Whispering Verse

Shade slowly walked into the water, but frowned and looked at his arms.

Although I have had many experiences of swimming in the sea, this time I entered the water, and I clearly felt that my affinity for the water had improved. The so-called affinity does not mean that you can control the ocean, but that the ocean welcomes Shade's return. When the skin is stained by sea water, it even feels smoother than when it is stained by air on land.

This is definitely not because of the redness of the sea water. After all, Shade has nothing to do with the [Lord of the Scarlet Spiral]. Therefore, it was probably the ball of meat he just ate that enhanced his affinity for water.

"What level of relic are you?"

He asked in a low voice.

Then he plunged into the water. As a small string of bubbles emerged from the bottom of the water, Shade's figure scurried forward like a fish swimming under the water. Originally he could only swim a little, but now he felt like he had really turned into a fish underwater.

After leaving the small pier under the sea cliff, Shade looked under the water to confirm his direction and found that he was not far from the beach. The turbulent waves and rain forced him to return to the water surface as soon as possible, and it was ten minutes later when Shade staggered out of the red sea water.

He gasped and stood up, turning to look at the sea behind him.

Under the dim yellow sky, huge red waves are constantly crashing towards the Coldwater Port Pier. The strange composition makes people instinctively feel uneasy. On the flooded beach in the distance, there are several small black dots above the water.

Shade was confused for a moment, and then his eyes suddenly widened.

Those black spots are human heads, which are walking towards the depths of the ocean. Currently, only the heads above the shoulders have not been immersed in the sea water. And just when Shade wanted to go into the water again and try to pull them up, someone else walked by.

It was a middle-aged man wearing checkered pajamas and a nightcap, walking unsteadily. After being pulled by Shadra, he immediately fell to the ground, then got up on his own and kept walking forward in the rain.

Just because Shade was still holding him, he just stood still.

The man's eyes were open, but there was no look in them. In addition, there is actually a blood-red tattoo of a fish face, human body, and fish tail on the right half of his face. After the tattoo came into contact with the rain, it swelled up like a scar and trembled with the heart rate.

"Sir, can you hear me?"

Shade wanted to try to see if he could wake this person up. But only then did I realize that more and more people were appearing on this vast beach, swaying toward the ocean with the same frequency.

Under the dim sky, in the sea of ​​red, everyone had dull eyes and tattoos on their faces. My legs were stained with seawater, and then the water level got higher and higher. They walked towards the depths of the ocean until Shade could no longer see them.

Turning around and looking in the direction of the city, more people appeared on the far side of the beach. Together with those who had stepped into the red ocean, under the dim sky of Coldwater Port, they formed a strange and frightening scene with strange colors.

They will send their bodies and souls back to the ocean, and let the giant mermaid corpses attracted by the ritual eventually carry the waves and engulf the city.

"Why are there so many people infected with the Mermaid Curse? Aren't the number of infected people only in double digits?"

Thinking in his mind, Shade punched the man in front of him on the back of the head, and then successfully knocked him unconscious. Shade hoped that he was knocked unconscious. After all, he had never learned the technique of knocking people unconscious. Just as soon as Shade let go, the person who had fainted on the beach suddenly jumped up, and then swayed his body again, and together with the people swaying around him, he lowered his head and stepped into the scarlet sea water.

There was nothing he could do to stop these people.

The cold rain hit his face, the red color of the sea, the yellow color of the sky, and the line of people on the ocean and beach. At this moment, Shade felt really cold in his heart:

"Lecia"

He didn't care about these strangers, turned around and ran in the direction of Aurora Manor.

The beach where Shade landed was not far from Aurora Manor. After leaving the beach, I discovered that the church was not doing nothing. On the coastal streets, at regular intervals, there will be ordinary priests wearing robes holding scriptures and loudly preaching the teachings of the righteous gods. At least two-thirds of the people who walked out of the city unconsciously would pass out when they passed by.

Police set up roadblocks at major intersections near the beach to prevent people from wandering out of their homes. After excluding those stopped by the church and the police, the rest were what Shade saw on the beach just now.

Counting this way, the number of people infected with the "Mermaid Curse" in Coldwater Port is at least four digits. At least 90% of them were stopped inside the urban area. The Diocese of Coldwater Port was indeed well prepared.

The church's preparations go beyond that, but what they really want to prevent is a tsunami that floods Coldwater Harbor and kills everyone in the city. Therefore, most of those currently taking action are just ordinary clergy of the church. Together with the police and the Coldwater Port garrison, they are fighting the murlocs who are trying to start a city-wide riot in the city and on the beach.

As Shade makes his way from the beach to the estate, he encounters more than one shootout. But he didn't find any ring warlocks from the Scarlet Secret Cult, nor did he see a team of ring warlocks organized by the church. Obviously, the battlefield was not just on land.

The prohibitive relics set up by the murlocs for Aurora Manor had been broken down at dawn. When Shade arrived near the manor, the police were still surrounding the place, prohibiting anyone from approaching. Although it was raining and the weather was strange, there were many people nearby, and the carriage even blocked the door of the tavern where Shade had been in the middle of the night.

In addition to the police, there are also the Coldwater Port Navy, church priests, private armed forces of local nobles, and a small number of gun-wielding mercenaries whom Shade has no origin.

Such a messy situation was beyond Shade's expectation. Fortunately, the manor now allowed free entry and exit. The guests who came to the banquet were leaving in batches. It's just that the church's ring magician team is blocking the entrance of the manor. Anyone who wants to leave now must undergo the most stringent physical examination. As a result, there are still a group of guests staying in the manor who refuse to leave, planning to wait until the church's arrival. Check and relax before walking.

Using [Ragrai's Jump] to avoid the church's sight, Shade also successfully sneaked into the manor. At this time, there were almost people everywhere in the Aurora Manor, and it was not uncommon for people like Shade to be dripping with water.

It's just that the corridor leading to the wine cellar on the first floor was blocked by the church, and while walking upstairs against the flow of people, Shade didn't see Miss Aurora or Princess Lesia.

However, the witch has not forgotten Shade and left a servant on the third floor to wait for his return. Through Miss Aurora's message, Shade learned that Princess Lesia did not want to bump into the church, so she went to relax on the beach behind the manor. The witch still had things to do. Shade was very suspicious that she had discovered Darkness who was with the cultists through the explosion of the steam bomb.

"Did Miss Aurora go after Darkness?"

Although Luvia's divination showed that Darkness would not die in Coldwater Port, but would leave for Tobesk today and tomorrow. But going to Tobesk with everything intact is completely different from going to Tobesk with only one breath left.

"But, what's Lecia doing at the beach at this time?"

With such doubts, Shade walked out of the mansion again, walked through the garden to the beach. The beach behind the manor and the bay outside the beach are all part of the Aurora Manor, which means that this huge area theoretically belongs to Sivi Aurora.

The beach area is very large, almost twice the area of ​​the gardens, buildings and courtyards. Because of the rain and the shock of the gunfight in the middle of the night, there were not many people on the beach now.

Shade didn't see Lesia at first and was worried that she had walked into the sea. He ran to the beach and turned around twice anxiously. When he turned around, he saw Lecia standing on the edge of the beach, looking at him under the grape trellis near the manor garden.

There were only two maids beside her, one holding an umbrella for her, and the other holding the clerical relic [Soul Fishing Rod] that Shade bought from Old John. The transparent fishing line was tied to the princess's wrist.

Seeing Shade running over quickly, the red-haired girl deliberately turned her body, as if she didn't want Shade to see the right side of her face. But when Shade got closer, he could not help but see the swollen red tattoo on Lesia's face.

Due to the combined suppression of the sage-level relic [Saint's Curse-Removing Stone], the clerical-level relic [Saint Laurent's Ring], and the fishing rod, Lesia's condition seemed to be pretty good. But when Shade walked up to her, the red-haired girl raised her hand to cover the side of her face so as not to look at him.

When Shade grabbed his wrist very rudely, took his right hand away forcefully, and touched the swollen and hot tattoo with his fingers, Lesia looked up at him with red eyes:

"Isn't it interesting that I look like this?"

Normally, Her Royal Highness would never say such things. Although the curse did not make her enter the ocean, her mental state was inevitably affected.

Shade glanced at the two maids, who looked at the empty beach in front of them, as if there was something very attractive there.

"I've even seen Dorothy's whole face turned into a fish-man. What does it mean to you like this now? You also know what happened that time."

By touching the mermaid tattoo on the side of Lesia's face, Shade also confirmed that the curse was suppressed.

"Dorothy"

I don't know if it was because of the comparison or because she heard the familiar name, Lesia's expression really relaxed.

Shade's fingers gently touched the tattoo, and then added:

"Besides, this is not a permanent tattoo. Even if it is permanent, if you use a knife to scrape off the flesh and blood on your face, and then I will treat you with [Saturating Food], you will be able to completely restore your most beautiful appearance."

The traumatic wounds treated by [Saturating Food] will never leave any traces.

Lecia hummed softly:

"What on earth did you do just now? Why do you feel that you have changed so much? Dorothy said that you rarely take the initiative to compliment the girls on their beauty besides saying hello."

"That's not important. Lesia, why didn't you stay in the room? Instead of running here?"

Shade asked with a slight frown.