Versatile Mage

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

“It’s too dark now. Should we wait until morning?” Zhao Manyan suggested.

“Brother Zhao, if we wait until morning, we will have less than twenty hours left. We have to inform Brother Fan and Mu Bai of what we have discovered so they have enough time to stop the Forbidden Curse,” Zhang Xiaohou answered.

Zhao Manyan knocked his head on a Salt Rock nearby. He wished he could just knock himself to death. Why did these guys always drag him into life-and-death situations?

“So what exactly are you looking for that will prove it’s a trap set up by the sea monsters?” Zhao Manyan asked him.

He was clueless about the entire situation, especially the reason why Zhang Xiaohou was so confident that the Forbidden Curse was a trap. Where did he learn it was a part of a conspiracy by the sea monsters?

“I encountered an unusual creature in a trench. We’ll refer it to as the Trench Demon for now. Its intelligence is on par with humans, and it also has abilities similar to the Curse and Psychic Elements. It can consume human souls to obtain their knowledge after killing them,” Zhang Xiaohou said.

Yang Xiajie was definitely not the first victim of the Trench Demon. It must have killed a high-ranking military officer and obtained lots of information from him, including the operation of the Forbidden Curses!

“The sea monsters already know we are using a Forbidden Curse?!” Zhao Manyan blurted out in surprise.

Zhang Xiaohou nodded. The sea monsters had long learned their secrets. They even knew about the Forbidden Curse before Zhang Xiaohou did!

Zhang Xiaohou’s troop was given the mission to find a suitable target for the Forbidden Curse. The operation involving a Forbidden Curse would obviously take the military a long time to plan and discuss after being proposed.

Zhang Xiaohou’s troop had only learned about the Forbidden Curse at a later phase in the operation, after the countdown started.

Zhang Xiaohou was spooked when he learned the Trench Demon had already known about the Forbidden Curse before the countdown even started!

The operation was kept confidential. Outsiders might be able to tell a huge operation was taking place on the Giant Clock Mountain, but no one would ever link it to a Forbidden Curse. The people had been evacuated for ‘other reasons’.

Even Super Mages did not know much about Forbidden Curses, let alone other people and Mages!

The Trench Demon obviously did not learn about the Forbidden Curse by stealing the information from a nobody.

The sea monsters were prepared for it!

“I have to go to the bottom of the sea to look for a silver vein.”

“A silver vein at the bottom of the sea? Are we trying to make a fortune?”

“Brother Zhao, can we focus on the Forbidden Curse? We might die if we don’t do our job properly. What’s the point of being rich if we won’t survive it?”

The two snuck into the area of the cliffs while they were talking.

The isolated sea stacks were some distance apart from one another. Each stack was like a dark mysterious tower rooted to the bottom of the sea.

Zhang Xiaohou and Zhao Manyan were both Water Mages. They were able to move freely in the water without worrying about oxygen or water resistance.

They dove into the sea rapidly, but it was too dark at the bottom of the sea. They could only see a limited range, even with night vision.

Zhang Xiaohou was having doubts as they reached the bottom of the sea. Everything looked perfectly normal. There was no sign of a deep trench, nor did they see any special creatures.

Zhang Xiaohou had done a quick scan on the surface. The Dragon King Krill had gathered in a specific area like fish in a pond, but the sea was a lot bigger than a pond. The number of the Dragon King Krill there could easily take out a county without alerting anyone!

However, Zhang Xiaohou did not find the clues he was looking for, except for the Dragon King Krill.

“Perhaps I was wrong?” Zhang Xiaohou murmured to himself regretfully.

“Houzi, over here!” Zhao Manyan suddenly yelled.

Zhang Xiaohou swam toward Zhao Manyan. He was close to a thick undersea cliff, and pointed at a hole in it.

“It’s empty inside, but I noticed unusual flows of the water inside it,” Zhao Manyan exclaimed.

“How can you tell?” Zhang Xiaohou was shocked.

“I’m a Super Water Mage. Do you think you can compare yourself with me when you only just Awakened the Water Element as your Fourth Element?” Zhao Manyan replied.

Zhang Xiaohou nodded and said, “It seems like we have made a wise decision to assign you to my group.”

“Bullsh**, it will not happen again!” Zhao Manyan instantly refuted.

Zhang Xiaohou smiled. He was familiar with Zhao Manyan’s personality. He might say no with his mouth, but he could not stop himself from diving into dangerous and exciting situations!

——-

The base of the cliff at the bottom of the sea was the size of a building. The two went inside the hole and quickly noticed they were able to dive deeper than the bottom of the sea!

Another well at the bottom of the sea!

It had been hidden under the thick and hollow cliff. Zhang Xiaohou realized why he had not been able to find anything. The nest of the Dragon King Krill was truly well hidden!

The two continued down the well. They roughly estimated the well was around a thousand meters deep.

They eventually discovered an underwater river in the well. The water was flowing rapidly across the bottom of the well.

The underwater river was bigger than the one Zhang Xiaohou had discovered in the sea trench, easily wide enough to support a city. It could fit the biggest cargo ship!

“Such an incredible sight! There are rocks at the bottom of the sea, and a river under the rocks! Its current is ten times stronger than normal rivers!” Zhao Manyan exclaimed.

He would never have believed it if he had not seen it in person!

“There are many hordes and kingdoms in the sea. Not every species is planning to invade our land. Our leaders have already told us that the sea monsters which are eying our shores covetously are from an ancient and powerful kingdom. They have yet to launch a full-scale attack on our shores because they are waiting for the sea level to rise again. They need the help of the tides to boost their momentum. They also have to construct a convenient shortcut so the powerful creatures of their dynasty can arrive at the battlefield in the shortest time possible,” Zhang Xiaohou explained.

“So you’re saying this river under the bottom of the sea is…”

“It’s a river that allows the sea monsters to travel between the middle of the Pacific Ocean and the Bohai Sea in a short amount of time!” Zhang Xiaohou said.

“Holy crap, so the kingdom of sea monsters has built a highway… No, it’s an express high-speed rail!” Zhao Manyan exclaimed.

Their shores had always been safe because the most powerful sea monsters resided in the deep sea.

However, this underwater river would allow powerful sea monsters to sneak right into human territory without losing their way or trespassing on other territories. How could the savage Rulers in the deep sea behave themselves, knowing they finally had the chance to conquer the land?

Could anyone resist the temptation of the teeming world when the ride had already arrived in front of their home?

Even if only some of the Rulers were tempted to invade their shores, the destruction they could unleash would be unimaginable!