As the giant ship docked itself below the sea with the other ships, the black-haired Supreme Emperor of the Meuuoran clan announced the beginning of the expedition.
The parties began leaving, their Immortal Emperors either using their abilities or items to cover their parties and shooting into the sea at hyper speed.
“Let’s go,” Lyna said as she also covered the party in a barrier to take them speedily into the sea.
The ocean was vast, so everyone went their own way, with stronger parties going deeper, as in, higher up in the sea, to encounter stronger Abyss Sea Monsters.
After entering five kilometers deep into the sea, Lyna stopped and removed her barrier.
“We don’t need to be in a hurry to kill stronger monsters. We will start here with the hunt of Immortal-rank Monsters and gradually go deeper.”
The sea felt like water, but also like uncountable tiny particles, lightweight, and bouncing off them. They felt the sensation of getting wet but didn’t get wet.
Almond tried to teleport a short distance and indeed, it actually didn’t work.
‘Humph,’ Almond’eyes glinted, exerting his will. As the group was moving deeper to encounter their first Immortal-rank Abyss Sea Monster, he tried to teleport again a short distance, just a meter of distance.
Blink.
He teleported exactly one meter as he intended.
‘Good.’
After all, nothing should dare to stop him from exerting his supreme will.
He still remembered how Neo’s will clashed against his as Neo created an electromagnetic spatial disruption field to prevent him from teleporting or using space powers.
That must never happen again!
If only his will was stronger, he could have torn through that field and saved the Earth’s base from destruction.
“Alright, there it is. Our first hunt.”
Almond looked up and saw a three hundred-meter-long whale with four wings and two mouths, with the upper mouth having giant fangs going upward and internally circulated with jagged teeth.
“How about you two go hunt it? Let’s see what you got,” Garnol said as he looked at Almond and Lily.
“Ash, you go alone first and then Ivy will go. If you two have the combat power of Immortal King, then you should be able to kill an Immortal Monster here easily.
“Alright,” Almond nodded as two classic guns like dark gold dessert eagle, but slightly modified appearance. He flew upward while the Monster also rushed towards the party.
The others stopped moving and just watched.
“Guns, eh?”
“That’d ruin the monsters’ body if they deal explosion-type damage.”
“Let’s see how it goes.”
Almond sped up and swiftly arrived on the same level as the monster opened its mouth and released tens of smaller versions of itself with their mouths opened.
‘Let’s replicate attraction force…I can use Spiral Edge’s spiraling force and Sand of Vibrant Waves, but mask it with Lumeir’s blades and conduct it with electromagnetic force from my Transcendent-rank Lightning. With the bent under the influence of Spiral Edge, I can make a new Prime energy, distinct from the main one I use. If I don’t reveal the Space element at all, nobody would suspect I am Almond and this is a good way to progress in other elements.’
‘Let’s call it prime energy…Bulletium Blade Whirl.’
Almond could still teleport without using space element as many people could teleport with their elements in unique ways by creating abilities. Moreover, he could teleport with his Riftveil Grimblade power easily, but he wanted to leisurely fight and explore for now.
Stretching his arms and pointing guns forward, Almond pulled the trigger of both guns only once, inputting a calculated amount of refined Prana to deal with the Monster.
Briefly glowing, two spiraling bullets unleashed from the guns with intense gravitational rotating pull. Blades whirled around them within fifty meters of each.
All the projectiles of mini-monsters were forcefully pulled and lacerated into dispersion as the bullets struck Monster. But right before striking it, the blades solidified into a cross-shaped projectile while gravitational rotation vanished.
At the point of impact, both bullets squarely conjoined together into a large cross five hundred meters long an instant, cleanly separating the monster’s body into four pieces.
“Woah, bullet and blades?”
“Hahaha, that was clean, alright!”
“Not bad,” Galnor nodded.
Lyna smiled and waved her hand as the monster’s body parts vanished. “This belongs to you.”
“Let’s continue. Ivy, your turn is next.”
The group caught up to Almond above, but it wasn’t long before two Immortal rank Monsters appeared.
But another party was nearby.
Before Lyna could speak, a voice boomed towards them from that party. “One yours, one ours!”
“Deal!”
The other party quickly killed one Monster and stored it before leaving.
On the other hand, Lily shot towards the second Monster, two chakrams in her hand.
Lily had focused on only Blood and Darkness mainly, with Darkness also reaching Paragon-rank after using the Darton clan’s resources, unlike Almond who only had one Paragon-rank element at the moment—Space.
But Lily was also training in the third element as three were a minimum requirement to create one’s Exotic Element.
On top of training in Darkness, she had also trained in another element which was her first variant element—Ice of Violet Everlain.
Naturally, it was merely at Mythical-rank, but it was enough when paired with her powerful Ability Trees and other assets.
The monster she faced was a huge jellyfish with its tentacles having clamping maws.
Sensing an intent, the monster faced Lily instead of the group that just killed its partner.
A horrible screech released from its tentacles’ maws as the sound shaped into volatile bubbles whistling towards Lily.
‘Axiom of Hollow Splendor only…and also the third ability that I’ve roughly created.’
Lily’s first Ability Tree was too distinct. If she used it, she would be easily recognized and unlike Almond, people wouldn’t forget about her easily after seeing her.
For other people, even if they see Almond’s powers visually, they would forget about it and wouldn’t easily recall it even if they see it again, but the same couldn’t be said for Lily.
However, her second Ability Tree was quite veiled. It didn’t have special visual effects like her first Ability Tree, and she hadn’t used it much since she only created it recently.
‘Let’s see…’
Lily threw her chakrams as they spread violet sparks towards incoming bubbles, freezing them in sparkling violet ice.
Anything frozen by this Ice of Violet Everlain would become chaotic and volatile, losing connections with their owners.
Even though Lily only had Mythical-rank mastery of it, she influenced the ice’s power with Axiom of Hollow Splendor’s third conceptual effect she derived—Domination.
If she weakened her targets and also managed to make them volatile and chaotic, losing control of their owner, then why couldn’t she then dominate it for herself and control it?
She could!
Axiom of Absolute Dominion! She solidified her third ability of the ability tree on the spot!
While her chakrams crisscrossed towards the giant Jellyfish Monster, the frozen bubbles made a turn and shot back before exploding several meters away from the Jellyfish, spreading shockwaves and damaging it.
The effects were enhanced, disorienting, and canceling the Jellyfish’s attack right on time.
Meanwhile, her chakrams criss-crossed over the Jellyfish’s body and marked it with glittering weakness marks activated.
The ice spread from the top and entirely froze the monster in an instant.
The violet sparks vanished as Lily removed the variant’s effect, keeping it frozen in a normal coffin of ice.
“She froze the monsters’ attacks and sent them back with a volatile difference. Interesting Ability Tree and Ice variant power,” Lyna nodded.
“The intent she boosted the chakram with along with the prime energy was also intricate.”
“Yeah, they act more like channeling her other powers, unlike clear-cut damage like Ash’s bullets.”
“Haha, both have some weird combat style, but impressive, alright.”
Lily’s Gloom Reaper Intent had long since complemented her Parade of Dreadspire Kingdom. It was versatile in the sense that it could give a unique buff to her channeled attack and debuff to the enemy.
If she intended to cut or imbue her Dreadspire powers, she would get a buff boosting it from Gloom Reaper while reducing resistance against cuts and Dreadspire effects from enemies.
Now that she used a different kind of attack instead of her usual dagger, Gloom Reaper boosted the freezing power while reducing the enemy’s freezing resistance.
Moreover, Gloom Reaper would gain a significant boost if the enemy failed to perceive the attack. This was why she was an assassin and it also suited her myriad collection of debuffs that would help her hide her attacks.
Her Blood Reckoning Innate taet and Infernus Fons Intimacy worked silently. One allowed her to boost her attacks using her blood, which she could do without even leaking any of its aura while the other made her immune to all controls as long as she was near Almond’s presence.
This way, she perfectly displayed combat power higher than Immortal-rank, but also hid her true prowess to keep her identity concealed.
…
Almond and Lily continued to deal with Immortal-rank Monsters as the group continued.
They fought with curiosity and intent of exploration, trying different tactics in their combat style to increase the way they perceive things.
After all, only by doing that would they gain a wider view of everything and discover a powerful intent eventually.
Three hours passed by as Almond and Lily hunted a total of 46 Monsters. They crossed 50 kilometers of distance, going deeper upward into the sea.
“Alright, there won’t be any Immortal-rank Monsters here. It’s time for everyone to hunt now.”
Lyna informed as she sensed seven strong auras a couple of kilometers above, a gathering of Immortal-King rank Monsters.
“Let’s rumble,” Garlon grinned. “I’ll supervise. The rest of you get into the formation and attack. Remember, don’t damage their bodies too much, and keep them as complete as possible. If I see anyone about to mess up, I’ll cancel your attacks before they hit them.”
“Yes!”
The seven Immortal Kings of the group shouted in unison.
“You two rest a bit and watch. You can fight against the next batch of Immortal King monsters.”
“No problem,” Almond replied with a nod.
Although they didn’t need to rest, they had to show that they were a bit exhausted, even if they didn’t.
“By the way, we are keeping the earnings of the monsters we killed ourselves, right?” Lily asked.
“Of course,” Devon chuckled. “Since you killed them yourself alone, their worth belongs to you. Although we are at a party, we won’t do general distribution. No teamwork to kill one Monster. You will take on a monster alone, kill it, and it will be yours.”
Almond and Lily blinked.
“Yeah, that’s awesome,” Lily smiled.
Almond nodded.
‘Well, this party is chill. They didn’t need to add us, but they still did, despite having this type of system in their party,’ Almond chuckled. ‘Alright, I’ll create two top-tier items and two top-tier artifacts before we leave.’
‘Yeah. With them acting as our disguise, you will be able to get Immortal Emperor spirits from monsters they and Raicanor kill anyway.’
‘Yep.’