A Fish So Vast

This time, however, as Little Nora clapped her hands together, the sky went pitch-black. In the next instant, an endlessly colossal fish plummeted from the sky and slammed into the earth with a thunderous boom. The ground convulsed so violently that it bounced everyone right off the surface. Rumble! A shockwave swept out in all directions, blowing away every class-holder grinding levels in the vicinity of Fukang City. Miraculously, while a shockwave would normally spread outward across three hundred and sixty degrees without a blind spot, a gemstone embedded in the fish's forehead completely neutralized the blast directly in front of it. Consequently, Little Nora, Yu Xian, and the others sitting before the gigantic creature were spared entirely. Only Ximen Wangcai and Situ Xingye were swept up by the shockwave, screaming as they went flying off into who knew what godforsaken corner. Once the dust settled, Little Nora, Yu Xian, and the Mengmeng Fortune Cat stared dumbfounded at the fish before them. No, wait. To be precise, at its lip. Because this fish was truly big—unfathomably, stupendously big. In ancient times, blind men touched an elephant, unable to see and reduced to feeling with their hands, never grasping the creature in its entirety. This fish, on the other hand, was simply so enormous—far exceeding the visual limits of the eye—that Yu Xian and Little Nora could only stare at its mouth. It took them quite a while to realize it wasn't a cavern entrance, but a pair of lips. This was undeniably the largest food item Little Nora had ever summoned to date. A single scale from this fish was larger than Fukang City itself. There was no telling how many monsters had been crushed to death in that single impact. Right. Did that slam count as monster kills? Yu Xian immediately opened his status window, his mouth twitching slightly. After a whole morning of grinding without gaining a single level, Little Nora's summoned food had forcefully boosted him straight from Level 20 to Level 25. One could only imagine how many monsters Little Nora had obliterated with that crash. "Big Bro, how do we eat this?" Little Nora recovered from her stupor and asked, looking at Yu Xian. The biggest problem was that the fish was completely uncooked. Although it was already dead, who could possibly cook something of such scale? Before Yu Xian could come up with an answer, Little Nora had a flash of inspiration. Opening her mouth, she spat a sphere of light at the giant fish, intending to send it to the Star of Sustenance for the God of Cookery to handle. Wait— A thought struck Yu Xian, and he opened his mouth to speak, but it was already too late. In an instant, the giant fish vanished into thin air. Its abrupt disappearance created a massive vacuum, and the surrounding air rushed inward to fill the void. The problem was that the giant fish was far too large. Before Little Nora and Yu Xian could react, they were swept up by the ferocious gale, the world spinning wildly around them. "Ahhhhh!" "Wait... wait... ahhhh!" "Meow, meow meow... meooowww!" Little Nora flapped her wings frantically in midair, but couldn't get any lift at all. Beside her, Yu Xian managed to keep his cool at first, but as they were hurled into the upper atmosphere and then rapidly plummeted, he couldn't help screaming as well. The most pitiful of all was the Mengmeng Fortune Cat perched on Yu Xian's shoulder; its tail was puffed up completely in terror. Splash. Splash. Splash. After a string of shrieks, three splashes restored silence to the world. A moment later, Yu Xian surfaced while holding Little Nora. Both gasped greedily for air. This damn world actually simulated a respiratory system. Even though neither of them needed to breathe—their internal circulation being more than enough to prevent suffocation—here in this world, suffocation still functioned exactly as it normally would. "Little Nora, get ashore first. I'll go look for Mengmeng," Yu Xian told her, giving her a gentle shove toward the bank before submerging once more. They seemed to be in a lake. The water wasn't particularly clear, but visibility was decent. Yu Xian swam quickly through the water, scanning for the Mengmeng Fortune Cat. Before long, he spotted its red ear. The Mengmeng Fortune Cat was indeed a chubby little white cat, but atop its head was a golden ingot, and its ears were mismatched—one red and one white—making it very easy to recognize. However, just as Yu Xian discovered the cat, it had also attracted underwater monsters. A creature with the head of a fish, a humanoid torso, webbed feet, and a harpoon in its hand was closing in on the Mengmeng Fortune Cat, clearly treating it as a meal. Yu Xian immediately fired a Chaos Missile at the fish-headed monster while swimming swiftly toward the cat. The monster was extraordinarily agile underwater. Dodging Yu Xian's Chaos Missile, it thrust its harpoon toward the Mengmeng Fortune Cat. Fortunately, Yu Xian reached them just in time, grabbing the harpoon with one hand. However, the harpoon was razor-sharp and lined with vicious barbs along its inner edge. The moment Yu Xian gripped it, his palm was slashed open. Blood seeped from his hand, dispersing into the water. In the blink of an eye, countless red-glowing eyes emerged from the pitch-black depths below. "Not good." Yu Xian glanced downward and instantly released his hold on the harpoon. Yet his movements were far less nimble underwater. The moment he let go of the harpoon and tried to swim upward, the fish-headed monster attacked again with its weapon. Yu Xian first cast Chaos Shield, then gritted his teeth and grabbed the harpoon once more with precision. This time, he yanked with ferocious force, pulling the monster right toward him. "Eat my fist, you ugly freak!" A savage glint flashed in Yu Xian's eyes as his blood-stained fist slammed straight into the monster's head. A single punch. The fish-headed monster's skull split right in two—ready to be served as chopped-chili fish head. Not daring to linger, Yu Xian kicked vigorously and swam rapidly toward the surface. Below, a dense swarm of fish monsters with gaping maws full of sharp fangs rushed toward him. At Yu Xian's swimming speed, they would overtake him in less than ten seconds, overwhelming him with sheer numbers to strip him down to bone. Splash! Suddenly, another object dropped into the water. Catching the movement out of the corner of his eye, Yu Xian saw Xielina floating motionless in the water. His eyes lit up, and he immediately sent her a mental command. Earlier, Xielina had been standing right behind him, so when he and Little Nora were swept up by the vortex, Xielina had naturally been swept up as well. The thing was, Xielina was pure bone; she had stayed airborne longer, flown much higher, and naturally taken longer to fall back down. Moreover, being unable to scream, she had virtually zero presence. Now, however, Xielina's arrival was incredibly timely. Upon receiving Yu Xian's command, she drew her bow underwater and loosed an arrow directly beneath him. Frost Arrow. With that single shot, dozens of fish were instantly frozen solid in blocks of ice. Xielina fired arrow after arrow, freezing all the fish monsters attempting to approach Yu Xian. Taking advantage of the opening, Yu Xian surfaced rapidly until his head broke the water, gasping for breath. Phew! He had thought he was done for. Placing the Mengmeng Fortune Cat on top of his head, Yu Xian swam briskly toward the shore.