God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 535: The Death Zone.

Cain stared at this unholy scene with his eyes full of darkness.

Already aware of how things were about to go, he steeled his mind.

The entire ocean was in turmoil within the Death Zone. A collosal whirlpool seems to be dragging them towards the center of whatever it was that was producing it.

There was no rain within the Death Zone. Instead, the seawater rose up into the sky an came back down viciously, replacing the rain. Quickly, their clotjes were being drenched. Summoning his armor, Cain turned to Hunter,

"Get everyone secured. We might be attacked soon, so its best to keep things organized."

Hunter nodded.

A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. Then a might rumble of thunder quickly followed after, absolutely dwarfing the roaring of the fierce waves.

Cain turned to the rest, "The rest of us will wait here."

Nobody seems to object. Cain nodded.

The he turned back to face the turbulent sea.

From the look of things, there were quite a few more changes. For one, the darkness in this stretch of the world seemed a bit deeper. Not only that, but the air was choke full of elemental mana.

If there had to be one plus side to the Dead Spots and Death Zone, it would be the greater concentrated of man within these spaces compared to other areas.

'Perhaps this is what such vile beasts gather here.'

Feeling the full weather of nature, Cain had his long hair wildly tossed into the wind. However, he could care less.

Instead, he focused on the sky and the sea.

The {Amethyst Silkworm} following below the sky was having a hard time following. Cain was very worried for Pudding, but there was nothing he could do about it.

As for Ruby, she has come on the ship two days ago. Just as he, and every person behind him was about to be relieved after not seeing anything approaching.

However, it was too early to celebrate...

Cain suddenly yelled out, "The water! Archers, shooters, mages, attack the water!"

Those on the deck of the ship didn't seem to understand, however, Cain wasn't going to waste time. Pulling a set of two pistols from the Armament Armory out, he walked over to the railing. Closing one eye, he began firing bullets into the water.

"Do I have to spell it out?! There's something in the freaking water!"

That seems to snap the rest out of their lull and into action.

Seeing them move, Cain focused his attention on activating the {Eye of Clairvoyance}.

The moment he saw what was under the waves, he frowned.

"Fuck."

***

{Ironhide Leeches}: Level 89

Strength: 3,900.

Agility: 27,000.

Defense: 550.

Magic: 1,000.

HP: 30,000/30,000.

MP: 12,000/12,000.

Skills: Insatiable Hunger, Razor Fangs, Underwater Maneuver, Shark Jaw.

***

The Black Sea had suddenly morphed into the breeding grounds of millions upon millions of similarly black creatures. These creatures had the slick, slimy body of an eel, but the head of a leech with numerous rows of sharp teeth.

And from the looks of things, they were about to sink their jaws into the ship. Which Cain didn't doubt the engineering that made the construction of this ship possible, he also couldn't put it behind him.

The ship was old, and from what he had seen so far they could be more than capable of chewing a hole through the ship's hull.

If that happened...

They would all die today. Without fail.

They all finally seemed to grasp the gravity of it.

Behind him, the shadows came to life and Evangeline stepped through.

With a grim look in her eyes, and without saying a word, she began casting spells.

Waves climbed to the sky like towers under her control, and sharp tentacles created from the water pierced through the bodies of the numerous creatures within the water.

Still, it was not enough. The {Ironhide Leeches} swarmed in from all directions.

"Shoot them down!"

Arrows, spells and bullets came fly into the ocean at dazzling speeds. With the power of mana, these projectiles would be able to penetrate several meters into the water before the force in them dissipates.

However, despite being numerous, the baleful creature were also incredibly hard to kill. They were incredibly fast, so fast even, that most of the people shooting from the deck could only see black shapes swimming rapidly around the ship.

Still, their worries were far from over...

The ship was suddenly tossed several meters into the air.

Caught off guard, Cain lost his balance for a moment. Almost falling into the dark sea below, he managed to catch himself just in time.

However, many others weren't as lucky.

"Ahh!" The final screams of a man who unfortunately couldn't regain his balance in time.

The moment he hit the ocean surface, it was over for him. Numerous {Ironhide Leeches} attached themselves to his body, and in less than a second, his dried out husk was floating before being crushed to pieces by the wicked waves.

Watching this process gave Cain the chills.

The rest onboard were no better. A few seconds later, the ship crashed into the water again.

"Fuck. The rest of us can't do anything." Li cursed as he could only stare into the water below. His specialty was getting up and personal with his opponent. He could do nothing against these creatures.

Cain spoke grimly, "Prepare yourselves. These things are already sticking to the ship. They'll begin crawling up soon. You'll have enough on your hands then."

Li's face paled, "What?!"

Leah had a nasty scowl in her face,

"You heard the man. Everyone, group up. Split yo all sides of the ship. Whatever you do, do not let a single one of these slimy maggots get onboard!"

Their large group immediately spread out to every corner of the ship. The archers, Marksmen, and spell casters alongside the various warriors quickly found their positions.

They were in no position hold anything back. With the way things were looking, they might end up dying. It was far more reasonable for everyone to fight.

Soon, some of the {Ironhide Leeches} began crawling onto the hull of the ship, while the others tried gnawing on the ship itself.

The melee fighters finally had a chance, swinging their swords, maces, and spears, they stabbed, sliced and bashed the {Ironhide Leeches} into bloody pulp.

Still, it was like trying to empty the ocean out with a cup...

Due to their numbers, these leeches, as large as an average house cat, continued to climb.

A man that wasn't quick enough unfortunately had a leech attack to his leg.

"No! Stop! Get it off!"

Before others around him could respond to his cries, it was already too late. His body had been completely drained of all fluids, his dried out husk hitting the ground a few seconds later.

Numerous other deaths just like that were happening all over, and the entire ship descended into chaos.

Cain's eyes burned brightly as mana poured out of his body in waves.

Forty-nine hiltless star-tipped blades were woven from magic. Like the blossoms of a flower, they spread out and shot off.

Weaving through the narrow gaps, the accurately pierced through the leeches that managed to find their way on board, killing them instantly.

However, that was not enough...

Leaving trails of displaced air behind, they plunged into the water, tearing the leeches within the waves.

A portion of the ocean was dyed red due to his merciless killing.

Spending a huge amount of mana every minute, Cain spared no effort. Still, these leeches continued to come, undaunted by the death of their own kind.

And so, the killing and dying continued. Thousands of leeches fell every minute, but their casualty count began to rise steadily.

'I have to find a way soon, or we won't escape this.'

The only spells he had that could affect such a wide area was his most powerful flame spell, {Infernal Celestial Art: Black Sun}, {Frost Temple}, and {Heavenly Blue Lightning}.

Cain quickly cancelled the flame spell from the list.

'Using {Frost Temple} might work, but then again, the range of the spell isn't that great. Not only that, but I'll have to use some power from the {Elemental Vault} to increase the spell's potency.'

Looking up to the sky, he could see the periodic flashes of lightning brewing in the dark clouds above.

Perhaps it was a sign, perhaps it was the only logical conclusion to come to. Either way, Cain quickly made up his mind.

Dismissing the guns in his hands, he summoned {Wilted Tear}.

Lightning crackled all around him as he tore open the floodgates. The people around him retreated a few steps back. Some of them were even burned by the rampant sparks of electricity pouring from his body.

Thanks to the {Wilted Tear}, Cain realized he had far better control over the wild power of lightning. Still, it was better not to risk it.

Sucking in a deep breath, he tightened his grip on the staff...

The skies above them became restless as a giant magic circle wove itself into existence from the abundant mana within this Death Zone.

The whips of lightning brewing within the storm clouds made their way into the heart of the magic circle as Cain simultaneously activated {Lightning Thief}. The air was incredibly saturated with this wild power until finally, it reached the point of oversaturation.

Cain yelled as loud as he could, "Cover your ears!"

Regardless of if they would listen or not, he let the spell loose. His eyes were like storm clouds as he finally activated the spell

"Heavenly Blue Lightning."

A bolt of lightning as thick as a pillar descended from the heavens and into the sea, bringing nothing but scalding wrath and death...