"The team leader is not here yet?"

  "Do you think something happened to him?"

  "Do you think…, he died?"

  The surviving sharks of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team worriedly speculated among themselves, with most of them observing their surroundings alertly to detect any new prey on time. 

  They got to this location safely after escaping for over a dozen minutes, and since that time, their team leader was nowhere to be found. 

  Surprisingly, during this escape, they didn't experience such surges of bad luck encounters which were strange and spooky at the same time after what they already experienced for the past few minutes.

  "Senior Verni, what do you think? Is the leader…?"

  "Shut up! Do you want to attract another purple tier predator?" Verni was tired of the morale-killing speculations of his teammates. He snorted, ruthlessly admonishing the restless sharks.

  Yes, at this moment, he also felt uneasy, scared, and a little confused, but he didn't know the exact decision to take. 

  According to Sebastian, Verni was the leader when he was not around, but at this moment of truth, this Great White Shark hesitated, feeling that he was not up to the task.

  At this moment, he felt like a burden that was heavier than him was handed over to him for him to carry and he felt inadequate.

  This feeling of self-doubt was a first to Verni.

  As the favorite student of the powerful alpha Great White Shark, Old Mak, inferiority complex and lack of confidence were originally alien terms to Verni. But at this moment, he felt it.

  This was because of the encounters of the past few minutes to an hour.

  Verni could swear that never in his life had he encountered such a dangerous situation. It was like they were cursed; his brain just couldn't wrap around it.

  In Oceania as a whole, the purple tier realm was the middle realm among the 6 power tiers. This meant that purple tier predators were dangerous predators with vicious battle reputations.

  In this ocean volcano region, and Oceania as a whole, from the purple tier upward, the number of predators decreases progressively up the group.

  This meant that in most regions of this world, there were only a few purple tier predators. In some regions, there were no purple tier predators at all which showed how rare this realm of predators was.

  In his 5 years as a Great White Shark, Verni was absolutely sure that apart from the purple tier sharks in his family, he had met only 7 purple tier predators and most of these encounters were from following big bro Sebastian.

  And now, in just one hunting session, in fact in just one battle session, he met 4 of these dangerous predators which was a frightening probability.

  What were the odds of this happening? To him, none.

  When they met the Basking Shark, he already felt weird that why does it seem like they encountered them whenever he followed big bro Sebastian. 

  The appearance of the dangerous 6-legged Toad shocked the sh*t out of him, and the appearance of the sparkling white fish, then the terrifying Praying Mantis numbed him completely. 

  "Are we cursed?" This was the only question that dominated his mind at that moment that felt like he was in a dream.

  From the assault of these predators, the hunting team lost 5 Great White Sharks. Added to the one that was lost in the first conquest battle, 6 Great White Sharks were already lost in their first large-scale official hunt.

  Originally, this result would have seemed extremely poor but considering that they had the meat of the purple tier Basking Shark secured, it could be referred to as a win on their part.

  Despite this, all the sharks surviving in the hunting team were spooked.

  While they escaped, their hearts were as tense as the strings of a guitar, fearful that another purple tier predator would emerge at any moment but surprisingly, they were safe throughout.

  Tosh felt it more, the anxiety in his heart could no longer be restrained as it was expressed in his talkativeness. "Verni, do you think we are cursed?"

  "I've once heard of this curse magic during one of Elder Shine's lectures. Do you perhaps think that I've been inflicted by curse magic?"

  "Damn! What if I died in the previous battle?" 

  "Damn! Does being cursed decrease luck?" 

  "Damn! Does this mean I would be plagued with bad luck?"

  "Damn! Will I suddenly lose my claspers one day without knowing how it happened?" 

  "Damn, I'm scared!"

  "Shut up!" Verni flared up again.

  Throughout, as all the sharks expressed their fear and agitation in various ways, Shanks kept quiet at the back of the group. 

  He felt the impact of Sebastian's disappearance more. Though he saw Sebastian as his hero, his brain could not wrap around the fact that his team leader would survive the assault of so many purple-tier predators.

  The term 'purple tier' was already ingrained so much in his brain that the mere mention of it meant danger to him.

  Sebastian was the one who took him in when others refused, he was the one who took him out to face the world, who also saved him when he almost died.

  He could never forget Sebastian, and now he dared not think that his team leader was dead. The thought alone left him feeling like melting.

  Since he evolved into the orange tier, his intelligence experienced an upward surge and now his emotions had greater dominance in his mind. This was the reason why he felt Sebastian's disappearance so much.

  After Verni's last flaring up that was directed at Tosh, the enormous Great White Shark's eyes darted left and right in anxiety before he came to a decision.

  "We're going back to the clan!"

  Sebastian transmitted to him through his sound control skill to wait for him after they escaped, but he was ready to defy Sebastian for the first time.

  None of the sharks complained, they all left.

  …
About 12 minutes later, they arrived back at the cave lair.

  As soon as they entered inside, Verni left the others, rushing straight towards the throne chamber. Throughout the journey back, he regretted not having a skill like Sebastian's that could make him explode with super-shark speed.

  After getting back to the cave lair and still not seeing Sebastian, the fear in his heart grew to its peak. He decided to go tell his master immediately.

  …
In Old Mak's throne, the enormous Great White Shark hovered silently as he looked down at his favorite student with anger on his face.

  "Verni! How many times did I tell you to only come here on my summons?"

  "Clan head, I know but Sebastian…"

  "Enough!" Old Mak slowly hovered up from his throne as he said this, his enormous body towering above the younger Great White Shark intimidatingly.

  "It seems that since coming into contact with this Sebastian, you've forgotten a lot of the morals that you were thought as a young shark".

  "When the shark points for this hunt have been calculated, forfeit half. That is your punishment".

  "Now leave my chamber".

  "But…" Verni wanted to speak more but on feeling his master's reproachful piercing gaze, he could only lower his head and turn to leave while feeling conflicted inwardly.

  As soon as Verni left the throne chamber, 4 enormous Great White Sharks swam out of hidden corners in the chamber, revealing themselves before Old Mak.

  These 4 were Elder Marble, Elder Dangle, Elder Shine, and Queen Heareth.

  At this moment, their shark face all had solemn expressions as through their soul pins, they knew of the current plight of Sebastian.

  After the anomaly of his evaluation, all of them had been paying attention to this new shark though they did it in a concealed manner.

  This enabled them to know the moment that Sebastian's health points went below 100. They knew that Sebastian was in danger, but none of them moved.

  From the evaluation, they already knew that this young shark was mysterious and probably carried a huge secret, now they wanted to know.

  Under the gaze of the other sharks, Queen Heareth brought a magic weapon artifact that was in the form of a mirror. 

  This was not an attacking magic weapon; it was a special magic artifact that was created from the fusion of the eyes of a Giant Squid, a Death Dragon, and an Eye Dragon.

  At this moment, through this artifact, they saw Sebastian.