The black tidal waters swept across the sky and earth.
Even more turbulent than the tide was the terrible pollution that penetrated everywhere!
Before people shocked by the terrifying Black Tide could recover, they hunched over in extreme physical agony.
The wizards beside the formation were the first to suffer.
Ed, who had just been thinking about using internal parasites to bite together and form chains, writhed painfully on the ground.
Holes appeared on his skin surface—the parasites inside his body were tearing at his flesh from within.
Soon, beetle-like blue-shelled insects emerged from the holes in his body, then crawled back in.
Ed tried to control these parasites with his mental power, but found his mental power was shaking madly like an earthquake, completely disobeying his commands.
An eye emerged from the back of Ed's head, but it only peeked out before being overwhelmed by countless beetles.
So the eye that had just emerged disappeared behind Ed's head again.
The same thing was happening to others.
Jiajia Gu's body was stretched by invisible forces like noodles people commonly eat. Yet his flesh body was strangely not torn apart.
Nearby people could only hear his wails.
Pei'er had flown into the air almost the moment the Black Tide appeared.
Looking at the apocalyptic tragic scene around her, only one thought remained in her mind.
Escape!
Escape as far as possible!
She quickly flew to high altitude, wanting to fly away from Rhine Lake, wanting to fly directly out of the Borderland.
But just as she broke through the mist-like clouds and tried to leave, she discovered her magic power and spiritual body were no longer obeying commands.
A strong whirlwind wrapped around her body, one end clockwise, the other counterclockwise, actually trying to twist Pei'er into a ball like wringing a towel!
Pei'er struggled to break free from her out-of-control magic power's influence, but discovered that even as a third-rank wizard, she was still powerless before the ocean-like magnitude of Black Tide.
Just as Pei'er was about to see her own heels, she again heard the voice from the sky.
The fear on her face gradually dissipated, and the chaotic magic power became calm.
Only, it was truly too calm.
Pei'er looked up at the sky, seeming to see brilliant starry skies beyond the gray overcast.
Nebulae and star clusters emitted various colored lights, appearing to be very far from each other yet also interpenetrating.
That voice was ethereal and gentle. For the first time hearing this voice, Pei'er no longer felt fear, but peace.
She suddenly understood—she shouldn't want to flee from these voices.
They were calling to her, and she was also yearning for them.
...
After an unknown amount of time, Saul finally emerged from beneath the black sea surface.
He forcefully exhaled, yet felt like he had expelled nothing.
He opened his eyes. Around him was still a combination of black, white, and gray.
Various cries of pain and wails seemed to come from all directions, but listening carefully, it seemed there was only the sound of waves crashing against waves.
Saul tried to break free from the tide. The thought had barely formed when he discovered he was already standing on the sea surface.
What made his entire body cold was that he hadn't even used any magic power or mental power!
"I..."
He lowered his head and finally saw his current appearance clearly.
A completely black skeleton.
No muscles, no fascia, no internal organs.
Even from the faint reflection in the seawater, through the holes where his eyes should be, he could see his skull was also completely empty!
"Huff... huff..."
He seemed to hear himself breathing fearfully, yet also seemed to hear nothing.
After all, he had already lost all organs for breathing.
"Am I still alive then?"
Saul looked up in confusion, wanting to seek help or hoping to get answers from others.
However, when he looked around, what met his eyes was only a hellish inferno.
He saw rows of corpses floating on the sea surface.
Not one of these corpses maintained human appearance.
Some long, some fat, some segmented, some in pieces...
Unknown limbs bubbled white foam, emitting nauseating acidic stench on the sea surface.
In the distance was a sea of pale gray fire, a sea of fire burning on the real ocean.
"Is that Herbert? Has he also mutated?"
Saul turned his head—he heard his cervical vertebrae make "crack crack" sounds—and saw the pure white Purity Wizard Tower like a wax figure, half frozen, half melting.
Several noodle-like arms waved toward him, seeming to call for help, but soon drooped down like withered vines, dried and pressed against the tower's outer wall.
Huge shadows passed beneath the water surface.
Like a giant fish, possibly a snake, or monster tentacles.
But Saul immediately realized what it was.
"Little Algae?"
He ran two steps on the sea surface, hearing his mouth open and close but no sound from his throat.
But Little Algae heard Saul's call.
It suddenly stopped, then emerged from beneath the sea surface.
A huge tentacle tip comparable to a whale shark.
It opened its large mouth, revealing sharp black teeth more vicious than a shark's.
Between the teeth gaps, Saul saw several corpses that hadn't mutated severely, plus some clothing fragments.
And this was just one of its tentacle tips.
Soon, second, third, fourth tentacle tips that had similarly split open with bodies in their mouths also emerged from the sea.
They all faced Saul. Though they had no eyes, Saul could still feel that sinister watching gaze.
"Little Algae..." Saul didn't know if Little Algae still had sanity, or if mutation had also turned it into a monster.
Saul extended his skeletal right arm, waiting for Little Algae's response.
Little Algae indeed welcomed him enthusiastically.
So enthusiastically that one by one they opened their bloody maws, suddenly leaped from the sea surface, and bit down heavily toward Saul!
...
"Hah..."
A cold breath exhaled from Saul's mouth.
He suddenly opened his eyes, looking at the golden book page before him, frozen on the scene of him being torn and devoured by dozens of giant tentacles.
At the edges of the scene were large amounts of unidentifiable corpse fragments and raging fire burning on the sea surface like petroleum!
Saul raised his head from the golden book page before him, and the world regained its colors.
He was currently standing in the center of a huge magical formation with a hundred-meter diameter.
The formation was surrounded by wizards.
He saw Herbert and Pei'er floating in the sky, saw Byron standing alongside several consciousness bodies, saw Brando and Jiajia Gu raising smiling faces toward him, saw countless unfamiliar faces looking at him with envy, saw the pure white Purity Wizard Tower quietly standing behind the gray-white mushroom forest...
"Lord Saul!"
It was Corey's voice.
Saul turned back to face directly ahead.
"Lord Saul, if you're ready, we'll begin."
"Wait!" Saul cried out.
But seeing others' puzzled gazes, he suddenly closed his mouth.
How to explain? How to clarify?
If he said the Storm Eye was inside his body and would be activated once the formation started, this group of wizards from the Stargate Council and Borderland would definitely choose to seal him along with it!
Rather than risk activating the Storm Eye by trying to separate Saul from it!
Saul clenched his teeth tightly, even feeling his gums going numb.
"Can't tell them, but absolutely cannot let the Black Tide appear again!"
What should he do?
(End of Chapter)