Yang Yi sat upon the Throne of Salt, hoisted upward by countless Saltfolk, their bodies stacked in a living pillar to elevate their king towards the chamber’s summit. Only when he could look down upon the white flesh orb from on high did he finally speak, slow and deliberate:

"Commoner. Do you still remember your name?"

"I... I am...?" The giant could not recall. At that moment, he couldn’t even remember why he was there.

His head had already turned into a shifting, unstable ball of flesh, constantly squirming and changing. From time to time, a mouth, or a pair of eyes or a nose would form, but they would soon melt back into the mass, never staying long enough to become a proper face.

"You can't even remember that? Hahahahaha!" Yang Yi let out a loud laugh.

"You’re not to blame! After all, compared to the corrupted whale, your existence is like a drop of water compared to the sea. You thought you could assimilate the whale,  but in truth, it is the whale that has assimilated you!"

His words rang out like a bell of truth, shocking the giant from his dazed confusion, awakening a sliver of clarity.

"No... no, that’s impossible! I was deceived...? No, I am the Child of Bounty! I possess eternal life! I..."

A distorted face briefly formed on the giant’s head, then vanished completely, leaving only a swollen lump of flesh.

"I... Who am I...?" Those were the last words the meatball mouth managed to say before it too disappeared. The giant was on the verge of complete assimilation, his consciousness dissolving into the corrupted whale’s chaotic mindscape.

Yang Yi frowned, then suddenly slapped himself hard.

He’d wasted time putting on a dramatic show, just for the sake of sounding cool, and only then snapped back to reality. There were only 2 minutes and 21 seconds left on Refuse to Die. He had to act!

Just as the giant had been consumed by the corrupted whale, Yang Yi too was being eroded by the Salt King’s ego, becoming arrogant, aloof, and dismissive of all others. Only powerful emotions or an unyielding will could resist that pull.

Yang Yi shook himself awake just in time and drew his Ironbreaker Greatsword.

"Let me cut out this malignant tumour myself and give you a proper, pffft!"

He spat out a mouthful of sea salt, interrupting his own speech before he wasted more time, and moved into action.

"Sword of the King! My path shall be carved by my own hand!"

The Ironbreaker was quickly engulfed in salt. Its blade extended, growing longer and longer, until it pierced through the air chamber and emerged from the corrupted whale’s body.

Wherever it touched, flesh turned to sea salt, making the sword effortless to swing, and with one mighty slash, Yang Yi struck the whale’s core, nearly cleaving the entire creature in half.

The blow was witnessed by Suna, who stood on the ship, her jaw dropped in shock.

"Hmph!"

The Sword of the King lodged itself halfway into the core, but didn’t complete the strike. Still, it was enough to sever the giant’s head, which fell, turning to salt midair.

Perhaps in a flash of dying clarity, or sheer defiance, the giant’s consciousness surfaced one last time.

"You were right... I was the tumour. But you… Now you’ll face the true wrath of the corrupted whale!"

The head fully dissolved, and the Fruit of Bounty suddenly swelled in reaction, its surface sprouting dozens of bulbous growths that rapidly inflated, pulling everything nearby inside, including the mindless fleshlings, Salt Knights, and even surging towards Yang Yi.

In that instant, Yang Yi snapped out of his prideful daze, his pure survival instinct crushing any trace of kingly arrogance.

That... was the corrupted whale’s true power. Intelligence had merely been its restraint.

Its core, known as Ever Regenerating Flesh, possessed near infinite vitality, a fitting name for such an abomination.

The Child of Bounty embedded in the core had only served as a limiting parasite.

【When using the Salt Wedge on the corrupted whale, always strike its core at point, blank range,  one hit, one kill.】

Only then did Yang Yi finally grasp what the line from the Salt Wedge’s user manual truly meant.

Because the first strike had failed to kill it, there likely wouldn’t be a second, as the fleet would soon face the fully enraged, fully awakened corrupted whale. It would unleash its endless flesh, sweeping away everything in its path.

Withered? Dehydrated? It would regenerate! Until its vast life force was completely drained, it would never stop expanding and regenerating.

Yang Yi was swallowed by the swelling mass of flesh, pressed into its depths. The flesh surrounding him withered and moistened in endless cycles, but backed by such boundless vitality, it had no fear of attrition.

"As expected, only the Salt Wedge can kill this thing!"

Yang Yi regained full clarity, making a quick judgment: the Salt Wedge embedded in his chest was likely the only weapon capable of truly killing the corrupted whale.

He swung his shortened Sword of the King, slicing through the layers of greasy, constricting flesh, and then reached for the Salt Wedge in his chest, since if he could just drive it into the whale’s core, it would die instantly.

【You cannot remove the Salt Wedge. A king is not permitted to remove his own crown!】

"Damn it! There’s a trap in the fine print!"

A pop, up from the activity log appeared, just as Yang Yi was swallowed again by the swelling mass of flesh.

He was sweating with anxiety, though of course, there wasn’t a drop of water left in his body to sweat…

Meanwhile, at sea, another massive seaquake erupted.

Chunks of the corrupted whale’s surface began to crack and fall away. Like a seed breaking free of its husk to grow, the so-called "corrupted whale body" was merely the shell.

Its true seed, its core, was the essence of its being.

A massive, irregular white sphere of blood and flesh burst forth from within, rupturing the whale’s shell, and continued to expand.

Suna, standing on the deck, witnessed the terrifying apocalyptic sight.

"What... is that?" Her voice rang in Yang Yi’s ears.  Somehow, the connection between the two had reestablished.

Yang Yi hadn’t given up, and he immediately realized this was his one chance to survive.

"Suna, listen to me. I don’t have much time..." His voice echoed in Suna’s mind as he laid out the plan.

Because he was close to the sea surface, his signal had reconnected with Suna, and more importantly, she could control the Penitent’s Armour. If she could extract the Salt Wedge and pierce it into the corrupted whale’s core, they could kill it for good.

There was no time to hesitate. Whether Suna understood or not didn’t matter anymore — Yang Yi had only thirty, odd seconds left on Refuse to Die!

"Starchaser Knights!"

"At the King’s command!"

Yang Yi shouted, and the knights roared their response.

A mass of Salt Knights crawled directly from Yang Yi’s body, launching attacks on the surrounding flesh to carve out space for manoeuvring.

Yang Yi followed with two more slashes, widening the gap and preventing the flesh from instantly collapsing and engulfing everything.

Then, the Penitent’s Armour was flung outwards. Suna seized control of it and reached towards Yang Yi’s chest...

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