Chapter 165: Ruins Sea

Chapter 165: Ruins Sea

Although Gehrman Sparrow gave no visible reaction, Admiral of Stars Cattleya seemed to have noticed his inward astonishment and offered a simple explanation.

“That was flight—flight that made it impossible for the Death Knell to catch up.”

As she spoke, she discovered that compared with yesterday, Gehrman Sparrow had completely changed his attire: a round-neck shirt, a brown jacket, wide-legged trousers, and a dark flat cap. He looked less like an adventurer and more like a native resident of Bayam, the City of Generosity.

According to Nina, his clothes had been soaked by a huge wave the night before… Does he only have one decent outfit? Cattleya recalled the matter briefly and soon found the reason.

She was not surprised. In fact, she felt this suited Gehrman Sparrow’s madness perfectly—prepare only one set of respectable clothes, then spend the rest of his money on mystical items, Beyonder weapons, and spiritual charms, all for the sake of improving his personal strength.

“No wonder the Undying King gave up in the end. He was merely attacking a passing ship on a whim. He didn’t have enough hatred to drive him into chasing us all the way… Mm, veteran pirate admirals do still have a certain chance of escaping before one of the Four Kings…

“We’re almost there… Tsk, and I still haven’t completely digested it yet…

“Still, yesterday’s acting as the crazy adventurer Gehrman Sparrow seemed rather successful. The crew of the Future gave very positive, very enthusiastic feedback. I should be able to fully digest the potion in two or three days. And even once we enter dangerous waters, finding mermaids won’t be that easy. There’s still time…” Klein gave a slight nod, suppressed the urge to ask further questions, and prepared to walk past the Admiral of Stars toward the fixed long table to get breakfast.

Just then, he saw a pirate rush in carrying a lively blue-green fish, heading straight for a corner.

Sitting there was the Future’s second mate, Heath Doyle. His face was pale almost to the point of translucence, and his nose bridge was so high it looked faintly unnatural.

Pa!

The nearly one-meter-long sea fish was placed before Bloodless Heath.

Heath Doyle stretched out both hands and pressed the large fish down. His body bent bit by bit, his head lowering inch by inch, until his face pressed against the scales as if in a kiss.

Suddenly, the fish stiffened. Then, like a candle meeting flame, it rapidly melted into a revolting mass of flesh and blood.

That flesh and blood flowed like liquid into Heath Doyle’s mouth and spread over the surface of his skin.

Amid writhing too nauseating to watch directly, the large fish vanished completely—bones, blood, and meat—leaving no trace behind. Heath Doyle’s face became exceptionally clean, except that his lips abruptly turned bright red, like a rose in bloom.

Rose Bishop… The Sequence name immediately surfaced in Klein’s mind.

Cattleya, standing beside him, also saw the scene. She pushed up her glasses and said, “Every Rose Bishop needs to replenish enough flesh and blood. Only then can they fully make use of their Beyonder powers, and after being injured in an intense battle, they won’t lose control as easily.”

The corners of her mouth curved slightly as she added, “It’s just that the madmen of the Aurora Order prefer human flesh and blood. In truth, substitutes can be used.”

So this Bloodless, with a bounty of 7,600 pounds, really is lucky… Accidentally reaching Sequence 6 in a single step without mutating or losing his mind is one thing. Joining the pirate crew of the Admiral of Stars is another. Without this lady, who is pursued by knowledge, and the various hidden knowledge she has mastered, even if he never actively listened to the True Creator’s voice, he would sooner or later have turned into a monster because of his craving for human flesh… Klein sighed inwardly.

He increasingly felt that the Secrets Suppliant pathway—the Shepherd pathway—was the Beyonder path most prone to madness and loss of control. There was no rival. Even the Abyss pathway, which represented brazen malice, fell slightly short.

Klein withdrew his gaze and had just been about to move when the entire ship suddenly pitched violently.

In an instant, an image of the scene ahead of the Future naturally appeared in Klein’s mind.

There, the azure sea had been severed by an enormous fissure. Endless seawater poured downward like a waterfall, plunging vertically into bottomless darkness!

The sight was magnificent and miraculous, making one sincerely doubt whether the place they stood on was truly part of a planet.

Splash!

Unable to stop, the Future rushed over the edge and began falling rapidly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Every pirate in the dining room flew upward, striking the ceiling. Toast, white bread, butter, cream, beer, pan-fried fish, and other foods all flew in chaotic disorder, unable to fall.

Klein likewise lost his balance, inevitably hurtling toward the ceiling.

In time, he reached out, pressed upward with his palm, and adjusted his posture as though performing acrobatics, making himself appear not at all disheveled.

Not far away, Nina displayed astounding balance. With the help of the ceiling, she maintained her stance. Whether intentionally or not, she stretched her legs outward and happened to kick Frank, sending the Toxin Expert flying diagonally into a beer barrel, where pale-yellow liquid drenched him from head to toe.

At that moment, the easiest and most graceful person present was Admiral of Stars Cattleya. Starlight circled around her, brilliance taking shape beneath her feet, and her entire body floated in midair, unaffected by the rapid plunge.

Apart from her, Bloodless Heath was the least discomposed. At some unknown point, the Rose Bishop had merged into the shadows and vanished.

Just as the Future was about to fall completely into the bottomless dark fissure, seawater surged upward from below like a fountain.

It caught the ship, flung it high into the air, and hurled it toward the far side of the broken surface.

After a brief sensation of weightlessness, Klein believed the Future had landed steadily back upon the sea. The Sea God-domain charms clenched in his right hand had not come into use.

By then, the sunlight outside the windows had become bright. It poured fiercely into the dining room, illuminating the disorder within.

Having long since regained his balance, Klein quickly walked to the window. Outside, the boundless ocean seemed to burn with golden flames, as if it existed eternally at noon.

And just a moment before, it had still been morning!

Klein raised his head and narrowed his eyes. Midair was filled with direct sunlight. There were no clouds, and the sun could not be seen. Everything was golden.

No wonder Magic Mirror Arrodes described this place as an unreal sea, a place left behind by the War of the Gods.

As Klein swept his gaze around, he noticed a ruin not far ahead and to the side.

Most of that ruin was submerged beneath seawater. What rose above the surface were gray stones and stone pillars piled into a peak, with something like a dome at the very top. Its curved surface supported a fairly spacious interior.

This ruin must once have been unimaginably vast. Through the transparent seawater, Klein could see it extending downward all the way into the depths of the seabed, without end.

“This is an extremely dangerous sea,” Admiral of Stars Cattleya said, having arrived beside him at some point.

Klein turned his head halfway and looked over, waiting for Madam Hermit to continue.

Cattleya looked ahead, her tone faintly rueful. “I have not come here many times, and those visits were long ago.”

“I,” not “we”… In other words, she didn’t come here with the people of the Future back then… Was it when she was still under the Queen of Mysteries? Klein keenly noticed the wording used by the Admiral of Stars and faintly formed a guess.

Cattleya did not turn her head. Gazing at the sea and sky covered in golden flames, she said, “No one knows where the end of this sea lies. No one knows just how wide it truly is.

“Do you know what the most dangerous thing here is?”

…I should have made Arrodes explain in more detail back then… Klein frankly shook his head.

Because he had previously almost been caught by a demigod subordinate of the True Creator, only muddling through with the Die of Probability, he had not dared to bring the wireless telegraph out into the real world for the past two months. He had feared being noticed by the True Creator, who was paying close attention to this region. Thus, he had never had a chance to contact the magic mirror, Arrodes.

His original plan had been to approach this dangerous sea and then, through the paper crane, consult the Snake of Fate, Will Auceptin, so that he could grasp the corresponding environmental information. Who could have expected an accident? They had encountered the Undying King Agalito, and the Future had given him no buffer time at all before reaching their destination.

Behind Cattleya’s thick glasses, her deep-black eyes tinged with purple seemed momentarily distant.

“Many ruins float here, along with all kinds of mutated monsters. Among them are no small number of demigods who lost control and ancient evil beings.

“But that is not the most dangerous part. If there were only these, this sea would become a hunting ground for the seven great Churches—a treasure vault where they could harvest high-Sequence ingredients and items. Of course, many monsters here, many evil things that have lost control, are not necessarily real. They can truly kill us, but after being killed, they leave nothing behind.”

Hearing this, Klein immediately thought of the Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt.

Whatever that King of Dragons imagined would exist!

Could this sea be a battlefield of the ancient gods from the Second Epoch? Klein nearly furrowed his brows.

Admiral of Stars Cattleya continued in a slightly drifting voice, “Here, you can never guess what danger you will encounter next. Perhaps merely approaching a ruin will melt you and turn you into a candle-like monster. Perhaps you will simply deviate from an explored route and become stone inside a storm, then fall and shatter.

“For Beyonders at our level, that is the greatest danger.”

Klein tilted his head slightly and keenly asked, “What about Beyonders above our level?”

Cattleya sighed with a smile.

“This sea is filled with voices that should not be heard.

“The higher the Sequence, the easier it is to hear them. Therefore, most demigods who dare explore this place develop problems. They either go mad, lose control, or become forever lost here.”

No wonder the seven great Churches don’t send powerful figures here to harvest everything… Most develop problems… In other words, a small number of demigods can survive in this place? Realization dawned on Klein as he looked out the window again.

By then, the Future had already drawn much closer to the ruin from before.

Suddenly, a huge and distinct gasp rang out beside everyone’s ears at the same time!