Chapter 219: The Forsaken Siren Sea

Chapter 219: The Forsaken Siren Sea

A strong wind swept across the sea, stirring up waves that rippled through the water.

In the vast ocean, there was a patch of water that was particularly deep, like a sapphire embedded in the middle of the sea.

From high above, it looked like a deep blue eye.

This was the origin of the name "Sapphire Eye."

Beneath the surface, hundreds of meters deep, was a cluster of buildings built on coral reefs.

The hollow coral reefs had been transformed into exquisite houses.

Between the reefs, small buildings made of coral, shells, seaweed, and stones were scattered in a neat and orderly manner.

The beautiful Siren mermaids sat atop the coral reefs, gently swaying their serpent tails and singing aloud.

Despite the surrounding water, their voices could be heard clearly, as if echoing in one's mind.

At the center of the building cluster stood a towering palace.

It stood out among the low buildings, making it appear even more magnificent.

What was even more astonishing was that, centered around the palace, the water within a hundred-meter radius seemed to be pushed away by an invisible force, creating a hollow area devoid of water.

It was as if a giant bubble had formed in the depths of the sea.

Deep within the palace, in a spacious hall, the light from whale oil lamps illuminated the entire room. Aida knelt before a long table, her demeanor devout as she chanted strange syllables.

As the beautiful sounds spread, wisps of starlight appeared out of nowhere, intersecting and falling onto the table, outlining the shape of a book, which then materialized into a tangible form.

It was a massive book, floating flat, with a light green cover facing down, shimmering with a cold metallic sheen. On the cover was a white jade magnolia flower.

An invisible hand flipped open the book, revealing a page. A black vortex appeared in the center of the page, slowly expanding until it filled the entire sheet.

A clear, cold female voice emerged from the vortex.

"Aida, it's still two months before the annual meeting. Why have you summoned me early?"

Aida bowed her head in reverence and answered respectfully, "Honored Lady, our clan has encountered an unprecedented crisis. We humbly request your help to save us!"

"Crisis?" The cold voice grew slightly more intense. "Explain in detail."

"Yes, Honored Lady!"

Aida quickly recounted the recent events.

After listening, the cold voice fell silent for a moment before resuming, now tinged with a hint of dissatisfaction.

"Why didn't you mention this at the last meeting?"

Aida replied with a sense of shame, "I underestimated their strength. I thought I could first defeat the Deep Sea Naga, gather enough Sea Hearts to bring you down, and then, with your leadership, we could deal with those humans."

At the previous meeting, Aida had concealed her clan's defeat at Coral Island to avoid being reprimanded by the Lady. She had believed that preventing the humans from building their islands was impossible, so she decided to ignore them temporarily and focus on the Deep Sea Naga.

Once the Lady successfully descended, dealing with the humans would be effortless.

However, the humans had acted with unprecedented speed. They had built three islands and immediately formed a fleet to head for their lair.

Aida had heard her clan members describe the terrifying and powerful metal ships. Over a hundred of these metal ships were now heading toward the Sapphire Eye!

They had no chance of resisting!

The only option left was to seek the Lady's help.

Faced with Aida's earnest plea, the cold voice fell silent again.

As Aida's anxiety grew, the cold voice finally spoke, but her words sent a chill down Aida's spine.

"Handle it yourselves."

The moment the words were spoken, the book disintegrated into countless rays of light and vanished into the air.

"Honored Lady!"

Aida looked up, shouting in panic.

But the table was now empty.

Aida quickly knelt down again, chanting even more devoutly than before.

However, after a long time, there was no response.

Aida stopped chanting, collapsing to the ground, her face pale.

The empty table before her was a cold, hard fact—her clan had been abandoned by the Lady!

Suddenly, a commotion from outside snapped Aida out of her despair.

She quickly rose and hurried out. As she stepped out of the palace, she saw a clan member rushing towards her, her expression filled with panic.

"Clan leader, this is bad news, those humans are attacking!"

Aida's face instantly turned pale.

At this moment, she deeply realized the meaning of misfortunes never coming alone.

On the vast sea, strong winds whipped around.

A massive fleet of over a hundred giant ships cut through the waves, entering the Azure Eye Sea.

"This place looks quite beautiful."

Gazing at the gem-like azure sea, Adair couldn't help but exclaim.

But then Koro's mood-ruining voice sounded in her ear.

"Where are those Siren Mermaids hiding?"

"About two hundred meters underwater, in the Coral City," Andrea pointed at the azure Sea and said, "The Siren Mermaids must have already noticed us."

Xeman and the others couldn't disagree.

With such a conspicuous fleet, the Siren Mermaids would have to be blind not to see them.

Since they haven't appeared yet, they must be hiding in the sea, planning to resist from a defensive position.

After all, the ocean is naturally their territory, and humans find it difficult to tread there.

Perhaps they believe that as long as they hide deep underwater, the Star Alliance won't be able to do anything to them.

"Let's attack. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can report back to the teacher," Xeman said.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

After nearly four years in the Rainbow Sea, they also wanted to resolve matters here and return to the Starlight Academy as soon as possible.

This battle was the Navy fleet's first engagement. As long as the new fleet demonstrated sufficient combat power, proving that the Star Alliance had the strength to dominate the seas, their mission here would be complete.

As the order to commence the attack spread, the metal hulls of the magic ships suddenly glowed, the light expanding to form a very faint, almost invisible light shield that enveloped the massive ships.

From a distance, all the ships of the First Fleet looked like they were wrapped in giant bubbles.

In the next moment, these bubbles broke the surface of the sea and sank underwater.

The heavy water pressure from all sides only caused the light shields to deform slightly, unable to break through this layer of protection.

Hundreds of magic ships slowly navigated and sank in the sea.

Soon, a cluster of undulating buildings came into view.

Numerous Siren Mermaids, armed with tridents, gathered in front of the Coral City, their faces pale as they looked at the myriad of massive ships, their eyes filled with uncontrollable fear.

They had never imagined that there could be ships capable of submerging underwater!

Their ocean, which they had relied on as a barrier, could no longer protect them. It was utterly ineffective against these human intruders.

Seeing the magic ships spread out and surround the entire Coral City, many Siren Mermaids' eyes gradually filled with despair.

Just then, a figure suddenly emerged from the crowd and swam toward the magic ships.

"Clan leader!"

Recognizing the figure, the Siren Mermaids were immediately startled.

A few of them, who looked like high-ranking individuals, instinctively tried to follow, but Aida raised her hand to stop them.

Watching this scene from a distance, Xeman was also curious about what the Siren Mermaid clan leader intended to do, so he ordered the magic ships to hold their fire for the moment.

Aida swam directly to the largest magic ship and opened her mouth. The Siren Mermaid's unique, beautiful voice echoed far through the sea.

"Leader of the Star Alliance, please come out for a meeting!"

"What does she plan to do?" Fleiming frowned in confusion.

Everyone was equally puzzled, their gazes shifting to Xeman and Koro.

Although Andrea was the official representative of the Star Alliance in Rainbow Bay, Xeman and Koro had the highest authority in reality.

Xeman glanced at Koro, seeing that he had no intention of stepping forward, so he leaped off the deck.

"I'll go and talk to her."

Using water energy particles to create a water-free space around him, Xeman quickly reached Aida.

"Clan leader of the Siren Mermaids, what do you have to say?"

Aida sized Xeman up for a moment, seemingly surprised by his youth. She hesitated before asking, "Can you make decisions for the Star Alliance?"

"Within the limits of Rainbow Bay, and as long as the request isn't unreasonable, I can make decisions."

Xeman had a hunch about what she was planning.

Sure enough, Aida's voice grew somber as she said, "If the Star Alliance can guarantee the safety of our clan and not harm any of our members, we will surrender."

Xeman smiled slightly. "Of course, as long as you don't resist, we don't want unnecessary casualties."

Seeing Xeman agree, Aida let out a sigh of relief, but her emotions were complex.

Abandoned by the Mida, the Siren Mermaid clan had no power to resist the Star Alliance. Surrendering was their only option.

The anticipated battle never erupted, saving a great deal of effort.

Andrea took charge of the arrangements for the Siren Mermaids, while Xie Man and the others took Aida back to Rainbow Bay on a first-tier magic ship. They then immediately teleported back to Dragon Forest.

Half an hour later, Aida met the true ruler of the Star Alliance in the reception hall.

"Please, have a seat."

Su Nan pointed to the sofa opposite him.

Aida sat down on the sofa with some hesitation.

On the way over, Xie Man had told her that his teacher, the true ruler of the Star Alliance, wanted to see her.

But when she saw the person in the flesh, her innate sensitivity to auras as a Siren Mermaid made her keenly feel the overwhelming presence emanating from him.

What puzzled her even more was that this oppressive aura seemed somewhat similar to that of Misa.

"Do the Siren Mermaids truly have the blessing of a deity?" Su Nan cut straight to the chase.

Aida hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. "I'm not sure anymore."

Before the Star Alliance fleet arrived, she had firmly believed in Misa, convinced that Misa was the legendary deity and the savior of the Siren Mermaids.

But a deity should be omnipotent.

Could a 'deity' who abandoned their followers in a time of crisis really be a deity?

Aida was now filled with confusion and doubt.

Observing Aida's changes in expression and considering the Siren Mermaids' act of surrender, Su Nan immediately deduced the truth and smiled meaningfully.

"It seems you've been abandoned by your deity."

Before Aida could respond with a troubled expression, he changed the subject.

"Tell me about your encounter with this deity."

Aida sighed and began her story in a low voice.

The appearance of the deity could be traced back fifty years.

During a major battle with the Deep Sea Naga, the deity suddenly intervened, summoning waves and storms to defeat the Naga, allowing the Siren Mermaids, who were on the brink of defeat, to survive and turn the tide.

When Aida sincerely thanked the deity and asked for their name, the deity claimed to be the Sea Goddess, who had been sealed away for thousands of years and had only recently awoken.

Since the Siren Mermaids were her followers before the seal, she had intervened when she saw them about to be slaughtered by the Deep Sea Naga.

Hearing this, Su Nan immediately concluded that the so-called Sea Goddess was a fraud.

Not only had there never been a Sea Goddess on the Starlight Continent, but if one existed, it would have been captured by the wizards from another plane.

If it were the latter, the wizards would not have left such a valuable asset behind when they left the continent a thousand years ago.

Even if such an event had occurred and a Sea Goddess had been sealed away on the Starlight Continent, the lack of worshippers and the absence of faith to draw upon would have made it impossible for her to regain her strength and awaken.

Drawing power from another plane was also out of the question, as the Starlight Continent was still under a dimensional lockdown.

While his mind raced with these thoughts, Su Nan's expression remained calm as he continued to listen to Aida.

At first, Aida had also been skeptical.

However, as the 'Sea Goddess' taught the Siren Mermaids advanced combat techniques, powerful illusion abilities, and methods to cultivate rare plants, Aida's doubts gradually faded, and she began to believe that the deity was truly the Sea Goddess, offering her devout faith.

After that, the 'Sea Goddess' issued a decree, commanding the Siren Mermaids to collect Sea Hearts, claiming that with enough of them, she could descend in a saintly form and lead the Siren Mermaids to dominate the Rainbow Sea.

"Collecting Sea Hearts, huh."

A thoughtful look crossed Su Nan's eyes.

Sea Hearts were extremely rare materials used to craft magical items and valuable potions, such as Water Element potions.

The latter was a precious potion used by many wizards during elemental transformation.

However, beyond that, he couldn't fathom the purpose of collecting Sea Hearts or understand the 'Sea Goddess's' motivation.

"So, you've never seen her true form?"

"No," Aida shook her head. "Misa—she said she had just awakened and her power was at a low ebb, so she could only be conscious for a short time each year. She arranged an annual meeting day, and each time, she appeared to me in the form of a book."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end