Elsewhere, a large cave opened up to an ‘L’ shaped lagoon. Ocean waves broke upon the large rocky outcropping before spilling into the lagoon. At the far end of the lagoon a massive cave system expanded over the sea water. The rocks had formed into huge archways allowing the sea water to pass underneath them. Somehow the plateau of this large island was like a stone version of a stilt house. The passageways beneath it were large and numerous, but they were also something of a labyrinth. Many of the different pathways were also unreachable or hidden depending on whether or not it was high or low tide. Some required a shallow bottomed craft at high tide to slip through, but were high up on the wall during the low tide. Others were only barely passable at low tide, requiring those in a boat to duck low in order to slip through the short tunnel.

This location formed a perfect sort of smuggler’s cove and given the immense size of the island was filled with dozens of hidden bases and secret treasure caches. One of these hidden bases belonged to a branch of the Yi Yang Group. At the highest part of the cavern a tunnel went straight upwards and then arched downwards like a ramp. The Yi Yang Group had a sort of gantry system set up to collect goods and personnel from the boats below and then took them down a ramp to a cavern placed deep below the sea level. This base was highly secure given its unusual access method and the presence of so many powerful beasts in the nearby sea.

At this time, the highly secure nature of this base also meant the inhabitants had no way to escape. They had two secret escape tunnels, one of them spilling them out into the sea, while the other ran up to the surface to reach the island. On the surface a massive formation had been laid out to cover a ten mile radius, showing the enemy knew they had an escape hatch, but didn’t know the location. As soon as they tried to use it, the location would be given away. Yet, the other escape route was even worse as dozens of tier five sea beasts were circling around the area. With their strength hampered by being underwater they stood no chance against these beasts because the exit hatch was small and only a few of them could leave at a time. They would just get picked off one by one and wouldn’t be able to combine their power to make an escape attempt.

Things were not looking good at their front entrance as the gantry area had already been taken and the ramp was on the verge of being lost.

At the gantry area, a large scaffold type structure built to support a complicated crane system, there was a woman standing there alone. She was garbed in a mix of deep blue and brilliant purple, giving her a soothing, but also somewhat exotic look. Contrary to the vibrance of her outfit was the coldness of her features. She looked to be without a shred of emotion as she waved her hand and took the lives of the Yi Yang Group’s defenders.

She lifted her palm and a jet of water shot out with the force of a cannon. It arced through the air and one of the Yi Yang Group commanders, who wasn’t wearing one of the wide brimmed spiked helmets, ducked out of the way just in time. The fellow thanked his lucky stars, but a little too soon. The arc of water smashed against the rocky ceiling just behind the large troop of mind controlled guards. Their shield wall remained intact, but only for a few moments longer.

The water that struck the ceiling burst into a mist. This vapor spread outwards from that point on the ceiling and laid over the defender’s formation like a blanket. In just a few seconds their knees wobbled and then they started to fall like dominos. Only then did the commander realize his mistake as he too lost consciousness. With just a single dose of poison, the first organized defense against her had fallen. It was also at this time that the Leaders of this base realized their escape routes were blocked.

With the effortless defeat of the first defensive unit, a second squad was sent as reinforcement each of them sheathed in a protective aura of light. Magical Tools existed just for this purpose, creating a barrier not to protect against attacks, but to block poisonous gasses and liquids from infecting them. Since the poison didn’t do anything to the energy barriers the amount of energy it took to sustain them was very miniscule in comparison to the power and expenditure of other types of defensive tools. This efficient poison protector was not something that the frosty faced woman was a stranger to.

Just as before she waved her hand and jets of water were propelled at high speed, smashing against the thin poison protection barriers and shattering them apart. The water blast shattered apart upon contact with the barrier, but merely took on the form of a vapor and infected the now unprotected soldier. After felling a few of them, she seemed to dial in the power required. The guards were feeling a bit more confident, at least in stalling her as she could only take them down one at a time, but they didn’t realize she was only calibrating the strength required.

Rather than using the hole on her palm to release a jet of water, the cold woman formed a few symbols with her fingers, shifting through a few ‘handseals’ and releasing her water-natured Qi into a large cloud above her head. This blue mist coalesced upon the ceiling of the tunnel and crept down the tunnel. It changed the rocky ceiling into a clouded sky, almost giving the illusion they were outdoors. Yet, these clouds seemed to do nothing, only spreading further and further, completely flooding the whole of the quarter mile tunnel and out over the first few buildings.

While she was creating more and more of these clouds, the guards opposite her had started to hurl javelins and fire arrows towards her. These projectiles were sheathed in glowing energy auras of varying types. These enslaved soldiers were of many different innate Qi natures so their attacks were not uniform, fire, ice, electricity, and other things sheathed the tips of them as they flew forward enhancing their power. Unfortunately, for them, a thick wave of water rose up out of the hole behind the woman. A huge column of water rose up from the sea below and twisted through the air, splashing down in front of her and forming into a thick wall. Somehow this water hardened and it caught all the incoming projectiles without any seeming effort at all.

Before they could alter their response the clouds above them finally changed. Heavy raindrops fell smacking against the soldiers that were rapidly marching into the tunnel. It didn’t seem to make sense, but somehow each of these little drops carried so much impact with them that they shattered the poison protection barriers of the guards. Worse yet, they also carried those vicious poisons and in just a dozen seconds the whole tunnel was completely cleared. The cold faced woman took a step forward and landed her foot upon the somewhat solid water wall. The wall rushed down the tunnel like a wave carrying her down the path like a conquering hero.

At the end of the tunnel was a larger cavern, big enough to fit the three story buildings the Yi Yang Group had constructed along with a bit of extra height to make those living down here feel like they weren’t so claustrophobic. The rain clouds only spread into the wide open space outside the tunnel where the guards had redoubled their efforts trying to reinforce the last major choke point before allowing the invader to enter the main portion of the base. It’s just too bad for them that all these preparations served only to make it easier for the woman to defeat them all in one fell swoop.