As he flew upward, Shade didn't forget to find a mask from the pile of small toys in his pocket and put it on. However, because he was ascending so quickly, he nearly lost his grip and dropped the mask into the sea.
"Oh!"
The tattoo finally leaped above the water's surface. Raindrops pelted Shade's face, and amidst the surging waves, Shade leaped up as well. He spat out the water in his mouth while gripping the fishing rod tightly with both hands.
Looking around, the massive, decaying corpse appeared directly before his eyes. Its upper body was bare, with only the area around its waist protruding from the water. The stench of rot and blood rushed into his nostrils; the moment he saw the corpse, a surge of terror nearly made Shade let go of the fishing rod.
The complex of ancient undersea temple buildings, which he had seen from a distance surrounding the mermaid atop the giant waves, could finally be seen clearly.
The stone structures were towering and bizarre; the spiral architecture, which defied normal rules, revealed the eeriness of a deep-sea civilization. Broken ancient runes on the buildings shimmered with a dim light under the yellowish sky. Vast clusters of skeletons were scattered along the edges of those ruined structures, emitting a phosphorescence-like glow beneath the sallow sky—strange and chilling.
The more he looked at the architectural complex, the more he could hear an ethereal chanting that was rhythmic, paced, and even somewhat wild. The sound was completely unaffected by the noise of the rain and the tides; it sounded like the soft singing of a young girl, yet also like a hymn from a wild temple.
Primitive, grotesque, terrifying, primal, and spiral—these were the words that naturally surfaced in Shade's mind after seeing the temple complex.
Within the buildings surrounding the giant corpse, at the position of the heart in front of the body, Shade actually saw firelight through the doors and windows of an undersea temple that seemed to have been carved directly from a rocky hill.
He saw dark-golden fire; just by looking at the flickering glow, he could feel its searing heat.
"This is..."
His eyes widened in the rain. This familiar feeling seemed to be calling to him. The desire enhanced by the flesh of [Desire] was urging Shade to touch it, to obtain it.
"As I thought..."
The temple complex floating above the waves and moving with the mermaid's giant corpse was neither a hallucination nor a projection. Rather, the power of this massive corpse had created a terrifying spatial influence, resulting in a zone of spatial anomaly around the body that had dragged the ancient merman temple—which had long coexisted with the corpse—out from the ancient merman city on the seabed.
The high-circle wizards of the Church were currently fighting a few merman circle wizards of the Scarlet Cult around the ancient temple. The latter had prepared for the ritual for many years; besides the cult's own circle wizards, there were even human circle wizards helping them. However, even though the mermen received a power boost around the temple, they were still being suppressed by the Church.
As the waves surged forward, mermen continuously poked their heads out of the water, only to be quickly killed by the circle wizards aboard the warships. Perhaps they had prepared for the Sea Return ritual for years, but they had unfortunately chosen a date after the Descent of Tobeisk. The Church of the True Gods would not make another mistake regardless; currently, circle wizards across the entire material world were focusing on the outcome at Coldwater Port.
Meanwhile, the professors of the Academy were riding a golden sea ship—literally made of gold—following behind the mermaid. Various strange spiritual lights flickered, exerting an effect on the massive floating corpse.
It wasn't that the professors wanted to defeat a corpse that possessed no self-awareness; rather, they were attempting to soothe the body, urging it to return to tranquility so that it would not attack Coldwater Port with the waves.
The professors' efforts were quite effective; otherwise, Shade wouldn't have had to fly up himself and could have simply waited on the shore.
The power of the temple and the mermaid's corpse greatly interfered with the circle wizards' perception. Coupled with the fact that everyone was fighting, no one noticed Shade in the sky as he flew over.
However, when Shade looked up at the face of the giant mermaid corpse, that pale face with closed eyes actually formed a bizarre expression. Before Shade could react, the mermaid's eyes snapped open. What Shade saw in those eyes was a blood-red spiral.
He spat out a mouthful of blood and quickly closed his eyes.
He was pulled, flying into the temple in front of the corpse's heart, where he slammed heavily onto the slimy, damp ground, rolling several times before coming to a stop. Looking up again, the image before him appeared slightly doubled; the interior of the stone building was filled with eerie merman statues. Terrifying profane runes and horrific prayers transcribed from nameless tomes were engraved on every flat stone surface.
Aside from Shade, seven or eight other people were fighting at the temple entrance. Among them were merman circle wizards of the Scarlet Cult and circle wizards of the Church of the True Gods. The former huddled together, relying on the divine arts of the evil god to barely hold their own against two circle wizards who had eleventh-ring life rings manifesting behind them. A scarlet light covered them like an inverted dome, but every time they were attacked by the Church's wizards, the scarlet light grew dimmer and the mermen grew weaker, though the expressions on their faces remained manic.
They were hoping they could hold out until the giant wave swallowed Coldwater Port; by then, everything would be irreversible.
"What are you doing?"
The eleventh-ring wizard with the holy symbol of the Sun God hanging from his chest couldn't help but ask Shade, who had just crashed into the temple. Shade didn't speak; he tightened the fishing line in his hand, feeling the direction the tattoo wanted to go. He carefully bypassed the group currently fighting and, among the eight entrances in the temple's forecourt, chose the second one on the right. He then ran deeper into the temple along a corridor covered in seabed silt.
Neither side of the battle stopped him.
There seemed to be even more people inside the temple than outside. As he ran forward quickly, sounds of explosions, cursing, and the rustle of running echoed from all around.
The ceiling and the floor seemed to be vibrating, and the roar of the giant waves came from all directions. At the end of the corridor was a small hall used for prayer; white bones were piled in the silt, with human heads used as candle holders. Shade ignored them, still gripping the fishing rod, advancing under the guidance of the tattoo.
The further he went, the more terrifying the scenery became. On the stone walls on both sides of the corridor, scenes of ancient merman sacrifices were depicted repeatedly. The skeletal remains beneath his feet grew more numerous and their shapes more horrific. In addition to fish remains, fresh human corpses appeared in the silt.
Shade could feel his heart beating violently; this wasn't fear, but anticipation—anticipation for the thing waiting for him ahead.
"However, this corridor is very similar to the one I saw in [The Truth of a Piece of History (The Fifth Epoch Witch War)]."
Only similar, which indicated that the two were perhaps constructed during the same era.
(End of Chapter)