Poacher: "I don't know why... my legs feel like jelly."
Another dropped a tool.
Poacher: "Seriously, it's stifling in here..."
Venti: "Just a little longer..."
He activated Intangibility.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFffffffffffffffffff
His body became blurry, almost unreal, like a silhouette drawn by the wind.
Without a sound, he slipped out of his hiding place, crossing the gap between the tents.
He found himself right behind the level 14 poacher.
Venti slowly raised his hand.
FFFFFFFFffffffff
A concentrated blast of Anemo breath struck the man's neck.
Not enough to kill.
Just enough to knock him unconscious instantly.
He caught the body before it fell.
Venti: "One."
He was already moving toward the next one.
A woman turned sharply, as if some instinct had alerted her.
Poacher: "Huh—"
Pam
Too late.
The bard's hand struck her shoulder.
She collapsed, unconscious.
Venti: "Two."
The others began to stand, confused.
Poacher: "What's going on—"
Venti literally passed through a clumsy attack thanks to Intangibility, the blade slicing right through him as if he were nothing more than an illusion.
The man screamed in surprise.
Venti: "Me."
Pam.
A precise blow to the temple.
Another to the solar plexus.
In less than twenty seconds, the entire group was down.
Venti slowly stood up, observing the six scattered bodies.
Venti: "It works."
But his expression hardened immediately.
Venti: "Four groups remaining."
He looked up toward the center of the cavern.
GGGggrrr
The Millennial Pearl Seahorse stirred slightly, as if she had sensed something.
BBBbbbbzzzz
A faint purple spark flickered across her body.
Venti: "Hold on..."
FFFFFffffffff
He activated Teleportation again, disappearing in a gust of air, ready to do it all again.
This time, he wasn't just surviving.
He was hunting.
And in this cavern, the poachers were about to learn a simple truth:
Hidden behind the rough canvas of the tent, Venti finally slowed his breathing.
Venti: "... "
His heart was still racing, not from fear, but from adrenaline.
The relative silence that followed the elimination of the first group gave him a precious window of opportunity: about fifty meters separated each group, which meant that, for the moment, no one had yet noticed the absence of these six poachers.
Venti: "I have a little time... but not much."
He knelt, remaining hidden, and scanned the surroundings.
That's when a detail caught his eye.
Next to one of the poachers sprawled on the ground, a man who seemed to have collapsed, clutching his stomach, lay a roughly nailed wooden crate.
One of its panels was cracked, releasing a greenish powder that gently spread across the sand.
Venti narrowed his eyes.
Venti: "...That color..."
He took a few steps closer, still crouching.
Venti: "It's the same color as the seaweed the crabs were carrying."
Without touching it directly, he activated his ability.
Telekinesis
FFFFFFFFfffffffffff
The crate trembled slightly, then slid slowly across the sand with a muffled squelch until it came to rest against his knees.
Venti placed a hand on it and carefully opened it.
Inside was a large quantity of fine, almost floury powder, a greenish-brown hue.
As soon as he stirred it, a strange smell spread around him.
Venti inhaled… then wrinkled his nose.
Venti: "That smell…"
A mixture of salt, iodine, and something deeper, something older.
Exactly the same scent that had struck him when he entered those underground tunnels. A living smell.
Venti: "The cave… the crabs…"
His mind made the connection instantly.
Venti: "I understand…"
He gently dipped two fingers into the powder.
Venti: "....."
It was dry, but as soon as he rubbed a little between his fingers, it seemed to almost vibrate slightly, as if charged with residual energy.
Venti: "Crushed seaweed…"
His gaze hardened.
Venti: "These poachers didn't just hunt randomly."
Everything became clear.
They had crushed the seaweed that the crabs naturally carried, the seaweed that probably served as food, scent markers, or even as a social bond for the colony.
By scattering this powder in certain areas, they had created artificial attraction points.
The crabs, guided by their instinct, had followed the scent… straight into the cages.
Venti gently clenched his fist.
Venti: "…Scent traps."
He felt the powder tickle his nose slightly. He barely managed to stop himself from sneezing.
Venti: "Interesting…"
His mind immediately began to work, evaluating the possibilities one by one.
First option:
Charge at a group of poachers, grab a handful of this powder, and throw it at them using "Elementary Anemo Mastery."
With the wind, the powder would disperse violently around their faces, entering their nostrils, their eyes, their lungs.
Venti: "They sneezed, they cried, they panicked… A moment of perfect chaos.
Risk: Noise.
Venti: "Other groups could hear."
Second option:
Use "Telekinesis" to disperse the scent throughout the cavern.
Not violently. Slowly. Subtly. Enough to saturate the air.
Venti: "The poachers would start sneezing… rubbing their noses…"
He imagined the scene:
Thirty people, already weakened by his debuffs, suddenly flustered, unable to concentrate.
Venti: "A moment of collective weakness."
Risk: The scent could also attract other crabs… or worse, awaken an even more dangerous creature.
Third option:
Go directly to the Millennial Pearl Seahorse and give it the powder.
Venti: "If this creature eats seaweed…"
He observed the elongated purple silhouette in the center of the cavern from a distance.
Even without clearly seeing its features, he sensed its exhaustion. Its breathing was slow and uneven.
Venti: "If I can restore its strength…"
A shiver ran down his spine.
Venti: ...it could free itself.
But the uncertainty remained.
Venti: "What if it doesn't eat this?"
"What if it poisons it?"
He had no reliable data on a legendary beast.
Venti gently closed the crate and placed it beside him.
He remained motionless for a few seconds, listening to the sounds of the cavern. Laughter in the distance. Footsteps. The clinking of metal.
Venti: "I have to combine the options."
He smiled faintly.
Venti: "As always."
He took a small amount of powder and slipped it into one pocket of his equipment, then a second handful into another. He left the rest in the crate.
Venti: "We'll start slowly…"
FFFFFFFFFFffffffffffffffffff
He activated Telekinesis at a very low intensity, just enough to imperceptibly stir the remaining powder.
FFFFFFFffffffffffff
Slowly, almost like a mist, he dispersed it into the air around the tent.
The powder scattered, invisible in the dim light, but its scent began to spread.
Venti held his breath and slightly activated Intangibility, further reducing its interaction with the air.
About thirty meters away, a poacher rubbed his nose.
Poacher: "...Can you smell that?"
Poacher: "My nose is itchy..."
Another sneezed.
Poacher: "Atch—"
"Damn it..."
Venti watched intently.
Venti: "Perfect."
The sneezing intensified.
Some laughed nervously, others began to complain.
Poacher: "It's these damn seaweeds, I tell you..."
Venti: "And now..."
He took the handful of powder he had kept, squeezed it in his hand, and stared at the group closest to the one he had already neutralized.
Venti: "One by one..."
FFFFFFFFFFffffffffffffffffff
He activated Elementary Anemo Mastery.
The wind began to swirl weakly around his hand, ready to be released.
Venti murmured, almost to himself:
Venti: "You used their instincts against them..."
"Now, I'll use yours."
In a corner of the cavern, the Millennial Pearl Seahorse stirred slightly, as if it too had caught the familiar scent of the seaweed.
Venti noticed.
Venti: "Here, a little more..."
The green powder was still clutched in his palm when Venti emerged from his hiding place and charged straight at the nearest group of poachers.
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap
The sand crunched under his boots, betraying his presence for a fleeting moment.
That was all it took.
Poacher: "Hey—!"
All six of them turned around almost simultaneously.
For a split second, they froze, stunned by the sight of this boy dressed in green, appearing out of nowhere in the heart of their underground camp.
Then instinct took over.
Three of them immediately drew their bows.
Poacher: "Take him down!"
The arrows sliced through the air.
Venti immediately activated his skill.
FFFFFffffffffffff
Intangibility
His body became blurry, unreal. Projectiles passed through him as if he were nothing but a shadow, embedding themselves in the sand behind him.
The poachers' eyes widened.
Poacher: "Wh—what?!"
FFFFFfffffffffff
Without giving them time to understand, Venti activated Teleportation.
Space bent around him.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished.
And reappeared behind them.
The six of them spun around in a panic.
Poacher: "Where did he go?!"
Venti's voice rose, calm, almost mocking.
Venti: "I'm right behind you."
A chill ran through the group.
One of the poachers, a broad-shouldered man wielding an axe in one hand, whirled around. His eyes met Venti's, just a few feet away.
Poacher: "Die, you little brat!"
He raised his axe and brought it down with all his might.
FFFFFFfffffff
The blade slid through Venti's chest without resistance, as if it had struck air.
Bam
The poacher stood frozen, incredulous, his axe buried in the sand.
Poacher: "...Impossible..."
Venti didn't wait.
FFFFFffffffffffffffff
He raised the hand holding the powder and activated Elementary Anemo Mastery.
A circular gust of wind exploded around him, scattering the greenish powder in all directions.
At the same time, he used his other hand to pinch his nose, turning his face slightly away.
Fouch
The powder dispersed like a toxic cloud.
The effects were immediate.
Poacher: "Kh—!" "
Poacher: "I can't breathe—!"
They all began coughing violently, some falling to their knees, others rubbing their eyes and cursing.
The sand soaked with their spit, their bodies already weakened by Venti's accumulated debuffs.
He was about to knock them out one by one.
When he saw her.
One of the poachers, despite her cough, had managed to keep her composure.
She reached for her belt and pulled out a horn, similar to the one Venti had given Arthur.
Venti's eyes widened.
Venti: "Oh no."
He leaped toward her—too late.
The poacher gasped for air.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The sound that erupted was deep, powerful, distorted, amplified by the cave walls.
It resonated like the cry of an ancient beast, spreading through the tunnels, ricocheting off the stone, vibrating deep into the ground.
Venti felt the vibration in his chest.
Venti: "NO!"
In the distance, shouts answered.
Hurried footsteps.
Voices.
Poacher: "An intruder!"
Poacher's wife: "Over there!"
Venti reacted immediately.
He lunged at the woman holding the horn and struck her repeatedly on the temple, knocking her to the ground.
The horn fell with a dull thud.
Silence returned… but only for a second.
Then he heard the others.
The remaining eighteen poachers were already running toward their position.
The ground trembled beneath their feet.
Armed figures appeared between the seaweed and the tents.
Venti gritted his teeth.
Venti: "Too many."
"Not here."
FFFFffffffffff
He activated Teleportation without hesitation.
His body dissolved in a blast of air.
He reappeared a few dozen meters away, behind a pile of crates and rocks, in a darker area of the cavern.
He immediately crouched, holding his breath, and slightly activated Intangibility to minimize his physical presence.
A few seconds later, the poachers swarmed into the battle zone.
Poacher: "They're all down!"
Poacher: "Where's the kid?!"
Another kicked the sand furiously.
Poacher: "He's vanished like a damn ghost!"
Venti watched from the shadows, motionless.
His heart pounded, but his mind remained clear.
Venti: "They're disorganized... agitated..."
He glanced quickly at his mental stats.
Venti: "Intangibility active."
"Teleportation still usable... but not too often."
In the center of the cavern, he spotted the purple silhouette of the Millennial Pearl Seahorse.
The creature had moved slightly.
Its flanks rose faster than before, as if the scent of crushed seaweed had awakened something within it.
Venti: "Perfect."
He watched the groups of poachers disperse, some searching the tents, others surveying the surroundings, all now on their guard.
Venti: "Discretion is over…"
"But then… why am I leaving them alive?"
The question echoed in Venti's mind like a persistent murmur, heavier than the tumult of the cavern.
He was hidden in the shadows, motionless, watching the restless silhouettes of the poachers gradually regroup. His breathing was calm, his body ready, but his mind was elsewhere.
Why?
Why not go further?
He could have.
He had the means.
Not all of them, not at once, but enough to transform this cave into a field of human ruins.
He had already neutralized twelve people without killing a single one.
Twelve.
And in the entire group, there were thirty-six of them. Thirty-six human beings who had entered an ancient underground ecosystem, captured rare, perhaps unique, creatures, and enslaved life forms that had done nothing to deserve it.
Crabs.
A thousand-year-old seahorse.
Perhaps even species that no one on the surface had ever seen.
And yet… not a single corpse.
Venti closed his eyes briefly.
Venti: "Because they didn't kill anyone."
The answer was there.
Simple.
Clear.
Uncomfortable, but true.
Until now, these poachers were guilty of greed, cruelty, ecological destruction… but not murder.
Not yet.
And for Venti, that line still mattered.
Perhaps too much, some would say. Perhaps naive. Perhaps stupid.
But it was his line.
He took a slow breath.
He thought of Arthur.
Of his eyes when he had entrusted him with the horn.
Of the promise he had made him.
I'll take you home.
If he crossed that line, if he became judge, executioner, and executioner… could he still keep that promise when he looked at himself in the mirror?
His fingers tightened slightly.
Around the Millennial Pearl Seahorse, the poachers had almost all regrouped.
Some shouted orders, others checked the ropes, still others peered nervously into the darkness, weapons raised.
Panic was beginning to take hold.
And that's when it happened.
CCCCCCCCCRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
A dull, deep sound, impossible to mistake for a simple landslide.
The very air seemed to vibrate.
A black fissure opened in space, about ten meters from the group, tearing through reality like a gaping wound.
Virtues of dark energy erupted from it, accompanied by an unnatural chill that made the bioluminescent algae on the walls shiver.
A sovereign abyssal portal.
Venti's eyes widened.
Venti: "Huh?!"
His heart skipped a beat.
Venti: "Why is there an abyssal portal in this cave…?"
"Don't tell me one of them…"
He didn't finish his sentence.
What chilled him even more wasn't the portal itself—but the poachers' reaction.
Or rather… their lack of reaction.
No scream.
No flight.
No surprise.
As if it were… normal.
As if it were just another day at the office.
CCCCRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEe
From the portal slowly emerged a slender figure, clad in dark armor with bluish reflections.
Two daggers rested on his wrists, vibrating with a familiar energy.
His cloak billowed as if bathed in water. Invisible.
Venti's blood ran cold.
He knew him.
Too well.
Venti: "...No..."
An Abyss Herald.
The same type.
The same aura.
The same overwhelming presence as the one he had faced alongside Bram, Kael, Lyra, and Eron.
The Herald stepped onto the damp sand of the cavern and surveyed his surroundings with a cold, calculating gaze.
Abyss Herald: "I sensed unusual vibrations in this area."
His voice resonated, calm, yet laden with latent threat.
Abyss Herald: "What happened?"
Chapter 56: Counterattack and escape
The End