Under the powerful and almost-indestructible jaws of the Basking Shark, Sebastian experienced the peak of agony. 

  Apart from the extreme back pain, the damage to his skin adaptations made him feel like his flesh was being peeled away. 

  The damages to the damage reflection and mana conductor skin coating made him feel like he just lost an important aspect of his body. He immediately felt out of place, suddenly being forced to adapt to living without them was hard.

  The sensation of losing the mana conductor skin coating was worse. It made him feel inadequate all of a sudden. For the first time, he finally appreciated this adaptation's use as he found his mana conducting process now extremely slow.

  His mana recovery speed was still the same. But when channeling magic power, it needed to pass through a process of changing reactions. This was what was affected, now this process was terribly slow.

  Squash!

  While Sebastian still adapted to the pain in his body, the Basking Shark exerted pressure in its toothless mouth again, crushing the enormous shark more.

  [You have been dealt with staggering damage.]

  [Warning! You have lost 10% of your health points in one attack.]

  After this last crushing attack from the Basking Shark, combined with the damage from the shark that Sebastian already received, his health points crossed the safety threshold, going below 50%.

  The jaws of the Basking Shark were so powerful that the sensation Sebastian felt with them crushing his body was like that felt by a human under the weight of a Truck's enormous tires.

  Instantly, Sebastian felt the suffocating feeling of death approaching.

  This was when he remembered to retaliate and struggle. For some strange reason, the strength displayed by the Basking Shark intimidated him, disorienting him a bit which now affected him.

  But now that he discovered it, he retaliated immediately.

  Sebastian activated all his body skills, turning his body into what seemed like a mobile war machine. Due to the crushing force of the Basking Shark's jaws, his spikes were affected but were not exactly damaged yet.

  With his spikes taking the lead, his tail fin and dorsal fins turned sharp as they tried stabbing and cutting through the enemy's mouth but to no avail.

  The Basking Shark occasionally got some injuries amid the struggle, but it firmly ignored these injuries, believing that his opponent would be dead before his injuries escalated to anything serious.

  His crushing jaws kept on dealing additional pressurizing damage.

  [Warning! Your health points are below 30%.]

  This struggle has lasted for only a few seconds, but it was at this moment that Sebastian knew that conventional struggling would not work.

  He was about to resort to his trump card when help came.

  After the defense unit sharks blocked the new enemy's sonic attack, the other sharks of different units were about to go attack when their leader jumped into battle without waiting for them first or giving instructions first.

  Seeing this, they were stunned as this was not part of the hunting plan that was explained to them. They were intelligent sharks, but they were still confused, hesitant on which step to take.

  In their hesitation, Sebastian grew closer to death. Seeing this, a light bulb seemed to have lit in Verni's head as he finally reacted.

  "Activating plan B, the contingency take-over!"

  Hearing Verni's roar, the other sharks immediately understood. This was the plan B that Sebastian prepared for scenarios where he was undisposed to control the hunting team, and Verni was to take charge in his absence.

  Plan C was Tosh taking charge, while plan D was Shanks. Shanks may not be among the strongest sharks in the hunting team yet, but his seniority to the other sharks in time spent in the team was worth their weight in gold.

  Having spent much time with Sebastian meant they knew more about him and may decide to make decisions like him when needed.

  All the sharks immediately shifted their attention from Sebastian to Verni after hearing his roar, awaiting orders to go into battle.

  "Attack unit, surround the enemy, and attack!"

  "Support unit, follow and support the attacking sharks!"

  "Defense unit, create shields to form a cage. The enemy's movements need to be restricted and kept in one spot!"

  "Scout unit, scout the area and prevent any intruder from disturbing our battlefield. Kill if the need calls for it!"

  While Verni was still in the process of giving orders, the attack unit already moved. Like a group of honey bees, they advanced together, immediately forming a circular formation around the Basking Shark.

  The support sharks followed closely behind them, while also taking refuge behind them to survive in the scenario of a sudden attack.

  With them all gathered, they finally attacked.

  Bam! Bam!

  Feeling a threat to its life, the Basking Shark did not let go of its primary prey. It instead kept its jaws on Sebastian while its body jerkily vibrated. This vibration-induced sound ripples outwards.

  Like a plague, this sonic skill swept outwards, disintegrating all the attacks that were sent by the sharks while using its remaining energy to go towards them.

  Before the sonic skill hit its target, bright blue light lit up as the defense sharks set up another shield, completely protecting their partners.

  The Basking Shark may be far stronger than them all, but as it was currently embroiled in a battle with Sebastian, it was a chore for it to focus its attention elsewhere which resulted in the weakened attack.

  With their enemy's attack blocked by their comrades, the attack unit sharks prepared again and attacked. This time, the Basking Shark was unable to set up another shield in time before it collided against it, spreading explosions.

  With the attack unit sharks attacking unrelentingly, the defense unit sharks finally found the opportunity to form a square-shaped magic shield that kept on being tightened to subdue the Basking Shark.

  At this moment, Sebastian already suffered a lot but he held on.

  After over a minute, the magic shield was compact enough as the Basking Shark's movements finally started being restrained.

  Before the enormous Basking Shark could react, others did.

  "Take this ugly monster! Take my Crazy god's Punch!"

  With a loud booming sound, the light magic attack from Tosh traveled with such speed that it hit the Basking Shark with force, forming a slight and almost negligible depression in its skin.

  The Basking Shark ignored it at first but changed the next moment on sensing the sound waves in the water while also feeling the rapidly increasing water temperature.

  Having timed it, Verni's powerful fire breath was unstoppable. It hit straight into the Basking Shark's powerful jaws where Sebastian was held, spreading fire straight through the tiny holes inside the mouth as chaos started.

  Ewooo!!!

  The Basking Shark immediately opened its mouth and howled strangely, letting Sebastian go in the process. Having guessed and anticipated this, Sebastian reacted immediately.

  [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection.]

  [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill.]

  Bam! Bam!

  Both skills hit the Basking Shark with force, knocking some pain, discipline, and sense into it as the stimulating pain immediately made it wary.

  Unfortunately for it, its time was up, it was already too late. Having been surrounded from all sides by 20 Great White Sharks and a powerful Megalodon, its chances of retaliating or even escaping became terribly low.

  Before it could think more, Sebastian and all his team members attacked.