Hunter, Flapjack, and Darius observed Belos' enormous body located a short (relatively speaking given the monster's size) distance from the shore. The creature had his head underwater, but his gigantic horns were quite visible. Around him the sea seemed to be being sucked in, which was due to the fact that the water was flowing into the crack that was opening in the seabed. "Damn, that monster sure isn't subtle" Darius commented. "What's now?"
"We need to distract him" Hunter replied. "I can get his attention, but I have no idea how to keep it completely on me. It's more likely that after he distances me he will return to focusing on Grometheus"
"Well, at least we'll have bought ourselves some time" the djinn said. He was clearly nervous, but he wasn't losing his resolve. "What do you need me to do?"
"Can you stop a tsunami?" Hunter asked him.
Darius nodded. "I can use the lamp's powers. I just need to find someone to make the wish"
"Then go look for them. As soon as that monster lets go of the sea floor, it will bounce off creating a shock wave that will send a tsunami straight towards Bonesborough" Hunter explained. "So make sure it doesn't hit the town. Then... I don't know, think about something!"
"Doesn't sound like a great plan to me" Darius commented.
"I'm improvising, okay? I didn't expect to have to let myself get killed today, I didn't have time to prepare!" Hunter protested. "Now move!"
"Okay, okay, I'm going!" Darius replied, a little annoyed by the boy's tone, and he flew towards the port of Bonesborough which was now almost half a meter under water.
Hunter instead flew until he reached Belos. The giant monster hadn't noticed him yet, but he knew how to get his attention. He loaded his staff to the maximum and then he launched himself in free fall towards the half-submerged head of the creature; he reached such a speed that he looked like a small red shooting star. As soon as he was about fifty meters away from his target, he jumped away from his staff, holding it in his hands, using some of that magic to protect himself from falling, and then he threw the staff with all his strength.
The weapon struck Belos' skull with such intensity that it generated a sound more powerful than any thunder; the magic contained in the staff was released with immense violence, generating a fireball over one hundred meters wide that generated so much light that it was visible for kilometers away; the sea began to boil upon contact with that light and the air was thrown away in a powerful shock wave. Hunter did a couple of somersaults and used Flapjack to bring himself behinf of the huge horns, which shielded him from the intense light and shockwave. As soon as the situation had calmed down, using the power of his Palisman again, he transported himself from his staff to retrieve it. The weapon was lodged by the tip in Belos's skull... and had created a tiny crack no more than half a meter long and only ten centimeters deep. The rest of the monster's head was left untouched.
A force that would normally level an entire neighborhood had barely left a scratch on Belos' body.
Hunter bit his lip. He knew very well that that would have been the result, but still he felt really bad at finding himself so weak compared to the giant monster. He was nothing more than an ant trying to harm a dragon. Indeed, perhaps the disproportion of forces was even greater.
However, even a dragon noticed if an ant dared to sting him; and indeed Belos began to move and his eyes emerged from under the sea. His body rose up and let go of the seabed, which without the enormous monster pushing it down bounced on itself and so did the ocean; as Hunter had predicted, a huge wave at least one hundred meters high was generated and traveled in all directions. He hoped Darius actually knew how to stop it, otherwise it would all be for nothing. He didn't have time to think about this however, because the monster's tentacles moved towards the top of his head, clearly trying to grab that pesky ant that had dared to sting him; knowing that being hit by just one of them was equivalent to losing at least all his bones, if not his life, he immediately jumped onto his staff and brought himself before the enormous eyes of Belos, who narrowed at the sight of him. Hunter felt a surge of terror as he reflected in those blue wells of absolute cruelty, but nevertheless he gathered courage and exclaimed: "Uncle, stop, please!"
"What do you think you're doing, Hunter!?" Belos' furious voice emerged from the giant jaws of a volcano's mightiest monster. "How dare you hit me!?"
Hunter swallowed, feeling every inch of his body tingle with terror. Just hearing that voice was enough to almost make his heart stop. But he summoned all his willpower and replied: "Uncle, I know I have wronged you, but please listen to me! If you continue like this you will destroy Luz! The puppet you have waited so long for, you risk losing her forever!"
Hunter knew the only way to distract Belos was to make him see sense; as long as his mind was occupied, he would not think of destroying the entire coast. And using Luz, the target his uncle so coveted, as the topic of conversation was the best choice, since by doing so the monster would at least be forced to think about it carefully.
Unfortunately, this concept could only be applied when Belos was sane (if one could normally call him that); at that moment when he was completely consumed by his animalistic fury and the primal desire to destroy his potential competitor, diverting his attention from Grometheus was not so easy. "Don't waste my time, Hunter. I've never had the chance to devour one of the Four Magical Rulers; today will be the day I will consume the ruler of dark magic!"
Hunter gulped as he felt that insatiable desire to kill, consume, and conquer more and more emerge from his uncle almost like it was a pheromone; his fierce eyes shone with excitement at the mere thought. But he had to keep him talking: as long as he was busy doing that, he wouldn't think about Bonseborough. "Please, uncle, listen to me! Attacking Grometheus now would be a mistake. I know how summon him again, so there is no need to eliminate him now!"
Belos' eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"
"There is a witch who has a fragment of Grometheus' soul within her, and can call him whenever she will! And she also knows a ritual to call the other Four Magical Rulers!" Hunter answered him. "Please, leave this to me! I can force her to close the portal and then bring her to you! You just have to give me some time!"
He didn't really mean to bring Amity to Belos, he just wanted him to believe it; and finally the monster looked a little doubtful. "A witch who can open a door to reach the Four Magical Rulers? Interesting"he commented. "Why didn't you tell me about this before!?"
"I just found out about it now!" Hunter tried to justify himself.
"And what use are you then!? To only find out something like this now, after all the time you've spent here, is ridiculous! What use do I need a spy who doesn't know how to spy!?" the monster roared, and Hunter had to move away from his mouth because the creature's breath had become so powerful that it threatened to unbalance him in flight.
In the meantime, the tsunami triggered by the bouncing of the seabed had almost reached the port of Bonesborough; ironically, however, very few people noticed since they were already busy escaping from the Abominations, and those who did knocked out interpreted it as another nightmare made real. Darius didn't mind this; it was definitely easier to handle the situation if no one was panicking... well, at least more than they already were. Very quickly he went down to the first guy he found who seemed vaguely still lucid: "Hey, you! What's your name?"
"Uh... Morton, sir" the man replied.
"Morton? Nice name. Now, Morton, I need you to do something for me" he told him, and he placed the magic lamp in his hands. "See that wave over there? I need you to tell me 'I wish that wave disappear'. Trust me, I know what I'm doing"
Morton was clearly dubious. "But why? It doesn't make sense. Are you by any chance a...?"
"Just do as I say, you dirty cow! There's not much time!" Darius blurted out somewhat irritably.
"Okay, okay! Then... I wish that wave disappear!" Morton replied.
"Oh, thanks! Did it take that long?" Darius blurted out, feeling the lamp's magic flow through him; he pointed his hands at the tsunami, which seemed to freeze in place, and then all the water it was composed of flowed very gently into the ocean without doing any harm. "Perfect. Now can you give me the lamp back?"
"Wait, so the things I wish for with this lamp come true!?" Morton exclaimed a little excitedly despite the situation.
"Yes, but you only had one wish. Thank you for using it for the common good, you were very kind, blah blah blah, and so on. Goodbye!" the djinn responded by taking the lamp back, then he turned back into purple liquid and headed towards the sea again.
Meanwhile, Belos' anger was escalating more and more. "And how did you manage to find out so much in less than an hour, when you hadn't managed to do so for months?"
Hunter bit his lip. If he had to get his uncle's attention, he might as well use every means at his disposal. He was going to die anyway, so he didn't have to worry about making him angry. After all, he was literally courting death; he could do more. "I discovered it because the witch in question is my friend"
The monster's eyes narrowed. "Do you have any friends?" he said with a mixture of laughter and a sound of disgust that made Hunter's skin crawl. "Since when do you have friends? It's not like... you actually already knew about this witch, but you didn't tell me about it? What other things have you kept hidden from me!?"
Hunter swallowed. He couldn't hold back anymore. "I have too many friend to list by now" he replied. "And I won't reveal them to you now. In fact, I won't even let you destroy Bonesborough"
Belos let out a roar. "What are you doing!?"
"I'm betraying you, idiot" was Hunter's response, who despite the fear he felt defiantly returned the monster's gaze.
Belos bellowed deeply, making the sea water boil. "You dare rebel? What a disappointment, Hunter. Of all those I created, you were one of the ones I wanted to consume the least!". However, he then added: "But if you think you can distract me, you're even more foolish than I thought. I'll deal with you when I'm done with Grometheus"
Hunter sweated on his forehead. He didn't know what else to do. He desperately searched for something to say that would get Belos' attention, but suddenly Flapjack emerged from his cloak and chirped.
It all happened in a second: Belos' eyes widened more than ever and his pupils became so small that they almost disappeared. His entire body trembled as if an electric current ran through it, and a roar emerged from his mouth: "CALEB!"
The monster's tentacles moved and fell towards Hunter like gigantic pillars, and the boy immediately swung his staff and dodged them, with extreme difficulty to boot since it was like standing in the middle of a collapsing mountain. Just by a miracle he was able to escape unscathed and darted towards the open ocean, and to his surprise Belos turned and started chasing him; he no longer cared about Grometheus, now he just wanted to get to him. He couldn't remember ever seeing him so furious in all the years he had served him.
Darius saw that scene while he was still approaching. "Well, it looks like we have his attention now. What's the next move?" he muttered to himself, and then he accelerated as much as he could to catch up with Hunter who, he was sure, would soon need help.
The boy in question was meanwhile busy trying to put as much distance as possible between him and the monster that was rushing towards him, even if it was like trying to sow an avalanche, or rather, an entire mountain that collapsed on itself. But despite the situation he didn't stop himself from looking at Flapjack and asking: "Why did he react like that? What did you do to him?"
The Palisman seemed to have no idea exactly what to say. "Um... let's say that... he and I might... have had a history..." he chirped with a lot of hesitation.
"And you're only telling me this now!? It never occurred to you that maybe I should have known certain things!?" Hunter snapped, and he moved just in time to avoid one of the monster's tentacles that was about to grab him. "Flapjack, I swear to the name of any god that exist in this damn world: if I die now I'll take you to hell with me!"
The way in which Belos gets angry with Hunter is the same as in the animated series in the last episode of the second season, where Belos completely loses control because he sees Flapjack and he reminds him of Caleb. With the difference that here Hunter doesn't just forget this detail and pretend nothing happened but rightly asks the infamous Palisman for explanations, getting pissed off as he should given that he hid this information from him.
We also have the return of Morton from chapter 54, who apparently managed to earn not one but even two screentimes in this story!