"Ugh." Krune felt pangs of pain whenever the muscles surrounding him twitched, increasing the pressure applied on him. Every time this happened, he struggled to breathe, feeling a bit suffocated. Not to mention the fact that the walls of the muscles were layered over one another.
Since he was the one who slipped into it, Krune felt difficulty in breathing. After all, there wasn't enough air for him to breathe. At least, in the mouth chamber, there was enough oxygen for him to survive.
It seemed that the spherical creatures also required oxygen to operate. With that, the whale-like creature had evolved accordingly to circulate some of the air it inhaled into its mouth. That was why Krune was able to survive within it peacefully.
But right now, he was facing difficulty in breathing. With that in mind, Krune increased his pace, quickly moving through the muscle walls while severing some parts using the two daggers he had just fashioned. This way, he reduced the muscular pressure on himself while moving forward quickly.
The whale-like fish didn't have any measures against the foe that was damaging it internally. After its internal defense mechanism was destroyed, it didn't have any other methods to protect itself. All it could do was flail in agony as it swam through the ocean waters.
Following the loud thumping sound and the coursing of the sound through the muscle walls, Krune easily followed it to the source, finally cutting apart a muscle section as he arrived before a certain something.
If it wasn't for the Whale Tooth Daggers, he couldn't have gone this far.
The teeth the whale-like fish grew were also used to shred apart the flesh of its prey, may it be fishes or similarly large creatures like itself. So, it was that tough. That was why Krune could cut through its muscles. Although it was time-consuming, it was doable.
At the moment he appeared before its thumping heart, just the sheer sound rattled his internals. Even though his ears were covered by the shells of the spherical creatures, the sound waves still affected him. They just coursed through his body, making him feel strained.
His nerves popped as Krune felt pain in his chest. His blood flow was facing difficulties thanks to the sound. If he delayed any longer, he might be the one to fall apart. After all, the whale-like fish's heart was as big as himself.
With that, Krune lashed out with his dagger, aiming at the spot away from him in fear the pressure of the liquid within would wound him. Krune was aware of just how much power a liquid in high pressure could emit when the outlet was a small hole. In this case, it would be nothing short of a laser beam.
As he was aware of the danger, Krune didn't recklessly make his move, only aiming at the section of the heart that was facing the other side. Also, he didn't directly plunge the knife into it. After all, if a hole was poked, all the blood would gush out and drown himself.
With that, he had to be careful. After taking in a deep breath, Krune carefully cut sections on the whale-like fish's heart, stopping the moment there were faint signs of the blood seeping out. He continued to cut in such a manner, soon stopping when blood began to drip from all over the heart. It seemed like a balloon that was on the verge of bursting.
Krune then took out one of his knives and partially inserted it into a section of the heart muscle he had cut. He then retreated into the muscle folds, ensuring he was fully protected by it. His hand then exited the folds before slamming it into the back of the knife, retracting immediately.
As if a full water balloon was poked by a needle, the whale-like fish's heart burst, spilling out all the blood that had flown into it. The moment its heart burst, the whale-like fish began to lose signs of life.
It was now on the verge of death.
Krune was fully protected by the muscles, avoiding the blood from drowning him completely. Soon, he noticed a thin stream of blood land on his body, only to be absorbed by it soon after. He then roared in joy, "It worked!"
He hadn't finished his roar of laughter when the blood seeped into him at a massive pace. It wasn't the blood itself that entered him. Rather, it was the essence contained in the blood.
After seeping into his body, it condensed into his throat, causing him to feel burning pain in the region. It felt as if he had drunk boiling hot water.
Krune grunted from the pain, struggling to cope up with it, heaving a sigh of relief after 10 seconds had passed. The burning pain had stopped as he immediately double tapped his glabella, summoning his tablet.
The tablet propped up the muscle walls, giving him a breather. He then looked at the new row of information that had appeared on it, smiling.
[Killed one Sonic Radar: 1 Godly Point Obtained]
[Obtained Passive: Sonic Radar]
"Is this different from a Sonar?" Krune muttered in curiosity as he could feel a sound wave being transmitted from his mouth. It landed on the muscle walls surrounding him and was reflected, causing him to perceive the distance.
It was a strange feeling. It was as if he was able to do this from birth, making Krune chuckle as he said soon after, "I got my second passive."
Krune could feel a concept at place here. Every ability that could be gained wasn't offensive. They seemed more in the support category. Then again, it wasn't as if one always needed an offensive ability to survive.
As long as they had the right ability for the right environment, they would be able to survive. Upon seeing how his ability worked, Krune immediately began to retreat, retracting the tablet as he sighed in relief once he arrived at the throat.
He could also feel the pressure within the muscle walls begin to decrease. It was the same case as with the Neon Radiance King. After he had absorbed its essence, its body turned brittle. The same was happening to the whale-like fish as well.
Of course, since it was a massive creature, it was dying slower, giving Krune enough time to escape. Soon, he arrived in its mouth, grabbing his boat and the float before dragging them to one side of the mouth. He then lodged the two Whale Tooth Daggers into the muscle walls, tying the rope to them as he anchored his boat and float. This way, he prevented them from being washed away when the water current crashed into it.
Even though they had been damaged because of everything that had happened, they could still be repaired. So, Krune didn't wish to leave them behind. Not to mention, they were the only things he could rely on to survive on the ocean waters.
After all, he just didn't have the time to sever the bones from the whale-like fish. On top of that, since he had obtained its essence, its body was turning more and more fragile as time passed. So, even if he made a boat using its bones, it would quickly shatter.
So, the boat and float he had been working on for the past month was his only solution. Krune then arrived before the whale-like fish's mouth, feeling its dying breath. He then sprinted through the place, leaping with as much strength he could before plunging his Whale Tooth Sword into the mouth walls.
He plunged it as diagonally as possible before holding onto it for dear life. The sharp pain caused the whale-like fish to open its mouth a little in reflex, causing the ocean water to gush in like a torrent. Since it was dying, it didn't have the strength to close its mouth.
"Ugh!" Krune held the sword with all his strength as the torrent of water gushed into the whale-like fish's mouth, soon filling it up. The undercurrents tried to wash him away as he desperately held on for dear life.
He knew that the moment he slipped, the currents would send him straight to the row of teeth and shred him apart into pieces. Ten seconds later, the entire place was filled with water.
Activating his Neon Radiance, Krune pulled out his sword and strapped it to his back. He quickly swam through the water and arrived before the float and the boat, retracting his two Whale Tooth Daggers. Sheathing them on his hip, he pulled the two constructs, heading towards the mouth.
It was difficult to pull them since they had a natural buoyancy to them. So, the two constructs tried to go up. The water pressure also made him feel like he was going to be smacked into a paste. Krune had difficulty keeping up with everything as he slowly brought out the constructs, exiting the whale-like fish.
Once he did that, he just held onto the two and didn't paddle, conserving his strength. Thanks to their buoyancy, they moved upward at a pace beyond what he was able to achieve through normal swimming.
It seemed like forever when Krune surfaced, gasping for air. It was daytime, thankfully for him since he didn't need to waste any more energy to emit light.
Krune just tied the float to the boat using the rope, and climbed aboard, gasping for air as he lay flat on it, feeling pain all over. He had trouble breathing while all the nerves in his body were acting up. It was as if the flow in them was getting clogged.
Krune instinctively opened his mouth and took in rapid breaths in succession, turning up the heat in his body. He inhaled and exhaled as quickly as he could, doing it at least three times per second. Time passed in such a fashion, with Krune feeling like his lungs were burning.
Then again, he could also feel the pain in his body subside little by little. Two minutes later, he was exhausted. The pain still existed, so after resting a little, Krune repeated the exercise once again. It took him a couple of hours before his body returned to normal.
At the very moment his condition was stable, Krune fell unconscious. Having been on high alert for the past two days, he hadn't caught even a wink of sleep and was working nonstop. Now that he was safe, he laid defenseless, allowing himself to get that well-deserved sleep.