Pioneer of the Abyss - Book 2 - Chapter 56 (Patreon)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Don't mind this. It's so that free readers can't see half the chapter when the chapter eventually becomes patron only.

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For those of you who are reading this on a website that is not Patreon, please stop. You're reading a pirated version. Instead, if you would be so kind, please click on the table of contents link below and go to my Patreon instead. Or even read it off of Royal Road, which is free.

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Table of Contents

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Click the following link for the 1553 word chapter 56:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KPC4S0dZlODUGHHcoGcRgVyqtYNH6U6ap4em_Tt0MV8/edit?usp=sharing

Or you can read the unformatted version below:

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Within the Dark OceanBefore the end of Aqua’s battle

The Bloodliner with the Bloodline of the Azure Dragon watches in silence as the Bloodliner known as Aqua faces off against the apex predator amongst the monsters on their planet. The Dark Lord of the Marauders. But no matter how long he watches, he can’t get rid of a strange feeling of unease building within him.

Whether it’s seeing her aura and her sheer power being greater than his own, or seeing her level already being several dozen above his. Enough to give him a powerful fight should he attempt to hunt her.

And no matter how much he still believes that his earlier plan of taking her as his mate to create the ultimate existence still resounds in his mind, he can’t help but feel something is wrong with her.

Wrong with his plans.

Where did she come from? Why am I only now knowing about here? Was she hiding before? Why did she use the clans as a smokescreen? And why did she only come out after this System arrived? And where does all of her strange armor and weapons come from?

Word has already started to spread across the planet about the other planets, and even the Alliance outside of the planet. This has happened through the various System Messages and Notifications sent out over the course of the time since the System appeared.

And the idea of outsiders coming to attack their planet is sickening to the Bloodliner of the Azure Dragon.

This is his territory after all. It’s one thing to find a worthy prey that’s part of Oceana.

But it’s something else altogether to have an outsider intruding on his domain. One not from Oceana itself, but from an invading power.

And despite the System making it sound like this Bloodliner is from Oceana, something about her still makes the Bloodliner of the Azure Dragon feel suspicious. That she might not be from Oceana after all.

And if that’s the case, then everything is different.

All of this is still just suspicions for him, though, as there has been no proof.

So he lies in wait, watching her as she continues battling with the dark lord. Until she finally manages to slay it in an unusual manner. Seemingly taking control over it just like those other servants serving her.

But then it happens.

A System Notification appears in his vision, making him narrow his eyes.

Global System Notification

The Planet of Oceana has officially become under the ownership of Aqua Azuranth, Official Pioneer of the Alliance.

Additionally, the Planet of Oceana has now opened up to other planets of the universe and welcomes all visitors of levels at the maximum level of the average level of the planet’s denizens.

The thirty-meter-long serpentine dragon narrows his eyes before rage begins to fill every inch of his being. Rage at the humiliation he feels at having been tricked, and almost even deciding to take her as his mate. And a deep-seated anxiety at the idea of such a powerful Bloodliner intruding on his territory.

An outsider.

One who has been deemed the owner of his planet by the System.

This won’t do.

Without hesitation, the Bloodliner of the Azure Dragon transforms into a humanoid form with long, curved horns stretching over the top of his head, slit grey eyes, and long bluish gray hair. Looking just like the clan members that used to worship him, but with more inhuman features. Then he cloaks himself in the azure night of the Azure Dragon and moves quietly up to the severely wounded Bloodliner.

And he quietly transforms his entire hand into a claw to stab her in the back while already making plans in his mind to bring her back from the dead to question afterwards.

As is the right of those born of the Azure Dragon’s Bloodline.

Also known as the Dragon of Azure Nights.

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Aqua

The claw pierces clearly through my main heart, but thanks to the rest of my hearts and my brain, it isn’t as deadly as it would normally be. Even with the venom I can feel entering my body and making me feel numb isn’t going to kill me.

Especially when I feel my own lifeblood vehemently resisting it.

But despite the pain and attack, I can’t help but feel surprised when I realize what the venom is trying to do to me.

It’s trying to turn me into a pseudo undead creature. Kind of like how my own venom turns others into abyssal servants.

After getting over my brief surprise, I activate Pressure of the Abyss around me before wrapping the pressure around whoever is attacking me and sending them flying. Then I order the abyssal servant of the dark lord to chase after and attack my would-be assassin with his tentacles of darkness as I recover.

 Even with my immense regeneration, this will still take a little while to regenerate. I do have a massive hole in my gut, along with several other holes in my body, and now a claw stab in my back that was full of venom.

While this won’t kill me since I still have other hearts and my brain, it is still extremely restrictive. To the point that I have to have some of my other abyssal servants carry me away with the help of Abyss to move me along and can’t even swim by myself.

After I build up enough distance with my new abyssal servant – a flesh one instead of entirely mana thanks to the venom – keeping the assassin busy, I finally manage to focus my attention entirely on the assassin. Taking in his appearance and identifying him in the process.

[Arnold Vlatta – Bloodline: Azure Dragon – Level 521]

Oh, that’s not good.

This guy isn’t actually a significant amount weaker than me. Even with an about eighty level difference.

There aren’t any trait count or skill count differences between us. We have the same number of both. And we’re both Bloodliners.

Needless to say, my Abyssal Kraken Bloodline is no doubt stronger. I can feel that just from his presence alone.

But I’m severely injured here and exhausted from battle, while he’s fresh and ready to fight.

I glance at my mana to find it almost empty, with the exception of the large influx I just got from those levels. Which amounts to a total of four thousand four hundred more mana added to my pool from forty-four new levels.

For a very brief moment, I glance at the livestream chat. Only to find it just as flooded as I expected.

[IT’S ANOTHER BLOODLINER!!!!]

[WHAT’S WITH THIS PLANET?! FIRST AQUA IS SENT THERE, AND NOW IT HAS ITS OWN BLOODLINER?!]

[HOLY FUCKING SHIT!]

[What’s going on here…]

[First a Bloodliner Pioneer and now a natural Bloodliner?]

[What’s the Azure Dragon?]

[It’s a new Bloodline!]

[Seems like an assassin type?]

I focus on the Bloodliner in question again as he suddenly begins to disappear from my senses again. Which is genuinely shocking, considering how good Sonar of the Abyss is.

But to my further shock, the dark tentacles of the dark lord’s abyssal servant actually suddenly rush out towards me before clashing with a claw that was inches from piercing me again. Deflecting said claw that I couldn’t even detect.

Or, at least, I couldn’t until I begin to focus on my abyssal servant’s senses. Which I’ve learned to do over time.

I just never bothered because the abyssal servants were all made of mana and didn’t have the senses their original bodies had.

That isn’t the case with this one, though.

I watch through this servant’s senses before seeing a brief flash of movement in the water around me. Seemingly the start of an attack.

So I dodge out of the way as the servant sends a dark tentacle to clash with the claw.

Yeah, this Bloodliner is absolutely an assassin type.

I glance down at my wounds to find them still very slowly healing at a visible pace. But I’m still punctured full of holes, and the hole going straight through my gut isn’t doing me any good.

Even when I dodge the enemy’s attacks, I have to control myself with Abyss and Pressure of the Abyss to do so. And the enemy enters that stealth mode of theirs again most of the time before I can return an attack.

All said, this is getting incredibly infuriating.

But I guess it’s the first time I’m fighting an assassin. And this particular ocean isn’t a good place to fight an assassin either. Even if I have Sonar of the Abyss.

It is a pitch black ocean without light after all.

Wait… light…

I use Light of the Abyss before hearing a hissing sound of pain. Following which my dark lord abyssal servant rushes in to attack. Scoring a hit on the cloaked figure’s scales.

Yes. Scales.

Because that’s what’s revealed underneath his cloak.

I grit my teeth before using a mana restoration item to completely reset my mana to full. Then I begin to summon abyssal servants of all the dark marauders that I got the blueprints for.

Let’s see just how long this Bloodliner can keep this game of hide and seek up.