About 5 days later, Ikami and her crew found themselves aboard the ship heading south. The ship was giant by every standard. It was currently being led by a blue Viking giant named Yhorm; he was the commander in chief of the naval battalion of the Vikings. He was officially chosen by Athena to lead the human group along with a small troop directly in the territory of the sea serpent; after that, the humans would be on their own, and it would be their job to deal with the serpent…


    Honestly speaking, Yhorm did not have even a bit of trust for any of these humans. He had an obvious look on humans; they were inferior both in terms of size and every other physical capability. So it was only obvious he looked down on the tiny creatures, but whether they passed or failed was not his problem. Honestly, he would have preferred if they failed, since that would give him a good reason to convince the elders to have Athena be replaced as the chief.


    Originally he was going to be chief; he was the son of the last chief, but he did not inherit the position from his father directly. His father was a true Viking at heart, and so he simply set up a competition to make the strongest take the throne, and against everyone''s expectations, Athena, who used her brains along with her brawn in a good balance, swept off the title from under all their noses.So the current generation wasn''t exactly happy with her; they believed using such tactics was unfair in battle; brute strength seemed to be their only mindset. Ikami simply found this disgusting, but it was nothing she hadn''t seen before.


    Even during the normal times, the strong chose to oppress the weak, and the only way the weak could stand up was by using their wits. That''s why those who used their brains and such were both feared and hated the most in ancient times.


    As the team stood on the boat, Tumo seemed to be cleaning his blade, fidgeting nervously, while Elio was helping Hyeon, who had seasickness… this guy…He couldn''t be useful in any scenario, it seemed. That''s probably not true, but it was truly what was going through Ikami''s mind at the moment. Tumo was a good head-on fighter, and Elio could provide great support, but Hyeon? He had been nothing but trouble the entire time… When she got back, she was surely going to talk to Jack about getting rid of that guy or changing him for someone better; at least, for now, she could only sigh and try to think up a good strategy.


    While she had a plan in her mind, she could probably execute it as long as she got proper support. She had already briefed Tumo and Elio on their plan while Hyeon had no reason to be told. His part in the plan was rather simple… Soon the currents in the sea became fierce to the point that if they continued forward, the boat itself would drown; they had no choice but to stop right here, but that was no issue since they had already reached into the territory of the great grade sea serpent. Ikami, Tumo, and Elio soon gathered near the front deck of the ship, watching the water further ahead.


    Seeing everyone has gathered up soon, Hyeon follows after trying to balance himself on the ship''s floor…so he doesn''t fall down. It was hard to maintain balance for him even normally on ships, but with the intensity of the waves, he could hardly find a footing… While stumbling towards the group, he ended up falling onto Ikami, trying to hold himself up as he stood up with a slightly dazed expression. Everyone except himself seemed to know what to do, which confused him.


    He looked at Ikami, his voice rather weak due to constantly throwing up from seasickness. "So what''s the plan? What am I meant to do?" Ikami''s gaze looked down at him sharply while both Elio and Tumo looked away as Ikami picked him up by his collar. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    He suddenly felt as light as a feather as Ikami used her gene skill black hole on him, reducing his gravity to a minimum before throwing him as hard as she could and then constantly increasing his gravity, causing Hyeon to be sent flying into the ocean directly into the sea serpent''s territory.


    Hyeon panicked, as before he could even understand what was going on, he was drowning in the middle of the sea. He held his breath and tried to swim upwards, flopping his hands and legs in the water, but to no avail. Tumo and Elio knew he had the zombieman trait, so he wouldn''t die, but still the two of them actually felt pity for the poor guy, but Ikami showed no regret or even a feeling of satisfaction on her face. Even the giants who were watching were dumbfounded at this; they thought the humans were weak and inferior creatures, but to be so ruthless… To throw one of their own into death without any regret is something they were not sure even they themselves could do, or was there some internal conflict?


    As they were theorizing, Hyeon found himself drowning deeper and deeper. The ocean and the water were dark, so much so he could hardly see even a meter ahead of him or even tell if there was any distance. It was as if he was lost in an infinite void. He stopped trying to move or resist; he knew soon he would run out of breath and die, but he showed no panic; if anything, there was a grateful expression on his face; for a man who seemed nothing more than his own death, this was a godsend opportunity.


    Suddenly he felt the water around him shifting, in the darkness far away a set of two red serpentine eyes appeared behind Hyeon. He had not yet spotted these eyes, yet he felt a chill run down his spine; he felt paralyzed by fear and the sheer intensity of the strength of the creature he was up against. But that was good, right? Fate''s plaything might be a strong trait, but it doesn''t make him immortal… A great gray creature could surely kill him.


    As Hyeon relaxed himself and his body and let himself be freed… The serpent itself swam towards the one who had intruded on his territory with maximum speed, its serpentine body swimming through the currents of the ocean with high efficiency. It got closer and closer to the man in the water; it opened its huge jaw, its razor-sharp teeth inches away from Hyeon, but before it could even graze the man, it was sent flying up into the sky directly out of the ocean as it wriggled helplessly in the sky, unable to move.


    The confused Hyeon, who had perfectly played the role of the bait, was grabbed by Elio and taken out of the water back to the ship against the suicidal boy''s wish. He could only curse his trait, while Ikami emerged from the ocean, her hair was tied up in a ponytail behind her head as her hand was covered in a purple aura. She had used her skill to turn the serpent''s body''s gravity completely off, creating a zero-gravity condition, after which she simply had to punch it from underneath to push it out of the water.


    The serpent was rather fast, though being a great grade, so she couldn''t have pulled it off normally, but this was not normal conditions; it was being distracted by their zombie long enough to the point they could successfully pull this off. Even if it was a great grade, a creature outside the ocean was simply a fish on land; it could breathe or move, so it would die naturally sooner or later. As Elio healed Hyeon, Tumo activated his sword master skill, causing three blades to begin flying around him as he jumped up and landed on top of one of them, flying up towards the serpent in the sky.


    While keeping a considerable distance from the creature, Tumo used two of his blades to attack the creature without having to go near it. Extra injuries would only hasten the process of its death.


    Everything was going according to plan; meanwhile, the giants watched dumbfounded, not sure whether to be impressed or outright offended at such a shameless way of fighting such a great creature. It was this day the giants became familiar with the term


    "boss cheeze.".