"Mermaids?"
The "Queen Mystic" glanced at Silas. "There are tribes of them in these waters... As for mine, she's a magical creation of mine, not a real existence."
She didn't ask what Silas wanted mermaids for, but instead opened her treasury and retrieved something.
It was a pitch-black, heavy substance that appeared to be viscous liquid.
Even without a container, this liquid naturally clustered together without spilling out.
This should be the Shadow Knight's black liquid.
Looking at that mass of black fluid, Silas felt his body involuntarily produce a craving, and his heart was somewhat surprised.
Worthy of Sequence 4. Even an auxiliary ingredient has such an obvious effect!
To purchase the materials, he had already prepared 1,000 pounds in cash. He immediately counted out 500 and handed them to the Queen, receiving and storing away the black liquid from her.
As for Grigori shadow traces, Moon had also confirmed he could provide it.
Add to that the fact that his corruption ritual had been performed in advance, and the only thing missing for his advancement was the Black Knight's extraordinary characteristic.
And the clue to that characteristic was in this very sea before him.
Silas instinctively looked toward the front of the ship, and then he suddenly froze.
At some point, a massive fissure had appeared in the sea ahead.
On both sides of the fissure, endless seawater cascaded down like waterfalls, plunging into the abyss. The "Dawn" had already been caught in the turbulent current flowing downward, rushing toward this fissure at an increasingly rapid speed!
What the hell?
The sea can be split open?!
"Look ahead!"
Silas shouted to Bernadette, quickly scooping up Luna.
"Don't worry."
He heard the Queen Mystic's calm voice.
"Swoosh!"
The sails on the Dawn billowed up, and the ship not only didn't stop but accelerated toward the front.
Just as the ship was about to fall from the edge, a bridge of water formed by torrents extended from the sea surface at the bow.
Thus, the Dawn sailed onto this bridge built in midair, crossed the fissure, and steadily arrived at the sea on the other side.
It can cross over?
You could have said so earlier...
Silas thought to himself, holding the black cat.
He instinctively looked toward the Queen Mystic but was momentarily blinded by the suddenly intensified sunlight.
So bright!
That's right.
The moment they arrived in this sea area, the sunlight suddenly became scorching and brilliant, illuminating the deck with a dazzling glow.
Time seemed to leap forward abruptly, rapidly going from morning to midday.
"Meow."
Luna's pupils in his arms rapidly contracted into thin lines.
Silas squinted and looked up to see blinding golden radiance filling the sky. There were no clouds, and no sun either.
But if there was no sun, where was the sunlight coming from?
The strangeness of the divine war ruins began to reveal itself at this moment.
"This is a ruin produced after the battle of divine beings... It can be traced back to the Second Epoch at the earliest."
The "Queen Mystic" looked at the ocean outside the ship's rail and said softly.
Under the illumination of pure sunlight, the entire ocean seemed paved with countless fragments of gold, surging and leaping.
At the edge of their vision were several islands, but upon closer inspection, they seemed more like ruins piled up from destroyed buildings.
"The Second Epoch?"
Silas instinctively repeated.
According to official history and the records in divine scriptures like the Book of Night's Revelation, that was a dark era when people struggled to survive under the protection of deities...
However, the Queen didn't respond to him.
No, it should be said the Queen had disappeared.
The Queen Mystic, Luna, the Dawn... at this moment, all of them no longer existed.
Silas had somehow found himself in the midst of a battlefield.
He saw fierce winds roaring and whipping up towering waves.
The ocean became incredibly violent, as if trying to swallow the entire world.
A man stood upon the waves, crowned with storm clouds, cloaked in gale-force winds, wielding a spear condensed from lightning as he wreaked havoc on the sea.
The man's fury was tangible, making people tremble involuntarily.
He saw an unimaginably massive dragon soaring. When the dragon spread its wings, they covered the firmament. With a wave of its claws, countless illusory things became reality, and everyone's sweet dreams turned into nightmares.
He saw a ferocious demon wolf with eight legs bringing darkness. It was the silent, secret night, the curse of ultimate terror.
He also saw a voluptuous, beautiful woman shrouded in abundance. Thus, wheat sprouted and flowers bloomed in the seawater...
These were towering existences from the Age of Myth, ancient deities hidden in history!
Silas's eyes widened. He couldn't look away, witnessing the world filled with chaotic divine power.
Islands, buildings, living beings... everything was swept up in it and destroyed!
Yet these seemingly divine existences weren't fighting each other. Quite the contrary, they all shared a common enemy.
The sky was covered by thick clouds and pitch-black night. Only at the horizon where water met sky did a faint glimmer of light appear.
A figure in a simple white robe walked barefoot on the water's surface, slowly approaching the gods.
Behind his head floated a halo of light. Beneath his feet was an illusory circle divided into twelve sections, each with symbols representing different times.
Behind his back hid a curtain-like shadow, and within the shadow, an eye seemed to be peering outside.
With each step he took, the ocean beneath his feet became docile, the sky above cleared of clouds, the darkness ahead regained light, and the mad and terrifying dreams came to an end!
Finally, the entire world was illuminated by golden radiance.
Under the illumination of that light, the dragon, the demon wolf, the man wielding lightning, the voluptuous woman... these powerful deities were all defeated, leaving only remnants of divine power that left terrible influences on this sea.
Is this... the battle that once took place on this sea?
Silas thought to himself.
He had already guessed that he was probably experiencing another hallucination.
Numerous ancient gods possessing powerful authority had all been defeated by that figure in the white robe.
Just then, that figure standing quietly on the sea suddenly looked toward Silas.
His gaze seemed to traverse countless ages, meeting Silas's eyes.
Oh no!
The strings in Silas's mind immediately tightened, but before he could prepare his defenses, the shadow behind the white-robed figure suddenly expanded, instantly swallowing the light.
"Ho! Ho! Ho!"
Terrible gasping sounds that resonated through heaven and earth struck like heavy hammers in Silas's mind, causing his spirit pain and making his hallucination collapse!
"Ugh!"
Silas suddenly awoke and sat up from the deck, discovering the black cat crouched beside him while the Queen also cast a concerned look his way.
He clutched his head, feeling intense pain.
The terrible gasping sounds hadn't disappeared with the hallucination. No, these sounds had originally been on the sea. It was these sounds that had awakened him.
Silas felt as if a massive corpse lay in the ruins ahead. That corpse was already dead, yet still gasping for breath!