[Ding!]
A cold, mechanical chime echoed within the abyss.
Name: El-Mond
Age: 20
Race: Merfolk
Innate: Devourer
Core: Devourer Core
Domain: Devourer Domain
Evolution: Half-Step Duke Evolver
Skills Acquired:
Undying One
Void Blood
The blue depths trembled faintly as the
translucent system screen faded before
El-Mond's eyes.
"…Well," El-Mond muttered, brows knitting together.
"This is confusing."
His ocean eyes narrowed slightly.
"System. What do these skills do?"
Silence.
No response.
No explanation.
Only the distant pressure of the ocean
pressing against his body.
"…Guess I'll have to figure it out myself.
Again."
His gaze slowly drifted across the seabed.
Then
A sharp sensation pierced his instincts.
Something was coming.
Fast.
Too fast.
El-Mond spun around in a flash
Fifty meters away, the water distorted
violently.
From the endless blue-black void.
The four colossal eels slide into view
each one massive, serpentine, and
terrifying.
They halt fifty meters from El-Mond.
Their bodies coil and sway, back and forth,
like wolves to a prey.
STATIC CRACKLE PAUSE
Electric energy pulses through their scales.
Lighting the abyss in brief flashes.
They bare their fangs.
They snarl.
Not attacking
asserting dominance.
El-Mond remains still.
His expression calm.
His heart, anything but.
The four eels suddenly glance backward.
Their bodies part,
drifting to each side as if making way
for royalty.
From the deep nothingness behind them
A presence presses down on the sea itself.
Out emerges
THE ENORMOUS CRIMSON EEL.
Its body dwarfs the others.
Scarlet scales shimmer like molten blood.
Electric arcs crawl endlessly across its form,
never fading, never settling.
The pressure alone bends the surrounding
water.
Inside El-Mond's mind
Eldred's voice trembles.
"Master… please take caution."
"Those four are Peak Seventh-Level Duke creatures."
"But that crimson one...."
"It's far more dangerous."
"Its a Peak Ninth Level…"
"Yet its aura…"
"It's close to an Emperor."
El-Mond's pupils narrow.
"He's right…
That thing is dangerous."
Yet on the surface
El-Mond stands tall, unmoving, composed.
The Crimson Eel's gaze locks onto him.
Its pupils glow.
Invisible energy washes over El-Mond,
as it attempts to measure his evolution.
Silence.
Nothing.
Its eyes sharpened.
The System had block it completely.
The Crimson Eel speaks
its voice deep, heavy, echoing through
the sea like rolling thunder.
"What are you fools doing?"
"Do you not see?"
"That is a merfolk."
"Stop this nonsense at once."
The four eels stiffen.
But then understanding dawns.
Their hostility dissolves, fangs retracting
as their bodies relax.
The Crimson Eel exhales slowly.
"Sigh…"
"They don't get out much."
"Please, pay them no mind."
Silence follows.
It waits.
Waiting for El-Mond to respond.
El-Mond says nothing.
Inside his thoughts
"Are they trying to make me lower my guard?
with such pathetic acting?…"
Across from him
The Crimson Eel's eyes glint with
irritation. As it thinks to itself.
Hmph…Smug Bastards thinking themselves
Better than the rest of us.
You'll regret it soon enough.
The Crimson Eel speaks again.
"We are servants of the GREAT..."
"THOUSAND.
TENTACLE.
DEMON."
The sea seems to recoil at the name.
"We were commanded to investigate a
strange energy wave from this area."
"Have you seen anything unusual?"
Inside El-Mond's mind
Eldred's voice explodes with urgency.
"Master—if that is true, we must leave. Now!"
"The Thousand Tentacle Demon…"
"IS An almost unkillable existence."
"A cannibal of humans and beasts alike."
"Two thousand years ago..."
"It took dozens of Emperor-level powerhouses
to kill it."
"And it slaughtered dozens more before falling."
"Your breakthrough was unprecedented."
"The leaked energy must have drawn its
attention!"
El-Mond clenches his fist.
Inside his thoughts.
If its as you say. Then we must Leave!.
He looks up at the Crimson Eel and speaks
calmly.
"I haven't seen anything of the sort."
"I came searching myself."
"But since your master has taken interest..."
"I will take my leave."
He turns.
The sea behind him crackles!.
Instantly.
Electric disc slams into his back.
BOOM....!!
El-Mond is rocketed downward,
crashing into the seabed as sand erupts
violently.
"Stay put, little mermaid."
The Crimson Eel laughs.
The four eels laugh with it.
"Go pick him up."
"He knows something."
"The Master was very keen on that energy."
One of the four dives down gleefully,
vanishing into the swirling sandstorm.
Time passes.
Thirty seconds.
Forty.
The Crimson Eel frowns.
"What's the hold-up?"
"Hurry up."
"We cannot afford to keep Master waiting."
The dust begins to settle.
A silhouette appears.
Floating.
Unharmed.
El-Mond.
His hair is no longer white
It is now pitch black, flowing like shadow.
His body radiates eerie black energy,
swallowing the surrounding light.
In his right hand
The tail of the eel that dove down.
Behind him
Its massive body floats lifeless,
a gaping hole torn clean through its head.
The sea falls deathly silent.
The Crimson Eel's eyes widen.
TO BE CONTINUED…