Leviathan, the giant serpent of the deep, was also known as the dragon of the sea. It belonged among the highest rank of Magical Beasts.
According to the Bible, legend held that on the sixth day of Genesis, God created two great beasts from clay, one male and one female. The female was Leviathan.
Chapter 41 of the Book of Job and other passages gave corresponding descriptions of it.
"It regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. Arrows cannot make it flee. Slingstones are like chaff to it, and clubs are counted as straw. It laughs at the whistling of the spear…"
"It looks down on all that are lofty. It is king over all the proud creatures of the sea!"
Both passages revealed Leviathan's terrifying might.
And upon this Sea of Chaos, the mythical creatures the Pan-Hellenic allied fleet had to face were not one, but an entire swarm.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
Piercing shrieks rang out in an instant. Deep-sea serpents of all sizes, their hunger and savagery stirred, opened their enormous blood-red maws, jaws wide enough to swallow heaven and earth, and tore toward the bait that had delivered itself to them.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
In the blink of an eye, the Magecraft barriers raised before them proved as brittle as paper. Dozens of warships were swallowed whole by the diving Leviathans, men and ships together.
The victims, caught completely off guard, did not even have time to scream before becoming food for the giant serpents.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
"Ship cannons, third-stage charge! Fire!"
"Conventional combat units, retreat 1,000 meters! Divine Blood Heroes from all sides, deploy and hunt the Magical Beasts!"
"Priests and ritualists, stack buffs and prepare suppression spells to control the field! Magus, release ritual spells to assist the attack!"
Amid the brief chaos and scattered counterattacks, urgent, forceful orders were passed in every direction.
For a moment, the Ether light streams gathered by the ship cannons, the Divine Blood Heroes streaking across the sky, the elemental aggregates summoned by the Magus, and the various halos layered onto allies by priests and ritualists lit the dim Sea of Chaos in dazzling colors. Beautiful, and dangerous.
The Leviathan swarm caught in the concentrated fire reeled under the continuous bombardment. Their rock-like scales cracked and peeled away, while red-black flesh burst apart and splattered.
But their bodies were far too massive, and they possessed powerful regenerative traits. Across the mangled wounds on each Leviathan, granulation tissue writhed and rapidly healed.
At the same time, the short fin-like wings on either side of the Leviathan beasts flapped violently as light patterns rippled across them.
Dark clouds immediately covered the sea. Wind and thunder raged together as waterspouts rose one after another, sweeping outward and crushing everything around them.
On the Scandinavian side, the Warrior King was clad in jet-black dragon-scale armor, a pair of crimson-black fleshy wings extending from his back. He drove Ether through his body and met the storm head-on, rising against the wind.
"Demon Sword, pseudo-deployment. My blazing flame shall usurp the sun! This is the dawn of destruction, Wheel of Catastrophe!"
The Sun Demon Sword Gram in Sigurd's hand broke apart into hundreds of tiny blood-red shards, each sharp as a thorn. As he chanted the divine words, he released the true power of the Divine Constructs.
In an instant, the shards spinning rapidly in a ring around their master's arm erupted with dazzling brilliance, like the sun hanging overhead. Then they stirred up a strange golden-red Ether storm and shot toward the wind pillars ahead.
Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!
One razor-sharp fragment after another forcibly bored through the wind pillars, slicing apart the currents wrapped within them, as well as the Leviathans' tough scales and flesh.
Immediately, amid the serpents' screams and wails, seawater mixed with shattered scales and torn flesh came pouring down like a torrential rain.
Hiss, hiss…
Because they possessed the "Dragon" attribute, Sigurd, as a Dragon Slayer, inflicted severe damage on these giant deep-sea serpents.
Even so, the serpents' powerful vitality and the sea's protection allowed the flesh in their wounds to writhe slowly and attempt to heal again the moment the injuries were submerged in seawater.
"Power sustained in my name, answer my call and open the gate. Come forth, my castle, Castle of Shadows. Gate of Skye!"
Just then, Skadi, the Goddess of Winter, raised her wand and lightly tapped it while chanting divine words. She stepped off from the deck and walked through the air toward the deadlocked battlefield.
Under the purple-red glow of Ether, a staircase seemed to form beneath Skadi's feet, leading her toward a throne.
At the same time, a massive Magecraft array formed above the heads of the Scandinavians, covering dozens of miles. It continued turning as a hidden gate slowly opened, and an inverted winter castle sank from the sky, casting a cold, eerie shadow and radiating a chill that froze all life.
In an instant, points of light like falling stardust traced Rune after Rune through the void, engraving themselves onto everyone's weapons and armor.
This allowed nearby allies not only to filter out the toxins released into the air by the Leviathans, but also to grant their weapons effects such as increased damage and healing prevention. Protective light patterns formed as well, circling around them.
"Spear, Runes, in the name of the great god Odin, grant me strength!"
Immediately afterward, under Brynhildr's lead, the Valkyries spread their wings in perfect unison. They raised their Shields of Divine Iron and broke through the poisonous mist and crashing waves. Leaning back, they chanted divine words, lightly kissed the Rune spears enchanted by Skadi, and hurled them toward the sea monsters' vital points.
Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!
In an instant, the three nearby Leviathans, which had already suffered repeated heavy blows, were blasted full of holes. The Mana-rich blood inside their bodies nearly drained away, leaving them unable to sustain regeneration.
Their massive bodies twitched more and more weakly. They let out shrill screams as they were blown into several sections and gradually sank beneath the sea.
However, before the people aboard the Viking warships could relax, the sea began to boil. Several Berserkers by the rail instinctively lowered their heads to look.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
In the next instant, several black shadows shot up from below. The sight of those sharp teeth snapping shut in midair terrified the men so badly that they froze on the spot.
Bang! Bang!
At the critical moment, a pitch-black stone chain sword and a dark-red Bloodaxe cut through the air, piercing, slicing, and sweeping past to knock down the things that had nearly lunged onto the Berserkers' faces.
Splat!
The sturdy blond man approaching them, Beowulf, pulled the chain sword nailed into a pillar free and stomped the saw-toothed fish that tried to leap up and bite him into pulp.
"You lot, get your heads in the fight! The battle isn't over yet. If you suffer a loss because of one careless moment, then even if you survive, I'll wring your necks myself so you don't disgrace the Berserkers!"
The Dragon Slayer gave a savage grin and cold snort. Beside him, Eric Bloodaxe rubbed his thumb along the trembling edge of his axe, his fierce eyes glaring as well. The way he looked at them was as if he were choosing sacrifices for his demonic weapon.
The still-shaken men jolted in fright, hurriedly nodded, and forced themselves into absolute vigilance. Everyone else aboard took it as a warning.
At the same time, aboard the Argo, Samael looked toward the water around them, where thin waves were being cut open one after another and dense shadows were gathering. His expression turned ugly.
If he remembered correctly, Leviathan was a serpentine monster created under the influence of Tiamat, the Mother of Origins. Its name meant "that which coils." Just as the name suggested, it was a colossal serpent whose body could coil around the earth.
Because of that, it not only possessed the qualification to "be king among the creatures of the sea," but also the power to command sea monsters. The poison in their blood could drive nearby marine life into frenzy and evolution, giving them extreme aggression.
It seemed this pass would not be easy to cross.
And what disgusted him even more was that Marduk had actually copied the power of the Mother Goddess Tiamat and replicated these revolting bastards.
Tiamom only needs one serpent, me. The rest of these worms can all get lost!
Samael's eyes filled with intense malice toward these inferior fakes.