Chapter 1422: The Trap Beneath the Tide

Elira hovered nearby, unsure what she was supposed to do.

A single laser would be enough to destroy the mechanical crab, but Auri and Idra were clearly having fun. If she attacked now, she would only be getting in the way.

She turned toward the others near the barrier and waved cheerfully.

"Aren’t you coming over to take a look?"

If everyone came over, she wouldn’t feel so awkward standing there by herself.

The sand exposed by the receding tide was extremely soft.

As everyone crossed the wet beach toward the mechanical crab, a rapid vibration came from beneath their feet.

At first, only the grains of sand were trembling.

Then the entire sandbar began to shake. Cracks spread outward from under the group, and sections of wet sand collapsed one after another.

Everyone stopped immediately.

Ethan bent down to examine one of the cracks, a sphere of white energy already gathering in his palm.

Elira sensed something was wrong as well.

She beat her Divine Sovereign Moth wings and flew higher. Looking down over the entire beach, she finally saw what was happening.

Every part of the ground was visibly sinking except the area where Auri had hoisted the mechanical crab into the air.

"Master!"

Elira’s voice came from above.

"You’re sinking! Get out of there!"

Ethan was well aware that he was descending.

What was strange was that despite having gathered his energy, he couldn’t bring himself to release it.

His power wasn’t being restricted.

He hadn’t lost control of his body either.

But every time he tried to leave the ground, a crushing pressure filled his mind and forced him to stop. It felt as though something beneath the sand had locked onto all of them. If they reacted too violently, they would trigger something even more dangerous.

There were no enemies in sight.

The only place they hadn’t checked was directly beneath them.

"Elira, don’t come down!"

Ethan looked up and shouted.

"Some kind of strange power is affecting us. It’ll catch you too if you come down. Stay with Auri and the others!"

His warning stopped Elira.

Unfortunately, Auri and Idra had also noticed Ethan sinking.

"Daddy, I’m coming!"

Auri charged forward on her branches.

"Catch me!"

Ethan was about to stop her, but she had already landed on his shoulder. Idra flew over right behind her and grabbed the other side of his clothes.

Elira hovered above them, glancing between the abandoned mechanical crab and Auri and Idra, who had already jumped down.

Staying up there alone didn’t feel right either.

A moment later, she landed beside Ethan as well.

The instant all three arrived, the pressure surrounding them intensified.

Auri’s shoulders sank. Idra’s dragon wings were pressed down so firmly that she couldn’t spread them. The Divine Sovereign Moth wings on Elira’s back lost their luster, beating slower and slower.

Ethan gave them a helpless look.

He had specifically told them to stay up there.

But this wasn’t the time for a lecture.

He closed his eyes and pressed the energy sphere in his palm against the ground. White power seeped downward through the sand, searching for the source of that oppressive presence.

Seraphine had reached the same conclusion.

Some kind of unusual force had to be affecting the area. Since they couldn’t break free directly, she would disrupt the surrounding space first.

Primordial Death Energy poured from her left hand while light gathered in her right. The two opposing forces crashed against each other, gray and white light tearing back and forth until they barely settled into a relatively stable balance.

But stability wasn’t what Seraphine wanted.

She gathered another wisp of Primordial Death Energy and sent it into the gray-white sphere floating before her.

The balance broke.

Gray energy surged outward while the light pressed back from the opposite side. The two forces collided repeatedly within the confined space, distorting the area around them.

At the same time, Ethan forced his energy sphere deep into the sand.

White light spread beneath the group, forming a shield that expanded from the inside out. It temporarily blocked the power suppressing their wills, but the effort also drained a large amount of Ethan’s energy.

His body went limp, and he toppled to one side.

Auri quickly extended a branch to catch him.

At that same moment, Seraphine completed her combination of opposing forces.

A gray-white barrier formed around the white shield, continually distorting the surrounding space. The power pressing down on the group lost its lock on them and began sliding away along the edges of the barrier.

Their breathing gradually returned to normal.

Their suppressed energy began flowing again as well.

Ethan took the opportunity to look around.

The sand was still sinking.

The opening above was already far away. The sea and sky had shrunk to a small circle of light.

A giant mechanical crab was cautiously peering over the edge. It extended both mechanical eye stalks into the hole, secretly watching Ethan and the others below.

Ethan happened to look up.

Their gazes met.

The mechanical crab instantly retracted both eyes and scrambled back from the edge, terrified that Ethan might charge up and grab it.

More mechanical crabs of the same size emerged from the sand behind it.

They waved their enormous pincers while folding their eight mechanical legs against their undersides one by one. Once the final leg was tucked away, a mechanical door opened in the center of each crab’s abdomen.

Groups of little crabs scuttled sideways through the doors.

They gathered around the hole, waving their pincers as they formed several circles and performed a series of strange movements. It looked as though they were celebrating a successful capture.

The celebration didn’t last long.

The little crabs soon stopped and returned through the mechanical doors to their stations. The abdominal hatches closed, and the mechanical crabs reached toward the sand with their enormous pincers and began digging rapidly.

White light appeared around them.

Every mechanical crab vanished into the sand at once.

Then the hole began to close.

Huge amounts of sand poured inward from every direction. The patch of sky above grew narrower and narrower until it vanished completely.

Darkness swallowed the group.

Ataneya raised a hand and summoned an infernal energy sphere in her palm. Its dark red glow illuminated the area, serving as both a light source and a warning for anything hiding in the darkness to stay away.

She stared at the sealed opening above, one ear twitching slightly.

"Master, could that mechanical crab have been..."

Ataneya didn’t finish.

Ethan already understood what she meant.

The mechanical crab might have been bait. It would emerge after the tide receded and lure in nearby seabirds or passing ships. Once its targets approached, the entire stretch of sand would sink and deliver the prey down here.

Why none of the mechanical crabs had gone to the Forest of Vigil remained unclear.

Perhaps the answer was somewhere in this place.

Another change began around them.

The first thing to change was the ground beneath their feet.

The loose sand gradually hardened, while the exposed rock was replaced by a smooth surface. In the glow of Ataneya’s infernal energy sphere, they watched as the dirt and stone vanished from the surrounding walls layer by layer.

Interconnected metal plates appeared in their place.

Narrow seams ran between every plate. From behind them came the occasional sound of turning gears and metal scraping against metal.

And through some of those gaps, they could see crabs scuttling sideways.