Three days and four nights have passed since he began exploring the Southern Seas.

Since he did so very cautiously, his progress wasn't as huge as he'd hoped, but it was also nothing to scoff at.

Hal was now at least confident of roaming the waters a few hundred meters from his cozy little alcove, fully knowing what aquatic beasts lived in the area, and which ones he could and couldn't take.

Some of them also already remembered him, choosing to avoid his annoying little figure most of the time.

They concluded that his small size wasn't all that worth it to catch, considering the rather nightmarish trouble the aquatic beasts would have to go through just attempting.

Familiarity was what gave him confidence.

And so, today, Hal planned to venture a little farther from the Great Carralis Canyonlands and closer to where Tiki Island should've been.

The only way he could think of to complete this trial was to go through the entrance of the Temple of Chaos again.

Unfortunately, he didn't know where the hell the island even was.

But Hal wasn't too worried.

If there was anything the entity that chose him had always done, it was guiding him in various ways.

He was quite certain he'd find a clue sooner or later. He just had to keep making an effort.

And so, after a hearty breakfast, Hal left the alcove and dove straight into the sea once more, not a hint of nervousness in his heart.

He swam confidently with a few beasts, who merely gazed at him for a moment before ignoring him.

A hundred meters…

Two…

Further and further Hal went, courageously closing in on the supposed location of Tiki Island.

Soon, he reached the periphery of where he last spotted the massive creature lurking in the depths, and he warily patrolled the area for a while to check what type of aquatic beasts were in the area.

He could recognize quite a lot through mere appearance now.

He knew which ones he could take, which ones he could run away from, and which ones might be extremely dangerous to even be detected by.

To his surprise, there weren't a lot of aquatic creatures living in this area, though most of them looked quite dangerous.

He was easily able to avoid detection with the help of [Shadow Walk].

Hal noticed something while performing reconnaissance in the waters: that even the dangerous beasts didn't dare swim too close to the depths, where the massive silhouette was.

'Damn it…what to do…' Hal cursed, temporarily turning back and returning to his tiny alcove to recover his mana and ponder what he should do next.

He was getting nowhere, and he had an idea why.

His courage was now slightly lacking.

The reason for this was because Primordial Chaos might suddenly decide that he cannot use one of his abilities, which was making him lose confidence.

It was difficult to trust one's abilities if they could be freely taken away from him at any given moment.

Inside his alcove, Hal took a deep breath.

He was now quite certain that the key to the trial's progress lay in the horrifying silhouette in the depths.

He would have to approach whatever that thing was.

'Damn it…' Hal cursed inwardly, fully acknowledging that he was cowering at this moment.

It was then that Loki's face flashed in his mind.

Sure, his chances of surviving the Temple of Chaos' trials would be higher if he moved cautiously, but what about his wolf companion?

With every second of hesitation, he might be putting Loki's life further and further at risk.

He couldn't dally too much and had to face the root of the problem.

With another deep breath, Hal steeled his resolve.

He rested for thirty more minutes to recover his Chaos Karma before gliding down from his alcove.

He then walked closer to the edge of the canyonlands, dove into the water without hesitation, and began to swim closer to the massive silhouette, his heart racing faster the more he closed the distance.

Soon, Hal was hovering above the silhouette, gazing at it for a while.

It still wasn't moving…

He, too, found it difficult to move from his current spot, as his instincts told him that going near that thing was unwise.

Yet, he forced himself in the next moment, his breathing ragged as he began swimming closer.

The deeper he dove, the less light was able to pass through.

The surroundings naturally became darker and darker.

A few minutes later, Hal was swimming in complete darkness, and he couldn't help but feel suffocated, even though he could perfectly breathe thanks to his unique-tier spell.

'Damn it…I can't leave without even seeing what that thing is…'

He already prepared an escape route for himself, and since he's allowed to use [Spatial]-type spells in this trial, he should at least be able to survive until he makes it to where sunlight could reach.

His worry was: what if Primordial Chaos suddenly decided that such spells weren't allowed?

This might spell death for him.

'Tch, the same hesitations again!' Hal reprimanded himself.

Hadn't he already gotten over this?

And so, with a burst of resolve, Hal cast the [Common]-tier spell, [Illuminate], lighting up a huge area.

He was granted a glimpse of the massive silhouette, and his eyes widened.

However, in the next moment, an overwhelming sense of danger enveloped him, and Hal bolted off without hesitation, casting [Knockback] on himself.

He then [Blink]ed immediately after, his heart pounding the wildest it ever did.

There's something behind him, chasing him down.

Hal at least wanted to see its appearance first before deciding whether he could fight it or not.

For that to happen, he had to escape to a well-lit part of the waters.

Hal desperately swam—as fast as his human body allowed—eventually getting within range.

Soon, he swapped places with the puppet he had conjured specifically for this purpose, finally out of the horrifying darkness of the depths.

He hurriedly swam away a bit more so he could react to whatever attack came his way.

But to his surprise, the feeling of being hunted down suddenly vanished.

It seemed that whatever the creature was, it was unwilling to leave the darkness…