The King Of Warriors novel (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6783

The water visibly darkened the moment Jared swam out of Deepblue City.

The city's blue-green radiance receded behind him, replaced by a murky, somber hue like diluted ink spreading through the sea.

The currents carried a presence entirely unlike the one inside the city. A muffled and oppressive stillness seemed to weigh upon the water, robbing it of vitality and replacing it with decay.

Kael swam beside Jared, while Neris and Riven followed close behind.

All three wore new waterscale armor, darker than their previous sets. Pale blue light moved across the plates, making them resemble flowing shadows.

Kael surveyed the increasingly dim water ahead. "The contaminated region begins up there.

"Our people named it the Sunken Abyss Current. For ages, that tract ranked among Deepblue City's chief hunting grounds. Sea beasts gathered there, spirit materials were abundant, and for tens of thousands of years it was one of the lifelines on which our city depended. But now..."

His voice trailed off. Jared could already see the rest for himself.

A layer of gray-black matter covered the seafloor ahead, where a thriving plain should have been. Like a thin coat of silt, it clung to every coral formation and reef.

The coral had lost its brilliant color and become gray-white and brittle, as though the slightest touch would reduce it to powder.

The seaweed was no longer a healthy blue-green but a sickly, dark yellow.

In some places it had died completely, leaving only thin, withered stalks swaying in the current like the trembling fingers of a dying man.

A faint odor of decay permeated the air—or, rather, the water.

It recalled rotten timber submerged too long in the sea and mingled with a nameless weight that made his chest feel heavy.

The effect reached beyond smell. An invisible fog seemed to cover the soul, adding sticky resistance to every breath.

Kael crouched and brushed a fingertip against a withered leaf.

It disintegrated soundlessly beneath his touch. Tiny gray-black fragments drifted into the water like pulverized bone.

He withdrew his hand, suppressed bitterness roughening his voice. "Three months ago, a luxuriant seaweed forest covered this place.

"The first time Neris and I hunted here, the plants stood 33 feet tall. Countless sea beasts and spirit fish hid among them. It was an underwater forest.

"Now this is all that remains. Every trace of life is gone."

Complex emotion swelled in Neris's blue eyes. "We passed through here during our retreat. Sea-beast carcasses filled the water.

"Some had already rotted, while others still struggled.

"Black fumes rose from their bodies, and their empty stares made them look gutted from the inside. We meant to rescue them, but the nether energy was too dense for us to draw near. It even corroded our Water Clan spiritual energy."

Riven said nothing. He stared at the gray-black plain below, silent anguish and fury in his dark blue eyes.

His lips pressed into a tight line, and his fists clenched and relaxed several times.

Jared did not respond.

He swam farther and landed on a gray-white coral reef.

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