Way of the Knights

Chapter 331 - Sunken Ivory Castle

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If this was the first time that Raven went here, he might've been completely surprised. 

That being said, even if this wasn't his first time seeing such spectacle, it still didn't spare him from the bewilderment. 

The Sunken Ivory Castle, is chained at the body of a gargantuan Tier 7 deep see overlord, a Kraken. 

The Kraken didn't move too much, yet even the slightest action from it caused the sea floor to shake and the sea water to boil. 

Despite the castle being chained onto it's body, make no mistake. This Kraken can move. The castle might hinder some of it's movements but it's not enough to completely shackle it down. 

Raven saw this monster moved once. All it did, was to swim a couple meters forward but the reaction from every marine lifeforms and demonic beasts were thunderous. Everything in this sea is afraid of it. In the depths of this sea, the Kraken is the ultimate predator without a doubt.

*Hiss!*

His neck snapped back to look behind him. There he saw Venus glaring at the light screen with her fangs out and her body trembling. Some nerves on her head became visible and she was releasing a fearsome aura in poor attempts to suppress the deep seated fear she felt. 

Raven can't feel it because he's not a beast. While he might feel threatened, this was due to his rich battle experience. On the other hand, what Venus felt was greater than that. She felt like just a gaze from this monstrosity is enough to kill her. 

"Oh, sorry about that." Raven chuckled and went closer to her. 

He then picked her up and gently caressed her body, he then whispered: "It's fine. We're not going to fight it. Not now, at least. So long as we stay inside this place, it shouldn't be able to see us."

Venus relaxed through Raven's comforting. She snuggled her head on his face but she was still feeling some apprehension towards the Kraken. 

"Sleep for now, our target isn't that thing but what's behind it. Worse comes to worst, I'll just hide us here." Raven told her and Venus agreed, she transformed into a scarf and hid her head inside his shirt to sleep. 

Raven then sighed and went back into the controls. He then slowly moved the Spatial Abode forward, making sure that he's driving it along the turbulence to create as little disturbance as possible. 

While he said that the Kraken cannot see the Spatial Abode, it still won't hurt to be careful. A Kraken is something that's completely out of Raven's capabilities. Not to mention that he's under the depths, he was sure that he won't even be able to lay finger on this beast. 

The Kraken failed to sense any disturbance due to what Raven did, it remained resting on the sea floor while it's tentacles swayed ever so slightly. Raven's gaze was fixated on the beast and the castle, he was searching for the entrance. 

Even at the depths of the sea where even light cannot penetrate, the castle still shone with luminescence. It glowed with a softest pulse of white light. The castle looked like it was made out of nothing but the purest and the most refined ivory. 

The Sunken Ivory Castle took on a rectangular shape with several fortresses surrounding it. The man-sized chain locks became more visible and moved forward, the chains were also seemingly coming out of the kraken's body, but Raven knew that a Kraken is not born chained so there's only one explanation for this. As Raven got closer, a nigh-invisible dome that covered the entire castle was seen by his ocular technique. The entrance of the castle is facing the back of Kraken, where it's tentacles were. 

Couple of meters away from the dome, Raven controlled the Spatial Abode even slower. He would move it one meter closer at a time with differentiating intervals. He was mostly watching out for the turbulence and moving the spatial abode according to the flow to mask it's movements from the Kraken. 

Raven was in no rush. He knows that rushing in blindly will cause his death. He wasn't impatient since he had confidence that once he entered the castle, he would be able to capture the ingredient he needed without fail. The real trouble is getting close to the castle without the Kraken noticing. 

*Woosh!*

Alarm bells instantly sounded on Ravens mind. Without a second thought, he raised the stealth function of the Spatial Abode to the highest level and stopped moving it. Cold sweat drenched his back as he stared fixatedly on the light screen and watched over the Kraken. 

It turned out that following his instincts was the best decision he could even make in this situation. 

If he moved the Spatial Abode even an inch forward from where it currently was, it would definitely be struck by a stray tentacle of the Kraken. 

While the Spatial Abode is isolated behind space, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist or incorporeal. It is simply hidden from plain sight, even those who couldn't see it could still interact with it. If that stray tentacle made contact with the Spatial Abode, it wouldn't just cause a major damage to it but the Kraken will also become aware of it's existence. Raven would then be placed in a major crisis that might also kill him in the process.

The Spatial Abode went completely still according to Raven's will. He didn't even dare to touch any of the controls. Instead he observed the behavior of the Kraken's tentacles, he guessed that the Kraken might've sensed something wrong which coincidentally made it on-guard. He allowed it's vigilance to dim down before even considering to drive the Spatial Abode forward. 

Once he saw that the Kraken had dropped it's vigilance. Raven went back into driving the Spatial Abode forward in the same manner as before. 

Even when he was mere inches away from the dome that covered the palace, Raven didn't drop his guard nor rushed in, he made sure that the Kraken was completely oblivious about his intrusion first before he drove the Spatial Abode forward and penetrated the bubble. 

The Spatial Abode managed to get in without any hitches. Raven only relaxed after noticing that the Kraken was still oblivious. He then wiped out the sweat that was accumulating on his face, he also became aware that his back was drenched in cold sweat which caused him to smile wryly. 

He sighed in relief and quietly observed his new surroundings. He decided to change his clothes before he got off from the Spatial Abode. He decided leave Venus inside the Spatial Abode as he stored it inside his core. The Spatial Abode could shrink it's size so he had no problems storing it. 

Raven then took a sharp inhale and placed on a determined expression. He then gazed at his surroundings and couldn't help but feel admiration to those who built this castle. 

Not mentioning the fact that the whole castle is made out of the Ivory Tusk of a Heavenly Elephants that could only be found on the Divine Realm, it's even more impressive that they were able to mold this item and use it as a foundation for this Ivory Castle. 

Things that could be found in the Divine Realm are mostly from dazzling origins, take the Heavenly Elephant for example. A colossal beast that could threaten a whole planet just by merely existing, taking out it's Ivory Tusk is not a simple matter. Due to its toughness, the Ivory Tusk of Heavenly Elephant is a difficult item to handle, but now he stood in front of castle that is composed almost entirely of the said tusk. 

Even without this protective dome around it, this depth is not enough to even graze the surface of this castle. What's even more impressive is that, it is strapped on a body of a Kraken. 

Raven doesn't have a complete information about the origins of this castle. He didn't know who built it, nor the reason why it is strapped on the back of a Kraken. 

What he knew is that, this castle had been here for a very long time. It might've been here even before the creation of the kingdom. The other thing that he know is that, he's not alone in here. 

After remunerating for a while, Raven decided to step closer to the gates of the castle. 

He then found himself looking up at the tall doors that's preventing him from entering the castle. The arching doors were massive, the size gives one an impression that this door is not something that is used by humans. 

There are two iron hoops at the door, that being said those too were also big and there's no way that Raven could pull them effectively from where he was. Thankfully he didn't have to do so. 

On the corner of the large doors, is a more reasonable sized door that he could open. Raven of course planned on using those doors to enter the castle. 

Placing his hand on the two iron hoops on the smaller door, he started pulling them with all his might. The doors creaked from movement.. It took Raven a considerable amount of effort to fully open the doors, only then he came in and lavished at the exotic sights inside the castle.