Chapter 157: Delivered a Generous Gift

Behemoth is a colossal creature inhabiting the Sea of the Sky, rumored to have originally hailed from the planet Terra.
In appearance, it resembles an immense whale, and in truth, its inner nature is... well, it is simply a flying whale.
Legend has it that its gigantic size could even surpass that of an entire continent!
In Luke's memory, the most famous thing about it was the cluster of ancient civilization ruins situated right on Behemoth's back, where a group of people devoted to that ancient, brilliant civilization—the GBL Cult—had built a temple, the GBL Temple, serving as their headquarters.
Meanwhile, Lotus, who was then the overlord of the Empyrean Ocean, was deep in peaceful slumber at home.
Who would have thought that upon waking up, it would inexplicably find itself dumped by someone onto the back of Behemoth, suspended helplessly between sky and earth.
Deprived of water, Lotus grew weaker day by day. It had to figure out a way to solve its predicament. Thus, using its mental control abilities, Lotus took command of Behemoth, attempting to make it fly into the oceans of the Empyrean.
As a result, before that could even be achieved, Lotus was battered and ruthlessly taken down by a band of adventurers without a word of explanation.
Adventurers: Woof woof woof!
Lotus: Who on earth did I ever offend?
Luke stood side by side with the Four Roses before the steep precipice, their astonished gazes jointly inspecting the "Behemoth" before them.
"No, this isn't Behemoth," Aymitang said with an utterly certain tone. "Behemoth is much larger than this."
"A baby Behemoth?" Luozanna asked hesitantly.
"All chest and no brains!" Anakha unceremoniously delivered a sharp-tongued retort: "This is clearly that creature called a Leviathan!"
Luke and Oubia both nodded in agreement.
Looking closer, one could indeed see that this was not Behemoth. In appearance, it was much closer to the Leviathans seen outside.
The difference was that those Leviathans manipulated by the Chitauri were heavily modified.
As mentioned before, the primary characteristic of Chitauri technology was being half-mechanical and half-biological.
Those Leviathans had heavy metal armor implanted into their bodies, and their internal structures might even be metallic, meaning they could no longer be considered purely biological.
The Leviathan before them, however, possessed no metal. It was entirely organic. From the outside, it bore an eight-tenths resemblance to a whale, which was why they had mistaken it for Behemoth at first glance.
And the other difference was...
"Isn't this thing way too damn huge?" Luke marveled. His astonishment was precisely what the Four Roses were thinking as well.
The Leviathan before their eyes was at least dozens of times the size of those Chitauri-manipulated Leviathans outside!
An ordinary Leviathan was at least a hundred meters long at its shortest.
The longest ones Luke had seen spanned several hundred meters.
As for the one before them, Christina had already provided the calculated data: 9,527 meters!
"Truly damn huge!" Luke exclaimed once more.
At this moment, the Warlord and the four modified Gale mechs were all tilted straight back, facing the sky. Purely in terms of sheer scale, this super Leviathan possessed an immense intimidating presence. Hovering directly above them now, it cast a heavy, oppressive weight over everyone's heart.
"Is this the Chitauri's trump card? Is this the reason the Chitauri didn't pursue us inside—because of the existence of this super Leviathan..."
Luke quickly figured it all out.
The Chitauri's overt actions clearly indicated they intended to use this super Leviathan to deal with him.
Were they really that confident?
At this thought, Luke couldn't help but curiously examine the super Leviathan in detail. He wanted to know just how powerful this giant beast was, to the extent that even the Chitauri dared not approach this area.
"Lotus, what do you think?" Luke suddenly asked.
Although it wasn't Behemoth, Lotus still held the most authority on the subject. After all, it had once controlled a giant beast that was surely even mightier than this super Leviathan, so it could provide a comparison.
Luke asked this over the communication channel without avoiding the Four Roses.
Over the past few days, the Four Roses had gotten acquainted with the short-legged Lotus, and they had even been quite delighted at the time.
The Four Roses had a very peculiar way of expressing their friendship.
They frequently held enthusiastic discussions on the exact degree of doneness to which Lotus should be roasted.
After holding back for a long time, Lotus hummed and offered a commentary: "Stumpy and feeble."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Back when I was on Behemoth's back, the GBL Temple only occupied a very tiny area," Lotus replied.
"Behemoth?" Luke wondered.
"The Great General has forgotten a lot of things. Behemoth is the name of the Behemoth that Lotus mentally controlled," Luozanna said.
"Oh..."
"The size of Behemoth is probably several hundred times larger than this Leviathan beast..." Aymitang said.
Luke nodded, thinking to himself that made sense. To be able to carry Long-legged Lotus's massive physique, Behemoth's size must surely far exceed ten thousand meters. Carrying an entire continent on its back—just how gigantic must that be...
In comparison, the 9,527-meter maternal Leviathan before them could only be considered a little brother among little brothers.
"Lotus, can you control this Leviathan?" Luke suddenly asked.
Taking advantage of the fact that this super giant beast apparently hadn't noticed them yet, Luke figured it might be best to let Lotus repeat its old trick. The Chitauri regarded this thing as a weapon of mass destruction to deal with them, but Luke didn't see it that way.
Perhaps this was a generous gift delivered by the enemy...
Meanwhile, aboard a Chitauri mothership.
The Chitauri leader gazed at the inescapable net woven by the endless Chitauri army displayed on the star map, which had now completely surrounded the area. Under such virtually impenetrable and strict surveillance, no one could escape from within unnoticed.
The Chitauri leader possessed absolute confidence this time in capturing those Earthlings.
Once those Earthlings encountered the Matriarch, they would flee in panic and disorder. By then, he could easily bring them before Thanos and leave them to Thanos's disposal.
And he, along with the Chitauri, would gain Thanos's regard and even rewards.
He was so confident because no one understood the power of the Leviathan Matriarch better than he did.
The Leviathans modified by Chitauri technology were merely the offspring birthed by this Matriarch. Only the offspring could be controlled. The Chitauri had attempted to control the Matriarch, but all such efforts had failed.
The Matriarch possessed a tough hide that could not be breached even by the main cannons of a Chitauri mothership. The Matriarch's size was comparable to a Chitauri mothership, possessing the terrifying strength to destroy a Chitauri mothership simply through a direct ramming impact.
Even the Chitauri were utterly helpless against the Leviathan Matriarch. Therefore, the Earthlings could only run.
"Run, Earthlings. You are not foolish; you won't choose to die inside, you will flee. I will deliver you to Thanos with my own hands..." The Chitauri leader let out an eerie laugh.
In truth, even the Chitauri leader did not know that, leaving aside the combat capabilities of the Leviathan Matriarch, producing baby Leviathans was merely one of the most negligible functions of the Leviathan Matriarch.
And Luke and his companions would soon discover that the true specialty of the Leviathan Matriarch was, in fact, star-devouring.