Theia and Eve exchanged a bewildered look.
They had watched Lin Gui's bizarre muttering just now, as if he were speaking to someone who wasn't there.
When Lin Gui finally stopped, he leaned back against a wooden crate with his eyes closed, his face looking rather pale.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Theia leaned in and whispered:
“Lin Gui? Just now... what was that about? That bead...”
She pointed at his pocket. “And who were you talking to?”
Though Eve didn't speak, her dark brown eyes silently watched him, carrying the same question.
Lin Gui slowly opened his eyes and took a deep breath, his face returning to its usual indifference.
“It's nothing,” he said with a dismissive wave, his tone casual. “Just a little trouble, but it's been dealt with.”
Clearly unwilling to elaborate, he turned his gaze out the window toward the seemingly endless darkness.
“This Silent Abyss is much larger than I imagined.”
He smoothly changed the subject.
“I heard Master Percel say that it runs across almost the entire southern region of the Silent Sea.”
“Its depth is even more terrifying. Even the deepest trenches of the legendary Atlanna Ocean beyond the continent can't compare to it.”
He paused, his voice lowering.
“Rather than an abyss, it's more like... a massive, bottomless crack in the ocean floor.”
“A scar that tore the world apart.”
Awed by the imagery he described, Theia temporarily forgot to press him about the bead.
Eve frowned slightly, seemingly sensing that he was hiding something, but she didn't call him out on it.
About two hours later.
The extreme sense of oppression that had been hanging over the team began to quietly recede.
Up ahead, Stonefang, Alvin, and the others leading the way seemed to put a bit more spring in their step.
The tense expressions of Percel and Freya, who were maintaining the bubble, also softened slightly.
When the warriors carrying the train finally took steady strides,
stepping onto a relatively flat seabed that was no longer adjacent to the bottomless darkness,
everyone vaguely realized—
they had left the bounds of the Silent Abyss.
Just as the scholar Eli had promised before,
this journey through the core of the forbidden zone could be considered a close call without actual danger.
A few soft sighs of relief even echoed through the team.
However, only Lin Gui knew,
just how terrifying that "scare" had actually been for him.
He subconsciously touched the bead in his pocket, its icy texture still present.
Compared to the scholar and the other team members who knew nothing and simply treated it as another successful crossing,
they had just, above the "domain" of a sleeping Demigod demon,
quietly walked right across.
That shudder deeply rooted in the soul
was something probably only he and the shivering soul in his pocket could truly comprehend.
After leaving the suffocating confines of the Silent Abyss, the atmosphere of the entire caravan noticeably livened up.
Even the heavy footsteps seemed lighter,
and low conversations and occasional laughter echoed through the team once more.
Betty even began to softly hum a cheerful melody,
though she was immediately stopped by a look from the scholar.
Still, the sense of relaxation after shaking off the extreme oppression had already spread.
Deputy Captain Aubrey's booming laughter, along with the low responses from the barbarian warrior Barton and the beastkin Grom,
all showed that the team members' tense nerves had finally eased a bit.
Yet, Lin Gui could not truly relax like them.
Compared to the gradually lively atmosphere around him, he seemed exceptionally silent.
In a field of vision invisible to others—
【Eyes of the Netherworld】 was still active.
Those crimson soul threads, fine as ox hairs and originating from the abyssal Demigod,
had not completely vanished just because they had left the main trench of the Silent Abyss.
They still drifted in the surrounding seawater,
filling the entire Silent Sea like an invisible yet omnipresent spiderweb.
Lin Gui had once quietly reached out, slipping his fingertips past the edge of the bubble,
attempting to touch the nearest red thread.
The expected corrosion or impact did not occur;
the thread seemed to be nothing but a phantom, passing right through his fingertips
without any sensation or causing any anomalies.
But this did not put him at ease; instead, it made him even more vigilant—
unknown, incomprehensible existences were often far more unsettling than known dangers.
The team continued forward along the undulating seabed.
In this eternal darkness and dead silence, the concept of time became blurred.
Perhaps the extreme oppression of the Silent Abyss had exhausted their senses,
or perhaps the caravan's newly revived atmosphere diluted their perception,
but they marched along this "road" forged by their predecessors for a very long time.
So long that Theia had already begun quietly discussing with Eve what they wanted to eat after going ashore,
so long that even Lin Gui felt a hint of fatigue quietly creeping into his heart.
The surrounding seawater remained a dense, impenetrable black,
with only the beams of the magic lamps stubbornly cutting through a small patch of darkness ahead,
illuminating the rugged and unfamiliar seabed terrain beneath their feet.
It was as if this silent trek across the ocean floor would never end.
Who knew how much time passed,
until they reached a flat, upward-sloping stretch of ground.
When shadows with distinct demonic features began to swim in the waters ahead,
an uncontrollable commotion broke out throughout the train.
“I see them! I see them!”
Betty was the first to jump up in excitement, pointing at the demons ahead.
“We're finally leaving this godforsaken place!”
Even the usually stoic Freya let the corners of her mouth relax ever so slightly.
She murmured to herself, “As long as everyone is safe.”
The scholar Eli smiled and said to Lin Gui beside him:
“Once we break out of the Silent Sea's range, buoyancy will instantly return.”
“When that happens, I'll have to trouble you to take over the controls.”
Lin Gui nodded and silently walked toward the top of the carriage, preparing to take his position.
By now, under Freya's command, the ranged fighters on the roof of the carriage were already standing by in full battle array.
The Forest Elf Laisa drew her longbow taut, the tip of her arrow gleaming coldly.
The scout Alvin toyed with a dagger in his hand, his gaze sharp.
Even Betty gripped her staff tightly, ready to cast a spell at any moment.
This display of readiness instantly put Theia on alert.
Although she didn't know the exact reason, she immediately entered a combat-ready state.
After quickly telling Eve to hide back in the relatively safe carriage,
she leaped nimbly onto the roof, joining the defensive circle formed by Freya and the others.
Just as she found her footing, the Forest Elf Laisa tossed a heavy quiver over to her.
“Once we reach Shield City, replace your arrows.”
Laisa's tone was still flat,
but as her gaze swept across the crude quiver at Theia's waist, it carried clear disapproval.
Theia caught the quiver, and she could tell the difference the moment it touched her hand.
The arrows inside were all made of highly refined steel, with neat fletching and exquisite craftsmanship,
on a completely different level compared to her crudely made wooden arrows.
She did not refuse the kind gesture.
Watching Laisa's focused profile, Theia hesitated for a moment before asking softly:
“Why... did you leave the Elven Forest?”
Laisa's hand nocking an arrow paused slightly. She didn't look at her, only staring at the dark waters ahead.
“To become stronger.”
Her voice was very quiet, yet it carried an unquestionable firmness.
“To protect my sisters, to protect my family.”
She briefly explained that the Elven Forest was no paradise.
With the demon threat drawing closer by the day, she couldn't guarantee when the peace of the Elven Forest would be shattered.
To obtain the strength needed to protect her home,
she chose to leave the comfortable forest and join the danger-ridden North Wind caravan,
honing her skills on this path paved with death.
“Very cliché, isn't it?” The corner of her mouth twitched, seemingly in self-deprecation.
Theia, however, let out a laugh and shook her head.
She smoothly drew a steel arrow, nocked it to her bowstring, and turned to stand back-to-back with Laisa.
“No.”
Her voice carried a sincere warmth.
“Fighting to protect one's family...”
“A reason like that will never be cliché.”
“If I could have a younger sister like you, I would be incredibly proud.”
Laisa didn't respond, but her tense shoulders seemed to relax ever so slightly.
The two elves, one silver-haired and one green-haired, stood back-to-back,
their bowstrings pulled taut, their arrows pointed straight toward the increasingly hazardous waters ahead,
ready to face the final hurdle before leaving the Silent Sea.
Rate on N.U.
