Chapter 174: Poison Immunity
In the depths of the ocean abyss....
They returned to the ruins of the Violet Stillness, drifting through water that still carried the faint, acrid taste of divine light and shattered stone.
Gray let out a slow, weary pulse.
’Haah... the plan didn’t go the way we wanted.’
Lily drifted apart from them, her five points orbiting in slow, heavy circles. Her dark core had dimmed to a faint, uneven pulse, guilt made visible. She kept her back turned, as if she couldn’t bear to face them.
Cindy watched her for a moment, her frills swaying with quiet sympathy.
"Leave her alone, Gray. She’s like someone who lost her memories. How would she know how to use something she doesn’t even remember having?"
Gray drifted forward, his luminous gaze sweeping the ruined basin.
’Yeah... I can’t really blame her either.’
Cindy turned toward the center of the basin, where the orb had once slept.
"Let’s hope the orb is still here. It’s the only lead we have."
’But will it actually help Lily remember?’ Gray asked.
"Maybe," Cindy said. "It’s worth a try, isn’t it?"
They moved deeper into the basin, past craters and shattered stone, toward the place where the Seed of Destruction had once pulsed with violet light. The water grew heavier with each pulse, thick with residual mana that clung to Gray’s carapace like oil.
Then Gray stopped.
His blade-tentacles snapped taut. His senses flared, every instinct screaming at once.
’Stop.’
Cindy froze instantly, her frills stiffening.
"What is it?"
Gray didn’t answer. He drifted forward slowly, pressing himself low against a ridge of broken rock, and peered over the edge.
And there it was.
A creature coiled in the crater where the orb had once rested. Its body was long and serpentine, easily twenty feet from snout to tail, covered in scales of deep, venomous green that shimmered with a faint, sickly light. Its jaws were lined with jagged, overlapping fangs, each one curved backward like a fishhook. Its eyes were narrow and slit-pupiled, burning with a cold intelligence.
And on its forehead, embedded like a crown jewel, was a violet orb.
It had fused with the creature, its veins threading through the serpent’s scales, its light pulsing in rhythm with the creature’s heartbeat.
Gray stared at the creature, his carapace crackling with tension.
’Shit... it looks like we’re too late.’
The system flickered, the golden text stabilizing as it finally locked onto the creature’s signature.
[SEA SERPENT — MUTATED VARIANT]
Level: 45
HP: 2800 / 2800
MP: 900 / 900
Threat Level: EXTREME
« Analysis »
A deep-sea serpent that has fused with a fragment of the Seed of Destruction. The orb embedded in its forehead serves as a mana conduit, allowing the serpent to channel small amounts of the Seed’s destructive energy into its attacks.
« Weakness »
The orb on its forehead is the source of its power. Destroying or removing it will sever the creature’s connection to the Seed and drastically weaken it.
"So the orb still has a use..." Cindy said.
Gray turned toward her, his luminous gaze sharp.
’Why didn’t you tell me, Cindy?’
Cindy’s frills flattened, caught off guard.
"I didn’t know either! Maybe Noir forgot to mention it."
’Forgot? She entrusted you with an entire entity and forgot to mention that the Seed of Destruction fused with a giant sea serpent?’
"How should I know?! Maybe she didn’t think it was important!"
’Not important?!’
Their voices rose, sharp and overlapping in the heavy water. And the serpent heard them.
Its slit-pupiled eyes snapped open, the violet orb on its forehead flaring with sudden, violent light. Its massive body uncoiled from the crater, scales scraping against shattered stone as it rose, its jaws parting to reveal rows of hooked fangs dripping with green venom.
Gray’s blade-tentacles spread wide, electricity crackling along their crystalline edges.
’We’ll talk about this later. Right now, we fight.’ He paused, his gaze fixed on the serpent’s venom-dripping fangs. ’Be careful. It has poison.’
Cindy raised her hands, frost already gathering at her fingertips.
"That’s going to be a problem."
’Don’t worry about it,’ Gray said. ’I’m immune to poison.’
Cindy blinked, her frills lifting with surprise.
"You’re what?"
’One of my new passives.’ His carapace crackled brighter as the serpent lunged. ’So stay behind me, and keep its attention off Lily.’
The serpent’s head whipped toward him, faster than anything its size had any right to be. Its jaws gaped wide, and from its throat erupted a stream of green venom that spread through the water like smoke, hissing where it touched the stone.
Gray didn’t dodge.
He let the venom wash over his carapace, expecting the burn, expecting the pain. Instead, the toxin slid off his crystalline surface like water off glass, sizzling uselessly against his armor before dispersing into the current.
[APEX ADAPTATION — POISON IMMUNITY — NEGATED]
’That’s what I thought.’
The serpent’s slit eyes widened. It had never encountered prey that didn’t die to its venom. It recoiled for half a heartbeat, and that half-heartbeat was all Gray needed.
He activated Tectonic Shift.
His blade-tentacles slammed into the seafloor, and the ground responded. A jagged spire of shattered stone erupted directly beneath the serpent’s coiled body, launching the massive creature upward. Its coils unspooled in the water, its guard broken, its throat exposed.
[TECTONIC SHIFT — 186 DAMAGE]
[SEA SERPENT — HP: 2614 / 2800]
[STUNNED — 2 SECONDS]
Cindy was already moving. "[Glacial Lance]!"
The spear of ice shot across the basin and struck the serpent’s exposed throat, shattering against its scales but driving it further off balance.
[GLACIAL LANCE — 312 DAMAGE]
[SEA SERPENT — HP: 2302 / 2800]
Gray fired Void Reaper’s Lance directly at the violet orb.
The void-edged spear tore through the water, aimed dead center at the Seed of Destruction. But at the last instant, the orb flared, and a barrier of violet energy erupted around the serpent’s head. The spear shattered against it.
[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — BLOCKED]
[SEED BARRIER — ACTIVE]
’It’s hiding behind a barrier. That just means it’s scared.’
The serpent recovered from the stun, its massive body coiling back into a defensive spiral. The orb on its forehead pulsed, drawing in mana from the surrounding water, and the barrier thickened.
Cindy’s voice rang out. "Gray! The orb is channeling mana from the environment! If we don’t break that barrier soon, it’ll keep regenerating!"
’I know.’ Gray circled wide, studying the barrier’s surface. It shimmered with the same violent violet light as the orb, dense and layered. Physical attacks would barely scratch it. But mana-based attacks, attacks that disrupted mana...
’Cindy, keep it busy. I need to get close.’
"Roger that!"
Cindy raised both hands, and a vortex formed around the serpent’s tail, locking its lower body in place. The serpent thrashed, its barrier flickering as it divided its attention between Cindy’s spell and Gray’s approach.
Gray activated Phantom Cloak and vanished.
He closed the distance in silence, drifting directly above the serpent’s head. The barrier was inches from his tentacles, humming with destructive energy.
He pressed his bell against it and activated Arcane Burst.
The pulse of disruptive mana erupted from his body and slammed into the Seed Barrier at point-blank range. The violet shield cracked, warped, and shattered in a burst of scattered light.
[ARCANE BURST — 202 DAMAGE]
[SEED BARRIER — DESTROYED]
’Time to cut that thing off your face.’