If Lance hadn’t accidentally found this today, who knows when a future geological shift might sink everything into the bottomless abyss of the sea, losing it all forever.

What’s even more ironic is that despite their dire state, the world remains in chaos, and yet, the apocalypse they anticipated hasn’t arrived after centuries.

Seeing this, Lance couldn’t help but feel a sense of reflection, recalling how the witch chose to become fungal to survive after knowing, while that civilization chose to serve another Evil God, becoming neither human nor ghost.

Both sides collapsed upon themselves before even encountering the enemy, laughable!

One after another, they are all pessimists, even to the point where they seem worse than the ancestors.

At least the ancestors, upon glimpsing the truth, were not scared witless but dared to seek the power of the Primordial God.

That counts as something noteworthy.

But in Lance’s eyes, the ancestors were also part of the Surrender Faction, abandoning everything to join when they couldn’t win, completely ignoring real solutions.

Rationality tells Lance, neither pessimism nor surrenderism solves problems; self-salvation requires forging a new path.

Lance has lost all reverence for this civilization, simply put, it’s a case of a foolish ruler acting stupidly after being scared.

Reminds him of what Alhazred said about civilizations destroyed by their faith in the Evil God.

This world hasn’t progressed over the years for a reason.

The influence of Supernatural Power is too severe; many civilizations develop well, then suddenly implode.

Now, even though there is a Church suppressing Transcendents, he is himself a Transcendent... who knows if one day Holy Flame fails and drags everyone down...

The story ends, but there are many documents left, only after Lance skimmed them did he realize the writer sensed something wrong, collecting data to pass down the civilization’s knowledge.

From this, Lance sensed immense value, and his previously dormant heart was filled with excitement once more.

Indeed, there are always rational people safeguarding humanity’s legacy.

Unfortunately, this place isn’t suitable for slow research, he can only skim through, and finally, he discovered a map about the Bay.

Of course, he was part of the construction here and knows the terrain.

However, after examining, Lance found many incongruities; geological activities, sea erosion have changed the Bay’s appearance.

Yet, the planned area is still discernible, no longer wandering like a headless fly.

With the map’s aid, Lance quickly located his current position, unexpectedly marked as a warehouse.

To this, Lance has no comment, after all, treasure to Deep Divers is just incorruptible stones.

"Temple... could it be the place just ago?"

"This side is the entrance, meaning there was no hole before, should be erosion..."

Lance soon resumed his exploration, beginning to search the remaining areas of the Bay.

Originally without much hope, yet surprisingly, he found some good things.

A strange coral grows casually in the crevice beside the passage, shouldn’t this be under the sea? Why is it growing here?

What caught Lance’s attention wasn’t just this, but the thick and eerie spiritual light it emitted.

Lance wasted no words, directly offered a Sacrifice, leaving everything to the Void.

Initially hoping to gain some Spiritual Essence, unexpectedly, an item dropped.

Not even a Shaman dropped an item, and he did, more impressive than a Shaman!

A uniquely shaped coral, sized for holding and playing, its lower part green with a stone-like rough touch, while the upper part forked pink-purple, giving a fleshy warmth.

Lance toyed with it in his hand, comprehending its power, realizing its preciousness.

[Purification Coral] has but one effect, vital to all Transcendents.

It stabilizes Spiritual Essence, reducing harm from spiritual fluctuations, resisting spiritual pollution.

Lance doesn’t need this, but...

"Someone needs it."

Lance murmured, stored it safely, then turned his bewildered gaze to the dark tunnel.

This area has been explored, next is...

Suddenly, an inexplicable vibration occurred, followed by a loud sound like something impacting the Bay. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

This discovery immediately shifted Lance’s attention, he carefully sensed the direction of the disturbance, feeling something strange.

Isn’t that position the map’s exit?

Could it be those Deep Divers finally returned?

Lance acts decisively, regardless of circumstances, he will investigate, the Bay is now his safe haven, problems are unacceptable.

With the Deep Divers gone, the Bay fell silent, only the echo of water remained, not to mention the unknown ahead, anyone else would feel pressure even walking.

But Lance shrugged it off, briskly traversing the tunnel, familiar like returning home.

After all, he’s the man who slaughtered every corner of the Bay.

Soon he approached the location, the exit to the outside world astonishingly wide, a hundred-meter fissure, the white light at the space’s end dominated his sight, obscuring the surrounding dimness.

The sound of ocean waves reached his ears, the skin felt the faint sea breeze, all prompting Lance to quicken his pace.

But suddenly, he halted, the noisy splashing quickly subsided, leaving only the wave-induced ripples outside and the ripples he caused clashing.

He shifted his suspicious gaze to the water surface before him, as vision adjusted to the light, the incoming tide revealed not only seawater but dirt.

Various scattered wooden boards bobbed on the waves, varied in size and quantity, seemingly torn and destroyed.

Lance scanned the area, finding half a ship missing, wrecked with the front submerged, the stern protruding.

The missing bow could be found nearby, standing tall, with its finely carved figurehead of a beautiful girl.

The strange part was the absence of barnacles, and from it, Lance sensed Supernatural Power.

The scene suggested a maritime disaster aftermath, crashing in from outside then disintegrating, which explains the earlier noise source.

But he doubted a ship soaked in water for long would float and then smash itself.

Typically, barnacles grow on the hull’s base, however, this ship’s surface was blackened and barnacle-covered, a sign of prolonged submersion.

The ship was large with a fierce design, Lance could tell it was likely a pirate ship, not a cargo vessel.

What’s most unsettling was the corpses expelled due to ship damage.

Because of the water, the corpses appeared bloated, giant-like.

Those drowned, purple-gray skin started dissolving, facial skin lost muscle elasticity, hanging loosely.

The bloated bodies distorted their few garments, unclear if the clothes tore first or the bodies exploded.

The corpses varied, Lance tolerated fresh ones but felt uneasy sharing the same waters with rotting ones.

The more concerning sign was the ship’s foul aura.

When in doubt, he might cast a [Sacrifice] first; unexpectedly, this seemed to trigger something, causing the already rotting corpses to slowly rise...