My Taming System Makes Me Overpowered

The blood of the slain scout patrol diluted into the freezing blackness of the abyss as the trio descended past the nine-thousand-meter mark.

Before them, carved directly into the sheer basalt walls of the oceanic trench, stood the outer perimeter of Nethros.

It was a staggering, ancient marvel of underwater engineering. Massive archways of dark, vitrified stone stretched across miles of the sea floor, anchored by colossal pillars entwined with bioluminescent blue coral. The luminous flora cast an eerie, azure radiance over paved stone highways, sunken plazas, and colossal aqueducts that channelled pressurized currents through the subterranean city.

Yet, for all its haunting beauty, Nethros was built as a fortress.

[DEPTH: 11,200 METERS]

[ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE: 1,120 BAR]

[ZONE: NETHROS OUTER PERIMETER — THE CORAL RAMPARTS]

As Vince, Vetra, and Lyrielle crossed the threshold of the outer gates, the heavy silence of the deep was shattered by the resonant, low-pitched chiming of massive sunken bells.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

The sound waves traveled through the dense water with bone-rattling force. From behind the coral-covered battlements and basalt watchtowers, movement erupted. Hundreds of armored forms surged into formation, locking the narrow canyon entry in a wall of iron and water-mana.

This was not a mere scouting party. This was the

High-Tier Trench Vanguard—the standing army of the outer ring.

At their head swam three Royal Vanguard Captains. Unlike the lower-tier shock troops, these commanders wore intricate plates of gleaming abyssal scalse, their four arms wielding heavy runic halberds that hummed with concentrated, whirlpool-generating mana.

"Halt, air-breathers!" the lead Captain barked, his telepathic voice ringing inside their minds like a cracking whip. "You tread upon the sacred sea of Nethros! None pass the outer gates without the express command of the Tide Caller!"

Vince decelerated, his heavy, obsidian-scaled tail sweeping through the water to hold his position. His purple eyes swept over the army blocking their path—at least three hundred heavy infantry, backed by mounted sea-drake cavalry patrolling the upper ramparts.

"Tide Caller," Vince growled, his voice a low, vibrating rumble that stirred the silt on the sea floor. "Nerissa."

The Captain’s slit pupils flared at the mention of the name, his posture tightening with deep, fanatical reverie.

"You dare utter the name of General Nerissa so casually?" the Captain sneered, raising his four-armed halberd high. "She is the undefeated shield of the Royal House of Nethros! For three centuries, surface mages, sea leviathans, and rogue warlords have tried to breach the inner trench. All have drowned at her feet. Her tide commands the very blood in your veins, land-rat!"

Beside Vince, Vetra let out a deep, guttural chuckle, her long reptilian tail flicking back and forth in a slow, predatory rhythm.

"Undefeated?" Vetra purred, her golden eyes gleaming with dark amusement as she stretched her clawed hands. "Sounds like she hasn’t met a real predator yet. Vince, leave the small fish to us. Save your breath for the big prize."

"Don’t take too long," Vince replied flatly.

He didn’t wait for a signal.

BOOM!

Vince detonated off the water column, his heavy Man-Beast frame slicing forward like a black meteor. The sudden displacement of thousands of gallons of pressurized water created an underwater implosion that blasted the front line of sea-drake cavalry off their mounts.

"Kill them!" the Captain roared. "Do not let the black beast reach the inner gates!"

A wall of hydrokinetic spell-blades and runic spears flooded the gap, but Vince ignored the lesser soldiers entirely. He drove straight toward the primary gatehouse—a massive barrier of solid obsidian reinforced with runic arrays.

Behind him, the battle erupted into absolute chaos.

Vetra dove headfirst into the vanguard’s center. She was a terror of hydrodynamic muscle, using her tail like a kinetic whip that snapped iron halberds in half and shattered ribs through heavy scale-armor. When two Captains attempted to pin her with runic chains, Vetra grabbed the iron links with her bare hands, yanked both four-armed commanders into each other with horrific force, and tore through their throats with a single swipe of her talons.

Floating high above the melee, Lyrielle provided devastating support.

Her emerald wind-bubble hummed with terrifying output. With precise flicks of her wrists, she didn’t just fire wind-blades—she created localized pressure-vacuum spheres within the dense ocean water. Whenever a squad of Vanguard archers aimed their heavy crossbows at Vince, Lyrielle collapsed the water pressure around them. The sudden implosion of air and water pressure crushed their lungs and armor inward before catapulting their broken bodies against the basalt trench walls.

"Get out of his way!" Lyrielle giggled within her glowing aero-shield, her eyes dancing with wild wind-mana as she swept away an entire platoon with a massive underwater hurricane.

Meanwhile, Vince reached the grand obsidian gates of the inner sanctum.

Four heavy elite guards charged him, their halberds glowing with high-tier water-mana designed to instantly freeze flesh upon contact. Vince didn’t bother dodging. He caught two halberd blades between his bare, obsidian-scaled palms, feeling the freezing mana bite uselessly against his magicless frame.

With a brutal twist, he snapped the runic steel like twigs, grabbed both guards by their helm-crests, and slammed their heads together until their skulls caved in.

He kicked the remaining two guards aside, turning his full attention to the thirty-foot-tall door of solid stone blocking his path to the core.

[TARGET LOCATED: NETHROS INNER SANCTUM]

[WARNING: EXTREME DENSITY MANA-FIELD DETECTED BEYOND THIS POINT]

[QUEST TARGET: NERISSA, TIDE CALLER OF NETHROS — AWAITING IN THE ABYSSAL COURT]

Vince cocked his right arm back. The massive, iron-hard muscles of his shoulder and back coiled like overwound steel cables. High-density muscle fibers locked into place as he channeled every ounce of his Man-Beast leverage into a single point.

BRUTE FORCE.

He drove his fist straight into the center of the obsidian gate.

KWAA-BOOM!

The underwater shockwave was so violent it blew out the bioluminescent coral for half a mile in every direction. The massive, thirty-foot stone doors didn’t just swing open—the central impact point shattered into a million jagged fragments, blowing the heavy gates off their hinges and sending them crashing into the grand hall beyond.

Silt and black water swirled wildly as the barrier crumbled into dust.

Vince stepped through the ruined gateway, his heavy, spiked tail dragging along the stone floor. He wiped a streak of dark blue blood from his jaw, his glowing red eyes cutting through the gloom of the inner sanctum.

Deep within the luminous, underwater throne room—standing atop a pedestal of raw abyssal crystal—a single figure turned to face the intrusion.