The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 575

Chapter 575: Towards the Sea!

 

While Shaqira may have been naive and ignorant, she still had her basic instincts and logic. She did not feel that a group of strangers whom she had just met possessed the ability to solve the issue in her city. If this had been one of the bigger sanctuaries like those castles or fortified manors governed by the werewolves and vampires, perhaps there would have been some plausibility. A family like that was at least still worth the gamble. Hao Ren’s old civilian house clearly did not look the part of a powerful family institution…

Hao Ren was rather depressed by the fact. He thought that he was someone accomplished, yet he still encountered those who doubted his capabilities. Could Shaqira not see the look and aura of a savior, the look of an apostle in him?

But then again, there was a demon king with a newspaper in hand teaching his daughter the Chinese alphabet just next to him. It then hit Hao Ren that looks and aura were clearly unreliable.

Shaqira was an outsider and Hao Ren obviously could not show her too much of an inspector’s abilities. However, he still had a plethora of things that he could show her. Pointing at Y’zaks, Hao Ren boasted, “This is a great demon, and his combat strength can match an entire army. If you don’t believe me, I’ll take you somewhere to see him transform.”

Y’zaks was in the midst of teaching Y’lisabet how to read some Chinese words when he heard that. Looking up with a grin,he said, “Trying to market me again, eh?”

Shaqira was taken aback by Hao Ren’s boasting. Seeing how confident Hao Ren was, she almost believed him, but in the end, she still shook her head. “We’ll be in the deep sea. I don’t think demonic energies will work as well down there.”

“How about this?” Hao Ren pointed at Vivian. “The world’s most ancient vampire, the Countess of the Crimson Moon. Every otherworldling, and even demon hunter has to give her face. She walks on both sides of the divide and is a literal walking advertisement board…”

Vivian gave Hao Ren a very perplexed look. “Why does that sound weird to me?”

Hao Ren pointed at Vivian’s garbs. “Take that apron off and you’ll be fine.”

Shaqira squinted as she tried to recall the name. “I’ve heard that name somewhere before… but I don’t remember. Who is she?”

There was an awkward silence.

Lily immediately burst into a huge laughing fit as she poked Vivian on the back. “Hahaha, Battie, that title of yours finally has its useless moment, hahahaha…”

Hao Ren was also surprised. He thought that Vivian’s title would have been the most influential among all unusual creatures, yet it was ineffective before the siren. To think that this siren had been on land for almost a century and not know the name. Her sisters back home had probably never even heard of the “most ancient of vampires”. Shaqira did have some sort of self-awareness and she was rather embarrassed. “I’m sorry, it’s just that sirens are just a tad slow regarding matters on land. And to be honest things have been advancing so fast on land. When I secretly snuck out to play as a child, humans were still using bow and arrows. The second time I came to shore they had already developed cannons. It’s just impossible to keep track of things.”

Lily then suddenly remembered something, “Say… why do we keep talking about combat strength? Are you guys planning to smash the gates down to get into the city? Shouldn’t we be going incognito to gather information?”

Everyone descended into another awkward silence. It took a while before Wuyue looked resignedly at the ceiling. “So many of us here and the husky ends up being the bright one.”

Shaqira blinked and pondered. She wanted to find out what was happening back home too. As a siren, it was simply normal for her to be worried about the sudden changes back home. She also had plans to go back to check things out, but her natural indecisiveness caused the plan to remain on the back burner. Now that she finally saw a group of weirdos who were so determined, she set her heart to it as well. “Alright, I’ll take you there.”

The crew rejoiced and Hao Ren let out a sigh of relief as one of the most pertinent issues had been solved. He quickly motioned for Vivian to cook up a storm for a minor celebration before he lifted the basin that Lil Pea was swimming in. “My dear daughter, time to say hello!”

Shaqira was busy answering questions so it took her a while to realize that there was a foot-long mermaid in the living room. Needless to say, she was surprised. “Why has this siren been starved to such an extent? Didn’t you give her any food?”

Lil Pea waved her little arms. “Lil Pea ish not stahving! There is fud evariwear!”

That little rascal was quick on the uptake.

Hao Ren began to drip in cold sweat as he quickly explained to Shaqira, “She’s not a siren. She’s a mermaid. She was just about that size when she was born… but she’ll grow bigger in time.”

Shaqira gave Lil Pea a curious look before demurring. “This world sure is big. Seems like there’s plenty that I don’t know.”

Nangong Wuyue shifted her gaze from Shaqira to the rest. She was rather anxious about the trip to the city of the sirens. “So… when do we depart?”

“In two days time. Let Shaqira rest up and heal first. The medi-chamber can only heal the outer wounds, it can’t restore her mana.” Hao Ren gestured for Wuyue to calm down. “That aside, find her something to wear. She can’t be taking up so much space in the hall. The space both of you take can fit at least half a dozen people.”

Shaqira quickly waved her hand. “It’s okay, it’s okay! I can turn into a mantis shrimp, that won’t take up much space…”

Everyone almost spat the contents in their mouth. Hao Ren gawked at Wuyue. “So it’s not just you. Are all sirens like this?”

“How would I know. I’ve never met another siren before. Besides, a mantis shrimp is definitely awesome; small in size, agile, has good defense, and some combat capabilities. Mr. Landlord just—”

Hao Ren adamantly shook his head. “No way. Get her some clothes. Sitting around a giant mantis shrimp while we have dinner is just weird.”

Oddly, Wuyue was somehow insistent on that particular form. “But, we can still keep our faces on!”

Hao Ren cried, “Good god, that’s even more horrifying! Just be the pretty ladies that you are!”

Seeing that Hao Ren was not going to give in, the two pretty sirens slithered back to their rooms to change.

As Big Beardy had temporarily gone home, the issue of Shaqira’s room was easily resolved. She rested in the room on the second floor for a few days to recover her strength.

During that period, Vivian was worried that the Queen’s Guard, who were pursuing Shaqira could be closing in on her, so she placed her bats all over town. Along with Wuyue, Lily and her Woofenstein Army (the bunch of stray dogs) placed runic cards in every nook and cranny of the town, forming an impenetrable surveillance network. But after three days, they did not detect anything and the water in the Southern Suburbs was restored to normal without any supernatural phenomenon. It seemed like Shaqira had given them the slip.

And so, the siren took a few peaceful days to rest up before she left with the rest to the seaside on a fine day.

This time around, Hao Ren brought Rollie along. He was afraid that the cat girl would simply run amok without supervision, and felt it was safer with her beside him.

The city of the sirens was located deep within the Pacific ocean. There were no records of it at all, not even unusual creatures had managed to find any trace of the city. Hao Ren’s plan was to drive towards a deserted seaside first. They would then follow Shaqira’s lead to an unknown island near the center of the ocean before they submerged deep into the “Hidden Barrer”. The MDT had scanned the area beforehand and was certain that there was no one around to disrupt their work. The island in the middle of the ocean was not your normal natural island. It was a mark left by the sirens who had surfaced, acting as some sort of lighthouse.

Originally, Hao Ren had planned to just have MDT teleport everyone into the middle of the ocean, but this method was expressedly rejected by Shaqira. The island was shrouded by a special energy field, and only by following a predetermined navigation path could one find the island.

Lily was also looking forward to hitch a normal car ride for this trip and Hao Ren acceded to her suggestion.

While on the road, Lily wanted to find out more about the city, so she asked Shaqira, “Hey, tell us more about your city. I heard that it’s invisible?”

Shaqira was still stunned that so many people could fit into the small Northstar. She only recovered once she heard Lily’s voice. Her expression turned serious as she explained the situation regarding the mysterious underwater city.

“Our city is called Nasaton. It’s not invisible, but it’s within a dimensional gap.”

Chapter 576: Uninvited Guests

 

Nasaton was the siren’s city, which was hidden in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It had existed since the dawn of time and the city’s glorious days were even before the Mythological Age on land. Aside from the sirens, no one knew how to get into the city. Not the technologically-advanced humans, or the omnipotent supernatural gods of yore. None had managed to locate Nasaton. Some had theorized that the city was located deep in one of the ocean’s trenches and it was obscured by volcanic activities deep under water. Some had argued that a massive invisible barrier was erected to prevent unwanted guests from poking their heads in. However, all these guesses were quite far off the mark.

Nasaton was on Earth, but not exactly. It was sandwiched between a dimensional gap that was linked to the real world. The spatial distortion had caused the city to be invisible to all forms of detection methods, and also prevented anyone from actually reaching it. Only the sirens knew how to access the city, and over the last 10,000 years, only a handful of visitors had been allowed into the city. These included otherworldling scholars, and a few lucky humans. It was these visitors who left behind hearsay of the mysterious city’s existence.

But their stories were pretty much taken as absurd fantasies. They soon devolved into mere myths and legends for the later generations.

“Inside a dimensional gap?” Vivian was very interested upon hearing what Shaqira had said. “How did you build it? It took the Athens Sanctuary many generations to come up with the Shadowy Divide and there was still a way to breach it. How did Nasaton come up with this complete invisiblity?”

“I don’t know about that.” Shaqira shrugged. “The azure water dome was already there when I was born. Apparently, the city’s been resting in the gap since the beginning. No one actually talks about who created the city, and no one has actually bothered to ask as well.”

Hao Ren turned his head slightly towards Shaqira as he drove. “Say… this may be a bit sensitive, but aren’t sirens immortal? Don’t tell me there’s no one back home who’s lived since the founding of the city? Surely they would know?”

“While sirens are indeed immortal, we will still choose a time to ‘renew’ ourself as we return to the water and come out as a new life.” Shaqira roughly explained a siren’s life cycle before shaking her head. “There are a few elders, not much, but they exist. But they never spoke about the origin of the city. One of the rules of Nasaton is that we don’t speak of the past. We simply stay out of conflict and live a peaceful life. We do not interfere with others and brook no interference. That’s how we had lived for so long. It seems like the city was eternal… until the Queen’s orders to go to land.”

“So you’ll ocassionally let outsiders visit your city?” Y’lisabet was laying the seat behind Shaqira’s as she poked her head out. “Are you well informed about the outside world?”

“Every rarely. Like I said earlier, there are expections.” Shaqira nodded. “We too are curious about the outside world and have some communications with those living on land. Long ago we would send out sentries every few hundred years to learn of what was going on on land. The sentries will use a Deepwater Orb to record what was going out to let the rest see… Back in the ancient days, or your Mythological Age, we even made short alliances with some of the coastal supernatural familes. But they were soon wiped out.”

Vivian smiled. “What do you think of world on land?”

“It was rather dull at first and things were changing very very slowly. Humans were still using bronze weapons for a good thousand odd years. Only after two sentry cycles did we see them moving onto iron. Those supernatural familes were progressing even slowly than humans. There were times than after a milleania our sentries still found them observing humans fighting each other, or fighting beasts to pass their time. Then things went on overdrive. The end of the Mythological age was a surprise to everyone, the speed which the demon hunters and humans grew far exceeded the pace of the Mythological age’s collapse. Everytime a new batch of sentries came ashore they saw new kingdoms and the ruler of the land changed from time to time. Then came machinery and industry… while it is not as grand as Nasaton, the advances that humans made in technology for the last hundred years have been nothing but impressive.”

Vivian nodded. “Yes, I think so too. This world is progressing and advancing faster and faster. The first time I woke humans were using bronze for don’t know how long, then when I woke again they had moved from windmills to steam engines, another nap later they had electricity. Frankly speaking, I don’t dare to sleep nowadays. I’m really afraid that one day I overslept and wake up to find that humans were all gone, and what was left standing was a few launch towers, and all humans had migrated into the stars.”

Hao Ren guffawed. “Wow, seriously? Surely you jest.”

Vivan gave a snort. “You won’t understand how I feel. But what I said is true. Sleeping is really a waste of time. I knew a fellow vampire called Odrian, and he was one of the lucky few to lived through the Mythological Age until recent times. He had managed to obtain an ancient relic and was about to go into slumber to absorb its energies. But he ended up dead in his sleep.”

Lily was shocked. “How does one even do that?”

Vivian shrugged. “He had went to Novaya Zemlya back in the 1950s to slumber. Over forty years since the Soviets had lobbed at least a few hundred nuclear warheads on that island. I’m not sure if he was killed in the initial blast or not, but my best guess is that he was probably annihilated there and then. I’ve never seen him after that, so he’s probably nothing but radioactive dust now.

Cold sweat was all over Hao Ren’s forehead. “….”

“That is to say, trying to go into a trance for a hundred years now with a relic is not a good idea.” Vivian sighed. “During the peaceful and idyllic days it was fine, doing that now is a death sentence. Human advancement is like on steriods and they had moved on from sending human waves to into a gun line to intercontinental ballistic missiles. You’d probably get blown apart by humans if you’d try that. And given how maniacal humans can be, I won’t be surprise if they blow Earth up on find day. So the smartest thing a supernatural can do now is to read the papers and get ready to run for their lives at the first warning… Why are you guys all quiet?”

Hao Ren patted Vivian on the shoulder. “I think we need to find a cure for your nacrolepsy issue.”

Shaqira only looked on in silence. As a siren who had only seen the land for the first time a hundred years ago, anything she says would have been awkward.

As dusk fell, the crew had reached the designated point. It was a deserted coast that was littered with shattered rocks. It was far away from the city and had no proper roads. As there were no signs of humans nearby, they didn’t need to worry about invoking a supernatural phenomenon here. Along the coast were some rock formations that formed a sloping cliffwall and the signs of erosion on the cliffs were testament to the passing of time. Shaqira sighed as she saw the scene. “I still remember there were plenty of such coastlines a hundred years back… Places like this were in abundance when I first came to shore, and to find somewhere like this is very difficult nowadays.”

Hao Ren kept his car and turned towards the ocean with a stretch and a deep breath. The oceanview was really relaxing and the slightly salty seabreeze was comforting too. Wuyue too had the same motion, she looked excited but there was a visible shred of anxiousness as well.”

Hao Ren immediately picked up on that. “Nervous?”

“That feeling you get when you go back to your hometown for the first ime in years.” Wuyue smiled. “Mother had warned me to stay away from the deep sea since I was young. Perhaps she had noticed the change in Nasaton back then. Now I’m about to go against her advice… I hope she don’t blame me.”

Hao Ren smiled. “I’m sure she’s just worried. If we can ensure your safety, your mother won’t be blaming anyone.”

Rollie was nervous the moment she got down of the car and she stuck close to Vivian by squatting beside her. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the sea while letting out a soft, nervous purr. This was her first time seeing a sea.

“Lets get moving, we could probably rest the first rest stop before night fall. If you guys are not tired we could make it all the way to the center of the Pacific.” Shaqira squinted as she deciphers the sea breeze. “This is a good day to set out to sea.”

As she said that, a shimmering glow formed around Shaqira as she readied herself to bring the group into the ocean. At that very moment, the MDT suddenly darted out of Hao Ren’s pocket. “Wait! A spatial distortion! Someone is teleporting in!”

Vivian immediately frowned as she sensed the familiar magical frequency from the surrounding.

“Beware, demon hunters!”

Chapter 577: Another Group of People

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The moment Vivian finished her words, everyone immediately raised their guard. The Mobile Data Terminal quickly displayed the spatial waves it sensed in front of Hao Ren. Hao Ren then took his silver lance and gun out of his dimensional pocket and aimed at the open space in front of them.

Above the open space, the air suddenly twisted and then quickly turned into a shiny oval mirror. Four people strode out from there.

The leader was a strict-looking man with gray hair and wearing an eyepatch on one eye. Beside him stood a dark-skinned man with bald head, who looked slightly like an Indian. And behind the two were two women. One of them was a tall woman dressed in a simple dress, with brown long hair, and there was a layer of faint green scales on her cheeks that was slowly fading away, while the other woman kept a very conspicuous silvery-white long hair, who was someone they met before—White Flame!

Except for the woman wearing a dress, the other three were dressed in the standard attire of demon hunters: a long black trench coat, a strap on the waist, and a big crossbow on the back. This was obviously a demon-hunter squad.

The three demon hunters were surprised to find that there were already people on the beach. The one-eyed man and the bald man immediately raised the crossbow, preparing to attack. But when they saw the disparity in the number of people between them and Hao Ren’s team, they did not act blindly but stopped moving with the crossbows in their hand. White Flame was a little surprised after recognized them, her straight face slightly twitched, but she soon calmed down, maintaining the vigilant posture while signaling Hao Ren with her eyes not to greet her rashly. Although she reported to her mentor about the hunting of vengeful spirits after returning from Andrei Castle, she did not tell them about the ‘Countess of the Crimson Moon’. It was better not to show that they knew each other.

It also proved that White Flame had kept her promise and did not reveal too much to the other demon hunters.

Hao Ren also got it. Vivian immediately threw a bat at Lily’s face to stop her from talking: this stupid girl was about to jump excitedly and say hello to White Flame.

The most stressful person on the scene was Nangong Sanba. This amateur demon hunter pretended to be a professional in the circle of demon hunters was caught red-handed by the real demon hunters. He broke out in a cold sweat and knew that his life of being a demon hunter was ended. From now on, he was going to need two copies of his will when he went out…

Rollie was looking at the sea on the rocky beach. When she saw what was happening in front of her and the reaction of her master(s), she immediately sensed the murderous vibe in the air. She lay down, her tail stood up like an iron rod, the fur on her ears and tail puffed up, and shrieked, “Meow—”

The first battle roar of Hao Ren’s team was actually coming from a cat.

“It’s a surprise,” said the one-eyed man with a watchful face, and even if the situation was unfavorable, he was unafraid and spoke firmly and loudly. “I didn’t expect to meet a group of prey here.”

“Are you sure you’re the hunting ones?” Vivian was surrounded by a large swarm of bats with lightning in the swarm of bats. Cold winds gusted and dispersed around that even the distant waves directly turned into large snowflakes when they hit the reef. “What the hell are you doing here?” asked Vivian.

Rollie was shivering with cold but she still arched her back, ready to fight. “Meow… Meowoooooo…”

A layer of shield-like glowing light rose up around the one-eyed man to protect him from the chilling wind. However, when he saw Vivian, he stunned for a moment. He broke out in a cold sweat and asked, “The lady standing over there… the Countess… Your Excellency?”

Lily was surprised. “Why is he so polite all of a sudden?”

Vivian frowned, trying to recall whether she met this one-eyed man before. Finally, she remembered that he was the most famous one-eyed man among the demon hunters. “Young men are certainly won’t be so polite to me, only the older ones will—because they still remember seniority, right Hasse. Boy, what the hell are you doing here?”

Hao Ren looked astonished. “This is the one-eyed Hasse?”

One-eyed Hasse, the famous elder among the Demon Hunters, the old man who existed since the mythological age, was one of the leaders who destroyed Mount Olympus. It was said that this man nearly killed Hesperides. The arrowhead had been stuck in her head for thousands of years.

A man who sounded like a big shot—but was still just a ‘boy’ in Vivian’s eyes. Vivian also knew that her own seniority was a powerful weapon at the moment, so she tried to get the upper hand with her seniority.

The lady did not care about her age at the moment.

Hassel’s expression quickly turned odd, which was not awkward, but worried. He did not expect that it would be so unlucky today. He took a short-cut to directly teleport here but ended up falling into the siege, and the worst thing was that there was a world-famous Countess of the Crimson Moon in the siege. Even someone like Hasse had to bow to Vivian respectfully before the fight. How unlucky!

Vivian was right. The older the demon hunter, the more they valued the issue of seniority, especially the old man from the mythological age. This trait was beyond the grasp of the impetuous young demon hunters.

The man stood beside Hasse slightly moved forward half a step. The front end of the hand-crossbow on his hand was flashing with silver lights. He saluted Vivian and said, “Your Excellency, I’m Teuton, a master-level demon hunter. I am willing to accept your challenge.”

“The demon hunters nowadays are all such ignorant young people? Are you qualified to ‘accept’ my challenge? As a junior, you told me that you ‘Accept the challenge’?!” Vivian said. Her tone was cold and fierce.

Teuton paused for a moment. Hassel immediately let him step back and said, “Don’t act without my consent.”

Vivian slightly nodded and said, “Good.”

Lily had never seen Vivian so fierce and powerful. She immediately pulled Hao Ren’s clothes and whispered, “why do battie suddenly so pretentious?”

Vivian maintained the fierce posture while whispering to the back, “I’m just bluffing, trying to scare them—I can’t beat them now!”

Hao Ren was speechless. In her current state, she could not beat them…

But it’s okay. The three demon hunters were no match for them, but Vivian thought that the best thing to do now was avoiding the fight. Unless it was really necessary, she would not want to come into conflict with Hasse, because the battle between the ‘Countess of the Crimson Moon’ and the elder of the demon hunter was easy to be interpreted as a declaration of war, and it was going to be a real trouble.

When one’s reputation reached a certain level, it was hard for the person to represent her alone.

Hasse apparently also thought of that. He slightly lowered his crossbow, signaling that he did not really want to fight, then frowned and asked, “I wonder why you’re here, Your Excellency?”

“Is that a siren next to you?” Vivian looked at the only girl in the four who was not dressed as a demon hunter and had just revealed some features of the siren.

Hasse nodded slightly and answered, “Yes.”

“You also want to go to Nasaton?” Lily asked directly.

“Are you going too? Why are you going there?” asked White Flame in surprise while lowered her crossbow.

“For the investigation,” Hao Ren cautiously replied while turning off the beam at the tip of the silvery lance, “We suspect that Nasaton is contaminated by some kind of exogenous creature. What about you guys? In theory, demon hunters are not hunting for sirens, so are you going to investigate or help?”

“If what you say is true, then we have the same purpose,” said Hasse, “but I don’t quite believe…”

“You should know that I’m different. I don’t like to fight,” Vivian suddenly raised her voice to interrupt Hasse, “and so are they. So we may not need to fight today. I have a suggestion, how about we put down our weapons?”

Teuton was a little surprised. He slightly tilted his head and looked at Hasse, who nodded after pondering and said, “Acceptable. But there is a prerequisite: if any of you have any unusual move in the process of approaching Nasaton, the battle will begin.”

“Same goes for you,” Vivian smiled and said, “and I’m sure the hunter won’t be you.”

Chapter 578: The Ceasefire

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the tense atmosphere, both sides slowly put their weapons aside. Vivian and Hasse also cleared magic power on them to show their sincerity. Hao Ren was the last one to keep his weapon, after confirming that they were really not going to fight.

“This is not cooperation,” Hasse dusted the frost from his wind coat and said, “This is just a temporary ceasefire. I don’t want to start a fight with such an ancient vampire, especially when we are carrying out such a task.”

“Same,” Vivian smirked and said, “We can have a good fight on another occasion.”

The battle just now might break out at any moment. In fact, if it were two groups of young people—such as the young demon hunters and the new generation of creatures—the battle would be absolutely unavoidable. However, only people like Vivian and Hasse, who represented their respective camps, would have the possibility of a rational ceasefire. They had too many things to consider, and the battle had become a secondary issue.

After all, they were all intelligent creatures, and they could communicate with each other. The demon hunters could get along with the sirens because they found that this species was not threatening, so they chose to compromise.

Phew. I thought we are going to fight,” White Flame said while winked at Hao Ren while nobody noticed it.

“Only animals can’t control their instincts,” said Vivian. For some reason, she became very sarcastic in this kind of situation. She laughed while looking at Hasse and said, “Now that our problem is solved. Should we let the two sirens talk? They should know each other.”

Shaqira breathed a sigh of relief. “Are you two sure you’re not fighting?”

Having been confirmed by both parties, she immediately patted her chest and walked quickly to another siren. “So you guys living on the land are so troublesome, how many years have passed and you still fighting and killing each other. I have to be cautious when I’m with you guys… Sorma, are you all right?”

The siren together with Hasse was Sorma, apparently, she also experienced something similar to Shaqira, just they did not know how she got the help from demon hunters. Hao Ren found it incredible: Although the sirens and demon hunters did not have any enmity, due to their special identities, both sides were in a state of tension. They were just going their own way without interfering with the other. However, just as Shaqira looked for a group of ‘unusual creatures’ to help her, Sorma also had her reasons for getting help from demon hunters.

The two sirens move aside to talk about their recent life and how did they meet the ‘new friends’, and Nangong Wuyue also join their exciting conversation. However, the other two groups of people were in an awkward situation. After they introduced themselves to each other, they have got nothing else to say. Teuton was a quiet man and White Flame was careful not to reveal her relationship with Hao Ren’s team. Finally, Vivian broke the silence. “I never expect to see demon hunters helping sirens. Aren’t sirens considered as unusual creatures?”

“They’re harmless. After all, they have never built any kingdom on Earth, and they have no interference in the world,” Hasse said with a straight face, but it sounded more like an excuse, “Since they don’t interfere in the outside world, they are not in the hunting list.”

“You can frankly say that you can’t deal with them. You haven’t answered my question, why would you guys be so kind to help the sirens? You are not such a good man.” asked Vivian.

Hassel’s facial expression changed slightly. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded and said, “Yes. We aren’t helping the siren purely out of kindness. Demon hunters don’t really care about sirens’ fate, but we are interested in the changes that happened in Nasaton. We saved Sorma a few days ago. What happened to her is something we should care about. Of course, I can’t reveal the detail.”

It seemed that Hasse answered Vivian’s question politely, however, Hao Ren realized that Hassel did not reveal any useful information at all. Of course, he did not expect a demon hunter who was wary of everything to be able to talk freely to them. “I don’t care whether you go there for investigating or collecting evidence. Anyway, I hope you’re not going to harm them. Sirens have lived peacefully on this planet for more than 10000 of years. Demon hunters can’t attack their city because of some unwarranted accusations,” said Hao Ren when Hassel finished talking.

“We’re unable to kill sirens anyway,” said Hasse.

At the very least, he sounded very sincere.

And now Teuton suddenly glanced at Nangong Sanba and asked, “You are…”

Nangong Sanba had been keeping his head low, looking at the sands, trying to make himself unnoticeable. When he heard someone was asking about him, he quickly stood straight and said, “I am… err, I’m a wizard!”

Hasse glanced at Nangong Sanba blankly and said, “You’re a demon hunter, with a very weak hunter’s blood, but you’re indeed a demon hunter. Why are you with them?”

Probably he already sensed that Nangong Sanba was a demon hunter, but he waited until now to ask.

Nangong Sanba was so terrified that he could not stop sweating, but he still straightened his shoulders and answered, “Yes, my ancestor is indeed a demon hunter, but I can’t control what I reincarnated into. You can kill me if you don’t like it, but I reserve the power to make your face bleed…”

“Weak mental power, full of weak points, protective spells are flawed,” Hasse said, poker-faced, “More importantly, you have no manners, seems like nobody guide you. Don’t you have a mentor?”

“Don’t ask too much about his personal affairs,” Vivian gave him the side-eye and said, “He just has the demon hunter’s blood in him, but he has nothing to do with your decadent group.”

Hasse looked at Nangong Sanba for a moment without any expression, but apparently, he knew that it was not the right time to ‘clean up the team’, so he just slightly shook his head and said, “I hope you don’t appear in my hunting ground in the future. You’ll be considered as one of them.”

Hao Ren was wondering how this man could be so firm and tough even when he was surrounded by Hao Ren’s team. Sure enough, most of the demon hunters were as stubborn as a mule.

They stopped their conversation when the three sirens walked to them. Nangong Sanba was finally relieved when Hassel walked away. He turned and looked at Hao Ren and smiled awkwardly, “I knew I would have to face this one day, but I didn’t expect myself to be so lucky.”

“You’ll still have to face this someday,” Hao Ren said and patted Nangong Sanba on the shoulder, “From now on you can treat yourself as one of the unusual creatures.”

Nangong Sanba forced a smile, shook his head and said, “Well. Anyway, I never take myself as a real demon hunter. I do this just to make ends meet.”

Y’zaks watched this scene with his arms crossed, leaving only one word, “Meaningless.”

“We had a slight delay, but it doesn’t affect us,” Shaqira said to Hao Ren while looking at the ebb tide, and then turned to look at the group of people, “We have more people joining us this time… It’s going to be a lively trip.”

The next second, a water curtain rose in front of them, and the three sirens had transformed into glamorous sea snakes. The three beautiful girls were wriggled to the seaside, raising their hands and starting to summon the ancient forces in the ocean.

Layers of waves rushed to the beach, and then quickly calmed down and smooth like a mirror, and then a sunken, surging strange road appeared in front of them. Just as Moses separated the Red Sea, the ocean rose on both sides of the road and divided into two. Nangong Wuyue first jumped into the sea, and then beckoned the others to follow.

Lily happily stepped on the bubbles and jumped back and forth two times. “Siren’s magic is so interesting no matter how many times I’ve seen it!”

Rollie was still hesitating on the beach. As a cat, she was afraid of water, and as a cat who could think like a human… she was even more afraid that the water on both sides would suddenly collapse!

“Meow…” Her voice was trembling. She looked at Hao Ren, asking for help. Hao Ren then picked up her belt, holding the silly cat and striding into the sea.

Both sides of the sea slowly closed together, and Rollie’s sorrowful meow disappeared in the depths of the water.

Chapter 579: Killing Instinctual Confusion

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The seawater was wrapping around them as they stood in a peculiar, oval-shaped bubble supported by foam and water. The bubble moved forward at an incredible speed, while Shaqira and Sorma took turns circling the outside the air bubble to keep the magic stabilised. This experience was different from Hao Ren’s previous journey into the deep sea with Nangong Wuyue. The only thing common to both experiences was that Hao Ren had found them equally novel and interesting.

Rollie was wide-eyed as she looked at the scenery in amazement. In her limited cognition, there was no explanation to this phenomenon. She ran up and down on the ‘surface’ where the air bubble and water met. Occasionally, there would be some quick moving shadows swept past on the outside—they were fish from the shallow water or just string of bubbles—and she would rush to it with excitement but was bounced back every time.

Vivian held the cat-maiden and so that she would quiet down while Hasse looked curiously at this strange ‘otherworldling’. “What is she?”

“A transcended cat,” Hao Ren shrugged his shoulders. “You can consider it an otherworldling according to your method of categorisation. However, she was just an ordinary domestic cat a month ago. So I’m curious, would this seemingly harmless creature that had transformed into a humanoid become your target?”

Teuton pressed against his eyebrows and exchanged a look with Hasse. “Any killer instinctual response?””Neither have I.”

Hao Ren had not paid attention to what the two were talking. He had only noticed that Teuton and Hasse always kept a distance of three meters him, and tried not turn their face away while they spoke among themselves. He felt this kind of always-on-guard behaviour and social exclusion was unnecessary especially when they had signed the ceasefire agreement. “You two don’t have to keep a distance and look the other way, do you? You see, White Flame has been braver than you guys.”

Hasse shot Hao Ren a reply while his head turned the other way. “Because White Flame is of the younger generation, she won’t have to resist the strong killer instinct while mingling with you guys. But we must stay away from the otherworldlings to ensure that we don’t lose control…”

Hao Ren’s face suddenly turned serious. “Wait a second. What do you mean by killing instincts?”

“You don’t even know this?” Hasse was a little surprised. “Have you ever met any demon hunters before?”

“I’d sought with many but not so much about understanding them,” Hao Ren shrugged. “What do you mean by killing instinct?”

“The instinctual enmity that demon hunters manifest when they see an alien,” Vivian explained. “It will even translate into kill instinct directly, so demon hunters and aliens need only one eye exchange to start a fight. And the process is akin to the way two different races of alien met and fought, but the hostility of demon hunters manifest towards the otherworldlings is more intense and could directly translate into combat strength, so it is called killing instinct.”

Hao Ren’s eyes suddenly squinted. “Another ‘unique phenomenon of Earth… exactly the same as what we discussed before.”

“Hasse, is your killing instinct triggered when you see me? Vivian suddenly glanced up at Hasse. “I vaguely remembered I had dealt with many demon hunters and they manifested a very weak killing instinct when they saw me.”

Hasse cautiously looked at this way and his voice was somewhat confused. “Although it sounds incredible… but my killing instinct at this moment is indeed incredibly calm, and as far as I can recall, I was pretty calm when bumped into you a few times in the past. If not, we wouldn’t be able to reach the ceasefire agreement so easily. It’s the unusual calm of our killing instinct that has prevented us from getting into a fight.”

Hao Ren exhaled softly. He finally understood exactly why there had never been a truce between the aliens and the demon hunters on Earth, but he had been standing side by side with the demon hunters for many times, including this time—although the two sides were still suspicious of each other, the suspicion was purely of differences in stance. That was the reason why Hasse had agreed to walk with the otherworldlings temporarily.

The main reason was not Vivian’s eloquence nor Hasse’s courteousness; these were only trivial factors. There was only one fundamental reason: a certain effective ‘innate hostility’ mechanism has been in control. Only today that this effective mechanism had created a state of volatility.

Hao Ren suddenly realized that if he wanted to break the long-standing confrontation between aliens and demon hunters on Earth, now was the opportunity.

He carefully pushed the cat-maiden forward and said, “Hasse, are you feeling hostile toward her when you look at her?”

Hasse looked at Hao Ren inexplicably. “No. But what for?”

“Just try to do some experiment while we’re here and have nothing else to do,” Hao Ren said as he walked up to Hasse. “Do you have any hostility feeling toward me?”

Hasse and Teuton shook their head in unison. However, Hao Ren’s strange move were puzzling them.

Y’zaks suddenly understood what Hao Ren was trying to do. He took his daughter and went up to Hasse. “Look at us. You feeling hostile?”

Hasse immediately and instinctively reached for his weapon on his waist, but calmed down afterward. “Didn’t feel my killing instinct, but…”

Y’zaks was vey at ease as he scratched his face and said, “That’s okay, and normally people would call the police when they saw me.”

“What are you doing, Mr Landlord?” As Lily came closer to him trying to catch up what they were doing, Hao Ren suddenly pushed her forward. “What about this?”

Hasse and Teuton took a step back at once. Hao Ren noticed that the muscles under their skin seemed to flutter quickly as if they had lost control. There was even a hint of silver light in his eyes. Although the two had said nothing, it was obvious their reactions came from the weird phenomenon called killing instinct.

Hasse who was much older in bloodline had a more obvious sign of killing instinct.

So was Lily: as soon as Hasse and Teuton showed a sense of hostility, her golden eyes quickly turned blood red. Then she shook her head frantically and told the two demon hunters. “I felt like wanting to bite you guys.”

Hao Ren pulled Lily back before he pulled out Lil Pea from his arms. “You don’t feel any killing instinct, do you?”

Hasse could not help but stare with his only eye, and his face was full of surprise. “Has this siren starved while growing up? How can it be so short?”

Hao Ren: “…..”

Teuton suddenly frowned. “Wait a second. I feel that this little creature has…”

Hao Ren immediately put Lil Pea back in his arms. “Oh, it doesn’t matter.”

Anyway, it had turned out that the demon hunters were not hostile to Lil Pea although this little one was by definition a typical ‘otherworldling’.

Vivian had watched the whole process of the experiment with her brows pulled together. She had easily summed up what she saw. “You’re a human, Mr, Landlord. Rollie is a cat that had just transcended lately, the Y’zaks and his daughter as well as Lil Pea all come from the ‘other worlds’, so they won’t trigger demon hunter’s killing instinct. Lily… though she has a weird bloodline, it’s enough to trigger Hasse’s hostility albeit at a lesser degree and both parties could still easily control themselves. Therefore, the trigger is obvious: ‘local’, it must be a native, and a ‘standard pedigree’ handed down from The Plane of Dreams ten thousand years ago. Other migrants or the new species won’t work.”

“But you are the only one devoid of any explanation,” Hao Ren glanced at Vivian. “No one in the Blood Clan can match your purity of bloodline. However, the demon hunters had shown even less killing instinct towards you compared to Lily. You could even chat with them, mind you.”

Vivian spread out her hand and said, “That’s why I appear like a weirdo no matter where I go.”

Hasse looked blankly at them, as he too was confused about his own killing instinct. However, with the limited information he knew it was not enough to figure out why. Therefore, he could not help saying, “What you guys are discussing about?”

Hao Ren looked into Hasse’s eyes and said carefully, “What do you think of killing instinct?”

“It’s the skill demon hunters rely on for their livelihood, a key to identify their prey, a strong enough killing instinct can even replace the spiritual eyes of demon hunter,” said Hasse while looking at White Flame who remained silent all this while. “With the killing instinct, no prey can escape the demon hunter’s pursuit.”

Vivian suddenly asked with a very subtle smile on her face. “If I’m not mistaken, the killing instinct of the new generation of demon hunters is declining, right?”

Hasse scoffed at her with a grunt.

“You treat this as talent, but have you ever thought it might be something abnormal?” Hao Ren looked at Hasse sincerely. “You have never doubted it… Actually, you’re just being controlled by some ‘instinct’ that shouldn’t have existed in the first place?”

A spark of light flashed in Hasse’s eye. “What do you mean?”

Chapter 580: The Fog

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Hao Ren and Hasse sat opposite each other in the centre of the air bubble, and the underwater shadows that flashed past them often cast some mottled light spots around them. Hao Ren asked Hasse, “If there is an instinct which will not help your reproduction and evolution from the viewpoint of biological evolution, and it has nothing to do with getting food or increasing the chance of survival, and it just makes you getting hostile towards other intelligent beings in an incomprehensible way. Do you think this ‘instinct’ is natural or normal?”

Hasse shook his head and about to stand up. Hao Ren stopped him. “This is a serious question. I hope you will take it seriously.”

Hasse said coldly, “Perhaps you are serious, but you don’t understand the importance of killing instincts to a demon-hunter. This is the key to our superiority in the alien war for the past ten thousand years.”

“But if there is no killing instinct, alien war wouldn’t have existed at all—it’s not the key to solving problem, it’s precisely the problem itself,” Hao Ren lifted his fingers pointing at White Flame. “This young demon hunter has absolutely different views, because she, like me, is free from the control of killing instincts and able to think calmly. The killing instinct has controlled old demon hunter like you for too long, and even become part of your life so that you don’t even question its rationality.”

Hasse’s ever-deadpan face finally showed an erratic look. “This is the weirdest remark I’ve ever heard… Do you know that you are discussing something that is almost natural? Discuss its rationality is meaningless because it has existed since time immemorial.”

“Then how do you justify the weakening of hostility of new generation of demon hunters towards the aliens?” Hao Ren spread out his hand and said, “You have not encountered any genetic diseases. Environmental changes on the earth will not affect this aspect. If killing instinct is a justifiable phenomenon, then is its decline reasonable? If its subsidence is justifiable, what is the meaning of its existence before that?”

Teuton silently watched the arguments between Hao Ren and Hasse. This silent man did not express his opinion. He took an old prayer book out from his robe, sat in a weird position on the edge of the air bubble, and began to study it quietly. It was already a dozen meters deep underwater and the light was dim, but this did not affect the vision of a master demon hunter.

Sorma was keeping this magical environment intact outside the air bubble. Shaqira came up to Hao Ren and listened curiously to the weird discussion.

Hasse realized that this seemingly indiscreet young man was not as naive as he had imagined. He had sensed something was more than meets the eyes. The fact that he could survive until today was not entirely because of his fighting ability but also alertness and coolness of an elder. Hasse remained silent for a few seconds before he shook his head slightly, “I can’t answer your questions, but I still insist that it’s pointless to discuss whether or not killing instinct should exist, on the premise that it already exists. Whether it’s the instinct that controls us or we’re using the instinct, it’s a fait accompli and we’re happy to accept as it is.”

Vivian came to Hao Ren’s side and looked at Hasse. “Hasse, you are a smarter demon hunter. I now tell you something as an elder: The innate confrontation between the various otherworldling races is also weakening, including between the werewolves and the Blood Clan. I know you’ve contributed a fair bit of effort during the last trouble at the sanctuary in Athens, and then you should have seen the interracial inhabitancy there. During the mythological era, this was impossible. I have a thought: regardless of the demon hunters or otherworldlings, the essence is the same; we are all supernatural ‘otherworldings’ to the humans who are the real master of this planet. The so-called killing instinct is no cleverer than the intrinsic hostility between the otherworldlings. This abnormal phenomenon had suddenly emerged tens of thousands of years ago. Now that it has begun to subside, and you have witnessed it yourself. So I suggest that you calm down and think about it and look at the truth behind it.”

White Flame who was meditating in the distant looked up and glanced at them. There seemed to be a flash of light in her eyes, but then she lowered his head again, as if she was indifferent to the discussion here.

In eye of Hasse, there was a strange glow of light. He took a deep breath and asked, “Is it that you have mastered something… some ancient secret?”

Vivian pondered for a moment before she looked up. “Have you ever wondered if there is a world in which otherworldlings and demon hunters coexist peacefully?”

Hasse’s voice hardened. “… if this is a joke, then we should stop here.”

Hao Ren had his hand spread out. “Okay, let me rephrase: Do you think that demon hunters and otherworldlings are native of this planet? Do you dare to swear to the theory of evolution and stratigraphic pool of fossils and say you are a native of this planet?”

Teuton and White Flame looked up spontaneously; they could no longer pretend to meditate.

“You mean the ‘day of return’?” Hasse leaned forward slightly. “There are two explanations for the ‘day of return; the first explanation is the return of alien forces, and the other explanation is just the opposite that the aliens will return to a place called the World of Origin… are you telling me that you’ve found the World of Origin?”

Hao Ren did not answer directly, but shifted the conversation slightly. “There is evidence that all the supernatural races on Earth come from another world. If you have learned evolution, you can certainly accept this argument, and I guess there has been such discussion going on among yourselves. I’m working on this and you may be interested in my results, but only if you’re willing to abandon your prejudices and walk with the aliens.”

After a few moments of pondering, Hasse got to his feet. “Let’s wait for us to complete this trip then we shall talk again.”

Hao Ren shook his head and smiled. The voice of the MDT sounded in his head. “I knew you’d not be able to persuade them.”

“I don’t care, at least I’ve sown a seed of change,” Hao Ren also replied in his mind. “The world of demon hunters is a closed circle. It’s not that we can reach out to their senior members and talk to them in a so calm and sensible manner every day, I have to grab the opportunity to plough their mind field while they’re here.”

“Then how effective do you think your ploughing is?”

“I believe there are still opportunities for us to be in contact with the demon hunters in the future, and it is impossible for them to not discuss the gradual decline of their killing instinct internally. Therefore, as long as Hasse goes back and talk with his men, the situation will soon change,” Hao Ren exhaled. “The alien war is almost over.”

Y’lisabet, the little girl, was not interested in these discussions. She was lying at the edge of the bubble with Lily and gazed curiously at the ocean scenery outside. This kind of panoramic sea-view experience was new and interesting to her. Sorma, the siren, was swimming around the air bubble and waving at them from the outside. Then a wave of light ripples swayed behind her and she transformed her body into a colourful fish before she swam off chasing a string of bubbles. Y’zaks saw this and was curious. He asked Nangong Wuyue who was just beside him. “How many forms can sirens transform?”

Nangong Wuyue was holding her own snake’s tail in deep thought. The question jolted her. “How many? Countless forms. As water is amorphous.”

Y’lisabet darted over and asked, “Can you turn into a coral reef? Crab? Sea urchins?”

Nangong Wuyue flung its tail happily and ready to show off. Hao Ren stopped her immediately. “Can you not tell your Phi Phi Shrimp Theory to anyone who shows the slightest interest?”

Nangong Wuyue: “…..”

The air bubble suddenly jolted a bit, and Hao Ren saw the bubble was slowly decelerating judging from the change of light and shadow around him. He got to his feet and looked at Shaqira. “What’s going on outside?”

A light came from above as everyone found that the whole bubble was slowly rising up to the surface of the sea. Sorma poked her head through the water curtain into the air bubble. “Fog’s on the sea surface, it’s a magical fog. Probably there are other sirens controlling the sea. They’re a lot stronger than me.”

They immediately raised their guard, and the bubble had now risen completely to the sea surface.

Fog filled the air everywhere, blocking out the sky and sunlight. The sea was raging as strange waves, which defied the laws of nature, were building up.

Accompanying the salty sea breeze was a vague vocal. Hao Ren looked into the direction of the sound, and but he cold nothing.

Chapter 581: Phantom Ship

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

A layer of weird, thick fog shrouded the entire surface of the sea, and the sky was as dim as dusk. The weird waves, like crushed scales, surged around them. These waves could limit the movement of any ordinary human-made ship and even held the bubble in which they were in its position like a stationary bubble platform. Nangong Wuyue and Shaqira could only swim in the nearby water struggling to keep a limited range of body of water in control to prevent the weird waves from crashing into where they stood.

A layer of electric light surrounded Vivian as cold air spread out from under her feet and gradually froze the sea surface. “Be alert!”

Lily’s ears flicked as she scanned the dense fog. “Someone is singing.”

Hao Ren was also staring into the fog while he took a silver spear out from the dimensional pocket. “It’s the voice of the siren… Don’t get distracted; be careful of being controlled by the sound. It seems something is out there.”

A large, dark shadow appeared in the dense fog, and it was apparently slowly approaching. Soon the thing appeared before their eyes: tall masts, broken sails, broken ropes, and the crooked bow. Lily held up her head and took a deep breath before let out a long “Oh—”—it was a huge ship with three-masts that looked like it had been hundreds of years old. The faint shadow of the broken ship slowly emerged out from the dense fog like a huge phantom floating on the sea.

As the galleon gradually approached, Lily saw the peeling wood and the cracked windows, a row of neatly arranged square on the side of the hull, and inside many of the squares, there were muzzles of cannon. This style made her think of the old pirate ships in the movie.

The ship approached at an angle. Hao Ren saw a line of huge letters on its side, which was incredibly legible: Queen of the North. No, it was not that famous shipwreck in history.

“Phantom ship?” Y’zaks looked at the thing with great interest. “This is the phantom ship written in your book? Never have I thought that this thing really exists. How was this thing formed?”

Y’lisabet lifted her little screwdriver and said, “Papa, you threw me there!”

“Knock it off. Be alert. It may be some trick that the siren has produced.” Hao Ren dragged the little demon back, while the silver spear in his other hand had a burst of blaze at the tip. “Shaqira, Sorma, do you know what that thing is?”

“She’s warning us not to approach, saying that the vortex is about to open…” Shaqira’s brow knit tightly together as she listened to the song from the phantom ship. The tone of the song was weird, though with the soft and charming voice of the siren, the melody possessed a maddening sense of dissonance. “She has been repeating these words, and sounds unsober.”

Sorma faced the phantom ship and opened up her hands, and waves carried her into the air. She opened her mouth and uttered several syllables that humans could barely imitate. A layer of translucent ripples appeared around her before the ripples moved towards the phantom ship. She was communicating with the ship using the secret whisper of the siren.

However, after a few seconds of silence, the phantom ship responded not with another song but an attack. In a loud creaking noise, the huge ship quickly adjusted its position to align its side with the ice floe platform. In those broken squares, water vapour was rising as the black muzzles of cannon stuck out and lighted up!

“Shield!” Hao Ren turned to Y’zaks, shouting. Then he turned to point the tip of his silver spear at the phantom ship and shot a beam of lightning-like silver-white flames into the distance.

In the blink of an eye, a pale green demonic shield shielded the entire ice floe platform. At almost the same time, dozens of pale blue, evil fire-like light shot out from the cannon muzzles of the phantom ship. In a series of explosions of ‘boom and bang’, those pale blue ‘cannonballs’ hit the demonic shield and turned into shaved ice and mist: they were not iron and fire but ultra-low temperature ice.

A large amount of ultra-low temperature ice quickly frozen up the entire ocean around them. As the temperature change rapidly, Shaqira and the Nangong Wuyue quickly lost control of the water body, and the ‘floor’ below their feet became unstable. Hao Ren’s plasma discharge from the silver spear had also hit the front of the phantom ship at the same time, and a huge fireball erupted!

However, the shrapnel of the explosion was not wood chips and steel on the ship, but water.

The phantom ship seemed to be provoked by the counterattack, and a greater number of ice cannons emerged out of nowhere along the side of the hull. Shells landed on them like hailstones!

Sorma was hit by a swarm of ice and fell from the air. She helped Shaqira and Wuyue regain control of the water body while she shouted, “Attack the mid-section of the ship! Under the second mast! She is crazy. !”

A weird exchange of fire broke out and escalated rapidly. Round and round of strange attacks were launched from the ice floe platform at the phantom ship—giant bolts from the crossbow of the demon hunter, Y’zaks molten rock, Hao Ren’s plasma discharge, and also Vivian’s massive Lightning Chain and Bat Strike. The phantom ship had felt a great danger from the fierce attack. It tilted its muzzles skyward and began to meet the deadly firepower in a way that did not suit the ship’s purported fighting capability. Numerous huge explosions flared on and over the phantom ship. A large amount of ice flakes and water bust in the air, while the bizarre song of the siren was echoing in the surroundings. The surrounding oceans began to surge as huge waves slammed on the phantom ship. The phantom ship healed its damage with each slap of the waves. Meanwhile, large tsunamis the high of a mountain was slamming in from all sides toward the ice floe platform.

The MDT showed a super huge cyclone was forming in the nearby sea. Once it formed, it might be one of the biggest storms recorded by humankind ever.

The moment was like the looming of a natural disaster. Hao Ren had doubt about the combat effectiveness of the siren, but now he finally realised that this seemingly gentle and harmless creature was equally terrible if she went mad: On the ocean, the storm created by the siren on the sea was no different from the force of nature!

The best way to stop this storm was to destroy the phantom ship before it formed.

Shaqira tried to control the waters around them as much as possible. “Who the heck has agitated her? Who the heck has agitated her?”

Lily quickly became maniacal amid this fighting. She had no long-range attack skill. She waved her Fire and Ice Claws and chopped off huge piece of ice, which weighed several tonnes from the edge of the ice floe platform. Like the giants that attacked Asgard in the ancient time, Lily threw the huge ice chunks at the phantom ship. The force of each throw was no less powerful than a heavy artillery!

An ice chunk hit its target. The second mast on the phantom ship crashed down with a groan of noises dragging along the old and messy ropes and sails with it before they burst into a cloud of mist in the air.

Nangong Sanba shouted amid the chaos. “Don’t take down the platform under our feet!”

Lily was startled. “What?”

Nangong Wuyue rushed up to Lily and froze a huge ice ball out of the seawater. “Your cannonball! I can make enough ice balls for your attack!”

The next second, countless dozen-tonne ice balls shelled the phantom ship at subsonic speed.

The attack of the non-human creatures was so brutal that even though the phantom ship was at a vantage point on the sea, it quickly lost its superiority. After a few minutes of brutal and indiscriminate bombardment, the restoration speed of phantom ship had failed to catch up with the speed of damage, and the tsunami in all directions weakened as the phantom ship continued to disintegrate into water. Finally, as a white flame rose along the waves onto the hull, a tower of fire rapidly engulfed the phantom ship.

Amid the burning white flame, the dense fog on the sea began to disperse, the wind had stopped and the warm sunlight showered down on everyone again.

Nangong Wuyue quickly jumped into the water and spent the better part of the day before surfacing. On her tail was a mermaid that had passed out.

Shaqira and Sorma pulled the mermaid out of the water onto the ice floe platform. Everyone cautiously surrounded the mermaid in a semi-circle. Only Rollie that had just been scared like a chicken went up and sniffed the tail of the mermaid for a long while before she looked up and said, “You’re not going to hit me, are you?”

Hao Ren pulled Dumb Cat to one side, stepped forward, and tucked the hair that covered the mermaid’s face to the sides. “Do you guys know her?”

Shaqira was greatly surprised when she saw the face of the mermaid. “General Vanessa!”

Of course, Hao Ren did not know her. “General Vanaessa? Which one?”

“It’s the Queen’s Guard, the head of royal guards of the Queen,” Sorma said quickly. “How could she… turn up this way? And shouldn’t she be sitting in Nasaton forever?”