The Sea King's shovel crashed against the horned man's skull, cracking flesh and bone to dust as he flew backwards.
Vaelmyr didn't waste a moment as he leaped forward, disregarding his armament and landing atop his fallen foe.
Raising his arms overhead, he locked his hands into one solid mass and drove it downward, smashing into the lying man's windpipe.
Thick black blood dripped from the devil's lips; however, a smile tugged at the edges, a happy expression panning across his face as a new presence emerged among them.
From the cosmos themselves, a gaze so primordial it sent shivers down the King of Souls' spine burst through the Gates of Heaven, shattering his concentration.
In his brief lapse of focus, Azaroth kicked his leg into the King's ankle, almost crippling him as he pushed the heavy man off of him.
Then, the darkness of the cavern condensed in the air, and a broadsword that sizzled with crimson fire erupted into existence, slicing across the room.
Lord Droskyn only had a second to block, recalling the shovel to his hand and tossing it like a spear, easily deflecting the attack.
Slamming his hand into a nearby rock, he broke apart a chunk of the surface, grinding pieces of debris into sharp meteorites of destruction.
『Soulless Void』
From the King's chest, hundreds of spirits shot forth, each infecting a projectile that he swiftly tossed with canon-like force.
The stone bullets flew at supersonic speed, digging into various places on the horned man's body, but missing his vital points.
Reality dipped for a moment, the moon high above shifting its orbit, sending the sea into chaos as waves equal to mountains formed far in the distance.
A force of unimaginable power pressed down on the King's mind, driving him into the depths of insanity, the face of the monster who inhabited his dreams appearing before his eyes.
Spitting out crimson saliva, he spoke in an angry growl.
"You."
The beast that had weasled itself into his nightmares, the provocation that had plagued him for weeks, was none other than the slumbering Nidhogg who had now awoken.
Two of the four seals still held the creature's form under control; however, with half of them destroyed, it could exert a certain amount of power onto the mortal plane.
Ignoring the blasphemous whispers that invaded his mind, the Sea King stood firm, shovel in hand, the cold metal flickering in the azure flames that consumed the cavern.
Preparing another barrage of attacks, he was stopped by the words of the devil before him.
"This is where we must part. I'm afraid I'm in no condition to battle you at this time, even if you are only half the man you normally are…"
Placing his tophat back onto his pointed skull, he laughed lightly, looking between his three fatally injured subordinates.
"I don't envy you, Lord Droskyn, but I respect you enough to admit my defeat today."
Behind his back, sparks of pitch-black darkness shot forth, a gateway resembling that of the World Between appearing in sight.
Realizing what was about to happen, the King surged forward, gun in one hand, firing eight shots concurrently while slashing downward with his shovel.
As the bullets rained down onto the horned man's head, he simply yawned, his body falling backwards into the rift, vanishing in a flash.
Around the chamber, the bodies of his subordinates, Esme, Raymond, and even Stein, disappeared along with him.
They had escaped, leaving Vael alone in the desolate chamber where an ancient seal used to be, holding back the monster that haunted his dreams.
Raw fury exploded from the Sea King's body, shattering the altar entirely while cracking the crystalline substance that coated the ceiling.
With a movement of absolute precision, the man threw his shovel upwards, its tip digging through the glass like butter.
Slowly, the cracks grew and grew until seawater began to shoot through in geysers of crushing pressure.
Tightening his leg muscles, Vaelmyr lept upwards, diving into the hole he had forged, feeling the crushing depths of the sea encapsulate his form entirely.
Below him, the once impenetrable Labyrinth of Delphin collapsed in on itself, the final work of the Architects buried under the waves of fate that consumed the world.
…
One week passed in a flash, the world reeling from the damage of the floods caused by the sudden orbital shift of the moon.
In the city of Corvassa, the first mission of the Hunters' Exam had been over for more than three weeks, and rankings had been published about a week and a half after that, on the twenty-first.
For the exam proctored by Camilla Buckley, the second and third placements were held by two individuals of prominent families, but the person in the first position was different.
Ezra Flock, a homeless child who just-so-happened to be descended from Javier Flock, had killed four magnitude two terrors on his own.
Whether the credit be given to his curse or his skills, the world would never know.
Unfortunately, most participants could not kill a single terror, let alone four, and the total number of challengers decreased by ninety percent as a result.
Less than one hundred participants remained in the Corvassa test; these individuals were waiting for the special exam to finish and their results to be published.
On the twentieth of September, Camilla Buckley had brought back the missing recommendation holders, Raphael von Steinfeste and Aaron Grimstall, both heavily wounded.
The two boys would have normally failed their exams by gaining outside help from a Sea King and the proctor; however, circumstances and orders from higher-ups were in favor of letting them pass.
Raphael had been misinformed about his mission and yet still technically walked away with the core of a Dormyrr.
The bodies of the missionaries were ruled as lost per his report of the 'human-houses' that filled the island.
Aaron, on the other hand, had risked his own well-being to save another challenger while also battling a rogue Apex terror from the Abyss.
This, coupled with the fact that his mission wasn't dependent on actual completion, would've already allowed him to pass.
Yet, when Camilla Buckley rescued the boys from the verge of death, she noticed a tooth of the Oblivicas lodged in his melted leg.
Therefore, he had completed his mission of bringing back a piece of terror stronger than at least a high-tiered one.
So, when the worldwide exam rankings were released on September 30th, the top five positions were a shock to the challengers.
Fifth place, Ezra Flock, a regular challenger who had, by a miracle, reached the pinnacle of the normal mission.
Fourth place, Alaric von Steinfeste, the brother of Raphael von Steinfeste, and the heir to the Steinfeste family.
He had completed his special mission in the Sea of Wishes by bringing back the heads of a mercenary organization that had been hunting clergymen for months.
In third place, the younger brother, Raphael von Steinfeste, who achieved this position after battling against a rare giant and killing at least eight Dormyrrs, according to what was known.
Second place was given to Akari Ayaka, a girl from Strava who had completed her mission as normal; however, the King of Souls himself had granted her another mission under law eighteen of the Hunters' Guild.
Normally, a non-member Sea King could never interfere in any way with a challenger's mission nor add to it.
However, according to this hidden clause, if a Level Zero alert is enacted and lives totalling over fifty thousand are at risk, the authority to issue missions is exalted.
In this case, with the partial unsealing of Nidhogg, the order from The King, along with the completion of her mission, was enough to warrant her placement.
Finally, out of a total of four thousand and fifty-four participants, the one with the highest global ranking of all was Aaron Grimstall.
He earned this honor by facing an Apex-level terror, saving a fellow challenger, and completing the mission alive.
Survival against an Apex by a normal civilian was unheard of, even when they had enough strength to be recommended by a Marshal.
Of course, the world would never find out that his body had been saved by a Ghostship governed by an unknown force.
As the date of October 1st, 3125 arrived, this young boy awoke from his coma, his body a mess of wounds and scars.
Eleanor Lynn, the girl who had been in his care, had mysteriously appeared in a hospital bed the same day he came to.
Her figure had experienced light burns and malnutrition, yet, for someone who had vanished after the Ghostship had been stored, she was in remarkable condition.
Mr. Crab himself was nowhere to be seen; however, during a hospital visit, Ezra swore to have seen a horde of miniature crabs dancing on Aaron's forehead.
Such a rumor was obviously dismissed, and the very confused boy was sent back to his room by Camilla Buckley, who could barely contain her laughter.
The first mission of the Hunters' Exam had concluded, which, by historic standards, had been the most eventful challenge the world had ever seen.
It was now time for the second phase.
While the regular emaminees took a shorter exam, the special tasks for the recommendation holders would not be finished until October 30th, leaving plenty of time for insanity to stir in the confines of the ten seas.
At the center of it all were the most exceptional of the challengers—Aaron Grimstall, Akari Ayaka, Raphael von Steinfeste, Alaric von Steinfeste, and Ezra Flock.
These five names passed by the desk of a certain man, Alex Lispentine, the president of the Hunters' Guild.
With a slight smile, he pasted their faces on a wall, a whisper coming from his lips.
"More days will pass, more missions will come, and most of all, the world will become far more dangerous."