A Sorcerer’s Journey

It would be an undoubtedly foolish decision for tens of thousands of troops to cross the Infernal Spirit Continent to the Arctic Tundra without the guide of the Stigmata Sorcerer.

Grimm, for one, would not have made such a stupid decision.

Regardless of whether they had to make a detour across oceans after oceans or to challenge their way through the strange and treacherous lands that were even feared by the Acraepoids, it was definitely a much better option than going through the hostile Infernal Spirit Continent brazenly.

Six months later.

No matter how prudently Grimm managed his team and their route, half a month ago, a few Demon-Hunters perished as they crossed the sea where the sea dragonfly inhabited.

It was a critical situation at the time, and he did the best he could.

Certain parts of the Natural Laws and unique biological evolution of this world were different from the Sorcerer World.

They were currently at the Sea of Whirlpools, which was also one of the most terrifying sea areas of the Acraepoids. They would reach the Arctic Tundra of the Infernal Spirit World after crossing this hazardous sea water.

The weather here was rather bad due to its significantly low temperature.

Although the Acraepoids had dominated the Infernal Spirit Continent for a long time, many feared the existence of the powerful creatures in the depths of the ocean, just like the fearsome legends of human sailors in the Sorcerer World.

Among them, there were stories about a kind of mysterious creature that had the ability to control partial Sea Energy and tranquilize the Acraepoids. They called it the Phagocytic Shell.

According to the Acraepoids who lived around the sea areas, the smaller the Phagocytic Shell, the nastier it was.

“Phagocytic Shells?” Grimm and Senichino mumbled. They obtained the information from an Acraepoid captive about the treacherous and fearsome Sea of Whirlpools, marveled by this wonderful creature called the Phagocytic Shell.

Based on the sorcerers’ understanding, the ability to control partial Sea Energy was categorized as the sorcery of water element control.

As for the ability to tranquilize its prey, there was no doubt that it belonged to the hypnosis skill in mental strength.

As far as an official sorcerer was concerned, as long as the level of the creature did not differ too much, these two abilities were easy to tackle under foreseeable circumstances. It was one of the sorcerers’ cognition skills.

The peculiar part was, although the Phagocytic Shells were somewhat well-known in this sea area, some Acraepoids had even managed to live to tell the tale after their narrow escape from encountering such creatures, though none of the Acraepoids had actually caught a living specimen.

The Phagocytic Shells were as mystifying as their legends.

“Where did the name “Phagocytic Shell” come from?” Grimm interrogated the captive, pasting on a mysterious, horrible appearance of an evil sorcerer. He opened his eyes wide and frowned as if he would kill him any time soon.

“It was inspired by the shape of a whirlpool that opens up like a shell! It is a common sight to see the Phagocytic Shells with a diameter of more than a hundred meters, they are not scary. But if you see a Phagocytic Shell with a diameter of less than a meter, you better run unless you are the great Infernal God, or else, everyone within its territory will be swallowed!” the captive described in a tone of horror and worry.

“Everyone? Including your nobles?” Senichino arched his eyebrows and asked. One of the ostrich heads stretched its neck out of curiosity and pecked at the purple sea fruit that was in a bucket carried by the captive and swallowed it whole.

Tap tap tap!

It seemed that the sea fruits tasted delicious as the three ostrich heads pecked at the fruits in turn with relish.

Despite his distress for his hard-earned sea fruits, his life was in the hands of these horrible sorcerers, he did not dare raise his objection.

“Yes, including our Acraepoid nobles.” The Acraepoid nodded.

Two figures flew back from a distance. They were the Bright Demon-Hunters who had been sent to investigate the area.

One of them was a female Demon-Hunter who was exceptionally beautiful, her skin as fair and delicate as snow, and she had a pair of dragonfly wings on her back. Her charisma was similar to that of Claudia who was behind Grimm.

The other was a male sorcerer donning a square box as a hat with dense fly-like green pupils in his eyes. A red lightsaber was strapped on his back, his scrawny body under the sorcerer’s robe.

They were both Level-2 Demon-Hunters!

“Master Senichino, we’ve inspected the waters in front, there is no abnormality except for a harmless whirlpool generated by the Nature Laws.” The male sorcerer with the square hat stated as he produced a crystal ball and replayed the video.

An extraordinary vortex with a diameter of tens of thousands of meters and its downdraft depth of only about seven or eight meters appeared on the screen. As the Acraepoid had described earlier, the whirlpool was indeed like an open shell. Grimm, Little Myna, Senichino and Claudia’s eyes widened in shock.

The existence of a whirlpool of this size and specifications contradicted with the Law of the Sorcerers Knowledge.

The depth of the center was too shallow for large whirlpools as large as this, they wondered how the Nature Law worked in this world.

“This is just the most common Phagocytic Shell, it is harmless,” the Acraepoid explained quickly.

“What’s the plan? Do we bypass this sea area, or continue on?” Senichino turned to Grimm and asked. Although Senichino was the captain of the ten-thousand Bright Demon-Hunter Phalanx, the task that Senichino had received was to lead the army to assist Grimm in completing the “Arctic Tundra Strategy Mission”.

After a moment of contemplation, Grimm suddenly mobilized the Natural Energy to imprison the Acraepoid and said discreetly, “I’ll check it out myself first.”

The detour would take at least a month’s time. The Sea of Whirlpools was larger than the Necro-craters in the Sorcerer World, hence it was necessary for him to delay their traveling time for several hourglasses to investigate.

“No!!”

The Acraepoid screamed desperately as he struggled, “You don’t understand the real danger of the Sea of Whirlpools! That is a forbidden zone established by the great Infernal God, no Acraepoid dares to enter that area without permission! No…”

Grimm ignored the Acraepoid’s warning and his struggling attempts. He left Little Myna behind, though.

“You stay here.”

“Huh? Oh, okay. Hmm? You’re not going with him?” Little Myna, who flew off Grimm’s shoulder, asked Claudia.

Little Myna had become accustomed to Claudia following Grimm around, so he was caught by surprise when Claudia chose to stay put. Claudia said instead, “No, I have something to ask this master.”

Instantly, Claudia turned to the Level-2 sorceress who had just returned from her investigation, the one whom Grimm sensed had a similar charisma as Claudia. They were whispering something inaudible.

Both of them shared the same ancient Black Sorcery breath and charm collection, perhaps?

***

“Boo hoo, Master Sorcerer, please, let me go…”

The Acraepoid living in the remote area of the Infernal Spirit Continent begged Grimm for mercy. Perhaps, the horrible tale of evil sorcerers had not spread to this remote area yet as he was not hostile towards Grimm.

Grimm ignored his pleas.

Unlike the ordinary Sorcerers’ Wisdom, Grimm dived directly into the ocean to swim. Although an official sorcerer could exert the Nature Force to survive underwater, Grimm still activated his sorcerer’s robe which became like an eggshell, isolating himself from the seawater.

The bottom layer of the sea was exceptionally calm and crystal clear. It was rather peculiar as there were no living creatures here. It was a dead sea.

Suddenly, Grimm sensed something bizarre. He asked while heading towards the very small whirlpool that went straight to the bottom of the sea, “Is that a Phagocytic Shell?”

This vortex was only about one meter in diameter, but its depth seemed like it led to the ocean floor. It was a stark contrast to the large whirlpool that was shown on the crystal ball earlier.