Chapter 517 The Terrifying Hilary <TOC> Chapter 519 Black Whirlpool
Translator: SumTLMan
“Is there only one energy fluctuation in the south?” Angel asked doubtfully.
“That’s correct,” Nausica nodded.
This didn’t make sense. Their journey was nearing its end, and they were only 500 miles away from the Altar of Demise. This stretch of road was known as a hotspot for ambushes, and the number of energy fluctuations they had encountered had increased from 30 at the beginning to 50, 70, and even 100.
Everyone who hadn’t obtained the Sword of Mer was eagerly waiting for their prey to walk right into their hands. How could it be possible that all the ambushers were behind them and there was only one fluctuation ahead?
Could it be that someone ahead had already been ambushed, resulting in a temporary lull in the attacks?
Angel couldn’t be sure, but having only one person ahead was a relatively good thing for them. However, he couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling in his heart.
This unexplainable anxiety was difficult to express, so he kept it to himself and didn’t mention it.
As they continued to fly forward, Nausica’s frown deepened: “Angel, something doesn’t feel right.”
“What’s wrong?” As Angel asked, everyone turned to look at her.
“The fluctuation straight ahead keeps moving in circles and isn’t flying toward us. It doesn’t seem like they’re trying to ambush us,” Nausica paused, her eyes filled with deep doubt. “It’s like they’re lost, going in circles within a small area.”
Angel looked at Cherie, who also nodded: “Luna sensed it too. It’s indeed as Nausica described.”
Not flying towards them and moving in circles within a small area? This situation was indeed strange, but Angel couldn’t determine if it had any impact on them.
Could it be that someone was hunting those with the heart scale? Or perhaps the heart scale wasn’t on an apprentice but on a member of a race?
He pondered but couldn’t find an answer.
“Should we continue to move forward?” Nausica hesitated.
Angel thought about the more than a hundred energy fluctuations following them. Based on his experience, at least half of them belonged to teams, meaning there were at least two or three hundred apprentices following them. Under such circumstances, any hesitation on his part could easily lead to them being caught.
Angel pondered for a moment before eventually nodding: “Let’s continue, but we have plenty of time. We can detour slightly to avoid that aura. It’s no problem to deviate a few miles.”
Nausica agreed: “Alright, let’s take a small detour to the southeast.”
After determining their route, the Gondola continued to move forward. It didn’t take long for them to approach the location of the aura. Nausica decided to bypass it, intending to distance themselves from the area.
At that moment, a light drizzle suddenly began to fall from the sky. Raindrops struck the hull, creating tiny, delicate splashes of water.
Hilary looked up, puzzled by the unexpected rain: “What strange rain. It appears out of nowhere and carries a putrid smell with it.”
She raised her hand, and the strands of rain wrapped around her fingers like soft hair. After sniffing gently, her eyes widened in surprise: “This isn’t rain!”
As she spoke, a thick mist suddenly engulfed everyone. In an instant, they were all enveloped in the fog. Soon, everyone felt their eyelids grow heavy and their heads droop, and within moments, they all fell into a deep sleep.
Angel collapsed to the ground, but he wasn’t completely unconscious. Instead, he remained in a state between sleep and wakefulness.
The reason he hadn’t fallen completely asleep was that the surrounding mist was an illusion! As a practitioner of illusion spells, Angel had some resistance to them. However, even with his understanding of illusion spells, he couldn’t determine what kind of illusion the fog was or its purpose. But he could sense that the person who cast the illusion was much more powerful than he was; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been affected.
Even though he maintained a shred of consciousness, he couldn’t move his body.
Now, Angel understood why he initially felt uneasy – the source of his anxiety was right here!
There was nothing he could do, but he could clearly hear the breathing of the others on the boat. It sounded calm, as if they were merely asleep.
One minute passed, then two…
Angel watched as time slipped away, and in the blink of an eye, ten minutes had passed.
They were so close to the Altar of Demise, but this situation had arisen. Was he going to fail at the final hurdle? Angel was unwilling to give up, so he began to struggle. But with his body in a semi-conscious state, he couldn’t even move a finger.
As Angel tried to resist, suddenly, there was movement beside him.
Hilary slowly stood up.
A glimmer of hope appeared in Angel’s heart. Hilary often fell asleep, and she had just taken anti-sleep medicine earlier. Perhaps she was already awake!
Angel had high hopes for Hilary, hoping she could wake him up quickly as they couldn’t afford to waste any more time here.
However, much to Angel’s disappointment, after Hilary stood up, she didn’t do anything but lowered her head, walked to the edge of the boat, and leaped into the water.
All Angel heard was a “splash,” and then there was silence.
Did Hilary just jump off like that?!
As Angel was puzzled, the second person stood up—Cherie.
Cherie stood up but remained silent, not making any effort to wake anyone else. She followed Hilary into the sea, with Coral and Nausica doing the same.
In an instant, Angel was the only one left on the boat.
Apparently, their series of actions was caused by an illusion spell around them. However, Angel was still clueless about the exact nature of the spell.
Could it be that there was another illusion spell apprentice here, and their spellcasting was far superior to his?
As Angel was lost in thought, his body suddenly started to move on its own, mimicking the actions of the others, and walked to the edge of the boat.
Although his consciousness was still relatively clear, his body seemed to not belong to him, being pulled by an unknown force.
Just as Angel was about to leap into the water, he recited the Mysterious Soul Whisper in his mind. He was only trying it out, but to his surprise, it worked!
However, even though Angel successfully recited the spell, his body was still controlled by an inexplicable force, pushing him to jump into the sea.
Angel collected the Gondola into his bracelet, and then followed his body into the water.
He wanted to see who was behind this and what they intended to do.
As soon as Angel submerged, he saw a dark whirlpool. As he was trying to discern what was going on within the whirlpool, it began to exert a tremendous suction force.
Determined to drag Angel into the whirlpool.
Angel immediately manipulated the few Gravity Lines he had, forcefully breaking free from the whirlpool’s suction.
Dragging his body, Angel flew back into the sky. Everyone else had disappeared, presumably sucked into the whirlpool.
Angel estimated that another ten minutes had passed, with one hour left until the countdown ended. He hesitated, wondering if he should leave alone and head to the Land of Demise. His soul was unaffected by the illusion spell, so leaving shouldn’t be a problem.
But, thinking of Nausica being trapped here, Angel couldn’t bring himself to leave her behind.
As Angel was torn, bubbles suddenly emerged from the water’s surface. Angel’s eyes sharpened—could it be that someone had woken up and escaped the whirlpool?
As Angel was pondering, a black ear suddenly emerged. Soon, a little black cat swam out from the sea, floating on the water’s surface with its head lowered in despair.
“Luna?” Angel called out softly, tentatively.
The little black cat was indeed Luna, and it hadn’t noticed Angel in midair after leaving the water. It wasn’t until it heard the call that it looked up.
“Meow!” Seeing Angel, Luna’s eyes lit up, and it leaped, biting onto Angel’s clothes.
In no time, Luna climbed onto Angel’s shoulder.
“Are you unharmed?” Angel recalled that after Cherie jumped in, Luna followed suit.
Luna shook its head, meowing nonstop.
However, Angel wasn’t Cherie; he couldn’t understand cat language. The two stared at each other until Luna suddenly jumped back into the water and stretched out its paw, its green eyes pleading for help.
This time, Angel understood. Luna wanted him to save its owner, Cherie.
Angel sighed inwardly. Not long ago, Luna had saved him from Isio, and he couldn’t bring himself to refuse.
In the end, Angel dove into the sea.
He calculated the time: if he took the Gondola to the Altar of Demise without any trouble, it would only take half an hour to arrive. There was still an hour left until the countdown ended, meaning he had half an hour to spare.
If there was still no news after half an hour, he would have to leave no matter what.
He was willing to help others within his means, but the premise was that his life wasn’t in danger.
In Angel’s mind, his own life was the top priority. He believed that others felt the same. No wizard would take their life lightly.
Re-entering the sea, Luna immediately wanted to guide Angel deeper.
Angel stopped it and took the gray scale from its mouth. With the scale’s guidance, Angel clearly sensed four Sword of Mer vibrations at the bottom of the sea and two scale vibrations.
The Sword of Mer vibrations were stagnant. Of the two scale vibrations, one was mixed with the other Sword of Mer vibrations, which should be the scale in Nausica’s hand.
The other scale vibration, however, made Angel frown. This scale was not stationary but moving, and its direction was towards the Sword of Mer!
Could it be that the owner of that scale was a master of illusions who set up this situation to snatch the Sword of Mer?
If so, what was the black whirlpool all about?
While pondering, Angel dived deeper into the sea.
Chapter 517 The Terrifying Hilary <TOC> Chapter 519 Black Whirlpool