Chapter 753: Reef Forest (1/2)

Zac panted deeply for a few seconds before he eventually ripped out the edge of [Verun’s Bite] from the brain stem of the beast. Afterward, he quickly swam up, escaping the gory soup inside the Beast King's skull. All around him, the massive den was in shambles, the walls completely unable to withstand the fury of their clash.

The original plan had been to ambush and take the wounded beast down in one quick go, but plans could only take you so far. The first surprise had come when the beast finally reached its den, an enormous chasm that continued thousands of meters into the ground. Zac had been shocked to find that its aura had simply disappeared just a minute after entering.

It was like it had teleported away, without giving the slightest hint of what it was about to do. Zac first thought that it was unusually good at restraining its aura, but that didn't completely explain the situation. There had to be something inside, be it a powerful Nexus Vein, a unique herb, or even some mysterious metal whose aura would allow the Beast King to gradually refine their bloodline.

But there was nothing like that. Conversely, the energy hadn’t decreased either like it did around the small chamber that had become his Cultivation Cave down in the depths. The energy the hole emitted was exactly the same as the ambient energy, making Zac guess something else was at play.

Either there was an array hiding what was going on inside, or perhaps a unique material with obscuring capabilities. In either case, it piqued Zac's interest, and he had slowly made his way inside after waiting for another 20 minutes to let the Beast King lower its guard. Unfortunately, it had been futile, and Zac had almost gotten himself killed by a terrifying energy beam that engulfed the whole entrance when he entered.

If not for his Danger Sense and activating [Abyssal Phase] with the help of his bloodline, he would have been severely burned. However, he managed to dodge completely unscathed, which left the wounded Beast King in an awkward situation, considering using an attack of such magnitude had worsened its wounds considerably.

The battle had turned into a ruthless melee afterward, where Zac eventually managed to create an opportunity with the help of the finishing strike of [Blighted Cut], which had opened up a large enough wound in its skull for Zac to sneak inside. From there, a rampage inside its brain had given the king of the reef a gruesome but quick death.

He had ultimately been forced to use [Pillar of Desolation] again even though he had planned on doing without, but the chains of [Love's Bond] simply wasn't strong enough to trap such a strong Beast King, even in its wounded state. Just trying would damage the chains, which in turn would harm Alea.

It was a useful experiment though since it was a confirmation that he could only attach one chain to even such a massive creature. The chain had at least wound itself over ten times around the beast, and it had managed to endure just long enough for him to unleash [Blighted Cut]. However, he knew that even his ultimate skill wouldn't have lasted against a Beast King for too long.

In either case, the hunt was a success which meant it was time to loot. The beast was quickly chopped up into manageable chunks, though Zac could quickly confirm that its meat most likely wasn't serviceable. It had a rank odor not fit for eating, but it would still be useful as feed or as a lure for other beasts.

As for the den itself, it was covered in Twilight Crystals, though most of them had been broken during the clash. Unsurprisingly, the energy intensity inside the den was far greater compared to the outside, in this case, thanks to sitting on on a Nexus Vein. Unfortunately, it looked like the 'treasure' that this beast had found for itself was a natural formation rather than an item, meaning it impossible for Zac to bring away.

He had sensed a mysterious energy being generated in the center of the cave, but that energy was gone by the time the fight was over. That didn't mean his hunt was fruitless, and his eyes first turned to the small hill of corpses in the corner of the cave, and then the mound of Twilight Crystals in another.

It looked extremely grim, but Zac still shot toward the pile first to rummage for wealth among the fallen cultivators. There were almost a hundred corpses gathered, and judging by the state of decomposition of the remains, this beast had preyed on trial-takers for at least 10 E-grade trials. For all Zac knew, this bloodthirsty bastard might have been a known terror of the area.

Zac only briefly scanned some of the rings and pouches, but he realized that most of the Pouches had been broken down by the Twilight Energy, their contents lost to the void forever. Thankfully, the Spatial Rings were more resilient, and while many had lost a lot of their space, what remained contained an impressive amount of treasures.

Those who had fallen were mostly native elites from the looks of it, while Zac guessed seven of the identifiable corpses came from the three B-grade factions. Even then, the items inside were almost exclusively treasures found in the ocean or the preparations they had brought for the trial itself. The imperials didn't have a single skill crystal or cultivation manual inside their rings, for example.

Finally, there was the odd crystal mountain hidden in a secured corner of the cave. Throughout the whole battle, the beast had kept away from that side, and Zac curiously looked at the skeleton sitting on the mound of Twilight Crystals. After having encountered something similar once before, Zac could quickly confirm that this set of bones had once belonged to a Hegemon, this one probably much stronger than the other skeleton he still carried in his Spatial Ring.

Its bones shone like polished metal, and they exuded a palpable pressure as Zac swam closer. Zac wondered why the Beast King would accord this long-dead cultivator such respect, but after some time he believed he had found the reason. It was not the skeleton itself, but rather the item on its wrist and the benefit it provided.

It was the bracer the fallen Hegemon carried that hid the aura of the cave, rather than the natural formation or the Beast King itself. To accomplish that, it was constantly drawing energy from the thousands of crystals beneath, and Zac guessed that it was the beast that had figured out how it worked and supplied the crystals.

The thing seemed able to block out the aura of anything that entered this cave. It had a mesmerizing blue luster, and Zac could vaguely spot what looked like a rune deep inside. The craftsmanship of the metal bracer that held the sapphire-like gemstone was absolutely exquisite, and the treasure reminded Zac of his [Stone of Hope].

He hesitated only for a moment before he put it on his left wrist just like the skeleton had, and the change was immediate. Whatever field the gemstone emitted was drawn in, suddenly only covering his body. Zac tried infusing it with some Miasma to see if he could make it spread its protection to a wider area, but his energy was rebuffed.

Zac furrowed his brows a bit as he glanced at the mound of crystals beneath the skeleton, and he guessed that the item wasn’t made for the undead. That was fine with him though. This effect alone was a great get. Anyone could restrain their aura, but there were always some of it leaking out.

Besides, anyone using scout abilities would see the energy inside his body just like he did with [Cosmic Gaze] no matter how skilled at energy control you were.

This treasure would hopefully allow him to traverse unseen, just like the array pillar of the Havarok had almost perfectly blended in with the surroundings. He doubted it would be able to hide the bounty that would appear above his head, but he also knew that thing only showed up when he was focused on.

He spent a few more minutes storing the skeleton and crystal mountain before scavenging the cave for any more treasures, but the Beast King was pretty organized, as far as turtle monsters went. Most of the corpses and treasures had been dragged to the same alcove, except the D-grade skeleton which had been placed in its own section. Seeing as there were nothing else of interest Zac simply left, once more setting course for the settlement indicated on his [Ocean Chart].

It took him another five days to pass the vast coral reef, even if his new bracer saved him a lot of headaches. As long as he kept it running he was ignored by most of the animals that made the reef their home, even if he was spotted. They probably figured that eating something that didn’t emit a speck of energy was a waste of time. Why fill their bellies with trash when they could gobble up something much more palatable?

Some beasts still tried to rip him apart just out of spite, but most of them let down their guards since killing such a weak being didn’t warrant any effort. They were quickly proven wrong as Zac bisected them with a lazy swing of his own, adding their carcasses to his rapidly growing stockpile of high-grade meat.