The Villain's Story

Chapter 853: Black Sea.

Alan, Alexander, Sabrina, and Kazikato arrived at the port, following behind Lirkis and his team. At the edge of the only piece of land in this world, the port stood at the threshold of the eternal dark, still and unmoving.

Before it lay the Black Sea, an endless expanse of black stretching towards what appeared to be infinity. It wasn’t a body of water turned black due to the lack of moonlight or the glow of the stars; it was mana.

The purest darkness mana one could find in the universe, incredibly dense as well. The docks extended into this mysterious sea, made entirely of magical obsidian engraved with thousands upon thousands of spells and runes, all to withstand the might of the... still sea.

It wasn’t a violent sea; it was the complete opposite, completely still. There was no tide, no waves, nothing at all but what appeared to be still water.

The Sea did not rise; it did not descend, but despite it all, it sent forth a chilling breeze that no amount of frost resistance could stop. A chill, ignoring the body and striking deep into the soul.

The Black Sea exuded a sort of pull, extremely subtle, but very insistent. Like a hand gently tugging a piece of string tied straight to your soul, dragging you towards it at such a pace that even you wouldn’t think something was amiss.

Lanterns of blue flame burned alongside the port, their flames just as still as the Black Sea, but whatever light they were able to produce died only a few steps beyond the dock’s edge, unable to pierce through the depthless shade of the Sea.

Four boats waited for their sailors at the pier, made of an unknown material engraved with tens of thousands of runes and spells just to ward off the effects of the Black Sea. It was here that Alan spotted the first bit of movement from the waters. Tendrils of mana would rise at the base of the boat and slowly climb up until the magic engraved on the vessel would drive them away.

It was... a creepy thing to see. Alan had imagined it would be a grand ship, or at the very least, a proper vessel he would be sailing on, but apparently, a dinghy would do.

Wasn’t he a damn prince? He could understand if it were for the others, but even him? It was harsh. Regardless, he didn’t voice a complaint. He wasn’t that mad about it, really...

Each of the four would go on a separate boat towards the sea and challenge the trial of the Black Sea. Lirkis had informed that they had to seek the light in the darkness, and that was all they had to go on.

He had also informed them of the alarmingly low success rate, but it didn’t faze Alan or the rest. They had already been assured that they would return to the port if they failed the trial... and to them, that was already far better than what they had to endure whilst challenging Kizmal.

And besides Alan, who was desperate and had a concrete reason to pass the trial, Sabrina and Alexander were simply doing it because they qualified for it. Kazikato, on the other hand, was dragged by Alan to the trial, so he didn’t have a choice in the matter.

Everyone else had departed for Earth already, Alan had opened a portal for them to go back home, and in the case that the others attempting the trial failed and wished to go back home, the church would simply send them back using their own spatial magicians.

Earth only had two spatial attribute users, but the Church had quite a few.

The vessels responded to the mana of the sailor to move and function; besides this, they had a special feature of glowing once deep in the black sea, as Lirkis had informed them, but they didn’t produce much light, however.

Only enough to keep a man teetering on the verge of insanity.

Alan jumped into his boat; his weight caused it to move back and forth in the water. Alan gazed at the black below him and extended his hand towards it. As soon as he touched it, an amazed gasp escaped his lips.

’Interesting.’

To the boat, it was water, but to his hand, it felt as if he was touching concrete. Alan recognized this strange feeling and changed the thoughts in his thoughts.

’I wish to... submerge.’

He thought, and the Black Sea reacted to it, allowing his hand to plunge into the waters. He quickly retracted it.

’It’s the same as the dream.’

He would drown if he wished to drown, and he would stand if he wished to stand. However, unlike his dream, there wasn’t a mortal threat of dying from a stray energy blast; therefore, it was a bit difficult to convince himself.

With the vessel, he shouldn’t have to worry about this effect of the sea... but it would be good to train his mind as he went on. Lirkis had informed them that some ’creatures’ might attack during the voyage, and that they would be interested in destroying his sweet little dinghy...

Alan knew he wouldn’t be able to fend all of them off, so a bit of training would help to keep himself conscious of the Black Sea’s effects.

Alan relaxed inside his dinghy and stared at the black beyond him, an endless darkness his dragon eyes simply had no chance of penetrating. When he was far away from the dock, only the light from his dinghy would exist, and everywhere around him would be an endless darkness.

Then he would see what the infamous trial really was, that had driven many beings above his own level insane, and elevated those who had cleared it to even greater heights. But clearing this trial would give him much more than that.

He effortlessly channelled his mana into the dinghy, and it slowly started to move towards the Black Sea. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t afraid; it was the instinct of any living being to fear the dark, and Alan wasn’t any different.

He sighed, hoping he could clear the trial safely and swiftly.