"By the way, Aldred. Why didn't you turn all the monsters we killed as your undead?" Mary asked.
"Well, ignoring the weaker ones, the monsters we killed are either completely obliterated like this orc, or they were frozen within an unbreakable ice orb," Aldred replied. "And I feel like the world is preventing me from obtaining more powerful undead."
"That could be the case," Stella said. "So, should we open the chest?"
"Of course! This is one of the reason why we fight strong monsters." Aldred pried open the chest, and dozens of rare deep-sea materials came out. These materials were compatible for shipbuildings or to make armor, and even weapons.
Aldred's and his wives' eyes lit up. All of them were excited to find this treasure. Even skill books about ship buildings popped out of the chest. There were others treasure as well, such as boots that could increase speed passively, or boots that could be activated to increase speed in burst, although they had cooldowns and restrictions.
Weapons of all kinds came out of the chest. Aldred were fairly surprised at the quality, and he absorbed some of them to his Phantom Doomblade. His Phantom Doomblade was a combination of all kinds of weapon, and it could change shape and sizes. Not only could it summon red-bloody lightning, and consumed soul of living beings, it could also devour treasures to strengthened itself.
Just like Aldred, the Phantom Doomblade could become stronger and stronger in the future.
Aldred smiled when he looked at his blade frantically devouring some of the weapons. It was kind of alive, and could even choose which weapons to eat. He already considered the sword to be a partner and a friend. Sometimes, in the midst of battle, the Phantom Doomblade would whisper in his head, guiding him in defeating the enemy.
As treasures after treasures came out of the chest, something incredible popped out. It was Bazag's giant bow!
[Deep Sea Bow (Epic)]
Aldred grabbed the bow which was three times bigger than his body, and was amazed. "This is a good bow."
"Try to use it," Mary said.
"Oh wow…" Mally's eyes lit up. "I didn't expect you would get the bow."
Aldred let the blade absorbed the bow, and then willed it to morph into smaller size. He said smaller, but it was still taller than him. Drawing the string took some of his strength, but he didn't have any problem with that. A water arrow automatically formed on his finger as he drew the string.
He released it.
The arrow stroked through the water and struck a boulder, exploding it to pieces.
"Nice. This will be a good long-range attack," Aldred said. "Though I prefer close-range."
"Having a variety of attacks can be used to catch the enemy off guard," Mareona said. "Imagine the enemy didn't know you have a bow, and you pull it out all of a sudden."
"Yeah, that will shock them." Aldred laughed.
"And don't forget about the golems, undead, and your magical capability," Stella said. "One of the reason we can defeat the orc was you caught it off guard when you summoned the undead army and the golem army."
Aldred nodded. "You are correct. I should use all of my skills to throw the enemy off their balance. I need to put doubts in their mind. Never letting them know what my next move will be."
Kiara laughed. "Aldred, you should throw all of your magic elemental spell at the enemy and then attack them with a sword. They will be so shocked they wouldn't have the chance to react."
"That's a good strategy," Aldred said.
After the bow, another amazing treasure appeared from the chest.
It was Bazag's dual bone-blade.
[Bazag's Dual Bone Blade (Epic)]
Aldred immediately absorbed the weapon into his Phantom Doomblade, and then morphed it into two bone-blade. The two blade was three times thicker than his arms, and four times longer than the entire length of his arm.
Fortunately, he could manipulate the size and length however he like. The blade had blood-red lightning crackled around it, and some sort of blood mist floating around it. Not only that, a thin line of water spun around the blade, further mystifying the blades.
Not only did he leveled up, his blade also became so much stronger than before.
A powerful aura spread throughout his body, and Aldred took in a deep breath of water. He could normally breathe without treasures or spells. His movement was more fluent now. If he fought Bazag again, Aldred believed he could defeat it alone.
After the chest stopped pumping out treasure, there was silent in the air, before something small came out. It was a glowing red orb.
"That's the next item. If you put it on your astrolabe, it will guide you to the next destination," Stella explained.
"Will something happen if I take this orb?"
"Usually, we have to leave this place immediately," Stella said.
"You guys heard that?" Aldred looked at the group of treasure hunters following him. "I will take this orb, so you guys better get out of here quick."
The treasure hunters were not fool, so they heeded his advice and ran away.
Aldred waited for some time before he turned around and grabbed the orb. He summoned the astrolabe, and they went towards each other like magnet before merging. The red orb was now at the center of the astrolabe. Red light spun around it once, and the orb spun before shooting a straight red beam towards north-west.
"So that's where we need to go," Aldred said.
Suddenly, a hole opened under the chest, and engulfed it.
"We have to leave, now!" Stella shouted.
Aldred waved his hand, trying to open the portal, but it didn't work. "Fuck, the world's force is blocking my portal."
"We need to swim to safety," Mary said. "Let's go!"
"Let me use my mask, first," Mally said.
"Why do you need a mask in this situation?" Aldred asked.
"My mask give me luck. As long as I use it, luck will always be on my side," Mally said as she wore the red-skull mask. "I am ready now. Let's go."
They swam away from the ever-enlarging holes that sucked in everything nearby. Boulders, monsters, seaweed, sand, rocks… everything.
"We have 20 minutes to get out of this place," Stella said. "Hurry up!"
Aldred and his wives felt restless. Twenty minutes didn't sound much especially when their life were at risk.
An explosion sounded from behind, and a weird phenomena happened. Coming out from the hole was a weird purple glob of light, that started to spread in every direction. One of the light hugged a goblin, and that goblin vaporized.
The hole was also getting bigger at an alarming rate.
"Our time just got cut in half!" Stella said.
"Ten minutes doesn't sounds like enough time to get out of this sea cave," Aldred replied with gritted teeth.
One of the purple light went pass them and struck a shark which vaporized it immediately. Aldred panicked, and his wives were restless.
"Hey! Come over here!"
Aldred turned around and saw a man in red rod called for them.
Aldred and his wives didn't have a choice and immediately approached the man.
"Follow me." The red-robed man swam inside a small cave.
Aldred and his group entered, and the cave entrance was closed, leaving a small hole for them to see an enormous amount of purple light going pass.
Aldred and his wives let out a sigh of relief.
"That was a close call," Aldred said. He looked at the red robed man, his face hidden under the robe. "Thank you for saving us."
Aldred scanned the man only to find out that his godly was disabled by the world's power. He cursed the world in his heart. He didn't like how the man hid his face, but who was he to judge.
"It's not over," the mysterious man said. "Follow me."
Aldred followed the man, and they saw a spiral staircase carved upward. He followed the man. Sprinting as they went up.
After a few hours, Aldred and his groups saw light, and they came to the surface.
"Finally! Sunlight!" Mareona shouted. "I didn't even know how many days have passed since we are deep under water."
Aldred was relieved as well. He tapped the shoulder of the robed man a few times. "We are indebted to you. If not for you, I don't know if we can survive."
The man was silent for a few seconds, before he replied: "Well, knowing you, you might find other ways to survive. I cannot afford that."
Aldred frowned. "What do you mean?"
The robed man took off his robe and revealed his face—and they were shocked to see who it was.
