Deep Sea Hunter, but Deep Sea Titan

"The Sarkaz army has a deep understanding of defensive warfare."

Carmen was just talking to himself, and the reason for this involved the tragic history of the Sarkaz. He knew why the Sarkaz were good at defending cities—Kazdel had been besieged by the Allied forces too many times. Driven by the pressure of survival, the Sarkaz had to pursue defensive techniques that could allow them to win with fewer troops.

"Weaving the battlefield into a giant net, through the ancient sorcery unique to the Sarkaz."

If Iberia were still in the era of the state church, Carmen could assert that the Iberian state church would rather perish at the hands of the Sealings than allow the so-called "demons" to exist on Iberian soil.

"In this way, the Sarkaz altars can continuously drain the life force of the enemy."

But Carmen was rational; he knew what the Sarkaz army's sorcery fortifications meant—they would give the allied forces a greater advantage in the inevitable war of attrition.

Carmen led the Punishing Army, primarily responsible for providing fire support. Among the allied forces, only the Punishing Army could deploy a large number of super cannons. The Papal Knights dispatched by Laterano also mainly performed this task.

Carmen saw Laterano's sincerity; they generously deployed some heavy weapons that were restricted by Laterano's laws, but this sincerity only made Carmen more suspicious.

Now, the Lateran have so easily dispatched powerful reinforcements—even after the split between Iberia and Lateran. So why did Lateran choose to remain aloof 60 years ago when relations between the two countries were at their best?

It's so suspicious, as if Lateran's two choices were inspired by different laws.

Carmen was shocked to discover that this saint would one day think the Sarkaz had simpler motives than the Sarkaz. This absurdity left Carmen both amused and saddened.

Margaret's newly formed Silver Spear Pegasus Legion operates as a mobile support force. While the Pegasus' destructive power is insufficient compared to the other armies, their marching speed is unmatched, making them a flexible support force capable of filling gaps.

The inner guards are the fewest in number, but they are the last line of defense. When necessary, they will activate their backup hidden energy and sacrifice themselves to release the power of evil to create a special alternate dimension called "Kingdom" to delay Hai Si's progress.

Agor's main fleet was deployed for homeland defense. The isolated city could not withstand the massive aftershocks of the Sea Legions, and more Sea Legions would surge to the ground. Therefore, Agor only sent reconnaissance and technical troops to the ground.

"Abnormal hydrological conditions have been detected, and the main cities of Agor have come under enemy control."

"The first group of dinosaurs is expected to land in two hours."

As the commander-in-chief of the Agor land-based technical forces, Sikunheng stared intently at the hydrological data she was intimately familiar with. The aftershocks of this tidal wave were comparable in scale to the Great Serenity, except that they lacked the tsunami and infrasound pollution of that previous event.

The large number of dinosaurs surging towards the land were quite weak. They were unable to obtain more biomass, so they had no choice but to follow their instincts and surge from the barren ocean to the land.

Even so, their numbers are still quite large, and their single-molecule chitinous beaks can still cut through the armor of lightly armed soldiers. Once common species, such as the Spit-Breaker, have also appeared in large numbers, and these individuals are enough to pose a challenge to the Terran armed forces.

These terror fish quickly stepped over the corpses of their companions, crossing the area bombarded by the Punishers and the Papal Knights, and arrived at the area where the Sarkaz had formed a magical defensive line.

"What foul and filthy blood! I never imagined that such unclean and filthy things existed in this world!"

Ducarre despised these deep-sea monsters, but he still used their blood to replenish his spell array, keeping the altar's energy abundant.

“That is the truth, Blood Demon Lord. Such a depraved being should be banished from this world.”

Meanwhile, the magical array formed by the Netherclaws and the Carrion King's Court caused a large number of Terrorfish to decay rapidly, their skin peeling off. They were also masters of sustaining themselves through war.

Kazimir, Kazdel, and Iberia are all sources of tax revenue for Nautilus, so they can enjoy the benefits of [Shipbreaker] and [Imperial Command]. Their combat capabilities are stronger than ever before; even lightly armed infantry can withstand the bites of the Terrorfish—which would normally be enough to kill them.

Obviously, the Papal Knights and the Inner Guards would not be able to enjoy these additional benefits.

Meanwhile, in the depths of the ocean, the intensity of the battle is incomparable to that on land.

The landscape was changing rapidly every second. The enraged Nautilus used the earth's crust to divide his enemies, used lava to burn them, and used whirlpools and tsunamis to hinder them. Meanwhile, countless spore bombs and supersonic suicide creatures blasted the terrain created by Lotin into rock fragments.

One advantage of stronger enemies is increased rewards, whether it's gold or experience points. Some individuals with special abilities and high intelligence, like [Abyss Dream], are even classified as hero units.

"This energy reaction...it's a singularity weapon! But our ship should have run out of ammunition!"

The navigation ship's fire control system detected the singularity weapon's traction field, a technology used by the Agor III weapon. There could be no friendly warships' resources in this area, and the ship's ammunition was already exhausted. This could only mean that Haisi had also mastered the method of delivering the singularity weapon through some means.

"Haisi evolved special vesicles to counter the singularity weapon a long time ago. Maritus and Buodes have also confirmed that they leaked the technical details of the singularity weapon to the Fallen. This is probably a natural continuation of their artificial induction plan, rather than Haisi adapting simply by taking the hits."

Grandia confirmed that this energy response was sporadic, indicating that it was not a large-scale mutation that the swarm had already mastered and recorded. Rather, it was an inefficient structure artificially induced by the Fallen, which the swarm, driven to desperation, seemed to have used recklessly.

These anomalous gravitational fields further disrupted the terrain created by Lotin, reducing the effectiveness of Lotin's terrain-killing abilities.

"As expected, there is still a limit to how many enemies can be killed by relying solely on the terrain."

The terrain kill ability is a special ability that comes with the [Mountain and Sea Scroll] skin. Compared to facing high-quality enemies, this ability is obviously more effective at mowing down weaker enemies.

But this is just a bonus of the Nautilus template under this skin. Even though the efficiency of squeezing and killing on lava terrain is reduced, Nautilus continues to use his E skill to crush these massive flesh and blood warships. This is the core combat power of the Titan.

The red tidal energy, combined with Lotin's extremely high magic power, was enough to instantly burn away the nerves of the sea creatures with the surging unknown energy pulse.

Nautilus's energy has the effect of anchoring objects. Lothing used this property when dragging tiles in Hillsbrad Foothills. Now, Lothing's E ability, Energy Radiation, can even counteract most of the singularity's gravitational pull.

Lothing deliberately spared the weaker and fewer hero units from being killed, thus ensuring that the passive effects of [Endless Hatred], [Staff of Time], and [Riftmaker] continued to trigger. This allowed Lothing to be unafraid to engage in a war of attrition with large groups of enemies.

Unlike the red flames of the [Sunfire Aegis], the blue ghostly flames of [Endless Hatred] are a different kind of burning. A simple heat insulation layer cannot prevent it from damaging the nervous system of the Sealings. Loting's own intense hatred for the Sealings makes its effect even more pronounced.

The water, which was originally less than 30 centimeters visible under the high-powered searchlight, became clear and clean due to the double flames. The ruins of that ancient civilization could now be observed with the naked eye, and its structure had been completely eroded by the biological tissues of the sea creatures.

This also means that the navigation ship, which had already taken on a lot of water, had completed its mission at this point, and its crew could be transferred to the Mountain and Sea Scroll.

"They have no way to destroy this facility."

Lotin summoned the remnant soul of Malitus and forced him to act as a guide. Lotin forcibly read his knowledge and memories, and even if he wanted to lie, it was no use.

"This facility, built by a previous civilization to contain and store the Sea Beings, uses materials and technologies from that civilization specifically designed for the Sea Beings, especially its control system. They simply cannot destroy it, otherwise they would have already destroyed everything in one fell swoop."

Maritus said that all the large groups have managed over the years is to control some closed and surveillance systems.

The facility used to store the experimental creations of the "Deep Blue Tree" was designed to be indestructible, which Lotin found quite logical.

If it weren't for Maritus's carelessness, the "newborn" trapped inside would have had no chance to escape on its own.

All they can do is use their enormous biological shells to seal it off, while simultaneously using their partial access to the facilities to activate the facility's security lockdown system.

Lotin admitted that it would take him a considerable amount of time to forcibly destroy this non-civilian, highly protected pre-civilization creation, but he didn't need to destroy it at all.

There is a summoner spell called Flash, and this final dash is when Flash comes into play.

Like other skills, it also benefits from the increased casting range of [Heartsteel] after being reforged into a physical form, allowing Lotin to teleport directly into the facility's interior.

"As expected of a facility large enough to imprison newborns, the space is so large that it can accommodate the gigantic [Shan Hai Hui Juan 'Gonggong' Nautilus]."

This place has long been the lair of the Sea Legion, and perhaps the Great Legion has bred even more terrifying monsters here. Therefore, Lotin did not let his guard down. His first task was to take back control of the facility from the Great Legion.

Chapter 260: The Ancient Souls

Lotin once again grasped the Blood-Drinking Sword, binding Maritus's soul and rummaging through his memories to find the path to the ruins.

Admittedly, the Berserk debuff of Bloodthirster will manifest independently when the skin is not active, but this debuff does not have a significant negative impact on Lothing, who is in enemy territory.

Lotin located the location where Maritus released Isamara. In this memory, Lotin discovered that the location was automatically locked by the security system after Isamara escaped containment, and the horde never entered that control room again.

It's not that the large groups don't want to enter, but that they simply don't have the means to do so.

"A control room with such a high level of security cannot possibly be anything other than a crucial control node in the Deep Blue Tree Project."

"Doctor, do you have any recollections of similar settings?"

The Doctor is currently staying in the Mountain and Sea Scroll with Laurentina and the others. It's too dangerous here, so Lotin has to reduce the time the Doctor is exposed to the enemy.

However, Lotin can still communicate with the Doctor, who is his "teammate," through the system chat interface.

"In the fragments of my memory, there is indeed a place where the shadow of the behemoth was separated by transparent material."

"What I can confirm is that the back door to Project Deep Blue is in this facility."

Accompanied by a throbbing migraine, the Doctor squeezed out more useful information from her fragmented memories. Ever since arriving in Iberia, she had been searching for information about the Great Blue Tree Project in Anana.

“Anana can serve as an interface to a linking system, but its own records only contain a basic overview of the plan.”

"But the information I have is sufficient to prove that this plan has a control device."

Accessing Anana's information was easy for the Doctor, but the incomplete memories caused her some discomfort—in the Scroll of Mountains and Seas, the original pain was reduced to discomfort.

"This is enough to give me a direction to explore, Doctor."

Every step that follows is uncharted territory for Lotin, and it doesn't belong to any timeline in the original work.

Many of the details of this facility are completely unknown to the Agorians. Fortunately, the doctor's memories prove that the place where Maritus arrived was indeed a control location that was crucial to Project Deep Blue.

Lotin deactivated the gigantification, as many passages could not accommodate the massive body of this bronze colossus. Furthermore, advancing while destroying everything was too inefficient. These high-strength materials from the pre-civilization were not invincible to him, but it would take extra time, since Nautilus's power came from the magic system of another world.

Because Lotin has the ability to destroy the structure of the ruins, he needs to reduce his overly reckless destructive actions, as this could damage the central control system of the Deep Blue Tree project he is looking for.

Correspondingly, the large groups of hatched enemies here would also be limited in size for the same reason. Loting just felt that destroying this ruin was a waste of time, while the large groups were simply incapable of destroying it.

"Under normal circumstances, the 'Conqueror' skin still has the greatest advantage in long-term combat."

Fighting in a relatively confined space is exhilarating; this form, which emphasizes the ability to sustain combat through battle, is indeed the most suitable.

"The 'Astronaut' skin has a high level of access, but its combat capabilities are lackluster and there is no significant difference between it and the default skin. It would be more reasonable to use it only when access verification is required."

This skin can't even grow to a gigantic size within the atmosphere; it's essentially a functional skin.

So the Demon King wielded his hook axe and demon sword in the pipes covered in deformed flesh, slicing through the chitin jackets that possessed the highest density he had ever seen. The size limitation meant that the marine creatures here began to frantically accumulate mass within their limited size.

This led to many of them being classified as hero units; Lotin encountered more hero units here than he had on land combined.

This made Lotin start to consider whether he could release a book of murders.

"Their single-molecule bone blades can actually orbit a field that interferes with Originium Arts, while simultaneously vibrating at high frequencies..."

These 6-meter-tall shelled behemoths filled the facility, possessing a speed that surpassed that of Goredia. Lotin also discovered that these hunched shelled monsters had tenacious drive and purpose, a strong need to hunt and devour, and a cunning tactical awareness; their existence was not only to kill their prey, but also to surpass it.

Lotin couldn't imagine how the Terrans on land would face such a terrifying monster, but it was relatively easy for him to deal with, since his shell was part of the system template and could not be cut open as long as his health points did not reach zero.

And his life points are beyond the reach of these creatures.

"Let the heroes deal with the heroes."

Lotin raised the Blood-Drinking Sword high, calling upon the souls of the former Sarkaz kings bound within it. Each of them possessed exceptional individual martial prowess among the Terrans, and their spiritualization did not weaken them; on the contrary, it made them even stronger than in life.

The anger displayed by these former demon lords was enough to enrage any sentient creature nearby, but the Sea Kings could not comprehend emotions. Therefore, they merely assessed the danger level of these demon lords and launched another attack.

The various spells of the demon kings have a visible effect on these monsters, and the transformation into spirits grants these ancient demon kings combat skills that are beyond the reach of their physical bodies.

This allowed the previous Demon Lords to keep up with the movements of these numerical monsters and further suppress them with the unique sorcery of the Sarkaz. The monsters fell with howls, and the flesh of the abominations on the walls was burned. These creatures, which were quite expensive for a large group, were being lost rapidly.

Physical attacks are unlikely to be effective against these dangerous vengeful spirits, while Hai Si's "mental damage" is neutralized by Theresa's Originium Arts, and the shimmering dust makes it difficult for the ancient souls of the Sarkaz Demon King to be worn down.

"Unbelievable, you are actually able to support all the souls in their full-scale battle at the same time."

Theresa was quite surprised by Lotin's willpower, but this was also because she didn't understand the workings of the Blood-Drinking Sword.

"Moreover, your own combat ability will hardly be affected."

“Your praise will never earn you easy forgiveness from me, Theresa.”

"Unless the doctor forgives you personally, she is still suffering from the trauma you caused her to this day."

Lotin left Theresa with only this cold sentence, and then continued to let the powerful monsters filling the passage spew out scalding blood.

Loting charged headlong toward his newly determined destination. The crimson energy of the Conqueror skin penetrated the shells of these tenacious creatures, draining their life force. Loting knew very well that the Conqueror skin was a special attack against flesh and blood enemies, and it had indeed achieved good results.

This also caused Lotin's experience points to increase rapidly, and he was certain that he would soon reach level 16.

The control room has been sealed off, but Lottin can still easily enter without damaging the walls. Although Flash is still on cooldown, Lottin has another wall-crossing maneuver he can use – placing a ward and then teleporting.

However, a colossal creature that caught Loting's eye blocked the exit of the passage.

A fleshy giant composed of a composite chitinous carapace and high-density muscle is a multitude of imitations of what they fear most.

A "Nautilus" composed of abhorrent flesh and blood.

"Then let me see what this poorly made imitation, a mixture of flesh and blood, is capable of."

To be honest, Lotin didn't care at all whether the thing's appearance was a poor imitation of Nautilus, but Lotin knew that killing this enemy would allow him to level up to 16.

Chapter 261: The Long-Awaited Level Up

The monster before Lotin is the embodiment of the Horde's fear and hostility toward Nautilus over the past 60 years. From the moment Lotin fell into the water, awakened the Nautilus template, and became hostile to the Horde, the Horde has been undergoing adaptive evolution in response to this "dangerous environment."

The blue-gray chitinous anchor slammed into the floor with a loud thud, and then the 6-meter-tall carapace behemoth charged toward Lotin in his conqueror form at a speed completely disproportionate to its bulky body.

Lotin made no attempt to dodge; he activated his W skill's shield, allowing crimson, ominous energy to swirl around the suspended brass shield.

With the size amplification from [Heart Steel], Lotin's size was even larger than this giant born from the fear of the horde of people. Undeterred by its charge, he engaged in a clash of wits with it.

Slightly more fragile elite Sealing predators often cannot withstand the charge collision after Lothing activates his W skill, but this behemoth stood firm during the collision, and its chitinous carapace did not even show the slightest crack.

Perhaps this behemoth's maximum strength cannot compare to those massive biological warships that patrol, but in terms of the physical strength of its outer shell, it is definitely far superior.

"This guy's shell seems to be enriched with even rarer substances. No, it's not just a simple enrichment; the group must have also refined it in some way."

Lotin noticed that the opponent's spell resistance and heat resistance were the strongest among all the sea creatures he had encountered. Even the burning effect of [Endless Hatred] was weakened due to the opponent's thick spell resistance.

Both sides' primary weapons slammed heavily into each other's shoulders. Lotin could feel that the opponent's explosive power was quite astonishing, but even so, none of the four shields of the W skill were broken.

After all, the shield granted by this skill is based on Lotin's maximum health, and Lotin already had 1 health back in Kazdel, and now Lotin's health is even higher in his normal state.