Deep-Sea Darkness (End)

Nearly half a month passed.

The guardians finally returned to the shallows in small groups and made their way back to the metal fortress.

Reilo watched Alder and Audrey return. Both looked excited. He sighed. "I'm ashamed I couldn't help you."

Even so, Reilo had not come away empty-handed.

A Haiqi Queen had fled upward while controlling a Deep Sea Giant Octopus. Reilo and three other Dark Web guardians who had been unable to descend into the trench killed her and obtained a considerable amount of magic material.

Alder did not mind.

"Heh, don't worry about that. It's a shame you missed out on the deep-sea magic materials down there, though. I'd heard guardian missions paid handsomely. This one fell well short of what my senior described, but we made it through safely, and I got enough magic material to keep me busy with experiments for years."

Audrey looked just as satisfied.

Reilo asked cautiously, "What happened on the seabed? I saw a few of the senior guardians just now, and they didn't look happy."

He meant the Savage King and the Judgment Judge, of course.

"No idea."

Alder shook his head, unconcerned.

"Ask Master Corleon when he gets back."

Before long,

Corleon rose out of the dark depths with a chuckle. He seemed in good spirits when he saw Reilo.

"Come on. Let's go up."

"Yes, Master."

A few days later,

Fladick finished testing his last batch of unstable weapons of war among the shattered islands of the Gem Sea and collected the resulting data. With a deafening rumble, the massive metal fortress, more than a hundred meters across, slowly sank beneath the waves.

Just as it had appeared in these waters without warning, it departed without a trace.

In less than half a year,

human civilization had sent