Although Zi Yi spoke as if she did not care, the truth was that she also enjoyed wiping that mocking smile off the faces of those Blue Oasis guild members. However, how could she have small characters like them in her sights?

Even though she had become more powerful after learning Zero Point Contact, Zi Yi had a feeling that she was still far away from Izroth. Zi Yi believed that if she fought the same Izroth back during the time they traveled to the Roaming Village of the Netherworld, then she had a decent chance of winning with her current skills. However, was she so naive as to believe that Izroth had stayed at the same level of strength the entire time? The answer was obviously no!

​​

But, there was a part of her that wondered... Just how strong was Izroth's present strength? He had not displayed anything impressive and his attacks had been fairly basic against the Relic Guardians, therefore, Zi Yi did not have a solid frame of reference. However, another part of her did not want to truly know the answer to that question.

A couple of minutes later, Izroth and his party reached the location of the 8th and final Relic of the Sea. Similar to the other seven relics, the 8th relic was also being protected by a Relic Guardian. This Relic Guardian possessed the hardcore effects of Bulk and Erosion. While Izroth knew that Bulk increased the monster's HP, he had yet to see what Erosion was capable of.

'Could it be some kind of skill that constantly eats away at its target? Maybe it lowers physical and magical defenses.'

Whatever the case was, they did not have time to sit around and find out. Since there was a time limit in place, Izroth and his party understood that they had to make it back to the entrance before the first relic that was destroyed started to regenerate. If that happened, then it would set the entire raid back and the relics would need to be destroyed once again. Needless to say, Izroth and his party did not want to spend the whole raid stuck at the beginning.

Swoosh!

"My timing is still a bit off..." Zi Yi muttered to herself as she released a small sigh.

"Your standards are too high, Zi Yi. That shot appeared flawless from my perspective." Luna commented with a light smile on her face.

Only a few moments after Izroth and the others confronted the Relic Guardian, Zi Yi used her Zero Point Contact to shatter the final Relic of the Sea. After the relic was shattered, everyone received an alert from the system confirming their success.

〈System Alert: 8/8 Destroy «Relic of the Sea».〉

'Now all we have to do is enter the outer layer of the Great Sea Palace to complete the first phase. I wonder how things are going on Blue Oasis' end.'

By this point, Blue Oasis should have already arrived at the entrance into the outer layer of the Great Sea Palace and started their battle against the two seafolk who stood guard. Even if Zi Yi was successful in destroying the relics, it would all be for nothing if the two seafolk guards were not defeated before the relics regenerated.

"Let's head back to meet up with Blue Oasis." Izroth said as he and his party begun to make their way towards the entrance into the outer layer of the Great Sea Palace.

…

Name: Ord, Guard of the Outer Palace(Elite)

Level: 48

HP: 353,600(52%)

Hardcore Effect(s): [Explosion]

Name: Temp, Guard of the Outer Palace(Elite)

Level: 48

HP: 61,200 (9%)

Hardcore Effect(s): [Softening]

Bang!

«Blocked»

-8,550

Niflheim blocked Temp's trident with his shield, however, despite successfully blocking the attack, he still received a large amount of damage. The moment the fight began, Niflheim noticed that his defensive stats had severely weakened. It did not take long for him to connect this incident to the hardcore effect Softening on one of the outer palace guards. While there was no definitive proof behind this assumption, Niflheim had already given the order to take down Temp first.

If he was wrong, the worst that could happen was that they eliminated one of the guards. But, if he was right, then it would make dealing with the remaining outer palace guard Ord much easier.

"Oversiders! You dare trespass in the Great Sea Palace?! Die!" Temp roared as he rose the trident in his hands up above his head. The instant he did so, it was as if strong waves of mana rushed towards the three-pronged trident and an aqua colored aura encompassed the weapon.

"Fall back!" Niflheim ordered as he braced himself and activated a skill that reduced the overall damage he received. A thin layer of red energy covered Niflheim from head to toe as everyone that was within melee range retreated. The last time Temp used this attack, a good majority of the melee fighters lost 40% to 60% of their total HP.

This sent the healers into overdrive mode and forced them to spend mana that they could have otherwise saved if the melee fighters avoided it properly. If not for the healers keeping up with the damage output during the small windows in between attacks, then there may have been a few who died right away from the skill! This brutally reminded everyone that this was no normal raid, but a hardcore raid. One little slip up was all it took for someone to lose their life.

Fortunately, everyone learned their lesson the first time around and they had already started to fall back before Niflheim even gave the order to do so.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Temp swung his trident in a full circular motion three times in quick succession with the range of each strike being greater than the one before it. The first strike covered 5 meters, the second 10 meters, and the third 15 meters. Each strike carried with it the vicious nature of the open seas and emitted a faint blade intent.

«Blocked»

-258

«Blocked»

-495

«Blocked»

-802

Thanks to the skill he executed, Niflheim only lost a small portion of his HP that was near-instantly restored by the healers.

"Take it down!" Niflheim roared as he charged forward and smashed his shield into the body of Temp.

After using that attack, Temp would temporarily become immobile and unable to attack. Therefore, it was the perfect opportunity to dish out some damage.

Niflheim, on the other hand, had more to worry about than just Temp. He made sure to hold aggro on Ord and positioned him to where he could easily be struck by damage dealers AOE skills. Using this tactic, they were able to focus mainly on Temp while simultaneously damaging Ord. This would greatly reduce their time in battle and was like killing two birds with one stone.

Ord was more reserved than Temp and did not throw any surprises out the members of Blue Oasis. His attack pattern was quite simple. As long as Niflheim was careful enough to avoid one of Ord's destructive blows, then he was no real threat.

Not too long after Temp's attack ended and Blue Oasis resumed their assault, Temp's HP rapidly fell to around the 2% mark!

Road, the 1st captain of Blue Oasis, brandished his broadsword as he jumped into the air. Due to the unique shape of his broadsword, which was a rectangular shaped blade with a flat tip, it was a weapon designed to focus on impact rather than stabbing or slashing. However, the weapon used by a Wave Swordsman was not their most terrifying aspect.

"Descending Wave Scars the Earth." With a simple swing of his broadsword, the ground beneath Temp caved in and collapsed under the pressure. At the same time, the broadsword in Road's hand flashed as it traveled from his right side to his left in an instant. Right when Road's broadsword stopped its motion, a deep scar appeared on the earth beneath Temp that stretched at least 10 meters in length.

Temp's movements came to an abrupt halt as a red line appeared down the center of his body that started at his head and went all the way down past his torso.

«Critical Hit»

-36,825

Over 30,000 damage! He did this damage not just to any random monster, but a hardcore raid monster! When the other members of Blue Oasis saw such a ridiculous amount of damage, they were left in a state of awe. This was the strength of their 1st squad captain! How could they not feel pride in his strength? After all, he was a member of their Blue Oasis!

In terms of damage, who could compare to the 1st squad captain? Without a doubt, he was the strongest damage dealer in their raid party! These were the thoughts flowing through the minds of the Blue Oasis members. As for Road himself, he looked unbothered and calm. There was no hint of arrogance nor did he care for other's praise of him. He simply wanted to become as strong as possible. Nothing more, and nothing less.

After Temp was eliminated, taking down Ord was fairly simple. But, just when Ord's HP reached the 5% mark, something unexpected happened. Ord's body started to deform and he began to release a large amount of unusual energy.

When Niflheim observed this happening, he had a bad feeling about what would follow. Therefore, without any hesitation whatsoever, he immediately ordered everyone to retreat. Even Niflheim himself had used Unimpeded Rush to hurry out of its attack range. Less than a few seconds after he gave the order, Ord's body was bloated and reached a breaking point as it exploded!

BOOOOOOOOM!

The ground shook violently as a powerful explosion that was 20 meters in radius took place. The explosion released a strong aftershock that nearly caused the members of Blue Oasis to stumble over.

…

BOOOOOOOOM!

Izroth and his party were on their way to meet with the members of Blue Oasis. They were almost at the meeting point when they suddenly heard the sound of an explosion in the distance. Not only that, but they could feel some tremors that came from that direction as well.

"Isn't that where the two seafolk guards are located? It can't be those guys are in trouble, right?" Guan Yu questioned with a frown.

"The fact that we could feel the explosion from this distance means that it must have been quite powerful. Though there's a chance that one of Blue Oasis members used a powerful skill." Valentine commented.

"For a skill to make that big of a commotion, it'd have to be at least S-rank. If Blue Oasis needed to use an S-ranked skill on some palace guards, then isn't this raid already over for them?" Zi Yi stated.

'If what I'm thinking is correct, then this isn't the work of Blue Oasis. Just in case, we should hurry over.'

"Let's speed up." Izroth said as he and the others increased their pace.

A few moments later, Izroth and his party arrived at the entrance into the outer layer of the Great Sea Palace. The first thing that came into sight was a wide and deep crater in the ground that had a radius of 20 meters. As for the Blue Oasis members, all of them were accounted for. Thanks to Niflheim's warning and the members of Blue Oasis' timely reaction, they were able to avoid any causalities. Though there were a few players who were shaken by what had just occurred. It sent shivers down their spines when they thought about the results of being caught up in that explosion! If not for Captain Niflheim, then perhaps they would have been obliterated into dust!

Niflheim released a sigh of relief. They had not even come face to face with a boss monster and yet there were already some issues that needed to be addressed. For example, he noticed that some individuals were poorly positioned during the fight. Some became so caught up in attacking that they momentarily neglected their surroundings. If they were going to complete this raid, then Niflheim knew he had to immediately correct these mistakes in his raid party members.

"Woah... What the heck caused such a huge hole to appear here?" Halls asked in a tone of slight disbelief.