Cave Refuge

At first, when other merfolk saw some merfolk rush into the bodies of the White Bone Puppets, indeed, there was quite a bit of space cleared around them.

However, when they thought that the merfolk who rushed into the bodies of the White Bone Puppets would explode immediately, they didn't expect that instead of detonating, those merfolk simply stayed inside the bodies of the White Bone Puppets.

As time passed, while they were still cautiously avoiding the attacks of the White Bone Puppets, those merfolk hiding in the crevices of the White Bone Puppets not only did not attack from within the puppets but were actually pointing and directing from inside.

Seeing this situation, those merfolk still dodging the White Bone Puppets' assaults found their space to evade steadily diminishing as the Blood Sea kept shrinking.

Looking at the ever-decreasing safe space around them and observing the leisurely merfolk inside the White Bone Puppets, those on the outside started to feel somewhat unbalanced.

Just when they figured it out and tried to hide themselves within the bodies of the White Bone Puppets, they discovered there was no room left as other merfolk had already occupied all the gaps.

Eventually, as the Blood Sea continued to close in, sealing off the surrounding space, those merfolk left outside of the White Bone Puppets were either dissolved into pools of blood by the Tainted Blood in the sea or cut in half by the puppets' attacks.

With the surround space increasingly constricted by the Blood Sea, the merfolk hidden inside the White Bone Puppets became more and more tense.

After all, they had no other escape routes, as they were already hidden within the crevices of the White Bone Puppets' bodies, so they could only pray that the Tainted Blood would not seep into the Puppet.

Whether it was their prayers that worked or not, although the Tainted Blood enveloped the bodies of the White Bone Puppets, it did not seep through the gaps between the bones.

Just when those merfolk felt fortunate about this, numerous bone spikes suddenly protruded from within the White Bone Puppets, promptly killing all the merfolk hiding inside.

As the only White Bone Puppet within the White Bone Banner and commonly used by Dong Tianyu, it naturally would not have the vulnerability to enemies hidden inside its body.

The merfolk thought they had found a safe zone beyond the reach of attacks, little did they know that the safer the place seemed, the more it was a lure put out for the enemy to see.

Zachary did not expect that the seemingly clever merfolk, so lacking in combat leadership, would fall so easily into the trap he had set in advance.

With the merfolk within the White Bone Puppets exterminated, the final groups left in the Underwater City beneath the Great Whirlpool were eradicated by Zachary, and the structures within the city were also reduced to ruins from the previous battle.

Having obtained what he wanted, Zachary no longer held any sentiment for this place.

Just as he prepared to leave, Zachary suddenly remembered those crew members captured by the merfolk and imprisoned in bubbles.

However, Zachary did not wish to interact with them too much, so he simply commandeered the Flying Swords to burst the bubbles trapping them, then nonchalantly ascended back to the Wave Rider.

Those crew members trapped within the bubbles, unaware of the events that had transpired in the nearby Underwater City, showed expressions of great happiness when they saw their confining bubbles suddenly burst.

Now fully conscious, they knew the area they were in, so as soon as they saw their imprisoning bubbles shatter, everyone started to hold their breath, preparing to swim back to the surface in one go.

When the bubbles finally burst, those crew members began to desperately swim upwards, having no time to notice the condition of the nearby Underwater City.

By this time, Zachary had returned to the Wave Rider. When he encountered the merfolk who had captured the crew members while ascending, he knocked them out with a flick of his hand and sent them to the Realm of the Undead.

Without Zachary's control, the Wave Rider had been adrift, and now, guided by the currents of the Great Whirlpool, it was very close to the center of the whirlpool.

The ships that were ahead of the Wave Rider were sent into the center of the Great Whirlpool long ago and had already disappeared from the surface.

Seeing this, Zachary immediately maneuvered the Wave Rider to break free from the central area of the Great Whirlpool.

While it was almost certain that ancient sailing ships encountering sea whirlpools would be destroyed with all hands, the modern era, with its continuous upgrades to ship propulsion systems, makes escaping from the pull of water whirlpools quite effortless, unless one deliberately enters the center.

For the Wave Rider, which had been transformed into a Magical Weapon by Zachary and inscribed with multiple Formations, even if it is in the center of the whirlpool, it can navigate freely against any underwater currents without external interference.

Observing the ceaseless underwater currents, Zachary was uncertain whether this scene was a purely natural phenomenon or caused by some treasure hidden beneath the waters.