Chapter 22: Horn Shark

He had no choice but to heft the thing onto his back, bracing it against his shoulders. The plan was to lug it to the surface and hope for the best. So far, he hadn't encountered any more sharks. But as he climbed upward and neared the 200-meter mark, ominous shapes surfaced around him.

The black waters shifted restlessly. Logan squinted. He saw large, floating masses overhead—likely a gathering of aquatic beasts. Gritting his teeth, he ascended with all possible haste. He was only 120 meters from breaching the surface, and once there, he could dash ashore in seconds.

With that in mind, he withdrew the Breeze Sword, funneling divine power into its blade. A glow of blue flickered around the weapon, forming small eddies in the water as it tried to spin up. Logan slashed forward, releasing a swirling vortex of compressed water that ripped upward toward the surface.

The recoil nearly sucked him back down, costing half his divine power in the process. But the vortex also blasted away anything in its path. One glimpsed form—a Aurora Hornshark—was knocked end over end, bleeding from a gash where the swirling force had struck. In the pitch-black gloom, a ten-meter-high wave erupted at the surface, surging toward the island.

Logan seized that moment to rocket toward the surface, Purple Shell in tow. Caught in the whirlwind of displaced water, he propelled himself upward at breakneck speed. Everything was going perfectly… until something unexpected happened.

A frigid ice arrow streaked through the air like lightning, aimed right at Logan Lane's back. Instinct forced him to whirl around, raising his Breeze Sword in a desperate block. Divine power surged from his body into the blade, causing brilliant blue light to erupt across the sword's surface.

Even so, the ice arrow slammed into Logan before he could fully brace himself, sending him hurtling through the air. Everything within a radius of five hundred meters on the sea's surface instantly froze, forming brittle ice crystals. His limbs, encrusted in freezing mist, went numb and stiff.

A second dazzling light—pure gold this time—emerged from the water. A massive golden horn, at least fifteen meters long, plunged toward him. Logan's pupils dilated, and he quickly hoisted the giant purple shell he was carrying, using it as a shield. He didn't dare rely on his Breeze Sword again so soon.

Metallic thunderclap-like sounds reverberated as the horn collided with the shell. The brutal force catapulted Logan out of the sea, flinging him nearly a kilometer before he crashed onto the far side of his island. Had the island not expanded so much, he would have landed in the ocean instead.

"Boom!"

He collided with a jutting boulder, shattering it on impact. The ground cratered beneath him, finally absorbing the momentum. Blood sprayed from his mouth, staining the inside of his oxygen mask red. Only the high grade of his oxygen cylinder—and the fact that it hadn't taken the direct strike—had saved him from disintegrating completely.

Logan caught a flash of purple light before losing consciousness. As he lay senseless, a sudden "heavenly punishment" fell from above. Purple lightning engulfed the ocean for thousands of miles, accompanied by an indifferent voice echoing throughout the entire region:

"Demon Beast Aurora Hornshark King has violated the novice game rules, using B-rank power against an F-rank target, exceeding the game's three-level limit. The offender is hereby executed. The attacked survivor shall receive all materials from the Aurora Hornshark King and the right to raise any one item's rank by three levels."

The announcement played three times, loud and clear. Instantly, the district's chat channels exploded.

Out at sea, a monstrous shark over three hundred meters long roared in pain. Desperate to resist the thunderous bolts, it furiously swung its twenty-one-meter-long horn, unleashing lethal break-armor skills. It also spewed a barrage of ice arrows into the water, far stronger than the ones it had fired at Logan. Nearby sea beasts were frozen and shattered in an instant.

None of it mattered. Just a few stray lightning strikes were enough to spell its doom. It endured for only three heartbeats before letting out a final, unwilling bellow. Then all fell silent.

A faint glow enveloped Logan Lane's unconscious body. His clothes disintegrated at once—underwear, linen garments, everything reduced to ragged strips. Even his hospital gown was gone, shredded into pieces of cloth stuck to him, some with bits of flesh clinging to them. The gear was worthless now.