"Empress, a message has arrived from the Black Society."

"Hm?"

A pair of cold, slick hands covered in serpentine scales took the report from a female crewmember. The self-proclaimed Empress, Captain of the Moon’s Shadow, fixed her frosty, majestic gaze upon the document. In a mere moment, she had finished reading the briefing.

"What a joke!"

"Pandoria was undoubtedly killed by the contamination of a Deep Sea Beast. That level of terror can only be wielded by a legendary Holy Hall-level Sea Beast. A human, kill her? Impossible! How could he be worthy!"

"Not to mention, it even caused her real body, which exists in a two-dimensional space, to lose control!"

Others might not have understood Pandoria’s true strength, but the Empress knew it well.

Her S-class skill, "Person in the Painting," had five different applications. Whether for combat, self-preservation, or reconnaissance, it was exceptionally powerful.

It was a perfectly well-rounded skill in every respect.

The 2D Girl who operated in the field was, to be precise, a portrait doppelgänger Pandoria had created with "Person in the Painting." Pandoria’s actual body always stayed on the ship; the death of a painted doppelgänger shouldn’t have affected her at all. But this time, being contaminated during the mission caused her true self within the painting to go berserk along with it, completely out of control. Not even the Empress herself could save her.

To kill from tens of thousands of nautical miles away!

How could a human possibly possess such an ability?

As far as she knew, not even the Awakened from the Lighthouse, who had bathed in the blood of the Deep Sea Leviathan and evolved the "Abyss of Devouring" ability, could pull this off. And he was the strongest person she had ever seen, a man barely thirty-five years old.

’That Shi Ming, a young brat with no powerful faction behind him, stronger than the Abyss of Devouring?’

’If he were really that strong, how could he have been reduced to having a bounty on his head from a worthless group like the Black Society for nearly a month?’

"Empress, the Black Society is probably just trying to conceal the news about the Holy Hall Sea Beast. After all, according to intelligence from Da Yu, they’ve received inside information that a super sea beast is indeed slumbering within Fujing Mountain. And the Sea-Rising Cherry Root from the Xirang report does, in fact, come from Fujing Mountain."

"They’re courting death. A worthless nation like the Vortex Country thinks it’s worthy of guarding the slumbering body of a Holy Hall-level Sea Beast?"

"Yes, Empress. If it were another power, like the Lighthouse, Da Yu, or Katyusha, they might have uncovered its secrets long ago."

’A Holy Hall-level Sea Beast!’

The Empress was a woman who admired strength, but she only admired her own—never anyone else’s.

’The greatest power should be rooted in oneself, not in others.’

She had, of course, read *A Compendium of Marvels of the Endless Ocean*.

[Sea-Rising Cherry Root: A deep-sea plant rooted in the depths of a volcano. It has transformed into a treasure due to the influence of ■■■■■. Consuming the root grants a faint measure of ■■■■■’s power and allows one to resonate with its energy.]

’The redacted parts, ■■, undoubtedly refer to that Holy Hall-level Sea Beast.’

"The Vortex Country... soon."

Tashia maintained her respectful posture,

but she was deeply puzzled.

’Soon? What’s happening soon? Are they about to uncover the secret? Or are they about to bite the dust?’

But she didn’t dare to ask.

Whatever the Empress said, was.

...

...

...

"The weather in Europe is so much more pleasant than in Africa! It’s a shame the sea beasts are far less concentrated here."

Shi Ming began hunting his way across the European Sea Region.

’There’s nothing more thrilling than fighting and allocating points.’

"Besides, it’s been ages since I got a new skill!"

He could hardly wait.

Today’s target was an A-level sea beast along his route. He followed the Map of the Endless Sea to the nearest target location and dropped the corpse of a B-level sea beast as bait. It took two hours to lure the hidden beast over, but as soon as it entered the range of his Sea Patrol Radar, it hesitated for just a moment, then turned and fled.

It was as if it had seen something terrifying.

’Weird. For the past two days, why do the sea beasts run the moment they see me? They don’t even have the desire to fight?’

’They were never like this before.’

It wasn’t just A-level beasts; the B-level one he’d met this morning had done the same. The difference was that it hadn’t been able to outrun Shi Ming, becoming nothing more than raw points that increased his Physical Strength by 12 and his Attack Power by 3.

But this A-level sea beast was simply too perceptive, and small-bodied besides.

In the blink of an eye, it vanished into the vast ocean.

The Map of the Endless Sea could only provide coordinates. Given that the world beneath the waves was three-dimensional, once prey actively fled beyond the detection range of the Sea Patrol Radar, it became incredibly difficult to find again. The only way would be to dive deep and conduct a grid search.

Shi Ming was baffled. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

In the past, sea beasts would see him and act like starving dogs spotting food, desperate to take a bite. Now, even when he used the remains of an A-level beast as bait, other creatures would catch the scent from afar, but the moment they drew near and saw Shi Ming, or even remotely sensed his aura, they reacted as if they had encountered something horrifying.

’Did I get tainted with some kind of aura?’

’Could it be the lingering aura of the Abyss Lord, left behind after the Eye of the World absorbed its blood?’

’Most likely. The Abyss Lord’s presence would still be incredibly oppressive to these A- and B-level sea beasts.’

Just as he settled on this conclusion, as if he had triggered a keyword, a notification from the Eye of the World appeared before him once more.

[The Eye of the World reminds you that it is not pleased to take the blame for this.]

[In the past week, you have slaughtered eighteen sea beasts and deployed the Extremely Evil Sanctuary. Your aura of slaughter has accumulated, and your malicious presence has become blatant. Sea beasts are extremely sensitive to and fearful of such overt malice.]

[Recommended: Rest and recuperate for the next three days to suppress your killing intent. Clear your mind, lessen your desires, and strike a balance between exertion and rest.]

’Three days?’

For Shi Ming, three days without a fight was a real shame.

But there was no helping it. He would have to lie low for now.

This downtime would be a good opportunity to study the intelligence the Nameless Cocoon had provided about the Dusk Whale. As the saying goes, "Know thy enemy and know thyself, and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles." A giant, high-ranking sea beast like the Dusk Whale would be a formidable opponent.

Furthermore, the Dusk Whale and the "Formless Pure Ice" were mutually attracted. They could counteract each other, and could even complementarily upgrade one another.

’This operation will either end in failure or net me two skills at once.’

The Third Law: Ragnarok.

He had to be extremely cautious.

Moreover, Shi Ming still clearly remembered the method for hunting the Great Black Heaven Dragon. The dragon had nine heads, each different, including one called the "Regeneration Head." The only way to kill it was to use an Extreme Cold Ability to sever all nine heads from its body simultaneously.

The Third Law was an ice-elemental skill, and none was colder.

He wasn’t thinking too far ahead.

What was important was to first meet the conditions for the kill. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to seize the opportunity even if it arose.

"I’ll head straight north, toward the Twelve Stars first."

After entering the European Sea Region, Shi Ming would periodically pull out the Map of the Endless Sea to check it.

The Dusk Whale in Greenland hadn’t moved.

’Looks like it doesn’t know that its long-awaited ’mobile food source’ has returned.’

————————

PS: I’m organizing the detailed outline, so this Chapter is a bit short. We’ll be back to our regular length soon!