Herta had long since grown accustomed to Qi Zhimu conjuring things out of thin air.
Folded Space Technology was something the Azure Star scientific team had mastered long ago.
Bread, milk, and... opening the lunch box, there was pre-made steamed egg inside.
She began to eat quickly.
Although it was a bit cold, it didn't affect the taste.
Some more time passed, perhaps a few hours, perhaps half a day.
The darkness finally dissipated a little, the violent thunderstorm gradually ceased, and the waves on the sea surface began to calm.
However, a thick fog rose, so dense that visibility was extremely low; nothing could be seen beyond ten meters.
Qi Zhimu whipped up a gale to blow open a gap, but the mist would quickly gather back together.
Fearing the boat might strike a reef or iceberg during its blind navigation, he could only slow down and grope forward through the fog.
As it turned out, his caution was justified.
In this stretch of sea, reefs and icebergs were few, but that didn't mean there were none.
As the fog thickened, the temperature began to drop sharply, and the air was filled with a bone-chilling damp cold.
Wearing only a thin dress, Herta couldn't help but shiver slightly, her breath condensing into white frost in the air.
Sensing the environmental change and the girl's discomfort in his arms, Qi Zhimu held her tightly, transferring his body heat to her.
Feeling it wasn't enough, he increased the intensity of the burning flames to release more heat, attempting to dispel this eerie, severe cold.
"Are we almost at the pole?"
"I'm not sure..."
Their way of huddling together for warmth worked well enough; Herta's body stopped trembling.
The fog began to dissipate, and just as Qi Zhimu was about to say something more, deadly trouble arrived.
A massive underwater shadow rose at an incredible speed, enveloping the entire boat.
If someone were to look down from high above, they would be horrified to find that the underwater shadow was more than dozens of times larger than the boat.
In the shadow, the boat was no different from a small snack placed on a dinner plate.
The moment the shadow fully surfaced, Qi Zhimu's eyes sharpened, and he unhesitatingly channeled violent Wind Magic.
The air at the stern was extremely compressed, then burst forth with powerful thrust.
Amidst a deafening sonic boom, the boat instantly surged forward several hundred meters.
Just as the boat left the shadow, several thick tentacles broke through the pitch-black sea surface, lashing out with a fishy wind toward the spot where the boat had been a moment ago.
The tentacles were covered in terrifying suckers the size of houses; a second later, the entire boat would have surely disintegrated instantly, dragging both people and vessel into the deep sea.
"You're looking for death!"
Qi Zhimu laughed in anger, shielded Herta behind him, and swung his arm.
The sky suddenly brightened as thick bolts of thunder struck the shadow one after another.
A terrifying explosion of energy erupted, kicking up giant waves hundreds of meters high.
A screeching cry, mixed with extreme pain and anger, pierced through the water from the seabed.
The intense piercing power made Herta's eardrums ache, and her brain involuntarily suffered a moment of dizziness.
But the next second, she found her ears had been plugged by Qi Zhimu with something invisible.
Under the indiscriminate bombardment of thunder, the remaining thin fog around them was finally completely dispersed.
Amidst the violent surging of the waves, a terrifying monster that made one forget to breathe suddenly appeared in their sight.
It was a giant octopus of indescribable size.
A single tentacle alone was comparable to a skyscraper; it slowly rose from the water, its massive eyeball staring at the two people on the boat.
Its gaze was filled with blatant hatred.
Just as Qi Zhimu gathered lightning in his palm again, preparing to blast the monster into charcoal...
Unexpectedly, the giant octopus didn't look at Qi Zhimu, who had caused it harm, but stared straight at Herta, who was being protected behind him. Its mouth made a bone-chilling grinding sound as it spoke in human tongue.
"It's you... you are that person's descendant! Damn you! You all deserve to die! Stay in this ocean and accompany me forever!"
A roar filled with extreme hatred resounded. Thousands of tentacles of varying thickness densely emerged from the sea, tearing through the air and striking at the fragile boat with thunderous force.
Qi Zhimu sneered, "Trying to snatch food from my mouth? Who do you think you are!"
Facing the multitude of tentacles crashing down from all directions, he didn't even bother with the thought of using his Staff.
With his fingers slightly curled, Qi Zhimu's eyes revealed a domineering arrogance that looked down on everything.
"Only you shall die!"
Violent magic power poured out, and a Spiral Wind Formation covering the area behind and above the boat immediately took shape.
The wind blades rotated at high speed, making a cutting sound a hundred times more terrifying than a meat grinder.
The moment any tentacle entered the wind formation, its tough skin and thick muscle were as fragile as tofu before the wind blades.
Blood sprayed down from the sky, and countless severed tentacle limbs crashed onto the sea surface, splashing up pillars of water.
Not a single tentacle could break through the Spiral Wind Formation to threaten Herta behind Qi Zhimu.
"Human! Today, either I, Lotes, die, or you perish!"
The massive monster let out an earth-shaking roar.
As soon as it finished speaking, Lotes launched an even more frenzied attack.
Tens of thousands of rapidly regenerating tentacles kicked up towering waves on the sea surface that were too high to see the top of.
Countless Deep-sea Mutated Behemoths were driven forward, fearlessly rushing out of the water to throw themselves into Qi Zhimu's wind formation.
Even more terrifyingly, Lotes also possessed Mental Manipulation abilities.
Invisible mental shockwaves surged toward the two people on the boat, attempting to destroy their minds.
However, the moment this mental power touched Qi Zhimu, it was like a clay ox entering the sea, failing to cause even a ripple, let alone threatening Herta.
The sneer on Qi Zhimu's lips deepened.
"Lotes or whatever, I don't care what you are. As long as you're a Virtual Substance Lifeform, I'll kill you even if you don't have a health bar."
With a clap of his hands, towering flames ignited within the wind formation.
Wind and fire met, the flames unextinguishable; any mutated sea beast that rushed in was either sliced into minced meat or burned to ashes.
Herta had originally found the low temperature of the environment somewhat unbearable, but once the towering flames appeared, she felt warm all over.
"Bastard! Who on earth are you?!"
"Just a mage who can destroy the world, and even more so, destroy you. Remember that well for your granddaddy!"
The battle reached a fever pitch. While Qi Zhimu's defense was certainly airtight, the fragile boat was not.
Affected by such terrifying combat, the hull snapped completely in the middle and was sucked into a madly spinning whirlpool.
Losing his footing, Qi Zhimu reacted quickly, pulling Herta tightly into his arms and soaring into the sky with wind beneath his feet.
Lotes clearly had no intention of letting them go.
Countless thick tentacles began to extend, continuously pursuing the two flying into the high sky.
Qi Zhimu had intended to pull away and deliver a devastating strike to the octopus from above the clouds.
Unexpectedly, just as they rose to a height of several thousand meters, Herta let out a muffled groan.
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