382 - Another Spatial Rift Breaking

Serene placed a [Mistheart Pearl] against the obelisk. Instantly, the gem dissolved into a white light. The warm light spread through her. Turning even her fiery red eyes into a luminous white for a second.

And then, the [Great Sanctuary Scroll] she possessed was unfurled and fused with her whole body. Enhancing her potential power significantly.

Jack's appraisal showed that Serene had evolved her power class into a Sanctuary Doctor. She could now conjured the [Healing Sanctuary] spell, a healing domain that produce a large scaled healing energy to everyone within.

Then, Autumn stepped forward. Following her sister.

She used the same type of [Mistheart Pearl] to touch the monolith. However, the result was completely different. The pearl cracked, releasing a bluish flash of light. Sparks of electricity course through her whole body.

Her [Earring of Danger Sense] transformed into a personal artifact... a pair of bluish-rimmed glassed. The [Mystic Surgery Glasses].

She had evolved her class into a Lightspeed Surgeon. Acquiring the [Lightspeed Surgery] spell that allowed her to perform external and internal surgery accurately in high speed.

Aella then walked forward. She was the last crew member to access the power of the Obelisk of Evolution.

She lifted the [Eldritch Onyx] in her hand. As it touched the obelisk, the gemstone slowly dissolved into a plume of dark purple smoke. Wrapping around her little frame before settling within her cape and her gun.

A second later, her [Cape of Mystery] and her voidfire revolver disappeared. Fusing into a sleek, antique-looking handgun. Her personal artifact. A [Blazing Void Pistol].

"What a weird weapon." Aella said as she looked at the dark, flintlock-looking gun in her hand. "Well, since Big Sis Reina called her guns Meteor and Comet, I'll call this Starlight."

Jack noticed that the girl's class had changed too. She was no longer a mysterious faewitch. Now, she was a Faewitch Huntress.

She retained all of her previous abilities and gained a new power. It was the [Voidfire Glyph]. A spell-like traps that she could set instantly and activate remotely to explode into a devastating voidfire blast.

The obelisk thrummed slightly then fell silent. The group all stepped back. Each was bearing the new result of their evolutions.

Jack looked around. The crew's faces were a mixture of awe, curiosity, and a trace of nervousness. He knew the evolution was stable. Each gemstone they used had acted as a perfect conduit. Preventing the raw mutation that would otherwise turn them into monsters.

"Alright!" He said in a steady voice. "We've all got neat upgrades. Let's leave this place and test our new abilities in safer place."

He turned to Rune. The tiny fairy whose glow had shifted from a bright gold to a calmer, blue color.

She was the only one among them who could gain nothing from the obelisk. Not even touching the monolith directly affected her. She didn't seem to care about that though.

"Guide us back to the coast, Rune." Jack said.

The fairy fluttered. Her wings was flickering as she drifted back to the entrance of the mountain pass.

The trek back through the jungle of Strangebeast Island was an exercise in calculated efficiency.

Jack led the way. His eyes were always scanning the dense foliage with a high level of vigilance.

Reina's illusion had re-cloaked them with invisibility. But, there was still a chance for the appearance of a creature with illusion immunity. Just like the Mutated Apeman he had previously defeated.

Behind him, the crew of the Silent Mermaid moved with a new-found rhythm. The Obelisk of Evolution had served its purpose well. Every member of the expedition now carried a refined spark of power within them.

Just like before, the jungle was alive with things that shouldn't exist.

Mutated wild cats with jelly-like hide instead of fur were prowling in the shadows. Two headed birds with leaf-like feathers and serrated beaks perched on the high canopy of the colossal oak trees.

They also witnessed slithering snakes with fish heads and fins. And there were huge numbers of rabbit-like critters with sharp fangs and long necks.

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Under normal circumstances, the walk back to the coast would have been a bloodbath. But Reina was with them. With her illusion, to the mutated beasts, the expedition members were simply non-existent.

Soon, they reached the white sands of the coast, without firing a single shot. The ocean stretched out before them. A vast expanse of blue sky, tinged with reddish hue, under the light of the twilight sun.

Jack stepped toward the water's edge and raised his hand. There was no grand incantation. Just a ripple of intent that resonated with the spectral essence within his system inventory.

The sea began to churn. A thick, emerald fog rose from the waves, and out of the bottom of the sea, the Silent Mermaid emerged. The ghost ship seemed to permanently be stuck between the physical and the ethereal state.

The ghost sloop showed the same rotten hull, skeletal mast, and tattered sails. Its silently wailing mermaid figurehead, blazing purple flames, and thin mist from the gunwales were a familiar sight for the crew. However, it still didn't change the eerie and spooky sensation they experienced when they saw it.

"All hands on deck!" Jack commanded. "Argust, get us out of these shallows. Don, start cooking. We aren't in a hurry, but I'd rather be back in civilization soon. Our next destination is... Lakemarket City, Bigbanyan Island."

The crew scrambled. There was no hesitation as each of them moved to their post. Argust quickly moved to the control cabin and took the wheel.

As the anchor rose, however, the world shifted...

A shiver touched in the marrow of their bones. It wasn't an audible sound, but a vibration in the fabric of space itself.

Jack's [Eyes of Judgement] instantly snapped open. His pupils dilating as he looked past the physical horizon, and then to the island. The source of the vibration wasn't from the island. It was from the sea at the far side of the island.

"Spatial disturbance." Jack muttered. He turned to the crew with darkening expression. "This isn't natural. It's a forced breach. Very likely those damned zealots again. Argust! Change course. Full speed. Let's see what those crazy people do this time."

"Understood, Captain!" Argust's voice responded from the ship's communication system.

The Silent Mermaid lurched forward. Her spectral, tattered sails caught a wind that didn't exist in the physical world.

They rounded the jagged cliffs of the northern cape in record time. The ship tilted dangerously as it cut through the waves.

Once they cleared the shadow of the island, the source of the disturbance became clear.

A massive galleon sat anchored in the open sea. It was triple-decked and bristling with cannons. Its sails were ivory white in color. Emblazoned with a giant, golden ankh-like symbol. The symbol of the Sacred Destination Sect.

Jack and his crew could see these people were in a big trouble. Around the galleon, the water was swirling into a massive, glowing whirlpool. Pillars of light shot up from the deck of the galleon. Focused into a singular point in the air above the water.

"These reckless fanatics!" Baroness Artheim spat, gripping the railing tight. "Their obsession with finding their 'Heaven' wouldn't just kill themselves. They would kill us all."

"They aren't finding their heaven this time." Jack said in cold voice. "They're once again drilling a hole into the hell they aren't invited to."

He was too far away for his [Eyes of Judgement] to appraise the situation in more details. But he didn't need those eyes to know that the sect members were in a big trouble.

The spatial rift was widening. It looked like a jagged crack in a mirror. Revealing a void of swirling purples and sickly greens.

The sect members on the deck of the galleon were chanting. Their voices were amplified by mystic energy. Sounding like a drone of angry insects. They were forcing the rift open with sheer, blunt-force sorcery.

Suddenly, the ocean underneath the rift stopped swirling. It began to bulge upward.

A roar erupted from the depths. A sound that was half-organic and half-metallic. From the center of the whirlpool, a nightmare emerged. It was a demonic shark. A gigantic creature that dwarfed the galleon.

The creature's skin was the grey in color. Most of its body was covered in jagged, darker grey plates. Ones that glowed with bluish abyssal runes. It didn't have two eyes, but six. Each was glowing with a malevolent hunger.

The beast didn't hesitate. It breached the surface with a force that sent a tidal wave crashing against the sect's ship.

With a bone-crunching snap of its jaws, it bit the forward part of the galleon clean off. Wood splintered like dry kindling. Screams were cut short as dozens of sect members were dragged into the dark water.

"Close the rift!" A voice screamed from the sinking galleon. But it was too late.

The spatial crack was fluctuating wildly. Leaking chaotic energy that fried many of the sect's remaining transcendent mages where they stood.

CRASH! The monstrous shark burst through the sea surface again with a thunderous roar. The water snapped like a whip. Its massive jaws widened. Revealing deadly rows of jagged teeth.

The sect's galleon shuddered. Its remaining crew barely had a moment to raise their defensive spells before the ship was ripped apart by the shark's vortex of teeth and gnash.

The steel-enforced hull was broken to pieces. The towering masts were snapped like a twig. The sails and flags were torn away. Fluttering uselessly in the wind.

The majestic galleon, the powerful vessel of the Sacred Destination Sect, was ruined. Destroyed into almost nothing with just a few attacks.

Then...

The Demon Shark turned its attention away from the wreckage. Its six eyes swiveled. Focusing on what seemed to be the empty air. A location where the Silent Mermaid sat under its invisibility veil.

The monster let out a low-frequency hum that vibrated to the hull of Jack's ship. Causing Jack and all of his crew to shiver in vigilance.

"It can see us." Jack said. "Or rather, it can sense us. Argust! Drop the invisibility cloak. Activate the energy shield. There’s no point in hiding now. To your battle stations!"

The visual illusion that hid the Silent Mermaid dissolved. The ghost ship stood revealed in its eerie glory.

"Argust! Control the ship. Battle mode!" Jack's orders were rapid-fire. "Everyone else! Prepare long ranged attack. Spells, rifles, hand cannons, grenade launchers... anything you can prepare. Get ready for battle."

The Demon Shark lunged. It didn't swim like a normal fish. It seemed to glide through the water as if the liquid offered no resistance.

"Open fire!" Jack roared.