The current pushed the boat to wander across the black waters.
After a day and night of travel, the ship had covered a distance of at least several hundred kilometers, yet remained constrained by the strange "energy liquid" affecting the vessel's power. Upon entering the Black Sea, the ship's speed dropped rapidly, with no way to properly anchor in these depths.
"What should we do?"
The atmosphere in the cabin that night was thick with tension. Everyone seemed worried.
The ship had lost power. Even with its typically impressive maneuverability, the combined effects of the ocean currents and the mysterious energy source made escape nearly impossible.
Should they leave?
V5 had considered everything in advance. One of their team members possessed a Nen ability called Packing Box, which could shrink living things for transportation, while another had the ability to fly. If they wanted to leave, they still had options.
However, the records also stated that the first expedition to the Dark Continent had ended in failure.
Disagreements had already emerged within the team. Continuing meant facing unknown dangers dangers they couldn't even name. The more likely outcome seemed to be slowly starving as their supplies dwindled. Besides, leaving now wouldn't necessarily be considered a failure. At the very least, they could take samples of this energy material back with them that alone would be considered a discovery.
Faced with the threat of death, some team members wavered in their resolve.
Almost everyone involved in the dispute was outside Oboro's team.
Menchi and her companions remained remarkably calm, following Oboro's orders without question.
"It's alright. If you want to leave, you can leave," Oboro said, his eyes closed as he sat deep in thought. Opening them, he looked at the quarreling people who were preparing to retreat and smiled slightly. "My advice is to leave as soon as possible, because every minute you delay increases the danger. Although it's dark now, if you stay high in the sky, you should be relatively safe."
He continued with an unexpected gentleness: "If you leave now and bring new hope back, it will be considered a contribution to mankind."
"Huh?"
His words silenced the arguing explorers.
Oboro was the team leader. All actions and plans for this expedition were arranged by him.
Several people had expected him to get angry or try to convince them to continue toward the Dark Continent. They knew Oboro by reputation an ambitious man, unwilling to give up easily.
However, Menchi and Anthony smiled knowingly when they heard his voice. They understood their captain all too well.
"The captain's decision is very sensible," Anthony echoed. "Our trip was originally meant to be exploratory. If we encounter unsolvable resistance, we should naturally focus on bringing valuable information back to the human world first. We also have other missions on this expedition"
"Really?" One of them swallowed hard, speaking softly.
When he saw Oboro nod, relief washed over his face.
Some who hadn't previously expressed their intention to leave began to waver after seeing how easy it was to obtain the expedition leader's blessing.
Just half an hour later, a ridiculous situation had unfolded except for the six members of Oboro's core team, the remaining seventeen people had decided to return home.
To escape their predicament, they would rely on the two Nen users capable of flight and carrying others. Once they left, there would be no way of knowing when or if they would return, meaning those who stayed behind would lose their means of escape. Anyone with an ounce of sense would not pass up this opportunity.
Oboro, Menchi, and the others came to the deck. Turbulent black waters crashed against the hull, waves splashing upward with thunderous noise.
Under the dim light, the Conjurer summoned a box between his hands, opened it, and one by one the departing members jumped in, their bodies shrinking until they fell into the container. Another Nen user, a Transmuter, gathered materials and equipment from the ship, and in moments had assembled a small aircraft. The two Nen users prepared to take the rest of the people on board.
Before leaving, they seemed to want to say something to Oboro, but seeing their leader wave goodbye, they abandoned the thought.
Then, a beam of light shot up from the darkness into the sky.
The aircraft flew into the distance.
Oboro walked to the side of the boat, his expression indifferent.
He watched carefully.
The aircraft had flown less than a kilometer when suddenly, a black shadow shot out from the sea and struck the carrier. A ball of fire burst out in the air the aircraft destroyed, its passengers killed instantly.
The aura of the seventeen people quickly vanished.
Dead.
Oboro showed no surprise, and neither did Menchi or the others.
It was night, and even though the sky wasn't blocked by dark clouds, there were few stars and moonlight. The black sea water had extremely low reflectivity, making the entire space feel like an enormous black cage. Most visible light was absorbed by the dark waters, creating an unnaturally dim environment.
The slightest light appeared dazzling by contrast.
"It seems the captain was right. Hope and disaster truly coexist," one of them remarked.
"Those people had to go with me," Oboro said coldly. "Since we're exploring the Dark Continent, fewer people is better. Too many increase our risk exponentially compared to the help they provide. Group movement makes us an easier target. From now on, we are the prey we must be cautious."
"The survival rate is extremely low"
Several of them exchanged knowing smirks.
We've known all along that the captain was sending those people to their deaths.
"Did you see it clearly?" Menchi approached Oboro and asked.
"Yes." His eyes were serious, focus unwavering.
His perception was remarkably strong. He had seen the object hidden beneath the water with perfect clarity.
A tentacle.
A monster lurked beneath the sea.
But what had shot and killed the fleeing group was a powerful rush of water.
"The so-called energy substance must be a liquid secreted or produced by it," Oboro said matter-of-factly.
It?
Menchi's expression shifted slightly.
What kind of secretion could spread and infect an entire ocean? How massive must this creature be?
"Go and turn on all the lights," Oboro ordered.
"Yes, sir."
Gabwich hurried to comply.
Half a minute later, every light on the ship blazed to life, cutting through the darkness with startling brightness.
Oboro summoned his Nen, standing proudly at the bow as ghostly aura swirled around him. With hands in his pockets, he stared at the black sea churning before him. His heart sank.
"Come out," he commanded, not speaking aloud but projecting a powerful wave of Nen directly before him.
Then a terrifying scene unfolded!
The vast waters rose skyward, the entire sea level seeming to border the heavens themselves. A true tsunami formed before the six people as an object as massive as an island emerged from the deep. It had pink skin, with enormous tentacles dancing in the air.
The 'natural disaster' happening around them was caused entirely by this creature's movements.
Their ship was in danger of capsizing at any moment a small boat in a raging storm, absurdly small and hopelessly outmatched.
"An octopus?"
Anthony's jaw dropped, his mind blank with shock.
They all looked up at the monster filling their entire field of vision.
The octopus's body was only half-exposed, at least a few kilometers away, but its terrifying size created the illusion that it loomed directly before them. Most horrifying was that their ship was roughly the same size as a single suction cup on the creature's tentacle. It wouldn't need to exert any effort a casual swing of one tentacle would be enough to obliterate them.
The hull shook violently, losing balance several times but somehow remaining stable.
Black seawater had already drenched the deck and cabin. Strangely, the falling tsunami hadn't directly struck the hull.
This octopus is controlling the water with its Nen.
Anthony remembered something Oboro had once said that the World Tree in the human world was merely a small sapling compared to the Dark Continent. Given that scale, perhaps the monster's colossal size wasn't so surprising.
But it remained utterly breathtaking.
"OOOAARRGH!"
The octopus released a deafening roar like that of a massive beast.
A gust of wind swept over them, and Menchi and the others immediately used their Nen to stabilize themselves, covering their ears against the thunderous sound.
Only Oboro, at the front, remained perfectly calm.
His heart pounded not from shock, but from excitement.
He had seen this octopus illustrated in ancient books, which meant that despite their limited information, they were correct! It also validated information about other Dark Continent species.
"As expected, it can understand Its intelligence isn't low," Oboro murmured, looking up at the two moon-sized pupils above. He spoke softly: "Get out of my way!"
The octopus's howl had been a form of communication.
It had sensed that the tiny creature before it belonged to the same tier of beings as itself.
It too was a member of the food chain.
This was a conversation between forces at the Dark Continent level.
The octopus hadn't immediately attacked their ship because it had been sensing a threatening aura.
"Although it possesses some intelligence, its ecology is different. It operates purely on survival of the fittest the strong dominate the weak." Faced with Oboro's warning, the octopus raised its tentacles without hesitation.
It could understand, but appeared unwilling to accept communication.
For this creature, the most effective language was not words, but strength.
Big fish eat small fish.
"That makes things simple" Oboro understood.
His body instantly transformed, ghostly flames engulfing him entirely. Billowing black fog spread outward as Oboro flew toward the creature, accompanied by thousands of spectral forms within the mist.
He closed the distance of several thousand meters in an instant.
In a flash, he reached the octopus's massive body.
Bending his elbow, he formed a fist.
As he moved, the surrounding black fog suddenly exploded, creating a vacuum zone.
Then, Oboro drove his fist forward like a spear, piercing the octopus's flesh.
Circle after circle of strange ripples spread throughout the creature's body from the point of impact. There was no physical damage the monster didn't bleed.
Because Oboro's attack targeted the soul itself!
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion resounded through the sky, but Menchi and the others couldn't hear it.
This was the collision of spiritual energy the clash of souls.
The octopus's enormous body suddenly trembled as an incomparably vast amount of soul energy was blasted from its body by Oboro's strike. Just as this energy was about to dissipate, it was instantly swept up by the black mist, absorbed and contained.
One hit, one kill!
The octopus died instantly, but its tentacles already in mid-strike toward the hull continued their downward trajectory.
Before the tentacles touched the ship, the air pressure had already caused the sea to sink, while an unstoppable ocean current surged toward them.
CRASH!
The tentacles smashed into the sea. The boat shattered instantly, fragments swept away by the current, disappearing without a trace.
Oboro stood suspended in the void, looking back at the churning sea with a frown.
He expanded his perception
After a moment, several figures emerged on the surface.
Anthony and the others had survived.
In the brief chaos, Rita, one of the team members, had been swept several kilometers away along the seabed by the undercurrent. Fortunately, Oboro's perception range was vast enough to locate her.
These few people were worthy of his training.
In the dark sea, guided by ghostly presences floating above their heads, they swam toward the octopus's corpse.
Almost everyone was covered in an ink-like substance, making them unrecognizable.
Thankfully, this energy substance caused no harm to their bodies.
But Rita was still injured.
The others looked pale and exhausted.
They had jumped from the boat in time, but the tentacle's impact with the water had created violent currents that struck them with amazing force and destructiveness. Fortunately, Oboro had killed the monster quickly, leaving the tentacles with only downward momentum rather than active power.
Otherwise, they might all have died from that single blow.
Oboro returned to his normal state, detaching from the ghostly mist. He stood atop the octopus's body, which hadn't yet sunk into the sea, and pulled his companions onto the "flesh island" one by one.
"Take a break," he said simply.
Oboro offered no comfort, no reassurance. This was the Dark Continent.
Before coming here, Menchi and the others had already prepared themselves for death.
This encounter had given them a glimpse of what Dark Continent power truly meant.
Oboro was certain this octopus ranked at the bottom of the food chain here because it didn't involve the fundamental rules, the weird, the truly extraordinary powers that existed in this place.
"Is is it dead?" Fant and the others remained shaken.
Before such a monster, they weren't ants they were specks of dust.
Even using their strongest Nen attacks against the octopus would probably feel like mosquito bites to the creature
Yet their captain had killed it with a single strike!
"Is the equipment still intact?" Oboro looked at Rita, who was covered in the black substance.
"Yes! Captain, I protected it carefully!" Though seriously injured, Rita appeared energetic, shouting enthusiastically.
She indicated the special backpack placed beside her.
The others' packs were also there made of special materials that had repelled the seawater.
"Good." Oboro nodded.
He turned his gaze toward the darkness ahead.
"We're incredibly unlucky," Anthony complained, lying on the ground and gasping for breath. "We've encountered this horrible creature before even reaching the Dark Continent. According to Netero and Beyond's travel reports, they both reached the other side without such trouble."
"The routes are different after all" Fant opened his backpack and took out his treasured cigarettes.
After lighting one, he held it between his lips.
His fingers trembled slightly. Though his voice sounded calm, his true state was obvious.
Gabwich extracted a small tube, walked a short distance away, and collected energy substance samples from the seawater. Then he retrieved paper, pen, and recording equipment from his bag to document their findings.
Oboro lowered his head, clenched his fists, and glanced at something only he could see.
"The numerical values are no longer displayed they're presented in the food chain sequence of the Dark Continent," he murmured, smiling with cold excitement in his eyes.
"But there's a clear sense of getting stronger That's excellent!"
"This is a treasure trove yet to be explored"
"I will conquer this place."
Evolve and keep on evolving.