Chapter 261: The Sea Parts
On the sea surface far above the City of Decadence, Edgar’s specially made speedboat was stalemated with the ghost ship exuding endless malevolence.
Joseph’s scarlet eyes were fixed on Victoria, his twisted smile growing more ferocious. “I never expected to meet you here, my dear Highness.”
The pirates behind him, like walking corpses, stirred, letting out ear-splitting cackles. Their hollow eye sockets flickered with greed and brutality, as if they would pounce at any moment to tear apart the small speedboat and everyone on board.
Edgar took half a step forward, subtly shielding Victoria behind him. His hand was already on the hilt of his sword, his gaze sharp as a blade. “Joseph Vilburad, your opponent is me.”
“You?” Joseph acted as if he had heard the greatest joke. The corners of his lips curved slightly, like a cultured gentleman. “What the hell are you? Just a lapdog raised by the Kingdom, and you dare to speak to me?”
The smile on Joseph’s face suddenly receded, his scarlet eyes filled only with cold killing intent. “What will you do if I kill your beloved little princess right in front of you?”
Edgar also knew that their side was no match. He had only two choices: either abandon the ship, throw Victoria out as bait, and let everyone else escape by their own means, thus having a chance to survive.
Moreover, their original mission was to assassinate Princess Victoria; if this decision were made, the princess would undoubtedly die no matter what. They wouldn’t even need to act themselves to complete this difficult task, which was indeed the best solution.
As for the other choice, it was naturally to fight to the death.
Edgar’s mind raced, thinking of other possible plans. No… there was no need to think anymore.
The captain of the special operations team sighed, his eyes already showing resignation.
“When I count to three, everyone abandon the ship and scatter. I’ll cover your retreat. Philip, use teleportation magic to take His Highness towards Leicester. Don’t look back, run as far as you can.” He no longer hesitated, quickly issuing orders.
“Escape?” Anles’ eyes widened, and he glanced at Victoria with a convoluted gaze. His intention was obvious.
But Edgar just shook his head. “Listen to me.”
He believed that using Victoria as bait was indeed the best choice, but people couldn’t always choose the best. As for the mission to assassinate the princess, Edgar could use maintaining the Kingdom’s peace as an excuse to convince himself to carry it out. However, if he were to watch Joseph kill Victoria with his own eyes, even with the excuse of “for the mission,” Edgar could never convince himself.
Anles shrugged. “Alright, I’ll stay with you.”
“I’ll stay too,” Helena also said.
Edgar didn’t know what to say for a moment. He thought that if everyone ran separately, Princess Victoria’s chance of survival would be at least slightly higher. Now that they were all staying to die, he wasn’t sure if Philip could even escape from the pirates.
“Don’t rush!” Joseph laughed maniacally. “None of you will escape. I’ll make sure you all meet in hell!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he was about to give the order to attack.
However, at that moment, an indescribable, immense roar came from the unfathomable seabed beneath their feet without any warning. The sound was not an explosion, but like an ancient entity that had slept for a long, long time, finally awakening from its deep slumber and letting out its first heavy, earth-shattering whisper.
Immediately after, the seawater beneath their feet began to churn violently in a way that defied common sense.
A thick, awe-inspiring column of pure Mana, colored a ghostly blue, shot up from the depths of the sea. It easily tore through the thick, viscous seawater, pierced the churning mist, and in full view of everyone, it soared towards the gloomy sky that seemed about to collapse.
Wherever the light column passed, the seawater evaporated, the thick fog was dispersed, and even the dark clouds on the horizon were blown open by a massive hole, revealing a deeper, void-like darkness behind it.
“Wh-what is that?” Anles’ eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief. The others in the disciplinary team also looked up, completely stunned by the divine-like yet destructive spectacle before them.
Edgar’s expression became extremely grave. He gripped his sword hilt tightly, his knuckles turning pale from the force. He could clearly sense that the Mana contained in the light column far exceeded his comprehension.
However, in stark contrast to their shock, the moment Joseph saw the light column, his ferocity and killing intent completely vanished, replaced by an almost fanatical, soul-deep ecstasy.
“Master, my great Master!” he spread his arms, looking up and letting out a hoarse, fervent cry filled with excitement and anticipation suppressed for decades. “My Lord is about to awaken! He will break free from those despicable chains and return to the mortal world!”
His cry seemed to be a signal. The zombie-like pirates on the Mist Devourer also stirred, turning around and prostrating themselves in the direction of the sky-piercing light column, performing a silent, necromantic worship in a very strange posture.
The anomaly did not stop there.
The massive vortex that had swallowed the Adventurer and the ships of the Eternal Life Cult began to reverse in an incredible way. Instead of consuming inward, it was expelling outward.
An invisible force of immense power rose from the depths of the seabed, madly pushing the thick, viscous seawater to both sides. The sea surface was split open as if by an invisible greatsword, and the surging waves were forcibly contained, forming two majestic, hundred-meter-high walls of seawater on either side.
A grand passage, wide enough for several great ships to sail side by side, appeared out of nowhere. It was like the Red Sea parting by divine power in myths and legends, extending from the storm-ravaged sea surface all the way down to the seabed ruins enveloped by endless water and darkness.
And below the passage, the scene of the seabed ruins was clearly exposed to everyone’s sight for the first time as the seawater receded. The magnificent, ancient spire silently standing in the center of the city was now emitting a faint, dim light, appearing both mysterious and ominous.
In the plaza, Li Wen and the others also looked up in shock at the sea area forcibly parted above their heads. Through the thin water curtain, which seemed on the verge of collapse at any moment, they could clearly see the dark sky above the sea surface, ravaged by storms and churning with dark clouds.
The feeling was incredibly strange, as if the entire world had been inverted. They were standing at the bottom of a giant fish tank, looking up at the world outside the tank.
“My heavens…” the elf girl Shā Táng from Fu Qingyan’s team murmured, her legs turning weak at the sight of the unimaginably grand scene. The others were no different; even Spade K had forgotten his greed for the Divine Artifact at this moment, his face filled only with pure, heartfelt shock and fear.
Just then, a dull creaking sound, like the friction of rotten wood, came from above.
Li Wen looked up, his pupils contracting.
He saw that the ghost ship, the Mist Devourer, exuding endless malevolence and the aura of death, was slowly but surely descending along the water channel parted by Mana. It was not sailing in the water, but rather suspended, ignoring gravity and buoyancy, descending towards these seabed ruins with a heart-stopping posture.
At the bow, Joseph’s tall figure stood silently. His scarlet eyes looked down at everything below, like a deity inspecting his domain.
Finally, under the astonished gaze of Edgar and his group on the sea surface, and the solemn eyes of Li Wen and his group in the seabed ruins, the ancient spire that had caused all this commotion, its magnificent great gate, which had been closed for a hundred years and forged from unknown green stone, slowly opened inward with a grating sound, like the friction of tectonic plates.
An indescribable, surging, and cold aura, filled with absolute oppressive pressure, poured out from the crack of the opened door like a breached dam.
