183: Chapter 184 Surrounded

The deep sea is always a mysterious, dangerous, and opportunity-filled region. On Blue Star, the probability of high-grade secret realms and Dungeons appearing in the deep-sea region is far higher than on land. After all, the land has been developed and explored by humans for hundreds of years, and most known secret realms and Dungeons have already been marked and controlled. However, the ocean, which occupies the vast majority of the planet's surface—especially those deep-sea trenches and submarine mountain ranges with depths of thousands of meters, terrifying pressure, and harsh environments—still hides countless undiscovered secrets.

Precisely because of this, the deep sea has become a treasure-hunting ground favored by many high-level, powerful teams of Class Transferees. Of course, those who dare to venture deep into the sea must at least be mature teams with levels over one hundred, well-equipped, and with tacit cooperation. Even if ordinary people possess diving equipment, they are as fragile as infants in the face of crisis-ridden deep-sea monsters and eerie environments.

At this moment, not far from the entrance of the legendary-rank secret realm that Lin Muyang entered, a middle-aged man codenamed "Wells" was just such a deep-sea explorer. He belonged to the "Black Night Alliance"—a non-governmental organization of Class Transferees that had risen to fame in the American Empire and even globally.

The Black Night Alliance is an organization built specifically for "geniuses." Unlike traditional guilds that focus on scale and task completion volume, it pours all its resources into absorbing and cultivating young Class Transferees with high potential. They provide top-tier equipment acquisition channels, tailored skill training, high mission rewards, and careful guidance from senior experts.

For many young geniuses born into ordinary families without backgrounds, joining the Black Night Alliance means a shortcut to the path of the strong. Because of this, in recent years, the Black Night Alliance has recruited nearly half of the young talents in the American Empire. Although those with SSS-Rank Talent are rare, geniuses with SS-Rank and s-rank talent emerge one after another. Everyone knows that in time, when these geniuses grow up, the Black Night Alliance will become a behemoth capable of influencing the landscape of the American Empire and even the world.

Wells is fifty-two years old this year, level 178, and the holder of the SS-Rank Talent "Codex of Shadows." With the massive resources piled up by the Black Night Alliance, his actual combat power far exceeds that of Class Transferees of the same level, comparable to an ordinary level 200 SS-Rank Expert. He has a rugged face, keeps a carefully trimmed short beard, and his eyes are sharp and steady. At this moment, he is suspended in the dark seawater, his body enveloped in a faint black energy barrier emitted by the black magic book in his hand, perfectly isolating the immense water pressure and low temperature. He is like a ghost fish of the deep sea, silent and motionless.

On the cover of the magic book in his hand, a silver emblem of crossed swords and shields against a background of stars is faintly visible; that is the symbol of the Black Night Alliance. He cautiously observes his surroundings, his spiritual power spreading like water ripples, probing every inch of the sea area, not letting go of any trace of abnormal energy fluctuations. At the same time, he occasionally releases a few low-level dispel or detection spells, scaring away some overly curious deep-sea monsters attracted by the energy of the secret realm entrance, and also ensuring that no other "peers" are lurking in this area for the time being.

"An 82-level legendary-rank secret realm." Wells mutters to himself, his gaze firmly locked on the vortex ahead that is slowly rotating and emitting an ominous blood-red light. "How rare. There are hardly any recorded legendary-rank secret realms of this level. The output inside will likely be enough to create one or two future top experts."

He had already reported the discovery here to the Alliance headquarters through a special channel. The Alliance's efficiency is extremely high, and it has quickly organized a team of seven young geniuses around level 82, who are currently waiting in the sky above the sea more than a hundred kilometers away. Although the standard ten-person team is still short of three, for the geniuses carefully cultivated by the Black Night Alliance, seven people raiding an 82-level legendary-rank secret realm, while stressful, is not impossible. Each of them possesses strength surpassing ordinary Class Transferees of the same level and rich trump cards for survival.

In addition to this core raiding team, the Alliance has also dispatched an escort team led by a level 215 expert and composed of three experts above level 180, who are rushing over at full speed. Their mission is to deal with potential teammates of the original owner of the secret realm or the forces behind them. Discovering an ownerless—or at least currently appearing to be ownerless, with only one person inside—legendary-rank secret realm in international waters, according to the consistent style of those large organizations in the American Empire, is naturally "first come, first served, strength is respected." If the opponent is weak, it is naturally "friendly negotiation" (actually coercion); if the opponent is strong, then "deliberate on it" (temporarily retreat, then plot other methods). The Black Night Alliance knows this well, and its actions are both aggressive and cautious.

"This sea area is international waters and does not belong to any country." Wells calculates in his heart, a cold arc appearing at the corner of his mouth, "The kid inside, no matter which country you are from, you are lucky to have discovered this place... Unfortunately, this treasure is destined to have nothing to do with you. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being weak and happening to be bumped into by us."

He never considered the possibility that "the person inside the secret realm can solo clear it." This completely goes against common sense. A legendary-rank secret realm is a dangerous place that requires at least a ten-person elite team, tacit cooperation, and excellent equipment to possibly challenge. Solo clear? What a joke! An epic-grade small four-person Dungeon might be soloable by a peerless genius, but a legendary-rank ten-person secret realm? Absolutely impossible! In his view, the person inside the secret realm is either waiting for teammates to gather or is an unlucky fool who entered to scout without knowing the immensity of heaven and earth and will soon die and return.

"When those seven kids arrive, let them go in. If the person inside is sensible and takes the initiative to come out, maybe he can still get some soup. If he is not sensible..." A cold light flashes in Wells' eyes. In the deep sea, in international waters, strength is the only law. There are very few things the Black Night Alliance takes a fancy to that it cannot obtain.

What he doesn't know is that at this moment, in the depths of the secret realm he considers to be "in his pocket," something that subverts his cognition is happening.

The demons lair, the lava throne hall in the deepest part.

The air is filled with the smell of sulfur, scorched stench, and thick blood. The ground is black rock with hot, flowing dark red lava, and countless hideous demon statues stand around. In the center of the hall, the throne that originally belonged to the "Gatekeeper of Hell"—an abyssal demon ten meters tall, holding a lava giant axe and fire chains—is now empty. In front of the throne, there is only a large pool of rapidly cooling, smoking demon blood, and a few pieces of loot floating in mid-air, emitting alluring light.

Lin Muyang stands in front of the throne, his expression calm, even carrying a hint of a satisfied smile. Behind him, the young ladies are standing or sitting, their Auras significantly stronger than before entering the secret realm, and everyone has a look of joy from the harvest on their faces.

"The fourth BOSS, done." Lin Muyang raises his hand and takes the last three pieces of equipment emitting red light and one skill book into his hand. Added to the harvest from clearing the small monsters and the other three BOSSes along the way, this trip to the legendary-rank secret realm harvested a total of eleven mythic grade equipment and four mythical grade skill books! The harvest is far beyond expectations.

Each piece of mythic grade equipment possesses attributes and special effects that would make Nation-Guarding Level Expert from the outside world go crazy. Lin Muyang is not stingy at all; as long as the attributes are suitable, he immediately uses the accumulated "god-tier modification stone" to strengthen them. Seven-colored light shines again and again in this lava hall, and every piece of modified mythic grade equipment has its attributes surged three times, with several precious additional attributes attached.

The strength of the young ladies is soaring like a rocket.

Ao Qingyan changed into a pair of mythic grade longswords called [Dragon Soul Dual Absolute], as well as a chest armor [Meteor Battle Armor] that adds a large amount of strength, constitution, and critical damage. At this moment, even without transforming into a divine dragon, her naked stats have already broken through the 300,000 mark!

Especially the strength attribute, under the multiple blessings of equipment, Lin Muyang's Aura, and her own dragon race talent, it has reached a shocking level. Once transformed into a divine dragon, to what extent her combat power will expand, even Lin Muyang can hardly accurately estimate, but it can definitely easily crush ordinary Nation-Guarding Level Expert.

Elabess's [Fallen Demon's Gift] robe makes her a terrifying turret and control core; Seraphina's [Supreme Dark Shadow Attack] makes her an assassin of death with astonishing killing efficiency; Lilia's [Virgos Protection] provides strategic-level invincibility that reverses the battle situation at critical moments; Su Daji's [heart of magic prohibition] makes any enemy relying on skills have a headache... Other young ladies have also more or less obtained mythic grade equipment or skills suitable for themselves, and their overall combat power has increased by more than two to three times!

"god-tier modification stone, the consumption is a bit fast." Lin Muyang glances at his storage space. The more than six hundred god-tier modification stones he originally accumulated have already used up nearly one hundred after this wave of squandering. "It seems that I have to find a way to get more of this stuff in the future. Perhaps... should I go brush some large secret realms with a large number of monsters? It doesn't matter if the grade is lower, the key is that there must be many monsters. Only by relying on [Loot Extraction] to trigger [Divine Touch] can I stably produce god-tier modification stones."

He didn't have much demand for god-tier modification stones before, so he didn't deliberately brush them. But now that mythic grade equipment is starting to gush out, the consumption rate of this thing makes him feel pressure.

"However, this trip is definitely worth it." Lin Muyang looks at the refreshed young ladies, his heart full of a sense of accomplishment. The secret realm scroll provided by Jiang Chenyu and Jiang Yuner is simply timely help, and it is no exaggeration to say they are money-sending boys. In contrast, the five legendary-grade equipment he gave in return seems so insignificant. But Lin Muyang knows very well that this win-win model (the other party gets urgently needed equipment, and he gets more precious resources) is the long-term way. Only by letting the person who provided the scroll see tangible, far-beyond-expectation returns will more people be willing to hand over the high-level secret realm scrolls in their hands to him.

"That's about it, time to go out." Lin Muyang feels that the power of the secret realm is fading, which means the energy core of the secret realm has been destroyed, and this temporarily generated secret realm space is about to collapse. He moves his mind and takes the young ladies back into the summoning space—bringing a large group of beautiful young ladies with different appearances suddenly appearing in the deep sea is too eye-catching. Only Lilia remains affectionately holding his arm.

"Let's go, Lilia." Lin Muyang rubs the Elf Princess's soft silver hair.

"Mhm!" Lilia nods vigorously, her big eyes full of excitement about completing the adventure.

A white light flashes, and the figures of Lin Muyang and Lilia disappear from the lava throne hall.

The next moment, the familiar cold, darkness, and huge water pressure come from all directions. Lin Muyang and Lilia appear on the deep seabed, with soft sediments under their feet and deep-sea fish emitting faint phosphorescence swimming by occasionally. The vortex of the secret realm entrance emitting blood-red light is slowly shrinking and fading behind them, and finally disappears with a "pop" like a bubble, as if it had never existed.

The deep sea returns to silence, with only the low roar from the distant volcanic hot spring and the faint sound of water flowing over rocks.

However, as soon as Lin Muyang stabilizes his figure, his keen perception and rich combat experience make him instantly realize—something is wrong!

It's too quiet.

It is not the quietness of the environment, but a kind of quietness of being watched, being locked, and carrying faint hostility. Originally, because of the existence of the secret realm entrance, this sea area would attract some curious monsters to swim nearby, but now, those monsters are gone, as if they were driven away or cleared by some power.

Almost as a gut reaction, several defense and alert Auras on Lin Muyang instantly open silently. [Divine Sight] scans the surroundings, immediately capturing a few figures hidden in the dark seawater, as well as the traces of magic fluctuations remaining in the seawater further away that have not completely dissipated.

"Someone. More than one. Not low level, came prepared." Lin Muyang's judgment flashes in his heart instantly, but his face remains calm. He gently pats Lilia's back of the hand, signaling her not to be impatient.

Just at the same time the secret realm entrance completely disappears, several figures emerge from different directions like sharks in the deep sea, silently, forming a loose encirclement, surrounding Lin Muyang and Lilia in the middle.