CHAPTER 283: CHAPTER 283: SLAUGHTERING TIDAL GIANTS, ESCAPING THE THUNDERSTORM

Johnnie felt this could work. There was no suppressing force on the seabed—otherwise he would’ve sunk already.

Hum!

He summoned the Void Sword.

It worked.

Johnnie was glad. He could use Fly with the Controlled Sword in the water too. The drag was heavy, but it was still much faster than swimming.

Whoosh...

The water parted as Johnnie sped forward, though he still couldn’t tell directions.

He wasn’t in a rush now. There were plenty of Tidal Giants here, and they were all Half-Gods. The power of the heavenly tribulation countered them perfectly. Killing them would boost his strength. For him, this place was heaven.

Boom!

The sea churned. Johnnie didn’t wander long before he ran into another Tidal Giant.

That huge body moved as nimbly as a fish, rushing straight at Johnnie.

Waves rolled in with crushing pressure.

Johnnie was used to it. These Tidal Giants only knew how to control seawater and had tough defense. They had no other tricks.

Rumble...

Thunder rolled above the water. Johnnie couldn’t be bothered to talk. He directly triggered the heavenly tribulation and charged the Tidal Giant.

Boom, boom...

Bolts kept falling, the sea surged.

Under the heavenly tribulation’s strikes, this Tidal Giant didn’t even last to the second bolt. His scales fell off, and he was covered in wounds.

Johnnie didn’t hesitate. He cast Seven Sword and tore in like a whirlwind.

Blood spread. The Tidal Giant roared again and again, fleeing toward the deep.

This time, Johnnie didn’t let him go. He used Fly with the Controlled Sword and tailed him closely.

He wanted to see what would drop when this Tidal Giant died.

"Hm, he’s calling for help!" Johnnie’s eyes lit up. Two more huge shadows appeared in the dark water.

Hum!

Blue light flashed—it was a healing skill.

These Tidal Giants also knew healing magic, but it wasn’t strong.

Also, Seven Sword was imbued with a bone-eating poison refined from a Half-God. If you can’t cleanse it, it stays until you die.

These Tidal Giants clearly had no way to cleanse poison.

Rumble...

Thunder still rolled above the water. Johnnie’s heavenly tribulation wasn’t over yet.

Perfect. He’d blast these two along with the first one.

Johnnie’s eyes narrowed. He used Space Flicker—his figure vanished, then appeared above the three Tidal Giants.

This was the seventh bolt of the heavenly tribulation, and it targeted Half-Gods. Johnnie wasn’t sure he could tank it. He had to use this bolt to smash the other two Tidal Giants’ scale armor.

"Heavenly tribulation! Move!" a shocked cry rang out. The Tidal Giants dodged in a panic.

They were fast in the water, but not faster than lightning.

Boom!

With a roar, the sea heaved. A purple bolt spread like a spiderweb, covering Johnnie and the three Tidal Giants.

[Ding, you were killed by the heavenly tribulation. Tribulation resist failed. Special rule blessing: you revive on the spot]

The prompt messages flashed. Johnnie was killed on the spot.

He revived right after. A stabbing pain hit his head.

The seawater cut the soul damage from the heavenly tribulation by a lot. But taking hits in a row still affected his soul.

The damage wasn’t high, though. He could barely endure it.

Roar, roar...

Angry bellows rang out. Lightning tore the scales off all three Tidal Giants.

The poisoned one was the worst. He was covered in blood and fell toward the seabed out of control.

"Run!"

The other two Tidal Giants were terrified. They left him and fled in opposite directions.

Johnnie struck at once. Under his control, Seven Sword shot at both Tidal Giants.

Pfft...

Blood sprayed, followed by two painful screams.

Seven Sword’s Instant Kill effect didn’t trigger, but both were poisoned. They were as good as dead.

Johnnie didn’t chase. He followed the badly wounded Tidal Giant down toward the seabed.

[Ding, you killed a Tidal Giant. EXP +4.8 million. Four base attributes +10,000]

[God-killing power triggered. Stats permanently +10%]

The prompt messages appeared. That badly wounded Tidal Giant was dead.

Johnnie sank quickly to the seafloor. The huge pressure made it feel like his blood was about to burst out of his body.

This had to be tens of thousands of meters deep.

Even with his strong body, he could barely endure it.

Soon, Johnnie found the Tidal Giant’s corpse and the loot around it.

A dozen scales and a pale blue crystal.

He picked up everything and checked it.

[Dragon Scale: Special item. Strong defense. Exact effect unknown. Damaged]

As expected, the scales were dragon scales.

Johnnie didn’t care much. He tossed them into his bag and looked at the pale blue crystal.

[Ocean Heart fragment: Special item. Can be refined. Increases ocean affinity]

Ocean affinity?

Johnnie was puzzled. It was a stat he had never heard of.

The crushing pressure hit him again. He checked around the Tidal Giant once more. There was no other loot.

Not even divine essence.

He felt his body was at its limit. With a thought, he stored the Tidal Giant’s corpse in The Map of Heaven and Earth.

It was a Half-God too. Without the dragon scales, its defense was weak, but mechanical modification could fix that.

Also, these things could control ocean power. Turning it into a mechanical Domain would surely help him a lot.

Johnnie didn’t push it any further. He used Fly with the Controlled Sword and rushed up to the surface.

"Phew..."

He let out a long breath. Giant waves were everywhere. Dark clouds hung overhead, with lightning and thunder.

He was still inside the storm.

Without someone to guide him out, leaving here was almost impossible.

Johnnie thought of the old woman who called herself the ferryman, but she hadn’t shown up since she left. He didn’t even know where he was now.

"Whatever." He stopped overthinking it, took out the Ocean Heart fragment, and refined it.

[Ding, you refined the Ocean Heart. Ocean affinity +1%]

The prompt messages appeared.

Johnnie frowned. He felt a subtle change in his body. The ocean around him felt closer and kinder.

"Seems like a power similar to an Elemental Gift."

He muttered to himself. If he kept raising it, he might even control the ocean’s power like a Tidal Giant.

[Ding, you killed a Tidal Giant. EXP +4.8 million. Four basic attributes +10,000]

[God-killing power triggered. Stats permanently +10%]

Just then, the prompt messages appeared again. Another Tidal Giant had been killed.

But that one had already fled into the deep sea. It was pitch-black and endless down there, and it was hard to find any trace of him.

What a shame.

Johnnie felt a bit regretful. With the Lucky Master class, those guys were guaranteed to drop dragon scales and Ocean Heart fragments when they died.

But he waited a long time and never got news of a second Tidal Giant dying.

Did that guy cleanse the poison?

Johnnie was puzzled. These Tidal Giants were strong, but they didn’t seem to have a way to detox. Something must have happened.

He was curious, but with the dark, heavy waters around him, it was hard to find that one.

Maybe it wasn’t that he removed the poison—maybe other Tidal Giants kept healing him.

"Keep going!"

Johnnie stopped dwelling on it, took a deep breath, dove again, used Fly with the Controlled Sword, and continued hunting Tidal Giants.

Maybe because refining the Ocean Heart had raised his ocean affinity, his underwater Fly with the Controlled Sword speed got a bit faster, though not by much.

Johnnie wandered the seafloor aimlessly, sometimes surfacing to see if he’d left the thunderstorm zone.

But the sky was still endless dark clouds mixed with terrifying lightning.

Before he knew it, he had roamed the seafloor for two days. In that time, he killed five more Tidal Giants, his strength rose a lot, and he got five more Ocean Heart fragments.

His ocean affinity reached 6%. He could faintly move the sea’s power, though nowhere near a Tidal Giant.

Phew...

The sea roared as a Tidal Giant fled in panic, racing along the seafloor.

Johnnie looked a bit battered. He used Fly with the Controlled Sword and kept up the chase.

This was the seventh Tidal Giant he had run into. Its body was covered in black scales, its chest blown open, with pitch-black blood seeping out.

It was still at the Half-God level, stronger than the ones Johnnie met before, but it was badly poisoned and couldn’t cleanse it.

It fled blindly through the water, clearly trying to find help.

Johnnie stayed calm. His flying sword split the water as he followed unhurriedly behind it.

"Huh? Why is it going up?"

Johnnie was puzzled. The Tidal Giant was swimming hard toward the surface.

Is there help on the surface? But isn’t the surface under a thunderstorm? These things fear lightning and shouldn’t dare go up.

Unless... they’ve left the storm zone!

Johnnie’s eyes lit up. He sped up the chase.

Boom!

The water surged. The huge Tidal Giant burst out of the sea first. Seeing Johnnie behind him, he panicked and swam fast toward a small island not far away.

Boom!

Johnnie followed close and broke through the surface too.

"We’re out of the storm!" He looked around with joy. Blue sky, white clouds, calm seas.

Behind him he could still see a dark mass—that was the storm zone.

"Chief, save me!" The Tidal Giant swam fast toward a distant island while calling for help.

Johnnie noticed the island too. It only looked small because it was still far away.

This was likely a Tidal Giant base. There must be more of them there.

"Looks like you’re no longer useful." Johnnie’s face turned cold. He drove the Seven Sword in a wild attack.

The guy was already poisoned and had been fleeing in panic the whole way. Even with healing skills, his Health points had dropped below half, and he couldn’t withstand the strikes.

"My lord, help!" he cried in fear. Facing death, he burst out with hidden power, rose out of the sea, and took to the air.