Clothes were shredded. Bodies were torn up just as badly.
"It absorbs essence… and spits out poison, huh…" Cyr watched this unfold, murmuring in thought.
There were no screams. Not even a grunt of pain.
Everyone present was a hardened fighter—not one of them made a sound or furrowed their brow.
The ants held up okay—their bodies were far tougher than humans.
But the fragile human, Maro, looked especially bad off.
Cyr, however, wasn't paying attention to Maro. His eyes turned toward Sora.
The once-glossy, fluffy white tiger—its fur now patchy and pitted, like it had rolled through a firepit.
A seventy percent drop in appearance.
From majestic, regal white tiger… to a pitiful, mangy stray.
RCT… could it regrow the fur?
If not… it was way too ugly to keep around.
Cyr looked at the white tiger thoughtfully.
At first, Sora didn't realize what had happened. Its fur was too thick to feel any pain.
That was… until it turned its head and saw its tail.
Then—
"Awoooo—!!" A heartbroken, soul-wrenching tiger's roar rang out.
The domain was deactivated. The soggy, flame-dried ship crashed back into the sea.
Sora threw itself down in front of Cyr, clutching its head and bawling. Huge tears streamed in strings from its light-blue eyes.
Because of Cyr's influence, this was a tiger that cared deeply about its appearance.
"Pfft…" Instead of treating it right away, Cyr turned his head with a snicker, watching the huge tiger cry with shameless amusement.
When it was a little fluffy cub, its crying had actually been kind of cute.
But now that it had grown to the size of a two- or three-story building, its whimpering brought to mind the image of a musclebound man sobbing uncontrollably.
Sora had clearly grown in size but not in maturity…
Well, it was still a magical beast, and only two years old… Normal tigers aren't considered adults until around three or four. As for magical beasts—who knows?
"All right, enough crying." Cyr patted the big tiger's head.
Its wounds healed instantly, and the damaged fur returned to its original lush, silky state—if anything, it looked even fuller and more luxurious now.
"Hm… at this rate, Reverse Cursed Technique might work pretty well for hair regrowth too." Cyr nodded, sounding quite satisfied.
Not that he needed it—he already had a full head of hair and had never used it that way.
While he was at it, he casually healed Maro too. The moment Maro recovered, he scrambled to the side to change his clothes.
According to Maro, his reason was:
"Standing before milord in disheveled clothing is an affront to dignity."
Of course, Cyr figured the guy just had a serious image to uphold.
Compared to Sora and Maro, who had the luxury of Cyr's one-click healing, the three injured ants had it much rougher.
Neferpitou had to heal herself first before she could treat Shaiapouf and Youpi.
By the time all three Royal Guards were back on their feet, an hour and a half had passed.
And in the seawater, that strange alien-looking slime creature reappeared once again.
Only this time, it looked much smaller than before.
But as time passed, it was steadily growing again.
At this rate, it wouldn't take long for it to return to its original size.
"Elemental creatures really are a pain to kill…" Cyr remarked with no surprise.
He'd expected this from the beginning—unless he could evaporate all of its moisture, the thing probably couldn't be killed.
And where were they now? On the sea—or rather, on a massive lake that might as well be an ocean.
Unless Cyr could burn the entire sea dry in one go, there was no way they were going to destroy a water-type creature like that.
Still, it seemed the previous attack had taught the creature something. Now it merely lurked in the water, half its head and two eyes peeking out, quietly watching the ship and everyone onboard.
Even as Shaiapouf and Youpi towed the ship away, it showed no sign of attacking again.
"A normal human expedition team going to the Dark Continent… would probably suffer heavy casualties," Cyr said analytically.
No wonder the Dark Continent was listed as forbidden territory—extremely dangerous.
Whether it was the octopus, the anglerfish, or that slime creature just now… were they powerful? Not exactly, at least not by Cyr's standards.
But weak? Not at all either—they were definitely tricky to deal with.
Wiping out 98% of people would be child's play for them.
Most human teams wouldn't have what Cyr's crew had: two humans, three ants, and a tiger… and somehow, two team members came with built-in healing powers.
Healing-type abilities were pretty rare.
After all, Breath of the Archangel was an SS-rank card for a reason.
"And we're not even on the Dark Continent yet. If things are like this already… what kind of monsters must live on the Dark Continent?" Cyr muttered quietly.
But there was no fear on his face—only excitement, anticipation, and a spark of eagerness.
"Will the creatures over there be even more fun than the ones we've seen so far?" Neferpitou asked curiously.
She didn't care if things were dangerous—only if they were interesting.
Without the King, her actions were guided by her own whims.
"I think so. Let's look forward to it," Cyr replied casually.
The ship continued sailing.
At one point, it suddenly slowed and came to a stop.
"There's something huge up ahead," Sora said in a low voice, wind whipping around as he manipulated the breeze to push the ship forward. His claws scratched at the deck restlessly.
"Don't scratch it up," Cyr knocked the dumb tiger lightly on the head.
Beneath the distant sea surface, a massive shadow loomed—growing closer and closer.
Suddenly, a gigantic creature, tens of meters long, breached the water and crashed back down with a thunderous splash.
Even in the brief moment it was airborne, they could see clearly what it was.
A blue-backed, white-bellied whale.
After splashing back down, its back remained visible above the surface, like a solitary island floating on the sea.
It let out a deep call—like the soothing hum of the ocean itself. Gentle yet powerful, the sound traveled through the water, piercing the mist, cleansing clouded minds and souls alike.
A jet of water shot into the sky and arced back down, forming a dazzling rainbow.
It didn't seem hostile toward the ship or the people on it. Instead, it swam in slow circles around them, spouting a few more times before lazily drifting away.
As if it had appeared only to give them a little surprise performance.
"Wow, the first creature we've met on this route that didn't try to kill us," Cyr remarked.
A whale, huh… though not all whales were peaceful.
Still, this one seemed to have a decent temper.
Just… a bit too big.
It had to be at least sixty meters long—definitely a heavyweight.
"Let's not rule out the possibility that it's up to something," Maro murmured from the side, head lowered, eyes hidden behind a curtain of hair—full of shadowy suspicion.
He wasn't buying the idea that a giant creature suddenly showing off just wanted to be friendly.
°°°
If you want to read ahead and access 20 advanced chapters, check the patreon
Link: Patreon/Moziel