The closer Lucien was to the ocean, the worse the ocean stank. Lucien activated his Health Belt to keep the disgusting air away from him.
The surface of the breathing blue ocean was covered with grey, black, and dark green bubbles. The bubbles silently grew and broke. Their filthy color dyed the water, producing a sense of chaos.
"Contaminated Water contains lots of s.p.a.ce gaps but, unlike that of the Dark Mountain Range, was smaller and more h.o.m.ogenous, connected only to the Abyssal Maw. Affected and contaminated permanently by the devil power, the creatures living in the water have been demonized and become very dangerous."
This piece of information quickly emerged in Lucien's brain. Contaminated Water was far from Solar Islands and Pearl Islands, thus belonging to the deepest part of the Boundless Ocean. Although Lucien had mastered Advanced Fly, it still took Lucien days to arrive here. Of course, he spent the nights resting on islands to prevent overfatigue and to interpret the Sun Staff.
Since Contaminated Water was so far away from the mainland and was quite a poor area without any mines or treasures, the Congress of Magic had not noticed its existence until the Kuo-toans robbed the commercial fleets of the wave stones. Later, the Congress sent some sorcerers here and drew the map.
At that time, Lucien was only a first circle mage, and he was not planning on exploring this area at all. He left it behind his mind after earning one arcana point by sharing the information with the Congress. Later, when he had accepted Rhine's request, he read the Congress' investigation doc.u.ments with regards to Contaminated Water and the Kuo-toans.
Although Lucien only earned one arcana point from sharing the information, he finally benefited from his own contribution, which proved that the work efficiency of the Affair Committee was pretty good.
Lucien recalled the information on the Kuo-toans' altar and Contaminated Water:
"… the Kuo-toans, intelligent creatures, believers of the Lord of Ocean, Amboula. They have the facility of casting water and illusion spells and are physically strong when fighting underwater. The Kuo-toans are very commonly seen in the area of Storm Strait and the Boundless Ocean. Developing from tribes, they have founded their countries around the Altar. The imperial family lives five thousand kilometers to the northeast side of the Solar Islands."
"… It was said that Amboula, the Lord of Ocean, had fallen asleep in ancient time, thus no prayer was ever answered. In the last thousand years, the power of the Kuo-toan priests was taken over by the imperial family and the priests are now only a symbol of belief and honor. Therefore, the priests are very discontented, but they are not powerful enough to retake what they want…"
"… At the beginning of the fifth month of the year 816, a group of the Kuo-toans living close to the Altar in Contaminated Water claimed that they had received the oracle of Amboula. They called for the followers to collect a great number of materials to open the hidden relic underneath the Altar to awaken Amboula and recover the divine right of the Lord of Ocean. The information and related record have been submitted to the Highest Council as the issue involves divine power."
"… In the first month of the year 817, the Kuo-toans collected enough materials and opened the relic. Edwyn Brook, the Emperor of Control, Chelsea Holt, the Moon Scholar, and a few other leading sorcerers observed the Kuo-toans' rite on site. When the relic was open, the Prince of the Kuo-toans arrived leading his army and took over the control of the relic. Then the awakening rite was held by the Prince…"
"The rite failed. Amboula was not awakened. Brook and the other mages also did not find any remains of Amboula. However, the discovery of the relic still improved the Altar's resistance against contamination, thus many priests believed that the rite still worked and retained part of their hope. They believed that Amboula's power is slowly recovering and as long as they keep wors.h.i.+ping and praying, Amboula will come back to them one day fully recovered."
"Because of interference from the imperial family, the Altar in Contaminated Water area right now only has two seven circle chief priests, two level seven ocean warriors, an order named Blue Guard consisting of a hundred Kuo-toans, and a few thousand of devout followers."
This was the piece of information that made Lucien believed that getting what he wanted from the altar would not be too big of a challenge for him. After all, when Rhine first snuck in, there was a level nine Revered Priest, nine senior-ranks, and three Blue Guard orders. Because of the inner conflict in the Kuo-toans, the Revered Priest and five senior-ranks had gone back to the Ocean Heart Altar, and most of the devout followers and orders were also removed.
Another good thing for Lucien was that since the Kuo-toans had to eat a lot daily and the creatures around Abyssal Maw were very dangerous, the senior-ranks had to lead the rest of the Kuo-toans out seeking for food. Very often, only one senior-rank would be left to guard the Altar, which was a great opportunity for Lucien.
Lucien was worried that once the awakening rite failed, the arrangement left by Rhine would go invalid as well. However, Rhine a.s.sured him that the awakening rite would have no problem and could instead strengthen his magic circle.
But at the end of their conversation, Rhine, frowning slightly, said to Lucien,
"For your own safety, when you throw the filthy blood ball into the altar, make sure you grab Pale Justice. As the Altar is connected to Abyssal Maw, the activation of the magic circle could possibly disturb crazy, evil creatures. Although they cannot come to the main material world themselves, they can still contaminate you tracing the connection using their evil power. Sun's Corona can also do the work, but Pale Justice is even better."
Lucien planned to sneak in directly after careful observation.
The ocean waves almost hit Lucien, and the b.l.o.o.d.y smell of the ocean was overwhelming. Suddenly, a flatfish sprang out of the water, trying to bite Lucien!
The flatfish was different from regular ones. It was totally black and its teeth were as sharp as small daggers. What was more disgusting was that it even had four baby arms on its body, which was glimmering with a layer of faint blue light. The flatfish was just like a monster from nightmares!
Demonized creatures could see through invisibility!
Lucien was drawn out of his thoughts and turned to look at the flatfish.
Instantly, the demonized flatfish resolved into many colorful light spots, returning to pure element form, and disappeared in the waves.
Lucien recalled that when the Altar first received Amboula's oracle in the fifth month of the year 816, Maskelyne's Grand Cross just collapsed. He was sure that this had something to do with the World of Souls…
Lucien stopped himself from thinking too much and cast on himself Water Breath, Move in Water, and some other spells that helped to conceal his trace. Then he dived into the ocean.
The water overwhelmed him like a gentle dream. Following the guidance of the information he collected and the map, Lucien quickly swam toward a cave in the ocean — the Kuo-toans did not live deep in the ocean, but rather in the areas where sea cliffs, walls, and seagra.s.s gathered.
On his way to the underwater cave, Lucien could see strange-looking, half-demonized fish swimming past him, and from time to time, he saw them fighting with each other viciously. About half an hour later, Lucien saw the cave, which was guarded by two fish-head monsters.
......
Three days later, Lucien had become familiar with the daily routine of the Kuo-toans. This day, he secretly knocked out a Kuo-toan and cast Transfiguration to disguise himself. Dragging a demonized sea serpent, Lucien walked straightforward into the cave where Invisibility did not work.
As soon as he turned around the corner, Lucien threw the serpent away into an empty nest and slightly changed his Kuo-toan look. Grabbing his sword, Frose, Lucien carefully approached the Altar.
The Altar for Amboula, the Lord of Ocean, was decorated with a great number of Wave Stones. They looked crystal clear and s.h.i.+ned with dreamlike gloss. In front of the altar, there was a grey Kuo-toan whose entire body was wrapped with grease. Its scales had tarnished.
All of a sudden, on the altar, the Murloc statue burst out in blue light. And the light quickly attracted the Kuo-toans who were left here to safeguard the place.
"A stranger is here… The imperial family hasn't given up? Are they still trying to pry into the secret of the Lord of Ocean?" Murmured Branhit, the chief priest with a strong dislike.
Branhit told the Blue Guardians to get prepared.
"When the stranger comes in, catch him using the magic circle. I'll use him to figure out what the imperial family's intention is!"
"Be careful. Although his speed is only that of a level two ocean warrior, he has many magic items around level five."
"Yes, chief priest!" The Blue Guardians answered together. The stupidity of the Murloc sent by the imperial family amused them. How came he picked the time period when the chief priest does daily praying to sneak in!
As soon as the Murloc snuck into the cave, the ocean water suddenly turned dark green. The dark green water could numb the invader and extract his power. Meanwhile, more than ten Blue Guardians, together with hundreds of shadow ocean warriors created by the power of the magic circle, blocked all the possible entrances and exits.
"How dare you!" said the chief priest coldly to the furtive Murloc, "You think you can just walk in with your little toys for slinking?"
Branhit did not take actions. There was no need for him to do anything at all when facing merely a level two Murloc warrior.
However, a glittering halo spread out from the invader all of a sudden, and the cave was instantly filled with a heavy snowstorm.
The Blue Guardians were directly frozen to the ground. If it were not for the fact that Murlocs were good at bearing freezing cold, half of them would have already been dead.
The frost halo spread out very quickly. Under its power, the shadow ocean warriors broke into fine pieces after freezing into ice statues. Even the chief priest, Branhit, was also slowed down for two seconds.
"d.a.m.n!"
At this moment, Branhit's heart was filled with fear and hatred. He never expected that the imperial family would directly send a powerful Murloc mage here to kill them all!
The Murloc mages beside Branhit had been turned into ice sculptures, but the magic robe that Branhit was wearing protected him from the frost.
Branhit knew that he must activate the Altar right now!
He was also a senior-rank!
However, the magic staff inlaid with a big Sunstone that appeared in Lucien's hand shocked Branhit.
The light of the magic staff was dazzling. Dark night covered Branhit and a starry sky was summoned!
"Maze… He's of the ninth circle?!" Branhit panicked.
Maze spells usually did not pose an immediate threat to one's life, so Branhit's defense spells were not activated.
In the end, Branhit thought to himself,
"The altar will be ruined…"
"The Lord of Ocean will never forgive me…"
......
Lucien exposed himself to the Murlocs to lower Branhit's alert. When Branhit was slowed down by the frost halo, Lucien trapped him with Thanos' Maze.
Although the maze would only last for five minutes, it was more than sufficient for Lucien to activate the magic circle and leave safely.
