"Ah, I guess we're finally out." Damien's voice echoed silently through the surroundings. Only Zara was present to hear him.
"Mm, this scenery almost makes me miss the First Dungeon." She replied.
The two had left Aquazyl already, finding themselves back within the Emperor Bone Sea.
The method of exit was actually incredibly easy unlike that of entrance, but this wasn't due to Aquazyl's laws at all. Instead, it was something that could best be attributed to Tephit.
The transportation device he made was actually extremely intricate and functional. If Tephit wanted to use it to transport himself around Aquazyl, he could've gone any distance, reaching the ends of the realm in a single leap if he so desired.
However, he was too focused on escape to even realize the greatness of his achievements. He rooted the teleportation device to Aquazyl's foundation and forced its function to change, becoming something impossible for him or his technology to truly achieve.
In the end, with Zara's help, Damien stole every bit of this technology that existed. Tephit wouldn't need it, and nobody else knew about it.
When the finale of the small war took place and Aquazyl's foundation began to crack, Zara completely cut off the transportation device and its entire system from the rest of the Blood Sacrament God Array. What she gained was not only the device, but also the mysterious tube of liquid that stood above it.
That liquid…was the coagulated essence Tephit collected over hundreds of thousands or even millions of years.
Through a system that neither Damien nor Zara had discovered during their time in the Tephit Clan, Tephit managed to condense the essence he devoured through the formation into liquid form and house it in that mysterious glass container without it collapsing due to the sheer weight and aura of the liquid.
Damien still didn't know what the glass was made out of, but it was even more miraculous than the essence itself, despite the ridiculousness of that statement.
Nevertheless, Damien only needed to use Void Mana and Dimensional Magic to tweak the base functions of the transmission device and then power it with the coagulated essence to escape the realm.
Because he could do many things Tephit couldn't.
Ignoring Damien's spatial powers and his new ability to utilize the "Something Within Nothing" concept, Damien still had the primary advantage of originally being from the outside world.
This made it possible for Damien to set physical coordinates into the device that Tephit would've had no way of ever finding out.
And perhaps Aquazyl helped a bit too. After all, there was never a method in place to prevent outsiders from leaving. Only the Sea God Clans were bound by Aquazyl's rules.
Now that Damien and Zara were out of that realm, they finally got a moment to breathe. The previous events had flown extremely smoothly, but that didn't mean they didn't have any stress.
Damien did much more thinking than ever before. His intelligence stat which grew with the rest of his stats as he devoured more foes was finally put to good use. Damien's brain partied so hard after finally being used properly that it had now crashed.
He was ready to go to bed and sleep off his exhaustion, something he hadn't done in many years.
However, there was still one more task he had to complete before he could do so.
Damien and Zara swam at a leisurely pace. They were still at least 5,000 kilometers away from the shore distance-wise. If depth was taken into account as well, it was far beyond that.
With so much space to cover, they'd usually be moving fast. But this time, they decided not to. Whether it was to enjoy the scenery at the depths of the Emperor Bone Sea or just to enjoy the moment, the fact didn't change that they were moving slowly.
And their direction…wasn't quite linear. It was almost as if they were looking for something.
"Isn't that right, boss? I don't think this is a normal movement pattern."
A voice rang out through sound transmission. It belonged to a single shadow among a group of twenty that quietly pursued Damien and Zara from the shadows.
"It's true. They disappeared for an entire month and now they come back so driven? Something is fishy here." Another man said.
The leader gazed at the two with a glint in his eye. This kind of behavior…didn't it mean that their wait wasn't in vain?
If these two were being so proactive, they must've found a grand treasure!
"Come, let's follow them silently. If they've found a treasure, we'll attack after they've claimed it!"
The leader moved first, followed by the others. They were like darkness incarnate, without sound or presence as they swam through the seas.
As they trailed the duo, Damien and Zara made their way closer and closer to the shore, the entire time zig-zagging their path in search of hidden treasure.
When they finally arrived near the 2,000-kilometer mark, they halted.
"Is it over here? I could've sworn they said it was over here." Damien muttered to himself.
"It is! We saw it on the way in, but we couldn't do anything because we didn't know the secret array formation. Now that we've gotten our hands on it, all we need to do is find that weird tree!" Zara replied excitedly.
'Tree?' The group leader wondered to himself. As he thought back, he did indeed remember passing by a strange tree as he trailed the two. However, it didn't look remarkable at all.
Still, that didn't change the fact that he remembered its position.
"Fox, go to these coordinates and make a scene. Don't reveal yourself, but make sure the two of them sense the disturbance and head over there." The leader said.
The one called Fox immediately did as he was told. After reaching the coordinates, he cut a small gash in his pinky and allowed his blood to flow into the water.
As his body disappeared from existence, a dozen or so sea creatures appeared. Smelling the blood scent, they frenzied and began ferociously battling each other.
For some reason, the small amount of blood stench caused such an intense melee. And even as a few seconds passed by, the battle only became fiercer.
Naturally, Damien and Zara sensed this disturbance. They rapidly changed directions and swam towards it.
"Ah, there it is!" Zara exclaimed. A few hundred kilometers away from the ongoing melee was a large tree with roots that seemed to latch onto the water itself.
When Damien saw it, his eyes lit up with greed. "With this, we can finally…come on, let's go activate the secret mechanism. Remember to stay within 5 meters of the trunk or else you won't be transported into the secret realm properly."
The duo immediately entered the air pocket created by the tree. Their bodies moved closer and closer to the trunk as their hands continuously formed a myriad of strange symbols radiating an ancient aura.
The assassin leader and his group watched patiently. They edged closer as the two moved. They'd heard Damien's words. To gain the treasure they sought, they needed to stay within 5 meters of the tree.
So when they reached the 5-meter mark, they halted and waited for the duo to finish the activation ritual.
At that time, the leader suddenly frowned. 'Why the hell are the two of them voicing all their thoughts…shouldn't they be using sound transmissions?'
His eyes widened. His body rapidly moved, trying to retreat, but it was too late!
Damien's face lit up with a savage grin.
"Lock."
VOOM!
The water in a 10-meter radius of the group solidified into terrifying walls. A Dimensional Cage formed around these water walls to further fortify the defenses.
"Yo! My dear pursuers, I know we haven't had a chance to properly meet yet, but I'm afraid this will be the last time we see each other. I've arranged a nice date for you with this here Unrestrained Death Tree, so just relax and get to know her, yeah? Anyway, enjoy!"
Damien and Zara flashed two dazzling smiles directly at the hidden group of 20. In the next instant, their bodies vanished.
Remaining in their place was a large pool of blood.
The Unrestrained Death Tree woke up to this scent.
But above that, it sensed something else.
Wasn't that…the scent of those beings that stole its prey a while back?
And by the looks of it…they were trapped in a mysterious space with it, unable to escape.
The tree's branches swayed in pleasure.
It seemed that tonight it would receive dinner and revenge all at once.
How sweet!
