The Abyssal Hunter glided silently through the crushing darkness of the Mariana Trench.
It wasn't a spaceship. It was a relic—a massive, hollowed-out skull of a Primordial Sea Dragon, reinforced with enchanted black steel and powered by pulsating blue runes.
Inside the bone-cockpit, the mood was tense. Jax was gripping the rune-stone controls so hard his knuckles were white. Luna was stress-eating a bag of dried kelp chips.
"Depth: Ten thousand meters," Cassian announced, watching the mana-gauges (which were floating crystal orbs). "Pressure is critical. If the rune-shielding fails, we will be crushed into the size of a soda can."
"Thank you, Cassian," Primrose said, staring out the enchanted glass eye-socket. "That's extremely comforting."
Ahead of them, the trench widened into a massive underwater amphitheater. In the center stood a colossal door carved into the bedrock. It was made of white jade and sealed with glowing nine-tailed fox runes.
But someone was already there.
