Chapter 522: The Only Way Through the Storm
During the ten-plus days that the storm raged, the remains of the Divine Beasts, Mythic Beasts, and elite monsters it had devoured were scattered across the surrounding sea.
The Divine and Mythic Beasts spoke for themselves, but even the corpses of elite monsters were priceless. Nearly every one of them contained an Essence Core, turning the entire region into a feeding ground that attracted monsters from every corner of the ocean. They fought relentlessly over the remains, and the carcasses and Essence Cores of the Divine and Mythic Beasts were especially irresistible.
Within six months, the entire storm-ravaged region had changed beyond recognition. Endless bloodshed had divided the surrounding waters into countless sea monster territories.
Take the old shipping route between Blue Sea Citadel and Twin Wing Island. It had once been one of the safest trade routes in the Eastern Sea. Now, sea monsters lurked everywhere. Anyone without overwhelming strength, or detailed knowledge of which monsters ruled each stretch of water, wouldn’t survive for long before both they and their ship disappeared beneath the waves.
The waters surrounding Twin Wing Island were no different. There wasn’t a single safe approach left.
And even if someone somehow fought their way through those monster-infested waters, another obstacle still awaited them: the Storm Seal, an impenetrable barrier that no one had ever managed to cross.
People eventually gave Twin Wing Island a new name: the island isolated by monsters and an uncrossable storm. As the years passed, that once prosperous paradise slowly faded from humanity’s memory.
Marcus finished recounting the story. Amber blinked several times before staring at him in disbelief.
"Wait... so there’s really a storm out there that even monsters can’t get through?"
Marcus was still studying Silas the Wanderer’s map. Although the others couldn’t see the magical map itself, he patiently described everything it showed.
Amber, Jade, and the others instinctively looked toward the horizon, almost expecting to see a colossal wall of thunder and lightning connecting the sea to the heavens.
"If that’s really true," Amber muttered, unable to hide her excitement, "then whatever caused that storm must’ve been unbelievably powerful."
"Seriously," Jade agreed. "A storm that wiped out Divine Beasts, Mythic Beasts, and who knows how many elite monsters... just imagine how much treasure was left behind. It must’ve been a paradise for scavengers."
She leaned over the back of Marcus’s chair, her beautiful face only inches from his as she blinked at him with innocent curiosity.
"Marcus, do you think we could find anything around the edge of the storm? A Divine Artifact, maybe? Or even a Mythic one? Those things would still be valuable after hundreds of years, right?"
Marcus smiled at her hopeful expression. The thought was certainly tempting, but the chances of finding untouched treasure after so many centuries were almost nonexistent.
Besides, the sea monsters adapted frighteningly fast. According to Silas’s notes, even six hundred years ago, shortly after the storm had formed, some special monsters around level 80 and level 90 had already begun adapting to the environment. A few species had even started making the storm itself their habitat.
That had been six hundred years ago. By now, there were undoubtedly even stronger creatures living inside.
Even so, Marcus couldn’t help admiring Silas’s sheer nerve. The notes claimed the legendary explorer had spent more than six months studying the storm’s movements and energy flows before discovering a narrow safe route through it. Somehow, he’d managed to find a path through a barrier capable of stopping even Divine Beasts.
Marcus could only hope the madman’s map wasn’t exaggerated. As he studied it, another realization struck him. If the Storm Seal truly existed, then Silas had likely become the first human to set foot on Twin Wing Island after it had been sealed away. If everything went according to plan, Marcus and the women would become the second.
Meanwhile, Amber and Jade were already imagining themselves running across the island’s beaches. Marcus understood exactly how they felt. Everything described in Silas’s journal was captivating. The island’s breathtaking scenery, the legendary Blazing Three-Headed Beast, and even the mysterious Sea Goddess of the Eastern Sea all sounded fascinating enough to make anyone curious, even if they also sounded incredibly dangerous.
"Marcus, I really hope it’s all real," Amber said with a grin. "I want to see Twin Wing Island with my own eyes."
"Me too," Jade replied eagerly.
Over the next two days, they followed Silas’s map with extreme caution, weaving around the territories of powerful sea monsters and avoiding every unnecessary fight.
Finally, they reached their destination. Standing on the deck, Marcus could already see an enormous wall of dark clouds in the distance, streaked with endless flashes of lightning. Towering tornadoes twisted violently inside the storm, colliding with one another with enough force to shake the sky itself.
"Marcus! We made it!" Amber shouted excitedly.
She and Jade had already flown into the air on Amethyst’s back, giving themselves a better view from above.
As the luxury ship drew closer to the storm’s edge, everyone instinctively held their breath.
’Holy...’
The storm looked exactly as Silas had described.
It formed an endless wall between sea and sky, so immense that neither end nor summit could be seen. According to Silas’s notes, someone had once tried to fly over it on the back of a dragon. After climbing continuously for two full days, both rider and dragon had nearly collapsed from exhaustion without ever reaching the top.
Inside the storm, rain as large as clenched fists poured relentlessly from the heavens alongside massive hailPebbles. Deafening thunder rolled across the sky while countless bolts of lightning tore through the rain, splitting into thousands of smaller arcs that spread across the entire storm like a gigantic web before crashing into the sea below.
It was a sight so overwhelming that it hardly seemed like something the natural world could produce.
From high above, their enormous luxury ship looked no larger than a grain of sand drifting across the endless ocean. Beneath the shadow of the Storm Seal, they felt impossibly small.
The sea below was even more terrifying. From Amethyst’s back, Amber and Jade stared into the churning waters beneath the storm. The ocean seemed to be boiling. Gigantic waves crashed into one another from every direction, giving birth to violent whirlpools that opened without warning before vanishing just as quickly. Each one seemed deep enough to swallow an entire fleet.
Anything caught inside would be torn apart almost instantly.
Silas’s journal even mentioned people who had once attempted to cross beneath the storm using deep-sea creatures, only to discover that the underwater currents were even more violent than those on the surface.
Seeing everything with his own eyes, even Marcus began questioning whether this was actually possible. ’Can we really get through this...?’ The storm was even more terrifying than he’d imagined.
The waves followed no pattern whatsoever. The lightning struck unpredictably, leaving almost no safe space between each blast. The tornadoes wandered in every direction, smashing into one another with apocalyptic force. Just watching two of them collide made Marcus feel that even a Divine Beast would struggle to survive such an impact.
He summoned Pebble.
"Go test the edge. Full defensive stats."
Pebble obeyed without hesitation. At two hundred meters from the storm, nothing happened. But once he closed to roughly one hundred and fifty meters, an invisible force suddenly seized him. Before anyone could react, Pebble was violently dragged toward the storm at astonishing speed.
"So there’s suction..." Marcus muttered.
The danger extended well beyond the visible wall itself. Barely two seconds later, Pebble was pulled inside. Long before reaching the center of the storm, when he was still around a hundred meters from its true boundary, his body simply couldn’t endure any longer. He was instantly torn apart, and what remained disappeared into the raging cyclone without a trace.
Marcus couldn’t help drawing in a slow breath. ’...That’s insane.’
His confidence wavered for the first time. Standing before the endless wall of thunder, lightning, and roaring winds, he couldn’t help wondering if Silas had been completely out of his mind. How was anyone supposed to find a safe path through something like this?
Still, turning back wasn’t an option. They had come this far. The only thing left was to trust the map and see whether Silas’s route truly existed.
Marcus took a steady breath and looked around at everyone. "Stay alert. Don’t panic, and follow my instructions. We’ll move one step at a time."
To be safe, he summoned Pebble once more along with two Sea Demon Souls. Pebble moved a hundred meters ahead of the ship to scout the route, while the two Sea Demon Souls guarded both sides, staying roughly fifty meters from the vessel in case anything emerged from the surrounding waters.
Following Silas’s directions exactly, they slowly sailed along the outer edge of the Storm Seal, searching for the hidden entrance marked on the map.
According to the notes, the passage lay on the island’s northwestern side, while they had approached from the southwest, forcing them to spend hours circling the enormous storm.
Nearly five hours later, Marcus finally compared the map with their nautical markers and saw the location they had been searching for.
His heart immediately began pounding. "We’re here." He looked toward the women, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. "Everyone, this is it. One chance. If Silas was right, we’ll make it through."
The women quickly gathered around, all eyes fixed on the seemingly endless wall of destruction ahead.
Just then, Lily, who had been quietly fishing beside the railing the entire time, suddenly paused.
She had been about to put away her Mythic Artifact, the South Sea Jade Rod, when the fishing line gave a powerful tug.
A soft jade glow spread across the rod. She had seen that glow enough times to recognize exactly what it meant. Something extraordinary had taken the bait.
"Marcus," Lily called calmly, though there was unmistakable excitement in her voice, "slow the ship for a moment. I’ve got a bite... and I don’t think it’s anything ordinary."
Marcus immediately ordered the ship to reduce speed before walking over with the others.
After everything they had witnessed, no one believed an ordinary fish could possibly be living at the edge of a place like this. Whatever had taken Lily’s hook was almost certainly something far more extraordinary.