Reborn as the Last van Ambrose

The oppressive heat of the underground tunnels faded, replaced by cool, moist air.

Lin led the group, following the corruption stains that marked Jiaolong’s path. The dark smears left by Jiaolong were harder to see as they walked through the tunnel.

"The passage is getting wider," Captain Zhen observed as they rounded a bend. Ahead of them, the tunnel opened into what appeared to be a vast underwater cavern.

They emerged into the West Sea realm, and Lin immediately understood why it was called the Mist Realm. Dense, swirling mists filled the water, reducing visibility to mere yards in any direction. The mist wasn’t ordinary water vapor—it created shadows that seemed to move like they were alive.

"Stay close," Lin warned as they swam forward. "I can barely see ten feet ahead."

The corruption trail they had been following vanished almost immediately, the dark stains dispersed by the swirling mists. Through brief clearings in the fog, they caught glimpses of silver coral gardens stretching in all directions, their branches perfectly silent despite the gentle current that moved through them.

Floating pearl lanterns drifted through the water at various heights, each casting circles of soft white light that appeared and disappeared as the mist thickened and thinned around them. The lanterns moved without any visible means of propulsion.

"It’s like being inside a dream," General Huoyan whispered, her voice echoing strangely in the mist-filled water.

Between the coral gardens, forests of black and gold seaweed swayed. Each strand reached from the sea floor toward the distant surface.

But the mist was playing tricks with their perception. Grim reached out to touch what appeared to be a coral formation only to have his hand pass through empty water. The seaweed forests seemed to shift position when they weren’t looking directly at them.

"The mist is creating illusions," Captain Zhen realized. "Everything we’re seeing might not be real."

As they swam deeper into the realm, the mist grew thicker and more disorienting. Ancient shipwrecks appeared through the fog, and their wooden hulls were preserved. But when they approached, the ships would fade away, only to reappear in completely different locations.

"We’re getting separated," Lin called out, realizing she could no longer see Commander Yuehua clearly. The mist was creating corridors and barriers that shifted constantly, pulling their group apart despite their efforts to stay together.

Grim found himself swimming through what seemed like a narrow canyon between coral walls, but when he looked back, his companions were nowhere to be seen. Their voices reached him as if from a great distance, distorted by the mist and the strange acoustics of the realm.

"Lin!" he called out, but his voice seemed to be absorbed by the surrounding fog.

The mist around him began to take on more definite shapes. He saw dragons moving through the water ahead of him, but when he swam closer, they dissolved back into formless vapor. The pearl lanterns showed a path to take. Each one promises a way forward that might or might not exist.

Meanwhile, Lin found herself in what appeared to be a vast open space, but the mist made it impossible to judge distances accurately. She could hear the others calling out, but their voices seemed to come from all directions at once.

"Captain Zhen! General Huoyan!" she shouted but received only echoes in response.

The currents here hummed with a bell-like tone, but the sound was becoming discordant. Something was disrupting the natural harmony of the West Sea, and Lin suspected she knew what it was.

Through the mist, she caught glimpses of movement—dark shapes that didn’t behave like the illusions created by the mist. These shapes left behind traces of corruption that persisted even when the illusions faded.

"Jiaolong’s forces," she realized. The corrupted dragons were spreading through the realm, but the mist made it impossible to track their movements or determine their numbers.

Captain Zhen found himself swimming through a forest of black and gold seaweed, but every path he took seemed to lead him in circles. The sentinel crabs and armored sea creatures that guarded the ancient shipwrecks appeared and disappeared around him, but he couldn’t tell if they were real threats or mere illusions.

"This realm is designed to confuse invaders," he called out, hoping the others could hear him. "We need to find a landmark—something that can’t be an illusion."

General Huoyan was experiencing her own disorientation. The mist had separated her from the group completely, and she found herself facing what appeared to be multiple copies of the same coral garden. Each one looked identical, but she suspected only one was real.

Commander Yuehua, meanwhile, had encountered something different. Through the mist, she could see structures that seemed more solid than the shifting illusions—towers, and walls that maintained their position even as the fog swirled around them. novelbuddy.cσ๓

"The palace," she whispered to herself. "Ao Run’s palace has to be real."

But even as she swam toward the structures, they seemed to recede before her, always just out of reach. The mist was protecting the palace by making it nearly impossible to approach directly.

Grim’s situation was becoming more concerning. The mist around him had grown so thick that he couldn’t see his own hands when he stretched them out in front of him. The humming of the currents had become the only constant sound, but even that was beginning to change.

Then, through the fog, he heard something that chilled him—the sound of battle. Distant at first, but growing closer. The clash of weapons, the roar of dragons, and underneath it all, a sound he recognized as corruption spreading through water.

"Jiaolong is here," he said to himself, but the mist made it impossible to determine where the sounds were coming from.

The battle sounds seemed to come from all directions at once, reflected and distorted by the mist until it was impossible to locate their source. For all Grim knew, the fighting could be happening right next to him or miles away.

He tried to swim toward where he thought the sounds were strongest, but the mist created barriers and corridors that constantly changed. What appeared to be a clear path would suddenly become a dead end, forcing him to backtrack and try a different route.

The pearl lanterns offered some hope of navigation, but even they seemed to be part of the illusion. When he followed one lantern’s light, it would lead him to another, then another, in an endless chain that never seemed to reach a destination.

Meanwhile, the corruption was spreading. Through brief clearings in the mist, Grim could see dark veins spreading through the silver coral, and the bell-like humming of the currents was becoming increasingly discordant.

"I need to find the others," he realized, but the mist seemed determined to keep them separated.

The West Sea’s defenses weren’t just about hiding Ao Run’s palace—they were about isolating any threats and breaking up attacking forces so they couldn’t coordinate their assault.