บท 20: Plans for Yalore Sea
"They indeed aren't responding." Rhizen frowned, noticing that only the regular aquatic Aberrants were closer to the surface. All the Titan Aberrants had gone the deeper end, beyond the range of their attacks.
So, their efficiency dropped a little as the number of Aberrants available for the Whales to swallow decreased. But, that didn't mean much in the end.
After all, it was a confirmation of the intelligence given by the Keras that had parasitised Woran. The Aberrants were buying time to execute their Rotten Core Principle.
This was why Rhizen initiated his Diamond Skin Plan immediately, taking advantage of the fact that the Aberrants didn't wish to reduce their power by initiating a conflict with the PADS.
His Whale swam through the deeper ocean waters, using its suction force that only targeted the Aberrants, devouring the titan Aberrants alone. After all, to him, the Titan Aberrants weren't a threat.
Even a Keras didn't amount to much before him. Only the Celas proved terrifying. So, his Whale casually swam through the deeper stretch of the ocean waters, swallowing any and all Titan Aberrants it came across.
Once it devoured enough, it surfaced and spat out a thick mass of poop that a group of feathers carried off to the shore.
The Whales worked nonstop while the Mystic Humans worked on the drilling tasks to make holes in the ground.
Rhizen only focused on compressing all the Whale poop into a sphere with a diameter of ten metres before gently transporting it to the bottom of the dug holes. He went around the coastline, repeating the same actions while the PADS members did the rest, creating hills of Whale poop.
In the meantime, Dwun arrived before the Yalore Sea, covering himself with the Celestial Armour as he gradually entered the waters, 'Damn, the corruption is pretty strong here.'
Yalore Sea was their first target to be purified. It was because of its special nature in that this sea was almost cut off from the rest of the ocean.
It was almost circular in shape, enclosed by land, only revealing a mouth spanning a length of eighty kilometres that was in contact with the ocean.
And thanks to the water currents, there wasn't much interaction between the two water bodies. So, if they were to purify the water here, it would create a base for them in the ocean war.
It was a defendable base and hence prioritised in their plans.
Once Rhizen enacted the Diamond Skin Plan, Dwun was given orders to enter the Yalore Sea and create a defensive unit.
He swam through the ocean waters, punching forth any Aberrant he came across, also followed by a group of Mystic Humans, forming a defensive circle.
As Rhizen's Whale was prowling around this region, there were no Keras here. And for a Stage 8 Mystic Human like Dwun, anything below a Keras wasn't a threat.
Soon after, he reached the seabed, planting his External Item in it.
External Item—Grassmen Nest (VIII)!
Boom!
Immediately after, the corruption in the surroundings was consumed rapidly to fuel its growth as the tiny item soon expanded into a massive thirty-metre-tall tree.
Its branches bloomed, causing the secondary roots dangling from them to balloon in size soon after, birthing the Grassmen in droves.
After being birthed, these Grassmen began to walk out in a circle, arranged like an army of soldiers as they gradually expanded. Their numbers continued to increase gradually as, after some time, roots expanded from their toes, penetrating the sea bed as their bodies turned immobile.
Slowly, all signs of activity in them died as they continued to gradually absorb the corruption and convert it into Nacre. Beyond a point, they stopped, gently protecting themselves with a Nacre barrier.
Every hour, around a couple thousand Grassmen were created. Their creation process was energy-consuming. And hence, the level of corruption in the Yalore Sea was mildly affected, beginning to drop in concentration over time.
This way, as the corruption continues to decrease, the Horned Humans would also be able to enter the sea.
In the initial plan, they had to be prepared against a brutal onslaught from the Aberrants in the Yalore Sea. So, their armours had to be strong enough to survive long enough in such conditions.
But now that the plans of the Aberrants were exposed, it meant that they didn't have to wait so long and could rapidly move in to occupy the Yalore Sea.
And the first step to that process was Dwun's creation of the Grassmen army that could act as the vanguard against anything the Aberrants try.
This way, the Horned and Mystic Humans wouldn't have to needlessly lose their lives.
Within a week, the number of Grassmen surpassed a hundred thousand before which around fifty thousand of them began to move, marching towards the mouth of the Yalore Sea.
They intended to act as a defensive wall against the rest of the ocean. Even though fifty thousand wasn't enough to blockade the entire stretch of eighty kilometres, their numbers would gradually increase over time as the Grassmen Nest continues to produce more and more of them.
At the same time, standing at the shore of the Yalore Sea was Yanka, nervous as she threw a tiny pearl-like cylinder into the water, watching it gradually expand into a pod large enough to house twenty people.
Large grass-like roots dangled out of it like feelers, behaving as its limbs to paddle around. Moreover, they functioned by absorbing the corruption from the surroundings to fuel themselves.
Moreover, these feelers were its sole mode of attacking as they would expand in length and target the opponents.
In their time constraints, this was what they managed to produce.
"This design was pretty effective in the Green Sludge World. I hope it's effective here too." Yulna said, watching the Horned Humans board it one after another.
"We have done some improvements, but everything has been rushed due to time constraints." Yanka said, "We've done enough testing but only during a real battle would its effectiveness be displayed."
"As long as it can handle the regular Aberrants, that's enough." Yulna said, "Those like you that can move through the water freely can take care of the Titan Aberrants.
"Yes, ma'am." Yanka saluted in response, wearing her armour before entering the water on her own.
Her armour was skin-tight equipment resembling grass fibres that had been woven around intricately, forming a tough but flexible exterior. Its primary trait was to absorb the corruption to grow in size, morph its shape, and mend its damage.
The moment the sea water touched it, the armour changed from its bright green shade to a darker shade of olive green, beginning to absorb the corruption. Yanka swam through the water, moving alongside the pods before her Nacre spiked.
Boom!
A muffled explosion rang out as her figure expanded in size rapidly, transforming into a behemoth.
It had a symmetrical body, scaly even, possessing a large, rectangular head with massive jaws covered by jagged teeth. Growing on its back were five horns, shaped like fins, seemingly made out of bone.
It possessed six pairs of limbs, bony in appearance, possessing blade-like claws capable of tearing through even steel.
And the most terrifying of them all were the gills covering the entirety of its stout neck and back, constantly flapping like wings, absorbing a significant volume of air every time.
Dromah!
It was a Mutated Beast that even Rhizen hadn't seen before. But it supposedly existed in his home world. Only when Yanka obtained its power did he realise that even he wasn't entirely aware of all the powers that exist in his home world.
The Dromah was an aquatic giant, one of the biggest and most dangerous in the water body. This was why Yanka became one of the highest officials in their world, reaching the status required to discuss matters with the likes of Rhizen and Felix.
She was only at Stage 5 but was teething on the verge of attaining Stage 6.
The moment the Dromah appeared, those within the pods heaved a sigh in relief, feeling a bit more secure than before.
Swoosh!
The Dromah accompanied them for a couple of kilometres before accelerating all of a sudden, generating a strong undercurrent in its wake, latching into a Titan Aberrant before casually shredding it apart to devour it.
Guong!
It unleashed a terrifying roar that reverberated everywhere, suddenly gazing at a group of Aberrants that was swimming towards it, opening its mouth as its Nacre was consumed, unleashing a tiny bone fragment.
It resembled a human's leg bone but was more aerodynamically designed, thrusting forth as it sped like a torpedo before slamming into its target. And what followed next shocked everyone…
Boom!
There was an explosion, with the blast radius reaching as high as a hundred metres. This happened at a depth of 600 metres below the surface, so the extent of force within the explosion could be fathomed.
As for all the Aberrants within the blast radius?
Not even a speck of their corruption remained behind as the sea water gushed into the created vacuum.
"Amazing!" Dwun smirked upon staring at the scene, "She's useless on land but is indeed terrifying underwater."
'If she's this strong at Stage 5, then when she reaches Stage 8 or even Stage 9…' Rhizen thought, staring at the scene through the eyes of his Whale, smiling as he muttered, "Things are becoming interesting."
Of course, it wasn't just them that were keeping a watch on the powers of the Horned Humans. Staring from beyond the mouth of the Yalore Sea was a Keras, hovering underwater calmly despite having a humanoid structure, unfit for being underwater.
Its dozen pairs of eyes stared at the scene happening dozens of kilometres away, frowning, "So, they indeed have plans to dominate the ocean."
"It seems we have to make changes to our plan."
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