Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 175: The First Age’s Appetite

The Abyssal Hunter is damaged, Jax reported. "The hull took a beating from the gravity crush. It will take weeks to repair the flight runes."

"We do not have weeks," Primrose said. "If she wakes up down there, alone in the dark... she will panic. We need to go now."

"We do not need a ship to dive," Caspian said. He walked over to Primrose and took her hand. "The Ocean is my domain. And now... it is yours too. You have the Blue Tail. You have the Heart of the Tide fused to your soul."

He looked at the Warlords.

"We can take a smaller team. Just the elite. We use the Leviathan Bubble transport from Sunless City, but reinforced with Primrose’s Silver Mana."

"Digging through miles of collapsed bedrock isn’t a swimming trip," Cassian pointed out logically, tapping his staff on the floor. "We require excavation equipment."

"I am the excavation equipment," Rajah grinned, patting the hilt of his massive sword.

"And I can manipulate the earth currents," Jasper spoke up from the doorway. The snake boy was holding Pickles. "Imugis are earth-water hybrids. Pickles can sense the pockets of stability in the rock. We can guide you."

Primrose looked at the kids. "No. This is dangerous. The trench is unstable. You children stay here with Emperor Leonis."

"Objection," Arjun said, stepping forward and adjusting his small vest. "I think ... it’s best if Jasper navigates. Plus, you promised us a beach day."

"This is not a beach day!" Primrose stressed. "This is a rescue mission in the crushed skull of the planet!"

"We are coming," Ellia said firmly. She crossed her arms, looking exactly like a miniature Empress. "Or we will stow away again. And this time, Rurik won’t be able to fit in the vents to retrieve us."

Primrose looked at Caspian. Caspian shrugged.

"They hacked a god’s gravity field," Caspian said. "I think they have earned the right to come along."

---

By noon, they were ready.

Emperor Leonis and Prince Bastion saw them off at the airfield.

"Bring her home," Leonis said, handing Primrose a royal seal. "Ophelia is a hero of the Empire. She deserves a state welcome. And... tell her the First Lion says ’hello’."

"I think the First Lion said ’Traitor’," Primrose laughed nervously.

"He is softening up," Leonis winked. "He hasn’t tried to incinerate anyone all morning."

They boarded a fast Royal Skiff to take them to the coast. The journey was quiet. The world below was healing. The purple scars on the land were already turning green.

When they reached the ocean, it was calm. The black sludge was gone, thanks to Pickles’ purification. The water was a deep, sparkling blue.

---

They didn’t stop at Sunless City. They went straight to the drop point above the Mariana Trench.

Caspian summoned the Leviathan—the massive bubble-construct. But this time, Primrose stepped forward.

She flared her Nine Silver Tails.

"Upgrade," she whispered.

She poured Silver Mana into the bubble. The translucent blue walls turned into a shimmering, metallic silver. It hardened, becoming stronger than diamond.

"Everyone inside," Primrose commanded.

The Warlords and the Kids piled into the Silver Whale.

They dove.

Down. Down. Down.

Past the sunlit zone. Past the twilight zone. Into the Midnight Zone.

The pressure built outside, pressing against the mana-shield, but the silver walls held firm.

Finally, they reached the bottom.

Or what was left of it.

The majestic jade gate of Ophelia’s Tomb was gone. The garden was gone.

In its place was a mountain of jagged rocks, silt, and ruin. The collapse had reshaped the entire geography of the trench.

"It’s a mess," Rurik whistled. "That is a lot of rocks."

"She is under there," Primrose whispered. She closed her eyes, focusing on the Ninth Tail. She felt a faint, rhythmic pulse deep beneath the rubble. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

"She is deep. Two miles of rock."

---

"Alright," Rajah cracked his neck. "Let us work."

"Wait," Cassian held up a hand. "If we just start blasting, we might crush her. We need surgical precision."

He looked at Jasper. "Guide us, Heir."

Jasper closed his eyes. The gem on Pickles’ head glowed.

"There," Jasper pointed to a fissure in the rock pile. "The structural integrity is weak at that point. If we tunnel at a 45-degree angle, we bypass the main load-bearing shelf."

"Rajah, Rurik," Primrose commanded. "You are the drill."

The two Warlords stepped out of the bubble, protected by individual coatings of Primrose’s silver mana.

Rajah channeled his blue fire into a concentrated beam along his blade—a plasma cutter. He sliced through the granite like it was soft cheese.

Rurik grabbed the massive chunks of rock and hurled them aside with brute strength.

They worked for hours. Slice. Heave. Slice. Heave.

Primrose monitored the tunnel stability, using her green tail to reinforce the walls as they went deeper.

---

Finally, after four hours of grueling labor, Rajah’s sword hit something that didn’t sound like rock.

CLANG.

"Metal?" Rajah called out, his voice magically projected to the group.

Caspian swam forward. He wiped away the silt.

"Not metal," Caspian whispered. "Crystal."

It was a barrier. A cocoon of solidified time-mana.

Inside the crystal, curled up in a ball with her nine white tails wrapped around her like a blanket, was Ophelia.

She looked peaceful. She looked young.

Primrose swam out of the bubble. She touched the crystal.

"Ophelia."

The crystal hummed. It recognized the bloodline.

Slowly, cracks began to form on the surface.

CRACK... HISS.

The crystal shattered into mist.

Ophelia slumped forward. Primrose caught her.

She was light. So light.

Ophelia’s eyelids fluttered. She took a breath—her first real breath in a thousand years. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Her eyes opened. They were the color of the clear ocean.

She looked at Primrose. She looked at the silver tails floating in the water. She looked at the Warlords watching from the bubble.

She blinked.

"Did I win?" Ophelia whispered, her voice rusty with age.

Primrose smiled, tears streaming down her face and mixing with the seawater.

"Yeah, Grandma," Primrose choked out. "We won. The Void is gone."

Ophelia let out a long sigh. She looked around at the dark, crushed rocks of the trench.

"Good," she murmured. "Now... does anyone have a roasted chicken? I have been craving one since the First Age."