The Witch Hunter System

Chapter 1086: Outer Palace Master’s Suspicion

"That’s no longer important! What’s important is how to get out of this situation!" Captain Lester gravely stated as his sharp eyes quickly scanned the deck for information.

Captain Lester noted the positions of the seven crystallized corpses and realized they had all been at the forefront of the deck. As such, he quickly called everyone back from it.

"Everyone, get back here!" Captain Lester bellowed.

Shortly after, he waved his hand, discharging a wave of sheer mana to blow away the air and space itself. In that instant, countless crystalline dust particles were revealed as they greedily absorbed Captain Lester’s mana to increase their mass.

Everyone was horrified when they witnessed how much crystal substance had infiltrated the starship’s deck.

At the same time, they witnessed the state of the starship’s barrier. The omnidirectional magic shield had been reduced to a sieve-like state with countless openings of varying sizes.

The defense had been completely breached!

"What’s our plan, Captain?" a Late-stage Divine King asked with a panicky tone and anxiety written all over his face.

However, it was no surprise for such a strong Divine King to be feeling this way. After all, seven Divine Kings had already been killed by the invasive crystal substance. No matter how strong they were, they were still helplessly and silently killed.

"Are the engines still not fixed?" Captain Lester inquired.

"Not yet, Captain!" another Divine King immediately answered, adding, "The path to both engine rooms has been sealed by crystal masses!"

Everyone’s heart immediately felt heavy and shocked at the answer.

It wasn’t difficult to comprehend the situation with such information; the crystal substance had already penetrated their Celestial Jade Starship and ruined their engines.

Was it just a coincidence that both engines went down first?

Most likely not!

Not only was the unknown crystal substance highly invasive and deadly, but there were even signs of intelligence! In other words, the crystal substance was a type of lifeform!

"This is the most horrifying crystal lifeform I have ever seen or heard about!" Captain Lester said in a deep tone before decisively informing everyone, "We are abandoning the starship! Escape to the void!"

"Dammit!" several Divine Kings cried helplessly as they abandoned the starship with reluctance.

However, everyone knew it was the only way to survive. Their Celestial Jade Starship was already done for, much to everyone’s disbelief.

Even after fleeing to a safe distance in the void and looking back, everyone still found it hard to believe that the Celestial Jade Starship could be so easily devoured by the unknown crystal lifeform.

"That’s... impossible!" a deranged Divine King suddenly denied reality despite the truth before him. He cried, "Our ship was made of Celestial Jade! Celestial Jade, you know?!"

Celestial Jades were formed under extreme conditions around the Sea Beyond The Sea Realm and contained vast amounts of refined mana. They were heavenly resources that only True Divinities could use. Р𝐀ℕоВĚṧ

After all, while it was true that Celestial Jades contained immense amounts of refined mana, they were also protected by extremely sturdy shells.

As such, unless special methods were deployed, only True Divinities could use Celestial Jades. That said, True Divinities generally had little use for them due to their higher focus on enlightenment and law comprehension.

Ultimately, such valuable resources were more commonly used to make starships, allowing those below True Divinity to safely traverse the special void surrounding the Myriad Sea God Palace.

Yet, Captain Lester and the surviving Divine Kings had just personally experienced a True Divinity-rank starship getting easily devoured by the unknown crystal lifeform.

Everyone watched on with grim expressions as their Celestial Jade Starship greatly accelerated the expansion of the crystal mass, forming another crystal realm, which merged with the original crystal realm moments later.

Given such rapid growth, it was just a matter of time before the crystal lifeform dominated the entire region of space within the Dark Horizon.

"The threat level of this new anomaly has exceeded our imagination. It may very well be the greatest danger our Holy Land has encountered historically. We don’t have the means or the capability to suppress this threat," Captain Lester solemnly stated before ordering, "Send out the S.O.S. Only a True Divinity can save us now."

"It’ll be suicide to make our way out of the Dark Horizon without the protection of a Celestial Jade Starship," Captain Lester added.

A large spotlight-like device was quickly taken out from a Divine King’s storage artifact, and a powerful light beam was shortly fired in the general direction of the Sea Beyond The Sea Realm.

"Do you think our S.O.S signal will reach the Holy Land, Captain?" a trembling Divine King asked.

Captain Lester softly sighed, expressing that he didn’t have high hopes. He replied, "If it doesn’t, the Dark Horizon will be our grave."

...

...

...

Several days later, the Sea Beyond The Sea Realm received an S.O.S message from the depths of the Dark Horizon.

The S.O.S message was brief but detailed important keywords, "Send help. New anomaly. Crystal lifeform. Estimate danger: True Divinity."

Although True Divinities were rarely contacted regarding the Dark Horizon, the Sea Beyond The Sea Realm had no choice but to put in a special request, given the information received.

Unfortunately, by the time a Sea God was deployed to rescue the stranded Divine Kings, it was already too late. Despite the extensive search, the Sea God was unable to retrieve their bodies.

There were no signs of them at the location, only a super crystal realm was found.

Surprisingly, even the Sea God felt a hint of threat from the super crystal realm. The super crystal realm didn’t seem like a regular celestial body, but a living cosmic entity.

However, it wasn’t its size but its very existence that made the Sea God feel threatened.

’A True Divinity-level threat? The Dark Horizon has evolved to this level? It’s not worth risking my life to investigate this threat alone. I should return with more hands...’ the Sea God thought.

The following day, a separate investigation was launched and carried out by five True God-level Sea Gods.

At the same time, news of Divine King Lester’s death and his group reached their families and friends, and a funeral was held to honor them in the Sea Beyond The Sea Realm.

Even the Outer Palace Master and the Vice Outer Palace Master personally attended to offer their condolences. It was customary for them to do so whenever Divine Kings fell during their mission, no matter how little their contributions were.

"I’m sorry for your loss, Lady Zuli," the Outer Palace Master greeted Captain Lester’s wife at the entrance before quietly entering the Celestial Jade Building to join the others in mourning the dead despite the empty coffin.

Familiar faces showed up one after the other. They were mostly friends and peers of the late Captain Lester and their partners. Widow Zuli continued to receive the guests at the entrance in her grief.

"Brother Nuemin," Widow Zuli greeted, recognizing one of her late husband’s friends, who had arrived with his partner.

Nuemin nodded with a sad smile while his partner stepped forward and held Widow Zuli’s hands with both of her own, her expression full of concern and sympathy for her loss.

"Hello, Sister Zuli. I’m very sorry to hear about what happened to Moe."

"Moe...?"

Widow Zuli immediately revealed her confusion with knitted brows.

On the other hand, Nuemin’s sad smile quickly froze, then shifted into an awkward one. Shortly after, he pulled his partner aside and whispered urgently, "He’s name isn’t Moe; it’s Lester."

"Huh? Then, why do you always call him Moe?" Nuemin’s partner uttered with surprise.

"It’s a joke among the brothers. You know... Moe Lester... Ahem, anyway, his real name is Lester. Don’t get it wrong again, okay, dear?"

"I got it. Still, you guys are so immature. How old do you think you are?"

...

After the Outer Palace Master and the Vice Outer Palace Master joined the gathered crowd in the hall, they queued for their turns to honor the spirits of the dead.

Although none of the bodies had been retrieved from the Dark Horizon, a Celestial Jade Spirit Tablet was made for every fallen Divine King and placed on a large altar in front, against the wall.

"Three hundred Divine Kings, gone just like this... All were killed by the same anomaly in the Dark Horizon. We haven’t experienced this big of a loss from a single anomaly in thousands of years," the Vice Outer Palace Master quietly started a conversation as he waited.

"That’s right," the Outer Palace Master nodded, adding, "Sea God Cetonis had also returned to the Core Palace to summon more True God-level Sea Gods for the investigation. This new crystal anomaly must be truly dangerous."

"Moreover, given the timing of its appearance, I fear it could be related to the Myriad Sea God Palace’s impending crisis," the Outer Palace Master suspected.

"I hope you’re wrong, Palace Master." The Vice Outer Palace Master smiled helplessly.

None of the Noble Beings from the Golden Generation had even reached True Divinity, yet the crystal anomaly was already graded as a True Divinity-level threat. As such, if the crystal anomaly was related to the Myriad Sea God Palace’s impending crisis, then their future looked very grim.

Even the youngest Noble Being in the history of the Myriad Sea God Palace to reach True Divinity took three thousand years.

"The Noble Beings of the Golden Generation most likely won’t have time to mature before the Myriad Sea God Palace’s crisis arrives."

"I fear such a future."

The Outer Palace Master and the Vice Outer Palace Master both shared the same thought and sighed with helplessness.

Dark days were ahead of them all.