“Going to the seabed?” Saul quickly followed, “I’ll go take a look too.”

Royer gave Saul a meaningful look, “The pollution levels underwater are seriously over the limit right now. Are you sure you want to go?”

Saul insisted, “Just in case, to adapt in advance to being pulled underwater.”

This wasn’t wrong, but would the other really continue fighting in such dangerous circumstances?

However, since Saul had said so, he couldn’t refuse.

Alfonso’s location wasn’t a secret place anyway. It’s just that now, probably no one else besides him could stay in the sea for such a long time.

The two transformed into black shadows and dove headfirst into the surging dark blue-black waves.

Underwater  the visibility was even lower. The intertwined roots and branches were like a maze.

Saul and Royer didn’t rely on sight, but swam toward the seabed following Alfonso’s mental power emanations.

After considerable effort, they finally swam out of the densest area of underwater branches. The view ahead became much more open.

Although it was still completely dark, Saul could already sense, like during his last dive, the layers upon layers of mermaids lying on the seabed.

These mermaids were in worse condition than he had seen last time. They were listless, as if half-asleep.

No wonder—although their resistance to the black tide far exceeded ordinary people and wizard apprentices, they weren’t completely unaffected.

Now, due to the black tide assault, the pollution index in the seawater had reached a dangerous threshold, and these mermaids were also significantly affected.

They wouldn’t die immediately, but they were definitely very uncomfortable.

It’s just that no one cared whether they were uncomfortable or not.

After swimming down several dozen more meters, Saul finally discovered Alfonso.

He was currently standing in a magic formation. Sensing Saul and Royer’s approach, he actively emerged from the formation.

“Why did you come over?” Alfonso’s voice rang in their minds.

Since it was one-on-one voice transmission, Saul couldn’t hear what Royer and Alfonso said. He only saw Alfonso nod silently.

“I came to see the underwater situation.” Facing Alfonso, Saul didn’t give such high-sounding reasons.

After Alfonso finished communicating with Royer, he turned to Saul and said: “The formation I’m in here is a concealment formation. When monsters attacked the wizards on the surface just now, there were actually wandering monsters underwater too. It’s just that the strong magical power fluctuations from wizards on the surface attract their attention more. If in the later stages, monsters aren’t cleared in time and their numbers keep increasing, you might really need to enter underwater combat.”

So they really would need to fight underwater?

However, that should be due to monsters on the surface not being cleared in time.

So, was the death of Royer and the other two third-rank wizards related to this?

Could it be that powerful monsters appeared underwater, or the numbers exceeded expectations, causing everyone to be caught off guard?

But with two fourth-rank wizards present, it shouldn’t have led to the death of three people.

Moreover, Saul hadn’t completely figured out what everyone’s masks specifically were—he only had some guesses.

“I’m not afraid of underwater combat.” Saul had also fought in the black tide before. Whether in his octopus tentacle form or pitch-black skeleton form, both were suitable for sea combat.

He looked at the surrounding mermaids, “These mermaids are in such poor condition, could something go wrong?”

The mermaids lived behind the defense line. As long as the defense line didn’t break, both the Red Sea Trees and they wouldn’t be attacked by monsters.

But the defense line couldn’t block pollution.

That’s why Alfonso needed to monitor the mermaids’ situation underwater. If the Tribunal managed to withstand the black tide assault but the mermaids couldn’t process the pollution absorbed by the Red Sea Tree forest after the black tide ended, then the Tribunal would face a new round of pollution crisis.

Alfonso’s voice was very calm, “There’s no problem. These mermaids aren’t facing a black tide assault for the first time either. Although they look like they’re in poor condition now, this is exactly why they’ll be more aggressive in feeding after the black tide passes.”

His voice paused briefly, then continued, “It’s just that after every feeding frenzy, large numbers of mermaids die, so we also need to conduct artificial breeding afterward.”

Artificial breeding meant the entire process from mermaid mating to juvenile maturation, ensuring that mermaid numbers would recover to normal in the shortest time.

Saul had seen such methods in some settlements in the Borderland. His first apprentice Noah had been artificially matured this way, resulting in his body being “allergic” to magical power. If he hadn’t been left in the Chaos Realm by Saul, he would probably already be counting his final moments.

Having roughly understood the underwater situation, Royer was ready to go back.

Saul actually wanted to stay underwater a bit longer. Last time he had encountered a special mental power fluctuation underwater—he wondered if that special mental power would still appear now that the black tide had arrived?

But neither Royer nor Alfonso recommended that Saul stay underwater long-term.

Alfonso could remain mainly because the Tribunal had prepared a concealment formation for him. As long as he stayed within this formation, he could enjoy the protection of the defense formation without expending his own energy to deal with the black tide pollution in the seawater.

But this concealment formation could only work for one person.

With major battles still ahead, Royer naturally couldn’t let Saul, this voluntary labor force, waste energy on other unnecessary matters.

Returning to the surface, Saul could already sense Alfonso’s mental power from the seabed. It seemed the concealment formation was designed for sea monsters and wasn’t completely hidden from wizards like Saul.

Through this weak but stable mental power, one could also confirm that Alfonso underwater was completely normal.

Royer and Saul returned to shore and seized the time to begin meditation, recovering magical power as much as possible and stabilizing mental power.

At midnight, the second wave of black tide indeed arrived. This time, the number of monsters carried by the black tide was also somewhat higher than the first time.

The wizards on shore could still cope, but more apprentice casualties occured.

Other wizard apprentices immediately filled their positions, not daring to say anything and continuing the work of those who had died.

If anyone dared to flee during the resistance against the black tide, what awaited them would be a judgment order—the kind that meant death without rest.

No deaths had occurred among the true wizards yet, but if the battle situation continued to intensify, death was just a matter of time.

It’s just that every wizard facing the black tide understood this point, yet they all expressionlessly accepted their fate without any resistance.

The first day passed in this intense yet strangely calm atmosphere.

By dawn, the afterwaves of the second black tide had already receded. Most people returned to shore to meditate and rest, leaving only a few to take turns monitoring the seaside situation.

As an external member, Saul naturally didn’t need to take shifts. But after recovering his magical power, he still returned to the sea surface at the first opportunity.

Starting from the second day, the black tide’s scale would be larger, the attacking mutated monsters more numerous, and unexpected situations could arise at any time. Saul had to stay on the front lines to ensure he wouldn’t miss the show.

At the same time, he also glanced at Black Flame Emperor Elo ahead.

Yesterday, he had hardly taken action all day. When most people were resting in the early morning, he had briefly left and had just returned. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NovᴇlFirᴇ.ɴet

So, was the current Black Flame Emperor still the real Black Flame Emperor?

(End of Chapter)

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