Nobody could tell whether Sinehowze had anything to do with dark Gourmet.
Angor simply put this matter behind his mind. Since he didn’t drink her soup, it meant he had nothing to worry about. Besides, he had something more important to mind right now—the time indicated by the mysterious hourglass was near.
What would happen to the purification garden? Would that barrier in the sky open up? If all those seawater flooded down toward the ground, it would be disastrous.
Alan soon noticed that Angor wasn’t paying attention to his words.
When Alan asked, Angor chose to tell him, “I need to leave you guys. As for the exit… I think it’s above us.”
He used Voice Transmission to convey the message to Hermes and Keely as well.
Angor patted Alan’s shoulder and whispered, “Make sure you get out of this place safely.”
Next, he unleashed a simple mist illusion to hide everyone’s sight, put away his Gondola, and ejected his soul to carry his body away.
By telling Hermes the clue, he meant to repay their favor for clearing out monsters. From now on, he would like to act on his own.
The illusion confused the others for a brief moment. Hermes and Alan calmed down soon since they already knew what Angor was doing, while Sinehowze was startled a little when she thought Angor was attacking someone.
When the illusion vanished, both Gondola and Angor were gone from sight.
“Guess we’ll split up,” Hermes said to Sinehowze who was still wondering what just happened.
…
Angor didn’t drink witch stew this time. He assumed that his body could endure the absence of soul long enough to reach the barrier.
He still had to slow down while climbing. Since there were too many monster fishes up here, he did not want to run into the same trouble as last time.
In his mind, the hourglass almost finished its countdown.
He prepared to face whatever that might follow. He felt tension building up in his mind as the last drop of sand reached the bottom.
And… nothing.
The barrier was still intact, and the garden seemed unchanged. With a frown, Angor approached the barrier again and put his hand on it.
He didn’t receive any mysterious message this time. Instead, his hand went through the barrier and reached the water behind as if there was no obstruction at all.
“I can go inside?”
He took out a strange-looking top hat with the tattoo of a smiling face on it and activated Purification Field so that he could breathe underwater.
Then he dashed through the barrier.
As he looked around in the deep water, an emotionless voice suddenly spoke to him as well as everyone inside the garden:
“The sacrifice has started. The old garden will self-destruct soon. Please move into the Sea of Purification.”
Before they could understand what was going on, a giant timer that appeared in the sky showed “01:59”.
Anyone could see the shining number by lifting their heads. About a minute later, it was showing “01:58”.
The voice meant to tell them that the world they were currently in would get destroyed in two hours, and they needed to find the “Sea of Purification” to stay alive.
But where was it?
Angor, however, did not have such concern since he was already following the water currents. He believed he was now inside the Sea of Purification.
But what next?
When he tried to look back at the barrier and see what was outside again, he noticed something weird.
He could no longer see the fishes outside, nor the floating clouds. He was looking at stars and the moon.
It felt as if the world had turned upside-down. The “barrier in the sky” just now had become the surface of the sea above him.
He couldn’t see the garden world. He wondered if it had vanished from reality.
After some consideration, he slowly swam to the barrier again to check if he could get out.
When his head poked out from the surface of the sea, he saw the strange sky full of stars but no fish.
“So this is another world? I can’t return now?”
He left the water and checked what was around, but he couldn’t find anything. There was only an endless sea in sight.
He tried to climb higher and see if there was another “sky barrier” above, but after flying for two minutes, something told him that if he kept doing so, it would bring him misfortune.
And he chose to trust his instincts.
He didn’t believe that the city would use the same trick for a second time. He only briefly checked the environment and went back to the sea.
So am I supposed to go deeper?
He didn’t know whether there was land or an exit above the sea. For now, he preferred to check the underwater area. After all, Dodoro’s prophecy told him the possibility that something might happen at the bottom of the sea.
Not long after he began to dive, he saw a giant school of fish approaching. Out of instinct, he activated Infinite Reticence to hide. It was only a second later when he felt something nudging his back.
When looked around, he saw a gray-skinned dolphin just behind him.
Startled, he prepared to use a cantrip to defend himself. However, he then saw the dolphin quickly approaching his position in curiosity.
The Infinite Reticence couldn’t make him disappear. The dolphin already bumped into something, and it was only a matter of time for the creature to discover Angor now.
It cruised around Angor’s body in circles.
Angor noticed that unlike the predatory hunger displayed by the monsters in the garden, the dolphin’s eyes were showing innocence.
A moment later, as Angor tried to be as cautious as possible, the dolphin crept closer and pressed its belly against Angor’s.
Angor was left speechless. He knew now that the dolphin was just a common animal and probably in heat.
He surely did not want to do that kind of bizarre business, so he injected a small trace of nightmare aura inside the creature’s brain.
Next, the dolphin slowly swam away while humping something non-existent.
Angor kept moving and observing the fishes nearby. He saw many different species, and as far as he could tell, none of the fishes were supernatural monsters.
Is the Sea of Purification just… sea? Or is there something else that’s deadly to us?
What he didn’t know was that the monsters outside the barrier had begun to enter the Sea of Purification as well, and these groups of monsters included powerful ones that were as large as whales.
…
His vision dimmed as he moved deeper into the water. When he was about three hundred meters below the surface, the area was completely dark.
He felt unsafe and a little lonely when covered in this absolute darkness. Since he never studied any night-vision spells, he could only cast Light.
The weak cantrip managed to illuminate several meters ahead of him.
The light was wavering and blinking as if it would disappear any time, yet it helped Angor to get rid of his negative emotions.
A group of fish was attracted to the light and began to circle around Angor playfully. Without the killing intent, these little creatures appeared way more adorable.
Accompanied by his light source as well as peaceful swimmers, he moved down once again.
On his way, he saw gigantic whales and unknown predators that fought among each other. They were all ordinary wildlife that showed little interest in a human diver. And even if there were flesh-hunting ones among them, Angor’s simple alchemy weapons were enough to keep them away.
He assumed he already swam for over three kilometers when he finally saw something. There were a series of stone walls of different heights ahead of him, and something was shining around a corner.
He thought it was a glowing fish like an angler, but when he approached it, he noticed he was looking at a building.
It was a round fortress with its roof covered in thick seaweed and colorful shells. There was a round window in the center of the building, which reflected his light.
“There’s a window… and a door. Of course… fish can’t build something like that. Could it be a sunken civilization?” Angor canceled his Light and activated Infinite Reticence before he slowly moved to the fortress.
Before he could get close enough, a strange-looking creature showed up and hurled a harpoon at him, completely unaffected by his Infinite Reticence.
He quickly dodged.
In an instant, the harpoon turned around and came for him again while aiming at his head.
He didn’t have time to worry about why his invisibility was broken. All of his attention was drawn by the creature that showed the same level of power as the monster fishes. And no matter how he turned and evaded, the harpoon could automatically follow his track.