229 Ghost Fog Island Part 2 (1/2)
”Over there!” Daniel exclaimed excitedly as he pointed enthusiastically towards the northeast. Saleen’s gaze followed Daniel’s pointed fingers and rested upon a faint outline of an island. If Daniel had not pointed it out, both Lex and Saleen would not have noticed it at all.
Saleen instantly perked up as he replied, ”Let’s take a look!” They had been drifting for about three days now, which was not a very long time. Saleen could take up to an entire day just pondering over a single formula. In fact, he would be so caught up on it that he would skip his meals. However, it was different here. An additional day out at sea meant an additional day where they would be surrounded by danger. The most dangerous magical beasts of all loved to roam about these waters, and they had already had the displeasure of meeting some of them. In fact, there was one occasion where they had had no choice but to feed Fellett to a shark in order to escape in one piece.
Luckily for them, the colorful shark that they had fed Fellett to was not a species which travelled in a group and had left immediately after guzzling him down. Even though it had been a lone shark, Saleen had not dared to antagonize it by attacking it. He knew now that magical sea beasts were very adept at communication. If that shark had been attacked, it would have been able to call up at least a hundred of its kind within minutes.
If Saleen and the gang continued drifting on for days on end, they would eventually meet a magical beast that they had no hopes of defeating. It did not have to be some legendary powerful creature. Just a grade-8 beast would be enough to make the ocean their permanent resting place.
Under Lex’s command, the two fully constructed puppets started rowing faster. The only problem now was that the turtle shell was so big that even all the strength in the world could not make it run as fast as an actual ship. In other words, they were travelling really slowly.
After rowing for over three hours, the blurry outline of the island territory became slightly clearer, meaning that they were getting closer and closer to land. Using his icy sight, Saleen concluded that the huge island was shrouded by some sort of fog.
The other thing separating Saleen and the others from the island were thick curtains of light, which almost fully concealed the island. In fact, if Saleen had not used his icy sight, he would not have spotted that island. He would have thought that the ocean color was slightly more faded than normal.
”Stop! Stop!” Saleen bellowed. Too late. The puppets had sped up too suddenly to stop now. Before Saleen knew it, they were crashing into the curtain of light.
Everyone but Nailisi instantly activated some sort of protection for themselves. For Lex, it was the ice plate armor; for Saleen, it was the water shield; for Daniel, he had expanded the death flames to cover his body in a protective layer of flames; for Sika, a layer of darkness had suddenly popped out of nowhere and shrouded her in a protective embrace. Quaint runes started floating about, bringing about a feeling of peace and tranquillity.
Drifting out at sea had benefited Sika the most compared to the others. Back in her village, the areas nearby had often been filled with all sorts of human activity, and the people from the Holy See had also liked to roam there. All the powerful magical beasts had been chased away by humans to the extent that Sika was confident that no one could find traces proving that they once roamed freely about these villages. For Sika’s warrior priest abilities to awaken, she would have to frequently interact with the strongest magical creatures alive, and in some cases, even learn to live with them.
Ever since Sika had joined Saleen on this trip, she had encountered different kinds of powerful sea monsters. These creatures were different from the beasts that a person would encounter on land. They had no ill-will against humans, but they definitely were not afraid of them either. Unless they were starving, sea monsters usually left Saleen, Sika, and the others alone.
This characteristic, however, would never be found in the magical beasts humans tended to encounter on the mainland. By now, Sika had gradually understood the intimate connection priests had with nature. It was not any form of manipulation, nor was it an attempt to conquer. The sole purpose of priests partaking in battles was to allow humans to survive. It was no wonder that the spirits inside the weapon exhibited no hint of resentment. The priests back then had not forced the magic beast souls to stay. They had strongly believed in the concept of coexistence.
As of right now, the curtain of light had not launched any form of offensive attack on the group of five. In fact, Saleen believed that its main function was simply to conceal everything behind it. However, Saleen and the others did not let their guards down. This place was the definition of lifeless. There was not even a speck of green on the towering grey rocks that made up the island. It was located in the most southern part of the ocean, meaning that the temperature and humidity levels were high. Even if there were no trees, Saleen thought that there should have at least been some grass covering the land.
As they turned back to look at the view of the ocean they had grown accustomed to before crashing through the curtain of light, they were surprised to see nothing but pitch black, as though the world there had been plunged into darkness. Not only that, but Saleen and the others were not really able to navigate through their current location. It was obvious that there was a huge magic array in operation here, although it did not seem like the kind that warded off intruders. If anything, it existed to keep the people on the island from getting out.
Saleen was not too afraid of these magic arrays since he still had his badge with him. As long as the magic array was not too powerful, he could destroy it by sticking the badge on it and having the badge absorb the elemental powers present in it.
There was still a metal chain attached to the tail of the rock turtle. Nailisi dived into the water and started pulling the chains in the direction of the island.
A green stream of air lifted Lex off of the turtle shell and gently flew her in the direction of the island. Saleen turned and rested his gaze on Daniel as he thought, How is it possible for Daniel to discover such a well-hidden island while Lex and I could not even see anything unusual? Saleen did not think that Daniel’s mental powers were stronger than either his or Lex’s.
”Daniel! Tell me…what is this place?” Saleen asked with a slight grin on his face.
”Ghost Fog Island,” Daniel replied without hesitation. Wow, he didn’t try to evade the question, Saleen thought, stunned for a moment. Seeing his perplexed expression, Daniel let out a sigh before continuing, ”These islands also exist in the Tanggulasi waters. They are normally left behind by necromancers. However, not many people have the opportunity to see them because they’re located so far away from land.”
”Oh really? Tell me what you know,” Saleen said. He did not understand much about death magic. Aside from Daniel, Saleen could not recall crossing paths with another necromancer. He thought that it would be a good idea to find out more about the island before he explored it. Saleen also figured that Daniel would not hide anything from him.
”I’m not sure myself. Most ghost fog islands have large magic arrays to avoid being seen by the outside world. Necromancers typically don’t like interacting with people. Plus, the Holy See hasn’t exactly been very friendly with our kind either. Thus, most necromancers use magic arrays to conceal any and all parts of their islands. This island in particular is very big. If there are any necromancers here, we will not be able to beat them even if we combine our powers,” Daniel explained.
”What if there aren’t any necromancers here anymore?” Saleen asked curiously. Daniel’s eyes perked up for a bit before they were reduced back to a dull gaze in the blink of an eye. He replied sincerely, ”If a necromancer knew that he was dying, he’d take everything on his island with him. Besides the magic array, this island may contain a magic tower. The key word here is ‘may’ because even the tower may not be here anymore. I don’t think you’d find anything valuable here either. Unless…”