Book 6, Chapter 36: Abyss 1
Chapter 36: Abyss (1)
Since the decision had been made, there was no point in hesitating any longer.
The fleet, which had been waiting for this moment for a long time, began to make their preparations.
Two days later, the fleet officially moved out.
The massive fleet poured out of the port towards the Abyss.
The Abyss!
A name that both frightened and excited the hearts of men.
Once they went, they would either slaughter their way into a new era, or they would be forever lost.
On the way there, every soldier steeled themselves for the battle that was to come, and the atmosphere was solemn and stern.
Unfortunately, Su Chen did not share their concern. He embraced Gu Qingluo and whispered sweet nothings to her. It was as if he didn’t realize that there was an important battle ahead of him.
When Ji Hanyan saw his behavior, she couldn’t resist asking, “Are you that self-confident?”
“I don’t think you could say self-confident. However, if you could see the future, then you wouldn’t be as nervous either,” Su Chen replied.
“See the future? You used the Origin Bone Scepter to predict the outcome of this expedition?”
The Origin Bone Scepter falling in Su Chen’s hands was not really a secret. If Eternal Night could guess the truth, other people would be able to as well.
However, this was obviously not the correct answer.
Su Chen laughed loudly. “Is that a joke? I probably wouldn’t be able to make a prediction even if I sacrificed the entire fleet. But you don’t necessarily need the Origin Bone Scepter to make a prediction.”
“So what are you using then?” everyone asked.
“Of course, my intellect, experience, and knowledge. Don’t you feel that these are much more reliable than the Origin Bone Scepter?”
“So what have you seen then, Sir Su?” Princess Westminster asked.
Su Chen replied, “An operation that is plain and is executed without a hitch.”
Not long after, the Abyss began to fade into view.
The vortex of the Abyss was always revolving, and just beneath the vortex was the Abyss itself.
It was actually a spatial realm of its own.
The Abyss region was technically part of the Abyss, but in actuality they were two separate realms entirely.
Once the fleet arrived, the commanders began to issue their orders.
“All boats, prepare to stop. Don’t drop your anchors, and prepare to enter the waters!”
Not letting the anchors drop was to make escaping easier. The people responsible for standing guard on the boats needed to be prepared to retreat at any time, or, in a worst-case scenario, serve as a distraction for the targets.
If they wanted to get into the Abyss, they would need to enter the water.
The Oceanids lived in the water, so there was no point in even mentioning them. The humans, on the other hand, had made their own preparations - the Dragonfish.
The Dragonfish Hemolytic Totem Su Chen had developed was an extremely useful skill that allowed humans to breathe underwater when using it.
So many years had passed at this point. Even though the Hemolytic Totem was eventually abandoned by the Boundless Sect because it was only really useful on lower-tier Origin Qi Scholars, its usefulness in this particular application meant that it was still sticking around.
Not only so, but there were countless individuals who had begun to make improvements to the Hemolytic Totem. At this point, it had condensed quite significantly in size, and it was also more effective.
And commonly used Hemolytic Totems had seen particularly spectacular improvements. At this point, the Dragonfish Hemolytic Totem was merely the size of a palm print.
And this was not actually Su Chen’s doing, but the work of some young human genius. Su Chen had even invited him here to help engrave these Hemolytic Totems onto his soldiers.
Yes, the original inventor of the Hemolytic Totem was now forced to buy it from others.
Even so, that was exactly what Su Chen needed.
One man’s wisdom was limited, but the wisdom of a community was unsurpassed.
Su Chen had merely opened the way before leaving the rest up to those following closely behind him. By the efforts of those individuals to create successive iterations and improvements, the human race’s strength would begin to improve in leaps and bounds.
The same went for cultivation.
By relying on the Dragonfish, the human Origin Qi Scholars also became capable of moving freely underwater. In fact, they could even fight and use some of their Origin Skills.
Following their superiors’ commands, everyone leapt into the water, sending splashes of water into the air like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
As soon as they entered the vortex, the constant spinning motion made them feel dizzy.
They spun and spun for some time before they finally stopped.
When they opened their eyes, they found that the turbulent water around them had become calm yet again.
The water here was so clear that it seemed there was no pollution whatsoever. It was possible for them to see hundreds of feet in any direction. This clarity was quite impressive to the soldiers.
Everywhere they looked, they could see their comrades looking back at them, many still reeling from confusion.
Then, the Oceanids swam past them, gesturing at them before they shot towards the surface.
The Abyss was a forbidden region, but the Oceanids were incredibly familiar with it.
After all, the Oceanids had sent many soldiers in to try and resolve this problem of the Deep Sea Sorrow, hoping to permanently put an end to this problem.
As such, the human soldiers quickly moved to follow suit when they saw the Oceanids’ actions.
Everyone very quickly surfaced. The sky in this place was a brilliant blue, and the wind was calm and the waves quiet. It almost looked like they were in a lake, not an ocean.
“How beautiful and peaceful,” someone sighed.
“This shouldn’t be surprising. It’s an isolated void, so there is no wind at all, which is why it’s so peaceful and why the sky is always this color. It does look beautiful, but if all you had to look at was this for ten thousand years, you would probably want to vomit,” someone who had clearly done their homework replied.
“Shh!” One of the Oceanids put a finger to his lips.
Everyone was surprised for a moment until they heard a crashing sound.
A massive wave had appeared off in the distance.
The surface of the water, which had been calm only moments before, suddenly became turbulent. The water appeared to tower to the sky, as if falling up into the sky. Even the Origin Qi Scholars were dragged up by the current to the sky, giving them a faint sense of vertigo.
Just as they were trying to figure out what had happened, this feeling disappeared. The towering curtain of water collapsed, leaving the Origin Qi Scholars caught inside in midair.
In addition, a massive creature had remained in the air as well.
It was impossible to tell what this creature was. Its body was round and plump like a white ball, and it had no eyes, only a mouth.
That mouth, shockingly, could traverse the creature’s body freely. The soldiers couldn’t help but shudder in disgust and amazement as they watched the ball float towards them.
More of the Oceanids and Origin Qi Scholars had entered the Abyss at this point. When they saw the creature, some cried out, “Not good! This is the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly. This Beast has an innate control over gravity, making it incredibly hard to deal with.”
So it was the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly. No wonder it seemed for a moment that gravity had been reversed, and why those Origin Qi Scholars had felt like they were suddenly in free-fall.
Wait a second - if it could control gravity, then didn’t that mean……”
Someone asked, “Can it laterally translate the gravitational force as well?”
“It can!”
An instant later, all of the soldiers were suddenly thrown off-balance yet again. This time, however, the gravitational pull was not coming from above them, but to the side.
In the direction of the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly.
The soldiers began to slide uncontrollably towards the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly, which began to slowly open its mouth.
The only mouth that the ball of flesh had.
The mouth continued to widen without stopping. Very quickly, it covered the entire surface of the ball. The soldiers realized that this was not a ball of flesh, but a giant floating mouth, towards which they were “falling.”
“AHH!” everyone began to scream.
They furiously attempted to resist the effects of this gravitational pull.
Because almost all of them could fly, resisting gravity was something they were quite accustomed to.
However, the gravity field generated by the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly was obviously not simple either. In fact, it could continue to increase the strength of its gravity field.
At the same time that everyone regained their footing, the force of gravity suddenly jumped to three times what it was before.
The soldiers attempted to stabilize themselves yet again, but the gravitational pull continued to increase to ten times, then twenty times…...
The Origin Qi Scholars went all out to try and resist this frighteningly powerful gravitational pull, but found that there was nothing they could do.
The Mayfly was a Sovereign!
All of the Sea Beasts here were Sovereigns!
Trying to fight back against a Sovereign?
Were they kidding?
And the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly was clearly extremely well-suited for large scale battles, as numbers were completely ineffective against it. No matter how many Origin Qi Scholars they threw at it, it would just swallow them all up.
A few of the Origin Qi Scholars couldn’t resist any longer and “fell”, howling with despair as they did so.
There were also some Origin Qi Scholars who attempted to attack before they were devoured, but any of the attacks aimed at the Mayfly simply went into its giant mouth before disappearing without a trace.
Just as they were about to be swallowed up, time suddenly seemed to freeze for just a moment.
The dozens of Origin Qi Scholars in “freefall” suddenly came to a standstill.
Immediately afterwards, a violent, muffled explosion could be heard.
This explosion, however, was not intended to attack the Mayfly, because there was no lightning, only an explosion of sound.
Even so, it was this explosion that caused the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly to close its mouth slightly.
Next, a string of explosions could be heard. The Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly seemed to have an extremely strong adverse reaction to these explosions and immediately shot off into the distance.
Its abilities of flight were also dependent on this gravitational force. It flew off into the distance like a shooting star.
Finally, the person who was attacking it revealed themselves - it was Su Chen.
“Trying to run?” Su Chen harrumphed as he prepared to pursue.
Others might be afraid of a Sovereign, but Su Chen wasn’t. He was strong enough, and he had done his homework. The Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly was good against large groups of weak soldiers, but its ability to deal with a strong opponent was very mediocre. Most importantly, it was afraid of the sound of explosions.
Su Chen was ready to give chase to the fleeing Mayfly.
Unexpectedly, he had only taken a step when he felt a powerful gravitational pull hold him in place.
Not only so, but the Origin Qi Scholars around him also began to fly in his direction.
This time, the Mayfly had turned Su Chen into the center of gravitational pull.
Not only so, but it had also simultaneously created another gravitational center.
Tens of thousands of Origin Qi Scholars were being drawn to Su Chen even as he himself found it impossible to escape. The two fields of gravity were placed in different directions, making it impossible for Su Chen to even try to catch up it.
“You really want to play?” Su Chen was getting fired up.
As he watched the Origin Qi Scholars hurtling in his direction, there was nothing Su Chen could do but forcefully shove his arms out in opposite directions. “Open!”
A violent surge of energy burst forth from his palms, keeping all of those Origin Qi Scholars from slamming into him.
At that moment, however, ripples appeared not far away yet again.
Yet another massive creature was beginning to surface…...