Chapter 1458
In this era, the lake had long vanished. The Northend World no longer held such a vast inland sea. Drifting at the edge of the Nightmare Sea, Leon gazed at the distant, surging waves and wondered whether to skirt around it. The waters here were anything but peaceful—far off, he could see waves rising seven or eight hundred meters high, even tens of kilometers away.
But the gravity here was far greater than in the Northend World, so the giant waves calmed before they could reach the edge of the Nightmare Sea.
"How much longer will it take if we go around the Nightmare Sea?"
Faced with Leon's question, the chubby kid frowned and did some mental math for half a minute before replying uncertainly.
"It'll probably take three times as long, but I heard the chief say that to reach the Deep World, we have to cross the Nightmare Sea. If we go around, we won't reach the entrance at all..."
Leon’s eyelid twitched—he almost wanted to throttle the chubby kid. Damn it, they were heading for the Deep World entrance, not just traveling. If crossing was required, why bother calculating the detour?
Some places have rules of their own, especially in the Realm of Nightmares. This Nightmare Sea was a predetermined path—stray from it, and you’d never reach your destination.
Still, seeing how restless the Nightmare Sea looked, Leon began flying toward its depths.
"Has the Nightmare Sea always been this turbulent? There’s something huge fighting in the depths…"
The chubby kid lay sprawled on Leon’s shoulder, his face scrunched up with worry as he gazed into the depths of the Nightmare Sea.
"I have no clue," he grumbled. "The chief said there are some Oceanfolk here that the Lord of Nightmares keeps penned up. Apparently, he snatched them during a fight with the Ocean Lord ages ago—grabbed a few prisoners, I guess. I don’t really know the details. The chief said these folks are here just to tend the Lord of Nightmares’ flowers…"
Leon rolled his eyes, not bothering to respond to the chubby kid’s rambling. Even if the Lord of Nightmares was a few screws loose, he wouldn’t haul a bunch of Oceanfolk here just to make them gardeners. But the mention of tending flowers made Leon pause—something clicked in his memory.
The Oceanfolk royal family, it seemed, could cultivate a special deep-sea plant that was especially helpful for soulforms. It looked like a flower, but released a unique fragrance—one that could strengthen and bind the soul.
No matter what, the Lord of Nightmares was still a god-demon. Any Oceanfolk he managed to catch would have to be royalty. If he’s got them tending flowers, it’s probably for those Soulblooms.
While Leon mulled this over, they’d already flown more than a hundred kilometers. Here, the crashing waves had grown much larger—each crest towering over a hundred meters. The deeper they ventured into this sea, the higher the waves rose.
The mana here had become chaotic. The concentration and activity of water elements was almost on par with an elemental plane.
Flying overhead, Leon could vaguely make out a deep blue water elemental, over ten meters tall, rising atop the waves. Each hundred-meter surge crashed toward the coast, with water elementals riding the crests, racing for the shoreline.
The appearance of one water elemental seemed to trigger a chain reaction. Every time a wave rose, another deep blue water elemental would emerge from beneath the surface, dashing toward the coast atop the waves.
In just a dozen seconds, the sea was swarming with water elementals. Deep blue figures sprinted across the waves, as if fleeing for their lives.