......


    Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!


    Shin was besieged by a swarm of sea snakes, covering all the escape routes that he could take.


    But that was only if he was planning to escape from them.


    Shin quickly took a stance and swung his sword multiple times, sending a series of sword energy in every direction, which cut through all the snakes heading his way.


    Few managed to slip through the net of sword energies and tried to attack Shin, but he was able to quickly cut them before they could even reach him.


    While he was dealing with these snakes, he was keeping a close eye on Nuguro, who seemed to have no intention of leaving the altar.


    Well, the reason was quite obvious already.


    "I have to work together with the members of the Devouring Whale Tribe to get near the altar and get my hands on those gemstones first. Dealing with his Hydra can wait," he mumbled as he squinted his eyes.


    The problem was the snakes were noticeably getting stronger as they approached the altar alongside the increasing numbers of the sea snakes.


    Shin was not sure what this guy was hiding, but he could feel that something was hidden underneath that altar. And whatever it was, it was something that they could afford to deal with given their current powers.


    The ominous feeling that he was getting from that altar was increasingly getting stronger as he tried to approach it.


    Due to this, he was starting to have second thoughts about whether he would have to get near that place first or not.


    As his thoughts lingered around this topic, Shin''s attention was suddenly attracted to the corpses of the World Serpents scattered beneath the altar as well as those being hanged on top of it.


    For some reason, his uneasiness was getting stronger as he looked at them.


    "Could it be the reason why they have lost despite their combined powers was because of what is hidden underneath that altar?" Shin frowned deeply as his eyes swept through the entire battlefield.


    The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became.


    Even a single member of the World Serpent Race was powerful enough to deal with the top candidates of this Festival of the Seas, particularly those that Shin had seen earlier during the first round.


    Even Falan, who was the strongest among all the top candidates acknowledged the strength of all members of the World Serpent Race.


    If even the combined forces of all the members of the World Serpent Race were unable to defeat Octo and Nuguro, then this place must be the reason for their crushing defeat, especially with the ominous feeling that he was getting from that altar.


    That thing must have something that could restrict the special abilities of the World Serpents or even counter them altogether.


    That must be the source of confidence in Nuguro despite Shin possessing a similar level of strength despite his current demonic form.


    He wanted to take action personally, but he had to stay at the altar to avoid the gemstones from being snatched.


    Moreover, he also had his feet fixated on the altar to complete the absorption of the Life Essences of the dead World Serpents scattered around the altar and those being hanged on the poles.


    If he could only use his original form, he could just swallow everything with his multiple heads. But that would require a lot of time to digest their corpses, making him unable to do anything during the digestion process.


    Given their current situation, it would be a dangerous situation for him once Falan attacked him during that time.


    This was why he had chosen another method to consume the essence of the World Serpents he had killed. He converted the summing altar into a sacrificial one with the help of the artifact he had gotten from his Lord.


    Fortunately, Octo had no interest in the World Serpents since he could not get that much benefit from them unlike Nuguro, who was of a similar species as them.


    Instead, he preferred consuming the other sea creatures, which could provide him with a lot of demonic energy by collecting their hearts and sacrificing their bodies.


    He had already gotten what he wanted earlier, and it was now Nuguro''s turn to consume the rest of the corpses.


    "Tsk! This is getting a little more troublesome. To think there is another variable that we have overlooked," mumbled Nuguro before glancing in the direction where Falan and Octo were fighting.


    "Tsk! Tsk! And we have also underestimated Falan''s power. To think he has already awakened the Whale Tribe''s Inheritance Tattoo," he then clicked his tongue repeatedly after seeing Falan not only hold his ground against Octo, who had successfully evolved into a Demonified Creature but also pushing the latter back from time to time.


    After that, he turned to the humanoid corpses of the World Serpents being hanged on the poles behind him. "I guess I don''t have another choice but to use these guys."


    "Tsk! It is a pity that I have to waste such nutritious materials just to deal with this annoying one," he added before turning to Shin. "But I guess what I will get from devouring him will be much better in exchange."


    With that, he summoned a bunch of black snakes made from his Mana Essence and Demonic Powers, which rushed toward the humanoid corpses of the dead World Serpents and possessed them.


    Not long after, these originally lifeless bodies suddenly opened their eyes, which were now completely dyed with black color.


    Not long after, they started jumping off the poles, where they were being hanged, one after another before kneeling behind Nuguro.


    Given the respective auras that they were emitting, it was clear that any of them were much stronger compared to their previous strength when they were still alive in terms of physical stats.


    They might have lost their innate abilities and unique powers, but their physical stats were much higher than their previous threshold. Moreover, they had also inherited some of the skills from the Serpent Hydras that Nuguro had granted.


    "Go! Make sure to bring that annoying serpent''s corpse to me," he instructed to which the zombified World Serpents acted.


    Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!


    "Let''s see what you can do this time," he smirked while looking at Shin, who was currently busy saving the rest of the Devouring Whales, before adding. "But even if you survive, the time that they have bought me should be more than enough for me to digest these corpses."


    "Let''s see how you are going to struggle then."


    ......