was saving them a lot of trouble and time. Tovar, however, didn’t share their relief...

"Good, I’m tired of this chase..." one of the agents said as he drew his sword. "Since he’s here, I’ll make sure my blade tastes his blood..."

Another agent added with a sigh, "What’s all this fuss about? He’s just a slave who took advantage of a Sea King’s attack on the ship and killed the Celestial Lord..."

Thanks to Tovar’s ability, they’d seen fragments of the incident and believed the Sea King had destroyed the ship, allowing Marcus to break free and kill the Lord.

Roar!!

Suddenly, they all felt the ship start to move violently as the sea abruptly surged, waves rising out of nowhere.

Then the ship shook even harder, as if something enormous was moving beneath it.

"What the..."

One of the soldiers in charge of routine ship operations whispered as he tried to cling to the side rail.

But before anyone could understand what was happening...

Boom!!

The ship’s hull exploded from below. The giant sea serpent broke through at terrifying speed, its enormous twisting body shredding wood, planks flying everywhere, smoke rising into the sky.

"Damn it!!"

The agents leaped away from danger, but one who tried to jump was too slow. Marcus, in his monstrous form, opened his mouth, rows of sharp teeth gleaming.

Crack!!

His jaws snapped shut around the agent, crushing him in a gruesome instant.

Ptuh!!

Under the stunned eyes of the agents floating midair with their special skills, the giant sea serpent spat out the mangled corpse like it was nothing, then glared at the rest with narrowed eyes.

He moved again, trying to destroy the ship with his tail.

A blast of air erupted from the sheer force he used, sending soldiers flying off the deck in every direction.

Above, only six members of the Special Shadow Squad remained.

Their commander clenched his fist tightly when he saw the agent with the sword, who had boasted moments ago, get killed. He turned to look at Tovar, who was sweating beneath his mask.

"Tovar! What is going on here?!" he shouted as he adjusted his stance and kicked toward the Sea King wreaking havoc on the ship.

"Storm Kick..." A slicing wave shot out at Marcus’s head. Marcus sensed it with his sixth sense and dodged, only to take another hit from a different agent.

Roar!!

He screamed in rage and pain, a hideous wound now gaping on his body, blood pouring like a waterfall.

"Damn it, their level is completely different..." Marcus thought gloomily and with fear. He avoided more attacks, then his body sank back into the sea. But before he did, he unleashed a powerful electric surge, killing the weak and paralyzing the strong on the ship.

He dove quickly into the depths, spotting several crates sinking. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth and swallowed them, or rather stored them in his maw.

"Damn that cursed beast, it completely destroyed the ship..."

The squad commander growled as he stared at the sinking wreck.

They landed on what remained of the ship. The commander quickly ordered.

"Check the hold immediately, that damned monster broke through the place, we can’t risk losing that treasure..."

"Damn it! Isn’t metal layers supposed to drive away Sea Kings, so what the hell happened here..."

He turned sharply to Tovar and said in a harsh voice.

"Hey! Tovar! Check the target’s location again..."

"Commander, I just fought the target myself!!" Tovar replied in a firm tone as he pointed downward.