Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys Chapter 1487 - 511: Ambush and Fury

The moment Rein sprinted from his cabin, his eyes met a scene of chaos on the deck and walkways. Soldiers were scurrying back and forth in a state of panic, their voices raised as they barked out urgent orders.

This was the flagship of the Imperial Airship fleet, a vessel where the elite guards of the Empire rarely showed such visible terror or loss of composure.

Following the frantic gestures of the soldiers toward the ocean below, Rein’s eyes went wide with shock.

Directly beneath them, a colossal circular vortex had manifested in the sea. Spanning nearly three kilometers in diameter, the whirlpool spun with increasing velocity. Seagulls and albatrosses that had been gliding near the waves were ruthlessly dragged into the depths by the immense suction.

It appeared as though a massive void had suddenly opened on the ocean floor!

Despite cruising at an altitude of two thousand meters, the Imperial Airship fleet felt the impact of the plummeting air currents. The giant gasbag shifted violently, causing the pod where Rein stood to tilt precariously.

In the midst of the turmoil, Menia and Reginald emerged onto the deck in quick succession.

"Rein, Reginald and I are heading down to investigate. You stay—" Red Queen Menia began to issue her commands upon seeing the whirlpool, but her words were cut short.

The vortex below underwent a violent transformation!

The seawater drawn into the center seemed to hit a critical limit. In a flash, the massive volume of water erupted toward the heavens, forming a crystalline pillar hundreds of meters tall.

The phenomenon mirrored a stone being cast into a pond; the surface first dips under the weight before rebounding upward with explosive force.

However, what truly gripped the attention of Rein and the other three Epic-level powerhouses wasn't the towering spray, but the gargantuan shadow ascending within the water.

It was a fish of impossible proportions!

A massive whale!

More specifically, it was a whale adorned with a singular, sharp horn!

The whirlpool had been the "Surge" ability, a signature technique of the 'Leviathan Giant Whale' Jorgandman. By creating a sea-level vortex to gather mass, it could then launch a counter-force upward to create a colossal water column.

"This... could this be an ancient Leviathan Giant Whale?! I thought they were extinct!" Reginald exclaimed, his memory sparked by the whale's silhouette and that unmistakable unicorn horn.

"This is bad! Quick, tell all airships to jettison heavy cargo! Increase altitude and move at maximum speed!" Reginald’s face paled as he shouted orders to his nearby adjutant.

The ascent of an airship has its limits; as the air thins at higher altitudes, the buoyancy of the airbag diminishes. Most vessels in this Imperial Delegation were capped at a ceiling of roughly two thousand six hundred meters.

"Understood!"

The adjutant hadn't even taken a few steps before a change occurred.

A thunderous roar surged from the ocean. From the blood-red maw of the 'Leviathan Giant Whale,' a pillar of water tens of meters wide shot forth like a ballistic projectile.

Due to the unique internal structure of the column, it functioned like a high-pressure water cannon or a massive anti-aircraft battery. It struck the Imperial airship trailing the flagship, instantly obliterating it into fragments!

"Whale Spring Spurt!! There is no doubt, it is the Leviathan Giant Whale!" Menia’s expression became grim.

With such a legendary ability on display, the identity of their attacker was certain!

"Let’s move, Reginald, Crown. We need to draw its fire."

"The fleet must climb and retreat toward the Empire immediately!"

"Fine! To think we just crossed the Federation border only to end up hunting a resurrected ancient beast for them!" Reginald grumbled, shaking his head at the irony.

Even though he had never faced a Leviathan Giant Whale before, Reginald remained confident. Between him and Menia, they could surely slay the beast, or at the very least, drive it away.

"Wait, I..." Rein started to protest being left behind once again.

But he was interrupted by two magnificent dragon roars. A red and a yellow Giant Dragon soared up from beneath the flagship, and Menia and Reginald leaped onto their mounts in one fluid motion.

"Fine then~" Rein sighed, watching them depart with a helpless shake of his head.

The battle in the sea shifted once more.

Dense clusters of black dots emerged from the water surrounding the Leviathan Giant Whale. These figures took to the sky, launching an assault against the Imperial Dragon Knights and the fleet.

Rein narrowed his eyes, quickly identifying the attackers as monks mounted upon flying fish and manta rays with translucent wings.

"Sea God Sect!"

"It appears this Leviathan Giant Whale didn't just happen to wake up on its own."

These Flying Fish Knights and Manta Knights were little more than a nuisance to veteran Imperial Dragon Knights like Menia and Reginald. They were swatted from the sky like black rain, incinerated by searing Fiery Breaths or crushed by sandstorm-laden breaths.

However, their distraction worked. The Leviathan Giant Whale continued to fire its Whale Spring Spurt, claiming several more Imperial airships!

The conflict reached a grim equilibrium.

While the whale bombarded the fleet and the Dragon Knights decimated the flying minions, Rein felt a growing unease. He sensed this assault wouldn't be so straightforward.

Suddenly, in that very moment!