Chapter 66

Adam calmly conjured his mana into a spell, imagining himself blinking into the distance. Like the teleportation spell he cast before, only far faster and less face-smashing. 

“[Blink]!” he shouted.

Then he blinked.

Not magically. Physically.

His eyes widened in surprise when the spell failed to activate.

Curse of Silence added to you. Spells and skills are locked until the curse is removed.

Overwhelming Speed Buff added to Sea Monkey & Lesser Sea Dragon. Dexterity stat +2.

Adam didn't even have time to fully read the notifications before the water arrow struck him directly in the forehead and the water blade sliced cleanly through his waist.

His head popped like a watermelon, while his upper and lower body split apart and drifted away from each other.

He was deader than dead could be.

“Ha! Serves you right for scaring me!" The sea monkey taunted his corpse.

SeeCuteGirl-iClick: HOLY F***! DID ADAM JUST DIE?!

At some point, unbeknownst to Adam, the livestream had started, and the chat window had been floating beside him the entire time. He had been so engrossed in the chase that he hadn't even noticed it.

It was only now, as his eyeballs slowly regenerated inside his ruined skull, that he finally noticed the chat.

Once his mouth had regenerated, he greeted his audience.

“Nah, I'm not dead yet. Guess I'm immortal, for now.”

Adam's upper and lower body slid back together as his head reformed atop his neck.

The sea monkey stared blankly at him.

Beside it, the sea dragon's black scales seemed to pale slightly, turning a dark grey.

Adam rolled his neck and tested his newly regenerated head. Everything seemed to be in place. It was admittedly very weird having his head regrow after exploding, but either because of the item's effect or some hidden protection from the system, he didn't panic. Somehow, he accepted it fairly easily.

Unfortunately, dying hadn't removed the Curse of Silence, so he still couldn't use any spells.

Luckily, it hadn't affected the strength buff either.

That meant his Strength was currently on par with his SS-Rank Magic stat.

Adam flexed his muscles and smiled at the chat window.

“You all are about to see a mage kick ass.”

Without warning, he shot through the water like a bullet.

In an instant, he appeared in front of the sea monkey, far faster than it could react. His fist smashed into its cheek and sent its body spinning through the ocean.

Adam stuck to it like glue, following it through the water as he unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks. He didn't possess Mei's grace or martial mastery, but that didn't mean he didn't know how to fight.

He was actually quite good at it.

His attacks left the sea monkey no room to retaliate, forcing it onto the defensive as Adam relentlessly battered it.

“Spit! Out! My! Girlfriend!” Adam shouted, punctuating each word with another punch or kick.

“Okay! Okay! Stop hitting me!” the sea monkey screeched.

Adam finally let up, giving the battered creature a moment to catch its breath.

“Here, I'll take her out,” the sea monkey said, reaching one hand into its enormous mouth.

MonkeyKing: Don't trust monkeys, we always lie.

The sea monkey pulled its hand back out.

It wasn't holding Mei.

Instead, it held a pearl the exact same blue as the surrounding ocean, making it almost invisible in the water.

“My Sea Dragon Pearl!” the sea dragon shouted.

The sea monkey channeled mana into the pearl, causing it to glow with a bright, greenish hue.

Suddenly, hundreds of green water arrows spawned around Adam.

They immediately shot toward him at speeds that would have been impossible to dodge under normal circumstances.

But Adam didn't need to dodge.

He was unkillable.

So he simply stood there and let them hit him.

The sea monkey cackled triumphantly.

“You fool! Those are Sea Dragon Arrows! They're coated in Sea Dragon Poison, making healing impossible!”

The arrows ripped through Adam's body, severing fingers, hands, arms, and legs while punching dozens of holes through his chest and stomach.

“Damn! That hurts!”

Adam had gotten a little conceited after realizing he was immortal and had forgotten one important detail.

He could still feel pain.

Still, despite the sea monkey's claim that the wounds were impossible to heal, Adam's body continued regenerating as if nothing had happened.

The sea monkey slowly blinked.

“How...?”

“He's blessed by a sea god. Your attacks are weakened against him while he's in the water,” the sea dragon commented. “Plus, his body is weird. He seems like a sea cockroach, nearly unkillable.”

“What do we do?”

“We don't do anything. This doesn't have anything to do with me.”

The sea dragon slowly began swimming away from the two of them.

EastSeaDragonKing: My descendant doesn't seem to have much of a backbone. But... in this case, I agree with his actions. You reap what you sow.

“Wait! I'll give your pearl back. Just help me kill this human first!”

The sea dragon smirked derisively. “Yeah, I totally believe you.”

He shook his massive head and sighed. “Just give the man his girlfriend back.”

“Yeah, give me Mei back,” Adam agreed.

He didn't mind beating the sea monkey until it spit her out, but he was worried about two things. First, he might accidentally hurt Mei if he killed the sea monkey. Second, the sea monkey might hurt her before he got the chance.

“I... I don't want to.”

“You don't want to?” Adam asked. “Are you kidding me? So you want to die instead?”

The sea monkey frowned.

“I've never given anything I've stolen back. No matter what.”

Curse of Lightning Punishment added to Sea Monkey. Suffer a lightning strike every 30 seconds.

Mountain Weight Buff added to Adam Colt. Gain the weight and sturdiness of a mountain.

Adam's floating body suddenly dropped like a sack of bricks, plunging straight toward the ocean floor. At the same time, a dark lightning cloud materialized above the sea monkey and unleashed a million volts of electricity directly into its body.

“Wait! You'll hurt Mei!” Adam shouted.

Unfortunately, it didn't do any good. It wasn't like his gloves could hear him, and he seriously doubted the system responsible for their effects cared about his complaints.

Adam struggled to swim back toward the surface, but his body was far too heavy.

His buff had effectively turned into a curse.

The sea monkey spasmed violently as electricity coursed through its body, but despite the sheer amount of power running through it, it wasn't dead. It was only injured.

It glanced down at Adam and somehow managed to grin through the pain.

“Haha! Looks like it's my win!”

The sea monkey kicked its finned feet and swiftly vanished into the depths of the ocean.

The sea dragon gave Adam a wary look before quickly turning and chasing after it.

“Damn it!” Adam cursed. “You stupid fucking gloves!”

He grabbed at the gloves and tried ripping them off, but they didn't even budge. Instead, a sharp pain shot through his hands, almost as if the gloves had become a genuine part of his body.

“At least give me my magic back so I can catch up to them!”

[Strength of the Fishes] deactivated.

Adam's stats suddenly reverted to their original ranks.

Cursed Gloves of Everhealing Chaos full effect locked due to insufficient stats.

The buffs and debuffs affecting him vanished almost instantly.

Adam didn't waste another second questioning it. He kicked off the hard ocean floor and rocketed through the water like a laser, immediately resuming his pursuit of the two sea creatures.

xYzXyZ (mod): What happened? It sounded like you said Mei was taken by that fish-monkey thing?

SeeCuteGirl-iClick: Yeah, when the stream started, you were already in the water chasing them. What happened?

Adam glanced at the chat and saw all the concerned questions pouring in.

“We were on a ship sailing toward the other continent, where the human kingdom is, when that sea monkey leapt over the ship and swallowed Mei whole. Without thinking, I jumped in after them.”

He continued swimming as he spoke, pushing himself as hard as he could.

“I didn't have any way to catch up, so I tried casting a water-breathing spell using a chant. Luckily, it had been upgraded into a Legendary spell, which gave me the speed and strength of a sea creature.”

As he explained the situation, Adam caught another glimpse of the two creatures in the distance.

The sea monkey was using the Sea Dragon Pearl to bombard the Lesser Sea Dragon with all kinds of poisoned, water-based spells. The attacks came from every direction, forming a relentless barrage of blades, arrows, and other deadly constructs.

The sea dragon, however, had apparently cast some kind of protective water barrier. Every attack that struck the barrier dispersed harmlessly against its surface.

It wasn't a Mythic-class creature for show.

Adam calmly observed their battle while simultaneously trying to formulate an actual plan to save Mei. He needed to do something quickly, preferably before his cursed gloves decided to pile another dozen random effects onto him.

Then the sea monkey suddenly stopped.

Its body jerked violently before it spat out a mouthful of blood.

The sea dragon's eyes narrowed, and a smug smile slowly spread across its face.

“That little human girl is fighting back?”

Its voice carried through the ocean currents and reached Adam's ears despite the distance.

Adam couldn't help smiling.

Relief washed over him at the realization that Mei was still alive.

More importantly, she was still fighting.