Chapter 4

The sunlight was warm, and the seawater pleasantly heated.

Within those warm waters, a gray monster sped along.

It had an elongated oval body, pointed at one end and round at the other, thick gray skin that looked immensely dependable at a glance, and dozens of powerful tentacles.

It pursued fish large and small at astonishing speed, wantonly slaughtering every target it could catch. Most became shriveled floating corpses drifting with the waves, while a few were carefully chewed. If they tasted good, they earned a thumbs-up; if they tasted bad, they were not spat out either, because wasting resources was shameful.

This monster was the body Sui Xiong was using.

Even sea turtles with hard shells and seabirds capable of flight were on its menu.

As the days passed, the monster grew larger and fiercer.

In this world, it had almost no natural enemies. With the vast sky above and open sea below, it roamed freely and happily.

It was like having an entire leveling map's monsters all to himself. What a rush!

How long has it been since I transmigrated here? After eating and drinking his fill, Sui Xiong basked in the sun and pondered this question.

He did not know. He had never counted. He had already forgotten.

He had gradually grown accustomed to his current life and identity: a ferocious creature at the top of the food chain, a terrifying sea monster, an unchallenged overlord of the shallows.

He still had not found a way to leave this body, but he no longer cared much about that. This body was very useful—far more useful than a human body. Its repeatedly strengthened tentacles were much more useful than human limbs, its propeller-like swimming speed was beyond anything humans could match, and its tough, thick skin was even more formidable. Not even the legendary Golden Bell Shield or Iron Cloth Shirt could compare to it.

At least in the sea, this body was perfect.

Moreover, as he kept hunting and devouring the souls of weaker creatures, his own soul had grown considerably. He could dive far deeper now, and the range of his soul-extracting attacks had increased greatly as well.

He felt that he was practically invincible now.

Now, it's time to challenge a high-difficulty dungeon!

Muttering to himself, Sui Xiong turned his gaze toward the dark, distant waters.

His soul senses told him that a rather powerful opponent was there.

What could it be? A big fish? No, a big fish is just a bigger pile of meat. A sea monster? Perhaps. Maybe it thinks I'm here to steal its territory. Or perhaps... a giant whale? The kind that nearly killed me back then?

At the thought of that final possibility, Sui Xiong's calm mood gradually heated up. He was not a particularly magnanimous person. Repaying grudges and returning favors were the principles by which he lived. Besides, as a strong man, he also longed to fight the strong.

Upon this boundless sea where he had nothing, in this world where he did not even know when or where he was, only battle could make his increasingly numb heart come alive again!

Battle!

Facing the direction from which the pressure in his soul senses emanated, Sui Xiong assumed a fighting stance.

A moment later, a massive shadow slowly emerged from the deep sea.

A huge body, a sharp horn—it was a One-Horned Giant Whale.

When he saw that thing appear, Sui Xiong could not help but sneer.

Perfect! I was just looking for a chance to beat you up and settle this grudge! To be honest, I'm really curious what a big fellow like you tastes like...

As for whether this One-Horned Giant Whale was the one that had nearly killed him back then, there was no need to dwell on it.

Thinking too much made people age. First, fight the damn thing!

Facing the monster that stood ready for battle, the One-Horned Giant Whale also seemed quite cautious. It did not charge straight at him. After slowly drawing somewhat closer, it stopped.

Sui Xiong carefully examined the One-Horned Giant Whale. It had the same streamlined body, jet-black on the upper half and faintly white beneath. Its huge eyes seemed to possess a trace of humanity, while the long horn on its forehead radiated danger.

For some reason, his attention kept being drawn to that horn. Whenever he looked at it, the sense of danger in his heart surged.

Looks like... that horn is a powerful weapon! He silently considered his tactics. A frontal clash probably won't work. Fine. When it charges at me, I'll dive beneath it, wrap it up with my tentacles, anchor myself against its belly, and slowly deal with it from there. I'll beat it so badly that even its mother won't recognize it!

Having decided on this strategy, he became even less anxious and patiently waited. The One-Horned Giant Whale likewise showed no intention of attacking in a hurry and waited there as well.

Two powerful beings at the top of the marine food chain silently faced off.

After a while, just as Sui Xiong was beginning to feel bored, he suddenly sensed a thought. It was deep and cold, carrying an unsettling pressure, and it came from the One-Horned Giant Whale.

[What are you?]

Without needing words, he understood the meaning of that thought in an instant.

Damn! It even comes with a translation system! He could not help laughing, and the thought of fighting faded away.

Being able to communicate was wonderful. Since transmigrating to this world, he had drifted alone upon the vast ocean for so long that he had been deeply depressed. Now that he had finally encountered someone he could communicate with—and someone who could provide information about this world—he was overjoyed.

He concentrated his mind and tried to send a thought to the One-Horned Giant Whale.

I'm just passing through. Where is this place?

He sent out that thought, but to his surprise, such a short sentence consumed an astonishing amount of mental energy. His vision went dark, and he became dizzy.

At that moment, the One-Horned Giant Whale attacked.

White ripples appeared on its chilling horn, and several white lines suddenly emerged in the surrounding seawater, rapidly spreading across Sui Xiong's body. The enormous malformed jellyfish body jolted violently and was encased in a thick layer of ice.

Damn! That's underhanded!

Sui Xiong was dizzy and unable to fight back. He could only watch helplessly as a crafty smile appeared in the whale's eyes. It suddenly accelerated, rushed before him, and opened its enormous mouth.

Its white teeth gleamed menacingly as it bit off at least one-third of the front of his body, together with the frost covering it, and swallowed hard.

It was a successful ambush. The giant whale had exploited Sui Xiong's lack of experience, tricked him into expending a large amount of mental energy, then seized the opportunity to launch a fierce attack while he was dizzy from overexertion. In one stroke, it had placed him in a fatal situation.

If he truly had been an enormous malformed jellyfish, he would certainly have been dead by now.

However... Sui Xiong was not a jellyfish at all. That enormous monster was merely a "house" in which he was temporarily living.

So what if half the house was gone!

Sui Xiong quickly recovered. Looking at the giant whale so close before him, he was utterly enraged and let out a sinister sneer.

You are... courting death!

The invisible hand of his soul shot out and plunged deep into the giant whale's body.

The whale, which had been smugly enjoying its prey, shuddered. Its huge eyes revealed disbelief and terror. The cold gleam atop its horn intensified, and endless freezing energy spread outward, instantly turning a vast area of water into solid ice.

This was its most powerful trump card. Throughout its life, it had used it more than once to escape danger and even turn defeat into victory.

But this time, the extreme cold and solid ice were of no help whatsoever. Instead, because it had unleashed its power too forcefully, its soul was briefly stunned.

Only for an instant.

But that was enough to decide life and death.

The giant whale's soul was enormous and resilient. Although Sui Xiong had seized it, he could not pull it out immediately, and the two were locked in a stalemate. In fact, Sui Xiong was at a slight disadvantage. After all, his starting point had been far below the whale's. Even though he had devoured many souls during this time and greatly increased the total strength of his own soul, he still fell short of the whale in both quantity and quality.

However, the whale's icy power had to be driven by its soul. The excessive use of that power had temporarily left its soul stunned and unable to resist.

In that instant, Sui Xiong severed the connection between its soul and body.

All that remained was to pull up the radish.

Pull, pull, pull up the radish. Pull, pull, pull up the radish. Pull, pull, but it would not come out. Put some muscle into it, and pull harder.

The whale's body trembled continuously. Its sharp horn still released waves of frigid energy, but it was already too late.

A soul separated from its body could not adapt to its surroundings so quickly, and Sui Xiong had no intention of giving it that chance.

After a while, Sui Xiong finally extracted the giant whale's soul.

Although he could not see what a soul actually looked like, he could clearly sense that he had gained a tremendous prize this time—a massive amount of food.

Devouring the soul was not easy. The giant whale was, after all, a powerful creature, completely different from ordinary fish, shrimp, and jellyfish. Its soul resisted desperately, even breaking free from Sui Xiong's devouring grasp several times.

But it had yet to master this form and was merely struggling on instinct. Sui Xiong held it tightly and continued devouring it.

After a long time, the giant whale's soul was finally completely consumed and transformed into nourishment for Sui Xiong's own soul.

After devouring the giant whale's soul, Sui Xiong vaguely felt overstuffed. This thing had simply been too huge; a snake swallowing an elephant was not so easy.

Fortunately, a soul could not truly be stuffed to death. After resting for a while, he finally recovered.

This hunt had been extremely dangerous. The giant whale truly deserved its status as an overlord of the sea. Not only did it possess powerful and mysterious abilities, but it was also intelligent and cunning. Had Sui Xiong not possessed the innate advantage of not fearing damage to his body, and had the whale not lacked experience in soul combat, Sui Xiong himself would most likely have been the one to lose.

But fortune was found amid danger, and this perilous hunt had brought Sui Xiong enormous gains.

Devouring that vast quantity of souls greatly strengthened his own. If this world were a game, the LEVEL_UP icon above his head would surely have flashed several times in a row.

And that was only a small part of his gains.

The greater harvest came from the information mixed within the giant whale's soul.

Some of this information was scattered and chaotic. Most of it was hunting experience of little use to Sui Xiong, but much of it was useful.

For example, how to use that frigid power; for another, a map of a large nearby area.

Sui Xiong could now be certain that the giant whale he had just killed was the very one that had nearly eaten him when he had first transmigrated. This time, he had truly stumbled into a chance for revenge and settled his grudge.

According to the whale's memories, he had actually reached a part of the ocean relatively close to its edge. If he swam in a certain direction for another day or two—well, one or two giant-whale days—he would be able to see land.

This thrilled him. He desperately wanted to rush to land, go ashore, find signs of human habitation, and learn the exact situation of this world.

But he restrained that excitement. Rather than heading for land immediately, he decided to make a trip into the deep sea first.

Because he needed to become stronger first.