411 Strike (1/2)
Lucien's mind was broadened by the boundless blue ocean. Slowly, he lowered his altitude and cast Advanced Invisibility on himself.
The closer Lucien was to the ocean, the worse the ocean stank. Lucien activated his Health Belt to keep the disgusting air away from him.
The surface of the breathing blue ocean was covered with grey, black, and dark green bubbles. The bubbles silently grew and broke. Their filthy color dyed the water, producing a sense of chaos.
”Contaminated Water contains lots of space gaps but, unlike that of the Dark Mountain Range, was smaller and more homogenous, connected only to the Abyssal Maw. Affected and contaminated permanently by the devil power, the creatures living in the water have been demonized and become very dangerous.”
This piece of information quickly emerged in Lucien's brain. Contaminated Water was far from Solar Islands and Pearl Islands, thus belonging to the deepest part of the Boundless Ocean. Although Lucien had mastered Advanced Fly, it still took Lucien days to arrive here. Of course, he spent the nights resting on islands to prevent overfatigue and to interpret the Sun Staff.
Since Contaminated Water was so far away from the mainland and was quite a poor area without any mines or treasures, the Congress of Magic had not noticed its existence until the Kuo-toans robbed the commercial fleets of the wave stones. Later, the Congress sent some sorcerers here and drew the map.
At that time, Lucien was only a first circle mage, and he was not planning on exploring this area at all. He left it behind his mind after earning one arcana point by sharing the information with the Congress. Later, when he had accepted Rhine's request, he read the Congress' investigation documents with regards to Contaminated Water and the Kuo-toans.
Although Lucien only earned one arcana point from sharing the information, he finally benefited from his own contribution, which proved that the work efficiency of the Affair Committee was pretty good.
Lucien recalled the information on the Kuo-toans' altar and Contaminated Water:
”… the Kuo-toans, intelligent creatures, believers of the Lord of Ocean, Amboula. They have the facility of casting water and illusion spells and are physically strong when fighting underwater. The Kuo-toans are very commonly seen in the area of Storm Strait and the Boundless Ocean. Developing from tribes, they have founded their countries around the Altar. The imperial family lives five thousand kilometers to the northeast side of the Solar Islands.”
”… It was said that Amboula, the Lord of Ocean, had fallen asleep in ancient time, thus no prayer was ever answered. In the last thousand years, the power of the Kuo-toan priests was taken over by the imperial family and the priests are now only a symbol of belief and honor. Therefore, the priests are very discontented, but they are not powerful enough to retake what they want…”
”… At the beginning of the fifth month of the year 816, a group of the Kuo-toans living close to the Altar in Contaminated Water claimed that they had received the oracle of Amboula. They called for the followers to collect a great number of materials to open the hidden relic underneath the Altar to awaken Amboula and recover the divine right of the Lord of Ocean. The information and related record have been submitted to the Highest Council as the issue involves divine power.”
”… In the first month of the year 817, the Kuo-toans collected enough materials and opened the relic. Edwyn Brook, the Emperor of Control, Chelsea Holt, the Moon Scholar, and a few other leading sorcerers observed the Kuo-toans' rite on site. When the relic was open, the Prince of the Kuo-toans arrived leading his army and took over the control of the relic. Then the awakening rite was held by the Prince…”
”The rite failed. Amboula was not awakened. Brook and the other mages also did not find any remains of Amboula. However, the discovery of the relic still improved the Altar's resistance against contamination, thus many priests believed that the rite still worked and retained part of their hope. They believed that Amboula's power is slowly recovering and as long as they keep worshiping and praying, Amboula will come back to them one day fully recovered.”
”Because of interference from the imperial family, the Altar in Contaminated Water area right now only has two seven circle chief priests, two level seven ocean warriors, an order named Blue Guard consisting of a hundred Kuo-toans, and a few thousand of devout followers.”
This was the piece of information that made Lucien believed that getting what he wanted from the altar would not be too big of a challenge for him. After all, when Rhine first snuck in, there was a level nine Revered Priest, nine senior-ranks, and three Blue Guard orders. Because of the inner conflict in the Kuo-toans, the Revered Priest and five senior-ranks had gone back to the Ocean Heart Altar, and most of the devout followers and orders were also removed.
Another good thing for Lucien was that since the Kuo-toans had to eat a lot daily and the creatures around Abyssal Maw were very dangerous, the senior-ranks had to lead the rest of the Kuo-toans out seeking for food. Very often, only one senior-rank would be left to guard the Altar, which was a great opportunity for Lucien.
Lucien was worried that once the awakening rite failed, the arrangement left by Rhine would go invalid as well. However, Rhine assured him that the awakening rite would have no problem and could instead strengthen his magic circle.
But at the end of their conversation, Rhine, frowning slightly, said to Lucien,
”For your own safety, when you throw the filthy blood ball into the altar, make sure you grab Pale Justice. As the Altar is connected to Abyssal Maw, the activation of the magic circle could possibly disturb crazy, evil creatures. Although they cannot come to the main material world themselves, they can still contaminate you tracing the connection using their evil power. Sun's Corona can also do the work, but Pale Justice is even better.”
Lucien planned to sneak in directly after careful observation.
The ocean waves almost hit Lucien, and the bloody smell of the ocean was overwhelming. Suddenly, a flatfish sprang out of the water, trying to bite Lucien!
The flatfish was different from regular ones. It was totally black and its teeth were as sharp as small daggers. What was more disgusting was that it even had four baby arms on its body, which was glimmering with a layer of faint blue light. The flatfish was just like a monster from nightmares!
Demonized creatures could see through invisibility!
Lucien was drawn out of his thoughts and turned to look at the flatfish.
Instantly, the demonized flatfish resolved into many colorful light spots, returning to pure element form, and disappeared in the waves.
Lucien recalled that when the Altar first received Amboula's oracle in the fifth month of the year 816, Maskelyne's Grand Cross just collapsed. He was sure that this had something to do with the World of Souls…
Lucien stopped himself from thinking too much and cast on himself Water Breath, Move in Water, and some other spells that helped to conceal his trace. Then he dived into the ocean.
The water overwhelmed him like a gentle dream. Following the guidance of the information he collected and the map, Lucien quickly swam toward a cave in the ocean — the Kuo-toans did not live deep in the ocean, but rather in the areas where sea cliffs, walls, and seagrass gathered.
On his way to the underwater cave, Lucien could see strange-looking, half-demonized fish swimming past him, and from time to time, he saw them fighting with each other viciously. About half an hour later, Lucien saw the cave, which was guarded by two fish-head monsters.
......