You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 264 The Great Whirlpool

After an unknown amount of time, Neliel returned to the homeland of the Sea Fort people.

This is where the majestic stone pillars stand, built by the gods and people.

It resembles an altar and a palace, but it has been abandoned for a long time.

The massive rocks collapsed, and the rugged and magnificent buildings were destroyed. From those massive rock structures, one can still vaguely see a remnant of the sea fortress's appearance.

It lay dormant on the seabed for many years.

Haibao is my hometown.

But before the sea fortress, they lived in the depths of the ocean.

That was their original homeland.

The people of Haibao have all heard those stories, and now no one believes those bizarre and absurd events are true.

The thoughts of those commoners are not important.

The call from the depths of the ocean has always haunted the lives of certain people—those with mysterious powers in the deep sea always dream of the same scenery.

This was true of every lord of Seaburg.

The same goes for Neel.

Dark, sticky, damp, cold, and silent, you are underwater, and all you can hear is a wailing sound, like the roar of some giant beast.

She returned to her original hometown.

Niliel shivered. The place was cold and eerie, unlike anything in the human world.

It was pitch black all around, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, but she could inexplicably see the scene, though it was all blurry.

She turned her head and looked around, and was immediately startled by the scene before her.

In the hazy ruins, countless stone statues stare at her mercilessly, scrutinizing her.

Neliel felt that some of the decorations and appearances of the human-shaped statues looked somewhat familiar.

But some of the hazy, non-human statues felt unfamiliar to her because the span of time was too far and too long.

They sat side by side, like rows of tombstones, staring intently at her. Wherever she went, their gazes followed, following her footsteps and footprints, never letting her go.

In the dim darkness, she heard a call.

“Nier…”

She turned around abruptly and heard that familiar, weak voice, immediately ignoring the stares.

"Lord Deer, is that you? Sea Castle has fallen apart. Please come back and take charge."

In the dead silence of darkness, the ocean whispered, no one spoke, but two life forms communicated.

“Oh, you’re here too,” Dill said.

"Where is this?" she asked.

"It's too dark here, I can't see anything. Neliel, can you see anything?"

Neel said, "I could only see a corner, and beyond that it was just a blurry darkness. I saw them sitting there, filling up one corner of the room."

"This is the final resting place of the Lord of the Sea Fortress, the deep-sea cemetery of the people of the gods."

Niliel immediately cried out in surprise, for everyone present was her ancestor.

"Lord Dill, I don't see you."

“I’m not here, this is just the echo of my soul,” Dill said. “They won’t let me sit down, I’m not qualified.”

"But you are also the acknowledged lord of Sea Castle."

“I am not a creature of the deep sea, the ocean does not favor me, this is not my home, Neliel, do not let this place corrupt your spirit, the great whirlpool is coming.”

“What is the Great Whirlpool?” Neel asked.

"The whirlpool is what destroys everything. Can't you feel the ocean currents getting more and more violent?"

Neliel indeed sensed that power, an increasingly ferocious vortex of energy that tore at her body like a tornado, sweeping away everything, tearing everything apart, destroying everything...

"No!" she cried out in terror, grabbing the rocks beside her and struggling against the increasingly terrifying force.

"My blood relative, please don't let it pull you in, or you'll never come back. Quickly, go find the spiral staircase..." Dill said weakly, just as he had in life.

Following Dill's instructions, Neliel found the deep, spiraling staircase in the ruins. Carved by the gods, the stone steps wound downwards, leading into the darkness.

“All the lords of the Sea Fortress throughout history have gone through these things,” he said.

Have you experienced this too?

I'm not qualified.

"The sea castle is waiting for you."

But I am already gone.

Niliel was stunned for a moment, then she vaguely remembered something.

Looking back, all the statues were sucked away by the terrifying vortex, as were the boulders, which were scattered like petals into the hazy, dark sky, rumbling and creating a scene of destruction.

Hidden on the steps, Neliel still had the illusion that the stone statues were watching her even as the storm raged...

"Go down, Neliel, go forward."

Neliel obeyed Dill's orders and descended the spiral staircase against the backdrop of the roaring whirlpool.

Then she met her companions, two figures walking down the spiral staircase, just like her, trying to avoid the whirlpool.

One of them was the lord of the Sea Fortress six generations ago; she recognized the ornament.

The other was tall and imposing, standing seven feet tall. He wore a crown made of black iron and bronze, without gold, silver, or jewels. Seven long sword-shaped black iron spikes stood out from the crown, their outlines engraved with the magical runes of the ancients, deep and cold.

“He’s not from Seaburg, so how did he get to the Gods’ Cemetery?” Neel asked.

“Who?” Dill asked.

Neel described the man's appearance; his face was blurry and indistinct, but his black iron crown was particularly striking.

“He’s a conqueror. It seems he left his mark here too,” Dill said.

Neliel was not concerned with the conquerors; she knew very little about what had happened a century ago.

The lord of the sea fortress six generations ago was guiding the conquerors.

They were talking, but Neel couldn't hear or understand what they were saying, and the two walked slowly.

In the darkness, the whirlpool seemed to echo endlessly through the spiral staircase, and Neliel quickly passed them.

“Lord Dill, come back with me.” Neel realized she was about to leave.

“I can’t go back. I’ve stayed here for too long, three years, or five years, I can’t remember. Now that you’ve awakened the secret power of the deep sea, you are the true master of the Sea Fortress. This is your home, but not mine. I have to go to another place… another desolate and dark world…”

Neliel said anxiously, "We can't do without the Lord of Sea Castle."

"So, my dear aunt, the Sea Castle is counting on you. Good luck." Dill repeated his dying words once more...

His words vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed.

“Lord Dill!” she cried out.

When the rumbling sound arose, she looked up in horror and saw a giant whirlpool above, with countless statues and rocks being swept up, and the entire deep sea was never at peace again.

It came crashing down with a thunderous roar...

"Nier." She heard someone speaking in her ear, and when she opened her eyes, it was already bright outside.

Roman gently wiped the sweat from her forehead with his hand. "I heard you calling for Lord Dill in your dream."

Her eyes were blank, as if she were trying to grasp something, but the memories in her dream were like a beach after the tide had receded, leaving nothing behind.

She felt a sudden sadness, as if she had lost a blood relative.

Neel bit her lip, got up and sat on Roman's lap, shaking her body vigorously as if she were riding a rocking horse, her full head of blue hair swaying back and forth.

She dispelled those terrifying mental shadows.

(End of this chapter)