Chapter 332: The Remaining Forbidden Zones(1)

Ooh, I see a megalodon...damn, that thing's freaking massive, so cool-...aaand it's swimming away. The moment it locked eyes with me, it immediately spun around and rushed away at top speed. 

"I'm betting that's because, unlike monsters, most regular animals can instinctively tell when they run into something that's higher on the food chain than they are, it probably sensed that you're too dangerous for it and ran away," Pointed out Diablo. 

Huh, you may be right, and if that's the case...awesome. Well, anyway, it doesn't really matter, it's not what we're here for. Alright, let's get inside the barrier, time to teleport. 

I teleported into the Forbidden Zone, and as I looked around-...wow, even with my eyes, it's dark as hell in here. I could see a lot better back when I entered the Demon Forbidden Zone, guess the fact that this one is fairly deep underwater doesn't help matters, huh. 

Well, it's not a problem, I can see more than well enough for my task. So, these are Krakens, huh? I could make out their outlines, and I have to admit, seeing so many tentacles all around was, uh...concerning, to say the least, and a little intimidating too. 

Krakens are also monsters that don't respawn, so if you kill them, they stay dead, just like Vampires. The only thing that differentiates them from regular animals is that when they die, they turn into nothing, also just like the Vampires. 

Unlike the Vampires though, they're a low-intelligence type of monster, with of course, the exception of their king, the Sea King, who has absolute control over them, just like the monster kings that ruled over the lower level monsters. And speaking of the Sea King... 

Lazarus, Diablo, know where he is? 

"Yeah, right below us, at the very bottom of the Forbidden Zone," Replied Lazarus, as I evaded one of the Krakens swinging a tentacle at me, attempting to grab me. 

I then rapidly swam straight down, evading the attacks from the Krakens all around me...these things are pretty fucking big, just their tentacles alone were around fifteen to twenty-five meters long, while the monsters themselves were a good five to ten meters longer than that. 

And I have to say, they're really fast with their attacks, and if I'm having trouble evading them, I doubt there's very many people that can do better. Yeah, these Krakens will make for excellent security guards in the waters surrounding Abyss. However...I won't be the one commanding them... 

"There, that's him, the Sea King!" Exclaimed Diablo, as a humanoid figure came into sight. 

My eyes are starting to adjust better to this darkness...he's not getting away! I slipped in close using Teleport, before grabbing hold of him, summoning a Goblin, grabbing hold of it too, and then undoing the summon. 

And just like that, I was back in my castle, soaked in salt water and with a powerful monster in a headlock. Also, Az was here. 

"Wha-...Kuro? What's going on? Why'd you call me here? And, uh...what the hell is that thing?" He inquired warily. 

Yup, when I created the clone earlier, it was to go call Az. 

"Oh, this? Nothing, just your new power-up," I replied with a grin. 

"What?" 

"Just get over here," I said as I paralyzed the Sea King with a bolt of lightning. 

Huh, now that I'm getting a good look at this guy...he's super ugly. His body is all slimy and slippery, he had a bunch of tentacles on his back, which I'd sliced off with bone blades right before I teleported back here. 

I didn't use the Fangs of the Basilisk since I didn't want to poison and kill this thing before I could drain it's life force. 

"D-damn it, wh-who are y-...!?" He began to exclaim, before trailing off as I grew out a couple more arms, stuck my claws into him and drained his life force...and transferring it into Az. 

The Sea King's body then lifelessly slumped and collapsed to the ground as Az's eyes widened slightly at the power boost he must be feeling...Water Sage along with the powers of the Sea King...that's quite the resume. I can't wait to see how much stronger he is now.

Huh, but first, what do I do with the body of the Sea King? Oh, I know, I'll just dump it back in the spot in the sea where the Forbidden Zone is, I need to go back there to shatter the barrier and free the Krakens anyway. Yeah, that works... 

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Point-of-View: Belia Lasmodeus 

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Huh? What just...what just happened? One of my three remaining monster king connections just vanished...Aigua, the Sea King...he's gone. But how...the Forbidden Zone should still be intact, right? 

Could it be Kuro again, like that time with the Demon Forbidden Zone? Actually, that's pretty much the only explanation that makes sense. But why now? Did something happen? No, that doesn't matter right now, if he consumes the life forces of all three of the remaining Monster Kings, the scales will definitely tip drastically in the favor of Abyss. 

I have no interest in a one-sided battle and lopsided chaos, so I need to act...first things first, let's see if he's still at that Forbidden Zone-...my Observation Magic isn't working in that area, that means he or someone else from Abyss must be there. 

Oh, it's working now...and sure enough, the Forbidden Zone is no more, the Krakens are swimming freely again. Wait, is that Aigua-...oh, it's his corpse. Based on the aimless movements of the Krakens, they're under Kuro's, or possibly someone else's control. But it's almost definitely him, it'd be a waste to have anyone else-...oh...ohhhh, crap. 

I can think of one person in Abyss in whose hands the powers of the Sea King would be far more dangerous than if Kuro absorbed those powers. Please don't tell me Azyl is the one instead. The Water Spirit AND the Sea King is just a ridiculously overpowered combo, I mean seriously! 

I can't let Kuro absorb the power of all three remaining Forbidden Zones into Abyss, I need to secure at least one for myself, and I need to hurry! Ideally, I want the Dragons on my side, though the Dragon King was always the hardest for me to control after Diablo...most, if not all, of the intelligent Dragons have a ridiculous amount of pride. 

But...they're also easily the strongest monsters I created. They don't have the regenerative capabilities of the Vampires, but in terms of sheer raw power, they're absolutely unrivaled. 

And another thing...when I first created him, the Dragon King, along with the other stronger, intelligent Dragons, were a lot more powerful than I expected them to be, so I used my Divine Magic to seal their powers to a significant extent, putting the Dragon King at around the same level of power as Lazarus and the next strongest Dragons at slightly below the level of the Evil Numbers.

Why'd I do it, you ask? Well...because before I suppressed their full power, the Dragon King may or may not have straight up been stronger than me in my normal state. Yeah. 

None of the other monsters know this, even the Dragon King himself probably doesn't-...or rather, he wouldn't have, until recently. When I shattered the Vampire Forbidden Zone, I was so thoroughly entertained by it all that I may or may not have gotten carried away and subtly released the seal on the Dragon King's power, as well as the other Dragons whose power levels I restricted. 

Why, you ask? Because, of course, I'd initially planned to unleash the Dragon Forbidden Zone last, and it'd be no fun unless the final villain was way more powerful than all the previous ones...that was before I made the decision to start getting directly involved in the chaos. 

A decision that I probably should have given a bit more consideration to than just impulsively doing it the way I did. Oh, well, whatever. Let's see, where's the Dragon Forbidden Zone again-...ah, crap. I can't view that area, which means...Kuro is already there. 

If I fight him, there's no way I'm coming out of it without using a fair amount of Divine Magic, and I'm running low on it as it is. Well, fine then, he can have the Dragons, though like the Vampires, simply subduing the king won't be enough to control all of them, he'll be able to do so with the Wyverns and weaker Dragons, but the high level Dragons are more than capable of thinking for themselves, he can't rule them through force. 

The Undead King is quite formidable too, and the Ghouls, while nowhere near as powerful as Dragons or Vampires, will nevertheless be handy monsters to have at my disposal, they're dangerous in a different way to the other Forbidden Zone monsters. 

And the best part is how fiercely loyal the Undead King is towards me, unlike Diablo and Draco, the Dragon King. I don't have time to tell anyone, I need to hurry, I can just fill them in after the fact... 

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Point-of-View: Kuro Black

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Huh, so this is the Dragon King...not quite what I was expecting, but he's definitely intimidating... 

"So, you're Draco the Dragon King, are you?" I greeted him with a smirk, "Mind coming with me?" 

"Hm? And you are?" 

"I'm the ruler of a nation known as Abyss, and if you must know...I'm technically human," I replied with a smirk. 

"Hah, is that so? How...amusing..."

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