Compared to the stalemate brawl in the deep sea, the battle on the surface had turned into a one‑sided slaughter.

Aileaf and Baili, working with the Black Dragon Battleship, were suppressing the giant black shark school all by themselves. That massive Sixth Rank individual that had attacked earlier had already sunk back into the depths.

Only some weaker Fifth Rank and Fourth Rank sharks still circled the Black Dragon Battleship.

Even with bodies that huge, so big you needed wide‑area spells just to hit them effectively, Aileaf and Baili were still unleashing firepower that wasn’t any weaker than the main cannon of the Black Dragon Battleship.

Baili’s lightning spells in particular had an insanely wide coverage. The occasional smell of charred flesh drifting over the sea and the giant beasts’ wails made him feel genuinely satisfied.

He even left the Black Dragon Battleship entirely, chasing after them. His body tore through the shoal of beasts like a streak of thunder and lightning.

Aileaf stayed on the battleship’s deck, her expression calm, summoning a massive fireball with magic to drive one giant beast after another away.

Then she used her ability to control one of the giants, forcing it to charge into the densest cluster and blow itself up in a suicidal collision.

In just a few dozen minutes, the number of beasts surrounding the ship had already dropped sharply.

Aileaf looked out over the sea. Many of the giants no longer surfaced carelessly. They lurked half‑submerged and tried to ram the Black Dragon Battleship from below.

“Strange… with a school of giant black sharks, after losing this many, they can still launch these fearless, suicidal charges…”

The remaining two Sixth Rank beasts still hadn’t surfaced, which was puzzling too.

Aileaf glanced at the lightning in the distance, then shifted her gaze back to the water.

“I wonder how Silver Luan and Cerqin are doing.”

She couldn’t help feeling worried. A Seventh Rank battle shouldn’t be quiet at all, and it ought to be holding the black sharks back.

But after these dozens of minutes, close to an hour, there was still no movement.

Right now, the fight in the deep had also turned into a deadlock.

Silver Luan had gradually figured out the mutant’s tricks. This mutated black shark was much smaller than she’d first imagined.

With great effort she forced her spiritual power into blades, supported by several mental‑type spells.

The huge black silhouette—an aggregate of spiritual power and magic—had already shrunk to half its original size, yet even so, the true body still hadn’t shown itself.

Silver Luan now understood this mutant’s specific ability.

It was spiritual power manipulation.

By wrapping itself in spiritual power, it could even affect the surrounding current, darting around like a ghost.

It would slip close in total silence, then ram its dense spiritual power straight into its prey’s mind.

This mutation in spiritual power also explained why the giant black shark school had been acting so abnormally.

Mutations in a magical beast’s head and mental aspect were themselves a way to greatly strengthen control over the entire group.

She just couldn’t pin down yet exactly how far this mutant could control the school.

But at the very least, it was clear that once she took down this mutant, the giant black sharks on the surface would scatter like startled birds.

In fact, even if they kept swarming to attack, without this mutant around, there wouldn’t be any real threat left.

At this point, the outcome was basically decided.

Silver Luan was glad she’d brought Cerqin down here with her. She’d never been good at mental attacks to begin with. Forcing her spiritual power to condense to the same density as the mixed energy mass that wrapped the mutant’s body cost far more than simple detection.

If she had come down alone and still tried to hunt it this way, her chances of failure would’ve been very high. In just these few dozen minutes, she had already burned through roughly half of her total capacity.

If not for Cerqin, she’d be out of ammo by now.

With Cerqin here, even though the Love God could no longer fully keep up with the consumption, their remaining spiritual reserves were still at about half.

And with a bit of restraint, they’d recover to full soon enough.

Amazed once more at how absurd Love God’s recovery was—stamina, magic, spiritual power, all of it—Silver Luan scanned the mutant again with her mind.

In her spiritual sense, the mutant black shark’s outline had become much clearer, no longer as vague as before.

The true body was finally emerging. Although Silver Luan had spent a huge amount of energy, the mutant wasn’t in much better shape.

From its attack pattern, Silver Luan could already sense it starting to retreat.

She didn’t really plan to force it to stay either. A high‑tier Seventh Rank magical beast, and a mutant on top of that, wasn’t easy prey. Especially when its attribute was such a bad match for her. She had originally wanted to kill it no matter what.

Now, letting it go seemed like a decent option.

That thought surfaced in her mind, and the reason her stance shifted was the sheer difficulty of the kill.

Even now, with her having the upper hand and the result decided, the mutant was still faster than Silver Luan. If it really decided to run, the odds of forcefully stopping it weren’t that great.

Just as Silver Luan was thinking this, a surge of magic power suddenly rushed down from above, entering the outer edge of her reduced mental detection range—reduced because she’d condensed her power for attacks.

In the blink of an eye, the distance of several hundred meters shrank sharply.

Judging by the strength of that magic, Silver Luan instantly recognized the approaching presence as one of the two Sixth Rank giant black sharks.

She frowned, guessing that the mutant wanted that Sixth Rank individual to tie her down for a moment so it could escape.

Her thoughts only lasted for a heartbeat before the Sixth Rank’s massive black shape—several times larger than the mutant—rolled up a violent current and came right up to her.

For Silver Luan, a Sixth Rank was something she could flick away with a wave. But the sheer size of a giant black shark added a frightening amount of force to its charge.

She decided to dodge first, then counterattack.

But right then, the twist hit. The magic power in the Sixth Rank’s body froze for a split second. Silver Luan’s pupils shrank as she tried to act, but it was already too late.

A creature that massive self‑destructing turned the whole deep sea into utter chaos. Countless wild currents and magic turbulence tore up huge boulders from the deep reef and spun them into a gigantic vortex.

Silver Luan used magic to force up a protective barrier, shielding herself from the torrent of water and chaotic magic. The wild magic flux also shattered her already‑shrunk spiritual detection field.

The momentary blindness in the deep sea made her heart sink.

“What happened?”

Cerqin had been clinging to Silver Luan the whole time. Because Silver Luan moved too fast and was constantly fighting, Cerqin had kept her mouth shut, splitting her focus between activating her ability and resisting the inertia of that insane speed. She’d also been afraid of distracting Silver Luan.

Now, though, the sudden upheaval and the swirling mess around them made Cerqin feel a creeping sense of dread, and she finally spoke up in confusion.

“I underestimated this mutant a bit…”

Silver Luan answered while rebuilding her spiritual detection field.

When she’d been thinking about letting the mutant off, she never imagined it would go so far as to force a companion to self‑destruct.

There was no way a Sixth Rank giant black shark would willingly do that. This was obviously the result of the mutant’s forced control.

“Looks like it underestimated me too… ugh.”

Silver Luan had just been about to go half‑dragon to teach the mutant a lesson when her newly expanded detection field picked up a familiar cluster of magic.

It was the other Sixth Rank giant shark, charging straight at them just like before.

“Shit!”

She swore without thinking. Because of the potion she’d drunk, that roar exploded right next to Cerqin’s ear, who was hugging her tightly. The blast of sound, loaded with a surge of emotion, wiped Cerqin’s thoughts blank for a moment.

She instinctively loosened her grip for an instant. The chaotic current instantly swept her more than ten meters away from Silver Luan.

Seeing this, Silver Luan’s heart jolted. She reflexively reached out to grab Cerqin, and her spreading detection field flickered for a moment.

Fortunately, with Seventh Rank speed, Silver Luan caught Cerqin again in the very next instant. But just as she turned to guard against the Sixth Rank giant behind them that was about to self‑destruct—

A black shadow silently appeared above the two of them.

For the first time, the mutant’s spiritual attack landed solidly on Silver Luan. Cerqin, who was being pulled close, was knocked out cold on the spot.

Silver Luan spat a mouthful of blood, gritted her teeth, and swung an arm. But the hastily thrown, uncharged attack was easily dodged by the mutant.

The Sixth Rank giant black shark that had been about to self‑destruct instead spat a massive energy beam from its mouth. Silver Luan barely managed to raise a shield, but another spiritual attack from above crashed down again.

She split her focus to protect the unconscious Cerqin in her arms. The silver scales on her body gradually dimmed.

After forcing her way through that wave, Silver Luan crashed down onto the huge deep reef at the sea floor, her aura turning weak.

“Damn…”

The mutant’s shadow once again closed in like a ghost. Silver Luan slowly exhaled, running Dragon Deity at full power. Vast vitality surged out, rapidly restoring her physical strength and magic—everything but her spiritual power.

Cerqin was already unconscious. As long as she controlled it properly, Dragon Deity’s special magic wouldn’t affect her in the short term.

Right now, Spring Tide was overflowing with rage. That emotion wrapped Cerqin along with the silvery magic.

Silver Luan dodged while looking for an opening. The mutant, refusing to retreat and determined to kill her, had turned its miscalculation into her chance.

After another brief stalemate, Silver Luan finally pushed her detection field back out. The massive Sixth Rank giant black shark was no longer within range. The mutant’s movements were now laid bare.

The black mist around its body had completely dispersed.

Holding Cerqin in one arm, Silver Luan used the narrow gaps between the deepest reefs to weave around, deliberately exposing a flaw.

At that exact moment, she found the perfect attack angle.

A white gust of fist‑wind, laced with magic, punched straight through the mutant’s abdomen.

The mutant flicked its tail, but Silver Luan easily slipped past. The rock behind them exploded, sending up a wave of water.

With a fatal wound and no way to use spiritual power to control the current, the mutant was caught by a massive undertow and slammed into a reef on the other side.

Silver Luan gasped for breath. This war of attrition had been brutal.

Fighting in a field she wasn’t good at, in an environment she wasn’t good in, one brief moment of carelessness had left her heavily injured, barely scraping out a win.

“Guess I’ll have to write a self‑critique later… so can you please stop struggling…”

The dying mutant burst out from the rubble. Ready for it this time, Silver Luan drove her fist through it again.

The mutant went limp, its huge body dropping onto the sea floor.

“So damn stubborn…”

Silver Luan gritted her teeth, staring hard at the corpse.

It was clearly dead, but the magic lingering in its body was rapidly swelling in her spiritual sense.

“Damn it. How the hell is it self‑destructing after it’s already dead…”

Once again faced with something she hadn’t seen coming, Silver Luan—

He had no choice but to shield Cerqin in his arms and blast backward, pouring every last bit of strength into holding up the barrier.

The self-destruction of a Seventh Rank—even just the corpse blowing up after death—was far more terrifying than that gigantic Sixth Rank beast from before.

The shockwave of mana swept across a massive area and, in an instant, tore up to the surface, shooting out a towering water pillar nearly a kilometer thick.

Then, deep on the seafloor, a huge reverse whirlpool and an enormous cavity formed. The shattered seabed collapsed downward, dragging the exhausted Silver Luan—who could barely keep the barrier up—straight into the depths.

Silver Luan had thought he’d just be pulled down, that he’d stop after a few hundred meters. But he suddenly realized the current was carrying him and Cerqin, racing down along some crack in the seabed rock.