"Follow Canyue's suggestion," Zhang Xingxing commanded.

Everyone could see the black silhouette within the wave. The team immediately activated the energy defense system and maximized the energy output to protect our mounts. The ship was too large, so we wouldn't be able to protect it. We could only opt to protect the flying fish's massive bodies. I could see from the data indicator that our energy was draining fast.

In the blink of an eye, the purple wall was right upon us. The Brightlings were still steering the ship with all their effort and stabbed into the wave. The massive wave brought the ship up, to the point the ship was directly perpendicular to the sky. Instantly, a massive seven-colored bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating our surroundings and allowing us to see an ugly face in the water curtain. It was a gigantic monster. Beneath its two irregular nostrils was a massive maw filled with sharp fangs. It gazed upon us coldly with its two massive purple eyes.

"My god. What kind of ancient monster is this? Its fangs look crazy!" Zhang Bao'er cried out.

"Canyue, Old Du, ready your nuclear warheads," Zhang Xingxing commanded.

I immediately took out my warhead from my storage and prepared to attack. After the flash of lighting, the world descended into darkness yet again. Then, a massive impact came. The ship seemed to have crashed into the creature's body. A loud roar rang out in the air as a big black hand grabbed the bow of the ship and lifted the ship high into the air.

The Brightlings on the ship dropped into the berserk sea one after another, instantly swallowed by the raging waves. I could see the eyes of the falling Brightlings. There was no fear, only silent determination as the Brightlings bid us farewell with their eyes and fell into the sea. A sense of respect rose in my heart as I nodded toward them. With such fortitude, how would the Brightlings be fully destroyed by the Darklings? With a loud crack, the monster took a bite out of the ship's bow.

"My god. Let's take off. This freak is too strong," Zhang Bao'er cried out.

The monster before us was massive. Its presence was far beyond that of the giant paw monster and the flame demon we had met earlier. For us, this monster might as well be a god. It was an undefeatable existence. The monster madly tore at the ship with its mouth, breaking the ship into pieces. The situation was becoming more and more dangerous. We needed to leave as quickly as possible.

"Bao'er, fly with me. Canyue, Old Du, cover us with the nuclear warheads," commanded Zhang Xingxing.

The blue flying fish took off with Zhang Bao'er, Titan, Zhang Xingxing, and Amethyst. When the monster saw the two flying fish attempting to flee, it became furious. It raised its arm and tossed a broken piece of the ship toward them.

Old Du and I quickly took off from the broken ship. Zhang Xingxing's and Bao'er's mounts moved nimbly and avoided the flying pieces. Bao'er's Toruk, in particular, was impressively nimble despite its chubby appearance. In fact, it even had a jeering look as it avoided the monster's attacks.

The insult infuriated the black monster. It charged toward Zhang Bao'er, and Old Du and I immediately launched two nuclear warheads at the monster. An astonishing scene unfolded before us. The two warheads passed right through the monster, as though the entire monster was merely a curtain of water. It was completely unharmed.

Several kilometers away, the warheads exploded, creating two massive mushroom clouds in the air and illuminating an area several kilometers wide. The shockwaves came right after. The monster only blanked out slightly before neutralizing the shockwaves with a casual wave of its arm.

"Shit. This monster seems to exist in a liquid form? The warheads can't hit it!" I said to Old Du.

"Dodo, calculate the time a warhead will take to reach the monster's body," Old Du commanded calmly.

"Exactly three seconds," Dodo gave an answer promptly.

"Tune the warheads and have them explode on the third second," said Old Du solemnly.

We each carried two warheads with us, and we only had one each left. I understood what Old Du was trying to do as I set my warhead's detonation timer to three seconds. Then, I maximized the energy output to my morph-capable shield and launched my warhead alongside Old Du.

A blinding radiance erupted. The temperature rose, heat waves roiled, and powerful shockwaves spread out as the two warheads exploded in the middle of the monster's body.

A massive fireball formed in the center of the monster's body. Miniature droplets of water filled the air and was instantly evaporated by the heat of the nuclear explosion. The monster's body broke into pieces and collapsed into the sea.

Two massive mushroom clouds formed as the heatwaves and shockwaves struck me and Old Du. Because our shields also needed to protect our mounts, we stuck close to each other, trying to reduce the surface area of our shields.

I could see my energy draining like a leaking pipe. From the initial 36 hours' worth of energy, about half was left. The aftermath of the explosions raged for over ten minutes. Thanks to our powerful shields, we survived. The sea was still filled with lightning flashes and rolling thunder, but the black giant was nowhere to be seen.

"Just like that, it's over," I said.

"Yes, it's over," Old Du said. "This sea is too dangerous. We don't have much energy left. We need to leave as soon as possible."

I also wanted to leave with Blueflash as quickly as possible. After all, the energy consumption here was too high. We still needed to fight the two-headed monster on the island. I had no idea if our remaining energy would be enough for that.

During interstellar exploration, things could always develop contrary to one's wishes. Just as we were about to soar higher into the sky, a massive black hand rose from the sea, stabbed through our weakened shields, and grabbed the tail of Old Du's fish.

A timely flash of lightning gave me the illumination to see a sinister face filled with sharp fangs and a pair of purple eyes that looked like black holes. An eerie sneer seemed to hang on that face.

"The creature is still alive!" I yelled. "Old Du, be careful!"

The black hand was grabbing the tail of Old Du's sturdy fish. With one pull, the two were dragged toward the sea. Old Du's fish roared loudly and struggled as best as it could. Alas, the black hand was too strong. It had no way of struggling free.

Blueflash grew anxious seeing its companion grabbed. With a shriek, it shot toward Old Du and his mount. I anxiously fired my arsenal toward the monster's face, raining cluster bombs and bullets upon the sea.

"Damn it! I'll give you everything I have. Regardless of the effectiveness of my attacks, I can't allow you to harm Old Du!" I howled as I fired madly.

The explosions of the cluster bombs created massive waves on the sea. It seemed to have provoked the monster's anger; the monster shook the flying fish in its hand, shaking off both Old Du and Dodo.

Just as Old Du was about to be swallowed by the berserk sea, Blueflash accelerated toward them and grabbed one with each of its claws before soaring back into the sky. Seeing that the two victims were rescued, the monster unleashed yet another black hand toward us.

Due to the increased burden, Blueflash's speed dropped. Because of that, it did not seem likely that we would be able to outrun the massive hand. Both Old Du and I madly fired at the incoming hand. Our bullets rained down on the monster, but we couldn't even slow the hand.

Suddenly, Old Du's mount unleashed a mournful shriek. At that, Blueflash stopped and shrieked back sorrowfully. As a determined look appeared on the sturdy fish, Blueflash's sorrowful wails grew louder. However, Old Du's mount seemed to have made up its mind, its eyes possessing an iron gaze.

With a deafening shriek, I saw Old Du's fish swell like a balloon. In the blink of an eye, it grew twice its original size. Then, the fish exploded.

"Zuanzuan! Ahh! You monster! I'll kill you!" Old Du roared at the monster and unleashed his arsenal at the monster's ugly face.  

Only then did I learn that Old Du had named his mount Zuanzuan. From the explosion, shiny blue blood sprayed in all directions and sprinkled the monster's hand and face. Just as the hand was about to catch us, the blue blood covered its palm.

Then, the structural makeup of the monster started collapsing, as though the blue blood was corrosive in nature. With an odd wail from the monster, numerous holes appeared on its face. Like rotting wood, its arm collapsed loudly into the sea. The surface of the sea was covered in shiny blue blood, and Blueflash wailed incessantly at the blue blood. Its companion had sacrificed itself to save all of us.

Almost immediately, the monster started regenerating its body. However, its hand kept collapsing due to the blue blood's corrosion. Ultimately, it started moving its hands in a circular motion, creating a black abyss that pulled the blue blood into the depths of the sea.

"You can do it, Blueflash! Soar! We don't have much time!" I said to Blueflash.

It flapped its wings with all its effort, but three passengers were too much, making the ascent slow. After the abyss swallowed all the blue blood, the sea started closing back up. Once again, a massive hand shot out of the sea.

"Canyue, toss Dodo over to me," Zhang Bao'er's voice rang out in my ears.

A blue phantom descended from the sky. Zhang Bao'er had arrived with Toruk, and Titan was nowhere to be seen. I did not have the time to think. I hurriedly told Blueflash to toss Dodo over to Toruk, who used its massive claw to grab Dodo before soaring back into the sky.

After getting rid of the additional weight, Blueflash shrieked as it shot into the sky like an arrow. By then, the sea had fully closed up, and the massive black hand was shooting toward us.

Both Old Du and I rained bullets at the hand in our attempt to slow it down while Blueflash flew with all its strength. The clouds in the sky became closer and closer, but the pursuing giant hand was also approaching us rapidly. Suddenly, the monster seemed to have reached its limit. Sirius B's gravity started playing its role, pulling the massive hand back into the sea. We had finally escaped danger.

On the sea's surface, the monster's furious expression was visible as it roared loudly. Waves as tall as mountains rose as it vented its anger. Before long, the waves dispersed, revealing a massive black abyss as far as we could see. Rumbling sounds could be heard coming from the bottom of the abyss.

"The life forms of this world are too inconceivable. This monster is basically a living whirlpool. It's too scary," I exclaimed.

Witnessing the power of nature and thinking back to my close brush with death, I broke out in cold sweat. Blueflash and Toruk continued soaring, flying through the clouds until the massive Sirius A became visible in the sky yet again. The gentle rays of purple light showered on us. The world high in the sky formed a perfect contrast to the world below. One was akin to paradise, the other was akin to hell.