Chapter 884
Trapped with no way forward or back, Shen Lang gritted his teeth and used the ship to push through the dense horde of sea monsters, forcing them toward the edge. But surprisingly, the ferocious creatures offered no resistance. Pushed aside by the ship, they remained motionless, their heads lifted toward the mirage on the sea.
Hela was utterly bewildered. How ferocious were these sea monsters supposed to be? She remembered vividly. They were more savage than any animal, filled with a bone-deep desire for slaughter, eager to annihilate all living things. Yet here they were, so peaceful and docile. They didn't even glance at the ship pushing them aside.
The ship moved farther from the massive screen and closer to the ruins of the Lost Kingdom. Shen Lang couldn't help but glance at the screen.
‘What’s so interesting? Is it some kind of sea monster pornography? To be so completely engrossed?’
He only looked once, but the moment his eyes met the screen, Shen Lang froze just like the sea monsters, unable to move. He saw the Medusa Queen there. Not the one in the Queen's Castle, of course, but the true Medusa Queen.
The mirage was of a massive city stretching for a thousand li, and in its center stood a colossal, mountain-like statue of the Medusa Queen. It was a statue of a queen with a human face and a serpent's body. She was, of course, breathtakingly beautiful, enough to topple nations, and possessed a magical allure. But the statue's appearance wasn't the important part. When Shen Lang accidentally looked into her eyes, his spirit seemed to be torn from his body. He became completely rigid, as if hypnotized, utterly captivated by her. He even forgot time and everything around him.
"Little brother, little brother…"
Hela approached and lightly tapped Shen Lang's face, then took out a bottle and held it under his nose. A sharp, pungent smell shot up his nostrils, instantly snapping him back to his senses. He quickly averted his gaze, looking at another part of the screen, away from the Medusa Queen statue's eyes.
The city depicted on the screen was magnificent. Half submerged in the sea and half floating above it, the cityscape surpassed Shen Lang's imagination. Suddenly, Shen Lang thought of Atlantis, the legendary lost civilization. Of course, the massive city in the mirage before him was clearly not Atlantis. Because the Medusa Queen appeared to be the city's supreme leader, a god-like figure. Atlantis, in legend, was a highly advanced human civilization.
Then, could this statue of the Medusa Queen be related to the Medusa Queen Shen Lang knew?
Shen Lang examined the mirage more closely. He soon realized it wasn't a simple illusion but a projection of a real place. Light from a distant city was being refracted and projected here. There were many mirages on Earth, but none as vast and thrilling as this. Moreover, Shen Lang noticed that the city in the mirage was clearly dilapidated. It was weathered by wind and sun, full of signs of decay, with no trace of any living beings moving within. Wasn't this the true Lost Kingdom?
Shen Lang looked again at the countless sea monsters on the water; they were still entranced, staring only at the city on the screen. Perhaps that city was their homeland. But wasn't that a nation destroyed thousands of years ago? Could it be that long ago, these sea monsters were intelligent creatures? And that due to some cataclysmic event, the Lost Empire fell, and its people turned into sea monsters? But that hypothesis seemed flawed. The Medusa Queen was an ancient human, and the Lost Empire's history seemed to be only a few thousand years old, so it couldn't be considered an ancient civilization.
Shen Lang shook his head, trying to dismiss such thoughts. This world held many secrets, but now was not the time to explore them. The important thing was to leave this place quickly while the sea monsters were watching their "movie." When the sun set, the mirage would end. If the sea monsters regained their senses, Shen Lang and his party would die without a proper burial.
‘Let's go, quickly.’
Even with the sails full of wind, dozens of sailors rowed desperately. They wanted to leave these strange waters and make landfall as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the sun gradually sank, and the massive mirage on the sea began to fade. The sea monsters started to come to their senses.
‘Faster, faster…’
The sun set quickly, disappearing into the sea in an instant. As the magnificent, massive mirage vanished in a flash, all the sea monsters snapped out of their trance. It was as if they had just woken from a long dream.
Then, a terrifying scene unfolded. Countless sea monsters turned their heads in unison to look at Shen Lang's party. Fortunately, perhaps because they hadn't fully regained their senses, their gazes seemed dazed.
‘What’s this? Whatever it is, we must tear it apart and devour it.’
A vicious light began to form in the sea monsters' eyes.
"Run!"
Without hesitation, Hela tucked her little brother Shen Lang into her arms and leaped forward like a cannonball. She sprinted madly toward the ruins of the Lost Kingdom at lightning speed. In an instant, as if a beehive had been stirred, countless, densely packed sea monsters charged toward Hela. They were incredibly fast, but Hela was faster. However, many sea monsters were also viciously charging at Hela and Shen Lang from the front. Hela didn't draw her sword but condensed her fighting spirit throughout her body. Her entire body glowed as she charged forward madly.
A blur of motion.
Like a charging tank, Hela bulldozed through everything in her path. Every monster that collided with her died a gruesome death with broken bones. There were still about a hundred meters to the shore. Hela, holding Shen Lang, picked up even more speed. Four seconds, three seconds, one second…
*Boom.*
Like a cannonball, Hela shot forward with Shen Lang in her arms and landed forcefully on the ground. They had finally reached land.
Hela lay on the ground, still holding Shen Lang, gasping for breath as if she couldn't get enough air. The back of her leather armor was torn open by the sea monsters, and she was bleeding from their claws, but the wounds weren't deep.
Just moments before, Hela had charged with great might, plowing through and crushing hundreds of sea monsters, but it had consumed a great deal of her fighting spirit. Upon closer inspection, it seemed the sea monsters couldn't set foot on land. Once Shen Lang and Hela were ashore, the monsters stopped their pursuit, merely glaring at them with vicious, bloodthirsty eyes.
The sea monsters gradually gathered around the two of them. A moment ago, they were lined up watching their movie; now they were gathered in one place, surrounding and watching Shen Lang and Hela. Over a hundred thousand sea monsters crowded the narrow beach, glaring at Hela with bloodlust and hostility. Shen Lang looked at Hela. She reached out, felt him all over, and sighed in relief after confirming he was unharmed.
"For the past decade, we've constantly fought them, becoming mortal enemies. I've killed thousands of them with my own hands, so they remember my scent. They've met their nemesis, so they're seeing red."
Meanwhile, on the ship still floating on the sea, twenty sailors looked at each other in silence.
‘Wh-what's going on? Why have all the sea monsters next to us disappeared?’
Realizing the situation, they held their breath and carefully steered the ship across the empty sea to dock at the shore. They moved very cautiously and quietly, afraid of alerting the countless sea monsters surrounding and glaring at Shen Lang and Hela. Hela stood perfectly still, drawing the sea monsters' attention for the sake of the people on the ship. However, Hela alone was no longer enough to hold their attention, and they began to notice the humans on the ship.
"Run!"
At Hela's shout, the twenty warriors acting as sailors on the ship bolted.
A frantic dash.
A blur of movement.
Countless sea monsters surged toward them like a wave. Of the twenty warriors, only fifteen made it to shore. Five were devoured by the sea monsters, not even a scrap of flesh left behind. Even the ship they arrived on vanished without a trace. Over a hundred thousand sea monsters had sunk it. After about half an hour, the sea monsters dispersed. The ship had been completely pulverized, not even a piece of sail remaining. Shen Lang and Hela looked at each other. Now, they had no ship to leave this place. They were stranded here until they could find the Skull Gang's fleet.
"Let's go. I'll find the Skull Gang's fleet for you."
Hela stood up abruptly and walked deeper into the ruins of the Lost Kingdom.
"Wait."
Shen Lang took out a needle and thread. Hela's back wound wasn't deep; it only needed a little disinfectant, not stitches. But her torn leather armor needed mending. In no time, Shen Lang had sewn up the tear. Hela affectionately stroked his forehead and said,
"You're so sweet. Let's go. I'll take you to the Skull Gang's garrison."
"Where is the Skull Gang's fleet?"
"The entire fleet is hidden in a bay not far from here. The sea monsters treat that place as a forbidden zone."
***
Hela led Shen Lang continuously deeper into the ruins of the Lost Kingdom. At first glance, the place looked like ordinary land, with nothing out of the ordinary. There were even normal green trees. But Shen Lang could clearly feel it. The moment he set foot on this land, his heart instantly grew gloomy. The sun had already set, but the sky wasn't dark yet. It was still clear, and the weather was very pleasant. So why did it feel so gloomy? He glanced at Hela and saw she was in great pain. Because she had already suffered here for many years. If not for Shen Lang, she would never have returned here, not even in death. Shen Lang took Hela's hand and squeezed it tightly.
"Don't worry. I'm fine."
Hearing Hela's words, Shen Lang closed his eyes and tried to find the source of the gloom. Soon, he could feel it. Something was definitely emitting energy waves. Although he couldn't hear anything, his brain could sense them.
To put it simply, their situation was like walking through a world bathed in brilliant sunlight while hearing gloomy, terrifying ghostly wails through earphones, making one feel a chill in the surroundings without realizing why.
Shen Lang collected the energy waves and used his computer to analyze them. As expected, he discovered it was indeed the sound of a ghost wailing. A female ghost was crying endlessly, creating a damp, terrifying atmosphere that made people feel depressed. However, this ghostly wail was a type of ultrasound, inaudible to normal hearing. The brain would pick up on it, and it would subconsciously affect one's emotions. Shen Lang could block this ghostly wailing. He just had to absorb this strange frequency and immediately change it into a cheerful rhythm. But Hela and the sailors couldn't block this ultrasound, so they had no choice but to desperately try to leave.