Chapter 69: Riding the Waves
At the Abyss of Anos, seawater cascaded down from all directions. Looking outward from the Time Vessel as the center, aside from itself, no other flames of life burned within a radius of several kilometers. The world fell into utter darkness, with only thunder able to tear through this heavy silence.
Amidst the surging tides were countless overturned carcasses and shredded flesh of sea beasts, their bellies exposed. Hot steam rose from the foul seawater, forming clouds tinged with a reddish hue. From within these clouds came wails and screams, as if from hell itself.
But even the towering waves eventually had to subside.
The sea beasts' offensive had been completely annihilated by the Church's exploration team. Even the black dragon hiding in the shadows had been killed barehanded by the warrior.
The battle was temporarily over. Following Robzek's command, the white ark started up again, its engines humming as they drove the massive hull to ride the waves.
Their destination was the very sea where Joshua and the black dragon had fought their final battle.
Within the reddish clouds, a massive black object floated with the waves. One could vaguely make out the body and head of a giant dragon. Its limbs and tail had been torn off by tremendous brute force and carelessly discarded elsewhere in these waters.
And upon this dragon corpse, continuous sounds of cracking bones rang out.
Joshua walked with a serious expression, stepping on the black dragon's enormous spine. With each step, he crushed large sections of the dragon's bones beneath his feet. Black-red battle qi invaded, erasing all the magical runes inscribed on the dragon's skeleton.
Thus the warrior walked, step by step, from the dragon's back to its neck. Wherever he passed, the vast magical power stored within the black dragon dissipated with the wind, transforming into drifting, colorful lights within the clouds.
He reached the dragon's head. Standing between the dragon's horns, Joshua lowered his head and spoke in a deep voice: "Stop playing dead, Grandi. I know you're still alive."
The black dragon showed no reaction to these words. Its eyes had lost their luster; its dragon pupils, once as dazzling as amethysts, were now like two purple stones, completely devoid of life.
The massive, ferocious head was covered in wounds. Its lower jaw seemed to have been struck by a giant hammer, completely smashed into a pulp. Its tongue and sturdy dragon fangs were broken and incomplete. Black blood flowed from its slightly open mouth, staining large areas of seawater.
From any angle, it appeared dead.
But Joshua wasn't fooled. His arm trembled, and his right hand, capable of splitting metal and breaking jade, plunged into the tall dragon horn beside him. Without another word, the warrior pulled upward with force.
Crack!
A clear snapping sound rang out. The several-meter-tall dragon horn broke off cleanly, revealing the skull beneath. Joshua stomped heavily, sending large chunks of flesh and bone fragments flying into the sea.
A black hole, directly connecting to the cranial cavity, appeared on the dragon's head.
Seeing that Grandi still hadn't reacted, Joshua raised an eyebrow. He extended a finger toward the black hole in the brain, and a beam of black-red battle qi materialized. This beam shot straight into the dragon's cranial cavity, as if intending to stir its brain into a pulp.
Just then, a thin layer of magical mist appeared before the battle qi beam, barely blocking the warrior's attack.
"I know you're alive."
Seeing this, Joshua stopped his attack and spoke calmly to the black hole: "I don't like wasting words. I'll ask, you'll answer. If you maintain a proper attitude, obey orders, and cooperate actively, I won't destroy your soul and hand you over to the Church of the Seven Gods."
"...Can I surrender?"
After a moment of silence, a weary, helpless voice echoed in the warrior's mind through psychic vibrations: "I'll talk, I'll tell you everything, as long as you spare my life..."
"Stop wasting words."
Shaking his head, Joshua pointed again. Another beam of black-red battle qi shot straight into the brain hole. This time, the dragon had no strength left to gather its meager magic to block. The psychic vibrations in the warrior's mind immediately scattered, only slowly reforming after a long while.
Within the brain hole, illuminated by the battle qi's glow, a mass of gray, worm-like matter could be seen writhing inside the dragon's cranial cavity. It had been stabbed by the battle qi beam and was now curling up in pain. At a glance, it looked like a brain, but it could move independently. One could even vaguely see a layer of fine black dragon scales on its complex folds.
Deathsmoke Grandi had long since transformed himself into a half-undead creature. He had easily refined his own body into various magical equipment. This black dragon hadn't even spared his own brain.
"Abyssal reincarnation... but limited to the brain."
Looking at the disgusting brain mass that seemed composed of abyssal worms, Joshua narrowed his eyes: "I'm starting to wonder whether you're Grandi, or an abyssal demon that has usurped Grandi's body."
"Speak." The warrior didn't dwell on this matter. Looking down at the strange biological mass, he said: "Why did you come to the Abyss of Anos? An ultimate-rank black dragon lord with abilities extremely effective in warfare, instead of joining the siege on the Holy Mountain, you came to block the Church's exploration team."
"...Because of the Elder Council's orders. My abilities excel at large-scale suppression but are indiscriminate, easily causing friendly fire. Moreover, the Church of the Seven Gods specializes in cleansing negative energy. I'm heavily countered."
The black dragon had learned its lesson this time. It answered the warrior's questions one by one, sparing no detail: "The Abyss of Anos is crucial to the Elder Council's plans. I was sent to cooperate with another black dragon in guarding it."
"What plan? Why are you blocking us from going to the Central Great Maelstrom?"
"I don't know." The dragon's psychic transmission was extremely swift, as if afraid the warrior would misunderstand: "I joined midway. My mission was to cooperate with my companion. It alone held all the plans. When it sent me and the other sea beasts to stop you from approaching the maelstrom, it didn't explain why."
"Is that so."
As if able to easily discern truth from falsehood, Joshua didn't hesitate before continuing: "Who is your companion? Why were there famine evil god's minions mixed in among the attacking sea beasts?"
Before finishing his words, he pointed again. A straight beam of battle qi shot into the dragon's cranial cavity. The qi broke through several layers of barriers mixed with spells for invisibility, aura concealment, and existence weakening, pinning a human-head-sized, brain-shaped worm that was stealthily crawling toward a bone crevice. Black-red battle qi turned into flames, burning it completely to ashes.
Vaguely, killing intent spread. A fragment of soul within the small worm was devoured. The dragon's psychic energy scattered again, and the large brain-shaped worm in the cranial cavity began convulsing wildly. The warrior watched coldly. It was a long time before Grandi slowly recovered.
"...You, you can devour my soul?!"
This time, the black dragon was truly terrified.
As a spellcaster, Grandi's psychic world was practically impenetrable. Not even Joshua, an amateur, let alone a true abyssal demon coming to torture him, could easily pry open his mouth. Combined with the black dragon's prior preparations, even if his soul were completely destroyed, there was still a sliver of hope for rebirth.
The reason he had cooperated so readily earlier was mainly to buy time and find an escape route. His modified brain could self-divide, splitting off a secondary brain carrying a soul fragment. This secondary brain could grow on its own and, after the main body's destruction, be reborn as a complete 'Deathsmoke Grandi.'
The small worm containing a fragment of his soul had been discovered, so his only chance of escape was gone. But that wasn't the most important thing. The dragon was shocked to find that the soul fragment hadn't returned to the main body but had completely disappeared, swallowed by the strange power within the warrior's battle qi.
Even Grandi couldn't guarantee whether his soul could be reborn after being devoured by such power.
"I told you, no wasting words. Maintain a proper attitude."
Joshua didn't care about the dragon's attitude. He only warned: "Otherwise, next time, it won't be just this much."
Under the threat of soul annihilation—far worse than death—Grandi's attitude indeed improved considerably. He actively cooperated with the warrior's interrogation, quickly revealing much information.
"My companion is named Death Dragon Mandagar. The older generation in the Far South should be familiar with that name."
The dragon's psychic fluctuations had weakened considerably, but the speed of information transmission was a third faster than before: "Mandagar is one of my few friends. He once nearly died at the hands of a Holy Sword wielder in the Far South. I performed a 'Soul-Calming Ritual' for him, fixing his nearly dissipating soul onto his already dead body... But decades ago, he gradually disappeared from the sight of our kin. Even I rarely contacted him."
At this point, Grandi's tone carried a hint of confusion: "Famine evil god? What is that? The name of some abyssal lord?"
Judging by his tone, he truly didn't know what the famine evil god was.
This was quite normal. In fact, most people in this world didn't know the names of the evil gods. Only a few families tasked with guarding sealed lands, along with the upper echelons of the Church of the Seven Gods and major powers, knew some of these secrets. Although Grandi was an ultimate-rank black dragon lord who had once destroyed a small country, his understanding of what lay beyond the Mycroft World was limited to 'there are many worlds in the multiverse.' As for those ancient evils, he knew at most about the abyss.
It seemed he had no idea that the desolate predator under his command was an evil god's minion. He probably thought it was some strange type of demon. But in reality, the chaotic power of evil gods originating from the void was quite different from the chaotic destructive power of demons.
"I see... Very well."
Nodding slightly, Joshua understood that although Grandi was powerful, he hadn't entered the core circle of the Five-Colored Dragon Clan's plans. After thinking for a moment, he continued coldly: "Why did you stop us from going to the Central Great Maelstrom? What is your companion doing now?"
"Mandagar is currently conducting a large-scale magical ritual. He cannot be disturbed by anyone. He didn't even let me help, instead sending me to stop you."
The black dragon answered almost the instant the warrior finished his question, as if he had long anticipated Joshua would ask this: "Soon, the Central Great Maelstrom will be hidden by a magical barrier, and Mandagar will continue completing his ritual."
Without Joshua needing to ask, he knew Grandi definitely had no idea what that ritual was. However, the black dragon had some guesses: "For some reason, Mandagar's body has regained its youth, full of vitality. I originally thought he had used the same reincarnation magic as me to swap bodies, but now that I think about it, it's somewhat strange... His ritual is also very peculiar. It's different from the power of any abyssal lord, yet it carries an ancient evil aura..."
At this point, he kindly added a reminder: "After me, three monsters close to ultimate-rank will come to stop you. They're slower, but I can already sense their auras."
After listening, Joshua narrowed his eyes. He had roughly gathered the necessary information. Just then, the reddish clouds permeating the surrounding sea slowly dissipated, and the white ark was sailing toward this direction.
After thinking, the warrior shook his head somewhat regretfully: "Too bad, Grandi. You weren't cooperative enough earlier, and you know too little. I will destroy your soul rather than hand you over to the Church of the Seven Gods for them to deal with."
When he said this, his demeanor was open and upright, not hiding anything from the black dragon: "You can resist, you can try to escape. As a reward for answering my questions, I'll give you this chance, and I won't devour your soul."
The warrior disdained breaking his previous promise. He let Grandi do as he pleased, to see if this black dragon could surprise him.
—On the Ark.
Everyone had already discovered the black dragon's massive corpse. A dragon claw still wrapped in a layer of magical light floated with the waves and was fished out by the ark's sailors.
Sa Ya's transcendent vision was most useful in this situation. She easily spotted the warrior standing on the dragon's head amidst the clouds and guided the ark's direction.
However, just as they slowed down and gradually approached Joshua, the pervasive reddish clouds were dispersed by a surge of immense battle qi. Countless black-red flames spread from Grandi's mutilated dragon body, crushing it like grinding cookies.
Numerous burning dragon corpse fragments traced dark red arcs through the air before plunging into the sea. At this moment, Joshua flew straight toward the ark.
The warrior landed on the deck, the large crater he had previously stomped out still conspicuous. The dragon girl happily rushed forward and threw herself into Joshua's arms. She seemed instinctively about to stick out her tongue, but her head was stopped by a large hand.
Joshua sternly prevented the black dragon's habitual intimate gesture—not for any other reason, but because whenever the dragon girl's human form opened her mouth, there was a certain chance she would spew dragon breath. Last time, he had been 'ambushed' like this, and half his chest had nearly been cooked.
To those who came to inquire about his physical condition, the warrior responded one by one. Since time was pressing, he didn't elaborate on the process of killing Grandi and interrogating his soul. Everyone only knew that Joshua had endured a hard battle, slain the black dragon, and obtained some information from it.
"Ritual?"
Hearing this word, Loranda's gaze immediately sharpened. After thinking for a moment, he said seriously to Joshua: "Conducting a ritual related to an evil god near an abyssal rift? What is Mandagar planning? To let an evil god invade the abyss?"
Glancing slightly at the justice-driven blonde paladin, the warrior knew that this currently sunny and handsome fellow would, more than a decade later in his previous life, degenerate into a human traitor who opened the abyssal gate. Although it was just a rumor and unlikely, there was at least some connection.
Moreover, his question wasn't impossible. In his previous life, the abyssal invasion clearly involved more than one evil god's handiwork. A few abyssal lords and demon lords alone couldn't break the Sage's seal.
To this, Joshua patiently explained: "I have no idea about these questions. Grandi doesn't know either. The only thing we can do now is to get to the Central Great Maelstrom as soon as possible and kill that black dragon."
"Correct." Robzek nodded in agreement from the side: "Even if we don't know the essence of the problem, destroying it will naturally solve the problem."
He now seemed to share Joshua's personality, causing Sa Ya standing nearby to sigh softly.
Hill and Fina didn't join the discussion. They weren't interested in these issues. The two were quietly talking to each other, saying who knows what.
And just then.
In the sky covered by dark clouds, a massive rune appeared on the cloud layer.
This rune was strange and twisted, exuding a blasphemous, corrupt aura. It was so distinctive that everyone present noticed it immediately.
The moment many crew members saw this rune, they immediately fell to their knees in pain, covering their eyes. The evil power stimulated their nerves through their vision.
The powerful individuals naturally had no adverse reactions, but their expressions were extremely serious. The power of chaos behind this rune made everyone's heart beat involuntarily faster.
Clearly, the unknown ritual had already begun. Power from another world was relying on the abyssal rift to erode part of the Abyss of Anos.
And in the nearby sea, three massive chaotic auras were approaching the ark.
"Don't get entangled with them."
Decisively, Joshua turned to look at Sa Ya and Hill. He said solemnly: "Which direction is the maelstrom?"
Without wasting words, Sa Ya immediately pointed out a direction. After sensing the ocean currents, Hill slightly corrected that direction.
Next, under Robzek's command, the Time Vessel ark started up again. The mana engines hummed as it began speeding toward the maelstrom.
But the ark wasn't fast enough. Moments later, a second twisted rune appeared in the sky.
Black was rubbing her head against the warrior's waist. Joshua patted her head, then frowned, gazing into the distance. His transcendent vision could already see three enormous crystal monsters swimming rapidly amidst the waves. Given the ark's speed, they could easily catch up with just a slight angle adjustment.
"No good. Let me add some force."
Making a decisive decision, Joshua walked to the ship's bow.
Vast battle qi surged from his body.
Battle qi, the power of life, originated from a strong body and tenacious will. Like magic, it had the ability to change reality.
Because of the Azure Orb and the massive number of chaotic monsters he had slaughtered, the warrior's battle qi was practically endless. Waves of battle qi, far exceeding gold-rank and beyond even what seasoned ultimate-ranks possessed, spread from Joshua's muscles, organs, and bones, then attached themselves to the ark.
Gradually, as everyone's expressions shifted from confusion to understanding, the entire part of the ark touching the water was covered in red battle qi.
"Hold steady, everyone."
Joshua controlled his battle qi, distributing it according to key points across the ark's various corners. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, a hint of a smile in his red eyes as he looked into the distance: "Time to speed up."
As he finished speaking, countless streams of black-red battle qi erupted simultaneously. Terrifying impact force exploded, wrapping around the ark as it sped forward. It parted the waves, reducing resistance. Instantly, the Time Vessel's speed more than doubled. The three chaotic monsters were left far behind in no time.
Riding the wind, riding the waves.