Chapter 405

Chapter 405: Trilobite Acting Like a Polar Bear

“Ugh—ah—!”

After a cry of anguish, blood spread across the entire Ether Sea.

But there wasn’t much splashing.

The battle ended almost instantly.

No matter how formidable a creature’s size, the head remains a weakness—at least for vertebrates with concentrated nerve distribution.

Once the skull cracks, strength becomes useless!

Polar bears kill belugas by smashing their heads, ending them in one strike!

Yet hunting sea creatures from land carries a natural disadvantage: no chance to pursue.

If they miss and prey escapes into water, land animals can’t follow; even if they dive in, they usually can’t catch up.

Compared to land predators like lions, tigers, and leopards, polar bears have a lower hunting success rate.

For their most common prey, ringed seals, polar bears succeed only about ten percent of the time. Successfully hunting a beluga might be a once-in-several-lifetimes fortune.

But Trilobite hadn’t faced this problem.

He embodied the essence of generations of creatures!

Though his eyes lacked sharpness, he could easily spot the Birgeria fish’s head at close range.

His dynamic vision proved even better.

The Birgeria fish’s movements seemed like slow motion to him.

His forelimbs, while weaker than a polar bear’s, could still pin and drag prey.

The true killing tools were those saber teeth gleaming with terrifying cold light!

If he struck first, victory came instantly!

“Pshhh—!”

Trilobite’s saber teeth pierced the Birgeria fish’s skull, shattering its nerve center.

By divine reckoning, this "God’s Fang Sword" that breaks all laws had pierced the weak divine bones of the Assassin Gods, extinguishing their Soul instantly.

The creature died without even splashing water.

Tragic!

But Trilobite disagreed.

“Not bad at all.”

“It departed serenely.”

“Hey—whoosh—!”

Trilobite clamped down hard with the teeth between his sabers, hauling the prey ashore.

Blood cascaded like a waterfall from the bank into the lagoon, spreading steadily.

“First one, done!”

“Only three left!”

“But these three shouldn’t be so easy to catch.”

“Then let’s just wait.”

“Anyway, it’s high tide now.”

“Wait…”

“Oh, no need to wait.”

“The tide has already started to retreat.”

Trilobite had observed this "sandbank lagoon." In fact, the lakebed was higher than the surrounding area, but it was not flat; the terrain near the swamp was high, while the area close to the ocean was low, forming a shape that was high in the front and low in the back.

And the lowest point happened to be the waterway entrance of this "sandbank."

Once the tide retreated, the seawater in the lagoon would drain out through the entrance with the tide.

Although several low spots would retain pools of water, those pools were only "a few meters long" in Trilobite’s eyes. If the unnamed type of Birgeria fish got trapped there, it would just be waiting to be smashed by Trilobite’s saber teeth and dragged ashore.

—-

“Splash—!”

The Sea of Ether was retreating.

For a certain period, the Sea of Ether would go through a cycle of expansion and contraction.

This was the law of the entire Endless Ether, and one could even say it was a rule; like gravity, it was one of the fundamental laws of the Endless Ether, and there was no real reason to question it.

Although overall, the "Endless Ether" continued to expand, pressing against the Chaos Swamp, the Sea of Ether still firmly practiced its cycle of rising and falling.

This made it hard for the "Ether Assassins" that had come in seeking refuge.

They wanted to retreat but feared being blocked by Baimeng at the entrance of the "Ether Lagoon," who might swallow them one by one.

Staying put to take refuge, while they could temporarily squeeze into a newly formed "Ether Lake" created after the Sea of Ether retreated, three of them could confront a Machimosaurus, but they also worried about the "monster deity" strolling high above them.

“No… don’t be afraid!”

The largest and most experienced of the "Assassin Gods" comforted his companions, also trying to bolster his own courage with a stutter.

“Did you notice that Chaos Demon God’s Divine Body?”

“Though powerful in the Sea of Ether, he is foolish on dry land made of Ancient God Fragments or Primal Mud.”

“That’s the price of Powers!”

The so-called "Powers" meant obtaining dominion over a universe or sub-universe.

But this also meant that the deity who gained “Powers” would abandon the rest of the universes that were completely different from the "Powers’ attributes," and those other universes would resent them, punishing them when they arrived.

For example, Gimmerly.

She commanded the winds and rains in the void.

But when she entered the "Sea of Ether," which operated under a different set of rules, she inevitably sank like a stone.

Unless some rare deities excelled at navigating multiple paths simultaneously. With one Power, they gained the "understanding" of other universes, obtaining a negative exemption; only then could they move freely within other universes or sub-universes.

But doing so was remarkably difficult.

It was as difficult as being married yet constantly sneaking off to spend nights at other women’s homes while begging the wife’s forgiveness.

Whether the universe or sub-universe, they’re possessive "yandere" beings.

But deities like Baimeng—who gained the Powers of Shallow Ether from the Endless Ether—could still move freely in the Chaos Swamp Realm’s Ether Sea despite losing her authority’s potency.

After all, both were "Ether Seas"; different, yet not so different.

As for dual or multiple Powers…

That’s bigamy.

Don’t even think about it.

At least for now.

Baimeng faced this too.

When she crawled from the shallow Endless Ether onto the lagoon sandbank, she’d surely face the lagoon’s "hatred" and "resistance." Even core councilors would suffer heavy DEBUFFs then.

Baimeng’s Divine Body might weaken, her Soul could be disrupted, and magic might fail her.

"If we hide in the farthest ‘Ether Pool,’ Baimeng would struggle to reach us."

The "Ether Pool" meant vast depressions filled with etheric liquid—left behind after the Endless Ether receded, formed by Primal Mud and Ancient God Fragments.

These served as temporary shelters for ether deities

awaiting the next tide.

"Even if she reaches the edge, the universe’s loathing persists until she fully enters the Ether Sea. We just need to block her from the water."

"The key is finding an Ether Pool farthest from the Ether Sea to buy time…"

As the Ether Assassins strategized, seconds slipped away.

The Ether Sea’s tide had begun receding,

retreating swiftly.

The Ether Assassins prepared for their final, desperate stand!

Everything unfolded as predicted.

After the demon god Baimeng "came ashore," her Divine Body faltered under strain. She crawled sluggishly, her movement capability crippled, seemingly disoriented—often veering off course.

As for Shaks…

His Divine Body couldn’t leave the Ether Sea at all, consumed by primal, savage desires!

Only one problem remained…

"Thud… thud… thud…"

The colossal monster deity advanced like the Grim Reaper!