Owen Dyson quietly watched the stone bed, watching the black-robed monster turn into a pool of dirty seawater and flow around the stone bed.
When the dirty seawater flowed to the ground, he took half a step back expressionlessly to prevent the liquid from staining his boots.
A smell mixed with seaweed and the stench of mud permeated the secret chamber.
"Can you track his soul?" Earl Owen turned his head and asked the sorcerer in charge of this place.
"The soul has disappeared," the mage in a moon-patterned robe outlined a complex rune in front of his chest. His eyes glowed with a faint silver light. After scanning the entire secret chamber, he shook his head. "But it didn't dissipate instantly. There is no remaining soul here. The soul seems to have been taken away by something."
"… Taken away soul, this is even more interesting …" Earl Owen frowned slightly, but slowly relaxed again. "Don't spread the news about this monster for the time being to avoid causing panic. Master Pettori, I'll have to trouble you to completely purify this place, including this black robe and that half of the amulet, to prevent them from retaining the curse power from the deep sea. "
The mage bowed his head and responded respectfully, "Yes, my Lord."
Owen Dyson nodded, retracted his gaze from the stone bed, and exhaled softly.
The strong smell of the sea in the air seemed to have dissipated a little.
"In short, the Children of Storms who have betrayed the Dyson family seem to have encountered some trouble this time … It's ironic that they have turned to the deep sea, but the deep sea doesn't seem to treat them well." The ruler of Mobius suddenly laughed. "This is quite fitting of the fate of the cultists."
"My Lord," the mage named Pettori asked. "Our route exploration plan …"
The strange state of the black-robed monster instilled fear in everyone's hearts. Even the most knowledgeable mage would feel apprehensive when facing the mysterious power from the deep sea. Those fine scales, webbed palms, and the scene of the monster finally turning into seawater were deeply imprinted in the minds of everyone present. And now, thinking about the ocean exploration plan that Port Mobius was actively preparing under the orders of the Emperor, the mage Pettori couldn't help but feel a little worried.
"Still proceed according to the original plan," Owen said. In the blue pupils of the Earl of the border, there was a fearless, challenging light. "It's just a cultist who dug his own grave. We can't let this affect His Majesty's route exploration plan."
"But the dangers lurking in the deep sea cannot be ignored …"
"The ocean is never safe," Owen Dyson looked at the mage calmly. "But we can't stay on land forever just because it's safe on land. I'll report to His Majesty and give him a complete report on this monster. But we can't stop preparing for the opening of the sea route."
"Yes, sir."
…
Time on the sea was rarely peaceful. Most of the time, it was always violent and dangerous.
In the eastern part of the Endless Sea, a nameless archipelago was shrouded in storms and turbulent mana.
Thunder and lightning raged in the dark sky like a never-ending storm. Every bolt of lightning illuminated the turbulent sea. The huge cyclone formed a terrible structure hanging upside down like a funnel over the island. The clouds controlled by the cyclone connected the sea around the island and formed a circle of storm-like barriers between the sky and the sea.
This terrible phenomenon formed by the combination of gales, waves, lightning, and turbulence of magic was like a cage that enveloped the entire archipelago. Looking out from any point on the archipelago was like looking up at the endless wall of despair from the cage.
But this terrible scene was actually normal on the Endless Sea.
Only the mages who followed the Path of Storm knew how to find a safe route in this violent and seemingly impenetrable blockade.
A ship shuddered in the storm, as if dancing in the forest of blades, avoiding all the turbulence of magic and deadly waves. The radiance of magic flashed around the ship. Huge runes shone on both sides of the ship, making the ship move at an amazing speed. Like a bird flying close to the sea, it crossed the most dangerous sea area and quickly approached the largest island in the center of the archipelago.
A large, eye-catching, pyramid-like temple built with blue boulders stood on the top of the mountain in the center of the island, overlooking the entire sea area. Huge runes representing the storm and the gods floated above the temple. The powerful supernatural power resisted the storm, maintaining the most basic peace and safety in most areas of the archipelago, allowing the islanders to survive in this terrible sea area.
The ship slowed down on one side of the island and smoothly sailed into a man-made port, docking close to the pier.
Many people had been waiting at the port. Some of them were wearing ordinary fishermen's clothes, while others were wearing black or blue robes with storm runes on them.
A long gangplank stretched out from the side of the ship. Some people in storm robes appeared on the side of the ship and stepped onto the pier along the gangplank.
Behind these people in storm robes were warriors in enchanted leather armor or chain mail, with oak masks covering their faces. These warriors, who belonged to the Sons of Storm, were carrying several stretchers. On those stretchers were human bodies wrapped in black cloth and firmly secured with rune chains and strong ropes. They looked like mummies.
There was a slight commotion among the crowd on the pier.
An old man wearing a dark golden storm robe, a triple storm crown, and a heavy Sea King's Scepter walked out of the crowd. When he walked past, the people around him moved to the sides. Some people said in a low voice with respect, "His Holiness the Pope is here …", "It's His Holiness Thor …"
Under the gaze of countless people, the Pope of the Sons of Storm, Thor Storm, walked onto the pier and came to the front of the storm priests who had come down from the ship. His eyes swept over the soldiers who were carrying the stretchers behind the priests and the bodies fixed on the stretchers.
The sea breeze swept up the cloth that wrapped the body. Under the black cloth, fine blue-green scales could be seen.
A storm priest who seemed to have the highest status stepped forward and bowed respectfully to the Pope who was holding the Sea King's Scepter. "Your Holiness."
Pope Thor Storm nodded slightly and said softly, "It seems that Dark Wind Island has also returned to the deep sea …"
"Yes, Dark Wind Island and the two subsidiary islands next to Dark Wind Island have all returned to the deep sea. At this point, the seven islands that we have lost contact with have all been confirmed to have fallen," the storm priest said in a heavy tone, with deep shame on his face. "I'm very sorry, Your Holiness, I can't bring any good news."
"No need to feel guilty. There is a limit to human strength." Pope Thor shook his head and looked at the stretchers. "Then, these are the transformed compatriots …"
"Strictly speaking, they are half transformed compatriots. Their minds are in a state of chaos, and they are currently under the control of powerful anesthetics, but their bodies are still mutating, "the storm priest said." When we first caught them, they only had very few scales on their bodies, but now more than 60% of their bodies are covered with scales, and … they have all grown webbing. The most severely mutated one's legs have become something between a sea snake and a fish tail. "
"And … you still haven't found the reason?"
"Yes, we haven't found the reason. There are no signs of attack on the islands that have fallen. We suspected that the sirens were spreading the curse, but they never appeared in the vicinity. Unless the sirens' extraordinary power is so strong that they can cast a curse on hundreds or even thousands of people across hundreds or even thousands of nautical miles. But according to our understanding of the sirens, this is basically impossible."
As the Storm High Priest spoke, he suddenly fell silent, his expression becoming even more solemn.
"Also, Your Holiness, we have found something this time …"
"Let's talk here."
"I'm afraid that there are already fully mutated compatriots," the storm priest lowered his voice. "The night before we left Dark Wind Island, a soldier on night duty said that he saw several figures moving on the coast. They were covered in scales, had fins on their backs and arms, and seemed to have gills. They slid on the beach with a tail that was something between a sea snake and a fish, and quickly jumped into the sea. Because only one soldier saw it, I'm not sure if it was an illusion caused by nervousness or the turbulence of magic."
Pope Saul listened to the storm priest's description and could not help but look at the bodies on the stretchers again.
"It sounds like it's the result of this terrifying mutation."
"Yes."
"Those fully mutated compatriots jumped directly into the sea, did not communicate with you, and did not attack anyone?"
"Yes, that's what the soldier on night duty reported."
"… I see." After a few seconds of silence, Pope Saul said softly, "Everyone has worked hard. Go and rest first, we'll talk about the rest after you have rested."
"Yes, thank you for your concern."
The storm priest lowered his head and twisted his neck a little unnaturally.
He suddenly felt a little itchy on the skin near his neck.
It was like … scales were growing there.
…
In this endless sea, storms were normal, but calm safe zones still existed. The Colonial Starship Antawayne and the Io continent where the starship crashed were one of such safe zones.
In the Antaverne crash zone and the large sea area around it, storms rarely wreaked havoc. Most of the days were clear skies or mild winds and drizzles, and the fatal turbulence of magic power almost never appeared.
This unusual phenomenon had once piqued the interest of the sirens. After a long period of research and exploration, the deep-sea technicians came up with a theory — in ancient times, during the crash of Antavern, almost all of the engines were activated for emergency recoil. The powerful energy released by the engines melted almost a quarter of the continent of Io and broke through a part of the continental shelf, permanently changing the structure of the seabed near the coastline. Perhaps it was during this process that the local magnetic field had a permanent change, which indirectly led to the change of the magic environment, which opened up such a large safe zone in the storm-ravaged Endless Sea.
And for the sirens, the best thing about the good weather near the Antawayne was that they could bask in the sun as much as they wanted in this place where the sky was always clear.
But there were always some accidents in the beautiful days.
In the Antawayne crash zone, on the western coastline of the Io continent, on the sirens' sunbathing beach, Petia frowned slightly as she looked at the uninvited guests who had occupied the beach.
The creatures who looked like humans but had obvious deep-sea residents ran around the beach (or slid around with their sleek, scaly tails), as if no one was around, and they were in high spirits.
Petia leaned slightly to the side and whispered to her personal maid, "Rosalia, these guys … where did they come from?"
"I haven't found out yet. They are too excited now, and I can't find anyone to talk to calmly," Rosalia, the maid of the deep replied, her long tail scratching on the beach. She did not look very happy because she saw that her usual sunbathing spot was also occupied. "But Master Hathaway said that this excitement should gradually fade, and they should be able to calm down and talk to us."
"The witch said so … Then let's wait for these guys to calm down. Let's not get into a conflict with them first, in case it becomes troublesome in the future. Everything can wait until we have established communication. "Petia rubbed her forehead." By the way, did she say what to call these guys? They should at least have a racial name or a code name, right? "
"I couldn't find a matching name in the existing database," Rosalia said, her tail quickly poking holes in the sand. She saw that the guy who occupied her sunbathing spot had begun to sleep with his tail coiled up. This made her very angry, but she did not dare to vent in front of the queen. "So Master Hathaway gave them a name …"
"Oh? What name? "
"The master called them 'Naga'."
(Damn!)
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