The five great continents of Hell — the Purplejade Continent, Kalosha Continent, Bifrost Continent, Bloodcliff Continent, and Muya Continent — together formed an enormous ring. Within that ring lay the inland sea known as the Starfog Sea. Though called an inland sea, the Starfog Sea surpassed any single continent in size.
"Whoosh~~" The crystal-clear water, tinged with a faint purple hue, rippled gently.
In the boundless Starfog Sea, even without wind, three-foot waves would rise on their own.
"Whoosh!" A diamond-shaped metal life, transformed into the form of a ship, sliced through wind and waves at breathtaking speed. This metal life, reshaped into a diamond vessel, was nearly fifty meters long and almost ten meters wide at its broadest point. It was open on top, and the metal along its sides was entirely transparent.
Lin Lei, Dilia, and the others took in the scenery of the Starfog Sea. It was their first time entering these waters.
"It's beautiful!"
The endless expanse of pale purple water, the silken wisps of thin fog, the cool moisture rising into the air — gazing upon it all, Lin Lei felt his spirits lift.
"Boss, when we first set out, there wasn't any fog above the sea, but now it's covered in fog. It's just like the Purplejade Mountain Range, though not nearly as thick." Bei Bei craned his neck to look upward. The metal life skimmed along just above the water's surface.
About ten meters above the metal life, the fog began.
The mist above the Starfog Sea formed in layered streaks, very thin, barely obstructing the view.
Lin Lei also looked up. Suddenly, a voice sounded from nearby: "Don't underestimate this fog. The 'fog' of the Starfog Sea is extremely dangerous. Once you enter its range, you'll be struck by lightning. The deeper you go, the more powerful the lightning becomes! Even Highgods wouldn't dare fly too high!"
Lin Lei turned to look. The speaker was another Intermediate God demon, one with short, black, needle-like hair and a thick beard. He leaned casually against a corner, holding a wine bottle and drinking.
"My name is Lin Lei," Lin Lei said with a smile.
"You can call me Betz!" the bearded man said casually. "You lot are here for the first time, right? Everyone feels the same way at first, but after a while it just gets tedious. Endless ocean in every direction, and occasionally those annoying pirates — they're everywhere, truly a nuisance."
Lin Lei couldn't help but laugh.
"Haha, no need to worry about pirates," said the employer Aiqi, approaching with a broad smile. "This time our team has two Highgods. Those small pirate bands wouldn't dare provoke two Highgod demons. And the really powerful forces probably wouldn't bother with a group our size."
Olivia glanced at him. "The way you talk, sounds safe enough?"
"The Starfog Sea — just sailing straight through takes decades. Who knows what might happen?" another demon in the metal life's main hall remarked dismissively.
Lin Lei smiled.
Danger?
As long as they didn't run into a Seven-Star Demon or a Ruler-level powerhouse, he was confident he could at least keep himself alive.
Night. At the bow of the diamond-shaped ship, Lin Lei stepped out of the cabin. There were already several people outside.
"Hoo hoo!"
The metal life moved at tremendous speed, and the sea wind was ferocious, cutting like knives. For an ordinary mortal, such wind would have been enough to suffocate and kill. But for these divine-level beings, it barely mattered. Lin Lei didn't try to talk to the others; he simply reclined against the angled transparent metal panel behind him and enjoyed the nighttime view of the Starfog Sea.
Under the night sky, the waters of the Starfog Sea looked dark and fathomless, as though some enormous beast lurked beneath.
"We've been at sea for a full year now, and yet it feels like we've barely made any progress at all," Lin Lei thought with a sigh. That man called Betz hadn't been wrong — after enough time in the Starfog Sea, it did become monotonous. After all, there was nothing but endless ocean in every direction.
Though the metal life surged forward at tremendous speed, one could barely feel it.
"Lin Lei." A voice came from behind. He turned to see Dilia, who sat down beside him, half-reclining, and took his hand. Something seemed to cross her mind, and she began to laugh softly.
"What are you giggling about?" Lin Lei asked, smiling.
"I was thinking — when we first met at Ernst Academy, could we ever have imagined that one day we'd be adventuring together across the Starfog Sea in Hell? Fate is truly wondrous," Dilia said with feeling.
Lin Lei couldn't help but smile.
"Lin Lei, look — there's lightning in the distance," Dilia said, pointing ahead.
Lin Lei turned to look —
Sure enough, in the thin fog far away, countless arcs of lightning crackled and danced, like serpents of electricity.
"The scenery really is lovely. We've been in the Starfog Sea for so long, and yet this is the first time I've seen anything this interesting at night," Lin Lei remarked with admiration.
"Lightning!" Several people nearby cried out.
Without another word, they shot back into the ship like startled rabbits.
Lin Lei and Dilia looked back in puzzlement. They saw the employer Aiqi staring wide-eyed at them, sending a divine transmission: "Get inside, now! The sea is about to surge. Quickly!"
"Surge?"
Though confused, Lin Lei and Dilia darted back into the metal life. Once inside, they immediately peered through the transparent metal at the lightning, as did the rest of the group.
"Hissss~~~" Innumerable serpents of electricity writhed through the fog, spreading over an ever-wider area.
Moments later, the electric serpents had reached the space directly above their metal life. Lin Lei was startled: "In the blink of an eye, it spread at least a thousand li." A divine being's vision was extraordinarily far-reaching. The speed at which the lightning spread astonished them all.
"Whoosh!" Their metal life sealed itself completely shut, then pivoted in a flash and shot off in the opposite direction.
"Hissss~~"
Above Lin Lei's vessel — and above every other stretch of sea in sight — electric serpents writhed endlessly. The area they covered was still expanding, and the rate of expansion far outpaced the metal life's flight speed.
"Let's hope we can escape the surge zone," Aiqi murmured.
Lin Lei and the other demons watched through the transparent metal as the situation unfolded above. The lightning now blanketed an enormous area, stretching across nearly the entire sky. The thin, dark fog, illuminated by the crackling electricity, blazed with blinding brilliance.
"Rumble~~~" A deep, resonant roar filled the air.