Owen Dyson stared at the stone bed quietly, watching the black-robed monster turn into a pool of filthy sea water, flowing along the stone bed.
When the filthy seawater flowed to the ground, he took a half-step back expressionlessly to prevent the liquid from contaminating his boots.
A smell mixed with the smell of seaweed and mud spread out in the secret room.
"Can you trace his soul?" Earl Owen turned his head and said to the mage in charge here.
"The soul has disappeared." The mage wearing a moon-patterned robe outlined a complex rune on his chest, with a faint silver light in his eyes. After scanning the entire secret room, he shook his head. , "But it didn't dissipate instantly - there is no remaining spirit here, it's more like the soul was taken away by something."
"...The taken away soul is even more interesting... ..." Earl Owen frowned slightly, but slowly relaxed, "Don't spread the news about this monster for the time being to prevent panic. Master Petori, please clean this place thoroughly, including this black robe and that half. A talisman to prevent them from retaining the cursed power from the deep sea."
The mage lowered his head and responded respectfully: "Yes, sir."
Owen Dyson nodded, looking away. He stood back on the stone bed and breathed out softly.
The strong smell of sea in the air seems to have dissipated somewhat.
"In short, the Sons of the Storm who once turned their backs on the Dyson family seem to be in some trouble this time... It's really ironic that they threw themselves into the deep sea, but the deep sea doesn't seem to be kind to them," this The ruler of Port Mobius suddenly laughed, "This is quite in line with the fate of a cultist."
"Sir," the mage named Petori asked, "We The route exploration plan..."
The strange state of the black-robed monster is frightening. Even a knowledgeable mage will feel extremely fearful when facing the inexplicable power from the deep sea. Those delicate The scales, webbed palms, and the scene of the monster finally turning into sea water are deeply imprinted in the minds of everyone present, and at this moment, they think of the ocean exploration plan actively prepared by Mobius Port under the emperor's order. , Mage Petori couldn't help but feel worried.
“Still going according to the original plan,” Owen said, with the fearless and challenger’s light shining in the blue pupils of the border count. “It’s just a self-destructive cultist. This cannot affect His Majesty's route development plan."
"But the dangers lurking in the deep sea cannot be ignored..."
"The ocean is never safe," Owen Dyson. Looking at the mage calmly, "But we can't stay on the land forever just because the land is safe - I will inform His Majesty and give him a complete report on the situation of this monster, but the preparations for opening up the route cannot be stopped for a moment. "Exit."
"Yes, sir."
......
Time at sea., rarely calm, mostly violent, always dangerous.
In the eastern part of the Endless Sea, an unknown archipelago is surrounded by storms and magical turbulence.
It seems like endless thunder and lightning are raging in the dark sky. Every lightning strike will illuminate the turbulent sea surface. The huge cyclone forms a terrifying structure like an upside-down funnel over the island. , the clouds dominated by the cyclone connect the sea around the island, and form a ring of storm barriers between the sky and the sea like a surrounding wall.
This terrifying celestial phenomenon formed by strong winds, huge waves, lightning and magic turbulence is like a cage that covers the entire archipelago without blind spots. Looking out from any point in the archipelago, it feels like... Looking up at the endless walls of despair in a cage.
But this horrific scene is actually the norm on the endless ocean.
Only the priests who follow the Way of the Storm know how to find a safe route from this violent and seemingly impenetrable blockade.
A ship bumped through the storm, avoiding all the magical turbulence and deadly waves as if dancing in a blade jungle. The ship was surrounded by a glow of magical power, and huge runes were on the side of the ship. The shining lights on both sides made the ship incredibly fast. Like a bird flying close to the sea, it crossed the most dangerous waters and quickly approached the largest island in the center of the archipelago.
A striking, large pyramid-like temple built of blue boulders stands on the top of the mountain in the center of the island, overlooking the entire sea. Above the temple floats a huge temple representing storms and gods. Runes, powerful supernatural powers resist the storm, allowing most areas in the archipelago to maintain the most basic peace and safety, allowing the residents of the islands to survive in this terrible sea.
The ship slowed down on the side of the island, sailed smoothly into an artificial port, and parked close to the trestle.
Many people were already waiting at the port. Some of them were wearing ordinary fishermen's attire, while others were wearing black or blue robes and short robes with storm runes on them.
A long gangplank stretched out from the ship's side. Some people wearing storm robes appeared on the ship's side and stepped onto the trestle along the gangplank.
Behind these people wearing storm robes, there were warriors wearing enchanted leather armor or mail armor, covering their faces with oak masks, and marching silently. These soldiers belonging to the Sons of the Storm were carrying several There are three stretchers, and on those stretchers, there are humanoid bodies like mummies wrapped in black cloth that are firmly fixed with rune chains and strong ropes.
The crowd on the dock became slightly commotion.
An old man wearing a dark gold storm robe, a triple crown of storms, and a heavy Poseidon scepter walked out of the crowd. When he walked by, people around him turned to both sides. He stepped back, and someone whispered with respect: "The Pope is crowned...", "It's His Majesty Thor..."
Under the gaze of countless pairs of eyes, Pope Sol of the Sons of the Storm... StoweMu walked onto the trestle and came to the storm priests who came off the ship. His eyes swept over the soldiers carrying stretchers behind the priests and the bodies fixed on the stretchers.
The sea breeze rolled up the cloth wrapping the body, revealing fine blue-green scales under the black cloth.
A Storm Priest who seemed to have the highest status took a step forward and respectfully saluted the Pope holding the Poseidon's scepter: "Your Majesty."
Pope Thor Storm smiled slightly He nodded and said softly: "It seems that Hurricane Island has also returned to the deep sea..."
"Yes, Hurricane Island and the two affiliated islands next to Hurricane Island, the compatriots on it have all returned to the deep sea. , So far, the seven islands that have lost contact have all been confirmed to have fallen," the Storm Priest said in a heavy tone, with a deep sense of shame on his face, "I am very sorry, Your Majesty, I failed to bring any good news."
"There is no need to feel guilty, manpower will eventually have its limit." Pope Sol shook his head and his eyes fell on the stretchers, "Then, these are the compatriots who were transformed..."
"Strictly speaking In other words, they are half-transformed compatriots. Their minds are in a state of chaos and are currently controlled by powerful anesthetics, but their bodies are still mutating," said the Storm Priest. "When we first caught them, their bodies were still mutating. There are still only very few scales, but now the scales on their body surface have covered more than 60%, and... they have all grown webbed. The most mutated one, the legs have become something between a sea snake and a fish tail. ."
"Then... the reason is still not found?"
"Yes, no reason has been found. There are no signs of attack on the fallen islands. We suspected it before. It is the sea monsters who are spreading the curse, but they have never appeared near there at all - unless the extraordinary power of those sea monsters has been powerful enough to launch a curse on hundreds or thousands of people across hundreds or even thousands of sea miles, but according to our To understand the Kraken, this is basically impossible."
The Storm Priest said, suddenly silent for a moment, and his expression became more serious.
"In addition, Your Majesty, we also discovered something this time..."
"Let's talk about it here."
"I'm afraid it has already appeared. "We have completely mutated compatriots," the Storm Priest lowered his voice. "On the night before we left Hurricane Island, a soldier on night watch said that he saw several figures moving on the coast. Their bodies were covered with scales, and they had scales on their backs and arms. It had fins and seemed to have gills. It slithered on the beach with a tail that was somewhere between a sea snake and a fish, and quickly jumped into the sea - because only one soldier witnessed it, I'm not sure if he was too nervous or influenced. Hallucination caused by the influence of magic power.”
As Pope Thor listened to the description of the Storm Priest, he couldn’t help but take another look at the bodies on the stretchers.
"It sounds very much like the result of this terrible mutation deepening."
"Yes."
"Those complete mutationsThe compatriots jumped directly into the sea without communicating with you or attacking anyone? ”
“Yes, that’s what the night watch soldiers reported. "
"...I understand," after a few seconds of silence, Pope Sol said softly, "Everyone has worked hard, go and rest first, the follow-up matters...wait for you to rest. Let’s talk later. ”
“Yes, thank you for your concern. "
The Storm Priest lowered his head and said, twisting his neck slightly unnaturally.
He suddenly felt a little itchy on the skin near his neck.
It's like... scales are growing there.
...
On this endless ocean, storms are the norm, but the calm safety zone remains. The Antavien colonial starship and the continent of Io where the starship crashed are one of such safe zones.
In the Antavien crash area and the large surrounding sea area. , storms rarely rage, and days with clear skies or mild rain and drizzle account for the most part, and deadly magic turbulence almost never appears.
This abnormal phenomenon once made the sirens very curious. During long-term research and exploration, deep-water technicians came up with a conjecture - in ancient times, Antavien started almost all engines for emergency recoil during the crash. The powerful energy released by the engines melted almost A quarter of the Io continent and penetrated part of the continental shelf, permanently changing the seafloor structure near the coastline. Perhaps during this process, the local magnetic field was permanently changed, which indirectly led to changes in the magic environment. This It was only then that such a large area of safety was opened up in the storm-raging endless sea.
For the Sirens, the greatest benefit to them is the good weather in the waters near the Antavien. —They can enjoy the sun in this place where the sky is always clear.
But there are always some accidents on beautiful days.
Antavien crash zone, Io. On the western coast of the continent, at the sunbathing spot of the Kraken, Petia frowned slightly, looking at the uninvited guests occupying the beach.
Those who looked like humans, but had obvious characteristics of deep-sea residents. The creatures were running around on the beach (or sliding around with their smooth, scaly tails), as if no one else was watching, and happily.
Petia turned slightly to the side and bowed to her personal maid. She asked in a loud voice: "Rosalia, what are the origins of these... guys? "
"I haven't found out yet. They are all too excited now and can't find anyone who can communicate calmly." Rosalia, the deep sea maid, responded, paddling her long tail back and forth on the beach. , didn't seem very happy - because she saw that her usual place to bask in the sun was also occupied, "but Master Hathaway said that this excitement should gradually subside, and they should be able to calm down and communicate with us." ”
“That’s what the witch said... Let’s wait until these guys calm down.”. Don't conflict with them first to prevent trouble in the future. Let's wait until communication is established." Petiya rubbed his forehead, "By the way, did she say what to call these guys? There should be a racial name or code name, right? "
"There is really no matching name in the existing database," Rosalia said, while her tail was already poking holes in the beach - she saw that The guys occupying her own sand pit for sunbathing had begun to sleep with their tails tucked in, which made her particularly angry, but she didn't dare to vent it out in front of the Queen, "So Master Hathaway gave them a name..."
“Oh? What name? ”
“The master calls them ‘Naga’. ”
(Oh my god!)