"There are countless islands in the fjords, and no one has ever been to the borders of these islands," said a tall, rough-faced man. I really don't know how weird they can end up being."
"Even you haven't arrived yet?" Tilly asked curiously, "They said that you are the most outstanding explorer in the fjord, and besides you, few people dare to cross the Burning Fire Island and continue to move eastward. "
"Hahaha," he laughed heartily, "this is just an exaggerated compliment. In fact, every year brave fjords explore eastward, but it's hard to find anything new. The violent hurricane And the sudden appearance of fog will make it difficult for ships to move."
He is Thunder, Ash thought, the first explorer to discover the Shadow Islands, but since he was lost in a shipwreck two years ago, many people thought he was unfortunate. The five princesses reached an agreement that he would open up new routes for Sleeping Island, draw charts and find more new ruins, while Tilly sent witches to assist him in his expedition. As for the two years she disappeared, she hadn't heard the other party mention it, and Tilly didn't talk about it, but she always felt that His Highness knew the inside story, otherwise the two would not have such a tacit understanding. This made Ash slightly unhappy.
"Like the hurricane yesterday?"
"That's right, it came in the blink of an eye, and it was fleeting," Lei Ting shook his pipe, threw the remaining ashes into the sea, and refilled some blades of grass to light it, "If it weren't for that magical witch"
"Her name is Moryl," Ash reminded hard.
"Ah, yes, look at my memory," Lei Ting didn't care at all, rubbed the back of his head and smiled, "If it wasn't for Moryl, I'm afraid the ship would have been turned upside down. Her ability is simply amazing, I I often think that maybe witches are the most suitable explorers."
"It's already there, isn't it?" Tilly smiled slightly, "...the witch who inherited the title of the most outstanding explorer."
"Well..." Lei Ting took a deep breath on his pipe and exhaled a long stream of smoke, "I hope so."
Here again, Ashes frowned, unable to understand what the two of them said. She simply left the bow and went to the stern to calm down. Her Royal Highness the Fifth Queen seemed to be very eager to explore the ruins. After cleaning the Fjord Church, she immediately started preparations for going to sea. And to her surprise, His Highness asked to go in person, and it was useless to persuade her.
Moriel was sitting in the stern of the boat, and the magic servant who controlled it held a fishing rod and learned to fish with the sailor. Although the sailors were still somewhat resistant to the witch when they got on the boat, since yesterday's hurricane passed, everyone's attitude has changed dramatically Neither rain nor torrential rain can invade it. While the boat bobbed up and down in wave after wave, the hull remained stable. Nowadays, every sailor regards witches as gods of luck, and even said that they would not dare to go to sea without witches in the future.
"Sister Ash, look at the big fish I caught!" Moriel pointed to the bucket behind her. Inside was a scaleless sea fish with a sharp beak, which was very different from the river fish she saw in Greycastle.
"what is this?"
"The swordfish likes to go with the boat, and sometimes its sharp beak will break the bottom of the boat," replied the sailor, "but it is very delicious, especially the meat of the belly, which is like melting ice in the mouth Normally," he smacking his lips, "everyone can enjoy the delicious live boiled swordfish at night."
"I seem to be hooked again here!" Moriel said in surprise.
I saw a black shadow appearing in the green water, and with the increasing movement of the magic servant's lever, it will soon surface.
"This... this is," the sailor was stunned, "no, throw the fishing rod away!"
Before he finished speaking, a strangely-shaped creature jumped out of the water and opened his mouth to bite directly at Moriel.
Seeing that it was about to swallow the target whole, but Ashes was faster than it. She picked up the little girl with her left hand and swung the giant sword with her right hand, and slapped the attacker directly on the head.
The monster let out a painful neigh, and was smashed down from the air. Its six feet moved quickly, trying to escape back into the water, but the ashes didn't give it the chance. She put down Moryl, and used her swords in both hands to go down, pinning the monster directly on the deck.
It twitched for a moment, spit out a string of white bubbles from its mouth, and soon stopped moving.
"What is this?" At this moment, Ashes had the opportunity to carefully examine the monster in front of him. It looked like a fish, and had short legs like crabs. When its mouth was open, it was round, almost as big as its body, and it was covered with dense teeth. The most disgusting thing is that it has a pair of furry arms on both sides of its mouth, and the ends are divided into five fingers, which look like human hands.
"A mutant sea ghost!" The sailor patted his chest in shock, "They often disguised themselves as fish and dragged fishermen into the water in one bite, and I heard that only sea ghosts that have eaten people will grow their hands. !"
"The last sentence is just a false rumor," someone said behind him. Ash turned around and found that both Thunder and Tilly had come over.
"Mr. Captain!" The sailor stuck out his tongue and immediately moved out of the way.
"The more sensational the rumor, the less accurate it is," Lei Ting stepped forward and kicked the monster on the ground. "In fact, it has a name that you may be more familiar with."
"What?" Ash asked.
"Evil beast." He said word by word.
"Lord Thunder, it's foggy!" The lookout suddenly shouted.
"Everyone cheer up!" Lei Ting ordered loudly, "Sail down, we are sailing into the shadowy sea!"
Ashes noticed that the sky, which was clear just now, suddenly became gloomy, and the green sea surface turned dark green, as if a cloud of ink was spreading underwater. After a while, the ship was surrounded by a thick fog, and she stood at the stern and couldn't even see the silhouette of the bow.
"What's going on?" Tilly couldn't help grabbing Ash's arm.
"Prove that we didn't go in the wrong direction," Lei Ting smiled. "When the Shadow Islands emerge from the sea, thick water mist will rise in this sea area. Of course, the correct statement should be that the sea water is ebbing, and the amplitude is about the same. About ten feet, a huge drop will generate a lot of water vapor, and there are rocks everywhere, so if you are not careful, it will hit the rocks and sink. I need your witch to help the ship not be damaged."
The group came to the bow of the boat, just like when fighting the storm, Moriel let the magic servant wrap the bow, try to swell up, and part of the body sank into the water, so that even if there is a reef in the bow, the servant will feel it first. .
"What are you going to do if there are no witches?" Ashes asked.
"Then it can only rely on patience and luck," Lei Ting sighed, "the fleet will send small boats to explore the way ahead, and after confirming that the ship is clear, the big boat will follow. But the sea in this area is not calm, just like you The Evil Beasts that I saw before, the closer to the Shadow Islands, the more there are. Fog, reefs, monsters... This is the reason why many explorers go to this place, but few can find the entrance to the ruins."
After sailing for about an hour, the fog gradually subsided, and Ash saw more and more islands around, but there were few plants on it, all green moss or algae, and many crustaceans were climbing. "Are these islands submerged in water?"
"Yes, it's like Sleeping Island, but the interval between high tide and low tide is much faster here, about once every half a month." Lei Ting replied, "And the fluctuation speed is very fast, it's like there is a huge hole in the ground. , in the madness of swallowing the surrounding sea water. I even guess that the sea level change of the entire fjord is related to this. If we are lucky, we can still see the process of the main island jumping out of the seabed. "(.)