Chapter 404

Chapter 404: Such Cooperative Customers!

"We couldn’t hold on!"

"The enemy was too fierce!"

"Front! Behind!"

The Ether Sea grew murky.

Deities’ magic intertwined, churning countless energy-rich bubbles; blood and shredded flesh clouded vision and muddled scents.

Chaos engulfed the entire battlefield.

Panicked cries of Assassin Gods echoed through the Ether Sea.

Both ahead and behind, they faced foes far exceeding mission expectations.

These adversaries were larger, swifter, possessed tougher Divine Bodies, and wielded unstoppable magic.

Even worse, their attacks barely harmed the flanking demon gods.

Baimeng’s "divine bone armor" proved unyielding—bites left only light scratches, charges proved useless and rebounded damage, while spells failed to scorch even a mark.

Shaks moved so swiftly he outpaced magic itself, evading capture completely.

Against either Shaks or Baimeng, the "Assassin Gods" fell like helpless children.

By this stage, the battle resembled pigs gobbling melons—utterly one-sided.

Assassin Gods never suited such brutal confrontations.

Their strength lay in eliminating threats before they matured.

Unfortunately, this time they’d picked the wrong mark.

Assassins thrive on swift strikes; prolonged adversity transformed their "valor" into frantic retreat.

After losing three more comrades, the "Abyss Assassins" broke.

Scattering in all directions, each fled for survival.

Two tried escaping toward the Abyss depths, but Shaks overtook them with terrifying speed, snapping their lives away.

Though their initial skirmish with Baimeng caused no losses, Shaks’s ambush instantly killed four resting in reserve. Two forward scouts fell to Shaks, three perished in direct combat, and two more were chased down while fleeing…

Only four remained from the original fifteen Ether Assassins.

Seeing deep-ether escape impossible, they veered toward shallow ether.

"We must find shelter in a safe Ether Port! Await reinforcements!"

Fortune favored them.

The Will of the Abyss granted mercy.

"There!"

"A lagoon formed of Primal Mud and Ancient God Fragments!"

"Single entrance!"

"Extremely narrow passage!"

"One of those fellows couldn’t get in!"

Choosing a "lagoon-type" harbor with only one entrance was indeed a good place for small fish to evade big predators.

At least in that spot, Shaks couldn’t enter with his swift movements.

Without Shaks’s speed, the Ether Assassins could at least play cat-and-mouse with Baimeng in the lagoon; one chaser against four targets meant they could stall for ages, with decent survival odds.

That slim chance had to be seized!

The four remaining Ether Assassins slipped into the "lagoon harbor."

Just then, Shaks abruptly changed course—he abandoned Baimeng entirely and dove toward the shallows at the Bottom of the Ether Sea.

Soon came savage sounds of tearing and gulping.

“Hahaha…”

Hidden in the Ether lagoon, the Assassin Gods watched Baimeng struggle slowly ashore before she gave up crawling and stupidly blocked the entrance instead. Their laughter echoed.

Relief at surviving disaster bloomed inside them.

“I mock the Chaos Demon God’s stupidity!”

“If I were him, I’d have ambushed troops inside this lagoon! What then?”

“Ahh hahaha…”

Mid-lunatic laughter, while they swam gleefully around the lagoon—

“Thud…”

Ominous ripples shuddered through the water!

“Grooowl—rururu—!”

A low, greedy roar rumbled from above the surface!

Then…

“Whoosh—!”

Giant jaws plunged onto an “Assassin God” skimming the lagoon’s edge!

—-

“Perfect timing!”

“Just perfect!”

“They herded this huge Birgeria fish straight to my jaws!”

“Slurp!”

Trilobite stared at the hefty Birgeria fish, drooling greedily.

“Check that bulk!”

“That build!”

“So plump!”

“Definitely packed with blubber!"

For some reason, when Trilobite was human in his past life, he disliked fatty meat.

He rarely touched dishes like sweet-and-sour pork or Dongpo elbow, and sometimes even the smell of fat made him feel sick.

Yet he particularly enjoyed the "fat" in fish.

The fish oil from bellies, heads, and backs were his favorites.

Sea Fish’s structure—fewer bones, more flesh, richer oil—delighted him immensely.

"Hmm, truthfully, since crossing over and evolving into a predatory giant creature, I’ve sampled countless ancient delicacies."

"But I’ve never tasted proper Sea Fish."

"Can’t deny it’s a regret!"

"Today, I’ll make up for that!"

Seeing Machimosaurus guarding the entrance while four Birgeria fish swam happily in the shallow lagoon, he knew instantly: hunting time!

He crept to the lagoon’s edge and crouched.

Like a brown bear stalking salmon, or a polar bear waiting at a seal’s breathing hole.

Weight-wise, Trilobite indeed resembled a polar bear—both weighing hundreds of kilograms, both hunting marine prey.

Though polar bears mainly hunt sub-hundred-kilogram ringed seals, these apex predators occasionally take young/female elephant seals or even belugas.

Female or juvenile elephant seals reach hundreds of kilograms; belugas even more—their builds quite like Birgeria fish.

"So I’ll just imagine I’m a polar bear!"

Trilobite fixed his gaze on the "water surface," waiting patiently.

He feared no detection.

Birgeria fish inhabited open oceans. Their powerful build and group habits meant few predators. Typically, these fast swimmers stayed in shallow sea zones.

They weren’t bottom-dwellers—shallows meant food, right?

Thus, any threats came from below.

Above?

Even Mesozoic’s largest pterosaur might not outweigh a Birgeria, let alone hunt one.

Should a pterosaur dive for fish…

It’d be fortunate not to get bitten by Birgeria.

Hence their eyes adapted downward focus—no need for upward vigilance.

This evolutionary oversight gave Trilobite, playing polar bear, his chance!

"Now!"

"Whoosh—!"

Trilobite’s massive head lunged downward, baring razor teeth and saber teeth!