Chapter 539: Chapter 539

Cassius could not mistake the life vibration energy of an Ultimate Dark Form. The plant root he had just obliterated with his Golem Covert Martial Arts possessed a density comparable to the Moon God's flesh. It was clearly far above an ordinary dark creature.

It could only be an Ultimate Dark Form. Was the Eternal Archipelago's year-round fog, its near-constant storms, and its perilous terrain all connected to this Ultimate Dark Form? And did an Ultimate Dark Form manifesting at the site of ancient ruins imply a link between them?

Cassius had once probed the Eternal Archipelago with the Book of Devils. He had received no warning about an Ultimate Dark Form. Did that mean the creature itself was not a menace? Or was something wrong with it, leaving it incomplete and unable to move freely at full strength?

Perhaps it was just like the Moon God that was struck down in the World of Calamity by White Bird Holy Fist. Its remaining flesh had fallen into the surface world, where the Eclipse Society used it to make Moon God statues and sought to revive it.

The World of Calamity held more than the three Southern Dipper Holy Fists Cassius knew. There were other figures of Covert Martial Arts across the eras who had attained the realm of Holy Fist and resolutely joined the final battlefield.

Some had burned themselves like torches, pitting their flames against the endless darkness at the origin of calamity. Others had held multiple Ultimate Dark Forms in check, forging a balance. More than a few Holy Fists and Ultimate Dark Forms had perished together in the process.

Perhaps a similar situation lay at the Eternal Archipelago?

Of course, these were merely Cassius's conjectures. In any case, one advanced when the time was right and withdrew when it was not. Only with boldness and caution together could one seize what they desired amid chaos.

The Southern Dipper Waterbird Fist lay on the Eternal Archipelago, and he meant to claim it even if a suspected Ultimate Dark Form prowled there. Nothing could hinder Cassius's ambition to unite the three fist techniques.

He turned his hand over, letting the remaining white ash trickle from his palm. It fell into the sea and vanished at once. The sailors and guides were dazed. They were still replaying the scene of Cassius punching the hundred-meter demon ray from legend into the sky.

The demon ray had shattered midair with a boom! Was the sea monster truly dead? The beast had haunted coastal fishermen's tales for centuries, yet it had died just like that...

Well, Cassius and his companions hardly seemed ordinary humans anyway. They met every crisis calmly. Stranger still, torrents of bizarre vapor would erupt from their bodies, billowing with the wind and at times enveloping entire ships.

The scenes wrought by their Will of the Fist were even more astounding. The sun, moon, and stars, strange beasts and wondrous troops; were they all under their command? It now seemed unsurprising that these fighters had chosen to force their way to the Eternal Archipelago during the stormy season.

The sailors and guides still eyed the combat artists with awe, but felt far less unnerved than before. They soon returned to their duties, correcting course and moving on.

The combat artists' Qi encased the entire fleet in an oval pocket of calm within which tempest, lightning, and thunder could not intrude. Those on the ships at the outer edge could at times see a gap no wider than half a meter from the hull.

A deluge of bean-sized raindrops fell in a white cascade. Inside, it remained bone-dry and steady; no howling wind or lashing rain touched their faces.

Soon the fleet pressed on, sailing through the storm. They cleaved through layers of waves, sworn to reach the Eternal Island.

Two or three hours later, several black ships glided toward the edge of the archipelago's storm belt. It was the fleet of Black Rain Manor that had set out earlier than the Covert Martial Arts fleet.

The vessels trailed long white wakes across the sea.

"Look there. What is that?" A sharp-eyed Hellsing standing at the rail pointed to something dark floating nearby and called back.

"That seems to be... the carcass of some fish?" A sailor frowned, uncertain.

"Could a fish be that large?"

"Just by looking, it's at least fifty meters."

"Steer over and have a look."

The dark mass lay close to their course so the fleet veered near for a closer inspection.

"It is indeed a fish, though one larger than a blue whale. It's almost as long as our ship, and this seems only a portion of its body. Taken whole, it would be twice our vessel's size..." A Hellsing examined it carefully and soon reached a conclusion.

"No, your estimate is off. Not just twice... three to four times..." A bolder, more skilled Hellsing leapt down and stood on the remains. He surveyed the overall shape, face grave as he spoke.

Gazing at the ragged, bloody cross-section and torn flesh, he murmured, "So how was such a sea monster slain? What predator could kill it?"

He drew the great cruciform sword on his back; his arm muscles bulged, and the blade gleamed gold.

He hacked down with full force... and the sword rebounded. The demon ray's hide bore only a pale mark, not even a dent. Meanwhile, the swordsman's hands tingled. Faint blood seeped out between his thumb and forefinger.

He turned back, shaking his head helplessly.

"Good grief! My Secret Sword Style's full-power can't penetrate this beast's hide. Frightening..." He shuddered as a tinge of fear flashed through his heart.

Even though it was a corpse, it remained the remnant of a fearsome monster. His earlier boldness ebbed by seventy percent and he promptly jumped back aboard.

After lingering a dozen minutes, the Black Rain Manor's fleet continued toward the Eternal Archipelago.

At the stern, Ripple Master gazed at the dark corpse. "Black Dragon, you must see it too. This giant sea beast did not die to a natural foe but by human hands. Perhaps another fleet entered the storm belt ahead of us..."

"Mm." Tyrant Black Dragon, encased in heavy armor, grunted.

"If you went all out, could you kill such a sea monster?" The Ripple Master slightly narrowed his eyes.

"Hard to say..." Tyrant Black Dragon spoke slowly. "You know I fight best on land. I cannot be sure when it comes to the sea... This sea beast likely cannot come ashore, so asking me is rather pointless."

"I understand." Ripple Master smiled faintly, though inwardly he had already measured things. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ N()velFire.net

At full power, Black Dragon might surpass the sea monster by some margin, but he would not be able to crush it outright.

Seen that way... If a fleet truly had sailed ahead to the Eternal Archipelago, then it was likely a formidable rival capable of altering the situation. Since only a few things on the archipelago merited attention, their objectives would probably overlap, and the odds that they would become hostile competitors were high.

"..." Ripple Master drew a deep breath and slowly turned. "We must be cautious on the journey ahead, Black Dragon."

Dozens of hours later...

Storms, sea monsters, thick fog, reefs, whirlpools were all deadly perils around the Eternal Archipelago. An ordinary fleet of naval warships might have already sunk.

However, the Covert Martial Arts fleet was different, since it was held together by powers beyond the mundane. Even when danger struck, they quickly corrected course. They would shake it off, evade it, or blast it to pieces. Solving problems at the root with the simplest method of all!

Take the dual trap of reefs and whirlpool half an hour prior. There were countless submerged sharp rocks forming a massive vortex in the ocean. They had been about to smash apart on the rocks and dragged into the deep by the whirlpool.

In that crisis, Cassius, standing at the prow, acted again. Everyone heard a sizzling hum like electricity beside their ears before purple blanketed their vision. A terrifying python shot forth from beneath the hull and rammed into the reef head-on. Its writhing and lashing sent underwater blasts erupting across the reef. The booming shockwaves nearly raised a minor tsunami.

The reef was quickly swept clean, and the spinning vortex broke apart. The python sprang back, surfacing behind the fleet, where it shoved a wave of water forward. With that, the Covert Martial Arts fleet hurtled toward the islands at triple the speed.

The sea breeze rushed past them, tossing hair and flapping hems. They were now within dense white fog. Soon, a black speck emerged within that blank whiteness. The speck grew, revealing the shape of an island.

"We're here." Cassius stood at the prow with a calm gaze.

A moment later, his eyes narrowed. Sharper than any eagle, his sight pierced the fog and reached the archipelago's shore.

"It seems the locals of the Eternal Archipelago are unfriendly..." Cassius smiled coldly. His blue eyes slowly turned jet-black.

Rows of figures in black robes stood silently on the archipelago. They were like unmoving puppets and seemed to have waited for a long time. They were the Ripple Practitioners, the elites that the Ripple Order had drafted from many island kingdoms between the Northern and Southern Reef Continent.

Each had fought countless battles and achieved over fifty percent resonance with their bone ring. That meant their presence as a group formed a terrifying scene. Elite Ripple Practitioners with over fifty percent resonance could activate their rings together and interlink into a circulating network. They could then achieve even higher resonance as a group.

However, there would only be a single output point and that Ripple Practitioner was required to reach at least eighty-five percent resonance. Ideally, it would be a Ripple Master who has reached ninety percent resonance or more, to unleash power at its peak. [1]

Now, on the main island's shore, stood seventy elite Ripple Practitioners led by one Ripple Master. He was ranked just beneath a Supreme Ripple Master within the order. The only thing that placed them below a Supreme Ripple Master was that their bone rings held only half the attribute energy. They could be called crippled rings. These rings were half white, and half hued with varied attributes.

Even so, they far surpassed ordinary bone rings. The Ripple Master's ripples possessed both high frequency and the ring's elemental force, be it blazing fire, howling gale, or sweeping icy rain. Even with an equal number of ripples, the difference was worlds apart.

Now, the seventy elite Ripple Practitioners started to resonate with each other and the blazing rings in their hands.

Crackle... crackle...

Ripples raced through the air at unbelievable speed. Every bone ring unleashed ripples at full output, instantly weaving a dazzling array network. At the raised tip of that fan-shaped web, one man stood still. He was the team's Ripple Master.

He lowered his cowl, revealing fluttering pale hair. His right hand rose, fingers curled as if grasping, and pointed at the onrushing Covert Martial Arts fleet. The half white and half red ring on his middle finger flared like a tiny sun piercing the fog.

Ding! Ding-ding-ding-ding...

Tiny suns lit one by one as all the ripples converged in front of him. They formed a flame leviathan dragging a long tail. Its burning scales warped the very air with heat. Water at the shoreline bubbled and sand melted into glass.

"Those who trespass upon the Eternal Archipelago—die!!!"

The flame leviathan lunged forward! It raged forth with a torrent of crimson blaze and ripples.

"Trespass? I am merely reclaiming what is mine... Whoever bars my step onto the Eternal Archipelago shall meet only death." Cassius's voice was impossibly calm, as though he was holding a casual conversation.

Ordinary words, yet as self-evident as a universal truth. It was as if he spoke of the simple need for food and water. If someone tried to stop Cassius, they would die. A simple causal logic, yet savage in its dominance.

A black figure leapt skyward, somersaulting before he descended. His feet slapped down atop the massive snake head that had appeared from below the water. The hundred-meter violet sonic serpent churned beneath him as it swam straight for the shore.

Cassius rode the serpent, his black coat straining in the gale of his passage. Violet light surged in his imperious eyes.

1. Order of rank for Ripple Practitioners: Practitioner > Bloodthirsty Practitioner > Master > Supreme ☜