The sky gradually darkened completely, and the moon's outline became increasingly clear, while the stars seemed insignificant in comparison.
Luo Wei had been stargazing for a long time. In the end, she had to use a turtle shell as an aid to determine the correct position of the consteltions.
Unfortunately, divination could only be used twice a day; otherwise, she could have used the turtle shell to return to the Western Continent.
"Quickly pack up the magic pnts; we're setting off immediately."
The three of them discussed and decided on a pn: Hol Felix would carry them for a stretch first, then when he got tired, Theodore would take over, and finally Luo Wei would fly with them. This way, they could take turns resting and conserve their energy.
As the night deepened, the three entered the water and began swimming westward.
The surging waves kept pushing them back, making it difficult for Hol Felix to swim forward.
"Theodore, aren't you a sea creature? Can't you summon a giant shark to take us back?" Hol Felix asked, struck by a sudden idea.
"I'm a sea creature, not a sea demon. Only those dim-witted merfolk talk to their food," Theodore rolled his eyes. "Besides, you know I don't have the Giant Beast talent, so why are you even asking?"
Sharks would only flee at the sight of him, let alone give him a ride back. And while he wasn't afraid of sea monsters, those creatures would just as likely charge at them and swallow them whole!
After swimming for a kilometer, they were pushed back by the waves by about a third of the distance. Luo Wei, now freezing cold, couldn't take it anymore. "Turn back into your human forms; I'll fly us out of here."
"I'll take over, don't worry," Theodore quickly took the initiative and swam forward with all his might.
After a while, the surroundings grew darker, and a faint mist began to rise over the sea.
The sea fog thickened rapidly, and within minutes, it enveloped the entire area. Looking up, even the moon was no longer visible.
Theodore shivered. "Did we swim into the Misty Zone?"
"It's not that we swam into the Misty Zone," Luo Wei said calmly, "but rather, we've been in the Misty Zone all along. This thick fog only just started rising."
"What? So the Misty Zone only appears at night? Why didn't anyone tell us?"
"Because everyone who knew that is dead."
"We can't see our direction in this fog. We need to leave here immediately." Luo Wei spread her wings, grabbed Theodore and Hol Felix, and flew upward.
The source of the fog was unclear, but it silently bnketed the entire sea. She flew up over a thousand meters but still hadn't escaped the fog.
Suddenly, the sound of roaring waves echoed through the fog. Hol Felix tilted his head to listen and then frowned deeply. "This isn't good. A storm surge is coming."
A storm surge? But there was no wind—where could a storm surge come from?
Luo Wei's heart sank. "Could it be that another giant beast has emerged?"
Theodore cried out in despair, "No! Please, don't let it be the Whirlpool Sea Beast! That thing will drag me to my death!"
Hol Felix added, "Think positively. What if it's the sea monster Leviathan?"
The Leviathan was one of the Seven Great Sea Tribes. It wasn't very intelligent, but its massive size rivaled that of a whale, and it enjoyed venturing out in groups to catch fish. Wherever they appeared, massive storm surges would follow.
Theodore clutched his chest with his cws. "Leviathan is still better than the Whirlpool Sea Beast. At least Leviathan can understand human speech, while the Whirlpool Sea Beast doesn't even have ears!"
Luo Wei flew up another 1,500 meters and finally broke through the fog's height.
She gazed into the distance, her voice tinged with mencholy. "Why don't you consider the possibility that it's a sea serpent?"
"Hah! Sea serpents have been extinct for thousands of years. Even our ancestors who lived in the sea never saw one. They're probably long gone!" Theodore said loudly.
"Really? Did your ancestors like to venture out?"
"Venture out? No, they preferred to sleep. Besides, the seas beyond weren't our territory. We only operated in the southern waters of the Western Continent."
"Then take a look over there."
"Look at wha—" Theodore turned his head and suddenly fell silent.
Amid the swirling mist, the massive head of a sea serpent slowly emerged from the water. Two enormous streams of water shot skyward from its nostrils like rivers, crashing back down and creating waves that rose hundreds of meters high.
A sharp, bck rock peak grew from between the serpent's nostrils, jutting high into the sky. Its enormous forked tongue flicked out as if exhaling toward the moon. Its mouth was so vast that it seemed capable of swallowing the moon whole.
"Theodore, you've really found us a great spot," Luo Wei said, almost in tears.
That small isnd was clearly the tip of the serpent's nose protruding from the ocean.
Hol Felix asked without much hope, "Theodore, do sea serpents have ears?"
"I don't know," Theodore replied, his face ashen. "Even if it does have ears, how loud would I have to shout for it to hear me? And how long would it take to react once it does?"
"Then we can only fly faster," Luo Wei said. "We need to escape this sea area before the storm surge turns into a tsunami."
Although the chances of escaping were slim, her stamina could only sustain her flight for half an hour. In that time, she could cover only 30 to 40 kilometers, while a tsunami's wave speed could reach 500 miles per hour, crossing an entire ocean in just a few hours.
"What kind of day is this? Why are both the Behemoth and J?rmungandr, who haven't appeared in thousands of years, suddenly showing up?" she asked through gritted teeth.
The Behemoth, also known as the Earth Beast, was a mythical creature from Western legends, said to be the rgest nd-dwelling creature, created by the Creator God personally.
J?rmungandr, the sea serpent, was even more formidable. He was known as the World Serpent, said to be the strongest monster among the giants.
In Norse mythology, J?rmungandr was a massive serpent that encircled the entire world, biting its own tail. As a child, he was thrown into the bottomless sea by Odin, the All-Father of the Aesir gods, and had been trapped in the ocean ever since.
If the sea serpent J?rmungandr of this world was indeed the same serpent from Norse mythology, then there was no escaping their fate.
As Luo Wei thought about this, Hol Felix's low, gravelly voice broke the silence.
"I heard a legend when I was young. It said that J?rmungandr is over 12,000 miles long and 250 miles wide. Every 2,000 years, he circles the Western Continent and the Wastes once, taking 1,000 years to complete a single circuit. No one knows where he goes during the other 1,000 years."
"During the 1,000 years he circles the world, he shifts a small distance every decade, takes a deep breath once a year, and a shallow breath once a month. Whenever he moves and takes a deep breath simultaneously, terrifying waves sweep across the seas."
Theodore wailed in despair, "How could we be so unlucky to encounter him during both his movement and deep breath?"
Luo Wei felt guilty and didn't dare speak. Could it be that her bad luck had dragged them into this?
"The world is about to fall into chaos."
"What?"
Neither Luo Wei nor Theodore caught what Hol Felix had said.
"I said, the world is about to fall into chaos," Hol Felix repeated, raising his voice. "The Behemoth signifies upheaval, and J?rmungandr signifies natural disasters. The st time they appeared together was during the War of the Gods."
That war had left half the gods dead, nine-tenths of humanity wiped out, the Wastes reduced to barren nd, and even the sun and moon shrouded in dust for three years.
"The world... chaos?"
Theodore froze.
The elder patriarch of the Giant Beast Tribe was over 2,060 years old. He was the only survivor of that divine war, and he had only survived because he hadn't yet hatched at the time. His parents had hidden him in the deep sea.
"Could it be that another divine war is about to erupt on the Western Continent?" Theodore murmured.
