Chapter 2280 – Open the Door, I’m Here to Help You
It was a very simple house, a typical fisherman’s hut, with its door tightly shut. Even from a distance, a strong smell of fish and rot wafted out, causing the Yellow King believers to cover their noses.
Inside, a surge and retreat of marine-infused magic could be distinctly felt, like a beating heart. This at least indicated that the person inside was likely still alive.
Jayad walked calmly to the door and knocked, as if visiting an old friend. However, there was no response from within.
“Hello, friend. Do you mind if I come in? If you’re alright, please respond. Otherwise, I’ll have to break down the door to check on you,” Jayad said loudly, his voice still gentle.
But the inside remained silent. Only the more intense magical fluctuations indicated the person’s nervous state. So, Jayad raised his hand, a powerful energy gathering in it, seemingly intending to break down the door without further ado.
“Scram! I’m fine, all of you, scram!” a voice boomed from behind the door. But the voice was garbled, as if speaking with a mouthful of water, no longer sounding human at all.
“Brother, you don’t sound too well. Are you sick? Do you need me to call a doctor?” Jayad said, still standing at the door.
“I’m not sick! I’m perfectly fine. Please, just leave me alone!” the voice wailed pitifully. Simultaneously, black sewage began to seep from under the door.
“That won’t do. I promised your neighbors I’d save you, so excuse me.” Jayad suddenly condensed dark yellow magic in his hand into a sword of light and slashed it into the door.
With a “crack,” the lock was instantly cut. Jayad then summoned a gust of wind to blow the door open, revealing the iron lock, now broken into many pieces, falling from the doorknob.
These locks appeared to be the kind used on fishing boats – thick and sturdy. Jayad had severed them all cleanly with a single sword strike. It seemed the owner had locked the door from the inside with chains.
As the door swung inward slightly, it was pushed back. A surge of seawater gushed out from the room, accompanied by a stench ten times more potent than before, pushing the door open.
However, as the water reached Jayad and the Yellow King believers, it was blocked by an invisible wind barrier, unable to advance. It could only spill out to the sides, and the water inside the room quickly drained.
As everyone looked inside, they saw an indescribable monster. It still vaguely resembled a human, but half of its face was distorted and deformed, covered in scales like a marine animal. The garbled speech was due to half of its mouth having transformed into the shape of a fish’s mouth.
Coral grew all over its head, and its right hand had completely become a mass of intertwined tentacles. These tentacles, covered in suckers, seemed to be those of an octopus, and it was using them to hang in the middle of the room.
In addition to this, the house was a mess, damp and waterlogged everywhere. The seawater had not drained. The bookshelves and beds were covered in glowing seaweed.
And the floor was littered with half-eaten dead fish. Some of these fish were reduced to just their heads, while others had only been nibbled. All the fish were raw and showed signs of decay.
It could be surmised that in recent days, this man, who had mutated into a monster, had survived by eating these raw fish.
Faced with such a horrific and maddening scene, even the Yellow King believers were moved, pondering whether to act directly or retreat. But Jayad, as if unfazed, bowed politely to the interior and said, “You must be the master of this house, Mr. Nolan, correct?”
“Water! My seawater! Why are you disturbing me!” the mutated Nolan roared, spewing a large amount of ink from his mouth towards the onlookers.
A Yellow King believer stepped forward. With a wave of his sleeve, darkness emerged from it, studded with faint starlight, as if the sleeve contained a universe. A powerful suction was generated, instantly absorbing all the ink.
“Divine Envoy, this person has gone mad. We can only kill him!” said the Yellow King believer who waved his sleeve. When encountering someone whose spirit and body had reached such a state, they generally believed there was no hope and it was better to grant them release.
But Jayad said, “He hasn’t completely gone mad. He’s still struggling, still in turmoil. Locking himself in the house is proof of that. Besides, I promised his neighbors I would save him.”
The Yellow King believer found it somewhat incredible. Had the Divine Envoy truly taken his earlier words to the old women as a promise? They had assumed it was just a perfunctory statement, especially since the old women had already been subdued by Jayad. Why uphold a promise to someone who had lost all self-awareness?
However, Jayad took a step forward and said, “Furthermore, if we kill him, the lead will be lost again. You don’t need to act. I can capture him alone.”
Upon hearing this, the others could only step back, making space for Jayad to demonstrate his abilities. At the same time, seeing that the ink was ineffective, Nolan swung his right arm, which had mutated into a mass of over a dozen intertwined tentacles, towards Jayad.
Jayad also raised one hand. A mass of yellow tentacles emerged from his sleeve. Since there were no outsiders watching, he saw no need to be so cautious and held back.
The moment their tentacles met, the difference in their mutated bodies was apparent. Nolan’s tentacles were of varying lengths, some appearing underdeveloped, others with rotting skin. In contrast, Jayad’s dark yellow tentacles had smooth, glossy skin, clearly well-developed.
When the two sides made contact, Jayad’s numerous tentacles entwined with Nolan’s underdeveloped, smaller ones. Then, a dark yellow light flashed, and those octopus tentacles instantly began to wither and dry up, as if they had been completely drained of their moisture.
“Ah! Nnngh! Eeeeeee!” Nolan screamed in agony. The dark yellow light was not only drying his tentacles but also spreading along them towards his main body, causing his mutated left side to shrink.
“Water! I need water!” Nolan roared. His left arm snapped off instantly, like a lizard shedding its tail, as he actively abandoned the tentacles that were being held and couldn’t be retracted.
Then, he slammed against the back wall, breaking open the window that had been nailed shut from the inside. He stumbled out and ran towards the sea.
The Night Bird, which had been circling overhead, unleashed a sonic wave mixed with scales. Nolan, hit and sprayed, collapsed on the ground. After a few struggles, he fell asleep.
