The sight of a bitter enemy makes the blood boil. The *Dayun* activated its Admiral Trait, hurtling forward with the speed of a thunderclap.

It was aiming straight for another corner of the *Pharaoh*!

Due to previous damage, this Pyramid-shaped drifting ship hadn’t undertaken a long voyage in a great while. Over the past several days, a large number of the *Pharaoh*’s crew had been conscripted to repair the missing corner. This was the ship’s most important task at the moment; Ptolemy’s dignity would not tolerate any imperfection.

But a project of this scale couldn’t be completed in just a day or two.

Especially out on the resource-scarce ocean. Repairing the external structure of the destroyed hull alone would take at least two months.

Fortunately, however, missing a corner didn’t affect the ship’s stability.

At this moment, the ship’s lookouts had already spotted a drifting ship on a reckless, suicidal attack run.

"Enemy attack!"

"Enemy attack!"

The *Pharaoh* sounded its alarms!

Its Admiral Trait, "Suppression," was cranked to the maximum.

The *Pharaoh*’s "Suppression" Admiral Trait was completely useless against Shi Ming. The Crown Prince was immune to all Admiral Traits, and ordinary, low-damage cannonballs could hardly penetrate the defenses of the *Dayun*, which was also an Admiral-class Ship.

Shi Ming stood at the bow.

Amidst the roar of cannon fire, his nautical uniform billowed in the wind.

He fed one Pure Dome Crystal after another into the Energy Storage, building up the initial momentum for the attack.

"Hold on tight!"

To evade the Abyss Lord’s attacks, the *Dayun* had already been maintaining an extremely high initial speed. After activating Momentum Break, its velocity soared to the absolute limit. At this point, it seemed less like a ship and more like a meteor trailing a fiery tail, hurtling forward with unstoppable force. It tore through the calm surface of the sea, leaving churning waves in its wake.

The crew once again felt like they were riding a rocket.

BOOM!

There was little time for the *Pharaoh* to react. They had no time to mount a proper defense and could only watch amidst the thunder of their own cannons as the enemy closed in to strike once more!

An earth-shattering CRACK, like a meteor striking the planet, ripped through the air!

The violent impact caused the Pyramid to list nearly fifteen degrees in the water!

Meanwhile, the *Dayun* buried itself deep into another corner of the *Pharaoh*, shattering its stable, triangular structure. The shockwave and roar from the colossal impact assaulted everyone’s eardrums, leaving their heads ringing. In Ptolemy’s opulent grand hall, crystal glassware once again plummeted to the floor and shattered.

Thick smoke billowed from the Pyramid’s ruined corner, a plume visible for miles across the ocean, like a signal fire from a beacon tower.

Emerging from the swirling smoke, the *Dayun* burst out from the breach, completely unscathed!

It raced away, leaving a brazen trail in its wake!

"Hmph!"

"If the Abyss Lord wasn’t on my tail, I’d make you pay a much steeper price today!"

Ptolemy scrambled up from where the lurch of the ship had thrown him. He stared at the floor, littered with crystal shards. Beneath the Golden Dome, his collection of artifacts, his scepter of royal authority, his throne—all lay toppled... For a moment, his composure completely shattered.

"Useless! Useless trash!"

"Did the Lighthouse send a pack of imbeciles? Three S-rank Awakened couldn’t even stop him from escaping? They’re useless! Absolutely, utterly useless!"

He had no idea that an hour earlier, a Holy Hall Level Skill had manifested for the first time. Caught in the overwhelming assault of the Extremely Evil Sanctuary, those three Awakened couldn’t even save themselves. One had become food, another had perished at sea, and the third’s true body, thousands of miles away, had been unable to escape losing control. Their fates were far more tragic than that of the *Pharaoh*.

...

...

...

Ptolemy knew nothing of the great battle. But thousands of miles away, at the Lighthouse, Trellin had already learned from a change in Mr. Ying’s Celestial Net Chip that the S-rank Awakened, a specialist in assassination and surprise attacks, had died approximately an hour ago.

He sat in his cold chair, speechless for a long time.

’Why did they fail?’

’How could they fail?’

He couldn’t understand it.

He had spearheaded this operation. He had privately contacted the secretly returned princess of the Black Society, as well as the mysterious organization, Moon Shadow. It was a textbook case of using others’ strength to his advantage, minimizing his own risk.

A team of three S-rank Awakened should have been able to crush any opposition!

To say nothing of the fact that, for the sake of caution, Mr. Ying had also brought along the *Codex of All Nations*, an artifact that could make one’s words become law. In theory, the mission should have been foolproof. Even if they ran into another S-rank—or even a group of them—he could have used the Codex to guarantee a safe retreat.

’And now, he’s dead?’

’Could it have been infighting?’

’After they succeeded, did the three factions turn on each other, backstabbing one another over the grand prize?’

’No, the Empress of Moon Shadow wouldn’t be foolish enough to make an enemy of the Lighthouse.’

’And the insignificant Black Society would never be so daring.’

His brow furrowed deeply.

In the Wandering Era, the Lighthouse was still undeniably a top-tier power. Its foundations were deep, its research capabilities were second to none—that was beyond question.

But this was not the Land Era. The Endless Ocean cut off so much, making it difficult to coordinate actions in real-time. The Lighthouse’s sphere of influence was limited to the Great Western Sea Region. Separated by thousands of miles of churning waves, its reach was limited. It couldn’t interfere much in other regions and had to rely on dispatching its powerful subordinates for many tasks.

When Shadow undertook missions, he carried a "mission recorder," a device similar to a black box. However, its data transmission was not sophisticated enough to stream battle footage back to the Lighthouse in real-time.

The only way to understand the truth now was to find that recorder.

For now, he would have to have a... *talk* with the Black Society and Moon Shadow.

’And of course,’ he thought, ’the *Pharaoh*.’

A fierce, sharp light gleamed in Trellin’s eyes,

like those of an enraged hawk.

...

Deep within the Endless Ice Sea, a drifting ship caked in ice and snow sailed slowly onward.

The *Moon’s Shadow*.

This drifting ship sailed within the Ice Sea of Siberia, but it didn’t belong to Big Ivan. It was affiliated with the "Snow Country." Even back in the Land Era, the Snow Country hadn’t been a nation, but rather a mysterious organization operating from the shadows.

Its entire crew was female.

At this very moment, Moon Shadow was facing a catastrophe.

The 2D Girl, who had been suspended in the Dimension Hall, suddenly began to swell and mutate as if in a frenzy. She forcibly broke out of her two-dimensional space and into the real world. Sharp, terrifying tentacles sprouted from her body. Her once-apathetic eyes now blazed with open malice as she began to indiscriminately attack every living thing on the ship.

She was like a feral beast that had lost all reason.

For a moment, the very dimensions on the ship fell into chaos.

Her "Person in the Painting" skill made no distinction between friend and foe. It attacked indiscriminately. One by one, the beautiful, elegant crew members, each with her own unique charm, were turned into flat portraits. Their faces were frozen for eternity, forever trapped in two-dimensional space!

"Pandoria has lost control!"

"Quick! Inform the Empress!"

"The Empress! The Empress is here!"

The captain of the *Moon’s Shadow* was the self-proclaimed Snow Country Empress.

She commanded the *Moon’s Shadow*, an Admiral-class drifting ship, as well as the Snow Country’s two other Gold-class drifting ships.

Inside the cabin, a heavy snow began to fall like goose down. Nearly a hundred Baikal Sea Serpents of varying sizes slithered smoothly through the room, devouring the rampant malice that filled the air. They coiled up the 2D Girl’s legs, climbing to her ankles to control her body and wrapping around her layer by layer.

"Bind!"

The 2D Girl collapsed back into a painting and fell to the icy floor.

The Baikal Sea Serpents receded like the tide, vanishing without a trace.

The Empress bent down, her hand as white as frost and snow, and picked up the painting.

The girl in the painting was now lifeless, having completely perished within the two-dimensional space. Her form was covered in unspeakable, malevolent tentacles and grotesque eyes. She no longer resembled a human, but a corrupted creature from the depths of the sea.

’This is... a corruption?’

A corruption the likes of which she had never seen.

...

The handsome, blond-haired Tatasta fell out of a spatial rift and plunged into the sea.

"Agh! Aaargh..."

His golden hair was now scorched black, matted with a slime that the seawater couldn’t wash away.

The highly saline seawater stung the myriad wounds covering his body, but that pain was nothing compared to the rest of his agony. The once-dashing young man was now a miserable sight. His right arm had been gnawed away and devoured by malevolent tentacles, and the muscles on his left leg had been corroded away, leaving only a skeleton that could barely support his weight.

But fortunately, he was still breathing.

This wasn’t because he was any stronger than the other two Awakened, but because he possessed a Wondrous Item.

By relying on the Wondrous Item ranked #62, the Broken Crystal, as well as his Spatial Secret Pattern ability, Tatasta had barely managed to survive the Extremely Evil Sanctuary.

Many people in this world have their share of lucky breaks. Before this, Tatasta, who had his own fortuitous encounters, had always considered himself one of heaven’s chosen—the absolute protagonist of his own story. Through a combination of chance and careful planning, he had even partnered with the exiled princess of Vortex Country. They were using each other for their own needs, but also found a mutual warmth, and he had hoped to become the first Saint Hall Level Awakener in the Endless Ocean. He never expected that he would end up in such a pitiful state at the hands of that Shi Ming.

Fortunately, he wasn’t beyond saving.

He felt for the "Broken Crystal" he kept tucked against his chest.

The crystal had already turned to dust.

The Broken Crystal was originally a crystal-clear gem that could create a special void, perfect for evasion or concealment. It wasn’t a single-use item, either; it was reusable. Each time it was used, fine cracks would appear on its surface. These cracks could only be repaired by infusing it with Spatial Power or nourishing it with Sea Beast Blood that contained Spatial Power, allowing it to be used again and again.

But if it shattered completely, there was no way to repair it.

The energy stored within it should have been enough for at least three more uses. But now, after withstanding the Extremely Evil Sanctuary just once—and even with the help of his own Spatial Secret Pattern—the Wondrous Item ranked #62 had been reduced to dust.

There was no chance of ever using it again!

’Truly terrifying!’

Tatasta fought through the excruciating pain, struggling to stay afloat in the seawater as he waited for his body’s Spatial Power to recover. Compared to the other two, his luck had been far, far better.