Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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The first thing to come into view was a massive humpback whale, about thirty to forty meters long—the transformed form of the mermaid king.
Unlike the other royals, his magic grew even stronger after transforming, to the point where even Meisa might struggle to guarantee victory in a one-on-one fight against him now.
Under normal circumstances, Turan might have admired the whale’s immense size and power, but not now.
The presence of the monster approaching from behind dwarfed it entirely.
Great Sea Serpent…
Back when Turan obtained the Mimic holy relic, he had seen the corpse of a Great Sea Serpent alongside a man presumed to be a Freya god, marveling at its grandeur.
But the living, moving Great Sea Serpent before him now made that memory seem insignificant.
Admiring the majesty of natural wonders like lakes or mountains was one thing; seeing such a wonder alive, leaping and moving, was an entirely different matter.
Moreover, the Great Sea Serpent’s appearance had changed significantly since then.
Unlike the moss-covered body of the past, it was now clad in dazzling silver scales that shimmered brilliantly, though some damaged patches were filled with something resembling swirling wind—an undead trait, akin to the greenish glow that typically compensated for their missing parts.
Finally, there was the immense magical energy coursing through its body, detectable through the holy relic’s senses.
Its magnitude rivaled that of the head of the Lavitas family Turan had encountered before.
This was likely the prize of this hunt.
“It’s unreal…” Turan muttered.
Turning his head, he saw Solif grinning ear to ear, murmuring to himself.
Given his usual obsession with ancient myths and legends, facing a truly mythical monster seemed to genuinely thrill him.
“Let’s go!” Turan shouted, leaping into the air with Meisa toward the Great Sea Serpent.
Solif followed a step behind, clinging to Bije’s legs as they took flight, while the mermaid royals advanced through the sea.
As they drew closer, the sheer size of their target grew more overwhelming, sending shivers down Turan’s spine. He paused midair and conjured a wind path.
The violent eddies swirling around made it harder than usual, but he managed to create it successfully.
With that, Turan pulled his secret weapon from his pocket.
It was a slingshot, similar in shape to the one he’d used before, but vastly different in scale.
The length of the straps and the size of the pouch were far larger.
While his old slingshot could launch a stone the size of an egg, this one—exaggerating slightly—could hold a boulder as large as a person’s upper body.
Turan placed a massive boulder he’d prepared onto it and began spinning.
“It does feel a bit awkward…” he thought.
His strength was more than sufficient, but hurling a stone with such different proportions from what he’d thrown his whole life naturally felt off.
He’d trained with it over the past few days, but how could that compare to a lifetime of practice?
Enhanced by magic, the slingshot held firm without snapping, smoothly spinning the boulder to build centrifugal force.
Moments later, the boulder shot forth, riding the wind path at several times the speed of sound, hurtling toward somewhere on the Great Sea Serpent’s head.
[□—–■—–□—–!]
The monster, which had been cleaving through the sea toward the island, writhed and let out a scream.
To such a colossal being, it might have been like a human struck by a pebble the size of a fingernail, but the immense magical force packed into it unleashed physical power far beyond its size.
Naturally, the Great Sea Serpent’s scream wasn’t just an animal’s cry.
The roar—or perhaps scream—erupting from its gaping maw sent ripples and tidal waves surging outward.
Had ordinary people heard it from nearby, the shock alone might have killed them.
Turan grimaced, forced to cover his ears with both hands.
“Ugh…”
The Great Sea Serpent, its eerie yellowish-green eyes now fixed on Turan, immediately launched a counterattack.
Waterspouts rose from the sea, and several wobbly pillars of water shot toward him.
He swiftly dodged one or two with flight magic, but the number of water columns exceeded a dozen.
Given that flight magic wasn’t structurally robust, a single misstep could send him crashing down.
In that critical moment, Turan detonated a fistful of Soul of Fire he’d prepared beside him.
The impact, like a blow to his side, propelled him out of the water columns’ range in an instant.
“Phew…”
One of the water pillars that missed him struck the island’s coast behind, leaving a staggering mark.
A trench dozens of meters long and several meters deep gouged the sandy beach.
It wouldn’t kill him outright if it hit, but the damage would be significant.
While Turan drew the Great Sea Serpent’s attention, attacks began from other directions.
“Aaaaah—!”
Thanks to the thick storm clouds, Meisa could unleash lightning bolts with almost no magical cost, relentlessly searing the Great Sea Serpent’s body. Solif, dangling from Bije, darted around its torso, scorching and scraping scales with his golden whip.
Below, the mermaid royals, transformed into various sea beasts, harassed the creature’s body with their specialties. Most striking among them was the mermaid king, a giant whale.
When the massive whale rammed the Great Sea Serpent’s flank with its head, a thunderous boom echoed, as if mountains had collided.
“Ha…”
Though his magical reserves weren’t dozens of times greater than Rowina’s from their recent fight, the sheer physical might from his size alone was awe-inspiring.
Even if its body length was less than half the serpent’s, the whale’s girth was far thicker.
In terms of overall mass, the difference likely wasn’t vast.
Perhaps deeming those harassing it in the sea easier to catch than those flying above, the Great Sea Serpent roared and coiled its long body around the whale.
A jellyfish, trying to free it by embedding its tentacles in the scales and discharging electricity, was crushed by a tail swipe.
“It’s dead,” Turan noted.
The first casualty visibly rattled the mermaid royals.
As the Great Sea Serpent opened its jaws to tear into the whale’s flank, Turan swooped in close, pouring Soul of Fire onto its face and igniting it.
But contrary to expectations, no grand explosion followed—the black powder scattered into the storm and got soaked.
He could protect it from getting wet near his body, but not when flung far.
“Damn…”
He knew Soul of Fire’s explosive power weakened with water contact, but to not explode at all?
Momentarily thrown by the unexpected failure, Turan dismissed the botched tactic from his mind and hurled a stone at the serpent’s massive eye, fixed on biting the whale’s flank.
In haste, it wasn’t the giant boulder from earlier but a smaller stone he typically used.
To the colossal creature, it was less than a speck, but like a human stabbed in the eye, the Great Sea Serpent writhed, slamming its tail into the sea.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of water pillars like those that had targeted Turan erupted, churning the surrounding hundreds of meters.
“Watch out!” Turan shouted, projecting his voice with wind magic.
But Solif and Bije, circling and tearing at its torso, couldn’t escape the attack range in time.
Beyond the raging storm, he glimpsed a man and bird staggering before a water column ensnared them, dragging them into the sea.
“Damn…”
Fortunately, the Mimic holy relic’s senses let Turan maintain visibility through the storm.
Flying over swiftly, he saw Solif manipulating water to emerge from the sea.
“You okay?” Turan asked.
“I am! But Bije’s wing looks broken!” Solif replied.
Turan hoisted both Solif and Bije to the island’s shore.
Solif, watching Bije whimper, spoke in a tone thick with self-reproach.
“Damn it, if I hadn’t been there, it could’ve dodged easily.”
Low physical durability relative to magical power was a chronic flaw in flying magical beasts.
Though Bije, as a high-grade beast, could withstand most attacks, their current foe was a literal mythic-tier creature.
Even this was thanks to a defensive artifact Turan had taken from Baraha’s remnants and hung around its neck—without it, the injury or death could’ve been worse.
Turan aligned Bije’s broken wing and fed it a healing potion.
“You okay, Bije?” he asked.
Bije nodded as if to say it was fine, but through their soul bond, Turan could faintly feel its pain.
Flight was a delicate skill, and with the storm raging, rejoining the fight immediately seemed unlikely.
Turan instructed Bije to retreat inland, then placed Solif atop the nearby sea turtle mermaid.
Approaching might be tough, but support fire from there could still help.
Returning to the battlefield, Turan frowned at the changed situation.
In that short time, two more mermaid royals had died, and the giant whale was bleeding from multiple wounds.
[“Are those two okay!?”]
Having seen Solif and Bije get shot down, Meisa, mid-assault on the Great Sea Serpent, sent her voice via wind magic.
Turan signaled they were fine, then pulled out another large boulder, created a wind path, and launched it.
With a boom, the Great Sea Serpent staggered.
“It seems to be taking some damage…” Turan thought.
The problem was that the mermaid royals had noticeably grown passive since earlier.
Unlike Turan’s group attacking from the air, their sea-based position made them prime targets for the serpent’s immediate reach.
Having suffered heavy losses, they were now retreating cautiously rather than engaging aggressively.
They likely shared Turan’s concern: if they took too many casualties and the power balance shifted, Turan’s group might turn on them after the fight.
With three dead already, they wouldn’t risk more unless Turan’s side took similar risks or losses.
“No choice,” Turan decided.
He spun a boulder in his large slingshot, flying around the serpent’s head to draw its attention.
It tried to intercept the threatening fly with whirlpools as before, but Turan evaded each time with high-speed Soul of Fire bursts.
After several repeats, his body ached as if pummeled.
“This is killing me…”
But his effort paid off—the previously passive mermaid royals, inspired by his tenacity, resumed an aggressive stance.
From afar, Solif fired arrows and spears of light, further distracting the serpent.
As for Meisa, for some reason, she’d shifted from lightning to physical light-based attack spells like Solif’s.
Perhaps she’d found lightning less effective against the Great Sea Serpent than expected.
The fierce exchange continued for dozens of minutes.
Feeling his magic reserves dwindle noticeably, Turan stepped back to catch his breath.
Meisa took over, drawing the serpent’s attention as he had.
“It’s starting to tire… When will it fall?” Turan wondered.
According to the holy relic’s senses, the Great Sea Serpent’s magic had dropped below half its initial amount.
Its body was ravaged, with destroyed parts replaced by the swirling storms typical of undead.
Though undead were structurally tougher than living creatures, they weren’t immortal—damage was surely accumulating.
The issue was that Turan’s group and the mermaid royals were equally depleted.
Of the nine royals who’d started, three were dead; Turan’s side had lost Bije’s combat ability, limiting Solif’s active role.
With the balance so precarious, a single mistake could tip the scales.
“Should we give up?” Turan pondered briefly, then shook his head, banishing the thought.
Abandoning it after coming this far would be too regrettable.
It felt like just a little more effort could do it.
“If only this storm weren’t here, it’d be easier,” he mused.
Had he been able to hurl large quantities of Soul of Fire from a distance and detonate them, the fight would’ve been far simpler.
Using the slingshot conserved magic compared to other methods, but it still couldn’t match the explosive power of Soul of Fire.
If he could stop this rain or shield the Soul of Fire—placing it inside or on the serpent’s surface and detonating it without getting wet—it might deal significant damage.
Especially if one side were sealed, the blast could maximize force in the opposite direction…
Mid-thought, a sudden idea struck Turan, and his eyes widened.
“The slingshot pouch blocks rain, and an explosion creates strong recoil,” he realized.
He recalled a dwarven artifact from the past that fired metal shards using the expansion of liquid into steam.
What if he used a similar principle to propel a boulder with Soul of Fire?
If he packed the slingshot with Soul of Fire, placed a boulder atop it, and triggered an explosion as he launched?
With the idea sparking, Turan grabbed handfuls of Soul of Fire, piling them into the large slingshot.
He set a boulder over it to shield it from rain, secured it with telekinesis magic, and soared into the sky.
[□–■—]
Perhaps recognizing him after a few encounters, the Great Sea Serpent, irritated by Meisa buzzing around, glared hostilely at Turan.
It knew he’d dealt the most painful blows among its foes.
The mermaid royals below, bolstered by his return, showed renewed vigor.
If the mermaid king, who’d repeatedly blocked the serpent’s charges with his body, was the ultimate defender, Turan—blasting its head with massive boulders—was the ultimate striker.
Grinning at the serpent’s wariness, Turan launched the boulder and detonated the Soul of Fire simultaneously.
Heat surged through his hands as the boulder rocketed forth, faster and stronger than ever.
Its target: the crown of the Great Sea Serpent’s head, where the Mimic holy relic’s former owner had once plunged their hand.