Chapter 532

Chapter 532: Being Full Leads to Thoughts of Something Universal

“Uh…”

“Ahhhhh—!”

With painful roars, the sounds echoed in the “Abyssal Sea” within the Endless Ether.

The Tyrants in the “Abyssal Sea” trembled with fear and dared not speak.

The “Abyssal Carpet” had been in a very bad mood lately.

They thought this was likely due to the unfavorable battle situation.

After a long mobilization, a relatively large army had finally been organized in the Abyss to launch an overwhelming attack against the Ether Mother and the Chaos Demon God lurking in the shallow ether.

However…

It was useless.

The reason was simple: they were fighting on two fronts.

The alliance between the Ether Mother and the Chaos Council did not seem too clever to the Abyss; after all, they were separated by the “Abyssal Sea” and found it hard to support each other.

But when the fighting began, the Abyss realized it had become a “sandwich.”

When they attacked the Chaos side, the Ether Mother backstabbed; when they attacked the Ether Mother, the Chaos Demon God backstabbed.

They could not win on either front…

A Chaos deity occasionally soared in the high void, seeming to offer no help to the battle, but he could easily cross the “Abyssal Sea” to relay messages to the Ether Mother and the Chaos deities.

Moreover, the Ether Mother herself had a powerful deity like the “King of Ether” on her side, making the battle quite challenging.

The attacks toward the Chaos Demon God also mostly yielded no good results.

Even when they invaded his lair—the despicable “Fantasy Tree Dam”—the deities from the Endless Ether suffered from being out of place, leading to a big drop in combat power.

Although the losses for the Abyss were not huge—manageable and replenishable—it still felt very frustrated.

But the Ether Tyrants did not know that the Abyss’s agitation came not just from the bad battle situation.

Much of its discomfort stemmed from…

“Uh…”

“My Divine Body… my Divine Body felt so uncomfortable!”

The Abyss often felt an intermittent “hidden pain” in its Divine Body; this pain was strange, elusive, and unpredictable.

Whenever it lost focus, pain flared here and there.

But when it redirected its attention and used divine power to locate the pain points, they vanished without a trace; leaving only waves of discomfort and dissatisfaction.

Its body felt uncomfortable and unwell…

But it could not pinpoint where exactly.

This sense of weakness and powerlessness frustrated the Abyss, making its emotions more and more volatile!

“Roar—!”

The irritated roar erupted again in the Sea of Ether.

The Ether Usurpers swiftly swam away.

Their minds were already dim-witted, now grown unstable and volatile.

Should unwarranted anger truly strike them, these Ether Usurpers couldn’t endure it.

"I… I’ve decided!"

"Huff… huff…"

The Abyss’s irritable voice reverberated through the Endless Ether.

"Everything stems from those ‘Fantasy Tree Dams’ blocking the Abyss’s expansion!"

"Before its emergence, the Ether Mother and I coexisted peacefully for ages. All was well then!"

"But since its appearance, everything’s gone awry!"

"It must be torn down!"

"Previous attempts were merely minor tests, which proved ineffective."

"This time, I’ll intensify our efforts!"

"You there!"

The Ether Mother’s command echoed across the Abyssal Sea.

Medium and small fish-shaped deities drifted forward in great numbers. Neither their divine forms nor magic power reached Usurper level.

Their strength varied wildly, ranging from Secondary Chaos Gods to back-row councilors.

These Ether subordinates swarmed throughout the Endless Ether. Though each held territories, most obeyed powerful Ether Usurpers.

They served as vassals to the Abyss’s own vassals—the backbone of its forces.

The Abyss recognized no principle of "my vassal’s vassal isn’t mine." All deities obeyed its direct commands.

Yet mobilization proceeded sluggishly.

The full-scale war had long since begun. Over a dozen divine battles—great and small—had raged. The Ether Abyss itself had been breached repeatedly. Still, only fragments of the backbone forces had gathered.

"Go!"

"All of you—infiltrate the shallow ether!"

"Penetrate beyond the tree dam!"

"Though past assaults failed, we didn’t return empty-handed!"

"That shallow Ether Sea behind the Fantasy Tree—it seems chaos’s vital core, meticulously guarded!"

"We strike there!"

Hearing the Abyss’s order, the chaos deities stirred uneasily.

Their stronger, swifter predecessors had attempted this and returned broken. Our power likely falls short of theirs.

And now we’re being sent?

As cannon fodder!?

“Don’t worry!”

The Abyss noticed the concerns of the various “Ether subordinates” and quickly reassured them, “The defenses of the Chaos Demon Gods over there are strong, but their numbers are low.”

“This time, some powerful Tyrants will join you.”

“They are massive, and swimming into the shallow Ether Sea behind the ‘Fantasy Tree Dam’ may hinder their power, but these formidable Warriors can help hold back the limited strong Chaos Demon Gods for you!”

“All you need to do is take advantage of the opportunity they create and rush into the Inner Dam Shallow Sea!”

“That place is incredibly rich!”

“There, deities with abundant divine ranks and delicious flavors are found, yet they cannot move and lack ways to defend themselves!”

“There, Outer Gods live in luxury and laziness, used to a peaceful life, weak and soft like lambs.”

“They are like pieces of fat meat, waiting for you to bite into them, making your mouths greasy!”

“My greedy offspring, my greedy subjects, what are you waiting for?!”

“As long as you go!”

“It will all be yours!”

The Abyss’s method of mobilization still relied on “deception.”

But this time, He spoke the truth…

At least it was what He knew.

With each piece of good news, along with the Abyss’s greedy, hateful, and urgent will to vent pain, greed slowly filled the souls of the Ether subordinates.

“Roar—!”

“Howl! Howl! Howl!”

Greed burst from their mouths.

“Boom—!”

“Whoosh—!”

Another large-scale “Divine Battle” began!

The massive and powerful Ether Usurpers led the way, moving slowly forward; behind them came a swarm made up of hundreds of Ether subordinates.

Though the Ether Usurpers had huge Divine Bodies, they looked small next to the big group of subordinates!

The Ether subordinates rushed ahead, their eyes shining with endless greed.

They were like individual investors holding “nest eggs,” dreaming of riches, charging toward the stock market!

—-

“Wow!”

Trilobite was shocked.

“Another big discovery!”

“Thud…thud…thud…”

Before his travels, Trilobite was someone who seemed very boring to others but found life quite interesting himself.

For example, he was grown up, yet still observed ants moving homes and fighting like a child.

He often watched with great interest.

The reason he followed that mass of "plant ash," "mud," and "burnt animal remains" forming the "black mud dragon" to the shallow sea was to see what happened when feeding these to "ancient cup animals."

"If they wilt, I can just use Chaos Energy to revive them anyway."

Trilobite still had over a million Chaos Energy left—more than enough.

Yet the outcome surprised him.

"What the hell…"

"Are these even ancient cup animals!?"

As the black torrent drifted over the "ancient cup animals," sprinkling "plant ash" and "animal corpses," those creatures suddenly stirred!

"Zzzrt—!"

"Hiss—!"

The ancient cup animals twisted, sprouting long, thorny tentacles one after another.

Like jellyfish tentacles.

But not as slender as a man o’ war’s—these were relatively stubby and thick.

They swayed excitedly, whether from triggered mutation or primal hunger after prolonged starvation.

"This is truly unexpected."

"I always thought ancient cup animals were ‘sponge creatures,’ but turns out they’re stinging creatures like corals!?"

Actually, scientific debates raged about which phylum ancient cup animals belonged to.

Mainstream science still classified these earliest reef-builders as sponge animals.

After all, many living sponges resembled "ancient cup animals"…

They shared openings and tubular or cup-shaped forms, just less exaggerated.

"But I’ve never heard of sponge animals growing tentacles."

"Facts prove mainstream science wrong."

"Ancient cup animals are indeed stinging creatures like corals."

"Huh… Normally you look all colorful, packed with symbiotic bacteria—I thought you were gentle. Never imagined such brutality."

To Trilobite, though these "ancient cup animals" lived like corals through "filter feeding" and "microbial symbiosis," they were far fiercer!

What could corals’ chubby little tentacles even accomplish?

By contrast, these translucent-tentacled "ancient cup animals" were formidable.

Not only did they host symbiotic algae and bacteria for energy like corals—their tentacles were also highly developed and agile, swaying with currents.

Like jellyfish rooted to the seabed.

Usually quiet, they instantly transformed into flesh-craving gluttons at the sight of meat, dead or alive.

And their hunger wasn’t for mere taste.

“Hiss…”

A tiny “ancient cup sprout” slowly grew out from the massive parent body.

Many large and small “light specks” released slowly from the ancient cup animals, drifting across the waters, floating toward unexplored areas.

“Wow!”

“So the ‘ancient cup animals’ reproduced based on ‘eating meat’!?”

“Hmm…”

“That made sense.”

As the saying went, “Warm and well-fed, the mind turns to lust.” Many animals knew this too; they often chose to breed when food was plentiful.

For one, it ensured the young had enough food to survive better. Also, when parents were full, their “sperm” and “eggs” grew stronger, producing better offspring.

“Uh…”

“Too bad… this wave of mud dragon was mostly ash.”

“Few burnt animals here—might not fill you up.”

Without a good meal, breeding wouldn’t go well.

The “ancient cup animals”’ expansion spree might end early.

Unacceptable!

“Had to find a way to get these guys some meat…”

“But where’d the meat come from…”

Just then…

“Splash—!”

“Hiss—!”

Another huge wave crashed over!

Ordinarily, this meant nothing.

Drought was shifting to global warmth and wetness. Sea levels rose steadily; large-scale Marine Invasion was underway.

Big waves were normal.

The “tree dam” stood guard against them.

But this time, Trilobite sensed something odd.

“Hmm!?”

“Why’d this wave feel heavier?”

Trilobite lifted his head, peering at the churning water.

Amid the spray, he spotted countless “light specks”!

Scales!

Swarms of fish rode the waves straight toward them!