Reunited

By the time his mana completed its third cycle, Starlight had grasped the pattern of the barrier. To Lian’s surprise, a series of faint ripples suddenly appeared on the once-solid barrier.

Starlight pressed his hand against the barrier once more, finding that the area before him was no longer hard, but had become as soft and elastic as jelly.

“Let’s go. Let’s see what’s inside!”

Starlight gave Lian a look and exerted a sudden force with his outstretched hand, piercing directly through the barrier.

In the next second, the two of them tumbled onto the soft seabed inside the barrier, nearly falling face-first.

To their amazement, there was not a single drop of seawater inside the barrier; it was even drier than a sandy beach.

Despite being at the bottom of the pitch-black sea, this space was filled with bright silver light that made it as clear as day. Starlight looked around but could not find the source of the light.

Not far away, Starlight saw three familiar figures engaged in a fierce battle with a deformed creature.

The bizarre-looking creature appeared to be a chaotic jumble of various deep-sea creatures, devoid of any aesthetic appeal.

But despite its ridiculous, scrap-like appearance, the terrifying aura radiating from it suggested its strength was no less than that of a Saint Rank expert.

The three had been fighting it for an unknown amount of time. Po Kong, who had been leading the charge at the front, was covered in wounds, and even his breathing had become ragged.

Because the monster’s body possessed characteristics of aquatic life, it was exceptionally flexible and covered in a thick layer of slime. This perfectly countered Po Kong’s blade, and Xia Duo’s arrows struggled to deal any critical damage.

Fortunately, with the support and distraction provided by Moen and Xia Duo, Po Kong was able to find moments to catch his breath amidst the monster’s counterattacks.

However, dragging the fight out like this was not a viable solution. Although the three of them had achieved combat power comparable to an average Saint Rank through their seamless coordination, their endurance was far inferior to the monster’s.

This caused Po Kong great anxiety. If he couldn’t use his War God Battle Qi to achieve a decisive one-hit victory, they would eventually be worn down and killed in this place.

“I have to find this thing’s core! Otherwise, cutting off one piece just to have it grow back is too much of a pain!”

Po Kong performed a nimble backflip, dodging a tentacle that the monster had extended like an octopus, while simultaneously slicing off a small section of it with his longsword. However, in an instant, granulation tissue began to grow from the monster’s wound.

Although Po Kong had repelled one tentacle, the monster still had five intact tentacles left, which coiled toward him after a brief half-second pause.

Three streaks of fiery red light shot from a distance, blocking the path of the tentacles and giving Po Kong time to react. With Xia Duo’s cover, Po Kong severed two more of the monster’s tentacles and successfully broke out of the encirclement.

“Argh! This is so annoying! Is it ever going to end?! If only Little Star were here!” Po Kong shouted irritably at the monster, but the creature didn’t care about his mood and stuck to him like glue.

“In that case, I’d say my timing is pretty good! It seems you really missed me, Po Kong?” Starlight’s voice suddenly rang out through the mental link. The three of them were momentarily stunned before looking toward the figure appearing at the edge of the barrier with joy.

“Little Star!”

“Starlight! You’re okay!”

Upon seeing Starlight’s face clearly, Po Kong and Moen cried out almost simultaneously.

Although Starlight wanted to stop and greet them properly, the monster before them wouldn’t give them the chance. With a wave of his hands, a massive pillar of fire erupted behind Po Kong, directly blocking the monster’s path.

The monster, whose physical defense was nearly maxed out, felt the threat of fire for the first time and quickly realized it was its natural enemy.

Sensing something was wrong, the monster immediately attempted to retreat, but Starlight simply made a grasping motion in the air. The pillar of fire on the ground changed shape, transforming into a wall of fire that surrounded it.

Under the intense heat of the flamewall, the slime on the monster’s body began to evaporate rapidly, and its once-elastic skin began to shrivel.

Seeing the monster’s body gradually lose its vitality within the flames, Starlight finally made his way to his companions’ side.

Seeing that they were all in relatively good condition, Starlight breathed a sigh of relief. However, Lian, standing beside him, cautioned, “Don’t let your guard down. Aberrants are not that simple.”

This soft warning immediately caught the attention of the others. Po Kong and the rest finally noticed the charming young girl following behind Starlight.

Unlike when she was with Starlight, Lian seemed to harbor a certain level of wariness toward the three of them, behaving with exceptional coldness.

Xia Duo and Moen also recognized Lian’s identity as a member of the Dark Tribe at a glance. Both of them showed varying degrees of confusion at her arrival.

“Uh... Little Star, who is she? And what is that ‘Aberrant’ she just mentioned?”

Just as Po Kong asked the question, a strange clicking sound coming from the fire wall behind them provided the answer.

When they turned to look, the towering flames completely dissipated into the air in just a second, leaving only a strange black sphere where the monster had been.

Starlight frowned slightly. As the caster of the magic, he knew he hadn't voluntarily dispersed his mana; rather, the fire elements he had released had mysteriously vanished.

Crack... Crack... Snap!

Following a series of dense cracking sounds, countless web-like fissures appeared on the surface of the black sphere the monster had become.

A pale, long, eerie hand suddenly burst through the egg-like black sphere, appearing before their eyes.

With the fall of the first fragment, the black sphere was soon completely forced open by the creature inside, with the pieces falling to the ground.

“Screeeeee!!!!”

A deafening, shrill roar echoed through the underwater space. The intense sound waves spread like ocean waves, causing the skin on their faces to vibrate incessantly.

After its rebirth, the Aberrant’s appearance was completely different from its original form.

If its initial state was a monster stitched together from various aquatic life, its current appearance was much closer to that of a human.

However, the proportions of its limbs were far longer than those of a normal human, and its entire body was covered in a layer of coarse scales. At the ends of its limbs were sharp claws as keen as blades.

The Aberrant did not immediately make its next move after emerging from its shell. Instead, it stood there somewhat dully, as if it were not yet familiar with this new body.

“Based on its aura, it doesn’t seem to have become much stronger... Noah! Bring Lian in too!”

While the newly born monster had yet to act, Starlight tapped firmly on the box behind Po Kong. Receiving the instruction, Noah immediately pulled Lian into the mental link.

Lian’s expression changed only slightly before she quickly adapted to the conversation in the mental world, providing information about their opponent in the most concise terms.

This eerie creature was given the terrifying name “Aberrant” by the Night Elves.

An Aberrant did not refer to a specific individual, but rather a class of twisted monsters born under the influence of residual divine power on the seabed.

In the records of the Night Elves’ mourning cruises alone, there were as many as dozens of documented forms of Aberrants.

Although the differences between individuals were vast, their greatest commonalities were their extreme adaptability and terrifying life force.

The one before them was undoubtedly among the strongest tier of Aberrants. It hadn’t extinguished Starlight’s flames on its own; instead, it had used some method to directly swallow the fire elements.

That strange skill, which bore a resemblance to the Sea Demon King’s, even allowed Lian to conclude that this Aberrant likely contained a portion of Hitral’s energy within its body.