Nightmare Vine

Roy stood on the sea reef, a faint Black Mist drifting from the depths of the reef with the sea breeze, and the stench of water Water Ghost corpses everywhere beneath his feet.

He tried to take two steps forward, and a strong mental force impacted his brain. Roy felt a strong dizziness, and just as he was about to lose consciousness, the sacred seedling inside his body once again emitted a faint holy light. The mental force impact was like hitting a huge sponge, and was quickly absorbed by the sacred seedling.

Roy felt the spiritual energy that had rushed into his body suddenly disappear, as if a train had just passed by his nose.

He was clearly drenched in sweat, yet he was completely unharmed; even the beads of sweat on his nose were falling onto the sea rocks...

He knew that danger lurked ahead.

At this moment, Xiu also climbed out of the sea, his body covered in scales dripping seawater.

A large number of Water Ghost emerged from the surrounding sea and approached their location.

Roy turned his head and saw that dozens more Naga Warrior wielding tridents were emerging from the sea. The Naga Warrior in front used their tridents to impale the Water Ghost on the sea rocks, while the Naga Warrior behind them, wielding scimitars, swiftly chopped off the heads of these evil spirits.

They stood on the edge of the island thanks to their strong physiques.

Any Water Ghost that tries to climb onto the island will immediately be cut down in the sea by the Naga Sea Clan warriors.

It seems that the enemies of these Naga Warrior are also Water Ghost... Thinking of this, Roy breathed a slight sigh of relief.

These sea rocks were not flat, and even though Roy was wearing leather boots, they were still very uncomfortable to walk on.

Xiu pointed to Roy... the Water Ghost that kept emerging from the sea, and then pointed to the depths of the reef island, gesturing for Roy to go in.

Roy stepped on the extremely uneven rocks and asked Xiu, "You brought me here... how do you want me to help you?"

Xiu pointed to the depths of the sea reef.

Seeing Xiu's earnest eyes, Roy could only turn around and walk inside.

This is a group of sea reefs that are only exposed above the sea at low tide.

There was some seaweed and algae on the reef, and oysters were growing everywhere. Some snails could be seen in the crevices of the rocks.

Everything was damp in the darkness.

Black Mist shrouded the sea reefs, filled with a strange aura; just a little inhalation made Roy's head spin.

After walking a dozen meters further in, Roy finally saw a Naga Warrior lying on a sea reef...

He lay on the rocks, his hands clutching a protruding part of the rock, his face rubbing against the sharp, knife-like surface until it was a bloody mess! He looked... as if he were having a sweet dream.

However... the process wasn't so pleasant.

These sea reefs are covered with oysters, and wherever they are, they are as sharp as knives...

The Naga Sea Clan lay on the roadside. Roy quickly walked over and splashed a cup of water, faintly imbued with Holy Light Power, onto the Naga Sea Clan warrior's face. Immediately, a scream rang out...

Xiu quickly squatted down and spoke a few words in Naga Language to the Naga Sea Clan warrior who was slowly waking up.

The Naga Warrior covered his blood-soaked face with one hand, pointed towards the depths of the reef island with the other, and mumbled a long string of words.

Xiu and Roy continued walking into the reef island, and the Naga Warrior behind them did not follow.

Along the way, several Naga Sea Clan were found unconscious on the rocks.

They were all clearly asleep, but these Naga Sea Clan were almost all having nightmares. Some Naga Sea Clan were clutching their own necks, seemingly trying to strangle themselves, while others were waving their arms wildly, terrified...

Roy repeatedly splashed the seawater, imbued with Holy Light Power, onto their faces, waking them from their nightmares.

Wherever he went, the Naga Sea Clan struggling in nightmares would awaken.

Xiu walked ahead of Roy, but he looked like a drunkard, and his steps were unsteady.

The two walked for a while longer, but they didn't see Naga Warrior or Water Ghost along the way...

Roy noticed that Xiu was walking slower and slower. When he caught up with Xiu and was about to say a few words to him, he discovered that Xiu's face was covered in blood, with blood still flowing from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears...

Roy quickly cast a ' Minor Healing ' on Xiu.

A beam of holy light descended, not only stopping the bleeding from Xiu's seven orifices, but also greatly improving his mental state.

Xiu twisted its huge tail and moved forward quickly...

He completely ignored how sharp the sea rocks beneath him were, and even when several fish scales fell from his abdomen, Xiu didn't utter a sound.

Roy followed behind Xiu, and the two walked for nearly half an hour before they finally saw a patch of vines on the sea reef ahead.

These vines have been clinging to this spot for what seems like a long time, covering almost the entire reef, which is over ten meters wide.

These vines looked somewhat like Thorn Grass, but they had no leaves and were covered with sharp thorns. Roy moved a little closer and found that some flower buds were just beginning to bloom on the branches of these vines, emitting a dizzying black mist.

Upon reaching this point, Roy once again felt a powerful mental shock...

However, that overwhelming spiritual impact was completely absorbed by the sacred seedling.

Clearly, Xiu wasn't so lucky. He was so overwhelmed by the mental shock that he collapsed to the ground and coughed up blood.

Roy cast ' Minor Healing ' on Xiu again, allowing Xiu's injuries to heal rapidly.

A beam of holy light enveloped Xiu's body, and Xiu stood up straight again.

This time, Xiu walked straight to the clump of vines, pulled an axe from his waist, and chopped hard at the Thorn Vine.

A vine was cut in half at the waist by Xiu...

The Water Ghost surrounding the reef seemed to have gone mad, emerging from the sea and surging towards the island. The Janna warriors standing on the outer edge of the reef island felt the pressure increase, and they could hear the low growls of the Water Ghost in the distance.

Roy also took the opportunity to come up and said to Xiu, who was swinging his axe, "It seems that these vines are controlling the Water Ghost!"

Xiu nodded repeatedly, clearly agreeing with Roy's opinion.

Roy also pulled a wood-chopping knife from his Magic Pouch. Ever since he returned from the Magala Jungle, he has carried outdoor items such as water pouches and wood-chopping knives with him at all times.

Now the machete naturally came in handy, Roy, mimicking Xiu's movements, kept cutting through the Thorn Vine.

Chop, chop, chop...

There was only one vine covering a reef. The two men cut the vine down to just some roots, which had long since penetrated deep into the rocks.

As the vines were cut down, the surrounding Water Ghost slowly retreated back into the sea...

Even the crisis on the Nautilus was officially resolved. All the Water Ghost slowly sank into the sea. Apart from being filled with a stench and having Water Ghost evil deeds clearly recorded, everything else on the ship had returned to normal.

Even the faint Black Mist that permeated the air began to slowly dissipate.

A group of the Naga Sea Clan warriors also came from the edge of the reef island to Xiu's back. They all looked very disheveled, but each sea warrior seemed to have a victorious smile on their face.

A white light appeared on the distant horizon; dawn was approaching...

Xiu swam over, wagging its tail, and slapped Roy on the back.

The other Naga Warrior followed Xiu's example, giving Roy high-fives to express Roy approval.

As darkness was slowly dispelled by dawn, this reef island was gradually submerged by the sea.

At this moment, Xiu patted Roy on the shoulder and pointed to the Nautilus not far away, indicating that he could go back.

Before leaving, he bundled the cut vines into two bundles and gave them to Roy.

Roy couldn't figure out what these vines were, but they looked quite powerful. He didn't refuse and readily put them into his Magic Pouch.

When Xiu saw Roy accept the vines, a smile appeared on his incredibly ugly face, though it looked a little creepy.

Xiu led Roy to a sea reef, leaped up, and plunged directly into the sea...

Roy had no choice but to bite the bullet and jump into the sea.

Then, Xiu appeared from behind Roy, put his hands under Roy's armpits, and pushed him to swim towards the Nautilus.

Roy discovered that none of the Water Ghost could be seen at all; not even Water Ghost corpses could be found on the surface of the sea. If it weren't for the stench in the air, it would have been as if those evil spirits had never been there at all.

Xiu led Roy to the bottom of the Nautilus, deliberately splashed a huge wave of water, and then plunged into the sea and disappeared.

The crew of the Nautilus heard splashing water below the ship, peered over the side of the ship, and then spotted Roy floating in the sea...

At this moment, Roy was still wearing Thick Leather Armor, and even floating in the sea was very difficult for him.

The crew quickly threw a rope out to sea, and Roy barely managed to reach it before putting it around his body.

They all hurriedly pulled Roy out of the sea...

Klayr rushed over and was relieved to find that Roy seemed unharmed except for being a little tired.

Roy was carried back to the cabin by the sailors, changed into dry clothes, and put his wet, Thick Leather Armor into a suitcase. While drying his hair, Roy opened the cabin door and let Klayr, who was waiting outside, in.

At this point, the Nautilus was ready to set sail...

The fighting last night left many traces on the ship, and the crew even started washing the deck.

Only the young elves returned to their rooms to catch up on sleep after the battle.

Klayr had clearly been up all night; her beautiful blue eyes were bloodshot. Seeing Roy return safely to the Nautilus, Klayr was overjoyed. Sitting down, she asked Roy, "Do you know those Naga Sea Clan?"

"Yes, I'm an old acquaintance of the Naga Sea Clan who boarded the ship looking for me. His name is Xiu. He helped me before, and I helped them in return..."

Roy sat on the bed and explained to Klayr.

"I don't know how they got here. They took me to an island, and we cut down a leafless vine there. Then he took me back to the Nautilus."

Roy added another sentence.

"That Naga Sea Clan sought you out so that you could go with him to the reef island to cut down vines?" Klayr asked incredulously.

Roy nodded, acknowledging, "That's exactly it!"

As he spoke, he took out a thorny vine from his Magic Pouch and said to Klayr, "It's this kind of vine..."

Just then, a red sun rose from the sea, and the sunlight shone on the vines, allowing Roy to see that they were covered with strange magical patterns.

Klayr exclaimed in surprise, "My God, Roy, you actually brought back a piece of ' Nightmare Vine '?"