Chapter 149: Sp.a.w.n of the Giant Archelon
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The night view was silent like still water.
On the edge of the Bay Bridge, the sea breeze was blowing hard, and swept in a humid smell.
Sounds of water could be heard from afar. It used to be much more serene, but now, it has become turbulent. It was akin to a ma.s.sive tide lapping towards their direction. Then, it started to drizzle.
Luo Yuan touched his face; it felt a bit moist.
After a few minutes, he could vaguely see a gigantic shadow. It dashed across the sea at top speed, which gave rise to a few meters of tidal waves.
The deep blue sea was far from being capable at concealing its body. Its four rock-like limbs were moving swiftly in the water. As it charged towards them rapidly, a few kilometers of seawater around it started to get more and more erratic. The sea water violently splashed up against the coast.
When it got really close, Luo Yuan could finally see it clearly.
Unlike the giant lizard, its mutation was not as serious. Luo Yuan recognized its origins with just one look. No doubt, it was a mutated archelon1, albeit a very large one. It was thirty to forty meters in diameter. His giant lizard paled in comparison.
It was a dull grey archelon; its sh.e.l.l was full of rough formations of sharp, jagged edges. The spikes were glistening in the dark. Compared to an average archelon, its neck was much longer and thicker. Its head looked mutated and crooked teeth filled its wide mouth, making it a hideous sight to behold. This archelon definitely looked horrifying as compared to ordinary archelons.
Luo Yuan held his breath, glanced once and quickly looked away, clearly uncomfortable. Although this creature was still far away, he could feel a sense of discomfort, as he turned to see where his giant lizard was. It was at least a few hundreds meters away.
It was already hiding in a corner. It could be an a.s.sumption, but he could actually feel the giant lizard quivering in fear.
“Honggg!” suddenly there was a loud noise coming from afar.
The Bay Bridge shook violently. Its steel cables that were as thick as an adult man’s arm twisted under the immense force, giving out to the force with a screeching sound. As the steel cables continued to snap one after another, they flailed across the night sky and before long, more than a dozen sections of the Bay Bridge crumbled like a stack of dominos.
Luo Yuan’s heart skipped a beat. He could not care less about the vigorous shaking of the bridge. He quickly held onto a guardrail that was also shaking vigorously, and looked towards the bottom. A very large pier was also knocked down effortlessly by the giant beast. It was reduced to a rubble now as it crashed into pieces.
He was bewildered. Bay Bridge was a very strong and solid structure. An ordinary s.h.i.+p would never be able to wreck the whole thing, let alone tear it down. Unless of course it was a large s.h.i.+p that weighed ten thousand tonnes that crashed into the bridge at top speed, nothing else would even come close to destroying it.
Previously, he thought it was a light green level creature. But now, he was unsure.
Luo Yuan didn’t understand much about sea creatures. He had no idea about the situation at present as well but what he could confirm was that the sea creatures’ abilities were much more powerful than those of land creatures. Compet.i.tion amongst the sea creatures was more intense too.
In the final days of China, with the exception of specially protected area and primeval forests, large creatures were very rare They did not even habitate the villages, let alone the city centre. Back in the 17th & 18th century, wolves, wild boars and medium sized creatures still existed in the mountainous area. However, just before the end they had all disappeared, not even a trace of their shadows could be seen. Even rabbits could hardly be found as well.
Only domestic animals and pets were able to survive in the country. Large quant.i.ties of mutations were slaughtered even before the dawn of the apocalypse. Most of the large beasts were actually mutated from the smaller creatures. Even humans had to slowly retreat in defeat what more the larger species of marine life.
After the giant archelon swam across the Bay Bridge, it never stopped and continued moving forward.
It eventually disappeared from his line of vision after a few minutes. Luo Yuan let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully it had left or else he would only be able to evacuate at midnight.
He touched his forehead and without realizing it, his forehead was already drenched in sweat. His body felt a little weak while his face was bitter with thoughts. Even standing near a creature of this level without engaging in combat was torture enough. He wondered what the others who were several hundred meters away in the defensive fortifications would feel. It probably wouldn’t stray far from what he was feeling.
However, he had some questions running through his mind. Sea creatures were from the sea. Why on earth is this monster here?
It was the monsoon season after all, and this was the ocean. But most of the regions here were mudflats. Even the biggest ocean couldn’t possibly be home to such a huge creature.
According to the theory of evolution, the first creatures to walk the land from the ocean were the weaker ones who were chased away after losing in a fight but from the looks of it, it shouldn’t have any trouble surviving in the ocean. It should not have even felt compelled to escape to land.
Curiosity got the better of him, and motivated him to go and take a look.
He looked at the time. It was not even one o"clock in the wee hours of the morning yet. He hesitated for a while, but knowing that the creature was now far away, it should no longer be dangerous. He then dashed back to sh.o.r.e.
The coast of the Bay Bridge had almost became a forest but since the land was both saline and alkaline, the undergrowth seemed to be quite scarce. Firefly-looking insects that were about the size of a fist were prancing about in the forest. Some lightly glowing plants that were located in the near distance added a splash of color to the l.u.s.trous and dazzling view.
Luo Yuan was running at top speed in the forest. He ran as fast as lighting. His agility knows no boundaries. The trees on his left and right fell backwards due to the force of his speed.
After half an hour, he climbed up a big tree to get a bird’s eye view of the surrounding and its vicinity.
The sky that was full of dark clouds, hardly revealed the full moon.
The distance from where he stood and the giant archelon was only under three kilometers. It was already about to leave the sea. Under the chilly night, it climbed back to the mudflats. There was a pin-drop silence. All creatures were trying their best to hide themselves during this tense situation. The sound of crickets that was heard every night was not heard tonight because of the immense fear.
Luo Yuan held his breath, and did not move a muscle.
The giant archelon walked up to a higher ground and stopped in its tracks. The big and hideous head turned and looked around, almost as if it was keeping a watch. When its eyes turned towards Luo Yuan’s direction, it slightly paused its movements.
Being stared by its fiery eyes in the dark, Luo Yuan felt as if his head was about to burst. His heartbeat stopped and he almost turned and ran away.
Fortunately, it quickly diverted its glance and continued looking around towards other directions.
Luo Yuan’s chest expanded and contracted heavily. He had used all his effort to suppress the fear in his heart.
At that moment, he clearly sensed that he had been identified by the giant archelon. His methods of of hiding was useless in front of this creature. However, it seemed like it did not mind his existence. Maybe he was only an insignificant speck in the archelon’s eyes.
When Luo Yuan did not know whether he should leave or stay, the giant archelon started digging with its four limbs like a powerful excavator. The land very soon became a forty to fifty meter wide hole, with the depth of the hole unbeknownst to all. After a few minutes, it stopped digging.
It leaned towards the hole, without moving. Its tail tightly stuck to the mouth of the hole.
Did it mean….
Luo Yuan’s heart moved. As expected, a turn of events verified his prediction. The giant archelon whimpered in low spirits. That voice was laced with some pain. After some time, it slowly stood up and continued digging. With the remnants of mud and sand, it covered back the hole well.
After it settled the deed, it did not leave immediately. It continued to look around. This time, it did so even more carefully. Back and forth, it took a few minutes to look around. Under Luo Yuan’s anxious gaze, it slowly moved back to the sea. It looked very weak; it was limping.
If it was a normal light green level creature, it could have been the perfect chance. However, facing this sea creature with a level he could not identify, he was incapable to even conjure the thought.
It walked towards the sea. Under the glistening moonlight, it swiftly moved towards the direction it came from, and disappeared eventually.
Luo Yuan was still hiding on top of the tree without moving. After half an hour, when the coast was clear, he jumped down from the tree and rushed towards the sh.o.r.e.
After a few minutes, he walked towards the high ground. Despite the departure of the giant archelon, its breath was still left there. But this powerless breath had no effect on Luo Yuan, who possessed 15 points of Will.
The hole was as big as three basketball courts in total, with its depth still unknown. Luo Yuan stood on the ground and awakened his senses. A sudden ray of happiness filled his heart. It came here all the way out from the sea, only to lay its eggs!
But alas, there was only one egg. This was entirely normal. As nature has it, a stronger creature would be less likely to succeed in reproduction. On the other hand, weaker creatures had no complications reproducing. If it reproduced like archelons before the apocalypse, laying hundreds of eggs each time, it would occupy the entire ocean.
Unfortunately, he did not have any suitable tools. Knives were okay for killing, but not for digging. He could only use his bare hands.
He hung his knives on the side, standing at the middle of the muddy soil and started digging with his very own hands.
It comprised of only soft and muddy soil; needing little to no effort to dig through. In addition to that, as the giant archelon came to lay its egg, the mutated creatures in the sand escaped from the area as they sensed its vicious breath. Those that did not make it into hiding were also paralyzed because of its breath. After a few moments, he realized that he wasn’t even thinking the creatures as there were none around him that posed a threat.
However, the egg was buried too deep. Approximately twenty meters in depth, he was afraid that if he tried to dig it out tonight, he wouldn’t be able to sleep.
However, he obviously overestimated his digging ability.
It is be impossible to dig a hole over twenty metres deep especially with this kind of soft, mud flat. If we did anyway, it would just collapse and cover itself up. The egg was over two meters in height, its outermost layer seemed to be wrapped by a thick, transparent substance. Its size exceeded five meters in length. If the hole he dug was too small, not only will it collapse, the egg would not be able to be taken out as well.
This wouldn’t have been done without a strategy. He can only replicate the size of the hole that the giant archelon dug. No doubt, it was a good progress.
Luo Yuan had only been digging for half an hour, and he was already feeling a bit dejected. Looking at that one meter wide and half meter deep hole, he could only smile bitterly in his heart. He may have to dig for three days and three nights to get to the egg but if it rained in between, he would have to start all over again.
Suddenly, his expression changed.
He must have gone bonkers! Why must he dig it up all by himself? Didn’t he have the giant lizard at his disposal? Although it can’t be compared to the giant archelon, but with the giant lizard it wouldn’t take too long either.
Translator Notes
1 Archelon (from Greek αρχελών meaning ruler turtle) is a genus of extinct sea turtles, the largest genus of sea turtles that has ever been doc.u.mented, and the second-heaviest turtles doc.u.mented behind Stupendemys.