When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 193: The City Of Atlantis

Chapter 193: The City Of Atlantis

Amidst the calm ocean surface, a massive ripple suddenly formed, and a gigantic whale burst through, sending water cascading down its enormous body. From the whale’s blowhole on top of its head, a plume of water and mucus shot up into the air like a powerful spray, and along with it came out four humans, one black cat and one mermaid!

"Woo–hoo!!" Jin Jiuchi cheered loudly as his body rocketed upwards before stopping and falling back into the water with a loud splash. He emerged and wiped his face, laughing, "It’s so fun! Again, again!"

Not far from him, Shen Nianzu wiped the mucus off his expressionless face. He did not want to relive the memory of being swallowed into a whale’s stomach again. Ever. Fortunately, they could find their way out before they ended up being digested by its stomach acid!

The others — Gu Luoxin, Noir, Lucius and Ariel — floated on the surface of the sea akin to lifeless corpses, physically and mentally drained. Only Jin Jiuchi was still full of energy as he chased after the whale, eager for another swing into the air.

Shen Nianzu spat out the salty water from his mouth and waded over to Jin Jiuchi. As the man was currently topless and clad only in a simple sweatpants that could accommodate his shape-shifting, Shen Nianzu could only grab onto his arm to prevent him from courting trouble with the whale again. "Stop!" He gritted out. "Do you want to die?!" It was not easy for them to escape, and Jin Jiuchi wanted to go in again?! He simply did not want his life anymore!

Gu Luoxin floated along the calm surface with Lucius curling up on top of his stomach. He gazed up at the morning blue sky with a zen expression as though he was a monk who had seen through the whole world. "Mama, I have finally experienced what it feels like to enter a whale’s stomach..."

It seemed like they had spent quite a lot of time searching for a way out, as right now the sky had lightened to signal the arrival of a new day. The once stormy and foggy night had given way to a sunny clear morning with white clouds adorning the sky. The contrast between the two scenes was simply striking, and coupled with the eye-opening experience they had just gone through, Gu Luoxin was so tired that he did not want to move, wishing to savor the moment a little longer, floating and allowing the gentle waves to carry him.

In total, they had only slept for two hours at most last night, while the rest of the time was filled with battle, battle then swim, swim and battle again, pushing them to the limit of their endurance.

Gu Luoxin’s eyelids slowly fluttered shut and he felt like he could doze off like this, but Ariel’s sudden cry shattered the tranquil morning, jolting him awake. He sprang up purely on instinct and looked around in vigilance, "What?! What is it? Another attack?!"

Ariel’s voice was back to being a broken bird. With joy all over her face, she pointed at the far distance.

Everyone followed her line of sight and were taken aback by the sight before them. "T–This... is the Lost City of Atlantis?" Jin Jiuchi asked in awe.

Shen Nianzu’s tense expression softened, and a hint of smile played on his lips. "Yes, we have finally arrived in the heart of the Cycle."

As the first rays of the sun pierced the horizon, painting the sky with hues of gold, purple and crimson, Atlantis rose majestically from the depths of the ocean. Its ethereal towers and grand spires broke the surface, reflecting the resplendent colors of the sunrise like a shimmering mirage. The whole city seemed to materialize from the water itself.

"Wow..." Gu Luoxin couldn’t help but exclaim in awe. Even though the Cycle was dangerous and in no way a place he would like to visit the second time, he had to admit that it sometimes offered an extremely breathtaking view— just like now. It was a scene one would not be able to see even in a lifetime.

In reality, Atlantis was supposed to be a legendary and mythical city surrounded by countless myths. The most popular one was how it was a powerful and advanced civilization with a highly developed society and thriving culture, though this had not been confirmed yet. Yet here it was, right before their eyes. Not only that, they were also about to visit it! Gu Luoxin knew that if he wrote about this experience on his college’s anonymous forum, everyone would either take him as a delusional man or an aspiring fantasy writer!

Their arrival had caught the attention of the nearby citizens and the next moment, they saw a few heads poking out of the water surface. When Ariel called out to them excitedly, their eyes widened in shock and they immediately rushed back to spread the news.

Princess Ariel was back! Their one and only beloved Princess, who was missing for two days, had finally returned to them!

"Those are the patrolling soldiers," Ariel began to babble to Shen Nianzu out of excitement. "You guys have really brought me home. Daddy is going to reward you handsomely. Let’s go!"

Under Ariel’s guidance, they swam towards the city. And the closer they got, the more splendid it appeared with all of its marble structures and pearl decorations. A horde of merfolk guards soon came up to the surface and the one in front – the head guard – exclaimed emotionally, "Princess, you have finally come back! Where have you been? We have been looking everywhere for you! Do you know how worried His Majesty is?"

Ariel felt a little guilty, but her excitement at being home quickly overcame it. She giggled sheepishly, "It’s okay, I will just coax Daddy until he’s happy again. More importantly, let me introduce you. These are the humans who have escorted me back! They are good humans," she emphasized heavily, knowing very well how her kind always had a bad prejudice towards humans.

But to her surprise, the head guard did not show any repulsion toward the humans. What shocked her even more was when he spoke, it was in the human language! "Thank you for bringing our Princess back safely. It must have been a challenging journey through the waters to find this place. Our king has invited you into the city. If you may," he gestured for them to follow him.

Ariel was dumbfounded. Why hadn’t she known that the head guard was fluent in human language?!

Sensing her confusion, the middle-aged and stern-looking merman explained, "As the guards responsible for protecting the border of Atlantis, we have been trained to learn multiple languages across the sea, not only limited to merfolk and human language."

As they neared the city, the head guard suddenly recalled an important thing and turned around, informing her, "That’s right, Princess. You might not be aware, but during the time of your disappearance, His Majesty was desperate enough to issue a challenge across the seven seas. Whoever could bring his daughter back alive would be able to take her hand in marriage."

Before Ariel could even process the earth-shattering news, the head guard repeated again to the players, this time in human language, and finally, he asked, "So which one of you is the Princess’ savior?"