Second World
chapter-1865

The underworld forces hit Palgrost's Southern defensive front one day after its Northern front. Leviathan's vast body loomed over the marching demon hordes. The sight of this colossal devil was unmissable. Even when the defenders were fighting the demon's vanguard troops, their attention was quickly drawn to the huge devil coursing through the sky.

However, before Leviathan came near the defensive walls, he was blocked by another being not smaller in size. This being was a colossal whale with a pair of feathered wings. The wings were too small for its huge body, though. They were more likely just decorations. What truly carried the whale in the sky was the large amount of water floating around the whale. The whale was cruising off this water as it moved.

This whale was Harmony Keepers' guardian, the Caelum Whale. It was level 96 eternal grade.

The water around the Caelum Whale was an ability similar to Gumeru's Dual-world Domain, except this was the whale's natural ability. It had no cooldown or duration. Water would continue to generate around the Caelum Whale without it needing to exert any effort.

Jack had encountered this whale before, even if he didn't realize it. When he was diving into the sinkhole in the lake at the Village of Peace to get the material for his pet armor, he saw this whale, or more accurately, he saw the whale's eye.

Riding atop the Caelum Whale was Meratis, the chief of the Village of Peace. She was, however, not the seemingly frail old woman Jack and the others met when they visited the village. The current Meratis wore a lavish green robe and carried a long staff with winds constantly swirling around it. Her countenance didn't show her usual calmness, but a gritty determination of one who prepared to die to defend her belief.

Next to her was a hairy humanoid creature with a dog's face. This dogman was Snarpsnout, Whitebeard's friend, whom Jack and the others had also met in the Village of Peace. Except they only saw him as a normal German Shepherd. If a dog that talked could be considered normal, that was. Snarpsnout in this form was a level 80 eternal grade. He also wore medium armor and carried a long spear.

On the ground, many villagers from the Village of Peace were fighting alongside Palgrost and Themisphere soldiers. When they first came, President Thelgrun was confounded seeing so many animals arriving with the villagers. Not to mention, all of them were weak. He didn't chase them away, though. Despite being weak, they were members of a divine faction. Furthermore, they brought a good supply of Grace of Tranquility potions.

Only after the battle started that the defenders see the real power of Harmony Keepers' members. All the animals transformed into their true forms, similar to what Whitebeard did. As for the villagers, it was their equipment that transformed. Their levels and grades also increased exponentially after those transformations.

Thelgrun, who was using the war table inside Themisphere's mobile fortress, was grateful he didn't treat these divine faction members rudely when they arrived.

With the cooperation between the Themisphere army, the Palgrost army, and the Harmony Keepers, they had no problem defending against the underworld's vanguard army. However, their worry soon returned when they saw the arrival of the underworld's main army led by Leviathan.

As the demon army stormed forward, Leviathan came face to face with the Caelum Whale. Despite the whale being similar in size, Leviathan didn't put it in his eyes. He proceeded forward as if he didn't see the huge whale blocking his path.

When the two behemoths came close to one another, the Caelum Whale made the first move. The water around it became violent. The water charged toward Leviathan while making big splashes.

Tons of water moving at that speed could topple any ship, but all it did was stop Leviathan. The devil was still annoyed for getting stopped, though. He tried controlling the water that splashed at him without any success. He might be able to manipulate natural water, but the water generated by Caelum Whale was not natural. The water only obeyed Caelum Whale's command.

Pissed off by his failure, he opened his mouth wide and started sucking all the water. This went on for some time. Water kept on materializing on Caelum Whale's side. It was then devoured by Leviathan. No matter how much water Leviathan swallowed, it didn't bother him. His belly was like a bottomless abyss.

The Caelum Whale couldn't continue like this. Despite it seemingly making no effort when generating the water, this act consumed its MP. It would be a problem if it ran out of MP and could no longer generate water to cruise through the sky.

It swam forward. Spell formation started forming on its head. At the same time, Meratis also started casting a spell when Leviathan came into range.

While still casting, the huge body of the Caelum Whale slammed into Leviathan. This interrupted Leviathan's devouring process. Caelum Whale's spell formation was completed and it conjured four giant tentacles made of water. The tentacles entangled Leviathan's body.

Meratis also completed her spell. A massive tornado pillar shot forward and crashed into Leviathan. Snarpsnout jumped forward. Wings from a wing tool spread on his back. His spear emitted a thick light as he rushed at Leviathan's head.

Leviathan roared. An explosion of violent wind erupted from his body. These violent winds produced uncountable wind blades that cut everything around him. The tentacles were cut to pieces. Snarpsnout had no choice but to cancel his offense and flew away as he used his spear to deflect the wind blades that assailed him.

Leviathan returned a body slam into Caelum Whale's body. The whale bounced violently from the impact. From that one impact, it was clear who was stronger.

Leviathan pushed on for the offense by taking a bite using his enormous mouth. The Caelum Whale's body was covered by thick protective plates like Leviathan, but not on the same level. The plate armor on Caelum Whale cracked after a single bite. Meratis cast spells to force Leviathan to back away, but the devil didn't let go of his bite. Damage number continued to appear above the whale as the cracks on its armor continued to expand.

Leviathan only let go of his bite after a thick yellow fume slammed into his head. He turned to the attacker while the Caelum Whale put a distance.

The yellow fume was Tiemezzys' divine earth breath. He was fighting on the other side. He came over after seeing Leviathan. He knew they would need to work together to stop Leviathan's advance. If this devil reached the defensive walls, he could easily destroy them simply by dropping his body on them.

Tiemezzys used his Divine Stone Gaze when Leviathan stared at him. However, Leviathan was unfazed by this skill. Leviathan's huge mouth formed what looked like a weird sneer when Tiemezzys showed his consternation. Tiemezzys didn't expect any being could resist his eye skill.

In retaliation, a condensed jet of water shot out of Leviathan's mouth. This was not his skill. This was Caelum Whale's water which he swallowed earlier. After processing the water inside his body, he purged Caelum Whale's influence from the water. It could now manipulate this water.

Even though it was not a skill, the jet of water still produced high damage when it hit Tiemezzys. Leviathan then released all the water he had swallowed. This massive water slammed into his four attackers and pushed them back. He then laughed at them.

Tiemezzys was furious, but Meratis stopped him from being reckless. Meratis started giving commands that allowed the four of them to cooperate better.

However, even with the four working together, they could hardly stop Leviathan. Other powerful combatants had to come and help. They lost a considerable number of these combatants in the process. Some were sucked into Leviathan's belly and died because they couldn't escape. Meratis asked all melee combatants not to approach Leviathan after that incident, including Snarpsnout. The loyal dogman was unwilling to leave Meratis, but he complied after Meratis commanded him sternly. He went and fought the other demons.

The melee roles were burdened on Tiemezzys and Caelum Whale. They were too massive to be swallowed by Leviathan. The others supported them by using ranged attacks. Their HP went down rapidly because they suffered from Leviathan's focused attention. Thankfully, many members of Harmony Keepers were excellent healers. They managed to keep the two alive until the defenders retreated three days later.

When the pursuing demons were stopped by the traps, Leviathan continued flying forward. He didn't care even if he was alone. Tiemezzys, Meratis, and the Caelum Whale ended up having to fight him nonstop during the retreat. More ranged combatants who could fly joined the struggle. This alleviated the pressure from the three and helped heal the three's HP.

Leviathan only stopped one day after the defenders retreated. He stayed in the sky and looked at the retreating defenders with contempt. A distance away, he saw rows of defensive structures similar to the ones his army had destroyed earlier. There were even some small forts along the defensive walls here. He understood then the defenders would make another stand here.

He snickered. 'What a pointless thing to do,' he thought to himself.