The greatest courage of mortals was to challenge the sky and the sea.
A slightly salty sea breeze blew from the east, blowing past the long coastline of the East Coast. It blew past the harbor houses with black slanted roofs and the ancient steeple towers. The black flag of the crown and shield fluttered above the main castle of the harbor city of Morbius. The flag faced the endless sea, and on the surface of the sea, the sun had just risen.
Earl Owen Dyson stood in front of a window facing the sea. He had short black hair, dark blue eyes, and was wearing a long black double-breasted windbreaker. From the highest point of the castle, he quietly looked down at the prosperous city below him, as well as the sparkling, calm sea in the distance.
This was Port Mobius, the largest harbor on the East Coast of the Typhon Empire. It was a necessary stop for the eastern humans to visit the sea.
It used to be.
The Dyson family had ruled this land for hundreds of years. Earl Owen's ancestors led the first citizens here, using the power of boulders and magic to reshape the sturdy coastline in the eastern part of the empire. Seven hundred years ago, this was an unusually prosperous city. The Typhon, which had just founded the empire, knocked on the door to the sea with this harbor. They also developed important colonization points on several islands in the east. The ancestors mined ores and planted spices on those islands, providing a steady stream of precious resources for the new country. They also used the prosperous shipping routes of the Eastern Continent to maintain the flow of goods in the southeast and northeast of the empire. Port Mobius, as the hub of all this, had a transcendent status for a time.
However, that prosperous scene only lasted for a short time.
The fall of the three dark cults had cut off the qualification of humans to challenge the sea. The departure of the Sons of Storms meant that humans could no longer sense the storms and turbulence of magic on the Endless Sea, and could no longer quell the fury of the sea. The only sea that could be safely navigated was a dozen nautical miles close to the land, and these "safe routes" were still intermittent and could not be connected.
At first, brave captains and scholars tried to maintain those routes with experience, courage, and alternative supernatural spells. However, the high price and the poor national strength of the Typhon at the beginning of its founding made those brave challengers finally choose to give up. The colonial islands in the distant sea were forced to be abandoned, and the production of minerals, plants, and marine life from the sea was also interrupted. Port Mobius, which had been prosperous for a short time, also fell into a difficult situation in the following hundreds of years.
It had turned from a bustling port city into a gathering place for fishermen and a resting place for nearby merchants. The city had survived to this day by relying on the sluggish offshore fishing and passing taxes.
Until today, it was once again flourishing.
Earl Owen's eyes swept across the edge of the city, glancing at the towers and the rising smoke near the coastline.
That was the Burning Stone Mine.
No one would have thought that it was the grayish-white stones that were once considered useless and worthless than mud that brought Port Mobius back to life in the end.
There were flammable stones everywhere along the coastline. Those stones were the raw materials for the production of Fertile Dust and crystal matrix. The emergence of new technology turned them from worthless to hot, and as the largest city on the east coast, Port Mobius was miraculously brought back to life overnight. In just a few years, it became prosperous again.
And the entire Empire of Typhon was changing as rapidly as Port Mobius.
His Majesty Rosetta Augustus brought prosperity and change to the empire. Although many of the "changes" he brought about made some stubborn and conservative nobles very dissatisfied, these dissatisfied nobles did not include Earl Owen Dyson, the lord of Port Mobius. For this border earl, who had experienced a great transformation from poverty to wealth, His Majesty Rosetta had brought him an absolute turnaround.
What made this border earl even more excited was that after His Majesty made the empire rich and strong, he finally turned his attention to the endless sea again.
The sparkling sea was slightly undulating in the distance, and the morning sun shone on the surface of the sea. Earl Owen knew that the seemingly calm sea was in fact extremely dangerous. The chaotic storms and magic turbulence more than ten nautical miles away would bury even the most powerful Extraordinary in the deep sea. Those turbulence and storms also cut the originally complete coastal routes into pieces. Hundreds of years ago, the new and weak Kingdom of Typhon failed to regain those routes, but today, the reborn Empire of Typhon might have the ability to challenge the sea again.
A series of footsteps from afar woke Owen Dyson from his contemplation. He heard the voice of an attendant behind him. "My Lord, that creature is awake."
Earl Owen turned his head. "I know. Lead the way."
"Yes, my Lord."
Owen Dyson left the room facing the sea. Accompanied by his servants, he walked through the long corridors of the castle. He walked into the deep tunnel and came to the deepest part of the family castle. In a secret chamber engraved with many runes and reinforced with a large number of holy and magical materials, he saw the creature that his servants mentioned.
Wrapped in a shabby black robe, the creature lay quietly on the stone bed in the center of the secret chamber. A large number of rune chains and sacred amulets imprisoned him there, suppressing the Extraordinary power he might have.
In fact, Owen could tell at a glance that the creature should be a human being, but he had mutated beyond recognition.
The exposed arms, face, and neck of this "human being" were covered with chilling, light green scales. His eyes had golden vertical pupils like those of snakes. His hair had faded away, replaced by a layer of greasy, seaweed-like skin on his scalp. His palms were twisted and elongated, and his fingers were connected to something like webbing. What was more frightening was his legs.
The flesh and blood of his legs were blurry like some kind of product of Chaos, and it was difficult to tell them apart. His legs were close together, his joints were bent, his skin was glued together, and his skin was covered with scales.
It looked like some kind of incomplete transformation, or … a state in which a human was in the middle of mutating into a strange form.
This "monster" had woken up. When Earl Owen approached him, he saw that the creature's eyes moved, and the terrifying golden vertical pupils glanced at him. The creature's body was still lying quietly on the stone bed, but his chest was rising and falling slightly.
Earl Owen frowned. Next to him, a mage in a moon-patterned robe came forward.
"My Lord, I have stabilized his mental state with a sedative spell and the extract of the Sleeping Moon Grass. This monster is safe for the time being."
Owen Dyson nodded and looked at another figure not far away. It was Knight, of medium height, with a thick beard and deep-set eyes.
"Tell me more about the details when you found this' creature, '" he said to Knight.
"Yes, my Lord." Knight nodded. "We found him in the south near the desert. The locals reported that there was an unusual storm in that area, and there were constant whistling sounds on the sea. We were worried that the magic turbulence was invading the land, so we went to check it out. However, we found this' monster 'on the rocky beach by the coast.
"There was nothing like a ship fragment around him, and no ship was found nearby. I guess he didn't come here by boat. He might have swum here …"
"He was in a semi-coma at that time, and he was a little withered under the sun. But when we approached him, he quickly woke up and was very aggressive. He attacked us with some kind of acid arrow, but fortunately, we brought two mages with us and subdued him with magic.
"He fainted because he was too weak. Before he fainted, he was murmuring in a low voice that no one could understand. The soldiers were a little scared when they heard those murmurs. Some said that it was the curse mentioned by the fishermen. It was a language that only the dead who were swallowed by the waves could speak.
"Except for the half broken amulet, there was nothing on him that could prove his identity. But his clothes were definitely made by humans … I guess he was a poor man cursed by the terrible power in the deep sea. Of course, this is just my judgment."
Count Owen nodded and looked at the mage next to him. "What do you see from the amulet?"
"I can't see anything, my lord," the mage said as he picked up the broken amulet and handed it to Count Owen. "It's completely damaged, and its magic power has been exhausted. The remaining spell model is of no reference value. And there's a very strange point — the decorative pattern on its surface seems to have been deliberately polished. It can't be seen at all."
Count Owen took the amulet, which was only half the size of an old imperial gold coin, and turned it in his hand.
It was the remaining half of a round amulet, probably made of mithril. Obviously, it used to be an extraordinary item. And as the mage said, there were obvious traces of polishing on one side of the amulet. The technique was very rough, but it had completely worn away the identifying pattern on the amulet.
Owen casually threw the amulet into the hands of the attendant beside him.
"You used to be a human …" He came to the humanoid creature with scales and webs, bent down, and stared into the pair of disturbing eyes. "Are you?"
"Hiss … Ha …"
The voice that came from the throat of the humanoid creature was a hoarse voice that was difficult for human beings to make. It sounded like some kind of amphibious creature. It was muffled, low, and difficult to distinguish.
"You've been in the sea for a long time … The smell of fish, the stench of mud, and the smell of magic power in the storm …" Count Owen was still staring at the creature. "What's in the distant sea? What caused you to become like this? "
What responded to him was still a chaotic and inexplicable voice. Listening to that strange voice, Owen even faintly had the impression of surging waves in his mind.
"Some unknown supernatural power has distorted this poor man," the mage said. "My lord, I have communicated with him many times using hypnosis. This poor guy has completely lost the ability to speak human language."
"No, it's your method that's wrong," Count Owen said and took off a pendant that emitted a faint blue light from his wrist.
He put the pendant close to the "monster" lying on the stone bed. The latter stared at the mysterious blue light and suddenly widened his eyes slightly.
"A long, long time ago, when Mobius City was still a prosperous harbor, the Dyson family and the Church of Storms were very close," the count said slowly. "We kept many artifacts related to the storm, such as a pendant that had been blessed by the Bishop of Storms … Now, tell me, Son of Storms, what happened to you?"
Even though there was nothing on the other party that could be identified, and even though the lines on the surface of the amulet had been polished off, Owen Dyson could still guess the origin of the man from the distant sea in front of him.
After all, he and his family had been guarding this sea for hundreds of years.
The black-robed "monster" on the stone bed stared at the pendant in Count Owen's hand and suddenly took a deep breath. In a hoarse voice like a broken bellows, he said slowly in a dreamy tone, "Have you … heard the call of the deep sea?"
"The call of the deep sea?" Count Owen frowned. "What are you talking about?"
The voice of the black-robed monster became more and more ethereal, as if his mind had gradually dissipated. "Ah … in the dark and deep sea … the position of the gods has changed … the devourer of flesh and blood is calling with the sound of the tide … Listen carefully, can you hear it?"
"It seems that your mind has been completely contaminated," Count Owen shook his head regretfully and was about to put away the amulet. "But I still thank you. Thank you for once again reminding me of the danger of the sea and reminding me that I should be cautious about it."
The amulet emitting a blue light gradually left the black-robed monster's sight. The latter breathed heavily, but suddenly his breathing calmed down, and a strange smile appeared on his face. It was a mixture of calmness and joy.
The fine scales on his body made his smile seem particularly frightening.
Count Owen heard the last few syllables from the monster's throat.
"I heard it, I heard it … She's calling … Eva is calling us … Get back on track …"
The monster on the stone bed let out a long sigh. Then, under everyone's gaze, his body suddenly burst into a liquid that looked like turbid sea water.
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