Chapter 584: Nasaton
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A group of light gradually appeared before them as they gathered in front curiously looking at the distant scenery. As their preternatural eyes adapted to the surrounding environment, the mysterious deep-sea scenery finally appeared before their eyes.
Lily and Y'lisabet could not hold back their awe and let out their exclamation. "Wow—"
Flat white sands of the deep sea spreading endlessly, and a large number of spherical devices that shimmered and dangled in the water forming strips of light like roads. In the centre of these lights was a huge city.
The city was of oval shape and looked like a gorgeous shell piled up on top of each other. At the edge of the city was towering glowing wall. The wall was made of some white artificial material with a light-green crystal decoration. On every side of the wall was inwardly inclined half-moon-shaped guard plate. Light was shining out of the half-moon shields and eventually extended into a shield-like enclosure that shrouded the entire city. On the inner side of the city wall were a large number of tower structures of different heights. These 'towers' were beautifully shaped like some artistically exaggerated shellfish. Each tower was inlaid with a huge luminous pearl. The light they emitted illuminated the city and the waters around the city.
Those who first saw this deep-sea city were amazed at the fact that there was such a wonderful scenery on the seabed. Hao Ren started to analyse the city as if his occupational habit had struck again. "Totally sealed structures. Those metal guards and shield completely shrouded Nasaton. It seems like..."
"What's wrong?" Vivian asked her.
"Not quite like a normal city," Hao Ren shook his head slightly. "A closed city like this is difficult to expand. They have to demolish the old walls if they want to expand the city, or they planned the eternal form of the city from the very beginning with no plan expand it? Sirens are water creatures, and their city is full of water. So why is it necessary to shroud Nasaton with this shield?"
"Defend against enemies?" Vivian's brow knit together. "There had been many such closed city-states in ancient times, and the otherworldings''divine city' was also accustomed to using shields to protect themselves. Of course, modern humans no longer use wall to protect themselves."
"Even city walls wouldn't have to be so tightly wrapped, and why would a group of queens of the deep-sea need to guard against enemies from the outside?" Hao Ren asked. "Which races from the surface could come to this place? Which small creature that could come to this place and threaten the sirens?"
"It will be all clear when we go in." Y'zaks interrupted his discussions with Vivian. "We're in approaching the seabed."
Hao Ren nodded and took out several life-support collars from his dimensional pocket and distributed to each of them. "Use this, just in case the sirens in Nasaton not welcome us."
Then he looked up at Hasse. "You guys need this, no? This thing will allow you to breathe in the water. In case thing goes wrong, Shaqira and Sorma may have no time to look after you."
"Demon hunters are capable of operating in deep water," said Hasse. "I'm not used to these things."
Hao Ren shrugged his shoulders, motioned Rollie over, and put the collar on her. He suddenly felt as if he should not bring along Dumb Cat: though she had eaten the golden apple, theoretically, she should have a bit of supernatural ability, but this fellow... I'm not sure. This fellow had not even had as much experience as Lil Pea.
However, after thinking for a moment that if there was any situation, he could just throw this Dumb Cat into the portal and teleported it to the Petrachelys, or he could even throw her into his dimensional pocket away from danger. Therefore, he worried no more.
Rollie touched the new collar on her neck happily. She thought it was a gift for herself. Seeing her expression, Hao Ren knew that it would be impossible to get the collar back later. The cat-maiden nudged Hao Ren's arm and said, "You're wearing the collar too, Big Boss Cat? You know this is fun too? I will have to walk you in future?"
Hao Ren showed no time to bother with the cat. He pushed the cat-maiden away and said to her, "Remember what I've told you before leaving home? We're going for an adventure; you would listen to me and follow what I do. If worse comes to worst I'm going to send you back home."
The cat-maiden quickly nodded.
The water bubble slowed down and slowly came near to the mysterious city of the deep sea and hovered over the lamp strips. The water bubble broke silently and the seawater began to pour in but was isolated by their personal body shields or magical effects. Shaqira quietly swam to a large black rock nearby, motioning everyone to come. Through some magical trick, she made it possible for everyone to talk to each other in the water. "Look at the glowing lights in front? It's the dividing line between the city and the wilderness. Usually there should be a lot of sirens out of here... but now nobody is here."
"There's an air of tension around here; I can smell a certain negative scent," Y'zaks frowned. "Perhaps your queen is forbidding the sirens to come out."
Lily stretched her neck and looked up for a long while before she suddenly pointed to space above Nasaton. "What is that?"
Hao Ren looked in the direction where Lily was pointing and saw a layer of light-blue film over the city, and there was a massive maelstrom just outside the film—the maelstrom was translucent like a projection, but the MDT said after performing a remote sensing that the phantom maelstrom was gradually materializing. It could have been there for a month, and the day of its complete transformation might be around the corner.
The scale of the maelstrom was almost the size of the city below. Hao Ren looked at the weird phenomenon in awe, and could not imagine what this thing was for, but it was clear that only a lunatic would make such a thing in his own backyard!
"That...that's the location of the protective wall!" Shaqira saw also stunned seeing the maelstrom. Bubbles were foaming out of her mouth when she spoke. "There is a portal outside the protective wall?"
"Your general had mentioned a maelstrom before she passed out. I'm afraid this is it," White Flame suddenly said from behind. She was silent all the while to maintain her 'normal' demon hunter demeanour, but this time, she could not help but asked, "What are you going to do to?"
"God knows," said Sorma as she came out from her horror. "No, we must enter the city immediately. The maelstrom needs the magical power of a large number of people to form; the Queen must be drawing a lot of energy from the planet... No, it could be worse..."
"Okay, so now anyone has any plan?" Y'zaks hummed and said, "Nasaton should now be heavily guarded. We must quietly enter the city and then quickly capture the Queen of Sirens without alarming the guards, if possible. It's best to hold up all her close officials. We also need to prevent them from launching something that would blow everyone up indiscriminately, such as detonating the maelstrom. I can feel the power of that maelstrom. It's no less destructive than the curse that tore Helcrown apart from the Obsidian Plain. Once it blows, it's hard to say how many of us would survive; probably we don't even have time to react."
"Besides, we also have to control that gigantic brain," Hao Ren reminded. "This is the most important thing. The Queen of the Sirens is just a puppet, and no one knows there are how many such puppets out there."
Hasse had been listening indifferently, but when he learned that these aliens really wanted to stop the crisis, he also joined the discussion. "The most appropriate solution is to control all of them at the same time or, even better, kill the brain immediately and capture the Queen alive. I just overheard Shaqira said that you had an encounter with the gigantic brain before. You know what it is? How powerful is it?"
"It's a kind of monster from ... an alien planet. It floats and moves at a speed human could barely attain. With its dozen of tentacles and strong physical strength, it could perform spatial spells. However, the nastiest thing is its mind control ability, where it can shakes even the strongest will, and the longer the fight is, the severe the influence will be," Hao Ren chose the most careful wordings to explain. "I've just killed the... avatar-like one. I don't know how strong the real one can be."
Hasse listened quietly before he finally nodded his head and said, "Looks like head-on attack would be a problem. Surprise attack is the way, if can."
"The biggest problem now is how to get into the city," Hao Ren exhaled, looking up at Nasaton. He then turned to look at Shaqira for a moment. "Now it's all your show."