"Bang!"
The four Sea Kings completely ignored the cleave that slashed straight down from the sky. The attack struck the largest catfish squarely.
However, the DMG it sustained was negligible. Where the strike landed, layers of scales instantly shattered, and blood seeped out.
But for a creature of its size, this injury was nothing more than a scratch.
Raiden Ei, high in the sky, was a bit surprised upon seeing this. She had never encountered a creature with such high defense.
That one cleave she just unleashed could at least split mountains and cut through steel, yet the creature took it head-on without defense and seemed completely fine.
She wouldn't have been surprised even if it had resisted a little.
Now was not the time for Raiden Ei to overthink. Several thick tentacles whipped up from below toward her in different directions.
Her Observation Haki had already predicted the trajectory of these attacks. It could be said that leaving effortlessly now would be difficult.
However, she didn't intend to leave immediately. Raiden Ei said to Little Elysia, "Little Fellow, wait here for a moment. I'll go teach those Sea Kings a lesson."
The Little Fellow hadn't shown any fear since the beginning; she even seemed eager for action.
She floated in the air using her ability, looking as if she wanted to watch a good show. She raised her hand and cheerfully said, "Sister Ei, you have to do your best!"
Raiden Ei only replied, "Okay."
She didn't have time to joke with Little Elysia. A large amount of lightning surged from her body, and her figure instantly vanished from the high sky, reappearing along the attack trajectories of the tentacles.
Wielding her lightning-infused Demon Blade, she attacked with full force, instantly unleashing several strikes even more powerful than before, aimed at the incoming tentacles.
"Zheng!"
The tentacles, as thick as massive trees, were instantly severed and writhed as they fell into the sea.
"Roar roar roar!"
The Octopus Monster, having its tentacles severed, let out a tragic screech of pain. Its eyes quickly turned blood-red, and its actions became even more frantic as it swung its remaining tentacles toward Raiden Ei in the sky again.
Raiden Ei paid no mind to the Octopus Monster's screeching. Her sword movements continued unabated. Her cleave, like a curved blade, shot directly toward the Sea Horse that had been continuously spitting water spheres at her.
Seeing the rapidly approaching cleave, the danger alert made the Sea Horse instinctively want to dodge, and its body rapidly sank toward the sea.
But the attack speed was too fast, leaving it little time to evade. Instantly, a wound dozens of meters long was left on its chest, nearly severing half its body.
The instantaneous DMG caused the Sea Horse to collapse into the sea, constantly rolling over. The blood of several Sea Kings dyed this stretch of ocean red.
Facing the renewed attacks from the Catfish Monster and the Octopus Monster, Raiden Ei decided to test the power of the Devil Fruit.
During the training over the past two days, she had upgraded both the Devil Fruit and Conqueror's Haki to Level 4.
Conqueror's Haki couldn't be upgraded through training, as it was tied to her constitution.
Since it would have to be upgraded eventually, she might as well consume energy to raise it now, as it would be of the greatest help to her currently.
She hadn't originally wanted to waste that hard-earned energy upgrading the Devil Fruit, planning to develop it to the top slowly. She believed she could do it.
However, she discovered that the Elemental Power, which shouldn't have been in her body, was being restored when she used the Goro Goro no Mi's abilities.
Although the recovery was extremely slow—so slow she wouldn't notice it if she wasn't paying attention.
Knowing that the Devil Fruit could restore Elemental Power, she breathed a sigh of relief. Otherwise, she wouldn't have known how to recover her Elemental Power. Fortunately, her efforts hadn't been in vain.
To accelerate the recovery of her Elemental Power and have a trump card in this dangerous world, she directly upgraded it to Level 4.
Just as she expected, the Elemental Power recovery speed indeed increased significantly. Although still slow, she could at least feel it recovering now.
With a steady trickle, she figured she should be able to use Elemental Power again soon.
The Devil Fruit ability, upgraded to Level 4, had also been greatly enhanced. Its power was no longer to be underestimated, although she hadn't tested it much yet.
Raiden Ei floated in the air, purple electric currents flashing across her body, accompanied by lightning bolts of various sizes sparking around her.
Watching the attacks getting closer, she slowly said, "Since that's the case, come and taste the flavor of lightning."
Raising her left hand, she condensed a beam of lightning that looked tangible. All the lightning on her body instantly surged toward it, and the powerful current crackled loudly in the air.
When the lightning reached a certain intensity, Raiden Ei didn't hesitate and swung her arm. The purple lightning instantly struck down toward the sea.
"Rumble!"
The lightning exploded the air and arrived instantly, striking the largest Catfish Monster directly. It instantly stiffened.
The current raged mercilessly inside its body. Due to the internal injuries, the Catfish Monster sank into the sea, emitting black smoke.
Although the current spread into the sea through the Catfish Monster, it lost a large amount of power in the water and had no effect on the other three Sea Kings.
Little Elysia, high in the sky, could see the fleeting purple light emanating from within the Catfish Monster the moment it was struck by the lightning.
Raiden Ei cut down the incoming tentacles and was satisfied with the current power of the lightning. After one strike, even such a large Sea King was immobilized.
Raiden Ei never doubted whether she could kill it, considering the vitality of creatures in this world.
She said somewhat melodramatically, "I shall call this strike the Ultimate Thunder. Let's call it Heavenly Light... A lightning flash that illuminates heaven and earth..."
As she was speaking, several water blades flew up from the sea, hurtling toward her at extreme speed. She neither dodged nor evaded, allowing the water blades to slice right through her body, cutting her entire person into several pieces.
"So this is how it feels.", Raiden Ei felt the sensation of being struck while parts of her body were elementalized.
Currents flowed through the severed parts of her body, and her form instantly restored to normal, even her clothes were perfectly intact.
(Note: This can be interpreted as her clothes being 'assimilated' by the Devil Fruit. Otherwise, it's hard to imagine an explanation for her clothes remaining unharmed after elementalization.)
Facing the next attack, Raiden Ei grinned, gathered lightning in her left hand, and said to the Octopus Monster, "Do you also want to taste being struck by lightning? Fine, I'll grant your wish."
Two beams of lightning, identical to the one used on the Catfish Monster, electrocuted the Octopus Monster and the Sea Horse Monster until they smoked. They slowly sank toward the deep sea unconsciously.
Thus, out of the four menacing Sea Kings, only the Shark Monster, hiding in the sea and throwing water blades, remained. It was a bit difficult for the current Raiden Ei to strike it by sending lightning through the thick layer of water.
Her Observation Haki locked onto the Shark Monster swimming in the sea, while simultaneously detecting many massive auras rapidly approaching the area.
She couldn't find an easy way to deal with the Shark Monster right away. She could use Conqueror's Haki to cleave the sea, but it wasn't worth it for a single Sea King.
The situation was mostly resolved. Before other large Sea Kings arrived, Raiden Ei and Little Elysia left the area.
"Sister Ei, are you hurt?"
"No, they weren't too strong. A few hits took care of them."
"Then are the big octopus and the others dead? If we just leave them there, won't that be a waste?"
"Hmm, creatures like that don't die that easily. Also, do you want to eat them?"
"No way!"
"Then can you teach me those abilities, Sister Ei?"
"We'll talk about it later!"
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