Chapter 295

Chapter 295: Captured Clodius

"Whoosh… whoosh…"

"This old man is terrifying."

"With my current power, I couldn’t possibly defeat him!"

Clodius waved his caudal fin and quickly fled through the Ether Sea; he was like a startled bird, wanting to get far from his powerful father.

He ran as far as he could!

The shadow from the last battle weighed heavy on him!

If he hadn’t played dead in time, he would have truly fallen!

Although Clodius had lost almost all his men before, and his eyes took a hit from a strange god, and he used up much power blasting with dragon breath and biting the "Predatory Tree," he wasn’t in terrible shape; his body wasn’t badly hurt.

Compared to that, his father, the "Emerald Shadow" Cassius Tiberea, was much worse off.

Clodius could tell he was badly hurt; though he had healed a bit, he was still very weak, too weak to use even a third of his full strength.

Yet even so, he beat Clodius in just two moves.

Without any magic, he just used his "Tail Fighting Technique" and "Bite Bone Skill."

If the Emerald Shadow hadn’t gone easy at the end, and if Clodius hadn’t played dead fast, Clodius would have died there!

After brushing close to death, Clodius cared more about living.

Fear kept growing in him, and the bad "bone wounds" from his father made him stiff, so he couldn’t turn quick.

His magical energy was almost gone from the earlier blasts and fighting his father’s biting.

If other Outer Gods or watching allies saw him, it would be over.

"I must… I must find a safe spot!"

"Right here!"

"Whoosh——!"

With a big sweep of his caudal fin, Clodius shot along a narrow "chaotic ether current" to the edge between the "Endless Ether Realm" and the "Chaos Swamp Realm."

"Even though that old man’s nest is in a place like this, it’s still a way off."

"Besides, he’d never think I’d hide in such a risky spot."

Yes, the border of the "Endless Ether Realm" and the "Chaos Swamp Realm" was pretty wide; the joining of the two worlds made a huge flow of stuff and energy.

Primal Mud floated here, and etheric liquid rushed around; bits of old gods’ bodies and shed skins got pulled from the deeps of the "Endless Ether."

The broken god-parts in the remains glowed, mixing with the Primal Mud, and made "tiny gods."

These gods had no minds; they just drifted in the wild energy flows.

They drew low, savage gods to come.

And those low gods brought bigger gods.

Even if they didn’t come to eat, resting their god-bodies in this rich energy spot was a big plus.

If Clodius healed here, he’d get better fast.

But the danger here meant he had little chance of surviving until his wounds healed.

His fear of his mother completely outweighed the perils of these rich yet treacherous waters.

"Whoosh…"

"Just a bit farther!"

"There should be a spot to rest and catch my breath!"

Unknowingly, Clodius had swum far from the "Chaos Swamp" toward the "Endless Ether."

The "ether" here seemed clearer on the surface but hid countless fine impurities.

Clodius had to cast spells to remove each impurity.

Beneath him, the murky "Primal Mud" gave way to powdery white "Ancient God Fragments."

Legends whispered among gods claimed these fragments were useless remnants of demon gods’ bodies after an earth-shattering battle.

Yet even worthless things find purpose!

"Swish——!"

Giant tentacles burst from the "Ancient God Fragments!"

"Slap——!"

"Boom——!"

They coiled violently around the Ether Dragon Clodius, leaving deep gashes on his body.

"Urk… ngh…"

Terrified and exhausted, Clodius screamed as the tentacles dragged him to the Ether Sea’s depths.

"Boom—Boom—Boom—!"

A mountain-sized divine body slowly rose from the fragments.

Countless massive tentacles sprouted from it—though enormous themselves, they looked tiny against its bulk.

"Boom——!"

A pagoda-like shell emerged from the white sandpile, easily twice Clodius’s size!

Two colossal eyes fixed on Clodius.

"Ha—ha—ha—!"

"Aren’t you the Emerald Shadow’s whelp?"

"Perfect! My closest ally, the Ether Usurper Bared Tooth Tsar Kutulaso, was slain by Emerald Shadow and some unknown accomplice."

"Yet my divine body prevents me from hunting them deep in the Chaos Swamp."

"But Ether Dragons move freely through that swamp, no?"

"You’re natives there!"

"Fortune smiles! I’ve caught quite a handy tool to exact my vengeance!"

Hearing this, Clodius thrashed wildly, twisting his divine body.

"No!"

"You are mistaken!"

"Although I am one of the offspring of the Emerald Shadow, my death will have no impact on my cold mother!"

"If you let me fall here, it will be meaningless!"

His words made the unknown Outer God pause for a moment.

"Oh…"

"I almost forgot about the twisted affection among you Ether Dragons."

"Then, we can change our relationship."

"Hiss…"

The tentacles of the unknown Outer God multiplied, wrapping around Clodius tighter and tighter.

"Pshhh——!"

A beak as hard as a parrot’s pierced Clodius’s scales, sending its ‘saliva’ into his body.

"Ugh…"

"Roar——!"

Clodius roared in pain.

"What… what did you inject into my body!?"

The young Ether Dragon felt waves of intense pain surging from within his divine body, as if a powerful venom was attacking every sacred cell.

The venom also seemed to be eating away at his soul, constantly growing and spreading, creating countless tiny divine fragments that invaded his soul!

"Roar——!"

Clodius let out a deafening roar.

He was in pain and full of resentment.

If he hadn’t clashed with his mother and been badly hurt, he wouldn’t have fallen into such a trap.

Normally, he could easily fight off and escape these tentacles.

But not now.

He felt completely powerless.

The Outer God tightened its grip, making all his struggles useless.

He also spoke a complex ‘ether spell.’

"You are truly a gift that came to me."

"So strong, yet now so weak, and one who knows the ‘Emerald Shadow’."

"Don’t worry, what I’m giving you is good…"

"It’s a weapon to help you defeat your mother!"

"Of course, it’s also the reins and saddle to control you!"

"Become my slave!"

"Ether Dragon!"

As the deep, wilderness spell concluded…

"Roar——!"

An earth-shattering roar exploded at the border between Endless Ether and Chaos Swamp!

"Hiss——!"

Tentacles slowly retracted one after another.

Then Clodius burst forward with a "whoosh".

His injuries had fully healed, his stamina restored to peak abundance!

Only his eyes were now dyed deep black, resembling the terrifying pure-black Abyss!

At that moment…

"Swish——!"

A long, fish-shaped deity swam past Clodius.

"Roar——!"

Clodius furiously opened his maw, glaring fiercely at the "fish-shaped" deity.

"Ah!?"

The fish-shaped deity turned in terror, meeting Clodius’s abyss-like eyes.

"Ugh…"

It convulsed, plummeting into the Ether Sea’s depths where waiting tentacles swiftly captured it.

"Hiss…"

The colossal tentacled creature absorbed the divine rank, golden fragments slowly separating and flowing into its parrot-like beak.

Finally, the fish-shaped deity lost all vitality, drifting lifelessly.

"Hehe…"

With a soft chuckle, the unknown Outer God’s Double Eyes "buzzed", losing all pupil definition as pure black consumed them—mirroring Clodius’s eyes exactly.

"This is the true might of us ‘Ether Rulers’."

"When you stare into the Abyss, the Abyss stares back—and might just curse you to death!"

"Those petty nuisances in the Primal Mud? Just frauds exploiting our name!"

"Now go!"

"Capture those two completely!"

—-

"Ah… um…"

Trilobite ripped apart the sac that had formed a "door curtain", sealing off the cave entrance, and gobbled it down.

He’d awakened from slumber.

Hungry. Needed sustenance.

Though the sac was his own bodily secretion…

Kinda like chewing fingernails or dead skin—disgusting. But hunger overruled such concerns.

Bodily changes were minimal, except his vision had transformed entirely.

"Oh!"

"Excellent!"

"Congratulations to me!"

"My sight finally evolved into pixel art… reaching…"

"Uh, at least 8K resolution now."

"Almost as sharp as the naked eye!"

Trilobite opened his eyes, beholding a vastly more vivid world!

"Heavens!"

"This world actually…"

With his new vision, he suddenly grasped the world’s "truth"!