A faint light was appearing ahead.
Get closer to where the light comes from.
A large rock appeared on the distant horizon.
It was a small mass of light hanging on the tip of a branch of aquatic plants that grew on the rock.
Fortunately, there appeared to be no other members of the unit nearby.
It seemed like they arrived the fastest.
Axion approached the mass of light, hugging it.
It was a mass of light that looked exactly like the Aura Stone that Keisha had thrown.
The light illuminated their figures in the darkness.
But Elijah's eyes narrowed.
That was when Axion quickly extended his hand to grab the mass of light.
"Wait!
Not that!"
But it was already too late.
Axion pulled the mass of light with all his might.
But it didn't come out right, as if it was tightly tangled in the aquatic plants.
The tangled aquatic plants stretched tight, as if they would be ripped out with them.
So I shuddered-
At that moment, the rock began to shake.
'Surely this is…!'
Elijah's face froze.
“Leave it quickly!”
Axion sensed something unusual, so he let go of the mass of light and stepped back.
flash!
The mass of light that was gently glowing emitted a powerful flash.
At the same time, the rock began to shake violently and strong water sprays rose.
“…”
Their bodies were swept away by the spray of water, so they lost their balance and fell backwards.
A crack opened in the middle of the rock.
It turns out it wasn't a rock.
Rather, it was a monster that looked like a giant fish.
On his head he carried long branches that resembled aquatic plants, and at their tips a mass of light glowed.
'You look like an anglerfish!'
The mass of light attached to the monster's head was, frankly, confusable with an aura stone.
As expected, this was undoubtedly a trap set by Keisha.
That Keisha had released anglerfish monsters carrying corona stone-like light blocks into the lake to deceive the unit's members!
But that's not all.
“Keek!”
The fish monster looked extremely angry.
It was understandable, because after he was still, someone pulled the end of his head with all his might.
Of course, it was also obvious that the angry monsters attacking the unit members was part of Keisha's plan!
If Axion had not left the monster as quickly as Elia said, they might have been injured.
'He's a really malicious human being.'
He devised innovative training to truly torture the members of the unit.
The monster pounced on them, targeting them.
The teeth in his open mouth were extremely frightening.
Axion swam to the other side, embracing her.
But no matter how fast he swam, he couldn't overcome the fish monster.
The monster opened its mouth to swallow them both.
aloud!
Axion delivered a powerful punch to the monster's face.
The monster's face turned to the other side.
It was a powerful punch even underwater.
While the monster was in a daze, they quickly fled.
How many swam?
Small masses of light began to appear floating here and there.
As they approached, they saw members of the unit who had entered the lake desperately running away from the fish monster, wounded.
It was obvious that everyone pulled out the monster's head, thinking that it was an aura stone.
So, where could the real Aura Stone be?
•
“Meanwhile, they must be having a struggle with the anglerfish monsters.”
Theo said as he looked at the calm surface of the lake, and Keisha nodded.
“If they think it's a Halo Stone, then sure.”
Theo shook his head and shivered involuntarily.
This training was similar to the Imperial Army's underwater training they had done previously.
At that time, the training was to find the real stone by hiding other beads similar to the Aura Stone.
Being in those cold waters was also difficult to endure, so everyone suffered.
When he recalled suffering from hypothermia even after training, Theo felt as if the chill of that time was seeping into his body again.
But Keisha went a step further, devising a drill in which he placed monsters with light blocks instead of fake beads.
'It's tough training.'
But it was also evidence that this unity was becoming stronger.
Otherwise, this would not be training, but simply senseless mass death, or genocide.
But the infected will undoubtedly increase.
Theo sighed, then picked up the first aid box and asked.
“More importantly, where did you hide the Aura Stone?”
“There is a saying: ‘If you want to hide a tree, hide it in the forest.’”
“It can't be...”
Theo had a hunch.
Keisha smiled.
“Yes.
But bringing him will not be easy.”
•
Ilia thought as she watched the unit run away from the monsters.
'Sure there will be.'
Although it seemed like she had thrown it randomly, Keisha had hidden the Aura Stone in a place that was clearly difficult to find.
And she had a place to expect.
If it was “that place,” it wouldn’t be easy to bring the Aura Stone even if they knew its location.
But she could bring the Aura Stone safely, no matter how dangerous the place was.
'I have to go to that place first.'
Axion was still swimming, hugging her tightly.
Although she felt uncomfortable, a strange warmth seeped into her body.
'By the way, isn't this boy still not choking yet?'
When Ilia saw Axion diving for at least 20 minutes since entering the water without any signs of fatigue, she shook her head in admiration inwardly.
She only had about 10 minutes left.
Meanwhile, Axion was slowly approaching his maximum limits.
He felt suffocated and dizzy in his head.
But he didn't want to show his fatigue.
Especially in front of Erhan, and not anyone else.
He gritted his teeth and held his breath.
Moreover, how did Erhan know that that mass of light was not the Corona Stone?
He remembered the image of Erhan trying to stop him.
If he hadn't warned him, they might have been in danger.
Is this also within this boy's abilities?
“Now is the time, we should go there.”
A huge anglerfish monster appeared swimming by itself, Illya said as she gently stroked Axion's arm.
Normally he would have ignored her, but remembering what had just happened, Axion obediently complied with her words.
He wanted to confirm Erhan's abilities properly.
'What made him listen to me so obediently today?'
Elia felt a little confused.
If he hadn't listened, she would have even considered biting and dismembering that arm that tightly wrapped her body.
'Well, it's a good thing we didn't fight.'
Once the signal was received, Axion calmly swam towards the monster.
“Follow it, sticking just below it so it won’t notice us.”
When she whispered softly, Axion did as she said.
Stick to the bottom of the monster's belly and follow it.
The monster swam somewhere.
He was very fast, but Axion was just as fast.
Honestly, if he hadn't been holding her like that and she had swum alongside him, she would never have been able to catch him.
Their eyes widened when they saw where the monster had arrived.
Gooooo-
There, dozens, even hundreds, of masses of light gathered.
It was a colony where fish monsters lived.
'Kisha definitely hid the Aura Stone here.'
Elia was sure.
If he was going to hide the Aura Stone, hiding it among the masses of light that most closely resembled him was the safest.
In addition, since the monsters were not alone but gathered in flocks, the unit members who were attacked by the monsters would immediately avoid this place even if they discovered it.
But how could they find and extract the Aura Stone among these hundreds of monsters?
No matter how superior Axion's physical abilities were, it was impossible to defeat those monsters.
But Elia smiled broadly.
'But I can find it.'
Even without the monsters touching a single hair.
Because that was the essence of her plan.
She took something out of her pocket.
Axion's eyes shook when he saw this.
It was the sword of his family's heir, which he had given to Elijah and Yusar as payment for bringing a pair of black crystals just before the march.
Yusar was so enraged by this sword that he kept it for himself instead.
A slight look of mockery passed through Axion's blue eyes.
His gaze was asking, “Do you intend to defeat all those monsters with this little dagger?”
Of course not.
She stared at the sword calmly.
Specifically, she was looking at the teardrop of the sword blade fixed at its tip.
Tinnitus-
Soon the transparent, teardrop-shaped glass stone began to vibrate.