Chapter 350 – Battle Royal
Leyvi raised an eyebrow, a little skeptical of the crown prince's grand ambitions. Honestly, it sounded more like Dastan just wanted to grow his collection of unique vehicle spirit artifacts, and to do that, he needed more smart people to invent cool stuff for him.
He glanced at Tantan on Dastan's shoulder and saw her eyes sparkling, practically vibrating with excitement, as if she couldn't wait for Dastan's grand dream to become reality.
Oh right. This little squirrel here seems to share Dastan's interest in vehicle spirit artifacts. No no. She's a little different. She only wants the strong and powerful spirit artifacts to bully big demonic beasts.
Leyvi's gaze shifted back toward the vessel's interior, but his mind lingered on what the crown prince had said earlier. He hadn't expected that the constant wars between kingdoms could actually lead to a better quality of life for the common people. It was a strange paradox. Meanwhile, in his Cloud Continent, peace had reigned for over a thousand years—but during that entire time, while cultivators rose higher and higher, the lives of ordinary people remained stagnant.
Hmm… When I get back, I'll get someone to study this crude oil. If it can really turn into useful products for normal people, that would be great. Maybe one day they could protect themselves from outside danger on their own.
The realization settled in slowly: relying too much on cultivators for protection might have kept the mortals trapped in place, without the drive or resources to push forward. Without threats to adapt to or tools to build with, they remained stuck in simple, repetitive lives.
Most importantly, they had little to look forward to. Their futures were predetermined: become farmers, fishermen, butchers, or some other mundane trade, generation after generation.
Leyvi remembered his childhood at the orphanage with Anda. Back then, the thing everyone looked forward to the most was the spirit root test. Becoming a cultivator was the only real hope—an escape from mediocrity.
But the moment they found out they didn't have what it took, it was like watching the light vanish from their eyes. No more dreams, no more possibilities. They already knew what kind of life awaited them: repetitive, dull, and for some, meaningless. All they could do after that was grow up, have children, and pray their kids had spirit roots.
But most never escaped that cycle.
As the holder of the Deed of Sovereignty, Leyvi had the authority to implement sweeping changes. Though he'd never been the type to involve himself in bureaucratic affairs, he could always assign someone else to handle the actual work.
There were plenty of mortal towns and cities surrounding Bara City that fell under his jurisdiction. It made sense to start there. With crude oil left untouched for who knew how long, there was likely an abundance just waiting beneath the surface, untouched and full of potential.
"Master, can you teach me how to control this new metallic beast? I want to be the driver!"
Leyvi's train of thought slammed to a halt at the sound of Tantan's voice.
This squirrel… don't tell me she wants to ram aquatic demonic beasts now too? Dastan, you better not indulge her. If you let her take the wheel, there's no point in being stealthy anymore.
"Oh, my Tantan wants to drive this too? Sure! Your master will teach you right away!" Dastan replied without hesitation, beaming with pride.
Leyvi facepalmed. It's over. We're doomed. Why is he like this? Doesn't he realize the squirrel is a menace?
Across the control room, Victor's brows knit together in a deep frown. He didn't say anything, but the displeasure on his face was obvious. As someone who did everything he could to avoid confronting demonic beasts, Tantan, with her reckless enthusiasm for ramming into them, was like a walking nightmare.
Before long, Tantan, now in her larger form, had taken the controls and was already navigating the vessel with unnerving ease. Her paws tapped at the glowing array panels with practiced precision, and her bushy tail swayed proudly, as if she owned the Crown Abyss Diver.
Leyvi blinked in disbelief. Does this arrogant squirrel actually have some kind of piloting talent or something? She drives the Crown Royalmobile like a pro, too.
The next moment, Leyvi felt the Crown Abyss Diver accelerate. Unlike the steady pace it had maintained since entering the water, it now surged forward with growing speed.
"Oi Dastan, is it okay to accelerate like this?" Leyvi asked.
"It's fine. Since we accelerate, it just means we broke out of our stealth mode. But as I said before, even a general-level demonic beast couldn't harm my metallic beast easily, so no worries. Daa hahaha!" Dastan replied.
Leyvi rolled his eyes. Everything is fine with this guy when Tantan is the one doing it.
To be sure, he extended his spiritual sense beyond the vessel. In an instant, his perception filled with the presence of hundreds of aquatic demonic beasts—massive, fearsome, and many of them unfamiliar in species. They were converging from every direction, drawn to the disturbance.
As the vessel continued accelerating, Leyvi realized just how right Dastan had been earlier. The demonic beasts in the deep waters truly were in a different league compared to the ones he had fought near the lake's edge.
Thank goodness his raft plan was stopped. If not, everyone would be in trouble.
Moreover, they might not even have reached the most populated area of the ocean-sized lake yet, so there might be more demonic beasts coming later.
Without warning, the Crown Abyss Diver performed a sharp, sliding turn, still accelerating as it curved through the water. A thunderous series of impacts echoed through the vessel as it crashed against several objects.
Everyone inside stumbled, momentarily caught off guard by the sudden maneuver, but quickly stabilized themselves.
Leyvi, still maintaining his spiritual sense, blinked in disbelief. Dozens of demonic beasts were floating motionless outside the vessel. They'd been rammed hard by the side of the submarine during the turn, knocked out cold from the sheer mass and momentum behind the impact.
What the...Tantan had actually weaponized the submarine's body… accelerating straight into the incoming beasts and knocking them out in one blow. I already expected she would ram them, but this is beyond my expectations.
When the surrounding demonic beasts saw the unconscious and weakened ones floating in the water, they immediately charged in, tearing into them without hesitation. Some used their abilities to kill the stunned prey outright and then fled with the corpses in tow. High-level prey like this wasn't easy to come by, and consuming them meant a chance to grow stronger, faster.
What followed was chaos.
A feeding frenzy broke out outside the Crown Abyss Diver as dozens of beasts fought over the unexpected banquet. The situation escalated quickly. Injuries led to more blood in the water, and the scent drew in even more demonic beasts from the deeper zones. The once-clear lake turned a murky crimson, the spreading blood signaling carnage to anything nearby.
Soon, the viewing screens inside the vessel could no longer display a coherent image—there was simply too much movement, distortion, and violent disturbance outside.
Without needing to be told, the Crown Abyss Diver reactivated its stealth mode and silently slipped away from the carnage, leaving the underwater chaos behind.
Inside, Leyvi and Victor stared at the screens, dumbfounded. Hundreds of demonic beasts had descended into a full-blown battle royale… because of a squirrel.
"Daa hahaha! As expected of my Tantan! Absolutely brilliant!" Dastan laughed triumphantly, rubbing her head with proud affection. "Look at her, Leyvi! This prince only taught her basic controls, but she already pulled off such a difficult maneuver! The timing was impeccable! She slammed a few dozen before they could even react! And now look—they're all killing each other!"
Tantan beamed at the praise, clearly pleased with herself. She held out her paw, and Dastan, already prepared, handed her a coconut. She accepted it like a proper reward, cracking it open and nibbling contentedly.
Leyvi remained speechless. He didn't expect it to turn out like that. What kind of talent is this?
And so, the journey through the depths continued.
In stealth mode, the Crown Abyss Diver didn't move very fast. If it exceeded the designated speed limit, the onboard arrays couldn't keep up with neutralizing the water displacement caused by the vessel's movement. Once that happened, the resulting underwater wave patterns would be far too obvious, alerting any nearby demonic beasts, just like what had happened earlier.
At this speed, Leyvi estimated it would take about five days to reach the island, if nothing unexpected occurred along the way.
Even though the vessel came equipped with instruments to track its position, it wasn't foolproof. They could easily veer off course due to underwater currents or signal interference.
To avoid that, Leyvi periodically extended his spiritual sense to verify their direction and surroundings.
Meanwhile, Tantan continued her antics without restraint. She would repeat her signature stunt from time to time, each time with impeccable timing, stirring up chaos after chaos in the deep.
By the end of just a single day, Leyvi figured she had already caused the deaths of over a thousand demonic beasts using nothing but brute submarine charges and opportunistic chaos.