After nine resounding eruptions, the Coral Pavilion suddenly shone in a magnificent multi-coloured light.
WHOOOONG!
A mysterious force fell upon every person on Avina's fleet. The winds all the Artists had been creating had been silenced. They could still draw patterns, but no wind blew. No gust hit the sails.
The sea here was suddenly as still as a lake. The water was as clear as air, fully displaying the magical lights below its surface.
The dozen or so ships that came from Avina were all frozen on the sea's surface. It could not cause any ripples in the water, nor could it move.
Lady Karire squinted, pushing aside her worries for the presence of the Exiled. She gazed into the Coral Pavilion with a beautiful pattern shining inside her irises.
"...Apple," She called out to her friend who stood by her side, "That's a God's Altar."
"An altar?" Apple replied, trying to see what Lady Karire could see to no avail, "For whom?"
"I don't know." Lady Karire bit her lip. An unfamiliar god in familiar waters was a predicament she had only seen in her dreams. Why was it attracting beasts? Why had it shown itself now of all times?
A flurry of movement suddenly caught her eye. It moved swiftly through the still-water, like mad torpedos set on infiltrating the Coral Pavilion.
"The Exiled!" Lady Karire boomed, her voice enhanced by a sequence of Mystic Patterns that appeared before her.
"All hands! Stop them!" She commanded her crew who quickly sent the commands to the Adventurers on board. She then turned to the people standing patiently behind her. These people were all clad in scale armour which had symbols aplenty sparkling across each scale.
"My knights! Raise your blades! Prepare your hearts! Our goal is simple—" Lady Karire hurriedly rallied those scale-armoured knights,
"—The God's Altar!"
Another circle filled with Mystic Patterns appeared around Lady Karire, Apple, Bladesman Jack, as well as her scale-armoured knights.
"Move out!"
"HAAH!" The sound of saluting knights and their warcries shook the air, and forty-two battle-ready humans dove into the sea, glowing with mystic white light.
After the Arthime knights made their moves, eleven other platoons of knights dove into the sea. They were waving the colours of Avina's noble houses.
The Adventurers had already gone crazy way before them though, together with the fishermen who were aiming for the sea beasts. Chaos had a moment of order but then was followed by even more chaos as more Adventurers followed the diving knights, who sought bloodshed and treasure.
Athelei was still on the ship he had travelled on. He preferred to observe first, rampage later. Missing important sights due to bloodthirstiness was not on his current to-do list.
As he watched the knightly charge, he saw that a few shadows, who were assumed to be the Exiled, had already made it in the vicinity of the Coral Pavilion. These weren't Nightwalkers, mind you. They were actual humans of flesh and blood this time, similar to the ones who fought a bloody battle with the Harmonic Knights.
These fighters were as terrifying as those Harmonic Knights who fought with two classes. They took one step onto the pavilion's basalt formations and lingered near the bright corals, but their advance was instantly barred from progressing.
ROAR!
ROAAAR!
URWAAAAH!
CRIEEE!
Beasts born of the sea let out their cries and their shrieks. They moved and writhed in anger, for this was their territory.
Their screams had even portrayed a strong enough emotion that the humans could vaguely understand the meanings behind their raging vocalisations. It was a decree that all trespassers would be slain and dined on.
The serpentine sea beast that Athelei had spotted earlier was now baring its fangs. Hundreds of hooked and barbed teeth lined the walls of its mouth, like the insides of penguin beaks or sea turtle mouths. It gave many of the humans a multitude of shivers when it opened its mouth to roar.
Once you were swallowed, there was no escaping back the way you came.
A battle swiftly commenced between the Exiled individuals and that monstrous serpentine beast. When the latter sprung forward, Athelei saw that the Exiled were only as tall as one of its teeth. As for how long the beast actually was with its snake-like body... he could only imagine for now.
The Exiled fought together, and the lights of their powers were fired from them one after another.
'...They're all at least Rank 2...' Athelei admired the light show they were performing. Unfortunately for them, humans were not water-based creatures. The sole fact that they could already dive so deep to do battle was already a testament to their strength and versatility.
Fighting a beast, of which just might be a mutant one, in its territory was not going to go... swimmingly.
As for the knights, their predicaments were similar, but not quite.
Instead of a monstrosity of a beast, they were being stalked by squads of sharks. They were surrounded and isolated from the knights from other noble houses. The sharks were encircling them like eagles of the sea.
On top of that, a house-sized king crab was waiting for them on the sea bed, snapping at their feet.
As for the Adventurers... they were as messy as one would expect. They targetted any sea creature that landed in their sights. They swung, struck and stabbed again and again before hurriedly swimming back up for air. They thrived in the shallows while the knights and Exiled all suffered in the depths.
Only a few high-ranking Adventurers like Cammille were vying for the Coral Pavilion and whatever lay atop its God's Altar.
There was a deadlock in the battle. The humans were trying to lure the beasts away from the Coral Pavilion but those beasts never roamed too far. After a certain distance, they would disengage and turn back.
Wounds had been incurred by both sides, a few humans were devoured, while a few sharks were motionless and bloodied.
The serpentine beast had been lightly injured, while the Exiled fighters had a few bruises here and there. Victory was in their sights, but there were still beasts that had yet to join the fray. If they killed the serpent, something else might come and stop them.
Suddenly, there was a collective hush on the battlefield. An invisible ripple of power spread from the Coral Pavilion.
Whoooooom!
A quiet and buzzing sound overpowered the muffled sounds of battle.
'Nightwalkers!' Athelei's eyes shone when he saw four faceless bodies of grey fog.
He watched as the Nightwalkers all emerged from the pavilion and stepped forward, one by one. They then spread their arms out with their fingers outstretched and chins held high. They held that arrogant position for a moment before bending forward from their waists and folded their arms in a dramatic bow.
A fearsome power began to well from within their bodies while a grim look fell upon the faces of Lady Karire and Apple. Surprisingly, even the Exiled looked agitated as they scrambled away from the Coral Pavilion.
"Retreat! Run! Brace yourselves!" Lady Karire's voice shook the sea.
BOOM!
A blinding white light overpowered all the colours of the corals and a shockwave blasted the organs of any human in the ocean. The weak felt their lungs collapse, while the strong bled from their insides. Neurotrauma and pulmonary complexities were the least of their worries as four spheres of energy annihilated their target.
Those who were able to defend themselves were left stunned.
"Were they helping us?"
"Why?"
They all asked themselves those questions, and Athelei, Lady Karire and Apple had the same thoughts. The God's Altar was the likely culprit of the beast tide that had been growing with each day. Athelei also knew that the mental suggestion all the beasts had was related to the altar in some way.
When the white spheres dissipated, the God's Altar bore signs of damage and the Coral Pavilion had turned to dust and debris that refused to spread.
CRACK!
A huge fissure appeared, going through the centre of the God's Altar. Every person who was still conscious held their breaths. A foul feeling welled from within their hearts as they realised exactly what those Nightwalkers had done. Even the angry beasts stared at the altar despite their grievous wounds, for they too could feel something wrong.
KATCHA!
And then the God's Altar split apart.
In that moment, the sea shook as if thousands of beasts were thrashing in desperation, and blinding lightning fell from the sky. Thunder boomed like a drum and ruptured many of the humans' eardrums.
AWOOOOOO!
Howls of rage and pain echoed out from the depths of the sea all around Avina's fleet.
And then the colourful corals lost their light, flickering first before sputtering out of life. Darkness descended and seemed even thicker than normally expected. It became difficult to see one's own hands. The sky was shrouded and the moon had been covered. There was a sense of nothingness spreading out from the dark sea.
A God's Altar had been sundered.
A God's Altar had been disrespected.
A God's Altar had been the target of blasphemy.
Now, all aggressors shall be punished.
"RETREAT! RETREAT!" Panicked screams sounded out from the surfacing Adventurers.
"The beasts have gone crazy! Raise the sails, you lunatics! We have to run! Run!"
"Raise the sails! Artists! Where are you? Artists!"
"Everyone calm down!"
"We're all going to die!"
Athelei felt a gigantic presence suddenly rising from underneath the nearby waters as desperate screams sounded out all around him. Water poured from its body like a waterfall as it rose further and further into the sky.
A warm light appeared close to the place where Athelei stood. It was the flickering light of a torch.
The puny flame illuminated a wall full of deep-green scales. It could not put the entire beast on display, but everyone had an idea of what it might be.
"..." Silence descended upon those who had made it to Athelei's ship in particular.
"May Libra save us..." A trembling voice started to pray.
CRRRRRIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Spittle and seawater rained onto the deck of the ship as that familiar cry screeched into the humans' already bleeding ears. Everyone there instantly realised one thing:
They were screwed.