The Seabed

"Going to the seabed?" Thor hurried after Luo Ye. "I'll come take a look, too."

Luo Ye gave Thor a meaningful look. "The pollution levels on the seabed are way over the limit right now. Are you sure you want to go?"

Thor insisted, "Just in case, I want to get used to the possibility of being pulled underwater."

It wasn't an unreasonable explanation, but would he really keep fighting in such dangerous conditions?

Still, Thor had put it that way, so Luo Ye couldn't very well refuse.

The place where Alfonso was stationed wasn't a secret, anyway. It was just that, for now, there probably wasn't anyone else besides him who could stay underwater for so long.

The two of them became a pair of dark shadows and plunged into the surging water, its waves a deep blue verging on black.

Visibility underwater was even worse than before. Intertwined roots and branches formed a maze.

Thor and Luo Ye didn't rely on sight. Instead, they followed the Mental Power Alfonso sent out, swimming deeper.

After some effort, they finally made it out of the densest cluster of underwater branches. The area ahead was much more open.

Though everything remained dim, Thor could already sense the Mermaids lying in layers across the seabed, just as he had the last time he went underwater.

The Mermaids were in worse shape than the last time he'd seen them. They were listless, as if half asleep.

That was only to be expected. They were far more resistant to the Black Tide than ordinary people and Wizard Apprentices, but they weren't completely unaffected.

With the Black Tide now upon them, pollution levels in the seawater had reached a dangerous threshold, and the Mermaids had been affected considerably.

They weren't going to die just yet,