Ocean Master

Though Sebastian was not able to explore the full catacomb during his previous visit, the only hall where he entered and battled before escaping was enough of a reference for him to guess the overall layout of the huge mausoleum.

In his opinion, this catacomb's structure was a huge network of underground tunnels and passages that led to other halls like the one he was in currently.

And just like this hall, he guessed that the rest were filled with piles of skeletons. The reason for this was what he didn't know.

All he knew was that the dangerous experiment that was done by the Atlantian Professors was probably related to skeletons in some way or the other.

Probably, the owners of the skeletons were test subjects who exhausted their living time and were discarded, or the skeletons may be a crucial ingredient that they needed to make their experiments a success.

Whichever of these theories was true, Sebastian was not sure.

Now, Sebastian felt that the whole catacomb was awake.

Not just in the hall that he was in, in possibly all the dozens or hundreds of halls that made up this catacomb, the skeletons, and monsters who formed its ecosystem were stimulated by a strange phenomenon, causing them to go berserk.

In this hall, Sebastian was the only one, which directly translated to the fact that he was the juicy target that was prepared for this batch of skeletons.

Crii! Crii! Crii!

The skeletons made strange grinding sounds as they hurried up while struggling to stabilize their center of gravity with their feeble bone legs. 

While doing this, the yellow flickering light that took the place of their eyes looked on Sebastian hungrily. 

Sebastian felt his heart freezing under the glare of this yellow terror. In just a few seconds after the last writing of the Sea King's will appeared, he was already surrounded from all sides.

Waa! Bwa! Kwa!

The Poison Worms made strange sounds like those of wailing babies as they slithered into the hall through its walls like snakes, while the terrifying Abomination Hounds simply thundered into the hall silently.

Sebastian felt like he was in a zombie apocalypse, and he was trapped!

Abomination Hounds filled his front, blocking the entrance to the other 5 tunnels which led to other places. Poison Worms filled the walls of the hall, while the awakened skeletons filled every other part of the hall.

Despite all these, Sebastian still didn't move yet as the last sentence that was written by the Sea King's will occupied his mind.

As a veteran who already brute his way through 3 rounds of this first test of the inheritance, he had experience and knew that brainlessly moving would not help, he needed to know the rules of this round.

"The endurance test is endless!"

"Let the race of survivors begin!"

Sebastian referenced the first before going to the second sentence. The endurance test was endless, this term seemed vague and presented little clues. He could not infer much from it.

As for the second sentence, he could not help but guess if the trick to qualify through this round was to defend and survive for as long as possible.

This test was called the endurance test. Perhaps, if he persisted and survived for as long as possible, at some point, the test would just end which meant that he qualified. Such a simple but inconclusive theory.

Though Sebastian's thoughts moved at the speed of light, the only problem was that he could not be sure of the theories which stumped him. In the end, the first poison worm threw a purple poison mist at him.

The mutated beasts also rushed towards him in intervals of less than a second, and now, Sebastian had to react.

[You have activated skill: Magic Shield.]

Sebastian decided on the only theory that seemed more viable to him, he decided that the trick to qualify through this round was to survive as long as possible. Unfortunately, his defense strategy was to go on the offense.

He was a Megalodon, not a turtle with frightening shell defense.

Well, to defend against these beasts, he would simply batter them.

[You have activated skill: Sonic Drill!]

Sebastian's magic shield activated before the poison mist could spray on him, succeeding in blocking the damage as the water stirred to form the sonic attack which drilled towards the Poison Worm.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The first sonic drill was quickly followed by the 2nd, then the last. The Poison Worm stood no chance, it died horrifyingly as its brain was finely punctured through.

[You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.]

[You have activated skill: Battering Ram.]

[You have activated skill: Water Cyclone.]

Sebastian activated 3 skills in quick succession.

He first used the combination of the first 2 skills to rapidly increase his movement speed and momentum, as he collided through the ranks of the disorderly skeleton, quickly arriving at a corner of the hall.

Once he arrived there, his water cyclone came into effect.

As the fierce cyclone that seemed capable of developing into a tsunami raged, keeping the predators at bay, Sebastian finally got some much-needed time to settle down for this possibly long battle.

With his back against the wall now, he didn't have to worry about ambushes, all his enemies were now at his front where he could focus on them.

While the terrifying beasts surged towards him, he bombarded them.

If when he was still a newbie orange tier Megalodon, he was able to fight and survive an assault from the Abomination Hounds, it could only be easier now. 

As the experienced predator that he now was, he simply shredded the beasts apart. A bonus to him was that none of his opponents were purple tier predators which would have been troublesome.

Sebastian's claim was not arrogant, it was a fact. Of all the enemies that he's faced, he was the undisputed champion of his tier.

Sebastian wreaked havoc to defend himself.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

[You have killed a Poison Worm- Level 12: You have gained Experience.]

[You have gained 8 Skill points and 8 Adaptation points.]

[You have killed an Abomination Hound- Level 18: You have gained Experience.]

[You have gained 12 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.]

[You have killed…]

[You have killed…]

…

6 hours later, the battle was still ongoing.

Blood already dyed every part of this hall; the water was now thick and viscous as the blood mixed up with it more. The strong smell of blood was so strong that it pervaded the hall in a choking manner.

Apart from the blood, flesh, the pieces and broken parts of skeletons that filled every corner of the hall also showed the intensity of the battle.

Still in his corner, Sebastian kept on bombarding the beasts.

He had no injuries in his body, he was the one who kept on killing the predators with his overpowering might but he was not a machine. After keeping it up for so long, he was already getting tired.

Only his high mana recovery speed and his magic gadget helped him to forget the problem of running out of mana while embroiled in battle.

The only problem of doubt that now plagued Sebastian was that despite the number of beasts that died to him, there was no change. The beasts kept on surging out like they were endless, it made him feel a sense of frustration.

He decided to wait an hour more which quickly elapsed.

By this time, even more blood, flesh, and bones already filled everywhere. This was when Sebastian finally gave attention to the fact that he may have interpreted the working of this round wrong.

What if to qualify didn't mean that he should just defend and survive?

While still battling, Sebastian started thinking hard. It took him only 2 minutes before he narrowed down on some of the Sea King will's writings.

"It is after the endurance test that the survivors can finally be called candidates. This is when you'll finally start benefiting tangibly, so a bit of advice for you, give your absolute best or you won't live to regret it".

It is after the endurance test that survivors would start benefiting tangibly. This was precisely what Sebastian narrowed down on.

A lot of questions filled his mind the next moment. He quickly referenced the Sea King will's ramblings on what defined a real predator again.

He thought hard, trying to uncover all the mysteries that were hidden in the Sea King will's ramblings. Amid his thinking, he discovered clues here and there which he matched together to form better clues.

It took him another 2 minutes before his eyes shone comprehendingly.

"Real predators are survivors!"

"Real survivors are predators who get benefits in dangerous situations!"

He finally understood, he already finished the first test. The endurance test was the second test, and it was actually testing his intelligence and how he could improvise in situations.

By lying to him, the will was testing his intelligence. By rambling so much, the Sea King's will was trying to know if he could think beyond the normal.

He already understood everything, this second test was actually on how he could survive the attack of so many creatures while benefiting from it.

This catacomb was the inheritance ground, it was already filled with the treasures and everything left behind by the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King, it was left for the candidates to fight for the benefits.

After coming to this conclusion, Sebastian also concluded that this hall had at least one benefit that was arranged by the Sea King's will.

Instantly, he changed his battle strategy.

He no longer just focused on surviving, he now focused on surviving while searching for opportunities to benefit.

Sebastian exploded into action immediately.