The enormous colossus entered the dark storm; the once dry land was replaced by enormous, furious waves that crashed against the colossal statue. The dark sea covered the colossus up to its chest, where before it had only reached its abdomen.
A massive wave crashed against the colossus's neck, drenching the platform. Lumian and Asael were soaked from head to toe in salt water.
The howling, furious wind and the lashing rain, combined with the flashes of lightning and the violent cacophony of thunder, were enough to shatter anyone's nerves, but Lumian remained calm, indifferent to fear.
Lumian and Asael continued clinging to the neck like two determined ticks unwilling to be swept away.
Lumian felt a bad premonition. His eyes pierced the darkness, seeing clearly what was hidden beneath the black waters, and he felt his heart tremble.
Lumian looked at Asael.
"Hey, no matter what happens, don't let go. It's about to get rough," was all he could say.
Just as Asael was about to ask what he meant, a huge column of seawater shot up dozens of meters away and a massive black tentacle slammed down against the enormous colossus.
The tentacle was so tall it seemed like a gigantic pillar shattering the heavens.
The massive tentacle wrapped around the colossus. Its bulbous flesh contracted, as if trying to strangle it and drag it under the water.
The giant remained unmoved by this. As if the tentacle were insignificant. One of its enormous hands emerged from the sea, grabbed the tentacle, and with great ease, snapped it.
One part fell into the water, raising a column that drenched Lumian.
The other part tried to coil around the stone colossus, but the fleshy appendage was pushed aside by the giant's hand and disappeared into the dark sea.
The water remained still for a few seconds until everything trembled.
After the appearance of one enormous tentacle, six more followed.
The tentacles crashed down against the enormous stone statue.
Four tentacles submerged into the water, coiling around the colossus's legs, while the remaining two slid towards its arm.
The statue continued advancing, ignoring the monster.
The tentacle coiled around the wrist and yanked the colossus, making it stagger to one side.
The flesh of the deep-sea horror struggled against the hard material of the massive colossus, slowly forming cracks all over its body.
However, the colossus finally reacted. The gigantic hand grabbed the tentacle, then squeezed with a devastating grip.
Both fought to break the other for several moments. Finally, the colossus won the contest by crushing the tentacle with its superior grip.
Lumian looked down and saw how the other four tentacles gripped the colossus's legs, its arm, and the hammer it carried to prevent it from being used.
Lumian could feel the colossus trembling as it held the unimaginable weight of the monster.
The furious storm grew even more furious, as if magnifying the battle between the two enemies. Yet, in the face of Asael's astonishment and fear,
Lumian remained impassive to everything happening, his eyes observing every detail with utmost care.
Soon, the enormous colossus leaned its body forward, a sign it was being submerged beneath the dark sea.
"Hold your breath," Lumian said to Asael, his voice audible amidst the storm.
Soon, the duo found themselves under the dark water. Lumian saw everything clearly, managing to find the origin of the tentacles. It was a huge nightmare creature, an enormous skull with three dark orifices from which the tentacles emerged.
Lumian watched with interest as the colossus broke the tentacles, then extended its hand to grab the monster.
Once the colossus grabbed the monster, it rose, its body once again above the dark sea.
The colossus lifted the creature above the dark sea; the lightning made its figure clearly visible.
The other arm, free from the monster's grip, was raised, letting rivers of black water slide off an enormous hammer.
The hammer, clutched in the colossus's hand, rose to the sky, soon enveloped in a ghostly light.
Lumian recognized the hammer. It was the same one carried by the Builder of the Nine he had killed in his first nightmare.
Now that he thought about it, Lumian remembered why the Forgotten Shore seemed familiar. It had been the location of his first nightmare, only a recreation from thousands of years before the darkness became the dark sea.
The hammer, after being briefly illuminated, attracted dozens of lightning bolts, making it shine with an intense light that illuminated the darkness.
The hammer turned an orange-reddish hue, and the next instant, it came down, the impact striking the skull. The hammer's pick shattered the ancient bone and sank deep into the monster's flesh hidden inside.
A heart-rending scream echoed throughout the space. The scream was horrible, something profane that would drive anyone who heard it mad.
Lumian noticed how rivers of true darkness emerged from the body of the horror of the depths.
The wall of darkness was heading in their direction.
Lumian invoked his memory to create fire. He couldn't let that touch their bodies.
Upon activating the memory, an intense jet of flames illuminated the neck area with a brilliant light. The darkness, upon touching the fire, dissipated instantly.
After the true darkness was dispelled, Lumian sighed and deactivated the memory, then invoked his beast, the Cannibal Dolphin.
"Find the horror's cores and bring them to me," Lumian ordered.
The Cannibal Dolphin jumped into the black water, sinking into its depths. He wouldn't miss the opportunity to obtain transcendent cores to absorb and gain a huge amount of fragments.
The colossus withdrew its hammer from the monster with enormous indifference. The tentacles spasmed several times, sliding off the colossus's arm.
The colossus dropped the monster into the depths without a second glance.
After that, it continued its march across the dark sea towards the south.
Lumian still clung to his sword, planted in the ground, while the storm continued.
After an hour, the spell's voice whispered, to his surprise.
[You have killed a Fallen Terror, The Depths Stalker.]
[Your core grows stronger.]
[You have obtained a memory: Sword of Terror.]
Lumian felt an enormous number of fragments hit him all at once, causing his grip to loosen for an instant.
His fragment counter skyrocketed, surpassing the 900 mark and stopping at 990 fragments, just shy of evolving to a higher class.
After another hour, Lumian felt his beast approaching rapidly after completing its mission.
Summoning the demon, he ordered it to retrieve the fragments the dolphin brought and to bring it.
A few minutes later, it returned holding the 6 transcendent fragments.
Lumian dismissed the Cannibal Dolphin; he would check his runes later.
After receiving and storing the fragments, he dismissed the Shell Devil.
After several hours, a new day finally began, the storm had ended, and along with it, the dark sea had completely receded, leaving behind the horror of hours before.
Lumian collapsed onto the damp, cold ground.
Beside him, Asael fell unconscious, his immense resistance totally exhausted in a dreamless sleep.
Lumian was sure he would wake at dusk, leaving him time to do what he needed.
Lumian summoned his runes, focusing on his memories.
Memories: [Fisherman's Garb], [Assassin's Sword], [Igneous Rock], [Blood Spear], [Aquatic Pearl], [Dark Wing], [Blood Flower], [Sword of Terror].
Lumian's eyes widened upon seeing the two new memories.
Of course, the first allowed him to glide in the air in a controlled fall, but the sword was new.
It was the memory he received because his subordinate, monstrous, had been inflicting minor wounds to reach its cores.
Which the spell interpreted as him inflicting the final damage, attributing the kill.
Although Lumian wanted the Fallen Terror's echo, he contented himself with the sword.
Lumian immediately entered his Sea of Soul and invoked the sword he had obtained.