NOVPUBA disguised seal covered his sleek, silver-gray fur with the corrupted mud. Timus’ large, expressive eyes were a deep shade of blue, feeling slightly disgusted by the additional camouflage. Nevertheless, he still had to get it done. After all, his safety would be ensured by several high-level Goddesses.
For this volunteer scout mission, Timus wore a specially designed ghost-like dark cloth with a Vision Orb, advanced navigation tools, and utility storage bags. A sleek, hydrodynamic helmet with a built-in communicator completed his gear.
Before venturing deeper, Timus checked the Vision Orb to ensure his journey was broadcast live to his audiences.
[Ely: Go for it, Tim! We’ll guard your back!]
A heads-up display showed Elysia’s support, boosting Timus’ morale.
With a deep breath, Timus steeled himself for the challenges ahead. The corrupted sea was known for its dangers, but his mission to locate the Polluted Sea God was too important to abandon.
"Aye!" Timus proceeded further into the enemy’s core region, streaming his journey to his friends and Elysium Goddesses.
The water of the corrupted sea was perpetually dark, illuminated only by occasional flashes of bioluminescent creatures and the eerie glow of toxic algae. Thick, swirling currents made the water murky and treacherous.
An oppressive silence hung over the aquatic depths, broken only by the distant roars and howls of monstrous inhabitants. The sea’s corruption seemed to weigh heavily on the water, creating an unsettling atmosphere.
The seabed was a sprawling underwater landscape dotted with the ruins of the once flourishing underwater civilization.
The plant life in the region had mutated due to the sea’s corruption. Giant, twisted kelp forests and sinister, glowing anemones dominated the landscape, their tendrils moving almost sentiently in the currents.
Caverns and crevices within the rocky terrain served as lairs for various small sea monsters. The dark recesses were filled with the echoes of monstrous growls and the ominous glint of eyes watching from the shadows.
Navigating through the ruins, Timus streamed fascinating discoveries. Engraved tablets, statues of the original Sea God, and artifacts that hinted at the civilization’s downfall.
Deeper into the continent, Timus encountered many formidable foes gathered. Giant octopuses with glowing red eyes guarded important sites, while mutated sharks patrolled the water.
Using his wits and agility, Timus evaded these threats, sharing the intense moments live with his viewers. His disguise and camouflage did the perfect job to ensure his arrival unnoticed.
Timus didn’t dare to make any noise. He left the scene like a passing ghost because the place he had to infiltrate wasn’t there.
He passed through several fallen cities, but what he found was not much different from the previous ones. There was no sign of the Polluted Sea God nor the water demon minions, only the corrupted sea creatures.
"The compass is still pointing in that direction, indicating the highest water corruption. I should go straight to the most dangerous area." Timus made up his mind, remembering that the high-level battle would be prolonged on the sea surface if the roots had not been found.
Realizing it would take too long if he kept up with his current pace, he used another method to speed up his journey.
---
"Ice domain!" Yuuki activated her domain, freezing the sea. An ice island was created, and anything within a one-kilometer radius froze into crystal ice.
"My ice can only freeze them. Their regeneration is crazy. Dory, what is our next plan?" Yuuki sighed. This battle would be endless at this rate, and they had to do something different.
"There is no change in plans. We need to buy time and lure more foes to appear. We need to weaken the Polluted Sea God’s force, open the path, and force her out." Dory took a deep breath while watching Timus’ live stream via the Elysium Channel.
"The God of Trade is infiltrating the deepest region to find her exact hideout. The main problem is only the God-tier avatars. But, we need to conserve energy before the true world boss appears." Sylvia reminded everyone and flew back deep into the sky.
All factions also saved their ultimate and trump cards for later. They unleashed a fancy opening attack once at the start, and the rest of the time, they only launched low and mid-tier bombardments.
The Emperor-level combatants retreated to their respective fleets, leaving the Spirit-level warriors and mid-class battleships as vanguards to eradicate the corrupted sea creatures and water demons in the sea towers.
"Die!" The water demon minion leaped out of the sea tower, aiming his claw at the snow fox’s head.
"Punny ant!" Lixue smashed the water demon into smithereens. The core was frozen and flattened to the ground.
He raised his legs, voicing his dissatisfaction with his juniors. "It’s relatively easy to eradicate the water demon minions, but the God-tier water demon avatars have already retreated deep into the sea. Deep Sea Squad, please do your job properly and throw those big monsters out of the sea!"
"Y-yes, senior!" Leviathan in the distance saluted and dived deep into the corrupted sea. He battled the nearby God-tier water demon avatar and threw it out of the sea.
"Nice catch!" Vanessa thundered with purple lightning, smacking the monster into Yuuki’s ice domain.
Gio in his human form descended from the sky, pinning down the enemy with his mountain crusher move. Yae, the pink fairy on his shoulder commented excitedly. "Hee-hee~ Let’s try to kill this one. Our killing rate for a monster of this caliber is still zero, and we need to fix it now."
"Let’s do this." Evelyn joined the gang to defeat the separated God-tier water demon avatar.
"Kekeke, arrogant terrestrial creatures. You dare to challenge us in our domain. You know nothing about our lady’s true prowess. Not even five Goddesses that saved the world are her match!" The God-tier water demon avatar grinned sinisterly.
He growled like a vicious beast, baring his razor-like teeth and sticking out his elongated tongue while spreading sticky liquid and poisonous miasma everywhere.
*Bam!*
Gio unleashed a powerful fist on the monster’s head, sending the monster half-buried in ice. He then leaped back, handing the rest to the others.
"Let’s see how far you can survive." Lixue grabbed the water demon avatar’s crushed head, freezing the water monster’s body before the head could regenerate.
The bombardment was still ongoing in response to the onslaught of the water demon minions and the corrupted sea monsters. The flying whale’s spiraling sea towers completely destroyed the enemy’s defensive formation.
The sea monsters would be sucked into the spiraling sea towers and taken up into the sky and got attacked by thousands of combatants who were waiting in mid-air.
The other forces were still vying to contribute, but their main targets were still the water demon minions and the God-tier water demon avatars. The leaders of each faction launched their own methods to force their big prey out of the sea, but these monsters were hard to kill because the water demon avatars held a fragment of divine power, much different from the minions. They also had to be extra careful because they went against many powerful foes.
---
At a particular secluded area of the Aquatic Continent’s outer region lay a deep abyss, from which the corruption seemed to emanate. Dark energy pulsed from its depths, and the water around it was thick with toxic sludge.
The place with the most dangerous variables weren’t the once great cities of the Aquatic Continent, but the nameless abyss in the secluded region, a bit far from the corrupted sea and the heart of the continent.
Due to the Elysium Goddesses’ taunt several days ago, the Polluted Sea God was terrified. Everything went according to the plans. The Polluted Sea God summoned her minions and avatars to the eastern ocean to protect her true body.
However, who would have thought that the Polluted Sea God would gather most of her forces in the central region while she was hiding away from the battle? It was the main reason the Elysium Goddesses had difficulty finding the Polluted Sea God’s true whereabouts.
The contaminated water could obstruct scan and perception ability. Regardless, Timus’ compass guided him to the most evil energy. As he approached the abyss, he encountered the most dangerous monster he had ever seen so far. It was a God-tier water demon avatar in the form of a grotesque colossal, slimy sea serpent. Its scales blackened and its eyes burned with dark energy.
After secretly evading the sea serpent’s sight, Timus infiltrated the abyss. He discovered an ancient-looking coral hut at the bottom of the abyss. That place, he realized, was the source of the sea’s corruption. Carefully, he documented the discovery, knowing that its significance would resonate with his audiences.
The ancient-looking hut was small, but it actually served as the secret passage to the deep dungeon. The pollution and corruption were super thick. Timus with his innate immunity body felt suffocated, and he steeled himself to venture deeper with the help of a water purification device.
It was most likely the restricted forbidden region. Yet, he was unaware that Vision Orb’s connection had been cut off.
As he ventured deeper, he encountered countless sea snails clinging to the walls of the passage, contaminated by the corruption and wriggling with many parasitic worms.
Upon reaching the end of the passage, he sensed a presence in a particular chamber. He sneaked into that place. The door was already in ruins, and everything was too dark.
Even so, Timus’ godly sight helped him to see everything. He found a blue casket on a melted altar, half frozen in purple crystal.
The entire room was filled with lots of red decorations, resembling a bridal chamber. As his sight anchored to the bed-like anemone, the terrifying presence passed by from the innermost chamber.
That terrifying presence looked at Timus, glaring with a pure menace. Timus was frozen in place and lost his senses due to fear and mental intimidation. The only command that screamed in his mind was run, but his body just wouldn’t listen.
"Who called you here? Hum? What kind of thing is this? It smells like my kin, but-" The terrifying presence felt doubtful and approached the strange thing in the doorway.
As the shadowy hand grabbed Timus’ black ghost disguise cloth, Elysia sent direct emergency telepathy to Timus, bypassing the restrictive forbidden rule. ’Snap out of it and flee!’
*Snap!*
It was like a thunder of clarity struck the petrified Timus’ mind. He regained his sober mind. Yet, the black ghost cloth was pulled by the terrifying presence.
"A sea dog? Intruder, how did you get here?!" The terrifying presence screamed in shock.
"Fck you!" Timus raised his middle fingers, but he had no fingers on his flippers. Regardless, he waited nothing more and fled from the scene.
"Catch that sea dog for me!"
A deafening banshee-like scream echoed, damaging any sensors and sense of hearing. The parasitic snails jumped to block the sea dog’s escape, but Timus was super agile to avoid the ambush.
He covered his body with a translucent cloth, to avoid being contaminated by parasites, and rushed out of the secret passage.
"Grr..." The leviathan-like corrupted monster was already waiting right outside the coral hut.
"Fck you too!" Timus made a swift turn and fled at full speed. Anywhere was fine because he could teleport as long as he left the restricted zone.
And yes, once he escaped the dark abyss, he vanished with a poof. The leviathan-like corrupted monster and countless other pursuers were confused at first, but the beam of blinding white light suddenly evaporated the water, illuminating the abyss as if the end of the world had arrived.
