Chapter 1079: A Sea of Blood
The Abyssal Devourer let out a sick chuckle. With a rattling sound, the heavy flail in its hand trembled, and the spiked ball at the end suddenly burst apart. A vicious, barbed chain shot out from within, snaking directly for Orion’s neck.
“You giants are all muscle, no brains! Hahaha!”
Seeing the chain about to find its mark, the Abyssal Devourer couldn’t help but laugh. In this contest of strength, the first to let go would lose their footing and be forced to endure the other’s next full-powered attack.
But just as the chain was about to close, six draconic claws sprouted from beneath Orion’s ribs.
The Abyssal Devourer’s laughter died in its throat.
“I told you,” Orion’s voice was a low growl. “I’m going to kill you.”
Two of the draconic claws shot out and seized the barbed chain, wrenching it away from Orion’s neck. In the Abyssal Devourer’s eyes, now wide with terror, the other four claws went to work. Two of them, balled into fists, hammered its head from both sides like synchronized pistons. The last two grabbed its arms and began to tear them outwards with inhuman force.
It seemed that life and death would be decided in that single, brutal instant.
“GRRAAAH!” the Abyssal Devourer shrieked. It abandoned the contest of strength, pouring all of its power into a desperate retreat.
But Orion wasn’t about to let this chance slip away.
“Die!”
He twisted the trident he held at his side and thrust it forward, aiming to shred the monster’s heart. Facing annihilation, the Abyssal Devourer roared, its eyes glowing with a feral light as it used its last ounce of strength to wrench its body sideways.
The next moment, two sickening, grating sounds filled the air as the Abyssal Devourer was blasted away. It flew across the arena, about to be flung out of the Killing Floor’s dimension entirely, but a transparent barrier shimmered into existence and slammed it back onto the bloody sand.
It was the arena’s containment field.
“Such a beautiful sound,” Orion hissed. His face was a mask of pure ferocity, his eyes blood-red, his aura radiating boundless killing intent. “Just beautiful.”
He took a step forward, his trident held loosely in one hand. “The sound of tearing muscle. The crunch of snapping bone. The sound of a soul screaming.”
He walked slowly toward the fallen Abyssal Devourer. Behind him, two of his six draconic claws now gripped the monster’s severed arms.
The Abyssal Devourer had been decisive. By shifting its body, it had avoided having its heart obliterated. But the price was still catastrophic. Its arms had been ripped from their sockets by the draconic claws, and Orion’s trident had blasted a massive, gaping hole in the right side of its chest. Inside the wound, currents of electricity and lingering bonefire still crackled and burned.
Despite it all, the arch lord was still alive.
“Damn you… FUCK YOU! CURSED GIANT, I’LL EAT YOU!” Lying in a pool of its own blood, the armless Abyssal Devourer thrashed and roared in agony.
“This sin must be purged.”
Orion reached the monster’s side and, without hesitation, plunged his trident through its skull.
The arch lord’s struggles ceased. For a moment, there was silence. But just as Orion believed it was over, the Abyssal Devourer’s corpse suddenly dissolved into a pool of blood.
The bizarre sight sent a warning flare through Orion’s senses, and he immediately leaped back. Standing near the spreading puddle, he felt a palpable sense of danger.
Before his eyes, the pool of blood began to churn and bubble like a spring, expanding at an impossible rate. The volume of blood was far greater than what the monster’s body could have contained. It was as if the pool was a gateway to some other void, a wellspring of endless gore.
Sizzle! Hiss!
The feeling of crisis intensified. Unwilling to wait and see what would happen, Orion began hurling trident phantoms wreathed in lightning into the pool. The air filled with the crackle of electricity as blood was vaporized and blasted away, but it was useless. The pool replenished itself faster than he could damage it. The amount he destroyed was negligible compared to the amount gushing forth.
What the hell is this thing? Orion frowned, his mind racing as his attacks continued unabated, his guard now fully raised.
***
Titanion Realm, the Trident Sea.
War erupted the moment the Stoneheart Horde’s fleet approached the waters surrounding Aenari Island.
A massive swarm of monstrous, leviathan rays, whose Nest was located near the island, rose from the depths. To them, the appearance of the Sea-Devouring Warships and Ocean Hunters was an invasion. And invaders were to be driven off or killed.
There was no parley, no warning. The battle began in a frenzy of blood and churning water.
“My lady, the Tribe’s Ocean Hunters are not easy to raise. Rendall requests permission to join the fight!” Rendall came up behind Marina, giving a quick salute as he made his plea.
It wasn’t easy for the Stoneheart Horde to build up its strength, and Rendall, having helped raise the war beasts in both Mist Bay and the Dusk Continent, couldn’t stand to watch them dye the ocean red.
“The time is not yet right,” Marina said, turning to deny his request.
She knew Orion had entrusted these forces to her as a sign of his faith. On the battlefield, death was a constant, but Marina was determined to minimize the Stoneheart Horde’s losses as much as she was able.
Before Rendall could protest further, Marina produced a large seashell. “Orion anticipated this.”
She opened the shell and tossed it into the sea. Moments later, an endless stream of giant Specter Mahi poured out from the shell’s magical Nest. The first Specter Mahi to exit the shell shot forward, and the attack began.
From the decks of the Sea-Devouring Warships, the horde watched in awe. The first Specter Mahi was the tip of a blade; those that followed were its impossibly long edge. A colossal blade formation made of living creatures carved its way through the ocean, slamming into the swarm of leviathan rays.
The battlefield, already a meat grinder, had just been upgraded to a shredder. And behind that shredder lay Aenari Island, the new territory of the Stoneheart Horde—in name, at least.
The Aenari Sea was an inland sea, connected to the greater Trident Sea by only three major rivers. On an island in the center of this sea, four figures were gathered.
“I’ve given you the message. Whether you stay or go is your call.” The speaker was Orrak, a lord of the Sea-Drake race. Three days ago, he had received a release order from his people. His term of exile was over; he was being summoned home. With the summons came information about the new ownership of Aenari Island and what was to follow. As a friend, he had passed the news on to the other three.
“Orrak, tell me something,” a six-armed naga with a serpentine tail hissed, her voice shrill and tinged with hysteria. “We are exiles. Where else are we supposed to go?”