Volume 2: Shenzhou Academy & The Battle of Venice
Rumble... BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Dull, muffled detonations reverberated from the abyssal belly of the earth, dragging violent shockwaves in their wake that rattled the ancient granite walls of the subterranean cavern. Needle-sharp stalactites clinging to the vaulted ceiling over thirty meters above cracked and sheared away, plummeting like stone javelins into the dark waters below and churning up turbid, swirling surges.
Gu Xiaowei’s earlier lightning probe had not merely awakened the dormant subterranean mechanisms; it seemed to have torn wide the veil cloaking the most terrifying deep-sea devil’s nest concealed beneath the depths of Blood Wave Bay.
The underground lake, once flat and motionless as obsidian glass, suddenly began to boil violently. Ghoulish bubbles bloated to grotesque proportions upon the surface before bursting open, releasing a choking pall of toxic vapor that reeked of rotting corpses and the nauseating, briny slime of the oceanic abyss. The thick, putrid stench slammed into the nostrils with physical force, forcing Ye Qingwan and Gu Xiaowei to clamp their breath, their stomachs convulsing in visceral revulsion.
“Watch beneath your feet!” Xie Zhaoyuan roared, hands raised in an instant casting stance.
From the pitch-black, bottomless waters, countless dark silhouettes scuttled upward.