CHAPTER 261: CHAPTER 260: SUPERNATURAL DISASTER

On this fantastical and mysterious sea of the Extraordinary World, dangers lurk everywhere.

Besides tsunamis and storms, the old clichés of extreme weather, there are many peculiar disasters unique to this world, referred to as "supernatural disasters."

"Black Dam," "Blue Cave," "Beheading Wave" are typical examples among them.

Since humans started venturing from coastal waters to the open sea, their threat to ships and sailors has always been present.

Their destructive power and danger are equally matched!

"Beheading Wave" is the easiest to understand, with the most abundant research materials from Wizards.

Clearly, in the study of such hazardous natural disasters, Wizards who possess both power and the spirit of inquiry have an advantage over pure Scholars.

Put simply, "Beheading Wave" refers to mysterious sea waves in deep-sea regions with peaks and troughs that far exceed the norm.

It is said the largest "Beheading Wave" ever witnessed had a height difference nearing 40 meters!

Note that even in the wind and wave height chart compiled by the Iron Cross Church of the Queen and Goddess of Navigation, a level 12 hurricane with wind speeds up to 37 meters/second only results in a wave height of 15 meters.

Imagine, the "Beheading Wave" truly can behead!

Even the most powerful Level 1 Battleship representing the human secular world would be easily snapped like a fragile straw if caught by such a "Beheading Wave" at sea.

Then, the deep trough of the "Beheading Wave" would send them a one-way ticket straight to the ocean floor, disappearing entirely into the sea.

Cleanly, not even the tiniest piece of ship plank would remain!

The principle of "Blue Cave," however, is somewhat elusive even to the knowledgeable School Wizards.

Through years of observation and historical data collection, it’s only confirmed that its mysterious effect is: random teleportation!

A calm sea may suddenly exhibit a blue water cave with a diameter ranging from several kilometers to several dozen kilometers, and all the water, fish, shrimp, algae... even passing ships in this area would be magically teleported to another location.

It could be another sea region, could be on land, or even in the sky.

Eighty years ago, a sky shipwreck incident was reported in the Southern Continent colony of the Phaletis Kingdom, causing severe damage to a plantation, but fortunately, no casualties were reported.

Of course, if you don’t count the original crew on the ship...

Many "Blue Cave" victims disappeared without a trace and never reappeared before the world.

Some speculate that the destination of the "Blue Cave" might be more likely in the deep sea floor, or even... the Otherworld!

This is why no powerful Wizard dares to enter the Blue Cave to personally test it.

Compared to the previous two, the direct harmfulness of "Black Dam" might not be as severe, but its impact on this world is far more profound!

Because it is directly linked to the famous "Shadow Realm."

The "Shadow Realm" is a fantastical world that runs parallel and coexists with the Material World where humans live, a dark domain glowing dimly, which can be understood as the projection of the Material World.

In this world, there are also mountains, rivers, continents, oceans, and even various human city structures.

However, everything within is distorted, filled with contrasting black and white, monotonous in color, a place no normal human would want to linger.

The so-called "Black Dam" is a peculiar phenomenon resulting from a momentary overlap between the Shadow Realm and the Material World.

In most cases, something from the Shadow Realm randomly manifests in this world!

Certainly, if a barren land from the Shadow Realm manifests in an uninhabited area of the Material World, it naturally won’t have much impact.

Over time, as the worlds separate, the "Black Dam" would naturally disappear.

However, if a strong Shadow Realm creature’s nest becomes the "Black Dam" and descends into a thriving human city, it would undoubtedly be a catastrophe as horrifying as an Evil God invasion!

Yet this time, Aiven and his companions are encountering bad luck, though not the worst.

First, they did not face the anticipated "Mother of Sea Monsters" executing chickens.

Second, the scale of this "Black Dam" occurrence was not particularly large, only forming a ring-shaped coral reef from two reefs.

The coral reef radius is about seven kilometers, low in the center and high around, just enough to trap the unsuspecting "Storm Horn" in the enclosed lagoon.

There are even gaps connecting to the external seawater in both the northern and southern directions, but they are too narrow and shallow for the "Storm Horn" to pass through.

The silver lining is that, from the "surface," the reef doesn’t appear to have any large Shadow Realm creatures crossing over, or to have seen any shadow of Shadow Realm creatures.

Besides being trapped and unable to move, the "Storm Horn" is not in any immediate danger for the moment.

Conversely.

If luck were worse and they happened to hit a large-scale "Black Dam" invasion event this time.

Then even the tsunami triggered merely by the domain overlap could immediately bury the "Storm Horn" in the sea, let alone the formidable Otherworld creatures entering the Material World alongside the "Black Dam."

"Milan, from the information I’ve gathered before, the existence of the ’Black Dike’ is uncertain.

It could last from several hours to several years, with smaller scale ones disappearing faster.

For a ’Black Dike’ of this scale, I think it might last from half a day to two days. Do you think we should wait for it to disappear naturally, or should we go and check it out?"

Since it’s confirmed they won’t be permanently trapped, Milan starts to get eager.

The more major events one experiences, the quicker one’s "Prophet" abilities progress. Running into a low-probability event like the ’Black Dike,’ it would be a real waste not to go up there and see.

Did not directly answer Milan.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!...

A flock of Needle-tailed Swifts already shot out under Aiven’s command, lining up to conduct a dragnet reconnaissance of the suddenly appeared island.

Intelligence always comes first before the troops move!

The island’s area isn’t very large and the terrain is not complicated, so the Needle-tailed Swifts conduct their aerial reconnaissance very quickly.

Feedback is quickly relayed into Aiven’s mind: ’No trace of any animals, safe!’

At least from the perspective of the seabirds, the island is safe.

As for whether something might be hidden underground or in tiny rock crevices, it’s beyond their capabilities, and that’s a flaw Aiven plans to address next.

In fact, the "Galliot Bird Transformation Technique 3.0" has been scheduled ever since obtaining the "Vitalist School" heritage.

But to achieve the effect Aiven envisions, he’s still a bit short of skill at his current Apprentice Level casting ability.

The transformation design is complete, just waiting for him to advance to Official Wizard to officially launch!

"Let’s go, Milan and Gary, come up with me, the others stay on the ’Storm Horn.’

Level 2 alert! Gunpowder Chief, be ready to support at any time!"

Passive waiting is never Aiven’s style; even if they do nothing, they’d have to wait about a day. It’s better to go and explore the island.

Even if there is danger, triggering it with everyone on high alert is much better than being ambushed unknowingly.

Therefore, before departing, Aiven raised the alert level of ’Storm Horn’ just in case.

"As you command, Captain! Gunners ready!"

With the three traveling together, Aiven did not use [Jumping Wave] for convenience. Instead, he straightforwardly laid down a longboat and rowed to a nearby shallow strip near ’Storm Horn.’

Thud——

Soon, the longboat was directly rowed onto a pure black beach, gently hitting a reef with its bottom and stopping completely.

Gary, by himself, grabbed the longboat like a leaf, pulling it onto the shore to prevent it from being taken by the sea.

"Alert formation, move out!"

This time Gary, equipped in full heavy armor, led the way. It’s high-grade goods from the ’Alchemy School’s ’Alchemy Tools and Enchantment Project.’

Besides absolute hardness, the biggest advantage is... floating on water!

At this moment, Aiven finally enjoys the prestigious treatment of a high-status caster.

Unfortunately, this caster’s practical witchcraft can be counted on two fingers...

Crunch! Crunch!

The group slowly moves forward.

Under their feet, the gravel is almost entirely non-reflective black, rarely seen in the Material World.

But aside from the color, it’s virtually similar to ordinary volcanic rock, so hoping to trade a piece of Otherworld stone for gold is unrealistic.

Not far from their landing point, some peculiar plants resembling mangroves grow, half-submerged in sea water, with long black-purple eggplant-like fruits hanging from the trees.

As a budding "Biologist," Aiven is of course very interested in these Otherworld plants.

Although previously read mysticism books contained no introduction to such plants, it doesn’t stop him from using his experience and Spiritual sensing as a "Vitalist School" Wizard to pick some fully matured long-eggplant-like fruits.

He also took some black earth as samples.

Regarding concerns some may have about Otherworld microorganisms, viruses, etc., Aiven assures there’s no need to worry.

Phenomena like the ’Black Dike’ have existed in this world for countless years; perhaps a subtle ecological balance has already been reached between the two worlds over the ages.

Nature’s regulatory ability is actually more resilient than humans imagine.

Maybe the plant in his hand was, in fact, an original native of the Material World eons ago.