Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2361: Chapter 2362: Sea Beast Paradise

As soon as Angel entered the Mist Belt, he felt a completely different atmosphere from the outside world around him.

The pervasive mist shrouded this sea area tightly.

This mist seemed ordinary, but it was like a natural Mist Illusion, not only obscuring vision but also constantly misleading the intruders’ sense of direction. Moreover, this sea area seemed to have an invisible magnetic field that could affect the compass’s judgment.

For this reason, when ordinary people venture into the Mist Belt, unless they are very lucky, just the mist alone could cause them to be lost in this sea area forever.

What’s more, the Mist Belt has more than just mist.

After Angel entered the Mist Belt, due to reduced visibility, he lowered his flight altitude, almost skimming the sea surface. Therefore, he could clearly see shadows flitting beneath the sea surface from time to time.

Most of these shadows were extremely large, all rare giant sea beasts from the outside world.

For instance, now Angel could see a black shadow below the gondola. How large was this shadow? It was so massive that he couldn’t see the end of it with the naked eye. Even the giant cargo ship from Blue Tongue Maritime, which Angel encountered not long ago, probably wasn’t as big as it.

This gigantic sea beast on the shallow sea surface suddenly emerged onto the sea surface.

”Steelray.” Angel recognized its true identity upon seeing the back of this sea beast on the sea surface.

The Steelray had enormous butterfly wings like those of the rajiformes, but its tail resembled that of a multi-legged octopus, with hundreds of slippery tentacles.

This Steelray, described in three pages in ”Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” where the author lamented, ”This is a species of magical creature that is becoming increasingly rare and will likely become extinct soon,” boldly appeared in the Mist Belt.

This gives a glimpse of the sea monster scene in the Mist Belt.

While Angel observed the Steelray, the Steelray seemed to notice the gondola above it as well. It submerged its upper body into the sea, revealing its tentacles, which, extending several tens of meters long, shot up like writhing spiked whips, breaking through the air barrier and surging towards the gondola.

In just a few seconds, the gondola was wrapped by three tentacles.

The ”Steel” in Steelray is of key importance. At this moment, this ”Steel” was manifested vividly, binding the gondola like ropes.

With just a little force, any ship ensnared would be torn to shreds.

Once the humans on board fall into the water, the Steelray can open its large mouth and swallow these ”snacks” taken during leisure.

Unfortunately for the Steelray, its lethal constriction tactics met Angel.

Angel didn’t need to act personally; Speedy conjured several Wind Blades, rushing towards those mucus-filled, extremely disgusting-looking gray tentacles.

Wind Blade is the earliest attack trick that Elemental Apprentices come into contact with, and it doesn’t deal much damage. Even the enhanced Crescent Wind Blade is only so-so in terms of damage. However, when Speedy used this otherwise extremely ordinary Wind Blade, it was terrifying. The hissing sound and the continuously twisting air around the Wind Blade seemed as if it could directly cut through a space barrier.

Angel believed that faced with such Wind Blades, any unguarded Official Wizard, not on the bloodline side, would probably be sliced in two.

Even an Official Wizard would find it hard to withstand head-on, let alone the tentacles of the Steelray, which were not so hard.

Sure enough, the Wind Blades directly severed the tentacles into several segments, flying high into the sky and falling like Blood Rain.

”Can’t let it go to waste.” Watching the severed tentacles in the sky, Angel summoned three Hands of Magic in succession, quickly collecting them.

Steelray tentacles also belong to Transcendent Demonic Materials, and the highest use is transplantation. However, Steelray tentacles have many shortcomings, and there are many replacement organs, making transplantation unnecessary; Wizards usually collect Steelray tentacles for magical culinary purposes or to extract essence for making Magic Potions.

After all, Steelray belongs to the endangered rare sea beasts, so collecting its tentacles might come in handy in the future.

After severing the tentacles, Speedy sent Angel a query, asking whether to continue attacking and kill the Steelray below.

Angel glanced at the still writhing Steelray below, thought for a moment, and then shook his head, saying, ”Forget it, no need.”

The decision not to kill wasn’t because of the impending extinction of Steelrays, nor was it because their demonic materials weren’t important, but simply... there was nowhere to store it if killed.

His bracelet space was already full, and even if it weren’t, it couldn’t hold a sea beast this large.

The Exile Space could hold it, but the Exile Space required continuous input of magic power, which wasn’t worth it for a single Steelray.

Most importantly, there was nothing on the Steelray that Angel particularly needed. By collecting the tentacles, he could at least ask Greya to make something special to try. Other parts had replacements and were dispensable; killing it would be wasteful, and sparing it was no harm.

Of course, if Angel had a Witchcraft Garden or a larger stable space, he would have had different options.

Unfortunately, Angel had none of these at the moment.

Since he decided to spare the Steelray, Angel didn’t bother with it anymore, letting Speedy increase the speed, leaving the Steelray behind in just a few seconds.

During the journey, he encountered many more sea beasts. Angel no longer paid attention to them since they couldn’t catch up anyway.

It’s worth noting that of all the sea beasts he encountered, more than half held a huge malice towards the gondola on the sea surface.

At this point, Angel basically understood why the Mist Belt is called the Forbidden Sea.

Because the sea beasts here are not only enormous but also numerous and highly aggressive, coupled with the disorienting mist, even Transcendents entering could face setbacks, not to mention ordinary people.

Like the Steelray encountered before, if its tentacles bound the cargo ship of a maritime company, it could definitely wipe out everyone on board. No wonder people in the sea change their complexion when talking about the Mist Belt.

”If Nausicaa encounters these sea beasts...” Angel stopped the thought, not daring to think further. Since Nausicaa’s whereabouts were still unknown, he decided to find Reynaud and the others first; the rest could wait.

After flying a certain distance, the surrounding mist became even denser.

”Visibility is less than ten meters,” Angel thought to himself. ”I haven’t changed direction since setting out from the north end of Sidro Mist Island. This should be the first coordinate point.”

With the coordinates here, finding Cindy’s location became much simpler.

Angel quickly determined the direction to go. He didn’t continue using the gondola and instead patted Toby: ”The rest of the journey is up to you.”

Toby understandingly nodded, transformed into a Snake Bird with a graceful leap.

The giant python with bloody red patterned wings directly plunged into the sea. Angel signaled Dangross to enter the Purifying Field, then put away the gondola and boarded the Snake Bird with Speedy.

”Let’s go.”

The Snake Bird unhesitatingly dived below the sea, moving quickly in the water with a graceful and elegant posture.

With the Gravity Meridian enhancement, occasionally riding the ocean currents, along with Speedy’s propulsion, the Snake Bird’s speed was beyond imagination.

Wherever they went, it seemed ordinary, but if any marine life approached, they would immediately explode into a slurry of flesh and blood, which was evident enough.

During the underwater journey, Angel truly witnessed the other side of this sea.

The sea beasts seen from the surface had already astonished Angel, but below the surface, it was simply a paradise for sea beasts.

Or rather, this place was a carnival of sea beasts.

Everywhere, sea beasts of various sizes crowded together, looking extremely frightening.

If it were ordinary people or some Wizard Apprentices, they would probably be scared witless by the scene before them.

The surrounding sea beasts seemed to regard the Snake Bird as one of their own, and as long as it didn’t enter their territory, they generally ignored it. Of course, some did provoke it, but they didn’t have time to attack before the Snake Bird had already fled miles away.

These were considered the lucky ones. Some less fortunate sea beasts, finding themselves in the Snake Bird’s path, didn’t even have time to react before being pierced through by it.

There wasn’t just one or two of these unlucky sea beasts. By Angel’s calculation, in less than three minutes, the Snake Bird had already split open the bellies of over ten sea beasts.

The glowing snake scales appeared even more blood red.

After swimming underwater for about five minutes, Angel had Toby slow down.

Firstly, because they were very close to the coordinate point now, and secondly, because Toby was reaching its limit, a swirl of negative emotions was already forming around it... envy, vanity, resentment.

These emotions would affect not only Angel but also Toby, and if even slightly unchecked, could spin out of control.

This was also one of the outward signs that Toby hadn’t fully mastered the Snake Bird form.

After slowing down, Toby began swimming toward the target point at a normal speed. Angel estimated that within a few minutes, they would reach the reef area where Cindy and the others were located.

As they moved towards the target point, Angel felt a slight movement on his arm. Turning back, he found that the Dan Gross, which had been clinging to his cloak, had quietly extended half a hand.

”You were shaking like a leaf just now; dare to come out now?” Angel teased.

Dan Gross, still with lingering fear on its face, said, ”Lord... Lord Toby, when transformed into a serpent, its aura is terrifying. Plus, those were many giant creatures just now...”

Because of this, Dan Gross didn’t even dare to peek its ”head” out earlier; it was just too frightening.

”Thankfully, there aren’t as many creatures here,” Dan Gross said, brushing its mouth area with its ring finger, as if taking a sigh of relief.

Angel initially found Dan Gross’s actions amusing, but soon froze: ”Yeah, it seems a lot quieter around here?”

Angel sensed his surroundings and, aside from some small swimming fish, saw no sea beasts nearby at all.

It seemed a bit strange.

If this weren’t the Mist Belt, Angel might not have cared, but after experiencing the earlier ”Feast of Sea Beasts,” he certainly didn’t dare to casually view this sea region.

In the depths of the Mist Belt, to have an area without any sea beasts was certainly abnormal.

Generally, there are three common reasons for no sea beasts being present: first, they can’t come. This was obviously incorrect, as there’s no obstruction here; the Snake Bird reached here effortlessly, as could other sea beasts.

Second, they don’t want to come. This typically occurs in desolate seas where there’s no food, so sea beasts aren’t interested. But this also doesn’t match the current situation; nearby seems quite abundant with fish, shellfish, and shrimp—quite numerous.

Ruling out these two possibilities, only the last remains: they don’t dare to come.

Typically, sea beasts have their own territories, and intruding into others’ domains would lead to conflict. Because of this, many weaker sea beasts adhere to this rule and avoid entering others’ territories to prevent becoming another’s meal.

By this logic, the lack of sea beasts around here likely indicates that this area is the domain of a tremendously powerful sea beast.

Recalling this, Angel remembered what Cindy mentioned earlier—that in the reef area, there was occasionally a giant sea beast over a hundred meters long prowling nearby, and even Ferro had battled it once.

Could the sea beast Cindy spoke of be the powerful sea beast of this region?

As Angel mused, he suddenly heard a buzzing sound.

This sound was extraordinarily distant, carrying an ancient and desolate feeling. Additionally, as the sound traveled, Angel could clearly see the surrounding fish and shrimp hiding in terror. The once flourishing underwater world instantly turned into a silent sea realm.

Even though the sound was far, the buzzing pierced through the water barrier of the Purifying Field, causing an overwhelming hum in his ears.

”Looks like I was right; this place indeed belongs to that enormous sea beast.”

As Angel said this, the Snake Bird below suddenly let out a series of ”hiss hiss hiss—” sounds.

Although the sound was faint, it pierced the buzz like a sharp cone.

Angel glanced at Toby, only to see the Snake Bird’s blood-red vertical pupils flash with a hint of madness. Evidently, Toby was already influenced by that sea beast, and the negative emotions inherent in its nature were beginning to dominate its will.

Otherwise, with Toby’s cautious nature, it would never choose to confront an unknown and powerful sea beast at this moment.

”Toby.” Angel called out Toby’s name while gently touching Toby’s serpentine crown, infusing a kind energy like cool water into Toby’s slightly chaotic thoughts.

Soon, the madness in the vertical pupils was curbed, and Toby’s eyes became clear again.

”We’re already close to the target point. Transform back, and we’ll fly over,” Angel communicated to Toby telepathically.

Toby, also recalling the previous situation, nodded somewhat sheepishly.

The massive Snake Bird body began to shrink, quickly transforming into an ordinary-looking small seabird.

After Angel caught Toby, he glanced back at the distance.

The buzzing sound was becoming increasingly loud, clearly indicating that the ”hiss hiss” sounds from the Snake Bird had captured the other’s attention.

Moreover, there was a trace of detectable anger within the now-louder buzzing.

From the other’s perspective, it was understandable. A magical creature had intruded into its territory and even made provocative noises—surely intolerable.

”Let’s go.” Angel had no intention of starting a battle; he didn’t come to the Mist Belt to waste time with these sea beasts.

Saying this, Angel suddenly flew out of the sea, standing aloft in the sky.

Because of the enormous buzzing, much of the surrounding mist had dissipated. Standing high above, a massive shadow could vaguely be seen in the distance, swimming towards their position.