Many people will compare the three-layer framework of the upper, lower, and misty areas of Hemtika to a concentric circle with increasing layers, but in reality, it is not so accurate to describe it in terms of concentric circles - in the south, the curved coastline digs straight out of the corners of the concentric circles, as if a perfect pancake was eaten directly by someone, and the mutilated beauty of this ancient city seems somewhat sad and ridiculous on the map.

But we have to admit that Nampo Bay played a pivotal role in the development of Hemtika - the difficult to study the ancestors of the generations, in the pre-ancient kings, fishing and shipping were the pillars that supported the prosperity and prosperity of the city, without this now-decayed harbor, the economy, culture and living standards of the people of Hemtika would have slipped at least a notch.

Of course, that was a thousand years ago.

For the fishermen who now live in Khmtika, the glory of the ancestors is nothing more than an after-dinner conversation, and not even a copper coin is compared to it in the tavern.

After all, since the advent of the Dark Ages, the area outside the protection of the Tinder has long been reduced to a demon-infested dead field, and perhaps those high-ranking Glory Lords have their own set of methods, but they ordinary people can only be trapped in this narrow world for the rest of their lives.

Old Love was one of them.

It's just that, unlike many young fishermen, this man in his forties has long since lost the romance of the sea—he has not sailed a ship out of the boundaries of order, nor has he lost his course in the foggy sea, and even more so, he and his friend of glory have more than once encountered the behemoth of the sea and fought the bloodthirsty demon that lurks beneath the surface of the sea.

On this sea, he is a well-deserved legend!

However, no matter how magnificent the legend is, it can't overcome time, and after the success and retirement, the blood belonging to the man has gradually cooled, and all that remains is the responsibility and cowardice that belongs to the husband and father.

He's old.

He never denied this, although the skills of fighting demons did not regress much under the deliberate training, but the spirit of daring to fight the storm gradually faded as his son grew up day after day.

He's old, his heart is old.

Located in the lower part of Hemtika, Nanbo Bay stretches for several nautical miles into the undisturbed offshore zone, and further out is the ambiguous and vague open sea of the forces of order, where the wind is sometimes calm, sometimes foggy, and sometimes turbid, and while maintaining the abundance and generosity of the sea, it is also infested with countless huge sea beasts and bloodthirsty demons with infinite malice towards humans.

He had longed for the vastness of the world, but with the passage of time, all his ambitions had become memories, and the Son of the Ocean who had been sung in the tavern had died in that eternal adventure, leaving only the timid Love, despised by the young fishermen who had grown up listening to heroic legends.

But this is not bad, with the gift of the glorious friend, as well as his exquisite skills, he does not worry about food and clothing, he is actually quite comfortable living.

Sometimes he would even lie on the shore and listen to the music of the sea while gazing at the thick clouds in the sky.

Happiness? maybe.

At least he was content—what could be more satisfying than being back in the ordinary after experiencing the wonders and wonders of the world? Probably not.

Old Love squinted his eyes and thought for a moment, and then he didn't know what to think, and a hearty smile appeared on his swarthy face, and then he stopped thinking about the overly profound question, and sat up from the bed, looking up at the endless darkness before him.

Overslept?

Somewhat unexpectedly, Old Love took a box of matches from the pocket of his coat and lit a light, but before he could light the oil lamp at the bedside, the faint flame flickered in the wind and then went out.

There is no wind –

His brows couldn't help frowning, and the heroes of the seas who had gone to the open sea and seen the unprecedented vastness of the world were faintly uneasy.

However, it is only uneasy.

Under the radiation of the flame of order, even a high-level demon and a monster that kills people without blinking an eye will only become the object of human hunting, and even if there is a big crisis in the lower area, as long as he is not involved in the open and secret battle between the three pillars, he is enough to deal with it with his skills.

It's just that...... The worst-case scenario cannot be simply ruled out.

Love thought, lighting the match again.

Then, of course, the faint light of the fire was engulfed in the darkness like a human form struggling and twisting under the envelope of flames, engulfed in endless darkness.

"Deepest night. ”

He said that his gloomy complexion blended perfectly into the deep night.

He is not an ignorant man who has not seen the world, although the boundaries of order are always ambiguous in the vast oceans, but ...... As a brave man who has accompanied the Glory One into the depths of the open sea, into the strange eternal darkness, he is not as ignorant of the existence of the deepest night as his peers.

At least he knew that this was definitely a big crisis beyond his ability!

So...... Run.

His gaze did not waver in the slightest, and he still analyzed the situation quite calmly.

First, it's important to put your vision back into control.

In the lower districts, there are not many people who really know about the deep night, and many people simply think of it as an eternal dark place that devours light and hope - in fact, the deep night is terrible, but it is not a place of death without light and hope, the flame in the usual sense may be extinguished because of this, but the fire crystal that has been processed by the alchemists can still bring light, and fortunately, he has a high-grade finished product in his hand.

- Fire Emblem Amulet.

It was a talisman that accompanied him on his voyage to the open seas nearly twenty years ago, and a testimony to a friendship forged across their respective classes.

Even in the most difficult moments, Love never imagined that he would need it again.

Today, however, it comes in handy once again!

The hero, who is no longer young, fumbles with his memory to open the brocade box hidden under the mattress, and then gently wipes the dust from it.

Then, the orange-red color appeared, and a faint light dispelled the darkness around him.

"Four thirty p.m. ”

Through the hanging clock on the wall, Love determined the time—at this point, Cather would have taken Joe to collect the small dried fish that were hanging in the fishery, i.e., ...... They will be by the sea.

A haze swept through the man's brown eyes.

Although it is unclear what the state of the Flame of Order is in now, there is no doubt that the night will fall, and the edge of the coastline of Nambo Bay is undoubtedly far from the edge of the order, and if the behemoths and demons of the sea riot, Cather and Joe will undoubtedly be the first to suffer.

So......

His fists clenched, and the timid Love was dead at this moment, and the legendary hero who had challenged Nanami was given a new lease of life—and without much hesitation, with the soft glow of the Fire Emblem Amulet, he picked up a steel harpoon from his fishing gear, roughly tossed its weight, and then stepped along.

He's not a hero, he never was.

Love has always scoffed at the heroism of the tavern, and he knows very well that the hero Love is just a spiritual sustenance for those young people, just a false image of the troubadours accumulated layer by layer, and the real him, in fact, has never challenged the overlord of the seven seas, nor has he fought with the terrible beasts of the sea, just a simple sailor who accompanies his friends of glory to explore the depths of the ocean.

His knowledge may be extensive, and his combat skills are outstanding in the lower districts, but he can deal with a few ordinary demons, and it is not unbelievable to be killed by ignorance when it comes to the real tricky points - however, even so, he has no intention of backing down - because he is a hero, not the hero who conquered the seven seas as sung in the tavern, but a great hero who can protect Cather and Joe in the chaos.

So—

"Hero Love, strike!"

He straightened his collar, uttered his son's mantra in a hearty voice, and then disappeared into the darkness.

I miss it so much......

The darkness did not break the man's will, but only made his fighting spirit even higher—it was in that darkness that the legendary journey with his glorious friend began twenty years ago!

Love's brown eyes grew brighter and brighter, and memories of fighting all kinds of demons came to his mind like a scroll of pictures, and by the time he arrived at the beach, the instincts that had been sleeping in his aging body had been awakened.

Next, find Cather and Joe and take them away.

With a decision in his heart, the man searched for the existence of his wife and children with the help of the dim light.

Something is wrong –

The battle-hardened hero sensed that something was wrong.

Over here...... Too quiet?

He narrowed his eyes, it stands to reason that in this absolute darkness, the sound should be very noisy, even if for some reason it is inconvenient to make a sound, when the light source is near, the phototaxis instinct will push them closer to him, or use a cry for help to draw his attention to them.

Until now, however, all he could hear was the rustle of the sea breeze blowing the waves.

The voices of humans, birds, beasts, or insects never came, and the world seemed to be enveloped in a terrible silence, and not even the slightest sound could be made.

On the other hand, there was a huge, unprovoked fear that gripped my heart.

What's there......

There's something here.

Fear of some looming crisis, or something, arises, and Love does not have the will to overcome this marrow-chilling fear, not that it cannot be overcome, but merely ...... He wanted to use the instinct of life to face death to search for enemies that might exist in the dark.

"Click", "click", "click".

He turned his head stiffly, the soft light reflecting only fleeting shadows and corpses on the ground.

It was a middle-aged man of his age, he was half-kneeling on the ground, stretching out a hand to grab forward, as if hope was in front of him, as long as he took one more step forward to escape, but his neck was twisted into a shocking arc, and the head that was forced to be turned one hundred and eighty degrees could clearly see the emotions revealed in the last moments of his life- It was fear, and even more despair, and the whole person was not so much killed in this posture after a struggle, but deliberately killed in this abusive way, and then thrown in front of him like garbage.

Do you want to frighten him, or do you just want to appreciate his fears?

Love retracted his gaze unmoved, the cruelty of the monster he had experienced twenty years earlier, and now it only deepened his hatred.

The harpoon in his hand clenched, and the man's gaze roamed around.

Can't find it, can't find it, still can't find it.

Cold sweat broke out in his palms, and it was so unsettling that such a cunning and dangerous enemy lurked in the shadows, and after a brief hesitation, Love decided to take the risk.

He withdrew his gaze from the patrol, resting on the miserable corpse, then cautiously approached, and harpooned him and turned him over—

Now is the time!

His vision didn't catch the enemy's approach, but his long-cultivated fighting instinct made him reflexively slash at the first moment, and the harpoon made of steel cut through the long night, giving the enemy a blow to the enemy looming behind him.

"Khooth!"

The sudden sound of gold and iron made Love's heart sink slightly, but the emotional fluctuations did not affect his next movements, and when the rather human-like enemy behind him had not yet broken free from the dizziness caused by the first blow, he removed the fire streak talisman hanging from his neck with one hand, and then sprinted close to his body, and attached the talisman made of fire crystal, which collected the radiation of the flame of order, directly to its chest.

And then...... Big, Release, Light, Bright!

The enemy's body spasmed as if it had gone crazy, and the man, without the slightest pity, seized this precious opportunity to stab the two scarlet eyes on the head of the humanoid monster fish, and then let out a low war cry, stabbing it straight through!

The tall body fell to the ground with a thud, and it was only then that Love had a moment of respite.

Frankly speaking, his victory is not bright, nor is it fair, nor is it beautiful, but the battle is like this, never paying attention to any beauty, just the simplest and most basic...... You are violent to the death.

He sighed softly, and was about to examine the remains of the monster, but the abnormal surging of waves behind him made him startled.

So, suddenly, the soft light illuminated the sea level, and also illuminated the uninvited guests from the sea.

It was a monster, identical to the one he had just died at his hands: its body was a dull green, with a fish-like snow-white belly, and shiny and slippery skin, but with a scaly ridge on its back, and a body similar to that of a human, only taller and more ferocious, with a head closer to that of a fish, with large, bulging scarlet eyes, gills visible on either side of the neck, webbed hands and feet, and from time to time making some creepy, high-pitched, hoarse sound in the dark.

"It seems that there is no escape today. ”

Watching them approach, the man couldn't help but smile bitterly.

That's right, they.

It was not one or two such monsters that surged out of the sea, but hundreds, thousands, thousands!

The whole wave, the whole surface of the sea, was overwhelmed by their bodies floating on the surface of the sea - so, no doubt, it was dead!

Love didn't run away because there was no point.

And at this moment, at this moment of mortality, he couldn't help but think of the conversation he had with his glorious friend when they first met:

"I said, Ulysses. But when he was in his twenties, he looked at the teenager who stopped on the shoreline, "I'm about to go to sea, why don't you go into the water to play? ”

"I hate the sea. He still clearly remembered the cold look on the face of the black-haired and black-eyed young man, "Because you will never wonder what kind of monster lurks under the calm sea level, and maybe there is a civilization that worships chaos." ”

- A middle-aged man who was just a stone's throw away from death laughed dumbly.

"You're right," the Nanami hero smiled lonely, "but to the sea...... Sorry, I'm still ...... I can't hate it. ”

Then, the hero ended.