The dark sky was covered with oppressive clouds as rain fell like beans.
The sea churned in the storm, appearing as if this normally tranquil region had transformed into the Devil’s Sea.
However, if a ship were sailing nearby and looked through a telescope, they would find that at the horizon’s edge, the extremity of the cloud cover was visible, and the shimmering sunlight reflecting off the sea could be faintly seen.
The turbulence in the weather was confined to this small maritime area.
For mortals, this region might be considered the Sea God’s prison, but those truly within it would realize that this maritime phenomenon was not the work of natural forces.
Angel was now riding the Gondola, slicing through the gloomy sky dome.
"There should be a Nameless Isle with red soil nearby. Sail straight in the direction of the abandoned tower on this island, and you’ll enter the trade route of the Whisker Sea," Angel murmured, squinting into the distance, searching for the rumored island to correct his course.
However, the sky was so dark, and the sea so turbulent, that any island would be obscured from view.
Unable to find the island after a long search, Angel sighed in resignation and looked back at the horizon behind him: "Can’t you guys take a break?"
A few nautical miles away from the Gondola, in the downpour, a massive gryphon with its tail and mane blazing with fiery flames was battling a strange creature.
This flaming gryphon was one of Toby’s incarnations: the Berserker Gryphon.
The creature battling Toby looked much smaller than the gryphon, like the difference between an elephant and a baby. However, even with such a vast difference in size, its combat prowess was extraordinary.
They appeared evenly matched, yet in reality, the smaller creature was completely dictating the battle. Toby’s furious attacks were effortlessly evaded, and the fiery assaults were frequently doused by the rain.
Even when Toby used the Gravity Meridian, far surpassing others of his rank to unleash terrifying force, it merely struck through the creature’s phantom shadow.
Without a doubt, Toby’s speed far exceeded his opponent’s, but his reaction time lagged significantly.
If not for some unknown reason that kept the opponent from attacking Toby while he was in a weakened state, it would have already won.
Any Wizard with keen eyesight could tell that the true strength of this smaller creature vastly surpassed Toby’s.
But Toby didn’t see it that way; his large eyes glowed with the fire of obsession, believing that with just a little more speed, he could pummel this detestable "flowering wildcat."
After yet another easy evasion by his opponent, Toby stamped and roared angrily.
—If it weren’t for being restricted from using my Snake Bird form, I would have smashed you to the sea floor!
Faced with Toby’s roar, the "flowering wildcat" he cursed remained silent, as if oblivious to Toby’s anger.
"Enough, come back." A clear voice pierced through the rain and waves, falling clearly into their ears.
Though Toby was furious, snorting flames from his nostrils, he didn’t disobey Angel’s command. He grunted, spun around, and transformed into a sea bird. With a loud sonic boom, the sea bird vanished instantly, returning to the Gondola in the blink of an eye.
Toby hummed and ruffled, hopping onto Angel’s head. He gripped Angel’s red hair tightly with his claws, expressing his protest against the restriction on his Snake Bird form.
Angel wasn’t annoyed; he even felt a trace of joy at Toby’s long-missed childlike behavior, yet he still exhibited restraint in the face of Toby’s anger.
Shortly after Toby returned, a ghostly shadow fell onto the Gondola’s edge.
This ghostly shadow was Toby’s previous adversary.
Before landing on the edge, it was a formless black shadow. Upon touching the edge, it naturally transformed into an odd creature, turning from "nothing" to "something."
The creature, at first glance, resembled a wild leopard. But its skin was a ghostly blue, emitting a crystalline shimmer in the dark like a jellyfish.
Moreover, unlike a leopard, its tail was a phantom black mist, without substance; on its head bloomed a peculiar blue lantern flower, which jetted bubbles.
Angel shifted his gaze from its oddities to the leopard’s eyes.
These eyes were unlike any beast’s, containing myriad complicated emotions, mostly negative. Compared to the fury in the Berserker Gryphon’s eyes, its rage was even greater.
However, all those emotions were suppressed by a silence enveloping it.
This silence emanated from a tentacled spherical body on its chest— the Seed of Distortion.
"Earl Mi, assume a defensive state," Angel said softly.
The "leopard" did not resist, its body gradually turning into a shadow, which adhered directly inside the Gondola, leaving only the bubble-breathing blue lantern flower unchanged at the prow.
As it assumed a defensive posture, the clouds began to disperse slowly, revealing a clear sky.
Throughout this process, the blue lantern flower continued emitting a certain wave, clearly responsible for the cloud’s changes.
Angel quietly watched the blue lantern flower, contemplating this parasite he had brought from the Filth Wing Outpost.
Just then, Toby atop his head uttered "chirp chirp" noises.
A master of bird language, Angel naturally understood Toby’s inquiry about this "flowering wildcat’s" identity.
"Stop calling it a flowering wildcat. Its true name is Earl Mi, a demon person from the Panic Realm, or rather, an awakening demon person driven by a sealed creature to madness."
The Panic Realm is a world far from the Wizards’ Realm. Due to the distance and lack of useful resources, few wizards venture there.
Additionally, the Panic Realm is an extraordinarily powerful world, with a level of energy not inferior to the Wizards’ Realm, filled with peril, making it less attractive to wizards.
Demon people of the Panic Realm were originally ordinary humans, but the realm’s extreme danger, with demons rampant and bizarre entities lurking, forced ordinary people to devise a survival method by sealing creatures within them, using the power of these creatures to scrape by in a precarious world.
The Sin Hunting Group Angel created, particularly the Demon Hunter subsection, borrowed this very method from the demon people.
Those who accepted the creature’s seal were called demon people. They served as both guardians of the town and objects of scorn from ordinary citizens. Excessive use of a creature’s power led to full "awakening," where demonic nature replaced humanity, turning them from human to demon.
Such awakened demon people not only had greatly enhanced abilities but also retained human intelligence, making them more formidable than typical creatures. In the Panic Realm, a single awakened demon person could destroy a mid-to-large city.
Such power and danger naturally kept ordinary people at a safe distance.
And this "blooming wildcat" Earl Mi is an awakened Demon Person.