While speaking, the rotting goat monster had already charged to Maria’s front. Maria crossed her hands in front of her chest and produced unclear musical scales from her mouth.

Immediately, a huge cross-shaped flame suddenly blazed from her arms.

The rotting goat crashed headfirst into the flames. The flames weren’t scattered by the impact but instead actively bent to wrap the monster entirely.

Four fire ropes suddenly bound the rotting goat into a ball, then tightened again, cutting into flesh and skin.

Maria raised her hand and released a magic scroll. The scroll burned in the air and transformed into a sharp arrow, piercing the flame-wrapped rotting goat directly from the center of its skull to the base of its tail.

The rotting goat, which had been silently roaring just moments ago, immediately withered and then turned to ash in the flames.

The ash fell through gaps in the flames, including a palm-sized grayish-white bone fragment.

Maria’s eyes lit up and she immediately rushed down.

She caught that bone fragment near the sea surface. However, at this moment, a huge circular shadow suddenly appeared beneath the sea surface.

This shadow appeared silently. Maria’s attention was entirely focused on her spoils of war and she didn’t notice what was below her feet at all.

As Maria approached the sea surface, the shadow suddenly shot up from beneath the sea—it was actually a huge mouth with a ring of sharp teeth!

Maria only reacted when the monster leaped from the sea surface. Her first instinct was to escape upward while releasing a protective shield. For original chapters go to novᴇlfire.net

However, while she was too nervous to consider Saul above her, a large number of black objects suddenly rained down from above.

It was like a sudden black downpour.

“Eeeaahhh!”

The huge mouth on the sea surface immediately let out a wail. Foul-smelling gas sprayed from its throat, directly knocking Maria off balance.

She had just stabilized her form in the air when she looked down and saw that the huge mouth that had been about to ambush her was now riddled with holes.

Seawater rushed up through the wounds. The big-mouth monster was sinking, spouting water columns from its mouth—somewhat like fountains in a small plaza.

As the monster sank, the water columns converged into a puddle and finally merged into the deep blue sea.

Maria looked up at Saul. Seeing that he made no movement, she immediately jumped into the sea, circled around the sinking monster once, then dried the water from her body and returned to Saul’s side.

The smile on her face carried hints of shock and admiration. She held the grayish-white bone fragment out to Saul. “That big-mouth monster fish didn’t have any gray bones. This one’s for you. Without you, even if I could have escaped, I definitely couldn’t have kept it.”

Saul didn’t politely decline and accepted the grayish-white bone fragment.

This grayish-white bone was quite similar to the bone monsters Saul had obtained in the Chaos Realm. It contained a small amount of black tide pollution—that erosive feeling that tried to penetrate your body upon contact and seep into your brain along skin patterns was unusually obvious.

But it was precisely this undisguised aggressiveness that made Saul deploy defenses the moment he touched it.

However, the pollution within was incomparable to the bone monsters brought from the Chaos Realm.

This monster is half-rotten, the Chaos Realm has white bones, and that world outside the Chaos Realm is filled with grayish-white skeletons. Could there be some kind of progressive relationship between them?

Saul was looking down in thought. Maria didn’t know what he was thinking and assumed he was using mental power to study the gray bone.

She enthusiastically and proactively helped introduce it to Saul, “This kind of gray bone could be called a specialty of the Sighing Wall. Some can also be collected from the southeastern waters of Nephret, but the quantity and size can’t compare to what the monsters here produce. Don’t let the small amount of pollution on it fool you—it can be made into potions that resist black tide pollution through special methods. So every time we fight these monsters, we pay attention to whether there are gray bones inside the corpses.”

“Can it actually be made into potions that resist pollution? Is this a case of antidotes always being found near poisons?”

“I haven’t heard that saying, but it’s very similar to what you described. A wizard once tried to transform his body into a form similar to gray bones to resist black tide pollution, but he ultimately failed and the entire person mutated into a monster.” Maria paused. “I personally killed him.”

Looking at the gray bone in his hand, Saul actually thought of how his own bones had once turned black due to the black tide.

Could this count as a type of gray bone mutation?

When gray bones were defeated by the black tide, would they completely rot and become bone monsters? Then, under the influence of the Abyssal Eye, would they become anchor points? The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

But if gray bones withstood the pollution and developed “resistance,” would they eventually become Saul’s black skeletal frame?

“No wonder he wanted to take my arm back then.” Saul murmured quietly. “Frim’s real target probably wasn’t my twice-modified Soul-Devouring Resin, but my bones.”

Seeing Maria still looking at him, Saul put away the gray bone. “Thank you. I’m quite interested in this gray bone. When I encounter black tide monsters later and get gray bones, I’ll give you one back.”

Maria smiled generously, fine lines appearing at the corners of her eyes. “No need, no need. When the black tide invasion comes, I’ll be able to collect quite a few. This is to thank you for helping just now—how could I let you pay me back?”

The wizards at the Sighing Wall all seemed quite generous. Could it be that Murphy’s merit-based resource distribution system had fostered everyone’s current way of interacting?

Of course, it was also possible they currently had requests of Saul, so they appeared very generous and kind.

Regardless of where this goodwill originated, it didn’t have much impact on Saul. He advocated for equivalent exchange. Once Causality came into play, he didn’t believe many people would dare break their word with him.

After dealing with the monsters, the two prepared to continue their journey. But before leaving, Saul noticed Maria also made a mark at the position where the big-head monster fish had sunk.

“Do you also salvage monster corpses?”

Maria shook her head. “Generally not. But that monster just now was very powerful. Normally such powerful monsters don’t appear before the black tide arrives. Even if they do appear, they would be intercepted by the forward wizard towers. I just don’t understand why it could infiltrate this far. After I escort you over, I’ll investigate further. There are quite a few second-rank wizards in the rear areas—it would be too dangerous if they encountered the big-head monster fish.”

This patrol wizard seemed quite dedicated.

Saul didn’t delay any further. The two flew rapidly over Storm Sea. After more than ten minutes, they finally saw Gorsa’s wizard tower.

“It’s over there—the farthest one is Lord Gorsa’s wizard tower.” Maria pointed ahead.

She stopped here, obviously not wanting to escort Saul to the door.

Saul looked over and discovered that almost no other wizard towers could be seen near that tower.

It was a solitary tower deep in Storm Sea.

When he had just arrived, he had only vaguely seen another wizard tower from the rear-side direction.

Saul also stopped and turned to ask Maria, “Should I ask Master Gorsa if he noticed the big-head monster fish?”

“Uh, no need. I should investigate first. When I understand the situation clearly, I’ll go inquire with Lord Gorsa if necessary.” Maria quickly waved her hands. “It wouldn’t be good to disturb Lord Gorsa when we don’t know anything.”

(End of Chapter)

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