Artha could not believe it.
Bestowed with the powers from the King himself and given personally through the Archduke of the Demon Metropolis, there was no greater honour for a demon soldier.
However, even if Artha wanted to serve the King and Archduke, he was now feebly powerless against a monster that was slightly smaller in build than him. It was an utter disgrace to them and to his platoon should he not be able to get out of this situation.
But when Artha saw the eerie reddish fins behind the Pandjilla, he could already sense that he had to act quickly to free himself out of the stranglehold he was currently in. Alas, with the increasing pressure of the sea and Pandjilla’s grapple, there was really nothing he could do. The giant chimaera had never been designed to fight in underwater battles.
His next move would essentially be a do-or-die kind of manoeuvre as he grabbed the mantis blade that was stuck on Pandjilla’s rock hard shoulder and sliced himself into two. While this might have looked like a suicidal move, it allowed Artha to get out of the grapple hold and escape the incoming beam of death that was spat out from Pandjilla’s mouth.
Despite his self inflicted fatal injuries, Artha continued to ascend further up by flapping his wings intensely to get a breath of air as surviving was his number one priority right now.
At first, the Pandjilla thought that he had successfully killed his prey. He had already looked forward to devouring it, but upon noticing that he was only holding half the body, his ‘brain’ internalised the information, and the Pandjilla turned furious. For his own meal to cut itself into two in order to escape from his energy beam was unacceptable for the Clay Panda-Fish Abomination since he was aiming to get a good wholly crunch on the insect-fused beast.
To have such a basic instinct for food was not a coincidence resulting from the multitude of runes placed within him, but instead, the Pandjilla had finally gained a proper brain.
When activated by Qiu Yue, the Pandjilla had simply been a lump of water-resistant clay holding itself together, waiting for the next command to be given to him, especially with the chip installed along with his runes. However, the boredom of waiting for it to be called for an assault brought the clay Pandjilla to be in the same situation as Mr Derpy.
Thus as mentioned, Mr Derpy had ordered his minions to feed Pandjilla with demon bodies to power him up. Never did the Shadow Fish God realise that it was actually feeding him magically enhanced sailors from the Demon Fleet Leviathan. Those sailors affected by the Fog that Steals had undead attributes in them, hence causing Pandjilla to actually gain some ‘life’ from it.
Learning that the Panda-Fish abomination that Jin requested the goblin craftsman to create for the fun of having a panda-themed Godzilla, the System could not have predicted that the runes, chips and eventually the undead essence would evolve the Pandjilla to become something more alive. Naturally curious, the System decided to try and see how much further it could go by setting up an experiment. It had asked Mr Derpy to hand over the Dungeon Core that had been within Flashy for Pandjilla to consume.
Shadow Dagen thought that it was an order rather than a request, and in the hopes of gaining more favours with the System, preferably in the form of piggy (porkcupine) nuggets, it obediently allowed Pandjilla to consume it. The System, as well as Mr Derpy and the Deep Ones around the beast, were all equally surprised when they saw the Dungeon Core being attracted to Pandjilla and subsequently assimilate itself into the lump of the clay.
Only through Moloch’s insight did the System learn that this Dungeon Core was like a parasite kind of core that leeches on giant monsters. With Flashy the flying turtle becoming just another stress eating meal for Mr Derpy, its option had been limited to leech on the Shadow Dagen. But the power the Dungeon Core offered had been so minuscule in comparison to the living shadow of a mighty Fish God, Mr Derpy naturally rejected it. (He had no idea that the Dungeon Core even had such a condition.)
Thus, when it came in contact with the Clay Pandjilla, the undead essence it had consumed made the sentient core believe that the Giant Monster was suitable and weak enough for it to become its new host. (Compared to Mr Derpy, it was definitely a better choice.) So, when it assimilated within the Pandjilla, it actually became the heart of the panda-themed monster and gave it something the clay monster had sorely lacked before.
Intelligence.
A brain had been manifested along with the chip and the dozens of layers of runes, allowing it to be sentient enough to make its own decisions. Thus, when Qiu Yue wanted to give a command to the Clay Pandjilla, she noticed that it was already moving on its own to counter the threat that the Stalingrad was facing. And its actions to bring the chimaera soldier down was evidence that in time, it would become a fearsome monster to be reckoned with.
Artha tried to move as fast as he could, but his wings weren’t flappers, and his arms could only aid him that much on his attempt to reach the surface of the sea. However, for the time being, the poor soul was still in the home ground of the newly reborn Pandjilla.
In a moment’s notice, the Panda Godjilla had already caught up to the bleeding chimaera soldier. However, it was apparent that he was already recovering his torso thanks to the Crown’s immense power.
And the Pandjilla meant business when it set its mind to eat the Colossal Lion Mantis as his next meal. So, he quickly grabbed onto the healing torso and tried to bite through it. That was when Artha counterattacked knowing that all Pandjilla wanted was him. So he threw his Mantis Blade into its mouth, hoping it would penetrate his throat and kill him in the process.
Unfortunately, the Lion Mantis did not know that the new Sea Guardian of Pandapolis was made out of premium clay which was incapable of bleeding. In addition, the Dungeon Core utilised the undead essence it had previously collected and used alongside the recovery runes to regenerate the simple clay structure.
Compared to humans, demons and other living beings, the parasitic Dungeon believed it had found the most comfortable host to live in because of its simplistic ‘DNA’ structure. The System allowed it to do as it pleased for the time being before it would enforce the second seal of loyalty on it.
The Pandjilla continued to ignore the Mantis Blade within its mouth and bit Artha with his might. This time, there was nowhere else, nothing he could do to escape. Artha was once again facing the eerie reddish glow of his fin indicating that he would be toast meat within the next few seconds.
“I am sorry, my lord, for disappointing you.” Artha apologised with his lungs filled with saltwater and his end torso, feeling the burn emanating from beneath. He had accepted that no matter how much he tried, it was useless to struggle this time around.
Long live Pandjilla. Long live the newest Sea Guardian of Pandapolis.
