A colossal creature resembling a gigantic whale glided over the mountains, its massive fins spread like wings. Its bronze-hued body, ship-sized and armored, bristled with multiple horns and countless tentacles. Glowing orange nodes dotted its hide like malignant stars. It soared above the treetops—a nightmare made flesh.
"What... what is that?!"
Even modern high schoolers, jaded by internet wonders, froze in primal terror. This was instinctive dread—a living thing recoiling before a predator beyond comprehension.
"Kun... Holy crap, it’s really a Kun!" stammered a tall, baby-faced boy, utterly paralyzed.
"Y-You’ve been gaming too much... That’s no Kun," Lin Yuxun whispered, her slender frame trembling as she stared up at the sky-devouring beast. Her breath hitched. "That’s a Leviathan... the legendary abomination said to dwarf even dragons in horror!"
Even her iron will shattered. Like her classmates, she stood rooted in despair, too terrified to scream.
Yet the Leviathan ignored the camp below. With a thunderous flap of its wings, it surged forward like a storm cloud, skimming over the tents.
"Gods... forgive me for lacking the courage to even pray to you moments ago," Lin Yuxun murmured, pressing her palms together. She didn’t know who she begged.
The Leviathan’s titanic tail lashed. It banked away, gliding toward distant peaks.
No one screamed now. Only muffled sobs cut through the silence—heart-wrenching and raw.
From the mountain forests, violet-red fireballs streaked skyward, trailing smoke. They slammed into the Leviathan’s hide, bursting in small, futile explosions.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Lin Yuxun covered her mouth. "Who... who dares attack a Leviathan?"
Then, wyverns erupted from the dark peaks—riders astride their backs. They darted toward the leviathan, swarming the behemoth like hawks harrying a whale.
"What the hell world is this?! Giant Kun and a dozen dragons fighting in the sky?!" Zhang Dajian howled.
Among the riders, one stood out. A girl clad in form-fitting black armor—more like a battle swimsuit than plate—rode a wyvern sheathed in dark steel. Her bare, powerful legs gleamed against the leather, radiating fierce femininity. From the side, her silhouette was a masterpiece: a narrow waist flaring to a round, firm backside anchored firmly in the saddle, the armor cinching tight above her thighs. Stark contrast between black leather and pale skin. Her posture sang of untamed pride—a symphony of strength and grace.
Higher up, her slender but athletic back tapered to a chest surprisingly full for her age, yet perfectly poised like unconquerable snow peaks. Every curve, every line of her body harmonized—a visual anthem of unyielding spirit. Her long neck arched like a swan’s. Even in profile, her goddess-carved face held mystery: starlit eyes beneath shimmering lashes, a cascade of galaxy-bright hair framing delicate, almost fragile ears.
She gripped a jet-black dragon spear, a pure white great sword strapped to her back. Knees pressed tight against her mount, she charged the Leviathan.
This was Yukin, Seventh Squad Captain of the Nightingale Knights—and Lin Luo’s Senior Sister.
If Lin Yuxun was a saintly maiden of earth, Yukin was a celestial goddess fallen from the stars. Her face held the radiance of a princess born among constellations; her presence, the chill command of a dark queen.
(An unspoken truth: on Earth, she hailed from gilded aristocracy. In this world, she’d crossed over with cheat-like powers. No challenge ever truly daunted her. Men? Mere lustful insects. None worthy of her notice.)
"Aim for the golden nodes! They absorb Spirit Energy!" Yukin raised her spear, chest heaving as she rallied her knights. "Strike true!"
"Oorah!" The wyvern riders roared.
"Kill it! This Leviathan’s worth a fortune! Enough to buy masterwork gear for every one of you!" Yukin shouted, though cold sweat slicked her palms. *This Leviathan is too massive...* But a captain shows no fear. "Brothers—charge!"
"Win, and we feast in the governor’s mansion! Lose, and we respawn in the next life!"
"Honor is my creed!" one knight vowed, eyes devoutly fixed on Yukin’s silhouette.
Wyverns surged forward. Spells erupted from the forest below, blasting the Leviathan’s hide. Explosions bloomed—but its armored scales shrugged them off like rain.
Without warning, a shadow lashed out. A tentacle—thick as a stone pillar—whipped through the air.
*THWACK!*
A knight and his wyvern splattered like overripe fruit.
"What?!" The riders recoiled.
Yukin’s blood turned to ice. "Watch its tail!"
Hundreds of meters long, the tail swept sideways. Deceptively slow. Impossibly wide.
Only a few dodged. The rest vanished—erased like dust by a celestial broom.
"Impossible! Leviathans are slow! We should outmaneuver them!"
But this one moved with terrifying speed for its size.
"No... this can’t be Silvermoon-tier. Not with this agility! Could it be... Blazing Radiance class?" Yukin’s voice cracked. "Was the intel wrong?!"
Tentacles flashed again. More knights died. The Leviathan targeted riders, not mounts—its intelligence chilling. Wyverns faltered, sensing the predator’s might.
"We walked into a trap!"
"Abort the hunt! Retreat! NOW!" Yukin screamed.
Two more knights disintegrated mid-flight.
"I’ll hold it! Go!"
Spirit Energy flared around Yukin. Raindrops coalesced around her spear, swirling into a vortex of condensed water. Steam hissed from her skin, sweat glistening on her brow.
*WHOOSH—HISS!*
She hurled the spear. Her wyvern shuddered from the recoil.
*CRUNCH!*
The spear punched a meter-wide hole through the Leviathan’s flank. It barely flinched.
The remaining knights escaped its tentacle range. Instead of retaliating, the Leviathan banked downward. It opened its maw—a starless void ringed with writhing tendrils—toward the hidden mage squad below.
*VVVRRRROOOOM!*
A suction force erupted. Trees, boulders, screaming mages—all ripped skyward into the abyssal throat.
"It’s awakened its innate technique?! Blazing Radiance class confirmed!" Yukin gasped. "And a strong one at that..."
The mages’ cries died in the darkness.
Leisurely, the Leviathan turned. It gave chase to a fleeing squad of wyvern riders—heading straight for the camp. Toward the Arrow Towers.
"NOT TODAY!"
Yukin’s blade flashed. Water rippled along its edge as she spurred her wyvern after the beast. Her mount was faster, but the Leviathan ignored her, fixated on the fleeing knights.
Suddenly—darkness.
A colossal wing slammed down. Yukin twisted hard, but the wing’s edge clipped her wyvern.
*THUD!*
"AAGH—!"
Her scream of defiance cut short as rider and mount plummeted.
Unfazed, the Leviathan pursued the fleeing knights. They fled instinctively toward the camp—toward safety.
Wyverns streaked over the tents.
The students below stood frozen, watching the sky unravel.
Then the Leviathan arrived. Wind howled as it passed over Lin Yuxun’s head.
It had ignored the camp before. But now—two Arrow Towers fired.
Tiny arrows, like embroidery needles, pricked its hide.
Time stopped for Lin Yuxun.
Sound vanished. Her trembling ceased. All she saw was the sky-devouring horror pivot slowly. Its void-like maw opened wide—toward the camp. Toward dozens of students.
*VVVVVRRRRROOOOOOM!*
Gravel, tents, backpacks—everything lifted off the ground.
Lin Yuxun felt an irresistible pull. Her mouth opened in a silent scream. Her feet left the earth.
Then—
A tiny black shadow shot from nowhere. Like dark lightning.
*BOOOOOOM!*
The Leviathan—hundreds of meters long—was hurled backward as if struck by a meteor. A shockwave rippled through the forest.
*CRACK-THUD-THUD-THUD!*
The beast screeched, tumbling end over end, snapping ancient trees like twigs. It slammed into a mountainside. The earth shuddered.
Students crashed back to the ground, stumbling in the aftershock.
Only Lin Yuxun saw clearly. At the storm’s heart, where the Leviathan had been, a slender figure hovered mid-air.
A black cloak billowed around him. Beneath its shadow, a sharp, youthful face was just visible.
"Tch. Thought I’d have to fight dirty," Lin Luo muttered, lowering his fist. "What a joke. This Leviathan’s pathetic."
