Chapter 496 Frogskin Monster <TOC> Chapter 498 The Trench
Translator: SumTLMan
This primitive-style pattern looks somewhat like a mermaid. However, it is not the kind of mermaid that Angel once saw in the Twilight Auction, where they had a human upper body and a fish lower body, luring ships to sink with their singing and beauty.
Instead, these mermaids are covered in bizarre fish fins, with strange appearances, and their fish transformations are not limited to the lower half of their bodies.
Some are half-transformed into fish, some have their left side transformed, and some have their whole body transformed but still retain their limbs. Angel does not know if there is such a sub-species of mermaids, but seeing that they have both human and fish forms, he tentatively assumes that they might be a subspecies of mermaids before knowing their real name.
Following this row of various mermaid patterns, there are a series of carved murals.
The main characters in the murals change from mermaids to frogskin monsters. The frogskin monsters are doing strange things, such as kneeling, carrying loads, and holding fish spears, as if depicting the daily life of the frogskin monsters… But the last few murals are a bit odd.
The mermaids from the previous patterns reappear, riding on clouds and guiding the frogskin monsters to a place filled with sunlight.
The frogskin monsters gather in a circle, dancing and celebrating, and then the mermaids disappear.
This series of murals seems to be related to the frogskin monsters’ belief in their deity. The mermaids are their faith, their patterns, their spirits; while the frogskin monsters are the tribe that worships them.
The content of the murals covers a wide range, from ordinary daily life to hunting trips, to religious ceremonies and sacrifices.
Below each mural, there are many words recorded.
These words are constructed from points, lines, and patterns, resembling stick figures performing various actions. Angel does not understand the meaning of the words and can only guess that they might be ideograms, narrating the events in the murals.
Angel delves into it for a while but still has no clue. In the end, he can only shake his head and give up on deciphering the words.
Even though his intuition tells him that these words and murals are essential, there is nothing he can do without a method to decipher them. If he knew the second level spell “Linguist,” he would likely find it easy to decipher such basic ideograms.
However, he does not know “Linguist,” and even if he were to start learning it now, it would not be a quick process. Spells like “Linguist” and “Language Analysis” require a vast accumulation of knowledge, a mastery of various ideograms, phonograms, and divine logic, and can only be slowly formed through daily accumulation and sedimentation.
This is also a disadvantage of Angel, a fast-track wizard apprentice who lacks sufficient knowledge accumulation. If it were another second level apprentice who had followed the standard path of training, “Linguist” would be an essential foundation because it is needed for survival in the wilderness, secret realm adventures, and planar expeditions.
Angel cannot decipher it, so he can only forcefully memorize it. If he encounters other apprentices, perhaps they can exchange information.
After looking around the room, Angel continued to search but didn’t find any hidden rooms. There were only two rooms in the entire fortress, and the furnishings were quite simple. Moreover, he didn’t find any food supplies here.
Could it be that this place was just a concept similar to a “forest ranger’s cabin”?
With no gains, Angel could only leave temporarily. However, he had a faint idea that perhaps the mystery of the Purification Sea could be solved by finding the gathering place of the frogskin monsters.
But where was the gathering place of the frogskin monsters? That was a question.
Unable to decipher the words, but based on the murals, Angel guessed that the final promised land might be the sunny place depicted where the merpeople led the frogskin monsters.
However, when it came to sunshine, Angel was a bit skeptical about his guess. Could it be that their final destination was not at the bottom of the sea but on the surface?
But if it were on the surface, why would this frogskin monster live at the bottom of the sea?
After leaving the circular fortress, Angel still planned to explore deeper. Although he guessed that it might be on the surface, he still felt something was wrong.
He remembered the unfortunate apprentice from Mechanical City who was kidnapped by Freud and others, who once said: “Find a way to survive in the most dangerous place.”
If this sentence was the “key” to solving the Purification Garden, the calm surface of the sea shouldn’t be too dangerous, right? Unless all the frogskin monsters were gathered on the surface, considering their power to mimic and even surpass the previous flying fish, they could indeed pose a threat to others.
But now, without knowing the location of the frogskin monsters and having found one at the bottom of the sea, Angel decided to continue searching underwater.
If he couldn’t find it, he would consider other options.
With this in mind, Angel continued down the slope towards a deeper, darker, and colder place.
…
As Angel ventured into the pitch-black depths of the ocean accompanied by boundless loneliness, the soon-to-be-destroyed world of flying fish presented a different scene.
Nausica was injured, and her injuries were quite severe. She collapsed under a tree, exhaling deeply.
A gentle breeze brushed her face, lifting her beautiful hair.
Nausica sneered, raising her head to look at the glittering countdown in the sky. There was an evident unwillingness in her eyes. There was only one hour left, but she still hadn’t found the so-called Purification Sea.
Even if she had guessed that the sky might be the exit, she couldn’t fly. At most, she could hover in the air with the help of wind spirals, but how difficult would it be to leave?
Moreover, she was seriously injured now.
When her magical power was depleted, she forcefully used the Hurricane Spiral Cannon, driving away the intruder. However, she also experienced a slight backlash of magical power. Even though the backlash was not severe and she could recover most of her injuries with potions, she wouldn’t have any mobility for a short period.
Under these circumstances, even if the Purification Sea was not in the sky, she had no ability to search for it.
Furthermore, she might become a burden to the team.
Nausica gave a bitter smile, as she had already heard the heavy footsteps coming from not far away. It must be Coral commanding Gank to find her.
Sure enough, a shadow soon blocked her vision.
“Nausica, what happened to you?” Coral anxiously jumped down from Gank’s shoulder. Nausica said she was going to scout the mountains ahead to see if there was any sea, but after more than half an hour, she hadn’t returned, so Coral hurriedly came over. What she saw was Nausica covered in blood, barely alive.
Nausica forced a smile: “I was ambushed.”
“Who?” Coral immediately bristled, demanding, “Where are they?”
“I drove them away already.” Nausica shook her head: “Do you remember before I entered the Purification Garden, I said that someone was watching me with hostile eyes?”
“The person who attacked you was that person?”
Nausica nodded, that tall and graceful woman with a veil. She still didn’t know who the other party was, where she had offended her, and even followed her to the Purification Garden.
“Damn it, describe what she looks like, and if I meet her, I’ll slaughter her immediately.” As she spoke, Coral tried to help Nausica onto Gank’s shoulder.
Nausica shook off her hand: “Don’t worry about me, just take Hilary and go, I guess I won’t be able to continue…”
Before Nausica could finish, Hilary, who had been slumped on Gank’s shoulder, suddenly stretched lazily: “Ha—yawn—”
Nausica and Coral looked over, and Hilary seemed a bit shy, lowering her face: “Um, good morning?”
…
The first light of dawn came, and the sky revealed a pale white. A new day’s dawn arrived as expected.
The morning light was beautiful, but it might be the last morning light in this world.
The countdown in the sky had only half an hour left, and the numbers were still shrinking. It was like the Sword of Damocles hanging over everyone’s head, reminding them that death was imminent.
As time was running out, all those who hadn’t found an exit were displaying a myriad of reactions.
Persistent people were still searching for direction, but if their minds weren’t sharp enough to see through the fog, they would eventually face the sword’s punishment.
Those who saw the situation clearly were looking for ways to ascend. However, sometimes the method was right in front of them, but no one dared to try.
More people chose madness. On the brink of death, they went on a rampage, seemingly trying to vent their inner panic through this way.
At an unknown time, the earth began to tremble. Every few steps, one could see fissures opening, spewing forth fervent magma, scorching this soon-to-be-shattered and sacrificial world.
Lava, hurricanes, torrential rain, enchanted people, and frenzied flying fish were all orchestrating the last symphony before the end of the world.
A colossal blue whale floated in mid-air, and a man with fish scales on his forehead stood atop the whale’s head, watching the absurd apocalyptic scene with great interest.
The man watched intently for a long time.
“Jiebo, shouldn’t we leave?” A woman covered in a blue cloak suddenly walked to the man’s side, whispering softly.
Jiebo gave a faint smile: “Such a rare scene, it would be a pity to miss it.”
The cloaked woman walked to the skull of the blue whale and removed a red conch from one of its horns: “The sound of the red conch has been recorded, so you can watch it whenever you want in the future.”
Jiebo raised an eyebrow: “I prefer to be in the thick of it, scenes of human suffering are my favorite.”
“However, this scene is still too small.” Jiebo turned around, “Let’s go, it’s almost time. Soon, such scenes may appear throughout the Southern Region.”
The cloaked woman furrowed her beautiful brows: “Southern Region? What do you mean?”
“Have you forgotten the demon’s descent from ten thousand years ago?” Jiebo left this remark, chuckled softly, and directed the blue whale to ascend into the sky.
At the membrane, apart from the occasional apprentice wizards entering the Purification Sea, flying fish also burst into it.
When Jiebo arrived at the membrane, he saw a giant manta ray gracefully flying into the membrane.
Due to the size and dominance of the blue whale, no other flying fish dared to approach. However, this manta ray seemed to ignore the rule, passing by the blue whale and entering the membrane.
“What are you looking at?”
“A strange person, with no hands or feet, but they managed to ride that manta ray into the Purification Sea. Quite interesting.”