Chapter 419: You Sure You Wanna Trade Blows With Me?
He hadn't expected was that this so-called Church of the Deep could actually whip up something new again. That giant pseudo-Rimuru Tempest from before had already been ridiculous enough—but now they somehow managed to produce a hybrid mixed with the 'Fallingstar Beast' from the underground mine.
Steven still couldn't fully determine what it was supposed to be. But that familiar orange-yellow Originium glow coming off its body wouldn't lie—and that bizarre crystal-like core on its chest, looking like it was only missing a huge red warning symbol, was even more telling.
He just happened to have one of those cores in his pocket right now too. He'd been wondering if feeding it directly to Shoggy would be too much of a waste—yet that blob kept pestering him for it. And now this thing… this was practically a blessing delivered right when winter hit. A warm quilt from heaven.
Steven watched as the creature's body quickly became encased in crystal-scale armor, just like the so-called Fallingstar Beast from before. And honestly… for something that originally looked like a hideous fish-man, the crystal armor actually added a surprising hint of coolness. Almost handsome.
Unfortunately, before Steven could give a proper professional review of the monster that had rapidly grown to nearly five meters tall, it had already launched itself at him.
"Threat… eliminate… return… the swarm…"
Its voice was still broken and disjointed—barely understandable. But its movements didn't match its bulky frame at all. A strange glow lit up from the core in its chest, and a column of purple-black energy began forming in front of it.
Steven folded his arms with interest, ready to see what new surprise it could show him—but then a powerful pull suddenly yanked him downward, dragging him toward the seafloor.
"Huh? Telekinesis? No— it's pure gravity."
The sudden change surprised Steven for a moment. He forced himself to stay upright through brute strength. Sure, there was nothing to brace against in deep water, but he was wearing the Evol armor—he could fly with this thing. Keeping balanced in flowing water was trivial.
The moment Steven stopped himself from falling, the purple-black energy column shot past—skimming right under his feet. If he hadn't halted in time, that strike would've gone straight into his chest.
That combo—control then burst damage—was honestly making Steven even more curious about it. The color had made him think it might be playing with black hole energy like he was, but after experiencing it firsthand, Steven knew immediately: this was nowhere near the scale of the thing he kept holstered at his waist.
Gravity and black hole attraction might sound similar in theory, but the magnitude difference between them wasn't just one or two levels.
Still, for the Church of the Deep to develop something like this… Steven couldn't help but be impressed. Even the thing inside the underground mine core could at best brute-force compress energy into a beam—it couldn't convert it into gravity the way this monster just did.
Even crazier, they managed to fuse that tech with Seaborn to produce something like this—far more destructive and intelligent than the first horned scorpion-bull thing he fought.
If the Church of the Deep were given more time, wouldn't they just start throwing in things like Hybridized Collapsal Seaborn or Hybridized Feranmut Seaborn too?
Steven shook his head with a sigh, still not attacking. The Fallingstar Beast part had shown itself clearly—but what exactly was the Seaborn half contributing? That was what piqued his curiosity.
He was very interested in this kind of tech. Who knew—maybe someday he could mash together an Ender Dragon + Wither + Warden hybrid from Minecraft, and then use it like a Pokémon. If he did that, becoming the Terra Region champion would be a guaranteed win, right?
The monster, however, wasn't idle after its seemingly guaranteed strike missed. Its massive body surged forward with terrifying speed, tearing apart the edges of the gravity-supported water prison Steven had set up and charging straight at him.
Its already huge body swelled further upon contact with the seawater, like air being pumped into a balloon. The limbs and broken remnants that had once made up its body fused together under the ocean's embrace, transforming into perfectly sculpted muscle packed with raw power.
How to describe it? Steven could only compare it to a hero from an old, long-outdated competitive game he once played.
It looked exactly like an overexcited, ready-to-educate-you-about-adulthood fish-man.
One with a full set of visual effects glowing across its body, BKB activated, charging forward like an unstoppable force.
"But too bad for you… when it comes to hand-to-hand brawls, I've never backed down from anyone."
There were plenty of fields where he would openly admit inferiority—but close-quarters physical combat? Pure muscle-on-muscle brawling? He had never once learned the meaning of the word "fear."
He was a Minecrafter, after all. Someone wanting a flesh-and-blood slugfest? How could he possibly refuse?
Decisively, he even removed the driver on his waist and returned Yamato to his inventory. The moment his armor faded completely, Steven looked like a helpless, unarmed swimmer in deep water—yet he faced the oncoming monster with absolute calm.
"Come on then. Show me what parts you've upgraded. Hopefully you can at least make this fun for me."
He didn't even finish the taunt before the monster arrived, swinging its fist with absolutely no honor. The crystal armor on its arms shifted into blade-like edges, glowing with the orange light unique to Originium, slicing through Steven—no, through a mirage of him—in one clean strike.
The monster froze, confusion twisting its expression. The moment the pierced afterimage flickered out of existence, it finally heard its opponent's voice echoing from below.
"Is that all you've got?"
As his words fell, a fist containing an absurd amount of power slammed into the monster's chin. Its enormous body shot upward like a torpedo, blasting toward the surface and whipping the deep-sea water into a violent vortex behind it.
<+>
Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
<+>
If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind spending $5 monthly to see till the latest chapter, please go to my Patreon[1].
Latest Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 504: Chauffeured Service[2]
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/151308424?collection=55713[3]
https://www.patreon.com/collection/55713?view=condensed[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/55713?view=condensed
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/151308424?collection=55713
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/151308424?collection=55713
[4] https://www.patreon.com/collection/55713?view=condensed