Ocean Master

Warp!

Through the long shadow that was formed of the enormous Devouring Snake that was induced by the green glow of the Green Mist Sea, the dangerous Praying Mantis appeared. 

They may both be shadow domain magicians, but they had different fields of focus. This was like a situation where 2 university students studied engineering, but one focused on civil while the other on electrical engineering.

Clearly, from the scene of the toad being intimidated and fleeing from the attack of the Devouring Cobra, the Cobra had the same power level as the Praying Mantis if not even more.

The Devouring Cobra was startled on seeing the Mantis suddenly appearing. He turned his head without hesitation; with this fellow here, there was no way that he would be allowed to feed on the fish.

Well, he didn't need to feed on the fish, all he needed to do was to protect the fish until his poison did the work on his behalf. 

Hiss!!!

In the blink of an eye, the enormous Devouring Cobra raised his head, spreading them to become as wide as a bowl as he looked down intimidatingly at the Praying Mantis while his body partly curled up.

At this moment, his full size was finally revealed. From afar, Sebastian estimated that this Cobra was over 25 meters long!

And clearly, the Devouring Cobra intended to hinder the Praying Mantis while equally protecting the fish with his enormous body.

Despite the enormous size of the enemy, the Praying Mantis did not cower, the value of the target was too high to give up on after getting this far.

"Chopping Blade Hands!"

"Mutated Shadow Spikes!"

While yelling this, the Praying Mantis attacked in a frenzy. Black wisps of gas rapidly revolved around him, forming what seemed like a shadow domain as giant spikes after spikes were created with them all flying at the Cobra.

All his hands and swimming legs, including those that were bent in a praying stance erupted with speed even faster than a professional dancer, chopping madly at the enormous body of the Devouring Cobra.

The fact remained that his hands when attacking gleamed sharply like the blade edge of a katana, and at this moment, their sharpness was put to the test.

Hiss!

The enormous Devouring Cobra hissed loudly in pain as the giant shadow spikes impaled him. But this was not the real pain, the real pain came when the katana-like blades of the mantis's hand chopped at his skin ruthlessly.

Have you ever seen a chainsaw cutting through flesh? Well, this looked like one. The Devouring Cobra's enormous body thrashed in pain, clearly, he did not expect such ferocity from the Praying Mantis.

The mantis's sharp hands cut rapidly with speed and force, tearing the snake's flesh apart despite their sturdiness as a huge hole where blood flooded out was immediately formed through the Cobra's skin.

Having been stunned by the ferocity of the Praying Mantis, the Cobra finally reacted, not daring to underestimate it anymore.

As a purple-tier predator with one of the highly ranked bloodlines, he was born innately proud. He disdained other predators with lower-ranked bloodlines, and this resulted in the injury that he just sustained.

But now that he reacted, the situation no longer felt one-sided. A purple magic shield filled with shadow magic power immediately shimmered to life before him, finally blocking the sharp chopping hands of the Praying Mantis.

From afar, the old toad saw this confrontation as his eyes flickered.

One on one against either the Devouring Cobra or the Praying Mantis, he would definitely run for his life but now that these 2 terrifying predators fought against each other, things became easier for him.

Originally, he loved being in control. He hated situations where he was not in charge but at this moment, the chaos benefited him greatly.

He was going to fish in troubled waters.

With a loud booming sound like that of a drum being played, his legs hit the water with force again as he leaped towards the lone fish who the Devouring Cobra protected with its large body.

Compared to before, his jump this time was far more precise. He landed just beside the fish, and immediately, he attacked in a frenzy.

Bam! Bam!

The toad's deadly tongue lashed out again. The fish was already severely injured, and his defense was at its lowest. With such vulnerability, he could not resist as the deadly tongue adaptation wreaked havoc in his body. 

The 2 strikes from the tongue tore such deep holes in the fish's body that almost showed on the other side. The fish opened his mouth in pain, gasping for life, fighting for that tiny chance of survival.

At this moment, his sparkly white body was already tinged with purple lines. This was the terrifying poison of the Devouring Cobra, and this attack from the toad worsened its situation more.

Seeing that the old toad was about to take advantage of the situation, both the Devouring Cobra and the Praying Mantis reacted.

The Cobra turned his enormous wide head in anger, but the much older and wiser mantis attacked immediately.

Bam!

The giant shadow spike dug into the fish's body, worsening its situation further. From the side, when he saw this, the Devouring Cobra hissed as he knew that his strategy to let the poison kill the fish would no longer work.

It was time to give his all, and he did.

With soft whooshing sounds, so gentle that it seemed like the sound heard when you're in the embrace of your mom, black gas started seeping out of the water space. This was shadow magic!

Apart from hiding in the black gas form at the beginning, the Devouring Cobra never showed any other shadow domain magic. Now, he did.

Whoosh!

Like a raging tsunami, from the originally soft and gentle movements, the shadow magic became berserk as it descended, saturating the water with speed.

Then, the Devouring Cobra disappeared, dissipating in the form of smoke.

Both the Praying Mantis and the old toad were surprised, they subconsciously looked around warily but they saw no one, not even one sign of the Cobra's presence was left behind.

It was like he left the battlefield, but he did not.

Crunch!

From nowhere, smoke suddenly materialized behind the mantis's back as the snake's terrifying jaws came down with force. His fangs dug into the mantis's skin as the terrifying purple poison was injected.

While making a weird loud sound, the Praying Mantis raged, shooting giant shadow spikes behind his body while he turned to attack but the cobra was gone.

The Cobra was gone, back into the shadow smoke that saturated the water.

Crunch!

From nowhere, the same thing happened again, the toad was bitten this time. Immediately after this happened, the old toad and the mantis felt a chill crawl down their spines; this Devouring Cobra was a terrifying assassin!

Like a plague, the Cobra did not stop, extending the shadow smoke domain even farther which indirectly meant that his area of activity increased.

Crunch!

Crunch!

Crunch!

The old toad and the Praying Mantis only saw shadows, while the terrifying Cobra assassin kept on attacking, chipping away at their health. They could only defend to their best to safeguard their lives.

While attacking, the Devouring Cobra did not spare the already dying fish, he also occasionally dug his fangs into it again, dealing even more damage.

From afar, as Sebastian observed this, he felt his heart grow cold.

At this moment, he understood the 2 popular quotes; 'the green snake under the green grass' and the commonly used 'as cunning as a snake'.