Chapter 373: The Storm

A branched flash of lightning streaked across, tearing through the night sky shrouded in dark clouds.

Heaven and earth briefly transitioned from deep night into broad daylight, illuminating every tiny detail hidden in the darkness so that nothing could escape.

Rumble!

The sound of thunder followed, shaking the heavens and the earth.

"A storm is coming." Startled by the thunder, Gao De instinctively looked up at the sky and muttered.

He tightened the hood on his head, concealing his face completely.

Due to the weather, Gao De was wearing a knee-length hooded oilcloth cloak and a pair of high-top leather boots today.

This way, even if it rained heavily later, he wouldn't get soaked.

While muttering, Gao De instinctively held his breath slightly.

Because he was already approaching the shore of the Makoko District.

In the lagoon, within the brownish-gray sewage, green bubbles bubbled up from time to time, and the nauseating stench rushed toward him, stinging his eyes.

"Still so stinking, I don't know how these lowly people can endure staying here; you can't even drive them away!"

Gao De cursed, his dissatisfaction and disgust evident.

If he could drive away the poor in the Makoko District, he would have achieved a "great merit," and the reward would certainly be very generous.

It was just a pity that the Sea Sentinels here had been diligently coming to clear out water beasts regularly.

Releasing them on one hand and clearing them on the other—to be honest, the measure of raising water beasts didn't have much meaning anymore.

At least that was how it seemed to him; he just didn't know why this task had never been canceled by the big shots above.

However, Gao De had no intention of thinking about it carefully. Others provided the reward, he helped do the work—it was just that simple; other matters were not for him to manage.

His gaze tried its best to look forward into the dark night.

In Gao De's hand was a pottery jar, with a rope loop over it for easy lifting and carrying.

Today was the scheduled time for the handover of the foul-smelling water salamander eggs, and he had "condescended" to come here for this very reason.

This matter was of great importance; under the laws of the dynasty, raising water beasts to injure civilians was an absolutely monstrous crime.

Therefore, it had to be done with absolute secrecy; the fewer people who knew, the better.

Hence, not only did he handle the handover personally, but the time was also chosen in the dead of night.

Having worked for the big shots in the city for so many years without ever slipping up, his "professionalism" was top-notch.

Although those big shots were untrustworthy, using spirit marrow to replace the promised "spirit burning liquid" to fob him off, which made him burn with anger.

But in the end, Gao De lacked the courage to break with them, so he had to continue doing these dirty jobs.

Having chosen to continue, he had to do it well; otherwise, it would be better not to do it at all.

Gao De naturally understood this principle, but the resentment in his heart inevitably remained.

Therefore, when he discovered that his underling, who should have been waiting for him on the shore long ago, was not there, his expression sank instantly.

"Daring to not take what I said seriously—was I too gentle before, or have these people grown wings?"

After suppressing his anger and waiting for a full ten minutes, a slight sound of rowing finally arose, exceptionally clear in the quiet environment, moving from far to near and gradually growing louder.

In the pitch-black night, one could vaguely see a flat, narrow boat rowing out from the dense shanties in the distance, heading toward the shore.

Another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the heavens and the earth.

Taking advantage of this brief "daylight" moment, Gao De saw the figure on the small boat clearly.

The other party was rowing hard with their head down, but thanks to the silhouette and clothing, Gao De recognized the person's identity at a glance.

It was exactly the leader of the seven people he had sent to carry out the Makoko District mission: Hake.

Rumble!

After the lightning faded, the sound of thunder arrived belatedly.

"Hake" rowed the boat very quickly, and before long, he had reached the shore.

"I've been waiting for a long time," Gao De said coldly with a blank expression, his displeasure evident.

Although, in reality, he had waited for less than ten minutes in total.

"Boss, there was an accident." Because it was the dead of night, Hake consciously lowered his voice, causing his tone to change slightly, making it different from his usual voice.

"Accident?" Gao De raised an eyebrow and asked, "What happened?"

"Boss, you get on the boat first; I'll tell you while we go." Hake's tone was urgent.

"Fine." The situation was urgent, and Gao De had no time to think; he stepped lightly and jumped directly onto the small boat.

The boat sank suddenly with his movement.

"Yesterday, someone attacked us for no reason." As soon as Gao De got on the boat, Hake said while rowing quickly.

The small boat sped toward the shanty area not far away.

"Attack? What's going on?! And then?" Hearing this, Gao De was shocked and uncertain, his vigilance instinctively rising.

"It was a Sea Hai Shao Bing mage," Hake said.

"The Sea Hai Shao Bing mage sent to drive away the water beasts..."

He paused, caught his breath, and continued: "After he finished clearing the water beasts, he didn't leave Lagos City, but returned, discovered our act of raising foul-smelling water salamanders, and directly attacked us, wanting to bring us to justice!"

"A Sea Hai Shao Bing mage!" Gao De was stunned for a moment, then sat up straight. "How did he discover you?"

"I don't know," Hake thought for a moment and shook his head vigorously. "We clearly left before he arrived at the Makoko District."

"Could this Sea Hai Shao Bing mage really have heaven-reaching means?"

"That's impossible. If they were really that capable, they would have discovered you years ago; how could it have dragged on until now?" Gao De dismissed Hake's statement casually, frowning incessantly. "It must be that you weren't careful enough and left some clues."

With this matter exposed, it was going to be difficult.

Once that Sea Hai Shao Bing mage brought this news back to report, and the high-circle mages of the Sea Sentinels came down to investigate, given the nature of those big shots, they would absolutely "cut ties" with him in a minute and throw him out to take the blame.

No!

Thinking of this, Gao De's heart became panicked.

"What about that Sea Hai Shao Bing mage now?" he hurriedly asked.

"Wait," then, before Hake could answer his question, Gao De had already discovered something wrong. "A Sea Hai Shao Bing mage is at least a first-circle mage with astonishing combat power. You seven are merely mage apprentices; how are you still safe and sound after encountering his attack..."

Light arrives before sound.

Another bolt of lightning rolled across the sky, tearing through the dark firmament while illuminating Gao De's shocked face.

Then the rumbling thunder came like a galloping army, exploding in his ears and drowning out the words Gao De hadn't finished.

It was also at this moment that the small boat suddenly trembled inexplicably, the hull shaking violently as if it had encountered some sea waves.

But clearly, the water area was very calm at this time.

"Boss, there's a water beast!" After the thunder passed, Hake's urgent and panicked voice followed.

A water beast?!

Gao De was terrified and quickly looked outside the boat, actually seeing a black shadow dart past.

The speed was extremely fast, so he only caught a glimpse of an afterimage.

With a splash.

That black shadow came under the small boat and pushed upward violently.

The narrow boat, which wasn't very stable to begin with, was overturned by that black shadow just like that.

In an instant, the boat folded over on the water surface.

With two splashes.

Gao De and Hake both fell into the murky seawater.

"Damn, so stinking!" Gao De, who almost swallowed a mouthful of sewage, couldn't help but curse, then hurriedly held his breath and reached out to touch the small boat, wanting to climb back up.

But his palm landed on the edge of the boat, and it was actually greasy and slippery, making it impossible to grab.

He looked closely and realized that the edge of the boat was covered with a layer of extremely smooth grease.

"Bad!" Gao De thought to himself.

After all, he was a gang member who had climbed up through the ranks; he was an old hand, and combined with the abnormality he discovered before falling into the water, he reacted instantly.

Regardless of anything else, he cast 【Shield】 on himself first.

Magic power gathered rapidly around him, forming a transparent, glowing shield.

And this decision of Gao De's was absolutely correct.

A crystal-clear longsword, radiating bone-chilling cold, passed through the murky sewage like a cold light and was thrust over.

Gao De, who had disguised himself as Hake using 【Disguise+】, successfully lured Gao De into the water area. He tapped his feet on the ice block he had just condensed using 【Water Manipulation】 as a leverage point, darting out several yards like an arrow from a bow, "shooting" toward Gao De with extremely fierce momentum.

Low-circle mages cannot fly; once they fall into the water and lose their footing, their movements become inconvenient and sluggish.

Gao De was the same.

However, when he fell into the water, he had already cast 【Wolf's Speed+】 on himself, gaining the ability to jump like a wolf.

And before reaching the shore, he had cast 【Light Feather Step+】 on himself in advance, thereby avoiding movement interference caused by difficult terrain.

Therefore, the thin layer of ice felt like walking on flat ground under Gao De's feet at this moment.

His right hand gripped 【North Wind】, which had been frozen to the bottom of the boat in advance.

The moment the boat capsized, Gao De had already taken the opportunity to draw it from the scabbard.

He didn't know any exquisite sword techniques; he hadn't even mastered basic sword stances.

However, Gao De wasn't planning to defeat the enemy with sword techniques; he was just using the extreme cold of 【North Wind】 itself as Enduring Zhenbing to attack, just like holding an electric baton, seeking only to touch the target's body.

Gao De had rehearsed all these actions countless times, so it was smooth and completed in an instant.

Under his extreme speed, North Wind licked toward Gao De like a white snake.

The water droplets splashing around the sword blade, affected by the cold emitted by North Wind, directly condensed into ice beads, which then fell onto the sword blade, making a clattering sound like pearls falling on a jade plate.

If it weren't for the scabbard being able to isolate the cold of North Wind to a certain extent, even if it were frozen to the bottom of the boat, separated by a thick layer of hull, Gao De would probably have felt cold and discovered something was wrong.

Clang!

When it was only a few centimeters away from Gao De, a sound of metal clashing was heard.

The 【Shield】 that Gao De cast at the first moment blocked North Wind.

With the cold inherent in North Wind, an ordinary 【Shield】 would actually be frozen and broken directly.

But Gao De was a second-circle mage; although 【Shield】 was a first-circle spell, under the second-circle level, after casting it with a higher circle, its defensive power was far from what a 【Shield】 cast by a first-circle mage could compare to.

Otherwise, why would they say that just by casting with a higher circle, a second-circle mage could easily crush a first-circle mage.

That layer of shimmering shield rippled under the Enduring Zhenbing cold of North Wind, holding firm without breaking instantly, and Gao De's momentum was gone in the next moment, falling into the water.

The shimmering shield returned to calm.

"Who are you?! How dare you attack me!"

Gao De questioned loudly in the water, which was both a question and a way to attract Gao De's attention to buy himself time.

He was already silently triggering a spell model.

"Gao De, instigating underlings to raise water beasts to injure people is a major crime. As a Sea Hai Shao Bing mage, I naturally must bring you to justice." Gao De's voice exploded in the night.

Having failed a strike he had carefully prepared for a long time, he didn't feel too discouraged.

"Die!" While slightly shocked by Gao De's self-exposed background, Gao De's hands didn't hesitate at all, and he shouted sharply.

Seawater gathered instantly, forming a huge, rapidly rotating water vortex in front of Gao De, the internal water flow rubbing against each other and making a harsh whistling sound.

Carrying astonishing momentum, it rushed toward Gao De's position, the front of the water flow sharp as an awl, like a sharp long spear, seemingly wanting to pierce through everything that blocked it.

【Water Impact】, a first-circle evocation spell!

In the water area, the power of 【Water Impact】 was further enhanced, and combined with higher-circle casting, one could imagine that if this strike landed on the body, Gao De would be seriously injured even if he didn't die.

But Gao De, who had evolved a high-level water flow sensing ability through 【Adaptation】, had long since perceived Gao De's move.

He no longer minded the murky and foul-smelling seawater, twisted his waist with force, and plunged downward suddenly, his figure as flexible as a swimming fish, and his speed was incredibly fast.

If one observed carefully, one would find that a thin layer of webbing had quietly grown between Gao De's fingers and toes.

This webbing swayed gently in the water like fish fins, giving him extremely fast swimming speed and ability like a swimming fish.

Sea Hai Shao Bing exclusive spell, 【Ocean Touch+】.

The water area was his home field for battle!

The water flow whistled over Gao De's head; although it didn't hit him, the powerful water pressure it brought still made Gao De feel a trace of pressure.

This was the oppressive power of a second-circle mage!

"Such fast reaction!" Gao De, who found his spell missed, widened his eyes, trying his best to find Gao De's figure in the dark water area.

But where could he find him?

The water area of the Makoko District was already murky, not to mention that the light was so scarce now.

The current environment was really too harsh for him.

It was the dead of night, and it was the eve of a heavy rainstorm; dark clouds were dense, and the sky was like a canvas soaked in ink, where one couldn't even see their own fingers.

If one had mastered 【Darkvision】, one wouldn't be affected.

But 【Darkvision】 was a second-circle spell; he had only been promoted to a second-circle mage for less than half a year, so how could he have mastered it?

Another point was that he was now in the water.

Lagos City was a traditional fishing city, adjacent to the sea; as a local native, Gao De certainly mastered the skill of swimming.

But humans are not fish after all; even if they can swim, moving in the water is inconvenient in many ways.

Gao De's inconvenience was exactly Gao De's advantage.

As a first-circle mage, although he hadn't mastered 【Darkvision】, 【Adaptation】 had greatly improved his ability to see in the dark.

Even if it didn't reach the level of 【Darkvision】, it still had an absolute advantage compared to Gao De.

The dual blessing of 【Ocean Touch+】 and 【Adaptation】 made Gao De like a fish in water.

This was the right time and place.

Whoosh!

The next moment, Gao De's head emerged from the water surface not far from Gao De.

Garbage and foul-smelling objects splashed away with the water flow.

Gao De resisted the urge to vomit, and a spell model in his spell star sea had already been triggered.

A trace of shimmering light appeared on the skin covered by Gao De's clothing.

At first it was like a bean, spreading rapidly, turning into a strangely shaped, mysterious and complex totem.

First-circle rare spell, 【Hunter's Mark+】.

(End of chapter)