Cave Refuge

At this moment, Dong Tianyu had confirmed that no matter whether he moved left, right, forward, or backward, the light would always dim.

This was indeed the central location, just as Dong Tianyu felt somewhat at a loss, he suddenly remembered that he was in the water, where he could move up and down in addition to moving around.

Recalling that when the merfolk used this object, the others hid beneath it, Dong Tianyu immediately began to ascend with the object in hand.

Just as Dong Tianyu had guessed, as the object's position continuously rose, the light it emitted indeed became increasingly bright.

When it reached a certain height, the object suddenly shot out a cone-shaped beam of light, which gradually dimmed and disappeared after spreading its glow.

The previously vanished Underwater City reappeared at its original location, with the merfolk and the White Bone Puppets still in the state they were in before disappearing. Of course, the Blood Sea that encased the entire city was still enveloping it.

At this moment, the position of this eye had already escaped the enclosure of the Blood Sea, which meant that the merfolk back then truly wasn't within the Blood Sea's embrace.

If he had taken this object and fled straight away, unless he chose to flee in Dong Tianyu's direction, or near Dong Tianyu's area by some unfortunate chance,

Had he chosen to escape to another area on the opposite side, he might indeed have had the chance to elude Dong Tianyu's detection, allowing him to abscond with the object in hand from this place.

After all, even if all the merfolk in the Underwater City were slain, if the desired object wasn't found, Dong Tianyu would undoubtedly believe that it was like a hidden treasure, undetectable by Divine Sense.

In that case, Dong Tianyu would definitely remain in the city, attempting to seek out the unknown items, which would grant the fleeing merfolk enough time to get far away from here.

It's just a pity that the merfolk was perhaps too confident, or maybe he couldn't bear to leave his kin behind, which is why he thought of his own kind and couldn't stand to use them as bait.

Indeed, as the ancients said, one who aims to accomplish great deeds must not get caught up in trivialities; a merciful person can't command an army, a righteous person can't handle wealth—the adage still holds truth.

As the Underwater City reappeared, the object in Dong Tianyu's hand instantly became dull and lusterless. At that moment, Dong Tianyu suddenly felt the object, now in his hand, beginning to absorb the Spirit Energy emanating from his body.

Dong Tianyu was in water, and although he had reached a level where he could survive without oxygen, he kept his body covered in Spirit Power to maintain comfort and guard against unforeseen attacks.

His palm, in contact with the object, was naturally enveloped in his own Spirit Power, so when the object began to attract Spirit Power, Dong Tianyu was sure to notice it immediately.

However, this suction was not strong, which also indicated that the proper way to use the object in hand was for the user to actively pour energy into it. Once it was fully charged, it could be used normally, and it only requires locating the original position for a second release.

The current absorption of Dong Tianyu's Spirit Power, and the lack of response to Dong Tianyu's earlier infusion of Spirit Power, may be because the object can only absorb the same type of energy each time, or perhaps it cannot absorb new energy until it fully expends the energy it was originally charged with.

While Dong Tianyu was still contemplating how to use the item in his hand, the battle in the Underwater City had not yet ended—the situation remained the same as before their disappearance.

At first, the merfolk wore disdainful expressions, as they had already been through this scenario several times. Despite appearing to be at a disadvantage in the current battle, their king, wielding the Divine Artifact of their race, had disappeared, which meant their king had left to seek reinforcements.

Their Merfolk Divine Artifact, once used, would seal the target space into the time-space rift; the sealed space would be in a state of Time Freeze. Until the seal was lifted, everything inside, whether people or objects, would remain just as they were at the initial moment of sealing.

Normally, creatures within the sealed area would not realize whether they had been sealed because, for them, no matter how much time had passed on the outside, it seemed like the blink of an eye, so they could not detect whether they had ever been sealed.

However, even if the creatures in the target area could not detect it, the Merfolk had a lot of experience with such matters.

Since they had seen the Merfolk King, holding the Divine Artifact, leave, their experience told them that if they just held on for about ten minutes, the Merfolk King should reappear with reinforcements to join the battle.

Therefore, when the Merfolk saw their king vanish, their expressions became extremely excited. After all, according to their experience, the battle was nearing its end, and victory would surely be theirs.

But as time passed, the circle of containment by the Blood Sea shrunk increasingly smaller, leaving them less and less space to dodge the attacks of the White Bone Puppets, and their casualties continued to rise.

By this time, their faces began to look worse and worse. Although they still felt they would be the ultimate victors of the battle, they did not wish to fall at the moment of impending victory.

Unfortunately, as the Blood Sea continued to compress the space, when the Merfolk faced the White Bone Puppets' attacks again, they no longer had any space to dodge, which meant each attack from the puppets would claim several Merfolk lives.

Facing the attacks of the White Bone Puppets and the ever-shrinking Blood Sea, some Merfolk's expressions crumbled instantly, showing madness, and instead of retreating, they rushed into the bodies of the White Bone Puppets, opting to self-destruct in an attempt to injure the puppets.

It was a pity that even if they detonated within the brains of the White Bone Puppets, they did no serious damage to them; it could only be said that the blood splattered during their self-destruction dyed the surrounding bones red.

Unfortunately, even such staining was quickly erased from the White Bone Puppets as the blood adhered to their bones was rapidly sucked away by the Bloodthirsty Banner.

As those mad Merfolk gradually died, the other Merfolk did not become as desperate and crazed as they had been. Instead, they found a glimmer of hope for survival from their frenzied behavior.

They saw that those Merfolk whose expressions turned mad, upon entering the bodies of the White Bone Puppets, became much safer. If it weren't for their direct self-destruction, perhaps the Merfolk hiding inside the puppets would have a higher chance of survival.

Especially those hiding inside the skulls of the White Bone Puppets, they would not be subject to any other attacks.

Seeing the Blood Sea continue to shrink, some clever Merfolk thought that if they hid inside the bodies of the White Bone Puppets, they might actually live to the end.

After all, in most cases, neither formations nor traps were completely hopeless situations. Even the most advanced formations or the most precise traps could be safely navigated with the right approach.

Once they confirmed their thoughts, the Merfolk who had realized what to do immediately swam toward the insides of the White Bone Puppets.

Those Merfolk who had not realized what was happening looked at those rushing back into the White Bone Puppets with pity in their eyes.

They felt that these Merfolk, charging toward the bodies of the White Bone Puppets like the previous group that had self-destructed, had also fallen into despair.

Even witnessing such events, they would not take the initiative to intervene. Although part of the reason was they might not be successful in stopping them, the main reason was that with those Merfolk gone, they would have more space to dodge the attacks of the White Bone Puppets.