As he spoke, he suddenly dropped from the platform, stepping into the midst of the monster fish. His giant hand, clad in sharp gloves, swept forward, sending a group of monster fish flying.
At the same time, those bats all gathered at his feet, forming a shadow that grew longer and longer, rising from the ground. It formed a shadow spear that pierced through the mechanical bodies of the monster fish from their lower bodies to their flesh on the upper bodies, turning them into skewers.
"Shadow Horn Spear!"
The penetration of the Shadow Spear created a narrow path ahead, but only so far. More monster fish filled the deck, and the sea was continuously crawling with them, quickly filling the gap Moriah created.
This made Moriah's expression even darker. These beings had shadows, theoretically allowing his ability to grab and cut them directly, maximizing the shadow-cutting potential.
However, removing the shadows of inanimate objects was useless. Cutting off such shadows neither increased his combat power nor could they be stuffed into the bodies of the dead.
Because they were fundamentally dead objects.
Moriah's ability was useless against these creatures.
"Where's Renedia!"
Hawkins shouted, "She's a Dyna-Dyna Fruit Ability User, she should have a way!"
"No need to find her!"
Moriah swatted away the monster fish in front of him, and a shadow clone roughly his size emerged from the shadow before him, rushing forward to sweep away more monster fish.
"Does this small matter really require a little girl to act? That would make me, a Former Seven Warlords of the Sea, seem useless!"
But despite his words, those monster fish, with mechanical legs, nailed onto the shadow, were quickly bounced away. However, no matter how strong the defense was, once the number multiplied, they would still get overwhelmed.
A large number of monster fish opened their tooth-filled mouths, biting the shadow's body. The increased number turned the shadow into black spots on the ground, unable to maintain its shape.
For such numerous and fierce attackers, who were also dead objects, Moriah's entire skill set was tightly restrained, in some ways not even as useful as Urouge.
Because Urouge's strength was enough to sweep away many monster fish with a pencil column.
But with so many, it's not something one or two people can solve.
Hawkins had already turned his sword into rice straw, using the soft Rice Straw Whip to stab. While it could pierce the metal in the lower bodies of the monster fish, it was a drop in the ocean.
The three relied solely on physical attacks, unable to clear the monster fish on the deck, and could only watch as there were more and more of them.
Moreover, unless the hit was precise, these monster fish could continue moving. Just hitting the mechanical legs was useless, as something inside the fish bodies could still function, allowing them to move even after losing their mechanical legs.
Simply striking the fish bodies also did no good, as the mechanical legs below could still move. But with so many, precise targeting was impossible, and extra strikes meant more energy consumption.
Right now, the deck was still crowded with monster fish...
Abandon the ship?
Just as this thought flashed through Moriah's mind, he immediately discarded it.
It was the first time Sage had assigned him a task, and he had resolved to make Sage win!
Does getting restrained mean admitting defeat?
If that were the case...
Then what dream would remain to aspire to!
"Don't underestimate me!"
Moriah's long neck bulged with veins, his face contorted as he swept his hand, throwing out a different kind of shockwave, shattering the flying monster fish into pieces.
Even the monster fish below suffered varying degrees of injury and destruction.
This feeling...
Moriah paused for a moment, looked at his hand, and gradually revealed a sinister smile: "Hehehehe, so that's how it is, slowly returning after all these years..."
Boom!
He swung his hand again, creating another shock, sweeping a semi-circular blank area free of the dense monster fish ahead.
"Let me see how much has returned!"
Returning to the New World after so many years also rekindled the long-lost familiarity with his willpower.
Haki!
Inside the city walls.
Lily and the others found a large door embedded in the ground at the center. Next to it was a control lever, and pushing it open caused the door to gradually open outward, revealing a slanted track.
Carefully going down the track, they were first faced with total darkness, and at the end of the darkness, there was a fiery red light. After walking to the end, the full scope of the firelight revealed itself.
There were high-heat, red-hot furnaces emitting intense heat. Various iron slags were scattered around the furnaces, and besides the firelight from the furnaces, the area was filled with black ash, creating a thick black mist.
Outside the furnaces were numerous low, squat houses, some still faintly lit by candles, while some had extinguished candles and few people were around.
Correspondingly, in this Underworld, there were many people pushing small carts, moving back and forth along the track.
These people wore dirty miner's clothes, looking almost like black coal. Only their eyes were visible.
And those eyes had long lost their shine, becoming dull and lifeless. The features below their eyes were expressionless, like the walking dead.
Lily observed these people, her brows slightly furrowed. Her Observation was highly sensitive to auras, and thanks to constant training in the Breath of All Things, Lily's Observation was even sharper.
Normal Observation is attuned to one's own perception, detecting the aura of things, whether living or dead.