God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 175: Frost Bridge (1).

"Hmm... You were right, Cain. Apart from the prospect that we might be attacked by a giant sea monster, this method is honestly way more efficient than attempting to build boats." Hunter stared at the dark water abyss as they walked along the Frost Bridge.

"The question remains... If we are attacked by a huge sea mutant beast, how do we fend it off whilst maintaining our bridge?" Jenny said as she adjusted the rifle sitting on her shoulder. She walked just beside Cain, adjusting her pace to keep up with his.

The floral scent of her hair wafted into his nose, but that did nothing to lessen the amount of fear within him.

'Damn it...' Cain cursed in his mind as he shifted just a little bit away from her to avoid bumping into her by mistake.

'Can't afford to take any chances...' Cain thought to himself, once he noticed the distance between them was safe.

The reason he was so cautious was the nature of his {Perpetual Frost} curse. He wasn't sure if she had any feelings for him, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

To protect himself, he would rather not come in contact with any females until he found a way to take care of the curse.

'At least Ruby doesn't seem to affect me.' Cain thought in his mind as he rubbed the beautiful jet-black coat of his mutant beast companion.

He noticed that Ruby had grown greatly during their time apart. After the fight with the devil army and the giant {Flame Devil}, Forza, Cain had secluded himself for a while and had practiced runecrafting and upgraded his skills. During this period, everyone in the group, including those who didn't have access to the system, had all grown stronger.

Although they couldn't absorb energy normally from the system, they were able to absorb the mana stored within mana shards and make it their own.

Although a majority of the creatures on the Island had been killed due to the initial fights between them and the group of Cain, as well as their near extermination at the hands of the devils, a few of them had managed to survive through various means. Most of them were very weak and could be defeated by the group of individuals who just managed to gain power not too long ago.

However, some had been met with either fortuitous encounters, or just had the potential to evolve very quickly. These mutant beasts were able to produce all sorts of mana shards. These mana shards, despite being a small amount, were still able to boost their relative strength by a decent percentage.

Since it wasn't possible for the only mana shards produced to be water attributed, true to her word, Jenny had helped set up a trading system that allowed them to trade in the other attribute mana shards they had collected for water attribute mana shards that she could easily buy from the system store with system points.

She had made a promise previously to Cain that she would help him manage the people, while he would deal with every other thing. Sure enough, when it was time to perform, the beautiful sniper kept her promise.

"What gave you this idea, Cain?" Susan said all of a sudden. She had appeared beside him abruptly, causing him to nearly lose his balance as he broke out into a cold sweat.

Raising an eyebrow at his weird behavior, Susan casually stretched her hand out in an attempt to make contact with Cain,

"Are you alright?" She said, her tone laced with worry.

Cain's eyes were filled with an incredibly alert light as he watched the trajectory of her hand carefully. Everything played out in slow motion before him as he used his incredible perception and control stats to move his body around the approaching hand so casually, it almost seemed like a fluke.

"Seriously... There's nothing wrong with me. Just lost my step for a second there." Cain said with an awkward smile as he made some distance from the two women.

Smelling foul play, Susan squinted at him but didn't say anything more...

"As for the idea behind this, have you ever heard about an Ice bridge?" Cain said mysteriously.

"An Ice Bridge?" While most of them seemed confused, others had looks of realization flash through their eyes...

"I see... But an Ice Bridge should be attached to some sort of extension of land to be stable, right? So it doesn't drift out into the sea..." Hunter said with a frown.

"It just needs to be thick enough. Ice is less dense than water, so we can worry less about sinking anytime soon. As for drifting away, I simply told the old man to concentrate a majority of the bridge's weight to be beneath the water. That way, it won't float away. It is also attached to the Island behind us, just as a countermeasure..." Cain said.

"Wow... That's quite impressive." Vincent said with a genuine look of praise directed at Cain.

"I didn't do much. It's just science... Besides, that's the least dangerous method I could think of applying magic to cross this large body of water." Cain said.

"Look!" Suddenly, Manny pointed at the water beneath them and exclaimed loudly. The people who walked behind them all instantly stood at attention, drawing their weapons as they watched the dark watery abyss both fearful and vigilant.

"Beneath the dark watery abyss, just slightly left of the Ice bridge, a huge white shadow appeared. The white shadow was wider than the Ice bridge, and although it wasn't as long, it was still monstrously big.

"Damn it! We already encountered one?!" Hunter gritted his teeth as he summoned a compound bow from his inventory. This bow was different from the one he usually used and was a bit longer. It was engraved with several red and orange runs and motifs with a black gem embedded at the nock.

A loud echo rumbled through the air as the water beneath the Ice bridge stirred violently...

"Don't attack yet!" Cain yelled as he activated his {Eye of Clairvoyance}.

His gave easily bore through one darkness to gaze at the large creature that was several hundreds of feet beneath them. Cain felt his breath come to a halt when he noticed that the creature was much, much larger than what they could see from the surface.

Due to the large distance between them, all they were able to see, was a portion of the creature's back with wasn't even up to a third of its entire length. Its body was as white as alabaster, and it was shaped like a huge whale with giant blade-like fins drinking out of its side. A row of sharp blades butter out of its spine, making it seem even more deadly and menacing.

Despite its huge size, it maintained a steady slow pace as it passed beneath the water below them, not minding the puny existences that tried to hang onto their lives as they worked in fear above it at all.

'It doesn't even know we are here...' Cain said as he noticed that the creature's black and abnormally huge eyes were located at the front of its head, directly on its face, as opposed to the side view normal whales usually have. It also had a huge eye attached to its terrifyingly large tail that smacked against the water, producing a steady, yet powerful propellant force.

"Relax... The creature isn't going to attack. It's too far underneath to even notice us, and its eyes aren't focused in our direction." Cain said, calming the minds of those who couldn't gaze into the watery abyss.

"This is bad for my heart..." Vincent said as he dramatically clutched at his chest.

"These sea creatures could easily one-shot all of us!" Li said with clenched fists. He couldn't even imagine any of his punches having any effect on such a sea creature.

"Hmm..." Cain narrowed his eyes and focused his {Devil Eye} on the creature. Due to his concentrating the power of the skill, he was able to bring the description of the creature out.

***

{Alabaster Levaithan} level 101 (Legendary, Tier 1)

Strength: 70,000.

Agility: 30,000.

Defense: 4,000.

Magic: 50,000.

HP: 1,000,000/1,000,000.

MP: 750,000/750,000.

Skills: ???, ???, ???.

***

Cain felt an extremely cold shiver run down his spine as he stared at the creature lurking in the depths with wide eyes...

Sensing something wrong, Hunter followed his gaze and noticed that it was still on the creature that was passing underneath them.

'Hm? What is he staring at it for?' Hunter wondered as he also activated his {Devil Eye} to take a look. Soon after, his face devolved into the same ugly expression Cain had as he stared at the creature in disbelief.

"Good God..." Hunter exclaimed softly as his breath was nearly stolen from him.

"En... Good God is right..." Cain said with a hard look as he wondered how and why a creature so powerful would be lurking in the waters beneath them.

Cain decided to call on the system...

{Replying to host: All creatures have different evolution speeds. The evolution speed of Sea creatures is incredibly fast, especially their physical evolution. They possess incredible potential, and as a result, can climb to higher tiers and levels much faster than humans can, most of the time, simply by eating.

They do not evolve to develop great intelligence, but they are intelligent enough that they understand the basic concepts of magic and skill, as well as spell execution}.

'Compared to a human's speed of evolution, how fast is a sea creature's?'

{Replying to host: That greatly depends on the sea creature. Usually, the size of a sea creature influences its speed of evolution. However, there are a few small sea creatures, that will evolve to possess tremendous strength and absurd abilities}.

Cain wore a frown as he wondered how he was supposed to compete with that...

{It will do the host well to know that the universe is an unfair place. Even these sea creatures that seem to possess tremendous potential are nothing compared to the other races spread across the multitude of realms in the universe. The planet the host currently resides on is in a long-forgotten corner of the Earthly realm. The creatures here possess the lowest of evolutionary potentials...}

Cain: "..."

CIn was unsure if the system was attempting to make him feel better, or if it was trying to make him even more concerned.

'Ha... It doesn't matter. I'll cross the bridges as they come. For now, let me focus on this one.' Cain said as he continued to walk forward.

Cain could feel the fear and worry seeping out from every single one of them, including the ones that thought they had become some of the strongest existences on the planet.

The huge white shadow beneath them eventually passed through without giving them any issues, causing every one of them to exhale a deep breath of relief.

"W-we... We survived!" Someone in the group of people following them exclaimed.

"Thank goodness!"

"We are safe now..."

The weak tend to fall under the illusion of safety once the present danger had passed. However, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as it was a much better option than needless panic. Cain let out a nod of satisfaction when he saw that none of them broke down due to the existence of such a scary monster.

'It seems like the power they've gained recently has increased their confidence and hope...' Cain thought to himself.

He stared at the Frost Bridge in front of him with a complicated gaze. Despite the turmoil in his heart, he wasn't scared at all. Instead, he was excited...

When he had seen the stats of the behemoth that moved through the waters below, he had been overcome with a great desire to battle and devour it. It was a hunger he had never experienced before.

A slight rumble came from the depths of his soul, causing him to frown. However, that frown quickly changed back into a neutral expression. He let out a breath of cold air that had been sitting in his lungs for some time now,

"Guys..." He said, drawing the attention of every person there.

A twinkle appeared in his eyes as he spoke,

"I think We might be in for one hell of a journey..."