Following Helene onto the deck, Angel's gaze was immediately drawn to a bank of dense fog directly ahead of the ship.
It was Friday afternoon. Blazing sunlight bathed the sea beneath a previously cloudless sky, and the air was humid and stifling. Yet a dark cloud hung in the Red Haired Woman's path, stark against the blue sky. Below it, fog blanketed a patch of sea exactly as large as the cloud, as though some force had confined it within a set boundary, allowing none to escape and leaving no gaps uncovered.
By her estimate, the ship was still about ten nautical miles from the dense fog and dark cloud. Even with the excellent visibility at sea, there was no way to see through the fog and determine whether the island Angel sought lay within it.
"Slow down. Don't sail straight into it."
Frowning, Angel spoke to Helene beside her.
Now that she had found the fog-covered waters, she was in no hurry to explore them. Experience told her that a place containing Sequence 3 potion ingredients could very well harbor demigod-level Beyonder creatures. If the Red Haired Woman entered the fog unprepared, she might come under attack and everyone aboard could perish.
"The wind isn't strong, and we're already slowing down. We won't reach the edge of the fog for another hour."
Helene answered, but still ordered the sailors, who were also continually peering ahead, to lower some of the sails and reduce the ship's speed.
Angel then found the Siren YuYu in a corner of the deck, struggling to shelter from the blazing sun.
After leaving the water, the Siren, whose body was covered in scales and whose lower half had originally been a fish's tail, had assumed a humanoid form with four limbs and gills concealed beneath