God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Golden light burst out of Cain's eyes. His fingers spread out as he linked to the shining blades of metal.

"Fly..."

A tornado of metal, blood, and flesh was created instantly...

Since he had total control over the seven blades, it was not a problem for him to create a hurricane of flying blades.

However, a frown made its way onto Cain's face when he felt the feedback coming through the blades. Although he was able to draw blood and cut through their flesh, the {7 Golden Stars} weren't enough to kill the creatures. Their defensive scales were incredibly tough, making them hard to kill.

All this happened in the blink of an eye, so the fishes were still airborne with the {7 Golden Stars} revolving around them still. Cain's eyes narrowed dangerously as he controlled the swords to spin a second time. This time around, the mutant creatures were unable to resist the sharp edges of his magically produced blades and were turned into mince meat.

'Just a few random Normal grade creatures are so hard to deal with... I wonder how terrifying the stronger ones will be.' Cain had a crossed expression as he brought his blades to engage in battle with other {Blackscale Swordfish}.

Meanwhile, every one of them experienced their battles within the water...

Hunter dashed at the school of mutant swordfish with his claws drawn. Suddenly, numerous magic circles appeared all around him. They immediately disintegrated to produce several mutants {Flame Hounds}.

"Summon Sacrifice: Duplicate..."

All the {Flame Hounds} burst into flames, boiling the surrounding water in the process. The water eventually settled to reveal five clones of Hunter. These clones emitted a strong aura and looked exactly like him. However, their eyes were lifeless and showed no signs of intelligence.

Like bullets, they dashed into the school of fish and began a rampage. The water was dyed crimson as both the clones and mutant beasts tore into one another.

'The clones are strong, but these mutant sea creatures are on a whole different level.'

Hunter watched in awe as his clones struggled to fight against an equal number of {Blackscale Swordfish}. The combination of the creature's defense and offense made them tough opponents to deal with.

'Dealing with them chair-on will just be a pain. Using-'

Before his train of thought could be completed, Hunter heard a loud noise travel through the water. Turning his head, his eyes turned wide like saucepans as he gazed at Manny go completely wild, without any care for his wellbeing...

The loud sound was a war cry from Manny as he twirled his blades so fast, a mini underwater tornado was created.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

Manny's blades clashed against the sharp bills and scaly exteriors of the mutant creatures, creating sparks underwater. Despite their defenses, they were no match for Manny's skilled and violent continuous onslaught. He either dodged or parried the attacks directed at him, sustaining no injuries whatsoever...

'This guy...' Hunter was speeches at this scene, but eventually shook his head and focused on the opponents before him.

***

"Hmm... I have a bad feeling."

Starting straight at the grey skies overhead, Steve blinked several times a second, maybe due to the slight sunlight streaming straight into his pupils, or nervousness...

"En..." A sound of agreement escaped from Susan's throat as magic runes jumped around in her pupils.

The fights beneath and above the waves were still ongoing, but a serene air gathered around Susan, completely unaffected by the bloody adrenaline-filled air.

"Great danger in all directions. That's all I see..." She said, a frown appearing between her brows.

"I see it too... A sea of blood and a black-winged angel. These things seem too ominous to be ignored, don't they?" Steve said with a small smile.

Jenny, who had been paying attention to the conversation suddenly chimed in,

"What do you mean by danger? How can you know something like that?" she asked curiously.

Usan directed a sideways glance at her before answering, "It's a unique light elemental spell that can allow one to view things that shouldn't be revealed to mortals..."

Jenny had a confused look as she had difficulty comprehending magic of such nature. Her understanding of magic was tilted toward a completely different area of focus.

"Things that shouldn't be revealed?"

Seeing that Jenny had trouble understanding, Susan decided to just show her. Although she had a few underlying concerns about Jenny and her involvement with Cain, it didn't warrant her acting a certain way that would make Jenny cautious of her. After all, they were still a team, for now...

A magic circle that emanated a holy radiance appeared in her hand. She gave Jenny a questioning look before she planted it on her forehead once she got a nod as confirmation.

The spell Susan had used was a spell that allowed her to reveal a certain vision to another individual. It was a divination-type spell related to the light element and was very useful for non-combat and combat situations. This method of conveyance would allow the person viewing the vision to create their unique interpretation of the vision...

After a few seconds, Susan gently lifted her hand, causing Jenny, who had been in a trance to wake up.

"Now you know..." Susan said coldly, an air of pride and superiority around her. As she turned away with a harrumph. Despite her understanding, she still couldn't help but be a little bit petty...

'Such an overpowered skill...' Although the skill didn't seem useful in combat, Jenny knew that the utility of the skill was way more than it seemed. A skill like that, if upgraded to higher levels, would allow the user to predict enemy moves before they could even think of making them. Such a skill bent the distinctions between what was formerly reality and complete madness...

"I couldn't get much from it..." Jenny said with a frown.

"That's okay. I wasn't expecting much to begin with." Susan said dismissively.

Although Jenny could sense the bite within Susan's words, she didn't say a word but narrowed her eyes into slits. Such was the confusing nature of feminine strife...

Steve let out a chuckle when he saw the exchange between the two. However, he wisely chose to stay out of it...

"Regardless, we can only face what happens as it comes. Sometimes, knowing the revealed things might not be a good thing."

"You are right. However, it still doesn't hurt to be a little bit extra cautious." Susan said with a dark expression. She let out a sigh before turning to face Jenny,

"Whole you might not be very strong now, your skills have a lot of potential in them. All you need to do is get creative a little..." Susan said with a quiet tone. The earlier sass she had had also disappeared.

Not knowing what to say, Jenny wore a confused expression. Since she was a pacifist by nature, she tended to make her responses reduce conflict as much as possible. Despite Susan's obvious coldness toward her, she chose to respond indifferently. However, this change in treatment was too sudden, even for her...

"Just giving you a word of advice..." Susan said indifferently, although she couldn't hide the slight blush that appeared on her cheeks.

This caused Jemny to let out a smile...

'I tend to forget that despite being in such conditions, just a few weeks ago, we were all just students attending a college together...'

"Thanks..." Jenny said sincerely.

Steve had a weird smile on his face as he stroked the non-existent facial hair on his chin...

***

'Still not enough to level, huh...'

Cain stared at the sky above him with a profound look. All around him was a patch of ocean stained with the blood of multiple {Blackscale Swordfish}. Pieces of flesh also floated in this region of crimson, but the corpses of the mutant swordfish were nowhere to be seen.

"They were a little more than anticipated..." Cain said to himself. Cain killed a total of 19 {Blackscale Swordfish}, earning him a a total of 57,000 exp points. Although it seemed like a lot, it wasn't enough for him to gain a level...

Hunter suddenly broke out of the water's surface and stared at Cain deeply. Water dripped down his furry body as he kicked beneath the water's surface to stay afloat.

"Things are much more complicated than you thought, right?" Hunter said.

"Yeah..." A frown made its way onto Cain's face as he tore his gaze away from the grey skies.

A chuckle reverberated within his throat and seeped out from his closed lips.

"What do we do now? Do you think we can deal with other potential threats when these Normal-grade mutants are so tough to deal with?" Hunter said, his gaze still fixed on Cain.

Cain hummed something under his breath before turning to Hunter with a slight smile,

"What else can we do besides fight?" Slowly, the slight smile turned into a large grin that revealed only one thing to Hunter...

Despite being in such a potentially perilous situation, he wasn't in the least bit scared. He was worried, cautious, and maybe even anxious. But one thing was for sure...

He was excited as well...

Excited at the possibilities that would reveal themselves when he tackled every problem to the ground...

Hunter could see a burning flame of fighting spirit within Cain's eyes that, fortunately, or not, ignited this fore as well...

Cain summoned his menacing {Black Claw} from his inventory and hung it across his shoulders with a wide grin. He placed the tip into the surface of the water and watched as the devilish weapon absorbed all the blood, instantly clearing the water's surface to reveal the Inky darkness once again.

He shook his hand a little to shake the water droplets on the tip of his blade before returning it to his inventory.

Hunter let out a hearty chuckle as he stared at Cain in awe.

'He's one crazy bastard, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing... Let's see what the future holds.' Hunter thought to himself as he felt the excitement reviving his heart he had once thought to be missing...

***

Dan stared at the endless waters before him with an indifferent expression. Every once in a while, he would stop to give the Old man he carried a few mana potions to keep the creation of the bridge in steady progress.

Suddenly, something in the distance caught his eye, causing him to focus his vision on it. Dan had an expression of doubt, suspicious, but most importantly, relief on his face as he recognized what the object that was fast approaching was...

"A speed boat!" Dan exclaimed.

However, since he was smart, and had been informed by Hunter on what to do in such a situation, he swiftly tapped the old man across the shoulder.

"What is it?" Old Man Ling asked.

"Let's turn back. Deactivate your skill on the count of three..." Dan said as he readied himself to turn around.

"Wait! What?!" The Old man was obviously confused, but Dan didn't have any time to explain.

"One..."

"Wait! This is too sudden! Give me more time to"

"Two..."

Seeing that Hunter had no intentions of hearing him out, Old Man Ling wore a tired expression as he prepared to cut his spell.

"Three!"

The moment he heard the three, the old man instantly deactivated his skill. At the same time, Dan stabbed his heel into the solid ice beneath his feet and performed a twirl by angling his body in such a way that the generated momentum swung hum in the totally opposite direction he was moving in.

With the speed of a dozen cheetahs, Dan dashed back to the group with the old man who was in a state of shock.

***

A man standing on the speed boat Rollo was on had something catch his attention from the corner of his eye.

He decided to focus on what it was and was given a shock of a lifetime...

"W-what is that?!"