When Lu Li came to, he found himself being towed through the water by a mermaid. It was the same mermaid who had served the Mermaid Princess. She was covered in serious injuries, some sustained in the fight against the Deep One and others inflicted by the Merfolk King as punishment when she had gone back to beg for help.
Looking around, he saw the Merfolk King leading a large group of merfolk toward some place. Gao Xiaowen and Hu Wenxu were nearby, too. Earlier, the Merfolk King had cast a spell that stirred up an underwater sandstorm. It had destroyed the support point and knocked Lu Li unconscious in the process. Fortunately, the bubble around his head and the things tied around his waist were still there. After a moment's thought, he realized the Merfolk King was heading for Black Tide Beach, where the Witch was.
The merfolk were a people who had abandoned their faith. In the beginning, they had been summoned just like the Deep Ones, and had leaped into the sea to join with fish. But once the summons passed, some of those who had been forced to answer it came to their senses and wanted to return to land. By then, they had already mutated, so they had no choice but to gather together and make a life for themselves. That was how the merfolk first came to be.
Now the Deep Ones and the Witch were trying to awaken the Great One. From a public standpoint, the Great One wouldn't spare the apostates after awakening, which posed a grave threat to the merfolk. On a personal level, the Witch and the others had schemed against the Merfolk King's precious daughter and gotten her killed. That was a grudge he had to avenge. So the merfolk were now racing toward Black Tide Beach.
"If you're awake, swim on your own." The mermaid let go and dumped poor Lu Li to the side. She was partly to blame for the Mermaid Princess's death, and she had never thought much of Lu Li and the others for failing to protect the princess. Now she liked them even less.
Lu Li flailed in the water for a bit, but before long the mermaid had left him behind. He ended up alongside Gao Xiaowen and Hu Wenxu. Hu Wenxu had changed a little more. His whole body was deathly pale, with black spots writhing across it. His right hand was still a tentacle, and his legs had completely turned into a giant octopus. He had drawn the tentacles and eyeballs that had been floating outside his body back inside, and now he even had eyes in his sockets.
But his condition wasn't good. The influences of several monsters were constantly clashing within him, and the conflict was reflected in his mind through the changes to his body. Though the different influences held one another in check and maintained a balance, keeping his personality intact, they had left his body a wreck.
Lu Li watched as boils periodically appeared on Hu Wenxu's body and burst, releasing disgusting mucus and worms into the water. The affected areas were still spreading. After a moment's thought, Lu Li pointed upward to Hu Wenxu and Gao Xiaowen. The three of them surfaced, and Lu Li removed the bubble around his head so they could talk normally.
"I got a spell from the Gate of Slumber that can restore the body very quickly, though it might cause mutations," Lu Li explained, speaking of the incantation he had obtained from the Gate of Slumber. "But with you in this state, I doubt you're worried about mutating. If your body isn't repaired soon, I think it'll collapse."
"Miss Gao, you're in the same boat. You don't seem to be in great shape either. Do you need my help?" Lu Li asked sincerely. Gao Xiaowen shook her head and swam back toward Black Tide Beach. The medicinal herbs she had taken hadn't worn off yet, and swimming there was faster than going by land.
"Looks like I really will have to let you test it on me. Go ahead and cast the spell." Hu Wenxu knew what Lu Li was up to. But just as Lu Li had said, he had little reason to care in his current state.
Lu Li asked Hu Wenxu for a water container, filled it with seawater, and began chanting. The incantation was written in a particularly strange way. Even if someone studied it for years, they might still fail to pronounce it correctly. Since Lu Li had obtained it from the Gate of Slumber, though, he could use it straight away.
As he chanted the strange words, the water in the container gradually changed. Lu Li could also feel his mind and soul coming into contact with something he couldn't see. The incantation's instructions hadn't mentioned anything like this. Whatever it was, it was so vast that it surpassed the limits of Lu Li's spiritual perception. He could only vaguely sense its presence and some information passing through—information whose content and meaning he couldn't make out.
After an unknown amount of time, Lu Li suddenly came to. The feeling of contact faded, and the seawater in the container had changed dramatically. It had become viscous like mercury, and he could just make out something writhing within it. This, he supposed, was the "worm" mentioned in the incantation's instructions.
"Is this the stuff? I just have to drink it?" After Lu Li confirmed it, Hu Wenxu downed the water in one gulp. The moment it went down, he felt something writhing inside him. Then he saw all the boils on his body burst, expelling the disgusting pus and the worms that had grown inside them. His wounds healed at an astonishing speed. Hu Wenxu could feel that his body had returned to normal, but this was only treating the symptoms, not the cause. As long as the mutative influences within him kept clashing, the injuries would eventually return.
Watching Hu Wenxu recover gave Lu Li a general understanding of the incantation. At its core, it allowed someone to contact higher-dimensional beings and borrow their power to change the nature of water. If those beings took a liking to you, they might even bestow further incantations.
But such contact polluted one's soul, personality, and will. Over time, a person would become a fanatical devotee of that higher-dimensional being, their reason would collapse completely, and in the end, they would die by their own hand.
"All right, there's not much time. I'll go by water. You should swim to shore and go overland!" Hu Wenxu carefully checked his body. He couldn't tell what side effects the water might have yet, but at least his body had been repaired for the time being. Once they completed the mission, he should be able to get a permanent fix at the game shop.
The two exchanged a few words and quickly parted ways. Lu Li swam toward the shore. He wasn't very fast in the water, so going overland would be quicker. Nobody else was traveling with him; he pressed on in silence, taking the opportunity to calculate how much time had passed. It seemed today was the last day since they had received the mission. If they didn't destroy the support point soon, they could only wait to die.
Keeping track of the time, Lu Li made his way to Black Tide Beach. In the distance, he saw the altar rising above the reefs and the scene upon it. It was hard to imagine that Xu Haoran still hadn't died. He was fixed in place at the center of the altar, looking utterly bewildered. The maid had returned to her true form, her foul, shapeless body like tar enveloping most of Xu Haoran as she roared at the Witch...
Before you continue