All around, waves drifted sluggishly, and all manner of oddly shaped fish wandered lazily through them. The deep blue had gradually given way to pitch black; the sunlight filtering down from above could no longer reach these depths. Yet this was not a realm of total darkness. Occasionally, the eye would catch a glow-in-the-dark scaleless fish, or a crab-like sea monster brandishing two brilliantly colored lanterns — creatures that laced the abyss with a dim, eerie beauty, mysterious and sinister.
Lucian and Natasha had left
And so, layer upon layer of faintly shimmering light bloomed around Lucian, sealing away the seawater and its crushing force, making him seem as though he existed in another world entirely.
Around Natasha, slender and fearsome sword-lights prowled like living things, carving out a pocket of territory under her absolute control while exchanging only what was necessary with the surrounding sea.
They dove another hundred meters, and Lucian suddenly halted. Through their mental link he said, "I need to measure every environmental parameter here. Keep watch."
Natasha nodded slightly, raising the plain silver-gray sword. All ripples and vibrations in the vicinity ceased.
At this depth, the bioluminescent creatures had vanished. Everything was pitch black — not a glimmer of light, not the faintest sound.
Under such conditions, any sane intelligent being would feel an inexplicable dread, as if lurking within that dark, crushing water were sea monsters watching with cold indifference, biding their time, ready to strike at any moment.
"Aren't we in a hurry to reach the 'Azure Gate'?" Natasha asked, puzzled that Lucian wanted to run experiments at a time like this. "Whether or not it's truly connected to the anomalies in the Abyssal Ocean, it's the most important lead we have."
Lucian produced the "Laboratory Cabin," transforming it into a fully equipped lab. A thin veil of silver-white light wrapped around it to shield it from the seawater.
"To me, collecting these environmental parameters is just as important as exploring the 'Azure Gate' — possibly even more so. In arcane research, large volumes of comparative data are the key to unraveling any mystery," Lucian answered offhandedly, his gaze already shifting to the Laboratory Cabin as his expression turned sharp with focus.
Natasha didn't press further. This wasn't her area of expertise, and at a time like this, trusting the authority and "expert professor" was the only sensible choice.
She gripped the "
In the silent deep, Lucian conducted his experiments with absolute concentration. Occasionally, a sea monster that had detected an intruder would come barreling in with flailing tentacles or snapping claws, but every last one slipped away silently under Natasha's watchful gaze. A few that were too maddened by the killing instinct to turn back met a flash of silver-gray light and were reduced to countless shreds of meat — a feast for the smaller fish nearby.
And so Lucian pressed onward along the strange currents that plunged toward the ocean floor, pausing again and again to run experiments and gather data.
*Gurgle… gurgle…* Standing guard beside Lucian, Natasha suddenly detected a faint disturbance — a great many creatures surging in along a different current.
One after another, fish-headed humanoids clad in silver-gray scales came rushing through the current, each dragging a captive sea elf with deep-blue skin and pointed ears. On their own, they could never have withstood the pressure at this depth, but among them were priests wielding staffs who had jointly conjured a massive air bubble, bearing the brunt of the pressure above.
"How much longer until we reach the 'Azure Gate'?" one Kotau merman warrior asked the priest beside him, barely able to contain his impatience.
As a place of legendary divine power spread among the sea peoples, the "Azure Gate" had been sung down through generations of Kotau mermen, Gyps mermen, sea elves, deep-sea dragonkin, and mutated seahorses — a dream paradise they had longed for. The mere word that they might journey to the unconfirmed Azure Gate had sent these sea folk into a frenzy of excitement they could barely restrain.
The priest beside him was equally thrilled. "Based on Her Highness Doris's description, it should take about half a day more."
The questioning Kotau warrior fixed the sea elf captive with his glowing, dead-fish eyes and lashed out with his trident. "Swim faster!"
The sea elf's eyes blazed with fury, as though they might spit fire. She glared at the Kotau, looking ready to fight to the death.
"What are you staring at? You're prisoners now. Watch it, or I'll eat you right here!" The Kotau merman's diet unquestionably included sea elves.
The female sea elf's voice was clear yet full of grief and rage. "Her Majesty will come to save us!"
"Hmph! If your precious queen could save you, she would have done it already. She used that filthy scheme to hold off His Majesty, but she had no strength left to rescue you!" Every time the Kotau thought of the battle that had nearly ended in victory, he seethed. How had the elven queen become so powerful?!
The sea elf's gaze dimmed, and she spoke as if trying to comfort herself. "Her Majesty only held back because she intends to use you to find the 'Azure Gate.' That's why she hasn't come yet — for all you know, she's following right behind you!"
Over the past few days, she had listened to these wretched mermen talk endlessly about the Azure Gate, and her own curiosity had grown unbearable. If she weren't headed there as a captive, she would have been thrilled.
"Hahaha, do you even believe what you're saying? How could she possibly know we're heading for the Azure Gate?!" The Kotau merman crushed her fragile sliver of hope, forcing her to confront the terrible fate that might await her — would Halex, that monster, use her as some kind of offering to open the Azure Gate?