Chapter 883: Cover Blown

Chapter 883: Cover Blown

When Orion moved his new body, he immediately drew the attention of another Lunarfin nearby—it was Leonidas.

“Son of a bitch!” Leonidas’s thoughts echoed. “If I wasn’t so damn strong-willed, this illusion might’ve actually scrambled my brains. My poor bro, you haven’t forgotten who you are, have you?”

Leonidas was a real piece of work, swimming circles around Orion in a body that was an unsettling mix of a catfish and a seahorse.

“You’re an ass, bro,” Orion transmitted back.

Hearing Orion’s voice, Leonidas let out a mental chuckle and gestured with his head toward the center of the vast sea. In the distance, they could just make out a lone Lunarfin swimming in that direction.

“Bro, can we really trust that Lunar Serpent?” Orion asked. “I can’t shake the feeling that it’s just using us.”

Even though the existence of the Lunarfin had been confirmed, Orion still felt like he was caught in the eye of a storm of conspiracies.

“Doesn’t matter, bro,” Leonidas replied, completely unconcerned. “With or without it, we’re relying on our own skills for this expedition. If the serpent gives us good intel, great. If it tries any funny business, Alexander is watching it. It’ll have a world of hurt coming its way.”

After entering the Azure Mirage, the unexpected appearance of the Lunar Serpent seemed far less important. “Besides, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. It’s definitely trying to use us, but there’s a limit to how much. And we’re not some pushovers that a washed-up demigod on its last legs can intimidate.”

As he finished, Leonidas let out another strange, wheezing chuckle that sounded incredibly odd coming from the body of a Lunarfin.

“Come on, let’s go check it out.”

Leonidas spread his two fins and, with a powerful flick, churned the water into a vortex of bubbles. He shot forward like a torpedo, and Orion propelled his own body to follow.

To be honest, the sea within the Azure Mirage was a dreamlike, mystical place. There were no winds or waves on the vast ocean; its surface was a flawless, endless mirror. From the sky above, a mysterious light shone down, refracting into a kaleidoscope of colors in the transparent water.

After some time, Orion and Leonidas followed the other Lunarfin as it leaped from the water’s surface, revealing a massive temple floating on the sea. It was so large they couldn’t see its edges. Countless corridors, pavilions, and palaces extended outwards in every direction, shrouded in an ethereal mist that made the entire structure impossibly magnificent.

The Lunarfin they had been following spread its fan-like fins, momentarily blocking out the sky, and landed gently on an outermost corridor paved with jade. The moment it touched down, it transformed into a man with a crimson beard and hair to match—a dragonkin. The man looked around, confused, before taking a tentative step deeper into the temple.

“This has to be the center of the Azure Mirage,” Orion thought, floating on the surface and gazing at the distant temple. A thick fog hung perpetually over it, as if hiding something within.

“Bro, let’s play it safe. One at a time,” Leonidas transmitted. “Let your big bro go test the waters first.”

“Alright.”

With that, Leonidas flapped his fins and soared out of the water. Seconds later, he landed on the corridor, and his Lunarfin body began to shed away. But what appeared in its place was Leonidas’s own beastfolk form.

The dragon soul disguise had been completely consumed the moment they inhabited the Lunarfin bodies. The Beastfolk’s aura, so different from that of a dragon, instantly alerted the dragon souls nearby.

“Insolence! The stench of an outsider!”

“This is the temple of the dragon race! A holy land that cannot be defiled!”

“Seize the intruder! We’ll offer him as a sacrifice!”

A cacophony of voices erupted from the surrounding palaces and pavilions. Dragon souls in humanoid forms leaped from the architecture into the sea below. When they breached the surface again, they had transformed into massive, savage Lunarfin.

“Create a diversion!” Leonidas yelled to Orion. “I’ll make a scene here! You find a chance to sneak into the temple and take out that Phantom! And watch yourself, this place can probably identify dragon souls!”

Orion didn’t respond. Instead, he dove deep beneath the sea, intending to find another place to make landfall. If he landed there, he’d be in the same mess as Leonidas.

As he swam away from the battle, he had a flash of inspiration. He released the Deathly Soul-Reaper avatar that was hidden within his main avatar. In the Azure Mirage, the Deathly Soul-Reaper avatar was like a fish in water. It hid in the void, and even Orion himself wouldn’t have been able to detect it without their soul-link.

An idea began to form. He commanded the Deathly Soul-Reaper to leap from the water and cautiously approach the temple. Just as it was about to land, it activated its teleportation skill, blinking deep into the temple complex.

“It works!”

Orion, hidden in the depths, was overjoyed. The Deathly Soul-Reaper had passed by a patrol of dragon souls on its way in, but none of them had sensed its presence. It was clear that in this space, the Deathly Soul-Reaper avatar had a massive stealth advantage.

Since it could infiltrate the temple undetected, Orion decided he needed to change his battle plan. He had two options: rejoin Leonidas, where they could support each other with greater power and destructive force, or open up a second front himself, drawing more dragon souls away to create a bigger opening for the Deathly Soul-Reaper .

“What’s the right call?”

The decision came to him in an instant. He turned and swam back toward Leonidas’s position. Sticking together was safer. If something unexpected happened, at least they’d have someone to strategize with. Two arch lords fighting side-by-side was a much better insurance policy. Exploring and finding the eggs was important, but keeping their avatars intact was paramount.

ROAR!

In the distance, Leonidas’s berserker avatar had enraged at the very start of the fight. In his berserk state, the Beastfolk’s body grew even larger, his muscles like iron, his eyes glowing like blood.

He swung his massive great axe, cleaving through the Lunarfin that swarmed him. An aura of pure killing intent clung to him, and a red-black miasma of blood energy pulsed across his skin like veins, radiating a palpable sense of destruction that even Orion could feel.

“This bro’s Beastfolk avatar is no simple thing,” Orion noted.

His Lunarfin form didn’t surface. Instead, he swam closer to the battle, approaching the injured Lunarfin that Leonidas had knocked into the water.

“What happened?” Orion asked, pretending to be just another guard arriving from a different part of the sea, his voice transmitted through the water.

“Intruders!” the injured Lunarfin replied, one of its fins torn. “They came from nowhere! They’ve invaded our holy land! Quick, we have to kill him! Find out how they got in!”