Chapter 735 The Sea of Ghosts <TOC> Chapter 737 Mysterious Jellyfish
Previous page password is bold portion: $L&h8tratAt
Translator: SumTLMan
From a distance, this island appeared no different from the one they had anchored at for most of the night. The terrain was flat and vines grew thickly, giving off an ominous and deathly aura.
Upon seeing this island, everyone’s expressions changed. Although they had not encountered any significant trouble on the previous, similar island, it did not stop their fear of this island.
Alvin even ordered to speed up and pass this island as quickly as possible.
“Wait.” At that moment, Angel signaled for the ship to slow down. Without any explanation, he jumped into mid-air, using two consecutive whirlwinds beneath his feet to land steadily on the island.
Since even the Guardian had stepped onto the island, the others had no choice but to bring the ship closer.
After Angel landed on the island, the vines, sensing the presence of a living being, came to life from their dormant state. They waved their thorny tendrils, aggressively striking at Angel.
Facing the aggressive vines, Angel walked forward slowly. As he moved, several leaping flames suddenly appeared around him. All incoming attacks were enveloped by the fiery illusion, turning them into charred remains and ash.
As Angel began to fight the vines, the sinister auras that had been hidden and waiting for their chance finally began to awaken.
Beneath the gloomy sky, terrifying ghosts emitting faint glows crawled out from the ground and revealed their hideous expressions at Angel.
“As expected, there are ghosts!” Angel was not surprised but delighted. He had sensed the presence of dark negative energy on the island from afar, and he was not wrong. Just like the previous island, this one was also infested with ghosts.
Although the test of the Prelude of Reincarnation had more or less concluded, Angel was still unsure about the final result without formal experimentation.
To complete the testing, Angel needed a large number of ghost resources. Therefore, he was not at all frightened by these terrifying ghosts, and he prayed in his heart that there would be more of them.
With the Prelude of Reincarnation in hand, facing these ghosts was as easy as cutting grass – even faster, in fact.
By the time the Cloud Conch ship anchored, Angel had already eliminated almost half of the ghosts on the island. It took less than two minutes to clear the entire island, and the dark energy vanished completely.
Instead of immediately returning to the ship, Angel walked around the island, hoping to find the reason why there were so many ghosts here.
The island was not large, and it did not take him long to finish his exploration. During this process, he found nothing out of the ordinary. Besides the foul-smelling soil, there was nothing else here.
Even when Angel dug three feet into the ground, he could not find anything strange. These ghosts seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Logically, with so many ghosts, there should be an equal number of corpses. Why hadn’t he found a single skeleton?
Angel pondered for a while but could not find the reason for the strange occurrences, ultimately attributing his confusion to the unique characteristics of these waters.
Then, Angel jumped back onto the ship and signaled the Cloud Conch to continue sailing.
Crew lead Nagi, who had just stowed the sail, silently untied the ropes again.
For the next period of time, whenever Angel encountered an island, he would directly land on it, awaken the sleeping ghosts, and immediately harvest them with the Prelude of Reincarnation. Eventually, Alvin also understood the pattern and would no longer anchor or approach the shore when an island appeared. Instead, the ship would drift near the island, and it wouldn’t be long before Angel returned.
In this way, they cleared five islands in a row, and the magazine of the Prelude of Reincarnation lit up with one and a half bullets. They still needed another one and a half bullets to fully load the magazine.
Angel wanted to continue searching for more islands, but Alvin warned, “We’re approaching the shallow reef area; we can’t go any further.”
The shallow reef area was a nightmare for ships, full of hidden dangers that could easily cause the ship to run aground.
Angel peered into the darkness ahead but could not discern anything, so he had no choice but to give up. Since they had already searched the previous islands and dared not venture deeper into the Sea of Ghosts, Angel decided to leave the Sea of Ghosts and return to the Death Ring Zone. As for filling the magazine of the Prelude of Reincarnation, that would have to wait.
Filled with regret, the Cloud Conch changed course towards the Death Ring Zone.
However, before they had sailed far, a bizarre whirlpool appeared on the surface of the water, blocking their way once more.
“How strange, another whirlpool appeared even though we’re dozens of miles away from the previous one,” the sailors discussed among themselves.
Alvin ordered the ship to turn around once more and chose another route to leave.
But when they tried to return for the third time, the whirlpool was still there, following them like a shadow. It seemed that as long as they thought about returning to the Death Ring Zone, the whirlpool would appear.
“It feels like it has intelligence, like it’s blocking our way back…”
“Rather than blocking us, it’s actually trying to make us go deeper into the Sea of Ghosts.”
“It’s too eerie. No matter how many clothes I wear, I still feel cold. This coldness is like it’s chilling me to the bone,” one sailor said, raising a goosebumped arm. “I have this feeling that we might be trapped here forever.”
“This isn’t an illusion. If the whirlpool doesn’t disappear, we might indeed be stuck here forever.”
At first, everyone discussed the strange phenomenon, but as the pervasive gloominess weighed on their spirits, their mood gradually turned pessimistic.
Faced with the increasingly low morale and the current bizarre situation, Helen and Alvin had no choice but to seek help from Angel again.
However, Angel was equally baffled at this point. Was the whirlpool consciously blocking their return?
Could it be a unique phenomenon in this mysterious area? Was it that once they entered the Sea of Ghosts, they could not leave?
Gazing at the ever-growing whirlpool in the distance, Angel’s mind was filled with questions.
“Are we left with no choice but to continue sailing through the Sea of Ghosts?” Helen’s expression was bitter. If such bizarre incidents were already happening on the outskirts of the Sea of Ghosts, nobody could guarantee what might occur once they ventured further into the waters.
Angel: “Sailing through the Sea of Ghosts is a last resort. For now, our best option is to take the Frostbound Passage.”
“But the whirlpools in the sea are blocking our way, it seems we have no other choice.”
Angel contemplated for a moment: “Here’s what we’ll do: you all stay in the area and patrol, while I go underwater to assess the situation.”
Angel had a feeling that the whirlpool didn’t form naturally, but was perhaps manipulated by some creature. He’d know if his suspicion was correct once he took a look underwater.
…
Humans inherently feel secure when their eyes can see their surroundings, like when gazing at a shimmering ocean. However, people tend to imagine the most sinister scenarios when they cannot see what’s there, like beneath the surface of the ocean.
Take, for example, the simple case of a massive blue whale. When it surfaces and reveals its enormous body, it doesn’t invoke the same sense of terror as when it lurks unseen beneath the depths, casting a massive, ominous shadow.
The enclosed environment of the ocean, the darkness, and the invisible, pitch-black corners all leave room for the imagination to run wild.
The more the mind fills in the blanks, the more the fear grows.
Even in shallow waters where light can penetrate, people still imagine terrifying creatures lurking in the dark corners. As for the Sea of Ghosts, to them, it appeared as nothing more than a vast expanse of darkness.
Sometimes, sailors on the ship wouldn’t dare to look at the surface of the water for too long, fearing that something horrifying would emerge from the dark depths. Let alone diving down to investigate.
So, when Angel suggested going underwater, the faces of everyone on the ship were filled with concern.
The darkness of the ocean, the unknown terror, and the fact that it was in the most horrifying Sea of Ghosts area—all these factors combined made it seem as if Angel was embarking on a heroic but doomed quest.
Of course, that was how the others felt.
As for Angel himself, diving into the depths wasn’t something that scared him too much. He had spent a long time in the Purification Sea, even in the darkest depths, and remained calm on his own. Thus, he felt relatively unperturbed.
Leaving Toby on the ship to protect everyone, Angel leaped straight into the pitch-black ocean.
With a splash, Angel’s figure disappeared beneath the waves, right before everyone’s eyes.
As soon as he hit the water, Angel noticed a more intense, fishy smell than in other seas. After activating his Purification Field, the unpleasant odor slowly dissipated.
The surroundings were pitch-black, with no visible scenery. However, the massive whirlpool-induced currents constantly reminded Angel that the depths of the ocean were even more turbulent than the surface.
With a thought, a light spell rose, illuminating the surrounding environment.
As the light appeared, a terrifying large-toothed fish emerged, staring blankly right in front of Angel. Its ugly appearance startled him for a moment.
Dodging the fish’s bite, he casually cast a quick-freeze spell.
In an instant, the fish became a block of ice.
This simple trick, derived from analyzing the “Ice Wall” spell on a holographic tablet, was surprisingly effective in a water-filled environment.
After dealing with the fish, Angel observed his surroundings. The dark area was devoid of other fish, but there were numerous small mayfly-like creatures.
Angel decided to move slightly towards the direction of the whirlpool.
Resisting the whirlpool’s powerful pull, he slowly approached its center.
Before reaching the center, Angel noticed a faint glimmer of light appearing below the whirlpool.
An instinctive feeling told him that this faint light might be the truth behind the whirlpool.
Angel began to relax control over the surrounding water currents and slowly descended into the darkness of the ocean depths.
When he reached about 100 meters deep, his pupils constricted suddenly. There was still some distance from the light source, but he could clearly see the glowing object below.
Chapter 735 The Sea of Ghosts <TOC> Chapter 737 Mysterious Jellyfish