National destiny: Starting with a coffin, building an aircraft carrier is broadcast live globally.

People's joys and sorrows are not the same.

The comments in live streams from different countries have also become polarized.

Most of it is wailing, like in Australia:

[Wait! He really jumped?]

[Oh my god, he's my classmate, and this guy has never passed swimming class!]

[That's freestyle...maybe, maybe he's better at something else? Maybe it's best not to pick and choose a position at times like this!]

Meanwhile, the Chinese audience was getting anxious.

There was no other reason than that after the light dimmed, the glutinous rice balls started to stir again.

And Klaus and Arbitrary—

One looked like it had just taken two pounds of catnip, another was breathing heavily like it was asleep, and only Xiao Jiu was stretching out its tentacles, seemingly wanting to touch those glutinous rice balls through the transparent observation chamber.

Fortunately, not long after, Renyi smelled a faint burnt odor.

Klaus, who was immersed in his dream of the Thunder King, suddenly sneezed.

"barbecue?"

He looked around.

".....Teppanyaki."

He casually and lazily uttered a few words.

Klaus followed Renyi's gaze and looked up, only to see that the cave ceiling, which had just been cleared, had been covered by the "Cave Daifuku" again at some point.

The burnt smell they detected...

It's because of the newly evolved characteristic of [Deep Sea Shadow], [Photosynthesis], that it has a burning effect on these small creatures.

Although they weren't affixed to the ship.

But like a snail sprinkled with salt, it was slowly dried out by baking, and only then did the two of them smell the burnt aroma.

"Um?"

It doesn't just come from above.

Ren Yi suddenly sensed something amiss with the ship as well. He sank his consciousness into [Deep Sea Shadow], only then realizing—

These "great blessings" are not independent entities, nor do they come solely from the top of one's head!

They extend from above, the sides, and the riverbed beneath the boat, densely weaving into a net of tentacles...

It's the entire cave's dome, rock walls, and riverbed!

This is not a group of...

It was one.

A thought suddenly struck him, and he seemed to see an unimaginably enormous creature stretching out countless tentacles from the deep darkness ahead toward the [Deep Sea Shadow].

No wonder there were no kill announcements...

It turns out that those "great fortunes" are nothing more than sensory extensions that can be easily discarded.

Klaus, who was completely unaware of this, rubbed his arms.

Although the temperature inside the cabin was comfortable, he still felt a bit chilly.

"Boss, these things have reappeared..."

"And it seems there's even more than before?"

"It's nothing." He casually withdrew his consciousness—

Although those things didn't touch the ship, he still felt itchy all over.

He said calmly, "This is a good thing."

"The presence of living things means the path ahead is open."

That's a pretty solid logic.

Klaus thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement. He was just about to ask, "How do we get through this mess?" when Renyi spoke up:

"Don't worry about it, just do what you're supposed to do."

He was making plans in his mind.

The creature's tentacles were clearly just cannon fodder to it, the kind that could split, regenerate, and be discarded at any time.

If you keep tapping in a piecemeal fashion like before, you'll only waste energy in vain.

Just right.

Having just evolved [Flare], a powerful attack that instantly empties your mana bar, instead of getting bogged down with these little guys, let's go straight for the heart of the enemy...

The true form of these tentacles must be deeper inside.

He squinted, gazing into the deep, hazy depths of the cavern illuminated by the Nightmare Crystal.

Block his way?

But you'll be charged a toll.

【Deep Sea Shadow】Accelerates forward under arbitrary and intentional control.

I have no idea how big this creature actually is.

After traveling along the underground river for almost two hours, the Nightmare Crystals on both sides of the rock wall were gradually covered by a fleshy membrane, and even the river water seemed to have become viscous.

Having seen clearly what was ahead, both Renyi and Klaus fell silent for a moment.

There is no road ahead.

The entire massive underground cavern was blocked by a wall.

"That...that's...an umbrella canopy?"

Klaus asked uncertainly.

A giant, dark purple fleshy umbrella with a diameter of over 100 meters.

In the center of the umbrella-shaped canopy are four ribbon-like tendrils, each over ten meters wide, that sway gently with the current. Each tendril stretches as far as the eye can see, filling the river in front of it.

It just hung there quietly in the middle of the cave...

Like a ghost.

"So beautiful." Renyi subconsciously stuffed Xiao Jiu, whom he wanted to stick to the window, back into his pocket, lest he roast it when he unleashed his ultimate move.

Klaus listened with a trembling heart.

Only this captain could use the word "beautiful" in a situation like this. Right now, all he wants to do is soak the entire ship in disinfectant for three days and then bake it with ultraviolet light for three nights!

"Splash... splash..."

Although it has no eyes and no visible expression.

But both of them sensed that the countless eerie green eyes hidden in the tentacles were greedily watching the 'toy' that had strayed into forbidden territory.

"Does it want to eat us?"

"eat?"

Renyi watched the two tendrils silently approaching, and revealed his first smile of the night:

"Who will eat whom is still uncertain."

Solar flares

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the sun-like crystal sphere atop the mast of the [Deep Sea Shadow] suddenly erupted!

It was like a miniature sun being forcibly ignited, unleashing a golden storm that swept everything away.

Destructive high-energy thermal rays shot outwards in all 360 degrees without any blind spots.

The cave ceiling, cave walls, riverbed... everything covered in green light was swallowed up by the golden torrent.

Those "cave daifuku" that were crawling and peering out from the hull of the ship suddenly arched up the moment they came into contact with the heat wave, then quickly charred and shrank, before falling off and into the green water, emitting wisps of white smoke before disappearing in an instant.

The viscous green river water, upon contact with the heat rays, reveals the riverbed beneath, which was previously covered by sharp crystals.

And the first to bear the brunt was that "flesh umbrella" with a diameter of over 100 meters!

It was suddenly pulled, and then golden heat rays quickly plowed across its surface, visibly charring and carbonizing it, making a "sizzling" sound.

The heat rays lasted for a full ten seconds.

For the stunned crowd in the cabin, those ten seconds felt like an eternity.

The intense golden light gradually subsided, coalescing back into a shimmering crystal at the top of the mast. When vision returned, the scene before one's eyes was completely transformed.

Deep inside the cave.

The enormous, insurmountable "flesh umbrella" disappeared.

—The road was forcibly carved out.