The icy seawater instantly engulfed Klein, soaking his long, gold-red dress and making it as heavy as a stone, dragging him rapidly downwards.
But at the same time, " Creeping Hunger " also devoured the pirate, reducing his weight by an entire person.
Klein did not attempt to surface but continued to sink, vaguely hearing several splashes coming from afar across the waves, as if pirates along the " Sailor " route were relentlessly pursuing him.
This is their home turf!
They can move around here like fish for a very long time!
Klein remained calm. As a " Magician " who never performed without preparation, he had naturally considered escape plans should the operation fail, since nothing is ever 100% successful.
Although in order to best Acting Elaine and avoid being discovered by " Vice Admiral Ailment " Tracy, he not only did not bring any other magical items or his wallet and cash, but he also threw the newly made talismans related to the water and wind realms onto the Gray Fog. However, this did not hinder his performance. The trinity of god, Blessed, and believer allowed him to perform many wonderful maneuvers to deal with similar situations.
He quickly turned the " Creeping Hunger " pale and tinged it with a dark green, and the surrounding seawater froze, turning into layers of white frost.
Before the frost completely solidified into ice crystals, Klein twitched his back muscles and suddenly spread his arms to the sides, using the power of the " Living Corpse " to shatter the frost and send it flying back into the seawater further away.
In this way, he was temporarily surrounded by a small space where there was no seawater.
The water surged back instantly, trying to fill the void. Klein stretched out his left palm, releasing a terrifying chill that spread outwards, creating walls of ice from the seawater.
For a brief moment, he felt as if he were in an ice prison in the sea, able to stand and speak, but confined to a very small space.
Klein immediately took four small counter-clockwise steps, chanted the names of the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings, and quickly sent his spirit into the Gray Fog.
His figure had barely appeared on the high-backed chair of " The Fool " when he picked up the " Sea God Scepter " that had been placed in front of him.
Without needing to identify it, Klein, with a thought, selected the point of light that symbolized the newly ascended " Sea God " believer Gehrman Sparrow. Following the pre-established connection, he raised his milky-white short staff, causing the blue-green "gems" to radiate a hazy glow.
He responded to his "believers" by casting layers of spell-like effects on himself, including but not limited to Underwater Breathing, free movement, and resistance to stress.
Finally, he used Paper Angel to interfere with Divination and issued commands to the underwater creatures in the surrounding sea, instructing them to help and cover Gehrman Sparrow's escape.
Having done all this, Klein didn't delay and immediately returned to the real world, regaining control of his body.
At this moment, the pressure of the seawater had broken through the melting ice wall and swallowed that "independent" space again.
But Klein was already breathing smoothly and swimming rapidly.
Through the rippling, crystalline water, he saw sea fish swimming by, and a shadow rising beneath his feet, as some enormous Monster of unknown species emerged at high speed.
It was a strangely shaped, reddish-brown octopus, so large that it seemed capable of embracing and entangled the entire ship with its tentacles.
It spewed ink in all directions, instantly turning the nearby sea black. Several " Sailor " who were searching for and chasing the attackers Beyonder found themselves in darkness, and their bodies became somewhat numb.
Unaware of what had happened, they immediately surfaced to deal with the abnormality on their bodies.
When they submerged again to search for the enemy, they had completely lost track of Klein.
At this moment, Klein was swimming comfortably on the seabed, even having time to reflect on his recent actions and analyze his gains and losses:
" Her Acting of Elaine was so well-prepared that Tracy, who had shared a bed with her for countless nights, couldn't immediately see through her disguise, which facilitated the digestion of the Potion."
"In the process, I also overcame psychological barriers and found a mental state that was both integrated and detached, which greatly helped me digest the Potion."
"I did my best in the battle, which was a well-prepared performance, but I underestimated the power of a Sequence 5 ' Demoness of Pain ' and the experience of a ' Vice Admiral Ailment ' who had worked her way up to this rank. Even though she lost her magical item at the beginning, with my current strength and the Sealed Artifact, it would be difficult to kill her quickly unless I used the ' Sea God Scepter '... But this is in the waters of the Rorsted Archipelago."
"Today's battle clearly showed that I'm still missing a powerful offensive magical item..."
Faced with the failure of the operation, Klein was undoubtedly somewhat disappointed, but he was not discouraged, because the matter was not over yet. He planned to write to Mr. Azik to see if the other party was interested in ancient documents related to the Death and if he had time to come over.
Before leaving the captain's cabin, Klein snapped his fingers and set fire to the men's clothes he had changed out of in the cloakroom, as well as his own hair and dander. On the surface, this seemed to be an attempt to leave no trace, but in reality, it was a cover-up and Deceit.
What he wanted to conceal were strands of hair and buttons that he would discreetly toss into certain rooms after entering the cabin, things that no one would notice.
Once " Vice Admiral Ailment " Tracy was misled into believing that the attackers, fearing exposure and a curse from afar, carefully erased all traces of themselves, it became difficult for her to get the pirates to thoroughly examine whether any similar items remained.
With those hairs and buttons, Klein could use Divination to pinpoint the location of the Black Death within a certain timeframe. This way, as long as Mr. Azik expressed his wish, he could quickly take him to " Vice Admiral Ailment " Tracy.
Sigh, I thought I could succeed on my own without Mr. Azik's help, but in the end I was just a little short... Klein sighed, feeling his pride was somewhat hurt.
This is one of the reasons why he didn't seek help from a powerful figure from the start. Another reason is that he couldn't be completely sure that Tracy possessed the ancient documents related to the Death. If she didn't, it would be quite embarrassing for Mr. Azik to have made a wasted trip. Moreover, he worried that even with Mr. Azik's assistance, to find the Black Death and " Vice Admiral Ailment " Tracy, he would still have to impersonate Elaine, wear her clothes, and use himself as bait to carry out the operation.
This would be so embarrassing in front of acquaintances!
"Actually, if it weren't for obtaining intelligence, and we just wanted to eliminate ' Vice Admiral Ailment ' Tracy, things would be much simpler. I could just swim back to Bayam, go above the Gray Fog, and use the locked position to create a Storm with the ' Sea God Scepter '..."
"This doesn't mean a large-scale attack would necessarily kill Tracy on the spot, but it would attract the attention of ' Sea King ' Jahn Kottman. Then, the Black Death's whereabouts would be exposed to the Church of Storms... ' Sea King ' acquires ' Disease Maiden '..."
Klein shook his head self-deprecatingly and, guided by his Seer's Spirituality intuition, swam swiftly towards the coastline.
On the Black Death, Tracy removed her heavy defenses, wearing a blood-stained, tattered shirt, walked to the diamond-encrusted bracelet, bent down, and picked it up.
"A very cautious attacker. During my time as Assassin, I was probably not as good as her, no, he..." Tracy suddenly gritted her teeth.
This was not only because she had almost died at his hands, but also because she suspected he was having an affair with Elaine.
According to Emperor Roselle, she suspected that she had a green hat on her head.
" Elaine, are you really so cold-hearted? No, maybe, maybe she was forced." Tracy turned her head to look at the huge and hideous wound on her left shoulder, feeling the excruciating pain.
If it weren't for the fact that both the " Assassin " and the " Instigator " had enhanced her physique, and that she hadn't received further improvements, this single blow might have cost her her entire shoulder, just like those pirates who were shot by rifles.
Blood flowed, staining her vision. Tracy let her blonde maid in to help treat her injuries with her own abilities, while ordering the pirates, who were glued to the scene, to search for items left behind by the attackers.
Unfortunately, the pirates told her that the other person's clothes had burned themselves.
This reminded Tracy of the snap of the enemy's fingers before they left, and she sighed again.
"That's very cautious."
"And I'm not Greed at all. If he takes this bracelet, I won't worry about not being able to catch up with him."
Tracy waved her hand, signaling most of the pirates to leave, leaving only " The Sweet-Talker " King Mithor and a few of the fleet's high-ranking officers behind.
"Third mate, go to Bayam again and find out where the rebels found this Elaine," Tracy ordered in a deep voice.
Mithor laboriously averted his gaze from the captain's chest:
"OK!"
Tracy thought for a moment, then added:
"They spread the word that I was seriously injured and would not recover for a long time."
"And first mate, set sail immediately, don't linger here any longer."
As the orders were issued, silence quickly returned to Tracy's surroundings.
Only then did she have time to think about which faction the attacker came from, why he was targeting her, and what his purpose was...
However, the more Tracy thought about it, the more she felt it was like a fog, and she couldn't see the truth at all. Although she had many enemies, none of them possessed similar abilities.
Finally, she found a clue and muttered to herself:
" Creeping Hunger?"
Midnight, at the location of the private harbor on Blue Mountain Island.
A woman's figure suddenly rose from the receding and surging seawater; it was Klein, still dressed as Elaine.
Surrounded by the sea, he quickly went ashore, sneaked into a nearby fisherman's house, found a set of tattered clothes to change into, and transformed back into Gehrman Sparrow.
Leaving behind the expensive dress as compensation, Klein quickly left the private port and returned to the " City of Generosity," Bayam, before dawn.
He didn't rush to meet up with Danitz. Instead, he found a small hotel to stay in and used a ritual to bring the magical items, including the Azik Copper Whistle and the wallet with cash, back to the real world.
After confirming that he could Divination the location of the Black Death, he blew the bronze whistle.
This website's address is:. m.