Chapter 158: The Shadow of Insu Village (7)

Chapter 158: The Shadow of Insu Village (7)

“Seventy percent of Earth’s surface is water.”

So why the hell are they all scrambling to crawl up onto this dry land?

“Huff, sssh. Haah...”

Ah, I’m dying. Damn it. This is so exhausting.

I paused for a moment and looked around.

A dark and humid night with not even the moon in sight. An endlessly muddy mountain path.

Lined with bare trees along the way.

The fog is getting thicker.

Clammy and sticky moisture was clinging to my skin. Cloudy droplets were dripping from the wide sleeves of my hemp robe.

“Huff, Haa... Damn it. I’d rather swim. What is this?”

There were many things resembling trees around here, but there was no green to be seen.

The trees were covered in brown moss and gray mold instead of leaves.

No wild animals or birds were in sight. There were some bugs, though...

Buzzzz—

Are they really bugs?

They were not the type of bugs one would see in a forest or mountain. The sight of these multi-legged creatures which resembled mantis shrimp swarming together made me nauseous.

It was definitely a place that should be called a mountain or forest, but it felt like the sea. A polluted and decayed dead sea.

It’s just like Tanhyeon.

No, to be precise, Tanhyeon resembled this place. Still, the situation here was better.

If I went further north from here, if I went up...

What was there again?

“...”

Damn it. My memory was a mess. I couldn’t stop. There wasn’t much time. In the worst case, I might even forget who I was.

I started walking again.

Maybe I should add another spell...

I gathered my magical power to enchant my body but then changed my mind.

[Gale]

Whoosh!!

The wind blew precisely in a way that pushed me forward. It was perfect as it blew away the moisture.

No matter how much magical power I had, this frail body was burdened by too many spells. Adding more wouldn’t be good.

Give me back my artifacts, you bastards.

My vision suddenly blurred.

– I don’t trust you after all.

These were the words spoken to the past Kim Shin-hwa.

This was a relatively recent memory. My conversation partner was... the village chief’s face came to my mind.

In this memory, the village chief had a much more sinister and serious expression than when I had seen him earlier today.

The village chief said he couldn’t trust me.

The past Kim Shin-hwa responded to his words with a smile.

– How about putting up collateral like you usually do?

– Greuk, grr. Collateral?

– Yes. Take a look at this.

– This is...?!

– It’s a rare item, even in this village, right?

– What are you going to do with it?

– I’ll leave it with you. If I betray you, you can take it after the festival is over.

The village chief’s eyes gleamed with greed.

“...”

Can it be considered that I betrayed him now?

The commotion from earlier in the day must have reached the village chief’s ears.

Ah, who cares? Since I told him to take it after the festival, I’ll just collect everything before the festival ends.

“Besides, there’s no substitute for me anyway, is there?”

They couldn’t kill me. To exist as a living sacrifice, I had to be alive at least until the day of the festival.

At least that was one advantage.

“There it is.”

I finally arrived.

A huge building suddenly emerged between the thick fog and darkness. It was so large that it couldn’t be taken in with a single glance.

It looks like a warehouse.

It wasn’t the temple. To reach the temple, I had to go a bit further up. Inside that warehouse, there was a ship.T/his chapter is updated by nov(ê(l)biin.co/m

But how did they manage such a large-scale construction in this village?

Moreover, what? They built a ship?

Did they combine human labor with the deep-sea people’s technology? Or did they capture construction engineers from somewhere?

Not only did Red absorb Dagon’s magical power.

Now that Red took in the artifact imbued with the deep sea’s power, it underwent a dramatic transformation.

“Yes, grow well.”

Crack, slurp.

It even developed a large single eye and something like a tail. A large tail with round fins above and below. It might be considered a type of wing, but...

“A tadpole’s tail is more accurate.”

Was it because of Dagon’s influence that it took on such a form?

Even so, Red wouldn’t grow to resemble a deep-sea creature.

Since it’s made from my blood, its growth threshold will be much lower.

How long would its lifespan be?

“Kkiiiee.”

Red looked at me with its large eye. It suddenly seemed full of energy and quite excited. Was it asking for a command?

“Alright, let’s do something fun.”

I gave Red a quick kiss near its eye and gave it a new command.

Thud!

As soon as the command was given, Red soared into the air at an incredible speed.

“Kkiiiee!!”

Quietly... no, it didn’t matter anymore.

I took a deep breath as I watched Red fly toward the warehouse.

“Whew...”

I concentrated my mind and unleashed my magic.

[Heavenly Sight]

A red light gathered in my left eye.

While my right eye still saw the rotten branches, mold, and the large warehouse around me, my left eye saw what Red was seeing.

“Yes, carefully climb onto the roof. There’s a vent, right? Yes, go through there.”

Red entered the dirty vent. For a moment, its focus drifted in an odd direction.

“Ugh, ignore the bugs and keep going. We’ll eat later. Good, that’s it.”

It seemed that as Red grew, it developed desires beyond mere obedience.

I barely managed to coax Red, which was moving to eat the bugs, into the warehouse.

“Whoa, it’s pretty big.”

The warehouse looked huge even from the outside. And there was a large wooden ship inside.

It was a three-masted sailing ship.

– This is the ship that the Dragon King will board when the day comes.

– Soon, the time of the great flood will arrive.

– All lands will become our territory.

– There is only one chance, just one day. If we miss it, we’ll have to wait another thousand years. So, absolutely! I won’t allow failure.

Red lost its direction for a moment and circled above the ship. Beyond my consciousness, I could hear Red growling, “Kyaaah—.”

“Calm down. Don’t get excited.”

It was due to the magical power emanating from the ship. Though it had sails, it wasn’t a vessel moved by wind. There was an enormous amount of magical power emanating from inside the ship.

“Come on, you have a job to do. Look over there. That’s your master’s enemy.”

Around the ship swarmed the deep-sea hybrids.

They appeared far more threatening than what I had sensed from outside.

However, Red, with a resolute determination, perceived them as the master’s enemies and steeled itself for battle.

“No, Red, calm down. I didn’t send you in there to fight them.”

It’s good to be spirited, but this was too much. I sent the magic-infused command once more.

“Remember the gift your master gave you.”

The Ocarina of the Deep Sea.

Though the message window didn’t display it because I hadn’t conducted further research, it was an artifact with various effects.

Red not only became one with it but also consumed a bit of Dagon’s magical power.

“Yes, start now. Sing a beautiful song.”

A sharp headache surged.

Red began drawing a huge amount of my magical power to activate the artifact it had swallowed.

[The unique effect of the S-rank magical artifact ‘Ocarina of the Deep Sea’, ‘Call of the Waves’ has been activated.

Call of the Waves: Plays a melody with powerful dominion over those who originates from the deep sea.]

[Effect reduced due to lack of prerequisites.]

The prerequisites were to have the trait of a musician and twelve fingers, but Red currently had a free pass.

[The authority of the ‘Lord of Murky Waters’ temporarily waives the prerequisites.]

Good, that’s it.

From Red’s mouth flowed a song so eerie and beautiful that no human could ever pronounce it.

|H- OOO- O- OO- H- OO- OOO-|

And then, the sound of waves could be heard from somewhere. It was a magical song that evoked sadness and longing in those born from the sea.