Chapter 70: Moonlit Pearl Sea

Axe stopped.

"This is it," Axe said quietly.

The path led them to the same spot where Ugo had fallen, where they had rescued him, and the air was like a sealed space underwater.

Moon and his group were now standing in a cave, and in front of them was a water curtain.

Moon knew it was the same place as Ugo’s fall underwater back then because he could see the same crack in the boulders where Ugo was stuck behind the water curtain.

But he was sure that when he and Nox fell into this water, they didn’t see any cave mouth.

Henceforth, there must be some charm, spell, or any formation outside that’s preventing outsiders from finding this place.

Axe walked past the water curtain and looked at Moon. "I swam up there."

Moon looked around carefully.

Just after they all were out of the cave mouth, Moon looked back and saw the cave mouth had vanished behind them.

From this outside, it was just like before, all sides blocked by water and dark boulders.

Underneath, slimy, wet ground and freezing water. From afar, they could see lots of scavengers walking far up there on the cliff slopes, and on the edge of the water level.

"They never end," Oshan grumbled.

Axe scoffed, "Of course they are very reproductive, or else why do you think big academies and packs avoid this area?"

Moon chuckled, "Is it that infamous?" he asked.

"Infamous will be a very light word. You are still alive, so you don’t understand the gravity. In the past, many people came here cause the sea turned silver at night here, but they never could pass the sea or see underneath. All who tried died a miserable death— poisoned, rotted, and decoyed. I don’t know why we can see it now." Nox explained.

[Hmm... interesting. So the Moonlit Pearl Sea turned into the Black Sea? Infamous sea? That’s such a pathetic blame for Moonie’s little mermaid friends.] 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

A soft, sarcastic voice rang in Moon’s mind.

At some point, Lupine was peeking out through Moon’s divine sense. He could activate his divine black mirror glass and see outside. As long as Moon is alive and awake, he could use Moon’s vision.

[Ho ho, so much disgrace! How pathetic,] he said again.

At that moment, Moon’s mind stirred, and a sharp female voice grunted, [Isn’t it your fault, old haggard?]

Lupine was startled. [Who? Who is talking?]

Moon Goddess scoffed, [Dense as usual. Pathetic black hound.]

[Who are you calling Hound? I am the great Nightshade warlord Lupine.]

[That’s the most pitiful thing to talk about. Your Nightshade Blade was the main culprit in making my Moonlit Pearl Sea into such a state.]

[Mooney... are you alive?] Lupine’s old voice suddenly cracked.

He was silent for a moment before asking softly, [Come out]

Moon didn’t pry into his mind or any voice anymore.

And the voices in his mind faded, so he didn’t really know what those two souls were talking about. But from their bits and pieces, he figured out one thing.

These two were very familiar, and there must be a reason for the Moon Goddess to transport him here.

It can’t be simply that she wanted to save his poor soul.

He looked at the Axe, Nox, and Ugo’s faces, and his lips slowly curved into a soft smile.

Things are getting interesting and dangerous, but he needed to be strong enough to face the future no matter what the Goddess’s intentions are.

"Swam up?" Axe asked, looking at Moon’s smiling face.

He suddenly leaned down and sucked on Moon’s lips.

It took Moon a while to figure out what just happened. By the time he realized he had been taken advantage of in front of everyone in the open air, Axe had already moved far away.

"Bastard," Moon swore in a low voice.

"Cough! Cough!"

Oshan coughed and waved his hand to dismiss the awkward atmosphere.

"There seems to be a narrow path on that crack." He walked to the same crack where Ugo was.

Just behind the crack, almost invisible at the turn, was actually another set of rock steps.

The steps were jagged, rough, and very narrow. As if someone carved them in a hurry.

Moon went to the place and, with his divine sense, found these steps actually went up.

As far as he could see was just an endless staircase upward.

Moon thought for a moment and then took the path. "We will go this way. It’s better to take a detour, since we don’t know if any guards are still there.

Ugo nodded.

Axe followed behind Moon. "Yes, the Alpha will not leave it unguarded. He is a very suspicious person."

Moon was amused by his tone.

He chuckled as he slipped inside the crack. "Isn’t he your father?"

The group followed him and vanished inside the crack one after another.

Axe shrugged in the dark. "Who knows? He never really loved us. He probably has some doubts."

Moon could hear the doubt itself in Axe’s voice. So there must have been a backstory.

Regardless, he chose not to ask.

This is very sensitive, and there was an outsider.

Moon walked silently, almost like crawling on a narrow slope.

After walking for almost 1 hour, Moon’s divine sense finally penetrated and opened into a clearing. Bright sunlight was penetrating through a dense mass of green leaves and bark.

Moon sped up, and finally his head broke out of a bush.

A thick layer of snow dropped right on his nose as his head peeked out.

It was so dense that Moon’s nose was tingling from the cold.

He searched around. After making sure there was no one around with his divine eyes, he broke through the bush.

The group of five people suddenly coming out of a perfectly fine bush was something that made the forest animals and birds cry out at once.

A flock of Clark’s Nutcrackers flew away at once, while a squirrel jumped up. He sprinted through a full, large tree to far away.

A Stoat darted past from the nearby bush.

"Where is this place?" Moon muttered.