Chapter 2208: Escape and the Witch Fleet

Chapter 2208: Chapter 2208: Escape and the Witch Fleet

The glowing silver dragon had no time for explanations as it swiftly flew beneath the ship.

After a slight tremor, the cruise ship, which had been descending, finally ceased its plummet. Shade managed to deflect some of the attacks from the black thunderbolts from the sky and the awakening evil creature at the ocean’s depths, relieving some of the pressure off the witches, who, together with Miss Eles, finally began to ascend slowly again.

Last week in the Moon Bay Waters, Shade was able to defeat the evil creature from the deep sea because the opponent was merely a projection, and he was in a "divinity overflow" state. But this time, he was only in his ordinary transformed state, facing the creature’s real body. Even using the "tail swipe" motion with the "Adel’s principle of regression" to counterattack, in just a few tens of seconds, he was gravely injured by the tentacles and sonic attacks continuously assailing from the ocean’s depths.

Meanwhile, on the ship’s deck, Professor Ivins, struggling to maintain the protective shield, was already beginning to cough up blood. Miss Eles, whose face was pale due to the ship’s damage, was struggling to maintain the integrity of her manifested form.

Miss Teresa and Miss Maxim continued to attack the tentacles clinging to the deck, but compared to the ever-increasing number of tentacles, their efforts were but a drop in the ocean.

At the most critical moment, the witches, Shade, and Miss Eles all heard the last words bestowed upon them by the deity—

"Children, believe in dreams!"

Suddenly, heavenly light pierced the rain-drenched black sky, illuminating the cruise ship ensnared by hundreds of tentacles reaching out from the sea. In the glow, an ear-splitting howl erupted from the ocean depths, and the dark tentacles gripping the ship rapidly dissolved into seawater and disappeared.

The injuries and stamina of everyone aboard quickly began to recover, even Shade, who was most deeply affected by the evil creature’s power, was instantly freed from the influence of that sinister music:

"Hurry!"

The dragon and the ship simultaneously turned and soared toward the source of the pure white sunlight in the sky. The silver dragon was slightly larger than the "Radiant Messenger"—in his non-divine state, he couldn’t transform into a mountainous size, but his faster flying speed enabled him to grasp the ship’s mast and smokestack, forcibly dragging it, accelerating through the shaft of sunlight toward the sky.

The shadow cast by the dragon caused a large area below to darken, and as the numerous tentacles from the sea chased the people attempting to escape upward, the violent ocean seemed to be rising. Deeper in the waters, the shadow of a massive stone statue approached the sea surface amidst the symphony of countless corpses thrashing in the water.

At this moment, the ship flying alongside the silver dragon had its bow tilted upward due to the high speed, allowing the three witches on the deck to use various arcane techniques to strike below, where was previously a blind spot, but this only slightly hindered the upward shooting speed of the tentacles.

The tentacles eventually caught up to the dragon and the ship, and at the critical moment, the silver dragon, gathering strength, paused its flight and spewed out brilliant silver light below. The thick moonlight pillar pierced through the pursuing tentacle horde below, directly blasting the sea surface. However, as the exhausted dragon continued to clutch the "Radiant Messenger" and fly towards the source of sunlight, more tentacles continued to emerge from the sea and pursue upwards.

Even the body of the evil entity, the unnamed stone statue that had been dormant beneath the sea for countless years, now loomed vaguely in the minds of the three witches and the silver dragon.

"It’s coming out, quickly!"

The witches gritted their teeth as they continued their downward attacks, while the Moonlight Dragon and Miss Eles pushed themselves to fly higher. Their counterattack power was exhausted, and they could only bet whether they would escape first or be dragged back to the sea by the pursuing tentacles.

Suddenly, Professor Ivins on the deck gave a start and swiftly grabbed the spellcasting Miss Teresa and Miss Maxim:

"Close your eyes! It’s coming out!"

Neither dragon, witch, nor ship dared to perceive the sea surface, but they all clearly felt that under the heavenly light, the top part of the rough grey stone statue began to emerge amidst the undulating black sea.

With no courage to look or explore further, the speed of the flying dragon and ship increased, and the pillar of sunlight became increasingly brighter as they approached its source.

Yet their enemy remained overwhelming. Accompanying the stone statue’s exceedingly slow ascent from the sea, a tail-like, thick black tentacle shot up like a bolt of black light towards the people high in the sky.

The deity watching from the sea surface, initially intending to cast its fishing rod at the departing dragon and ship, suddenly withdrew its hand.

From the gap between the scales on the Moonlight Dragon’s head, as a golden glimmer flashed by, the little toy-cat-turned-real Mia arrogantly appeared atop Shade’s head, surveying the surroundings.

The cat has never had acrophobia, and its claws firmly grip the scales on the dragon’s head to prevent itself from falling. The cat is happy that no matter how big Shard becomes, it can always stand atop his head, and then it looks down, noticing that ugly creature in the sea:

"Meow~"

The orange-and-white cat fluffed up instantly, lifting its tail and emitting small flames. While making a threatening sound, it executed one of the only two supernatural abilities it could currently use, and sprayed a small flame it often spat out when playing with Shard.

The small flame spun and passed by the body of the Silver Great Dragon, falling downward to meet the tentacle of the evil object reaching into the sky head-on, and then—

Boom!

The witch on the ship, the flying Shard, and Miss Eles only felt like the brightest sunlight had appeared on the sea below them. But they had no chance to look back because the explosion, like infinite light and endless heat, hindered the evil object for a few seconds. They finally reached the source of the celestial light:

"The deity surely wouldn’t look on as we are left here! Praise you! Praise the Giver of Dreams!"

They melted at the source of the celestial light, disappearing completely into the black sky.

Spring of the Fifth Era, 5180, Outer Sea, sunken area of the "Radiant Messenger."

The sunlight was just right, and the wind and waves on the sea weren’t very strong. A total of thirteen giant ships, much larger than the "Radiant Messenger," gathered and anchored on the sea. Unicorns carried dozens of witches in the sky, setting up large reconnaissance rituals, while hundreds of mermaids constantly shuttled between the deep sea and the surface, notifying the people above the progress of the underwater search.

At a greater distance, centered on these thirteen ships, a vast fleet of witch boats was thoroughly searching the entire sea area. On the decks of those massive ships, large enough to hold horse races, every so often a portal would open, transmitting the latest news from witch teams searching the farther ocean.

The witches responsible for receiving the aggregated information hurried across the deck with new messages. Passing by them were other witches maintaining the glowing ritual circles that flickered with various spiritual lights. These circles were not only the ship’s defensive rituals, far more valuable than gold of equivalent mass, but also bases for rituals like "dispersing clouds and rain," "blessing for good luck," and "ocean’s gift."

The search and rescue team, led by Witch Empress Violetta, consisting of the "Kingdom of Wydon," the Tifancy Duchy owning the "Radiant Messenger," and Zaras Literary Academy, had been searching the sea area for a day and night but had yet to receive any good news. The fleet of thirteen alchemical warships formed the center of the rescue team, but due to the uncertain location where the ship encountered the storm, the total number of ships in the rescue fleet reached 158.

The tallest ship among the thirteen giant vessels, with the most luxurious prow statue and mast decorations, the "Wydon Ship," was the flagship of Witch Empress Her Majesty Violetta.

Wearing a purple robe, with wavy long hair draped down her back to her waist, the Thirteenth Rank Witch stood on the deck, listening to her brown-haired head maid relay intelligence from various places, with other maids who weren’t dispatched from the Royal Maids Group beside her. Miss Maid, if she were here, could also recognize her. She had once accompanied her master to the Lost Lake in the Shattered Isles to explore the secret of "Eternal Beauty."

"So, truly nothing can be found?"

Miss Violetta’s voice, growing closer to the Demigod Realm, was now cold enough to be indistinct, and the brown-haired maid knew this was an expression of her master’s anger:

"Yes, the salvage team has only found some wooden planks so far, without locating the ship’s main body or any corpses."

"Professor, how did your interrogation of that band of madmen from the ’Dragon Feast Cult’ go?"

The Witch Empress, wearing a pointed hat, asked the silver-haired old woman coming along with the head maid. This elderly professor from Zaras Literary Academy replied with difficulty:

"I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Those madmen’s souls have disappeared. We are trying to regenerate souls for the bodies and then extract memories from the brain, but this requires time."

Miss Violetta’s eyes fell on her, with a golden-brown gaze that wasn’t dazzling but tender due to star-like fragments. However, the pressure from her gaze nearly forced everyone in her presence to bow slightly, as everyone familiar with her knew the Empress was quite dissatisfied with the current results and progress.

But before she could issue new commands, all the witches of high rank or with spatial talent in the nearby sea area looked up at the azure sky.

Thanks to the rituals set up on the ships, the weather was nearly cloudless at the moment. As the sound like glass shattering became clearer, under the gaze of thousands of witches, a series of cracks as clear as a spider web appeared in the sky.