Akira felt that the Dark Continent indeed required caution, especially its hidden, bizarre curses and diseases, which were extremely difficult to guard against.
He still remembered Nanika from the Zoldyck family, a creature originating from the Dark Continent.
Most likely, it was something unknown that Zigg brought back upon his return, leading to the emergence of such beings in later generations.
Fortunately, he didn't have to worry about such things.
Akira surveyed his surroundings and came to a clear realization.
When gods fight, mortals suffer.
The once-thriving coral reef was now completely gone. He was glad he had taken the coral polyps away in advance.
Otherwise, no matter how numerous they were, they would have turned to dust along with the coral and soil.
Not a single trace of coral remained in the area—only a shattered landscape resembling the aftermath of a meteor impact.
The pond had also vanished, revealing the dark soil beneath.
Akira suspected it had been scorched by extreme heat.
Further away, the surrounding forest had been completely ravaged.
A large portion of the trees had been transformed into Snakes by the Snake Lord's ability.
Only to perish at the hands of Zygarde, ultimately returning to dust.
However, much of the destruction was also caused by the Snake Lord's movements, leading to massive collapses across the region.
What was once a ridge rising above the plains had now been flattened into near-level ground by the Snake Lord.
As for the surrounding creatures, needless to say, aside from a few with unique abilities or those who fled early upon sensing danger—
The rest met only one fate: death in the aftermath of the battle.
Kyogre and Zygarde's power went without saying, but the Snake Lord was also an utterly terrifying existence for these creatures.
Even the slightest ripple of their clash was enough to cause massive casualties.
Hmm...Akira felt the scene before him was similar to land reclamation.
Whether it was the stubborn coral ground or the messy thickets and trees, everything had vanished.
Even the undulating terrain had been flattened by the Snake Lord.
Thus, the area was not only level but also completely open and empty, making it highly suitable as a construction site for a base.
But it's still too early to talk about that now, as they don't even know when they'll be able to fully conquer the hypothetical continent.
After dealing with the Snake Lord's clone, both Kyogre and Zygarde gained corresponding experience points.
However, the clone's strength was limited to begin with, and when applied to two Legendary Pokémon, it seemed as insignificant as a drop in the bucket.
Watching the enemy dissipate, Kyogre's body floating in the void slowly moved, and its intimidating eyes quietly closed.
The next moment, it swam into the void and disappeared.
Meanwhile, the Gundam-like Zygarde reverted from its Complete Forme back to its normal 10% Forme.
After the recent battle, Zygarde's incubation gauge had progressed significantly.
Perhaps by the time they encountered the Snake Lord's true form, Zygarde's incubation gauge would be fully charged.
Looking at the devastated surroundings, Akira smirked before taking Zygarde into the Digital World.
...
Inside the Digital World,
Meowth stood on its hind legs, observing the White Bone Coral Worm in front of it while holding some special equipment.
Its expression alternated between smiles and frowns.
"Hey Meowth, any new discoveries?"
Akira walked straight into Meowth's lab.
Even when traveling to the Dark Continent, he always brought Meowth along.
Meowth's ears twitched before it excitedly replied, "Yes, meow! I've discovered the wonders of these coral worms."
"My earlier hypothesis was correct—they can continuously produce hard White Bone Coral."
"Through my research, I found that this coral not only has hardness but also a certain degree of self-healing properties."
"In the future, not only can it be used for shelters, but even ships sailing on Mobius Lake could be made from this material."
Seeing Meowth's enthusiasm, Akira felt a surge of joy—his earlier assumptions might very well become reality.
What surprised him was that the White Bone Coral even had self-healing properties, meaning it could recover after being damaged.
At the same time, Akira recalled another matter.
That was when he, Ging, and Pyon explored the Death aura Cave.
There, they encountered the "Ancient Labyrinth City," which contained ingots of gold and silver, as well as herbs.
The materials used in the city's buildings were the same as the metal on the ingots' heads.
Both were the same type of metal, which also possessed self-healing properties.
This made the Diamond Spirits even more important.
Perhaps one day, similar metals could be cultivated on his island.
Not only that, but over time, that rocky area would yield more and more rare metals.
By then, Meowth might be able to develop a high-quality metal that could be mass-produced.
Whether it's ships for land transport, buildings on the island, or weapons for soldiers...
All of them could be made from the miraculous metals of the Dark Continent.
Akira gave Meowth a thumbs-up and praised, "Great job, Meowth. You truly are my master inventor."
Meowth scratched the back of its head, its cheeks flushing with shyness as it said bashfully,
"Aw, stop it! You'll make me proud, meow."
Akira suspected his Meowth might have been inspired by Chopper from One Piece.
"By the way, meow, while the coral is useful, these coral worms have a cyclical nature."
"They can't produce coral continuously; there's a cooldown period in between, so we'll need to wait for more to accumulate before we can use them, meow."
Akira nodded, unsurprised by this.
After all, the White Bone Coral Worms were living creatures at their core.
Expecting them to work nonstop year-round was clearly illogical.
For now, they'd have to continue breeding them before they could be put to use.
Then Meowth walked over to another area where three [Cursed Snake Demons] stood—recently controlled by Nihilego.
"We haven't studied these three yet, but Meowth noticed something strange about the dark gas on them, meow. It's not fixed to their bodies—it can be collected using tools. So maybe we can utilize this gas, meow."
"This gas can turn living things into special, extremely hard rock—it has a very potent effect, meow. Depending on the gas concentration, the petrification effect varies. So Meowth was thinking of making a gas launcher, something like a gun—maybe resembling a water pistol, meow. Then we could equip soldiers with them, letting them use these weapons for attacks and captures."
"The only downside is that three is way too few—we'd need hundreds, even thousands to make this feasible, meow." Meowth sighed, helpless about this. It could break through technical barriers with its expertise, but a material shortage like this was beyond its control.
After all, you can't make bricks without straw.
Is that so?
Akira crossed his arms, not seeing this as much of an issue.
The effect wasn't particularly useful to him anyway, and increasing the numbers would be simple.
Once they found the Snake Lord, they could easily produce a large number of snakes tainted with its aura.
After comforting Meowth, Akira flashed away, appearing in another space.
.....
Inside, two people were waiting. Menchi and Pyon's eyes lit up with joy at Akira's sudden appearance.
Nowadays, the two occasionally stayed in Akira's Digital World, sometimes getting the chance to come out and explore.
But today wasn't suitable—they weren't ready to face a creature of the Snake Lord's caliber.
Menchi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said softly, "You're back. You must be hungry—I'll make something right away."
Akira nodded.
Having access to hot meals anytime, anywhere was a nice perk.
Though he no longer had the chef Sammy, Menchi's cooking was even better, ensuring his standard of living only improved.
As Menchi went to cook, Akira turned to Pyon and asked curiously, "How are things on their end?"
Pyon thought for a moment before summarizing the advance team's situation.
"Right now, they're probably in the Sea of Thorns—the same place you encountered before. But that's not the main thing. Cheadle seems to have discovered something. She tried fishing for information from me, but didn't get anything."
Actually, there weren't just three Zodiacs in the advance team—more like three and a half.
That half was Pyon.
The reason she was considered half was because she sometimes stayed on the advance ship and other times came to Akira's side.
That is to say, the Twelve Zodiacs usually don't have much work to do; otherwise, those people wouldn't have been dispatched to Mobius Lake in the original storyline.
So allocating one-third of the Twelve Zodiacs wouldn't have much impact on the Hunter Association.
The Sea of Thorns, huh? It seems their movements are quite swift.
Akira placed great importance on this plan, as only by occupying the hypothetical continent could the next steps be strategized.
Though this operation was labeled as the vanguard, the lineup was exceptionally formidable.
Led by Cheadle, the Vice-Chairman of the Hunter Association, along with three other Zodiac members, they commanded a team of hunters.
Then there was the V5 Navigation Bureau—two hidden elite soldier squads were mobilized, along with their captains.
Two S-rank powerhouses.
Hmm, among humans, they could undoubtedly be called formidable.
Beyond that, Akira also had part of the original team dispatched, who were more than willing to lend their strength.
...
At the Sea of Thorns,
On the Hunter Association's ship, a man with an elven-like appearance approached Cheadle and said solemnly, "This is the Sea of Thorns. There's no need to panic too much—these three ships are more than capable of resisting the thorns. Once the time comes, we can set sail."
"The only thing we need to guard against is attacks from living creatures."
The elven man was none other than Muheer.
Behind him stood Golem, as well as members of the [Stone Wall] unit, including Millie.
They had received Akira's invitation to accompany the vanguard team, with their primary mission being to assist the team in reaching the hypothetical continent.
They were also tasked with providing security and helping the subsequent logistics troops build facilities on the hypothetical continent.
Muheer and his team gladly accepted, as this also indirectly meant staying within Akira's faction.
Their strength was insufficient to help Akira advance further, but they could still support him by doing what they could from behind.
With the aid of this elite unit, tempered by the Dark Continent, the plan would proceed much more smoothly.
No sooner had he spoken than Golem, standing behind Muheer, gathered a massive amount of Aura into his hands, conjuring a large number of Nen weapons in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, Millie voluntarily took up position at the high lookout post, pushing her Nen Ability, [Listening to the Voice of Nature], to its limits.
The next moment, Millie opened her eyes and called out to Golem and the others below.
"In the water—a school of fish is approaching from the eight o'clock direction!"
Without delay, Muheer led Golem and the others to the ship's edge, extending his right hand as a Nen bow suddenly materialized in his grip.
Cheadle looked puzzled and asked, "It's just a school of fish—is all this really necessary? They probably won't hinder the ship."
Muheer shook his head without further explanation, simply instructing his team to wait for the fish to enter firing range.
At the same time, the fluctuations of Aura on the ship caught the attention of Jonah on the neighboring vessel.
Sensing the large-scale Aura disturbance, a glint flashed in Jonah's eyes before he abruptly stood up.
His sharp gaze locked onto Muheer and the others.
Jonah's expression turned grave as he observed Muheer's team—their exceptional discipline and overwhelming Aura made him solemn for the first time.
This was a battle-hardened unit, forged through countless crises—a pack of wolves and tigers!
As the leader of the elite soldiers, Jonah was no incompetent fool.
Not only was he immensely powerful, but his skills were also honed to perfection.
His techniques were born from life-and-death struggles.
Thus, he could naturally discern the aura emanating from Muheer's team—their flawless coordination, their lightning-fast reactions...
Only through repeated trials of blood and fire can one truly temper such skills.
'A team that returned unscathed from the Dark Continent... Indeed worthy of respect, they must have extraordinary capabilities.'
Jonah nodded subtly in approval of this team, acknowledging that his own squad paled in comparison.
Only with their level of caution, coordination, rigorous training, and formidable strength could one dare venture into the Dark Continent.
Muheer and the others had undergone a complete transformation—their experiences on the Dark Continent had honed them in every aspect.
Facing the same challenges as before, they now handled them with effortless ease, as if veterans revisiting a beginner's village.