The sky was as blue as a wash. In the distance, light clouds floated thinly, while nearby emptiness lingered.
Everything seemed just as usual.
However, Angel clearly perceived someone was watching him! And even now, the gaze had yet to move away.
On the surface, Angel remained calm, but secretly he had already contacted Earl Mi.
Two seconds later, before any elemental creatures realized it, the world within a dozen miles changed colors suddenly; everything turned bleak as if entering a clouded world of ruins from a bright reality.
Only the Gondola kept its vibrant colors, standing as the sole vivid presence in this deathly stillness.
At the moment the world transformed, Angel leaped out of the Flying Boat, standing in the air: "Who is it? Show yourself!"
Yet, no one responded.
Near the Gondola, caught off guard by the sudden change, Lobal looked around: "What’s happening? Is it an ambush?"
Dangross also wore a serious expression, but waving off Lobal’s surprise, it said: "The change in the sky is caused by the one in the shadow, not an ambush. However, Mr. Pat seems to have discovered something. Is there someone nearby?"
As Dangross murmured, Angel slowly descended from the sky, his brow furrowed.
Lobal: "Sir, did something happen?"
Angel pondered for a moment, looking at Lobal: "Did you feel anything unusual just now?"
Lobal recalled for a moment and shook his head: "I’ve been controlling the wind, monitoring the situation around, and aside from occasionally seeing some elemental creatures on the ground, there was nothing unusual."
After hearing this, Angel’s expression didn’t relax; instead, his brow furrowed even tighter.
Lobal’s response matched exactly with the message from Earl Mi.
Angel had Earl Mi alter the world, directly using a special force field to replace the sky within a dozen miles to trap the presence that was "watching" him earlier.
However, after the bleak world was deployed, that gaze vanished.
Angel also contacted Earl Mi, and Earl Mi’s answer was: Everything is normal.
There were no traces of the observer found, nor any lingering signs left by them. The surrounding sky was as clear as it appeared to the naked eye.
But Angel did not believe that everything was normal around him.
Since he left Malaya Ice Mountain, this was the second time he sensed being watched. The first time, Angel could deceive himself, saying "don’t overthink, maybe it was a misconception"; but this time, no matter what, Angel couldn’t convince himself it was just imagination.
One must know, that kind of spiritual sense-triggering gaze just now lasted for at least three seconds.
With such a long duration, he absolutely wouldn’t misjudge; surely some entity was observing him from the shadows.
Yet the other party’s concealment ability was extremely formidable; even with Earl Mi deploying the bleak world force field, no trace was detected.
Angel couldn’t even determine whether the creature hiding in the shadows was still concealed or had already escaped the bleak world.
He pondered for a moment and looked at Lobal: "...Summon a storm."
Lobal still didn’t quite understand, but since Angel wanted it that way, surely he had his reasons. Lobal didn’t ask further and directly teamed up with Speedy to unleash a terrifying storm on the bleak world.
The power of the hurricane was so great that even the intangible wind showed a tangible trajectory.
In such a wild hurricane, as long as the energy level doesn’t exceed Lobal’s, anything would be sliced into pieces.
The storm raged for a full three minutes, but no creature revealed itself.
Angel believed that even if there was a hidden entity, under such an almost violent cleansing rhythm, it absolutely couldn’t remain hidden.
So now there was only one possibility: the creature hiding in the shadows had already fled.
With the opponent’s concealment ability and escape speed, it was likely not enveloped by the bleak world from the start, so after so many minutes, it must have escaped to who knows where.
Angel’s gaze turned obscure. Since coming to the Tidal World, it was the first time he encountered such a situation.
Judging from the current situation, the other party is a creature that comes and goes without a trace, leaving no marks, causing no ripples.
Guessing from the standpoint of elemental creatures, only those of the wind element could match up.
But Lobal, as a wind element creature, couldn’t detect the other party, which was certainly strange.
Angel’s expression changed for a long time until finally, he sighed helplessly and had Earl Mi retract the bleak world.
"Continue on our way." After giving instructions to Speedy, Angel returned to his seat.
He first communicated with Toby, asking what Toby’s previous signal meant. Toby’s reply was: It also felt someone was watching from the shadows.
Toby’s answer raised Angel’s suspicions. Why were only he and Toby watched? None of the other elemental creatures on the boat felt anything.
Among them, Lobal’s strength was nearly on par with Toby’s, yet Lobal felt nothing while Toby did.
Is it because the observer intentionally let Toby and himself discover being watched?
Or is it that the observer is actually only interested in Toby and himself and pays no attention to the other elemental creatures on the boat?
Angel couldn’t determine which it was, but he leaned more towards the second. If the other party deliberately let Angel and Toby discover them, they should have left some clues, but it was already confirmed there were no traces around. The other party indeed was intentionally avoiding detection, which doesn’t quite align with the mindset of the first scenario.
If it is the second case, why is the other party only interested in him and Toby? Is it because they are not native creatures of the Tidal World?
There was too little information to speculate.
The only thing Angel could do now was to heighten his alertness, reacting seriously at any sign of trouble.
In this situation, Angel also didn’t plan to enter the Wilderness of Dreams again, sitting quietly in his seat, seemingly silent but actually coordinating with Earl Mi, observing the surroundings with spiritual power.