I'm Trapped in the Block

Chapter 413: Chapter 410: The Final Battle

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled over the surface of the sea.

The wind by the shore died down, and a strange atmosphere began to brew.

”Are you angry, Wave Brothers?” The balloon didn’t understand what was happening. It only sensed that something was suddenly off about the Wave Brothers.

The waves, of course, did not answer it.

Amidst the eerie atmosphere, the sea suddenly receded into the distance, pulling far away from the shore where the balloon was. The black volcanic rock beneath the water was exposed.

’Are the Wave Brothers running away?’ the balloon wondered, perplexed. The great sea had never behaved like this before.

It looked out toward the distant shallows and saw that the sea’s surface had turned white. Countless bubbles rose from the water, as if something was deliberately churning the currents.

Then, the surface of the sea began to contort, rising into a long wall of water. Bubbles frothed atop the wall, bursting continuously in the sunlight.

As the wall of water rose, the sea began to churn violently. The wall itself swayed unsteadily, looking as if it might collapse at any moment.

Strange, muffled thuds began to emanate from beneath the wall of water, as if some enormous creature was striking the seabed. As the sounds grew, countless panicked fish and shrimp leaped from the surface.

These sea creatures even started rushing toward the shallows, ultimately stranding themselves on the volcanic rock.

The balloon understood. The Wave Brothers weren’t running away; they were winding up for a heavy blow.

”You can do it, Wave Brothers!”

In the distance, the wall of water grew ever higher, and the bubbles frothed more violently.

From the depths of the sea, the muffled impacts grew louder, the vibrations even spreading to the land.

”BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”

Driven by the thundering sounds, the wall of water swayed as it soared toward the sky.

Suddenly, the sky darkened.

The wall of water blotted out the sun, and the bubbles on its surface slowly disappeared.

The muffled thuds ceased, replaced by the roar of the surf—distant, yet deafening.

CRACK! A bolt of lightning struck, tearing open the curtain on the battlefield.

The wall of water charged toward the coast with terrifying force. Countless smaller waves converged into a colossal tsunami, its spear aimed squarely at the Volcano!

It was a tsunami!

”Wave Brothers! Nice one!”

Before the balloon could finish, it was swept into the massive wave.

It was carried along by the tsunami’s surge, rushing toward the Volcano.

Wrapped within the current, the balloon was surprisingly unharmed.

It had been caught in an eddy. Aside from spinning endlessly and feeling dizzy, it was completely unscathed.

The waves swept across the volcanic plain, crushing every creature in their path and completely extinguishing the flows of scorching lava.

With powerful momentum, the great wave surged directly up the Volcano. The seawater roiled, crashing violently into the crater.

An immense volume of seawater followed, pouring down the path forged by the great wave. It seeped into every corner of the crater, cooling all the superheated fissures.

The high temperatures inside the crater vaporized the seawater into white steam, but more water poured in endlessly from behind to replace it.

The lava was doused by the sea, cooling rapidly into solid volcanic rock.

And so, the high-temperature energy of the earth and the water of the sea began a tug-of-war where corpses littered the battlefield with every passing moment.

”Wave Brothers...”

The balloon was snagged on the edge of the crater, witnessing the great battle firsthand.

It never imagined that its simple word of encouragement would incite such a world-altering war.

The balloon felt no hostility directed at it now. The waves had focused their objective entirely on the Volcano, and the Volcano, in turn, vented its animosity upon the ceaseless torrent of seawater.

The war it had started had nothing to do with it anymore.

Inside the crater was the battlefield between the Volcano and the waves. Outside was a one-sided slaughter by the sea; the creatures of the volcanic plain were utterly annihilated by the terrifying tsunami.

The waves’ rampant hostility rained down upon every living being. The balloon saw the corpses floating in the water, saw a plain that had been completely destroyed.

The sea blotted out the sky and covered the earth, displaying its awesome might without reservation.

The balloon was filled with regret.

”Everything’s gone...”

Smoke and steam filled the air over a scene of utter devastation. Fragments of limbs floated in the torrent. Lives that had once been vibrant were now torn to shreds by nature’s animosity.

In the chaotic currents, the balloon thought it saw countless threads coiling around the creatures’ corpses, tossing them to and fro.

They were bound by the threads. Even in death, they were still being manipulated.

There was no escape, no release.

”What is that?”

The balloon followed the threads with its gaze and discovered they were connected to the countless waves.

It understood. That was the waves’ hostility.

Of course, most of the waves’ hostility was connected to the Volcano.

At the same time, countless threads also extended from the Volcano, piercing into the churning waves.

The threads of both sides intertwined, locked in a battle to the death.

On the volcanic plain, the innocent creatures were also ensnared by the intertwining threads, becoming cannon fodder for the battlefield.

Only the balloon itself had avoided all the threads. It hung peacefully on the crater’s edge—the true culprit behind it all, yet completely clean, utterly untouched.

’Was this all my doing?’

The naive balloon finally realized it had caused a terrible disaster.

”Wave Brothers, stop! That’s enough! Don’t fight anymore...” the balloon pleaded, looking out at the devastated volcanic plain.

But now, its pleas were useless.

All the threads were tangled together, impossible to unravel.

It was simple to incite hostility, but dispelling it was incredibly difficult.

The balloon tried desperately to untangle the threads, but they only grew tighter, eventually forming a complete knot that could never be separated.

”Stop, don’t fight...”

Seeing the threads become more and more chaotic, the balloon felt helpless. It had no choice but to turn and start untying the threads from the innocent creatures.

These creatures were entangled in the waves’ hostility, tossed about relentlessly. Most were already dead, but some still clung to life, barely breathing.

The balloon worked frantically to free them.

As each thread was removed, the creature it had bound was given a chance at survival.

But the balloon’s efforts were just a drop in the bucket. It could only rush about constantly, undoing one thread after another.

”I was wrong. I was wrong.”

The balloon apologized ceaselessly to every creature tangled in the threads, regardless of whether they could understand.

Eventually, its movements became more and more mechanical, its thoughts growing numb.

It only remembered that the sky-full of threads finally tangled into a single mass, impossible to unravel, until at last, under an invisible, immense force, they snapped completely.

The seawater evaporated completely, and the Volcano cooled entirely. Both sides of the great war had fought to the very end, consumed by endless hostility until only death remained.

The broken threads littered the ground, a scene of utter ruin.

The bodies of the creatures lay buried beneath hostility. The entire volcanic plain was a wasteland of scars.

The balloon floated above the crater, clutching a few broken threads, and sank into endless self-reproach.