novelraw Chapter 149: Hydrothermal Vents
Chapter 149: Hydrothermal Vents
Time flowed and a week had passed since Zyrus started traveling in this zone. He didn’t particularly enjoy the pointless journey as he was still far off from the mission’s target, but this was necessary.
His strength was sufficient to move around in the first three zones, yet that was it. The next zone was a boundary region between the second and the third ring. It was a perilous place even for him.
As for the last zone? He was no better than a bug compared to the creatures that lived there. The only way he could survive this trip was by adapting to this environment.
Who said that ants couldn’t survive in a jungle ruled by a lion?
*Shuaaaa*
‘Finally, it’s here.’
Zyrus’s yellow eyes gleamed in excitement as he saw the white columns rise from below. His agility wasn’t low to begin with, add to the fact that his tail was better at swimming than his legs were at running, he was overall just 30% slower than the dragon of war.
Of course, the galleon’s top speed was manyfold faster than his. But the advantage given by the wind was negated once the sun went down. Every night the fleet above was slowed to a crawl under the fish’s relentless assault.
Meanwhile, he himself wasn’t targeted by the schools of fish. In their eyes he was no different from one of the many strange creatures that lived around here.
Zyrus whipped his tail and dove down towards the rising columns. Hydrothermal vents- also called the treasure troves of oceanic metals.
They were one of the primary targets he had selected. Ballista, cannons, torpedoes, or even weapons and ships; everything needed metals. What better source could there be to get them?
‘Hopefully, I’ll get something to fix my armor as well.’
Lorica Squamata was damaged beyond repair in the fight against the Nidhogg king. It wouldn’t be too difficult to recover its durability, but the main concern was the Auricrust crab’s soul which was damaged when he used lunar aura.
After swimming for half an hour, he finally saw the ground after days. He didn’t hesitate and dived down to the seafloor.
‘Huu.. it feels great to stand on two legs,’
Zyrus surveyed the surroundings while moving forward. The region was somewhat brighter in his eyes due to the thermal heat that escaped from the floor. Although the hydrothermal vents were more than a kilometer away from his current location, he could see them with ease.
As far as his physical improvement was concerned, his eyesight was second only to his tail. He walked with soft steps that didn’t even ruffle the sand on the seafloor. The off-white plumes of steam were getting bigger and bigger in his eyes.
After another half an hour he finally reached his destination.
As much as it was dark and gloomy, the ocean was just as beautiful. The hydrothermal vents here were fundamentally different from the ones Zyrus saw in earth’s history.
They released thermal energy along with vast amounts of mana. It looked as if reversed mountains were rising from the fissures on the seabed. The energy dispersed from the concentrated columns created a beautiful region that stood in contrast against the dark ocean.
‘I suppose only those who can ‘see’ mana can enjoy this sight…’
The peaks of these mountains were concentrated with heat and mana, giving birth to many valuable metals. Naturally, there were those who guarded this treasure trove as well.
Zyrus activated his eyes of annihilation to detect any hidden enemies. His red pupils scanned over dozens of hydrothermal vents without finding a soul in sight.
There should be some harmless lifeforms living near the vents due to the area being full of nutrients. But such wasn’t the case here.
‘Well, this makes things easier,’
Only one option was left after eliminating everything else: The guardians were inside the hydrothermal vents.
He preferred this outcome because it was difficult to mine the metals. Whoever guarded this place must be using the minerals as their food as well. Thus, he just had to kill them and store their carcasses. There wasn’t the risk of alarming other predators either since the massive mana emitted from the vents would shroud all the commotion.
Besides, butchering them was easier than mining. Zyrus didn’t want to make too big of a commotion to finish the job. He released his abyssal mana at a steady rate while he observed the different vents.
Taking advantage of the environment was a common tactic, and his abyssal mana and vortex manipulation were perfect for the task.
The hydrothermal vents were concentrated with mana and thermal energy to begin with. There was an equilibrium between the dispersion and release of the various energies. He didn’t have to fight the guardian directly; all he had to do was break the balance to disrupt the vents from the inside out.
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Zyrus used half of his MP and created a vortex right above the nearest hydrothermal vent. It was a simple task as there was already a chaotic region shaped like a reverse cone on top of it.
‘Surge,’
He concentrated his mana and churned the energy that was in equilibrium. It didn’t take long for the cones to transform into drills.
*Ribbbit*
‘That’s a surprise,’
Zyrus snuck a glance at the guardian. Without exposing himself from behind the coral, he observed the frog-like creature that was crawling out from the vent. It was silver blue in color with large rubylike eyes.
And since it looked like a hybrid of a fish and a frog, he could more or less guess its abilities. Jumping and tongue attacks were a given, and its outer appearance showed that it had strong defense as well.
He wasn’t in a hurry this time around. He decided to use a tactic that would do the job while creating the least amount of disturbance.
‘It should be around lv 35…an hour should be enough,’
Zyrus wasn’t too worried since it was at most at the level of an elite monster. Even the cannon fodder Nidhoggs were stronger than it.
Of course, this didn’t mean that fighting it would be easy. Environment was an important factor in any fight. Despite being weaker, the frog-fish had more combat power than the Nidhoggs.
Still, it was easy to turn the environment against it. Zyrus used the simplest yet the most effective method used by those who had the power of abyss, Corruption.
Invisible threads of abyssal mana were weaving through the hydrothermal vent. This wasn’t undetected by the creature’s senses, but there was nothing it could do about it. The black threads vanished once they touched the creature’s body, and more and more would replace them.
*Ribbbiiiit*
*Thump*
*Klang*
*Thump*
It felt like an earthquake had erupted when the monster jumped around the seabed. It was hard to imagine that a few meters tall creature would have such an impact.
‘It’s like an armored tank.’
But regardless of its strong defenses, its fate was sealed.
-50,-25,-63,-25,-50,-0,-29…
Black spots appeared on its shiny exoskeleton. The power of abyss could corrode and corrupt everything in existence. Even a dragon would fall if enough abyssal mana was spent, much less a pesky frog.
The reason Zyrus didn’t use this as a main attack was because his current MP wasn’t enough to sustain it. There were more efficient ways of using his mana than to slowly corrupt an enemy.
-50,-86,-21,-126,-14,-0,-224…
Rows and rows of damage values floated above the hopping creature. Zyrus was worried that others of its kind might come to its aid, but his worries were proved needless. It looked like the creatures were solitary and a bit dumb in nature.
-316
Exp +750
‘This’ll be easier than I thought.’
Zyrus snuck closer to the dead creature after seeing that no one was looking over this area.
*Clunk*
His claws failed to penetrate its skin. As he had guessed, its defense was stronger even when compared with some lv 40 creatures.
*Riiip*
Zyrus tore off its neck and frowned at the bloody mess he had created. The smell of blood might attract more of its kind, but he didn’t have another way to deal with it.
‘Might as well collect its blood.’
*Whoosh*
A tiny vortex formed above the corpse and purified the blood and flesh of the monster. The temperature near the hydrothermal vent was close to 400 degrees, so it was easy to deal with the leftover flesh and organs.
‘My scales are surprisingly resistant to this much heat.’
The heat here was comparable to a low-level fireball spell. But come to think of it, he wouldn’t be injured by an attack like that either.
He set aside his useless thoughts and placed the bones, skin, and blood essence of the frog into the flag’s storage. At first, he had thought that his tongue and eyes would be useful as well, but that wasn’t the case.
It was apparent that there was nothing special about its eyes from the fact that it failed to discover him. As for its tongue, he figured out that it was used for eating the metal rather than for attacking.
Zyrus didn’t bother with materials like polymetallic sulfide and cobalt granules which were scattered around. Monster’s remains like the one he stored were both stronger and easier to work with.
‘Maybe I’ll level up once as well…’
Thus began the days of his grind and the frog-like creature’s extermination. It took him four days before he killed more than half of them.
More than a hundred of them were killed in the process. He could have killed more, but he had collected enough materials. Now was the time to finish what he had set out for.
Zyrus left the region and swam ahead at full speed. Almost half of his journey was completed without a hitch, but the toughest part would start from now on.
The deepest part of the ocean was similar to the carmine mire of the first ring: Both were forbidden zones where no one had returned alive.
There was a prophecy and some battle chronicles about this place as well. Before regression Zyrus wasn’t too interested in them. The time for prophecy was long gone before he conquered the continent.
But whether he knew about the fragmented history or not wasn’t the main point. The crux of the problem was that just like the carmine mire, it was almost impossible to reach the deepest region of the ocean.
How hard had he worked during the tutorial to finish the mission? That was the whole reason why he decided to change his race in the first place.
There was no way he could just swim into that region without special circumstances. Some may call it luck, but Zyrus was sure that this was under someone’s arrangement.
It was obvious that both Aurora and Nidraxis knew about the cube. He didn't believe for a second that this was just a standalone mission.
‘And that means that I’ll have to find a way in the next zone.’
Even if there were some clues or lucky encounters left for him, how could it be easy to get them?
Zyrus also knew that the journey itself was similar to a test. His class was restricted and he was unable to rely on the players as well. He had to survive in that dreadful abyss with such a handicap.
He swam in the endless darkness while thinking about countless plans and countermeasures. The journey was monotonous except for a few times when he stopped to get some valuable resources.
Things like hydrothermal vents were rare. The chance of him encountering a similar place while traveling in a straight line was slim to none.
Time passed like a fistful of sand as he reached closer and closer to the next zone. Abyssopelagic Zone, also called the Abyssal Zone.
It was a region that was 4000-6000 meters deep. The pressure increased by hundreds of times while the temperature approached the freezing point. Most of all, this was a region never graced by sunlight.
The only source of light in this region was from the bioluminescence. Hence, the presence of light signified danger.
Zyrus stopped his movements and dived down to the seafloor once again. Even someone like him felt apprehensive of the sight ahead of him.
He could see and perceive mana even in this dark region. Thus, he 'saw' the seafloor disappear a hundred feet ahead of him.
What lay beyond was a cliff that led straight to the abyssal zone.