Thalion moved with glacial slowness, inching toward the end of the tunnel. The battle in the chamber had grown more ferocious. The leviathan twisted and thrashed as the fishpeople pressed their advantage, launching a storm of ice-based attacks. Their coordination had reached a new level of precision. They had already shattered one of the beast’s massive tentacles, targeting the frozen sections with focused, relentless strikes until it cracked and fell away. Swirling currents of water now churned across the chamber, clouding the leviathan’s vision. It blinked and turned in confusion, often losing track of its prey just long enough for them to slip out of its snapping jaws.

Using the chaos to his advantage, Thalion slithered downward, hugging the farthest wall from the fight. His body clung to the stone like a shadow, and he hoped his passive skill Camouflage of the Depths would keep him hidden. No one paid him any attention. With the clash of monsters and warriors taking center stage, Thalion reached the seaweed—an eerie curtain draped near the chamber floor. He dove in it, letting the dense vegetation hide his form completely.

He had no intention of engaging the fight yet. First, he had to see whether he could secure the crystal.

It was better to claim part of the prize early than risk losing everything. As he approached the giant blue crystal, he began applying partitions—small, rune-etched seals that allowed large crystals to be safely stored in spatial rings. With crystals of this magnitude, a single partition was rarely enough. Thankfully, Thalion had more than fifty left, and he wasn’t afraid to use a few. He placed ten around the base of the crystal, then tried to place it into his spatial ring.

To his amazement, it worked.

In an instant, the towering crystal vanished, leaving behind only a void of swirling water. Thalion stared at the space where it had stood, equal parts satisfied and astonished. He hadn’t expected it to work while the leviathan was still alive. But there it was—gone.

The surrounding seaweed began to drift downward, no longer anchored by the crystal’s massive form. As it sank, Thalion realized, too late, that he was fully exposed.

His danger sense screamed.

The leviathan had noticed him.

With a slow, dreadful turn, the creature's massive body coiled around, and those soulless, black eyes fixed directly on him. Its gaze was heavy, ancient, and angry.

Thalion resisted the urge to shift back into his humanoid form. Doing so might have been satisfying—meeting the monster eye to eye—but it would also reveal that he was a shapeshifter. The fishfolk might already suspect something. After all, how else could a crystal of that size disappear without a trace? Perhaps they thought it was the catacomb itself, teleporting the relic away. The walls were indestructible and the place carried strange magic. Still, even if they did guess his nature, it wouldn’t make much sense for him to be involved in the fight, not with the ancient barrier pillar still active.

Stolen novel; please report.

Besides, shapeshifters rarely acquired such potent marine forms. It was likely the fishpeople saw him as nothing more than a mysterious ally. They continued attacking the leviathan from behind, ignoring Thalion entirely.

Mission "steal the blue crystal" accomplished.

"Now," Thalion thought with a crooked grin, "let’s see what I can plunder from this bastard’s skillset."

Even as the leviathan surged toward him, maw yawning wide, Thalion remained calm. His bloodline skill granted him a unique ability. Teleportation paired with near-instant regeneration. The healing was probably unnecessary, given the monstrous recovery speed granted by the Outsider, but the ability to blink away at will made him nearly untouchable. As long as he avoided those gaping jaws, there was little that could truly threaten him. Getting caught in that maw, though, would be fatal.

Time to return the favor.

Thalion began channeling an Aqua Lance, aiming straight for one of the leviathan’s eyes. The Tidecaller Serpent’s body had grown more powerful with every crystal consumed. His magical output now surpassed anything he had unleashed before. The Aqua Lance roared from his mouth, not nearly as large as the leviathan’s own devastating jets, but focused and deadly.

The lance struck its mark.

A surge of bubbles erupted as the spell slammed into the beast’s head. Its thick eyelid tried to close in time, but the force was too great. The eye burst, black fluid leaking into the water like ink, and the leviathan let out a roar that made the chamber quake.

It lunged forward with fury, its speed doubling as it raced toward Thalion. But the serpent had already pivoted, swimming at full velocity toward the fishpeople. He intended to draw the leviathan behind him, lead it into their trap. The monster thrashed and twisted, jaws wide open, trying to catch him in a vortex of suction.

He had expected this.

Just as the pull began to drag him in, Thalion activated his bloodline skill. His body vanished into flickering light blue flames and reformed several meters behind the leviathan’s tail. It shot past him, now barreling directly toward the fishpeople, who were still working to freeze the remaining tentacles wrapped around the creature’s midsection.

From this angle, Thalion noticed something unsettling.

The tentacle they had destroyed earlier—it was already growing back.

Compared to the sheer mass of the severed tentacle, its regeneration was alarmingly fast. Blue sinew and hardened tissue wove together like roots seeking soil. Thalion could feel the leviathan’s confusion through his title—it had no idea where he’d gone. That alone told him he was nestled in a blind spot. He had assumed the creature possessed 360-degree vision with its many eyes, but clearly, that had been a mistake.