"It should be around here somewhere," Horus declared.

Horus and Nero were able to locate the Kraken's body with the help of Horus' restoration ability.

The location was miles away from Horus' kingdom, and there was nothing but mountains all over the place.

Nero glanced around and asked, "Are you certain? Because I don't sense anything."

"Yes!" Horus replied. "My restoration ability has no flaws."

"Every single thing has flaws, and no matter how hard one tries to make it flawless, it will stay flawed; nothing is perfect," Nero muttered with a solemn look on his face.

Horus glanced at Nero with a puzzled look on his face. He wanted to ask Nero what he meant by what he just said, but deep down, Horus knew what Nero was talking about.

Nero landed on top of the mountain and glanced around using his god's eye, but he couldn't spot anything strange.

Nero turned to Horus and asked, "Can't you use your restoration ability again to get the perfect location?"

"I tried. But it's getting interfered with something," Horus answered. "Most probably, we are at the right location, and that's why my ability is not working."

Nero stomped his leg on the ground, and the mountain shattered into pieces.

"What are you doing?!" Horus exclaimed in confusion.

"Breaking everything until I see something," Nero replied nonchalantly.

He jumped to the other mountain and punched it.

"Are you perhaps thinking that there is an invisible barrier cast around to hide something?" Horus wondered.

"No. If there was a barrier, I would have sensed it." Nero answered. 

After a brief pause, Nero opened his mouth and said, "If you are sure that this is the place, then the only place I can think of is… underground."

Nero conjured Harpe in his hand and plunged it into the ground. Then, Nero poured his mana inside Harpe, and it began to increase in size.

"....!"

Horus was speechless after seeing that and couldn't dare to go near Nero.

Nero tapped his foot on the ground, and it began to crack. He consumed Harpe and looked into the crack.

'I can sense a faint presence now!'

Nero widened the crack and signaled Horus before jumping inside.

Horus followed Nero into the crack and landed on the soft ground. He glanced around and muttered, "What is this place? A quarry?"

"It's more like an underground Valley," Nero remarked.

The valley was glowing green and blue and radiating light. The structure of the valley was uneven, but it was vast.

Nero glanced at Horus and said, "Can you sense anything?"

Horus nodded in response and said, "It's coming from that way."

Nero pointed his finger in the dark and uttered, "There is a passage. But we are not taking that route."

"But the presence is coming from that way," Horus remarked.

"We will follow the river."

Horus glanced around the valley with a puzzled and confused look on his face: "Where is the river?"

Nero looked at Horus and shook his head in disbelief.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Horus felt uncomfortable after seeing Nero looking at him in distraught.

"There is always a river flowing underground, you dumbass," Nero commented.

After walking for a while with no direction in mind, Nero sighed and placed his hand on the ground.

"This doesn't make any sense. I can hear the water flowing, but…" Nero stopped and frowned his face.

After noticing a sudden change in Nero's mood, Horus asked, "What's wrong?"

"I think I know what's going on," Nero uttered. "Stay back."

Horus made some distance between Nero and himself and watched Nero with a curious look on his face.

Nero spread his arms in the air and created a multi-colored magic circle. Then, Nero conjured Harpe in his hand and passed it through the magic circle. Harpe's shape began to change as the magic circle around it started to fade away.

The magic circle eventually disappeared, and Harpe turned into a small bird.

Nero raised his hand to the bird, and it landed on Nero's finger.

"Show me the path," Nero asserted to the bird.

The bird chirped and flew away.

Nero and Horus followed the bird as it guided the way.

After a brief moment, Horus glanced at Nero and asked, "How did the sword turn into a bird?"

Horus had never seen an inanimate object coming to life before. He was genuinely surprised and curious.

"It's the sword's original form," Nero answered. "Although, the size is different."

After flying for a while, they reached an open area that was protected by a magic barrier.

The bird sat on Nero's shoulder and chirped.

"Yes, yes. You did a good job," Nero praised the bird.

The bird chirped cheerfully and disappeared.

"...!" Horus exclaimed in shock. "Where did it go?"

"Inside my body."

Nero landed on the ground and touched the barrier.

"Hmm!" He hummed in wonder and uttered, "Not bad. This is a top-tier barrier. Whoever created it deserves praise."

Nero clenched the barrier in his fist and shattered it as he said, "But, not from me."

A legless body of a Kraken was tied with a magic cord that was sucking its power. There were hundreds of spears and arrows stabbed onto Kraken's body. Its skin was ripped, and all the wounds were open and bleeding, seeming the cuts were fresh.

"How cruel…" Horus muttered in a disdainful tone.

"I have seen many horrible things compared to this." 

Nero walked to the Kraken and placed his hand on its body.

"It's alive," he stated with a sigh of relief.

Nero groped the magic cord and removed it from Kraken's body.

'It's sucking my mana like crazy. No wonder the Kraken was vulnerable to this.'

He threw the cord on the ground and yelled, "There is no point in hiding! Save me the trouble to find you, and show yourself!"

Fifteen humans jumped out of nowhere in front of Nero and conjured their weapons.

Nero walked past them and chopped them into pieces using his tail.

"That was easy," Horus muttered.

However, they started regenerating at high speed. 

Baffled, Horus looked at them with his eyes wide open and murmured, "Don't tell me they did the sacred ritual to gain the Kraken's powers."

"Nice!" Nero cracked his fingers and asserted, "Since they are using magic, I shall use my magic too and show them why kids shouldn't fool around with sacred rituals."