novelraw Chapter 461: On the Small Boat
Chapter 461: On the Small Boat
Fisher jumped down from the space rift at the edge of Jianmu Palace with Helaire, who was covered in Peach Blossoms and semiconscious, in his embrace. He quickly passed through the space rift at the periphery, falling heavily towards the direction of the ocean.
Using the magnificent Jianmu Palace as a reference point, the free-falling Fisher and Helaire were undoubtedly extremely tiny. Fisher just hugged Helaire like this, crashing into the ocean back-first, quickly sinking into the freezing seawater.
At this moment, Fisher felt terrible. First were the wounds formed when Lord Tao tried to stop him from crushing Bing's head. The Peach Blossom branches growing from the flesh and blood hurt exactly like knives cutting his flesh whenever Fisher moved. And he currently had no way to deal with these Peach Blossoms on his body for the time being, only able to swim as far away as possible.
And more importantly, it was the power left by Renee that he resealed into his chest.
Just now he forcibly sacrificed the trump card Renee left him to return to Reality, wanting to perish together with Lord Tao. But now, after resealing it into his body, it seemed to be angry and couldn't quiet down anymore. That restless power continuously surged everywhere inside his body, making his entire body hurt terribly, like swimming while being roasted in magma.
But inside Jianmu Palace behind him, those two Nineteenth-Tier existences were about to start fighting right away. Fisher had just witnessed the terrifying aftershock produced when Helaire and Lord Tao clashed. It was hard for him to imagine what kind of consequences would be produced by two Nineteenth-Tier existences genuinely clashing. But based purely on that terrifying power capable of even opening the Crevice just now, even if they continued staying in the sea, it would absolutely not be safe.
After witnessing a Mythic Rank taking action with his own eyes, Fisher firmly believed the affairs of the Chaos-kin invading the Northern Border later and the Second War of Living Beings, which was the Mythic War, sinking the Tree Continent.
Gritting his teeth, Fisher hugged the Helaire in his arms, rapidly swimming forward while sinking in the sea. Fisher previously had the special ability to breathe underwater, and later obtained the enhancement of aquatic abilities. Now entering the water, he no longer felt very uncomfortable like before, but instead felt very at ease like returning home. If he could overcome the drawback of being unable to see anything in the water, Fisher felt that after returning to Reality later, visiting Jasmine in the Ocean Trench might not be impossible.
Renee's mark made him feel terrible. To relieve pressure, Fisher actually Find Joy in Sorrow and thought of this at this time.
But fortunately, Helaire was an Angel. Even if she lost Consciousness she didn't need to breathe. And in fact, her weight was very, very light; Fisher basically had no burden.During such rapid swimming, the extremely restless mark of Renee on Fisher's body unexpectedly and bizarrely quieted down bit by bit. Anyway, Fisher temporarily couldn't feel the sensation of it dangerously darting around inside his body anymore.
Fisher subconsciously glanced at his chest, but found only the unconscious Helaire pressing against his chest; the inverted figure-eight mark originally located on his chest had run off to who knows where.
His gaze moved down bit by bit, finally seeing that chaotic mark that darted everywhere and finally bizarrely quieted down at the position of his kidney.
Fisher's face darkened. He didn't know if it was because it got close to Helaire, but this damn mark also seemingly contracted this guy's habit of loving to tease people, even picking that place for its final resting spot.
"Rumble rumble!"
But right in the next second, a massive sound that even the broad and heavy seawater couldn't defend against violently surged from the direction of Jianmu Palace behind Fisher. Accompanying it was also a water current pouncing on his face like a tsunami, forming a massive naked-eye visible shockwave rushing towards Fisher.
Lord Tao and Remiel started fighting!
Fisher hurriedly protected Helaire in his embrace, swimming forward as if his life depended on it. Beside him were also countless various fishes and sea beasts similarly fleeing for their lives, carrying quite a bit of an innocent feeling of Innocent Bystanders Getting Hurt.
"Rumble rumble!"
But the aftershocks of two Nineteenth-Tiers fighting was truly far too fast. Inside the ocean, Fisher basically couldn't outswim those shockwaves. Very quickly he was helplessly hit by wave after wave of shockwaves, and wrapped within them, spinning uncontrollably towards further away.
"Cough!"
Within the seawater, streaks of fishy-sweet blood mist dissipated from Fisher's mouth, yet he still maintained wakefulness, surging towards further away as much as possible.
In his peripheral vision, he raised his eyes to look at the sea surface a full several dozen meters above them. Through the blurry sea surface, he faintly saw Peach Blossom petals continuously falling from the sky as well as terrifying lightning twisting like snakes and dragons. Even though the lightning in that vault of heaven was a hundred and eight thousand miles away from Fisher and the others, due to its terrifying energy, even the ocean and beside Fisher appeared streaks of tiny electric arcs.
Fisher looked in surprise at the electric arcs dancing on his hands, immediately discovering that what hurt wasn't unexpectedly his physical body, but his Soul.
That lightning could act on the Soul.
"Rumble rumble!"
Just before the lightning in the sky became increasingly dense, seeming like a power grid about to completely envelop heaven and earth, a rift was violently opened within the space of the ocean beside Fisher. From it drilled out a swaying wooden boat, heading straight towards Fisher and Helaire.
"Fisher, quickly get on the boat! Staying here any longer and it's over!"
At the bow of the boat, Gou Wen straightaway extended his hand towards Fisher, shouting at him like this.
Gritting his teeth, Fisher extended his hand to grab Gou Wen's hand, and Gou Wen also abruptly exerted force to pull Fisher onto the Moon-Treading Ark, simultaneously opening his mouth to speak to the Nekelia holding a scythe at the stern,
"Quickly leave!"
Nekelia also didn't dare to hesitate, hurriedly rowing the scythe, once again opening a space rift causing the Moon-Treading Ark to submerge into it, completely disappearing from the ocean that was about to be swallowed by Peach Blossoms and thunderstorms.
"Splash~"
At the exact same time, a broad wooden ship abruptly appeared above a quiet sea surface somewhere broad and seemingly boundless.
"Splash~"
The weather here was clear, the breeze gentle and harmonious. The sea waves quietly patted this wooden boat floating on the sea surface, reassuring like a mother patting a sleeping infant while humming a lullaby.
"Fortunately Archangel Remiel brought the Moon-Treading Ark Helaire hid along when he came over, otherwise we really wouldn't know how to escape from their battlefield..."
Gou Wen sitting at the bow of the boat looked at the quiet surroundings. After confirming they were already very, very far away from the Tree Continent, he finally seemed unable to hold on and collapsed onto the boat, panting heavily mouthful by mouthful, clutching his heart and muttering,
"Ouch, I can't do this anymore, I can't do this anymore... scared a Whale-person to death... no, I have to go into the water for a bit... phew..."
With a pale face, Gou Wen struggled to get up from the quagmire of the previous dangerous situation. Like a salted fish, he almost slid off the wooden boat, and then as if relaxing, flicked his huge whale tail and started swimming in the water.
Nekelia at the stern also let out a breath of relief, putting the tightly gripped scythe on the boat, shaking her wings that were covered in wounds.
Fisher, on the other hand, carefully placed Helaire by his side, letting her lie flat. It was fine when not quieting down, but once out of danger, lacking the numbness of adrenaline, everywhere on his entire body hurt terribly like it was broken. Especially the places where Lord Tao attacked and grew Peach Blossoms; it hurt so much his face twitched.
Panting heavily, his left hand covered his right hand and back that were completely covered in Peach Blossom branches. With a face full of cold sweat, he opened his mouth to ask,
"Gou Wen... how should these Peach Blossom branches hiss... be handled?"
The sea surface beside them went quiet for a moment. Just when Fisher even suspected if Gou Wen took the opportunity to abscond, half of Gou Wen's head with wet hair poked out of the water surface. He shook his head, saying comfortably,
"A Whale-person just has to stay in the water. Ouch, so comfortable I could die..."
He wiped his face completely covered in seawater, subsequently looking at the Fisher half-squatting on the boat covered in cold sweat, and subsequently swam towards him, leaning against the side of the boat.
He scanned the Peach Blossoms on the other party's body, speaking while holding onto the boat planks to go ashore,
"Those Peach Blossoms are just a manifestation of Lord Tao's power. You can understand them as fluctuations of the Rules drawn upon when a Mythical Species takes action, just like that whatever Magic of yours from before. So these Peach Blossoms are really just Peach Blossoms, violently ripping them out is fine too. Uh, it's just that it might hurt a bit."
Fisher scanned the Peach Blossoms on his body, finally understanding the specific principle from Gou Wen's mouth. So it turned out that at the time, to avoid accidentally harming Bing's head, Lord Tao probably just used a bit of power to paw at him; unexpectedly it almost crippled him...
But this also explained why in the Northern Border, when Fisher faced that Base, black feathers would also grow on his body. Others called that thing a "Curse", but essentially that thing was the manifestation of the power of the mindless Phoenix Race Base acting upon the outside world. Because although that Base lacked sentience, it was still a Fifteenth Tier existence after all.
Hearing Gou Wen's words, Fisher also completely stopped hesitating and drew his Fluid Sword. Then he nimbly threaded it through one Peach Blossom branch after another, pulling them out of his flesh and blood alive.
"Puchi... puchi..."
Gritting his teeth, Fisher forcefully endured the pain and pulled out the branches one by one. And the Gou Wen and Nekelia beside him both felt some phantom pain watching. Gou Wen curled his lips and turned his head away to look at the ocean, speaking,
"You are a ruthless person, to be able to violently rip them out like this..."
Silent for a moment, he smiled a bit again and turned his head to look at Fisher, saying,
"But then again, it's simply a miracle that we actually managed to survive Lord Tao's hands... At the time when we came over with Helaire I still hadn't reacted to what happened. It was only after seeing Lord Tao attack you guys that I realized something was wrong, I really don't know how you managed to deal with Lord Tao. Helaire too, the speed at which she rushed over at the time was too fast, probably seeing you guys couldn't hold on..."
Fisher, who had pulled out all the branches one by one, was covered in sweat. But hearing the words of Gou Wen beside him, he still took another look at the Helaire lying on the boat planks covered in Peach Blossoms beside him.
Silent for a moment, he didn't put down the Fluid Sword. To the contrary, first taking a look at Mikhail and Asuka Karasawa over there, he said to Gou Wen,
"Gou Wen, Karasawa should be fine... just fainted and fell asleep. But Mikhail was affected by Lord Tao and received severe injuries, as a doctor can you check?"
Gou Wen looked over there, crossing his arms and saying,
"No need to look, I already checked just now when I caught the two of them. Little Karasawa is perfectly intact, just seems to have fainted from fright. It's just Mikhail's condition..."
"Is it very severe?"
Fisher immediately followed up with a question, but Gou Wen merely touched his chin, subsequently coming to Mikhail's side shaking his head and saying,
"I'm not clear either, but he's still breathing. Look at him, there's so much iron inside his head, it even sparks with lightning, it completely exceeds the capability scope of a barefoot doctor like me."
Following Gou Wen's direction, Fisher truly found that in Mikhail's face occupied by Peach Blossom branches, besides fresh blood there actually truly were electric arcs flashing past. It was probably because he previously installed some extra implants; anyway his structure was quite different from an ordinary human, Gou Wen not daring to treat him rashly was also correct.
Thinking to this point, Fisher also had no other methods, having to first bandage his own wounds, subsequently lowering his head to look at Helaire on the ground.
Many Peach Blossoms had also grown on her body, and many were still dripping golden blood. Fisher decided to first help her get the Peach Blossoms out, subsequently giving her a simple bandage.
Gou Wen still hadn't obtained the scripture from Archangel Raphael, so he was also not quite clear regarding the treatment of Angels. But it was indeed true, the gap between Mythical Species and other living beings was too large. This wasn't only reflected in combat power, naturally it was also reflected in medicine.
Here Fisher was carefully helping Helaire clean up the Peach Blossoms on her body, while Nekelia sitting at the stern saw from afar a dark expanse of sandstorm pressing over from the horizon. She looked back expressionlessly and doubted,
"There are... sandstorms on the sea too?"
Gou Wen cast a glance, subsequently shaking his head and smiling saying,
"That's not a normally formed sandstorm, but a natural disaster formed from Lord Tao and the Angel Remiel fighting. Here is only a few hundred miles from the edge of the Tree Continent, it's very normal for it to spread over... Just like how my wife's dissatisfaction towards me on the first of the lunar month will turn into iron fists on the fifteenth. A butterfly flapping its wings on the coast can also form a tornado, let alone the aftershocks of those two's battle. But it's fine, that sandstorm has no threat left by the time it reaches here."
Hearing this, Fisher looked at the Gou Wen sitting at the edge of the boat soaking his feet in seawater. Hearing him mention his wife again, he thought he was homesick, unable to resist opening his mouth and saying,
"I already know the truth of the stolen World Tree Teardrop. When Remiel comes back you can hand over the mission and have your freedom returned too. Anyway, your goal of going to Sanctuary has long been accomplished, it's fine if you want to go back."
Gou Wen looked at the sea surface, smiling gently,
"It's fine, anyway isn't it better to have an extra doctor in the team? Moreover, didn't the Angel Sariel say if we can get the World Tree Teardrop back there's an additional reward. Thinking about it carefully, Archangel Raphael's medical skills are quite tempting. Plus I already wrote in the letter sent home previously that it will take a good while before I return. Anyway going back now and going back later will highly probably both result in getting beaten by my wife's iron fists, might as well go back a bit later..."
Hearing Gou Wen say this, Fisher also didn't know if this guy actually wanted to go back or didn't want to go back.
Perhaps this was what others called "experiencing joy amidst pain"?
"But if I have to say it, Miss Nekelia is a Phoenix of the Tree Continent. You clearly had nothing to do with this, yet were forced to follow us and escape. Lord Tao might have already remembered you, when you go back later probably..."
The expressionless Nekelia pondered for a moment, subsequently similarly looking towards the sea surface, saying,
"This is the guidance of destiny. Perhaps it's a necessary experience in my life, I will adapt to the circumstances."
"...Your mentality is really good."
Gou Wen smiled, not knowing what to say, and turned his head away to look at the sea again. Because of this, the boat suddenly became quiet. Fisher was still concentrating on cleaning branches for Helaire. Anyway, not long after Gou Wen jumped into the sea again saying he was going to swim.
Indeed, even up to now Fisher still hadn't finished cleaning up Helaire's injuries, and the more he handled it, the more Fisher felt shocked.
Unlike himself, at the time Helaire took Lord Tao's full-force strike head-on. Therefore the injuries were especially severe. If not for the halo on her head still being bright, Fisher really would have thought she was about to depart from the world of the living.
Fisher carefully bandaged the other party's already dealt with wounds. Although not knowing if doing this was of any use to an Angel, Fisher felt it should be better than nothing.
Cleaning and cleaning, Fisher couldn't help but think of the streak of morning light lying before him just now, and that back figure of hers that seemingly wanted to completely fill him.
If everything before, including that kind of help and teasing could be given a simple reason composed of "seeking amusement", then her corresponding actions just now were because of what kind of reason?
Fisher's movements of bandaging wounds were gentle, trying his best not to cause her secondary harm besides pulling out the branches. But even after all the wounds were bandaged, her appearance was still tragic, like an oversized ceramic doll full of cracks on the verge of shattering.
Even the last remaining half of the illusory wings behind her were helplessly withdrawn into her body. This even more so made Fisher stare at her wounds for a long time, not knowing what he was pondering, also seemingly just blanking out. However his gaze continuously circled between her wounds and all sorts of things about her in previous memories...
Just when Fisher's gaze filled with complex meanings finally shifted slightly up a bit from the other party's tragic wounds, looking at her facial features for the first time, he only then abruptly discovered this woman didn't know when she had already woken up, yet extremely quietly, without saying a word, was squinting her eyes looking at himself with that familiar bad smile.
It was just that at this very moment, accompanying the injuries on her body, that smile appeared somewhat lacking in vitality.
"...When did you wake up?"
"Just now."
Her voice was hoarse, her smile deepening a bit, seemingly as if having seen something that made her feel exceptionally bright and beautiful.
"How long is just now?"
"Mm... probably since the wounds were almost finished being cleaned? Because your movements are very gentle huh, completely two extremes from before, very gentle very gentle, making me feel very comfortable oh~"
Fisher narrowed his eyes, seemingly realizing something. He crossed his arms expressionlessly, opening his mouth to say,
"Could it be... you blocking in front of me earlier to obstruct Lord Tao in my place was entirely for seeing the expression of me worrying about you because of guilt right now?"
Perhaps Fisher wouldn't have this kind of conjecture towards others, perhaps he naturally didn't think so in his inner heart. But anyway at this very moment, perhaps for the sake of verification, or perhaps giving his inner heart an excuse, the him in Reality still spoke thusly.
Fisher also didn't know what kind of answer he exactly wanted, merely forcefully making his gaze shift away from the devastation-filled wounds on the other party's body, tightly and solely staring at her face.
Yet he never expected, the smile on Helaire's face was like a wine jar unsealed pouring out thick intoxication. She slightly tilted her head to meet Fisher's gaze, those slightly messy golden long hairs also forming bangs due to this, like grass dripping with dew in the morning, slightly covering one of her eyes.
At this moment her condition was fragile, like a butterfly with a broken wing landing perfectly in the palm of Fisher's hand, leaning on its side flapping its wings letting you perceive a bit of itchiness coming from within your inner heart.
Meeting her blue-gold scattered pupils, Fisher merely received that blurry answer that drove him crazy, carrying a smile.
"Mm... in the end is it or is it not huh?"
That teasing evil clearly ignited a nameless fire in people, spawning the desire wanting to make people bully and teach her a lesson; but her fragile wounds and that back figure occupying all line of sight like morning light at the time also made him want to cherish.
"You guy..."
Looking at the Helaire before his eyes, Fisher truly couldn't restrain the urge to lower his head and capture her lips, responding through this method that was like cherishing yet also like teaching a lesson, to match her ambiguous answer.
But seeing her erratically flickering halo, Fisher ultimately still gave up.
After hesitating for a moment, he only awkwardly extended his hand to smooth out the messy golden bangs on her head a bit. And she also smiled and closed her eyes, silently and As It Should Be enjoying Fisher's service, angering Fisher so much his teeth hitched.
This guy as expected still had that appearance needing to be taught a lesson.
"Rumble rumble!"
Just before Fisher got angry and wanted to teach her a lesson, dense flashes of lightning abruptly flickered in the vault of heaven. The ringing of that thunder attracted the attention of everyone except Helaire who couldn't move on the ground and rested well.
Nekelia stood up to look towards the direction of the sandstorm in the distance, yet discovered there was no lightning over there at all.
But very quickly, her doubts disappeared.
Because right in the next second, the cloud layers above them dispersed layer by layer, and then from within flew down an Angel holding a trident resembling lightning.
That Angel was androgynous with white hair and brown skin, exact the Archangel who came to support just now, Remiel responsible for governing the Mortal World of the First Heaven.
At this very moment, his originally perfectly intact clothes were more than half corroded, and quite a few Peach Blossoms bloomed on that upper body lacking sexual characteristics, but whether it was the halo on his head or the wings behind his back, they were completely uninjured.
"It's already over over there?"
Gou Wen also poked his head out from the seawater, muttering a sentence, helplessly watching Remiel slowly descend towards their direction.
(End of Chapter)