I Don't Think You Need to Wait

Boulder waved his hand.

He was still looking up at Ethan, a hint of amusement flashing in his pale blue eyes. “No rush. The array has just stabilized. Let's wait until the Giant Clam tribe confirms everything is foolproof.”

Just as he finished speaking, a faint hum suddenly echoed from the dome of the altar.

The sound was incredibly quiet, almost completely drowned out by the hum of the runes spinning inside the water chains.

Yet Boulder's brow furrowed slightly anyway.

He tilted his head to look at the dome, his pale blue eyes narrowing slightly.

The Giant Clam elder looked up as well.

The shell on his back cracked open slightly, revealing the layered nacreous structure inside. “Three-Thousandth Prince, it is merely the energy fluctuations of the altar itself. We brought this altar up from the deep sea, and its energy frequency has not yet fully synchronized with the land. Occasional minor tremors like this are normal and will not affect the array's operation.”

Boulder withdrew his gaze.

He looked back at Ethan.

The tall, thin figure from the Echinoderm Starfish tribe stepped out from the corner with a hunched back. His five fingers, which could bend in any direction, drew five trails of eerie blue light in the air with their glowing tips. “Three-Thousandth Prince, the sentry array around the altar has been set up. The mortals of the Thorn Empire will not come near here, and even if a wizard passes by, they will be fooled by the Mirror Array.”

Boulder nodded.

He took two steps forward, standing almost directly beneath Ethan's feet.

“This fellow looks quite young,” Boulder said. “It is no easy feat for a small place like the Thorn Empire to produce an Official Wizard.”

The Deep Mirror Clam elder took another crystal from his sleeve and pressed it onto the stone floor beneath Ethan's feet.

The moment the crystal was embedded into the stone slab, the water chains binding Ethan trembled once more. The glowing runes on the chains shifted from pale blue to a deep, dark blue. “Three-Thousandth Prince, let me add another layer. This way, even if he wakes up, there is absolutely no chance he can break free.”

Boulder did not reply.

He simply kept his eyes on Ethan.

Ethan hung suspended in midair, his breathing steady and his face calm.

The golden patterns on the cheeks of the Electric Eel youth flickered, faint arcs of electricity leaping from them.

His voice held a trace of hesitation. “Three-Thousandth Prince, why are there no mana fluctuations on this guy?”

The Deep Mirror Clam elder cast a sidelong glance at him. “The Profound Water God-Binding Chain has suppressed his mental sea, so his mana is naturally suppressed as well. This is a normal effect of the secret technique, no need to worry.”

The Electric Eel youth nodded.

Boulder turned and began walking toward the passage.

Reaching the entrance of the passage, he stopped and looked over at the Giant Clam elder. “How much longer before the Spirit-Deceiving Array fully stabilizes?”

The Giant Clam elder looked down at the sea chart. “Replying to the Three-Thousandth Prince, at most one more day. By then, all wizard conscious monitoring within the range of the Spirit-Deceiving Array will be replaced, and we can begin capturing other lone wizards.”

Boulder nodded. “Then we shall wait—”

Before he could finish his sentence, a voice drifted over from the center of the altar.

“I don't think you need to wait.”

Boulder turned his head, his brow furrowing as he instinctively snapped back, “What are you talking about? This is a grand plan ten thousand years in the making, how could we not wait? That is far too reckless.”

The moment the words left his mouth, his entire body froze.

That voice had come from the center of the altar.

It had come from the mouth of the First-Tier Wizard who was supposed to be tightly bound by the Profound Water God-Binding Chain.

Boulder's pupils contracted sharply.

He spun around.

In the center of the altar, Ethan was still suspended in midair by the water chains, his arms stretched wide and his feet off the ground. The blue runes inside the water chains were still glowing, and the crushing pressure still bore down on his bones.

Yet his head was raised.

His eyes were open.

A slight smile played at the corner of his lips.

Korlo reacted the fastest. He thrust his right hand upward, and the emerald-blue crystal in his palm instantly exploded. Countless water chains shot out from the shattered fragments, lunging toward Ethan.

The shell on the Giant Clam elder's back flew completely open, dense runic patterns surging from the depths of the nacreous structure.

The bone spikes protruding from the Sword King Fish warrior's shoulder blades all stood on end.

The four tentacles of the Eight-Claw Giant Crab strongman snapped away from the stone pillars, the carapaces at their tips opening to reveal dark red suckers inside.

The five fingers of the tall, thin Echinoderm Starfish figure bent in five different directions, the eerie blue glow at his fingertips lighting up simultaneously.

The golden patterns on the cheeks of the Electric Eel youth erupted, electric arcs tracing blinding trails of light in the air.

The Silver-Fin Merfolk spread their seaweed cloaks in unison, and the dark green crystal spheres popped out of their grooves.

Every member of the Sea Race entered a combat stance in the exact same instant.

Korlo's voice cracked, turning into a sharp shriek. “Impossible! How can you speak??”

The blue runes of the Profound Water God-Binding Chain were still glowing. The heavy pressure suppressing his mental sea was still active. The water chains had not broken, the runes had not dimmed, and the secret technique was still running.

Yet Ethan's eyes were wide open.

“These chains of yours,” Ethan said, looking down at the water chains wrapped around his wrists, “aren't very good.”

The moment he finished speaking, the air inside the altar instantly froze.

Korlo's heavily wrinkled face completely lost its color.

He had lived for seven hundred years and bound no fewer than thirty First-Tier lifeforms with the Profound Water God-Binding Chain. Not a single one of them had ever been able to speak while their consciousness was suppressed.

Boulder's reaction was even faster.

The two pale gold horns on either side of his forehead lit up simultaneously. A ripple of watery blue light exploded beneath his feet, and he retreated toward the passage at breakneck speed.

The shell on the Giant Clam elder's back flew completely open, the runic patterns surging from the nacreous structure weaving into a shield of light in midair, shielding Boulder.

The other Sea Race members unleashed their own techniques as well, positioning themselves in front of Boulder.

Indeed, Ethan made no move to attack; his chest merely lit up.

An emerald-green glow welled up from deep within his chest, erupting through the gaps between the water chains.

The light grew brighter and brighter, shifting from emerald green to deep green, and then to a blinding, almost incandescent brilliance.

“Something is wrong!” Korlo's pupils contracted sharply. “He is self-detonating!”

Boulder had already retreated to the entrance of the passage. Hearing this, he whipped his head around, the ever-brightening light reflecting in his pale blue eyes.

His lips twitched.

A First-Tier Wizard—a newly promoted one, at that—choosing to self-detonate the moment he was captured?

Were wizards really this unyielding?

BOOM!

The light exploded.

The three bone spikes of the Sword King Fish warrior were blown away by the shockwave, spinning through the air before embedding themselves deep into the stone blocks of the dome.

Before the Eight-Claw Giant Crab could retract his four tentacles, the carapaces at their tips crumbled to dust in the shockwave.

The five beams of light from the Echinoderm Starfish were instantly annihilated within the glare.

The Electric Eel's electric net was torn into countless tiny arcs, flickering briefly in the air before vanishing without a trace.

The Silver-Fin Merfolk's embedded dark green crystal spheres shattered simultaneously, their fragments shooting out in all directions.

Korlo stood at the very front. The instant the shockwave slammed into his chest, dense blue runes surfaced on the exterior of his dark gray robe.

The runes lit up layer by layer, only to shatter one after another under the crushing force of the shockwave.

He was sent flying backward, his back slamming into the stone wall of the altar, carving a human-shaped crater into the rock.

The Giant Clam elder's shield of light shattered in less than half a second.

He was forced backward by the shockwave, sliding along the ground, the shell on his back plowing a deep trench into the floor.

Standing at the entrance of the passage, Boulder conjured three layers of watery blue light membranes before him.

The first layer was torn apart like paper before the shockwave. The second lasted for half a second, while the third barely managed to withstand the remaining force.