Chapter Eighty-Nine: Revenge Settled

Fang Yuan had meant to reach out and tap the thing, just to see what it really was. But when he saw Li Fu’s short sword, dissolved half away, his outstretched hand jerked back on its own.

He was only a little stronger than most, with a few special abilities of his own; if even a sharp blade could be melted with such ease, Fang Yuan naturally did not believe his flesh and bone could be harder than Li Fu’s sword.

The other man, who had also been eager to try, fell back at once. Moments ago the three of them had been pressed close beside the immense creature, but now, as though by prior agreement, they retreated in unison several meters away.

The great mass below them now lay utterly still, as if asleep.

Fang Yuan swam over to Li Fu and drew out his other short sword.

Earlier, when Li Fu had struck, he had done so rather casually. Fang Yuan, now fully prepared, gathered every ounce of strength in his body into his hand.

He thrust again. The movement was swift; though it looked as though he was using all his strength, at the exact moment the blade entered the opening, he stopped his hand with perfect precision five centimeters from it.

The short sword went in, but when Fang Yuan pulled it back out, he found that the weapon in his hand was now nothing but the hilt. The blade itself had vanished without a trace.

At that very moment, something like a tentacle suddenly伸ed out from the opening he had just struck.

Fang Yuan was quick on his feet, yet as he dodged, the tentacle still lashed him.

It struck his right arm. Even through the seawater, Fang Yuan could clearly hear the snap of bone breaking. The hilt in his hand flew loose at once. The tentacle did not hurry to attack him again; instead, it caught the fallen hilt.

A flash of ominous images raced through Fang Yuan’s mind, but fortunately his body reacted faster than thought. Before his mind could settle on a judgment, he had already thrown himself backward at top speed.

That retreat would have been harmless enough, except that Fang Yuan had not noticed Li Fu behind him at all. His own reaction had been too violent; in his distraction, he slammed straight into Li Fu, who was only a few meters away.

The force was so great that even a sturdy man like Li Fu could not help but let out a muffled groan. He looked at Fang Yuan with tears almost in his eyes, feeling as though several of his ribs had been broken.

Just moments before, Li Fu had even been relieved that he had not used too much force, or else he might have lost a hand. He had barely had time to feel grateful for ten seconds before his own comrade had smashed him into internal injury.

Fang Yuan, who looked so slight, had been like a chunk of iron shot from a cannon, with terrifying force behind him.

Li Fu clutched his chest and pointed upward. Fang Yuan also understood exactly how much force he had used just now, and guessing that Li Fu had likely suffered internal injuries, he took him up toward the surface.

The other man stood frozen in place for a full five seconds before following after Fang Yuan.

He had seen the whole thing as an onlooker. Fang Yuan, sensing danger, had suddenly blasted backward like a launched missile, and the result had been Li Fu’s body hurled away at once.

This was hundreds of meters underwater, where the tremendous resistance of the water had already absorbed much of Fang Yuan’s force, and yet Li Fu had still been injured by the impact.

From the deathly pallor on Li Fu’s face just now, it was clear the injury was no light one.

Who would have thought that Fang Yuan, who did not look especially muscular, could possess such terrifying force, enough to send a man of nearly a hundred kilos flying as though scattering petals in the wind?

If Fang Yuan had not dragged Li Fu along with all his strength, Li Fu might have been unable even to move. The searing pain in his chest had nearly driven him unconscious.

After this, Li Fu’s attitude toward Fang Yuan changed one hundred and eighty degrees. Before, he had only thought that Fang Yuan was not much to look at physically, but was quite loyal. Now, however, Li Fu felt that in a one-on-one fight, he might not even be Fang Yuan’s match.

Just the ease with which Fang Yuan had hauled him through the water moments ago was enough to leave Li Fu admiring him in secret. If he himself were asked to drag another person upward through the deep sea with one arm, even if it killed him, he still could not manage it.

"Dammit, Fang Yuan, do you have a grudge against me or something? You nearly took my manhood off." Once they were back on the boat and Li Fu was feeling somewhat better, the more he looked at Fang Yuan, the less he liked what he saw. A moment ago he had still thought Fang Yuan was a man of loyalty and feeling, someone who would risk himself for Ke Bei’s matter without regard for his own safety.

But the moment Li Fu remembered that instant when Fang Yuan had crashed into him from behind, his mouth could not help twitching.

That blow had nearly cost him dearly, and even now that place still throbbed faintly with pain.

At the time, Fang Yuan’s body had blocked Li Fu’s view, so Li Fu had only seen that when Fang Yuan neared the giant creature, his body somehow suddenly rebounded backward.

Back then, Li Fu had been about ten or so meters away from Fang Yuan. Under the immense water pressure, the force had already been greatly diminished, yet when it struck Li Fu, it was still considerable.

"Sorry. I really wasn’t doing it on purpose." Seeing Li Fu looking as if he were in agony, Fang Yuan could only smile bitterly.

"Of course I know you didn’t mean it. Even if you had wanted to, you wouldn’t have had that kind of ability." Hearing Fang Yuan apologize, Li Fu felt a little embarrassed instead.

In Li Fu’s and his companion’s eyes, the force behind that collision was certainly not something a human could produce.

So Li Fu and his companion naturally assumed that Fang Yuan must have been attacked by that giant creature, and that this was why his body had suddenly erupted with such astonishing momentum. Thinking of this, Li Fu could not help glancing at Fang Yuan’s body, and Fang Yuan, feeling that gaze drifting over him, only found himself deeply uncomfortable.

"What exactly did you see down there just now?" At that moment, Li Mingbo suddenly came over. Seeing Li Fu’s eyes constantly sweeping over Fang Yuan, he could not help taking a second look at Fang Yuan.

What injustice. What bad luck.

As Li Mingbo looked at Fang Yuan, Fang Yuan was absolutely certain that Li Mingbo had misunderstood him.

When he heard Li Mingbo ask about the matter, Li Fu, who had just been complaining of pain, instantly became animated and spoke before Fang Yuan and the others could answer:

"We saw an unbelievably enormous creature, so astonishing it left you speechless."

If one judged by sheer size, Li Fu was not wrong. For human beings, it was indeed an incomparable monster of gigantic scale. Not only to humans, but even among the enormous creatures of the sea, it would still count as a colossus.

Li Fu’s description was, in fact, quite fair, without any hint of exaggeration.