Chapter 117: Chapter 117: Entering the Sea

Looking at Pororo’s eyes, Alka felt slightly embarrassed.

Alright, obviously not.

Alka looked down at the map and began to replan. After replanning a route, he showed it to Pororo. “Using these islands as rest points, can you swim across? It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to drag us the whole way.”

Pororo looked at it and sighed softly. He had to protect these two so they could leave the Realm of Pitch Darkness.

“Alright, that should be possible. We can give it a try.” Then he looked at the two of them and asked, “Have you had enough to eat?”

They both nodded.

“Alright, give me a moment.”

With that, Pororo stood up and walked to the nearby fish rack. He then opened his mouth wide. Picking up a whole piece of hanging fish meat, he threw it directly into his mouth and began chewing rapidly. Before he even swallowed, he picked up another piece and tossed it in.

Just like that, in front of them, he devoured all the fish meat on the rack in less than five minutes.

Alka compared it to the weight of the fish meat he had just been holding. He realized that in those mere five minutes, Pororo had consumed at least seventy pounds of fish meat.

And he said we’re built similarly.

When he finally finished, Pororo let out a satisfied burp.

“Such delicious food shouldn’t be wasted. Come on, let’s hurry.”

With that said, the three of them immediately went to the seaside.

Pororo turned to look at the two of them and pointed at the fish scale tattoos on their bodies. “You can infuse Magic Power into the tattoos. That will allow you to breathe in the water like fish.”

So it has this function too.

Hearing Pororo’s introduction, Alka couldn’t help but look down at the fish scale tattoo near his collarbone. He couldn’t resist trying to infuse Magic Power into it.

The fish scales glowed faintly, and the peculiar sensation he had felt before when enveloped by water currents reappeared.

Meanwhile, Pororo pulled a chain from the wrecked ship’s cabin. He wrapped one section around himself and tossed the two ends to Alka and Chadite.

“Hold onto the chain and wrap it around yourselves. This way, we’ll be a bit faster.”

Hearing this, they immediately grabbed the chain and wrapped it around their hands.

Pororo was already half-submerged in the pitch-black water. He turned and asked, “Are you ready?”

Seeing them nod, he plunged into the water without hesitation.

Feeling a strong pull, both of them were instantly dragged into the sea. Like an arrow in the water, Pororo moved with a speed that clearly didn’t match his physique, swimming swiftly. They were dragged along, their eyes tightly shut.

Fortunately, they could breathe underwater, so it wasn’t too unbearable. However, the rapid movement through the water prevented them from opening their eyes. They could only keep their eyes closed as they were pulled swiftly along.

They were dragged continuously through the water.

After about half an hour, Alka felt a slight tingling on his skin.

This must be from the corrosive black seawater.

Pororo’s voice reached their ears, his words muffled by the seawater.

“I need to dive a bit deeper. Can you handle it?”

They both nodded.

Then they felt the pressure on their bodies increase. Fortunately, they were both Touched, and their strength had reached the One Spiral level. They could still endure this level of pressure.

Moreover, as they dove deeper, the tingling sensation on their skin disappeared.

This implied that the corrosive black seawater hadn’t permeated the entire ocean. It had only tainted a part of the seawater; the deeper they went, the less they would be affected by it.

「…」

Alka wasn’t sure how long they had been swimming; he only knew that the pressure of the seawater on their bodies was steadily increasing. Because Pororo had to dive to greater depths to resist the Dark Energy in the seawater, Alka and Chadite were forced to use their internal Magic Power to enhance their physical bodies to withstand it.

Finally, when half of their Magic Power was spent, they felt Pororo taking them upwards.

As soon as they broke through the surface, Alka couldn’t stop himself from gasping for air. Even with the fish scale tattoo, this natural, familiar way of breathing was much more satisfying, not to mention the absence of the seawater’s pressure.

They followed Pororo and climbed onto the adjacent island. It was another deserted island, not much different from the one where Pororo had temporarily resided.

Alka and Chadite lay on the beach, resting and restoring their internal Magic Power and depleted stamina. Pororo also sat beside them, resting quietly.

He extended his left hand and placed it on his forehead. They saw aquamarine ripples begin to spread from his head throughout his body, again and again. After this continued for a while, he finally opened his eyes.

He must be cleansing the Dark Element residue from the surface of his body.

Thinking about when they first met Pororo, Alka couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you afraid of the Spiritual Invasion from the darkness here?”

Hearing Alka’s question, Pororo turned his head to look at him, then shook his head.

“I am an Ocean Warrior. Once I enter the seawater, these feeble dark invasions are ineffective against me.”

He nodded somewhat proudly toward his left arm, where a peculiar mark was visible. It depicted a lightning bolt piercing through a wave-like tattoo.

“Ocean Warrior?”

It was the first time Alka had heard such a title, and Chadite beside him was equally unaware.

“It signifies a fishman blessed by the Great Ocean. You know, this blessing was actually passed to me by my cousin because he believes in the Holy Mother.”

“A fishman not believing in the ocean but in the Holy Mother, how strange.” Saying this, he shook his head, clearly expressing his lack of understanding.

Alka had never really considered this issue before, but dwelling on it now seemed pointless.

“Why did you come to the Realm of Pitch Darkness?”

“To train my abilities and see if there are any interesting types of fish here.”

“One must face wave after wave, battling increasingly fierce tsunamis—that is the path to growth,” Pororo said passionately.

Apparently, this was some kind of training method for Ocean Warriors, or perhaps a trial to enhance their strength. That’s how Alka understood it, though he wasn’t sure if he was correct.

They rested for about three hours. Alka and Chadite took a short nap, briefly recovering some of their stamina. They were still extremely exhausted, as they had hardly rested since their escape began. But time waits for no one now.

Pororo stood up and said to the two of them, “Let’s go. We continue on our journey.”

“This time, you’ll sit on my back, and we’ll swim quickly along the surface.”

Although they didn’t know why Pororo had changed their mode of travel, they both still nodded. They sat on either side of Pororo’s back. Thanks to Pororo’s tall and robust physique, his back was spacious enough for both of them to sit without feeling overly crowded. Moreover, his back didn’t have the slippery feel of Sang Kaka’s; instead, it was very coarse.

As he leaped into the sea, rings of ripples spread out from his sides. In an instant, his speed reached an astonishing level as he swam swiftly forward. The waves parted on either side of him, forming two walls of water.

This swimming style, and the Spell he just used to part the water, are exactly the same as Sang Kaka’s.

“You two should be quite familiar with this swimming style and this Spell, right?” Pororo’s voice came.

They both nodded in unison.

“Yes, very familiar. Sang Kaka used this swimming style. Is it a special technique of your family?”

“No, it’s his unique technique. I just learned it through his fish scale legacy.”

“This fish scale legacy not only taught me some of my cousin’s abilities and techniques but also perfected my Ocean Warrior’s blessing.”

“I owe him too much. His only request in the legacy was for me to get you two out safely. But I imagine neither of you actually wants to leave, right?”

“Of course not. We seek revenge,” Chadite said quietly.

“Haha, yes, revenge is what’s called for! So, whichever one of you encounters that hammerhead fishman, you must leave him to me.”

“This is my only request. I’m sure you won’t refuse.”

Hearing Pororo’s words, Alka said firmly, “Of course. We’ll definitely let you finish him off personally.”

“Hmph! The blood of revenge… I can’t wait to taste it.”

With that, Pororo’s speed increased another notch. From a distance, he looked like a speck of light moving rapidly across the water’s surface.

「…」

Finally, after days of relentless effort, they arrived at their destination.

The three of them disembarked at a port. They collapsed directly onto the beach.

“Phew, finally made it. Completed another challenge,” Pororo gasped.

Alka and Chadite, too exhausted to speak, rested quietly beside him. Their stamina was significantly less than Pororo’s. Even though they hadn’t exerted much effort themselves, just adapting to Pororo’s speed had left them utterly exhausted.

Alka frowned, took a Potion from his ring, and drank it. The drowsiness and the faint whispers in his mind dissipated.

Although Alka’s soul was much stronger than an ordinary person’s, and with Lucilia’s help, he wasn’t particularly afraid of Spiritual Invasion. However, they had been soaked in the seawater for so long these past few days that they had been forcibly tainted by the Dark Elements within it. Fortunately, each of them had several spare Potions to clear Spiritual Invasions.

Chadite looked at Alka. She couldn’t help but ask, “Logically, I should have heard the whispers long before now, but I haven’t. Is it because of you?”

Chadite was very perceptive. Despite soaking in the seawater for such a long time, she had only suffered a single Spiritual Invasion throughout the entire journey. This was clearly abnormal, and she didn’t believe she possessed any special trait that would account for it. This contradicted the information she had received, including what had occurred on the ship earlier. However, at the time, she hadn’t dwelled on it too much.

Perhaps because she had been exposed to these Dark Elements for so long, she could vaguely sense their gathering and dispersal. Whenever she was near Alka, the majority of the Dark Elements seemed to linger around him. Although the sensation was faint, their sheer concentration made it perceptible to her.

Hearing this, Alka turned his head to look at her, met her gaze, and then nodded.

“My soul is stronger than an ordinary person’s, which makes it more attractive to these Dark Elements. This also allows me to more easily resist the Spiritual Invasion they cause.”

“Won’t that be a problem?” Chadite asked with some concern.

Alka smiled and shook his head.

“Don’t worry. If it weren’t for being soaked in the water for so long and encountering so many Dark Elements, it would take me a much longer time to suffer a Spiritual Invasion.”

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