Chapter 176: Divinity Altar (1/2)

A frogman was diving down the dark, deep lake while glugging from time to time.

It was obviously a vast and frighteningly deep lake, and yet there weren’t many living creatures within aside from one or two little fishes passing by.

The rest probably were all devoured by the Marsh Drake, the frogman thought. The appetite of such an enormous monster must have been horrific.

Although the frogman did not actually join the battle against the Marsh Drake, it was shouting cheers and waving banners for its master—that one fact alone was enough for it to boast about the next time it met Croakatoa in the village.

And now, this young frogman was beside itself with joy also exploring the bottom of the lake as requested by its master. If the cold lake water wasn’t actually calming it down, it felt that it could get a boner.

As a matter of fact, the Players had obtained diving equipment when they were exploring the Gray Fjord. However, they clearly weren’t expecting to use those stuff in this journey into the Seira Marshes, which was why none of them brought along those heavy and space-consuming equipment.

It was fortunate that more Players had made contracts with the frogmen following the conclusion of the Fishmen Island event, and they could dispatch their familiars to help investigate the bottom of the lake.

Meanwhile, the young frogman threw away his excess thoughts and continued diving downwards, but the water pressure was becoming even stronger the deeper it went, almost suffocating it.

“Croak!”

Just as it was about to be crushed by the enormous force, blinks of white light that resembled warm snow appeared.

Soon, a gigantic altar that resembled a shrine appeared before it. The center of the altar was a single gem that was shining dazzlingly in white radiance, and yet appeared murky at the same time somehow.

The entire lake seemed to shine after that.

The distorted corpses of various creatures were piling around the altar. In fact, several of those lifeless corpses belonged to Marsh Drakes that were larger than the one the Players fought, along with a massive chain that was thicker than a frogman’s body but having already rusted halfway through.

“Croak?”

For some reason, the frogman who should be a coward by nature wasn’t frightened by corpses at all. Drawn by the strange gem, it appeared to have completely forgotten its task and only desired a closer look.

That was when its face reverted from drunkenness to lucidity—through the strength of its contract, its master had told him that its task was complete and it could return.

It was only then that the frogman went green in fright at the sight of the piling corpses and swam upwards as hard as it could.

Naturally, the frogman wasn’t aware that a ball of light appeared near the altar, extending and coiling its tentacles around the white gem to take it away.

***

As Xi Wei had guessed, the white gem was a fragment of divinity, and it didn’t belong to Mossland Spirit.

Instead, it belonged to Amazon, the Rainforest Guardian—a deity that had suddenly gone missing over seven hundred years ago.