Chapter 397 - The Dark Zone (Patreon)

The sea was freaking scary.

This came from Arsène who had Viers' memories of playing Subnautica so he knew his shit.

In an effort to escape his pursuers, Orca-Arsène went to a danger zone, the closest one from the Mualammu Kingdom.

Since antiquity, people have always feared the unknown. Darkness represented much of that, that was why children feared the dark and even after they grew up, that primal instinct never truly went away.

The Dark Zone was aptly named.

The waters in this place seemed to be dark and empty, with a mysterious coldness that froze the heart. Even when taking on the form of an aquatic monster Arsène's vision was greatly limited. Before, his eyes could see underwater like it was day on the surface. Now, it was like watching the third episode of the eighth season of Game of Thrones with sunglasses.

Any other marine life seemed to have mysteriously disappeared in The Dark Zone. The sea was filled with chilling silence. Even the noisy noble kid was paralyzed with fear no longer crying. Arsène felt a little pity towards the kid, but he was his ticket

Vast, empty, silent darkness.

But was it truly empty? That was the question.

The Dark Zone was not so close to the Mualammu Kingdom before, but in just a few decades, it was now practically at its doorstep.

The Dark Zone was growing each year, swallowing more territory. Silently and surely, like death that was slowly approaching.

It was the number one concern of the Mualammu Kingdom. The monarch had repeatedly sent expeditions inside, to find out what was causing all of this. Once they went inside, they experienced what Arsène experienced right now.

What lay further inside, nobody knew because nobody had ever returned.

The Mer soldiers were faltering. Nobody wanted to die and the darkness before them spelled certain doom. The Level 4 leader barked his order and compelled them to advance, even killing a disobedient as an example. Left with no choice, the pursuers didn't relent.

Arsène cursed in his mind. He didn't want to go further either. He might not care about dying but his pocket space was bursting with loot and in his head was precious knowledge. He wanted to deliver all of these to his other self.

The Level 4 was powerful, a full-fledged warrior, unlike the immature 40th prince that Viers defeated. This Merman had tried to entrap Arsène within his Domain. It was only because of his short teleportation Arsène was able to escape the first time. Within a Domain, Arsène who was without Viers' Horizon boost and important items, did not expect to survive.

That Merman didn't try again because Arsène used the hostage, cutting a finger from the rich kid. The Mer soldiers were actually confused by how intelligent the killer whale was. They expected something was amiss but they still had to save their ward.

Arsène wondered if he let the hostage go, they would let him off. But if he went with that choice then the Level 4 used his Domain, he would be out of options, so he didn't let the hostage go and they all went towards the abyss, both sides blaming each other.

Fuck it! Here we go, Katheryne! Ad Astra Abyssosque!

Arsène wondered how many times he'd heard that sentence, it seemed today was the day it was truly put to the test.

In just a few minutes, Arsène's danger sense sounded an alarm.

Something massive was coming from the front. He didn't see it and echolocation returned nothing, he just felt something dangerous and blinked somewhere else.

A Mer behind him wasn't so lucky. With an expression that didn't know what was happening, that Mer was struck by something massive and disappeared. His scream was short-lived.

Panic ensued among the pursuers. The water churned and roiled from the movement of something big. The Mer lost a second person before the Level 4 acted. He generated light using his Arte, unveiling the thing in the dark.

It was a tentacle, mean looking and filled with suckers. The difference in size was astounding, the tentacle was massive. Just the tip of it was enough to completely coil a person.

The thing about a tentacle was, it usually wasn't single.

Sure enough, multiple tentacles were coming from the darkness, snatching the Mermen as if they were food on a table. Some tried to resist, some tried to run, but nothing worked. The Level 4 struck one tentacle with a mighty Arte and it did absolutely nothing.

Their numbers dwindled like falling sand. Arsène and the rich kid were not the exception. He blinked a few times but only prolonged the inevitable. Before his fifth teleportation, he was caught. Just a light touch, barely a graze, but the suckers on the tentacles prevented him from swimming away. Teleportation was made impossible.

The pursuers were all caught, dragged somewhere. Arsène felt he was moving. The terrifying presence was growing by the second. Tentacles were limbs; they were all powerless against the tentacles so what kind of being they were up against?

An eye opened up in the pitch black darkness.

Seeing it made even the blood of Devadom Orca shake in fear.

Seeing it made the Level 4 Mer scream like a little girl.

Seeing it made the rich kid die from excessive terror.

This… thing, was so far beyond them. Arsène already accepted the fact that he might die here.

But if I'm going to die, I'm going to die fighting!

Arsène transformed back to human, making the suckers attached on the orca's body lose its target. Arsène then morphed into something that possessed the highest battle strength among his monster forms, the water dragon. Even now he was like a bean sprout compared to the size of the tentacle.

The tentacle moved again, unbelievably fast for something its size.

Arsène planned on giving some hurt against the being. The eye seemed to be the prime target. He couldn't move far before a tentacle caught him again.

But something was different this time. He felt something flowed out from him. Some kind of energy, and it repelled the tentacle. The mysterious blowback produced bright rainbow light.

The wave of light spread out far enough to allow Arsène to see the being.

A massive red octopus wearing darkness like a cloak.

Arsène recognized it.

The Deep Dweller God.

Viers encountered it, or something with its appearance in Aletro's Book World. At the time, the kraken was sealed by a divine weapon, Crystal Trident. He had the option to take the trident and break the seal of the kraken, or do not. Viers did not take the trident, but he soaked in the trident's energy in his carp form. The dragon was the evolution of that carp so that was what saved Arsène.

He thought he didn't get anything from the trident. What happened now was something that he didn't take into account.

I do not see the trident… Has the kraken broken free from its seal? From the Book World? Wait, am I seeing the same octopus in the first place? Fuck!

The darkness quickly returned but it seemed he angered the living mountain of flesh. Arsène quickly put his thoughts in order despite the surprise. All questions could wait until he was in a safe place.

Arsène did a complete turn and used his full speed to escape The Dark Zone.

His water dragon form's movement speed underwater was slightly slower than the Devadom Orca's. The tentacle caught up to him in no time but it couldn't touch him. Everytime it tried, a rainbow light knocked it back with enough force to send something with such mass back.

Then Deep Dweller God tried a different approach, it tried to smack Arsène using its limbs. From Arsène's point of view, it was like a skyscraper was falling down on him with the speed of a rocket.

The rainbow light flashed again, saving his life once again. The tentacles were splendidly repelled while Arsène himself felt nothing, no kinetic energy transferred to him, as if he did not just get hit by an earth-crushing force.

Arsène didn't let go of this God-given chance and kept moving towards the opposite direction of the Deep Dweller God. The kraken was relentless and it was working. The rainbow light was getting weaker.

Arsène redoubled his effort. A majestic dragon was frantically fleeing like a whipped dog and he didn't care. Life was more important.

Then, he saw light.

Sweet freedom, he escaped The Dark Zone.

The Deep Dweller God stopped its pursuit. The main body was too far back, Arsène didn't even know if it moved at all, but the massive, meaty tentacles couldn't get out of The Dark Zone.

Just as Arsène was breathing a sigh of relief, a tentacle detached itself.

It pulsed and writhed and morphed into an ungodly monstrosity.

It was a Rank 5 monster. Its shape was similar to an image of Charybdis that Viers saw in the old world. Like a worm with lines of teeth in its circular maw.

Arsène escaped, again. What other choice did he have?

Just as expected, the monster was able to leave The Dark Zone and gave chase. Arsène managed to get away by luring the monster somewhere else. When it was preoccupied, Arsène returned to the Shore and waited for his other half.

***

After receiving Arsène's memories, Viers opened his eyes.

"Interesting."

That kraken, Deep Dweller God, last time it spoke to me. This time it didn't. That thing's main body is above Level 5 for sure, possibly above 6… I reinforced the seal in the Book World, what is it doing down under the sea?

Viers' mind began to create hypotheses.

Perhaps a part of the kraken is sealed by Aletro in his book, like its soul or reason. Another likely theory is the thing under the sea is a clone, separated part, or child of the Deep Dweller God.

His thinking was interrupted by the evaporation of his powers. The sun had gone down.

Whatever it is, it's a problem for future me.

Viers wrote something on a piece of paper and went to a tree inside Dia's Biome. He nailed the paper onto the tree.

Mualammu Kingdom.

There were other papers on the tree, among them were Luxore Town and Valkut.

These were the places that got destroyed or suffered devastating damage because of Viers. Some places he didn't even mean to destroy but it ended up in flames. He decided to make a memorial of sorts.

More than ten places were already enshrined on the Tree of Ashes.

…Perhaps I should choose a bigger tree.