Chapter 211: Chapter 207: Obtaining Ragnarök! Devouring the Formless Pure Ice

「Seven hours earlier, at the site where the Dusk Whale fell.」

Having finally slain the Dusk Whale, Shi Ming plunged his right arm, hot with excitement, into the heart of the S-rank Sea Beast. This was where its Dusk Power was most concentrated. The vast energy was channeled through his arm, flowing into Shi Ming’s body in a controlled stream.

Compared to the dead Sea Beast, he was now more like a great whale himself, swallowing the ocean whole.

He let out a long breath.

He felt signs of corrosion on his body, but that was unavoidable. For now, he ignored such details and slowly closed his eyes, feeling the power merge with him—a necessary step.

’It’s not my first time, but it’s just as exhilarating every single time!’

’Having my craving for power satisfied is even more thrilling than combat itself.’

The surrounding sea had fallen deathly silent, with no one to disturb him.

...

When a whale falls, a world is born.

As dusk and dawn cycle, so too do life and death intertwine.

Shi Ming opened his eyes, which flashed with an overflow of power.

’Thirty-four minutes. A little longer than with the Titan.’

It seemed Shi Ming had absorbed every last bit of the whale’s power. The beast, over 200 meters long, was now reduced to a skeleton with only scraps of flesh clinging to it. Its heart was shriveled, and the remaining flesh was slowly washed away by the undercurrents, truly returning to the sea in a whale fall.

Normally, a Sea Beast wouldn’t decay so quickly after death.

But not all Sea Beasts were alike; the Dusk Whale itself was synonymous with decay.

Confirming he had successfully awakened the new power, Shi Ming inspected the changes to his body.

An even fiercer light glinted in his eyes. His left eye was chaotic, tinged with the yellow of dusk; his right was sharp, holding the light of dawn. These anomalies were then suppressed by the Eye of the World and quickly faded, returning his eyes to their normal state.

The right side of his body was a healthy, light wheat color.

The left side, however, had darkened slightly, as if a dusk-yellow filter had been laid over it, though it showed no signs of decay.

’Of course, the most important part is the new skill!’

Ragnarok!

With a mere thought, Shi Ming activated the skill. The Fallen God Battlefield unfurled once more on the seabed. Illusions of the World Tree and a mountain of corpses in a sea of blood manifested with immense oppressive force. But with no living creatures left in the area, Shi Ming could only get a rough sense of its power and learn its abilities from a first-person perspective.

’It’s a skill with no cooldown.’

’As long as my body can handle it, I can use it infinitely.’

Furthermore, the effect when he cast it was identical to the Dusk Whale’s version, not weakened in the slightest.

The inherited version wasn’t weaker at all.

Not only that, but casting it would also put him into a "Dusk Giant" state. While his physical size remained the same, he would become a giant in a "symbolic" sense, with his power, presence, and life force becoming comparable to the giants of legend.

The only drawback was that in inheriting the Dusk Whale’s power, he also inherited its inexorable fate.

Without some special intervention, this body would also begin to slowly decay, accumulate entropy, and move toward an irreversible state of "annihilation." The more he used the skill and the higher his temperature rose, the faster his entropy would increase. Theoretically, the process of complete decay would take at least sixty years. Even if he did nothing, he would still be able to live out a natural lifespan.

But Shi Ming had a special intervention.

Shapeless Pure Ice!

As expected, the Eye of the World prompted him again!

It was always very active at critical junctures like this—

[Although Ragnarok is powerful, and the Dusk Giant state is very cool and imposing.]

[But the Eye of the World must remind you...]

[You must swallow the Shapeless Pure Ice within five minutes and forty-eight seconds.]

[The entropy of the left side of your body will begin to increase in five minutes and forty-eight seconds. This increase is irreversible and will bring escalating chaos and decay. If you do not wish to drag around a half-ruined body like the Dusk Whale did, you must swallow the Shapeless Pure Ice as soon as possible! Let "Ragnarok" and the "Third Law" counteract one another.]

[Merge through this counteraction and evolve into a brand-new state.]

[Besides, the Eye of the World is also very curious.]

[What will this new, unknown state be like?]

’Curious?’

’No wonder the Eye of the World never mentioned this new state. Turns out it didn’t know either.’

His snarky thoughts didn’t slow his actions. A perfect crystal appeared in Shi Ming’s hand. This was the 48th-ranked Artifact. By eating it and surviving for 120 seconds, he could replace any of his ice-attribute skills, regardless of its level, with the "Third Law" from the S-rank skill leaderboard.

’Ice Annihilation, it’s time for an upgrade!’

The powerful, overflowing cold—an Eternal Ice Domain of minus 45 degrees—was now tolerable to Shi Ming in his dusk state.

He even found it a little comfortable.

He brought the perfect, 256-faceted crystal to his lips.

He popped it directly into his mouth.

GULP.

He swallowed it down.

UGH...

A powerful, cold energy exploded within him. In an instant, Shi Ming arched his back, clutching his abdomen. He felt his organs icing over, an extreme cold solidifying his every cell! Every structure in his body began to freeze, shutting down.

He felt his body temperature plummeting.

He felt his thoughts growing orderly as the chaos began to recede.

He felt as if he were turning into a perfect crystal at absolute zero.

Fortunately, the power of his dusk state was the very nemesis of the Third Law. The two disparate forces began a tug-of-war inside his body, saving him from perishing in the extreme cold.

CRACKLE, CRACKLE.

With Shi Ming at the epicenter, the surrounding seawater rapidly congealed, freezing into incredibly solid ice.

Shi Ming convulsed in the extreme cold. With a violent struggle and a loud BANG, he shattered the ice encasing him.

But the ice instantly re-formed.

Shi Ming broke free again.

And again, the ice re-formed.

After a few rounds of this, he stopped struggling. Resigning himself to being frozen, he settled into a more comfortable position and accepted his fate. He began to focus his mind and energy inward, concentrating on the battle to both resist and absorb the power of the Shapeless Pure Ice.

The ice encasing Shi Ming grew ever harder and more massive.

Then, driven by buoyancy, it began to rise from the depths.

...

...

...

As the tug-of-war between the Shapeless Pure Ice and Ragnarok continued, time flew by.

Dusk gave way to a starlit night. Quert returned to the [Constantinople], and after his report, the First Secretary-General of the Twelve Stars saw an opportunity. An emergency meeting was convened shortly after two in the morning, and an expedition was launched, spearheaded by three general-class Wanderer Ships.

The [Constantinople], with its stark Roman architecture, led the way.

The [Tudor Rose], bearing its elegant crest, followed close behind, sailing abreast of the romantic and free-spirited [Fontainebleau].

The flagship of the Twelve Stars brought up the rear, serving as the grand finale of the fleet.

In a hunt personally led by the Twelve Stars, the allocation of Sea Beast Blood and Awakening slots was handled centrally. Even Quert, the informant, would not get priority access to an Awakening. He would only receive "Contribution" as a reward, which he could exchange for resources. However, even Contribution points were no guarantee of securing an Awakening slot.

Who received a slot was determined by multiple factors.

Factors like politics