Gacha System: Reborn In The Hardest World
Chapter 60: Territory of Leviathans

Chapter 60: Territory of Leviathans

"Esmeralda! Esmeralda—!" He shouted, hoping for some kind of sign.

There was a light wheeze through the quiet forest, drawing him towards it. A school of light-blue fish swam in his path, though he ran right through them—

"Esmeralda!"

Right there on the soil, he found the lavender-haired woman, laying in a pool of blood. Perfect cuts were left reaching from her forearms down to her wrists.

"Shit...!" Jae-Seong let out in a panic, clutching the woman’s arms.

As a thousand thoughts raced through his mind as the blood left even quicker from the girl’s wounds, he had to act quickly.

[--Blessing of Horologium–]

The symbol of a pendulum clock across his back; its presence brought forth a shroud of a translucent force. It enveloped the unconscious woman, fluctuating the air around her as everything was left stagnant.

Not a single drop left her wounds further, nor did her heart take another beat–

Suspended animation; it was the best he could muster, lacking the ability to heal others.

"Sorry, this is all I’ve got..." Jae-Seong apologized quietly to the girl who couldn’t hear him as he scooped her up in his arms.

An orb of guiding left was called upon, leading the way for him as he sought only a way to the shore. As he desperately fled, the paranoia lingered, that any moment, the unseen blade could strike him down.

It wasn’t a feeling he was used to; a helplessness that had become unfamiliar to him. As he ran and ran, covering miles of land at the furthest depths of the ocean, he found a stairway built of hardened sand, leading towards the surface.

An arduous ascent; through the steps, neighboring endless stretches of the sea, the vast leviathans swam closeby. The barrier only encapsulated the sand platforms, leaving him only at arm’s reach from the wrath of the ocean.

"It’ll be alright, Esmeralda...I’ve got you," he quietly assured the one in his arms, keeping his eyes forward.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of steps awaited as he moved one foot up each step. A glint of the surface perhaps, caught his eye like a sparkling star in the night sky—

As his hopes rose, every hair on his body stood as he froze in place. The feeling of something massive closing in from the right forced his body to react, dropping the unconscious girl as he turned to face what came.

The nostril of a creature far too large; it did not part its jaws with the intent to swallow him whole, as he would be nothing more than a single plankton to it.

"Ghh!--"

He raised his arms as the colossal creature rammed right into him, pushing him away from the steps. It was an immeasurable weight that knocked him back, paired with the swiftness of one natural to the ocean depths, it was a frightening encounter.

As he was knocked away from the barrier of the steps, his ability to breath was immediately compromised as he was in the territory of the leviathan.

’Shit...I really didn’t want to fight one of these,’ he thought, floating in the water as he looked ahead.

The obsidian body of the serpentine colossus slithered around him, encompassing every direction he turned to. Into both hands, he called upon shattering light, tossing it like radiant bullets that swarmed the beast’s body–

As each of the shredding particles collided with the leviathan, the light faded like an ember met with a breath.

["The leviathans that protect Atlantis...What makes them threatening more than their size is the nature of their scales. The moment any spell comes into contact with their bodies, it’s nullified. They’re completely impervious to magic. So, if you have to rely on raw strength against something large enough to swallow skyscrapers–good luck."]

Jae-Seong felt the salt water invade his lungs as he clenched his body, witnessing the maw of the leviathan approach. Though he had constellations in his arsenal capable of overcoming the inability to breathe in water, or bolstering his body against the titanic beast, it was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

’If I relinquish Horologium, her wounds will continue bleeding...I can’t risk it,’ he resolved, facing down the leviathan.

As he prepared to drive his knuckles right into its gargantuan snout, he instead found its jaws parting, staring down the vast maw. The rows of teeth, each larger than his own body, resembled a valley of jagged stones; it was as if looking down the pits of death itself–

Everything went black, finding its jaws closing around him as he was caught in its mouth without any resistance. In the darkness of the beast’s jaws, he prepared to punch his way out, cocking his fist back as he aimed it at its tongue before–

"Huh?"

The presence of sunlight against his skin from behind brought him to stop, turning around just as the tongue he stood on rose, flicking him away. Without realizing it, he was staring up at the clear, blue skies as he was ejected from the leviathan’s mouth.

He landed on coarse sand, laying on his back as he saw the creature from the depths looming over like a standing serpent, rivaling skyscrapers. Like a waterfall, the aqua clinging to its primordial scales rained down from its towering presence, emitting breaths that clicked through the wind.

Jae-Seong breathed out as he picked himself up, utterly drenched as he slicked his soaked hair back, "You were trying to help out...? Sorry, but I have to go back...She’s still there–"

As he took a single step towards the mystical sea, a massive geyser of water propelled upward with the emergence of another of the grand leviathans. He watched as the second opened its mouth, rejecting what he assumed in the moment to be another person.

Quickly realizing who it was, he rushed over to where the stagnant body was plummeting, holding his arms out as he positioned himself.

"Gotcha–!"

Right into his hold, the unconscious girl of lavender hair landed, granting him an immediate sense of relief. He looked back up at the leviathans that stared down at him before they dove their heads back into the sea. It was a magnificent sight, watching their seemingly endless bodies disappear back beneath the tides.

It was uncertain if the beasts of old helped him, or merely removed him from their safeguarded territory.