Owen Dyson watched silently at the stone bed, watching as the black-robed monster turned into a puddle of foul water and flowed along the stone bed.

When the foul water flowed to the ground, he took a slight step back with a blank face, so as not to stain his boots.

A foul smell of seaweed and silt escaped from the chamber.

"Can you trace his soul?" Count Owen turned his head and said to the mage in charge of the place.

"The soul is gone," the moon-patterned mage outlined an intricate rune on his chest, his eyes glowing with a faint silver light, and after scanning the entire chamber, he shook his head, "but it didn't dissipate instantly—there were no remnants of the spirit here, and the soul was more like something had taken it away." ”

“…… The soul that was taken away, 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, so as not to cause panic." Master Pertori, please purify this place completely, including this black robe and half of the amulet, to prevent them from remaining the cursed power from the deep sea. ”

The mage bowed his head and replied respectfully, "Yes, my lord." ”

Owen Dyson nodded, withdrew his gaze from the stone bed, and exhaled softly.

The strong smell of the sea in the air seemed to dissipate somewhat.

"Anyway, the Stormchildren who have turned their backs on the Dyson family seem to be in trouble this time...... It's ironic that they're throwing themselves into the deep sea, and the deep sea doesn't seem to be treating them very well," the ruler of Port Morbius laughed suddenly, "and that's pretty much in line with the fate of the cultists." ”

"Your Excellency," the mage named Pertori asked, "our route exploration plan ......"

The strange state of the black-robed monster was terrifying, even a knowledgeable mage would feel very jealous in the face of the inexplicable power from the deep sea, those fine scales, webbed palms, and the scene of the monster finally turning into sea water were deeply imprinted in the minds of everyone on the scene, and at this moment, thinking of the ocean exploration plan actively prepared by the emperor under the order of the emperor, the mage Pertori couldn't help but be a little worried.

"It's still going according to plan," Owen said, a fearless, challenger glint in the Border Count's blue pupils, "just a cultist who killed himself, and he can't let that affect His Majesty's plans to open up the route." ”

"But the dangers lurking in the deep sea cannot be ignored......"

"The sea is never safe," Owen Dyson looked calmly at the mage, "but we can't stay on land forever just because it's safe – I'll give him a full report on this monster, but we can't stop for a moment about the preparations to open up the route." ”

"Yes, sir."

……

Time at sea is rarely calm, mostly furious, and always dangerous.

In the eastern seas of the Endless Sea, an unnamed archipelago is enveloped by storms and magical turbulence.

As if a never-ending thunder and lightning raged in the dark and dreary sky, each lightning strike illuminated the raging sea, and the huge cyclone formed a terrifying structure like an inverted funnel over the island, and the clouds dominated by the cyclone connected the sea around the island, and formed a storm barrier between the sky and the sea that seemed to surround the wall.

This terrifying celestial phenomenon of winds, waves, lightning, and magical turbulence envelops the archipelago like a cage, and looking out from any point in the archipelago is like looking up at an endless wall of despair in a cage.

But this terrible sight is actually the norm in the endless ocean.

Only the priests who follow the path of the storm know how to find a safe route through this raging and seemingly seamless blockade.

A ship jolted through the storm, as if dancing in a jungle of blades, dodging all the magical turbulence and deadly waves, the glow of magic around the ship, and the huge runes shining on both sides of the ship's side, making the ship incredibly fast, like a bird speeding close to the sea, over the most dangerous seas, and quickly approaching the largest island in the center of the archipelago.

A large, striking pyramid-like temple made of blue boulders stands atop a hill in the center of the island, overlooking the sea, with huge runes representing storms and gods floating above the temple, and powerful supernatural forces to withstand the storm, keeping most of the archipelago calm and safe for the island's inhabitants to survive in this terrifying sea.

The ship slowed down on one side of the island and sailed smoothly into an artificial harbor, where it anchored close to the trestle.

Many people were already waiting in the harbor, some dressed in ordinary fishermen's attire, others in black or blue robes with storm runes on them.

A long gangplank protruded from the side of the ship, and some men dressed in storm robes appeared on the side of the ship, stepping onto the trestle along the gangplank.

Behind the Storm Robes were warriors in silence dressed in enchanted leather or chain mail and concealed in oak masks, and the soldiers belonging to the Children of the Storm carried several stretchers on which they were mummified figures wrapped in black cloth and held in place by runic chains and sturdy ropes.

There was a slight commotion in the crowd on the docks.

An old man wearing a dark gold storm robe, a triple crown of storms, and a heavy Sea Emperor's scepter walked out of the crowd, and when he walked by, the people around him stepped back to both sides, and someone whispered with respect: "The Pope's crown has come down......" "It's Your Majesty Thor......"

Under the gaze of countless pairs of eyes, Pope Saul Stone, the Children of the Storm, walked up to the trestle and came to the storm priests who had disembarked from the ship, his gaze swept over the stretcher-carrying soldiers behind the priests, and swept over the bodies that were fixed on the stretchers.

The sea breeze rolled up the strip of cloth that wrapped around the body, revealing fine blue-green scales underneath the black fabric.

A storm priest who appeared to be of the highest rank stepped forward and saluted respectfully to the Pope, who was holding the Sea Emperor's scepter: "Your Majesty." ”

Pope Saul Storm nodded slightly, 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 them have all returned to the deep sea, and at this point, the seven islands that have lost contact have definitely fallen," the Storm Priest said in a heavy tone, with a deep sense of shame on his face, "I'm very sorry, Your Majesty, I couldn't bring any good news." ”

"There is no need to feel guilty, there is a limit to manpower," Pope Saul shook his head, his gaze falling on the stretchers, "then, this is the converted compatriots......

"Strictly speaking, it is converted to half of the compatriots. Their minds are in a state of chaos, currently controlled by powerful anesthetics, but their bodies are still mutating," said the Storm Priest, "When we first caught them, they had only very few scales on their bodies, but now they have more than sixty percent of the scales on their bodies, and ...... They have all grown webbed, the most mutated one, and their legs have become somewhere between a sea snake and a fish's tail. ”

And then ...... Still haven't found the cause? ”

"Yes, no reason has been found, there is no sign of attack on the fallen islands, and we suspected that the Krakens were spreading the curse, but they were not present in the vicinity at all - unless those Krakens are so powerful that they can cast a curse on hundreds or even thousands of people across hundreds or even thousands of nautical miles, but from what we know about them, this is basically impossible."

The Storm Priest spoke, suddenly silent, his expression becoming more serious.

"Also, Your Majesty, we found something this time......"

"Let's talk about it right here."

"I'm afraid that a completely mutated compatriot has appeared," the storm priest lowered his voice, "On the eve of our departure from Hurricane Island, a soldier on night duty said he saw several figures moving along the shore, covered in scales, with fins on their backs and arms, and what appeared to be gills, gliding across the sand with tails that were somewhere between a sea serpent and a fish, and quickly jumping into the sea - as only one soldier witnessed it, I'm not sure if it was an overly nervous or magical turbulent hallucination. ”

Pope Thor listened to the description of the Storm Priest and couldn't help but glance at the bodies on the stretchers again.

"Sounds a lot like the result of this terrible mutation going deeper."

"Yes."

"Those completely mutated compatriots jumped directly into the sea, did not communicate with you, and did not attack anyone?"

"Yes, that's what the night soldiers reported."

“…… I see," Pope Saul whispered after a few seconds of silence, "everyone has worked hard, let's go rest first, and the rest will follow...... We'll talk when you're rested. ”

"Yes, thank you for your concern."

The Storm Priest bowed his head, and twisted his neck slightly unnaturally.

He suddenly felt a slight itch on the skin near his neck.

It's like...... There will be scales there.

……

Storms are the norm in this endless ocean, but calm safe zones remain, such as the Colonial Starship Antavien and the Io Continent where the starship crashed.

Storms are rare in the Antavien crash zone and the surrounding swath of the sea, with clear skies or drizzling days predominantly and deadly turbulence almost never present.

This anomaly once made the Krakens very curious, and after a long period of research and exploration, the deep-water technicians put forward a conjecture - in ancient times, Antavien had activated almost all the engines during the crash to carry out emergency recoil, and the powerful energy released by the engines melted almost a quarter of the Io continent at that time, and penetrated part of the continental shelf, permanently changing the seabed structure near the coastline, perhaps in the process, the local magnetic field was permanently changed, And indirectly led to the change of the magical environment, which opened up such a large area of safety in the stormy endless sea.

For the Sirens, the great benefit of the good weather in the waters around the Antavien is that they can bask in the sun in a place where the sky is often clear.

It's just that there are always some accidents on good days.

In the Antavien crash zone, on the western coastline of the Io continent, on the sunbathing grounds of the Sirens, Pettia frowned slightly, looking at the uninvited guests who occupied the beach.

Creatures that resemble humans, but with distinctly deep-sea dwellers, run around on the sand (or rather, glide around with their smooth, scaly tails) as if no one else were around.

Petia leaned to the side slightly and whispered to her personal maid, "Rosaria, these ...... Where did the guy come from? ”

"I haven't found out yet, they're all too excited to find anyone to communicate calmly," replied the sea maid Rosaria, her long tail rowing across the sand, not very pleasant—for she saw that her usual place to bask in the sun was also occupied, "but Master Hathaway said that the excitement should fade away, and they should be able to calm down and communicate with us." ”

"That's what the witch said...... Then wait for these guys to calm down. Don't get into a conflict with them just yet, in case it's hard to clean up in the future, and wait until we have established communication," Petia rubbed her forehead, "By the way, did she say what these guys should be called?" There must always be a racial name or codename, right? ”

"I can't find a matching name in the database that we have," said Rosaria, as her tail was already poking a hole in the sand—she was annoyed to see that the guy who occupied her sun-specific bunker had begun to sleep with his tail coiled in it, but she didn't dare to vent it in front of the queen, "so Master Hathaway gave them a name......

"Oh? What's the name? ”

"The master called them 'Naga'."

(Oh yes!) ）