Chapter 3944: Brutal! I
Chapter 3944: Brutal! I
A day could feel like passing seconds when immersed in the flow of meaningful work, yet a second could sometimes stretch into eons when faced with the prospect of imminent annihilation.
When confronted with an utterly terrifying force that existed beyond all normal categories of power, surviving a single minute seemed not merely difficult but fundamentally impossible, as if Existence itself had decreed that certain thresholds should never be crossed by lesser beings!
The aura of the Early Creature swept outward like a tide of compressed authority, carrying with it the weight of existence itself distilled into pure presence.
In the next moment, Noah felt his entire being freeze as comprehension dawned with horrifying clarity! From above, descending through the Early Sacred Waters with inexorable purpose, came what appeared to be a spear.
But as the object drew closer, its true nature became apparent.
This was no weapon of war, but something far more mundane and yet infinitely more terrifying in its implications. The thin implement carried a hook at its end that seemed to exert magnetic attraction on the very essence of existence itself, seeking to impale consciousness and drag it upward like the most common of catches.
It was a fishing hook.
A fishing hook!
Simple, utilitarian, and absolutely unstoppable in its descent toward the assembled Marine Lifeforms.
Noah watched in horrified fascination as the hook descended through the crystalline waters, its presence causing reality itself to bend around its path.
All around him, the Refined Early Living Marine Lifeforms froze as if time itself had stopped flowing through their bodies!
Only the magnificent Eminent creature that led them retained the ability to move, its superior nature allowing it to struggle against forces that rendered lesser beings helpless as caught fish.
But even the Eminent being’s resistance proved futile. The hook wove through the waters with casual precision, its path predetermined by intelligence.
It pierced through three of the Refined Marine Lifeforms with the ease of a needle passing through silk, then sprang upward with its harvest secured upon the barbed point.
Noah’s eyes buzzed with seriousness as he witnessed Refined Early Living Marine Lifeforms, beings whose power exceeded that of many Originus Venerant entities whose complexity ranged between ten and twenty million in both quotients, plucked from their element like goldfish caught by a child’s first fishing rod!
The casual nature of their capture spoke to power disparities so vast that normal categories of measurement became meaningless!
Within his borrowed body, the Refined Glyphs and Towers of Osmont that defined his accumulated strength began to resonate with alarm.
He could not even move when the fishing line descended, his existence locked in place by forces that recognized no resistance. A force that overcame his 1002% collective Resistances!
The only reason he had survived this initial harvest was pure chance, the random fortune that had placed him outside the hook’s predetermined path.
The difficulty of this Record was beyond anything he had imagined.
Even Honored Living Existences might struggle against the Early Creature whose casual fishing expedition could erase beings of tremendous power with no more effort than gathering ingredients for an evening meal!
At this moment of paralyzing realization, the fearsome Eminent Early Living Marine Lifeform released a roar that sent shockwaves through the sacred waters.
Its magnificent voice carried rage and defiance as it witnessed its companions being harvested like common livestock, the sound echoing wit weavings that spoke to fury!
The creature began rising toward the surface, its powerful form cutting through the water with movements that defied the crushing pressure of the Early Creature’s presence.
Behind it, the remaining Marine Lifeforms followed with the desperate urgency of beings who understood they were swimming toward their doom yet had no alternative.
Noah’s initial instinct was to remain hidden in the depths, to avoid drawing attention that could only result in his immediate destruction.
The logical choice was to let the others face whatever horror awaited above while he sought shelter in the darkest corners of these sacred waters.
But the moment this thought formed in his consciousness, his existence began buzzing with the unmistakable sensation of enormous danger approaching.
His enhanced intuition, honed through countless trials and elevated by the gifts of the Early Veiled Shore, screamed a warning that isolation would mean death.
If he remained behind while the others ascended, he would be hunted down and eliminated with even greater ease than those who had already been caught.
This was a terrifying realization that he trusted without question. He began rising alongside the other Marine Lifeforms, his borrowed body moving with reluctant urgency toward whatever awaited them at the surface!
As they emerged from the Early Sacred Waters, Noah’s enhanced perception took in everything he could observe in a single comprehensive sweep, as if time itself had frozen to allow him to catalog the impossible wonders that stretched before them.
First and most shocking of all, he saw the Early Creature itself.
Thal’dorven the Primordial Fisher!
He sat upon a sand dune with the casual posture of someone engaged in the most routine of activities.
The being’s appearance was simultaneously humanoid and utterly alien, ancient beyond measure yet carrying the vital presence of something that had never known decay or diminishment.
Its upper body was laid bare, revealing skin of burnished bronze that seemed to contain within its surface the accumulated light of countless suns!
Every muscle was gloriously defined and sculpted according to principles of perfection that transcended normal physical development.
The Early Creature’s lower body was covered by what appeared to be an animal skin skirt, yet even this simple garment shone with multicolored light that suggested construction from materials harvested from Eminent or Kleos Early Living Lifeforms!
The casual display of such precious materials as common clothing spoke to resources and capabilities that dwarfed anything Noah had previously encountered.
It showed the wonder and absolute mystery surrounding Early Creatures!
What truly captured his attention, however, was the expression of absolute calm and apathy that marked the Early Creature’s features as it attended to its fishing rod!