Karl nodded in acknowledgment, then caught another message in the nymph's words.
"You just said you received divine grace? Is that... still the case now?"
The nymph's expression darkened slightly, and she sighed softly, an endless sense of loss and confusion in that sigh.
"Yes, envoy. Ever since... some unknown change occurred in this world."
"We have long since felt no favor or response from the goddess of nature."
"She, like many other ancient beings, seems to have... fallen silent."
"The goddess Melitele, although she is not the direct creator of nymphs like me, is also a benevolent and life-loving deity." The nymph added, respect in her voice.
Karl's heart stirred, and he asked: "What exactly do you mean by 'unknown change'?"
The nymph extended her slender, pale green fingers and unconsciously twirled the blue hair hanging over her chest.
She slowly shook her head, her voice full of helplessness: "Forgive me, envoy, I do not know the meaning of this change."
"We are merely spirits born from the elements of nature, children of the world. We cannot even reach the level of gods, so how could we understand the great power that shakes the foundations of the world?"
She paused, as if remembering something, and her voice became somewhat uncertain: "But I am certain of one thing."
"Since that power... since that immense force invaded this world, everything has begun to change."
"Miracles have almost ceased to appear, and many ancient gods who should have protected the world and maintained balance have disappeared."
"At the same time, many malevolent and perverted alien gods from outside the world are taking the opportunity to try to extend their tentacles into this world and defile our home."
"And the power that originally caused all this chaos seems to be called among you mortals... Chaos Magic."
"Chaos Magic?!" Karl's pupils contracted.
The explosive news he had learned one after another from this local nature spirit's mouth stirred up a storm in his heart.
Although he had speculated about the state of this world based on its magic, the Conjunction of the Spheres, and the invisibility of the gods,
hearing it confirmed with his own ears from the mouth of an elemental spirit was a completely different matter.
Chaos Magic was an invasive force, and its appearance had led to the silence of the native gods and the prying eyes of outer gods.
He quickly digested the information; many clues in his head began to come together, but new questions arose.
Where did Chaos Magic come from? Why did it invade this world? Who were these outer gods trying to extend their tentacles?
Suppressing the chaotic thoughts in his head, Karl realized that this was not the time to delve into them.
He turned his attention again and asked the nymph: "So, Miss Nymph, what exactly is it that you so eagerly sought me for?"
The nymph turned and pointed her finger to the other side of the lake.
It was shrouded in thick, dense white fog.
Even with Karl's clairvoyance, he could barely see deep into the fog, where there seemed to be another, smaller island outline.
At the same time, the nymph raised her other hand and gently waved it in the air.
In an instant, a water curtain of clear lake water formed out of nowhere in front of Karl.
A clear, moving image appeared on the water screen, showing a small island shrouded in fog.
On the island dwelled many creatures with exceptionally strong, muscular bodies.
They had fish-like heads with sharp teeth that opened and closed their mouths.
But the skin on their entire bodies was an alarming, dark red, like clotted blood.
Their eyes were tyrannical and chaotic, without a shred of reason, as they aimlessly wandered the island, occasionally letting out low, aggressive growls.
They constantly slammed their bodies against a transparent shield formed by water ripples at the edge of the island, as if trying to break through their bonds.
"These... are fallen fish-men." The nymph's voice held a note of disgust and weariness.
"Originally, they were ordinary creatures in the lake and even coexisted peacefully with our clan."
"I don't know when, but they were tainted and distorted by a foul power from the depths of the lake, and they have become what they are today."
"They have gone mad, leaving only the instinct to destroy and kill."
"With my power, I can still handle these fallen fish-men and confine them to that island."
She sighed softly, and the image on the water screen changed.
The scene plunged into near-absolute darkness and cold, the deepest part of the lake.
There, in the silt at the lake bottom, stood a simple black stone monument, sharp and narrow in shape.
The surface of the stele was adorned with distorted, strange, unknown words that Karl had never seen before, but which instinctively made him uncomfortable.
When Karl's eyes touched the black stele, he was overcome with intense dizziness.
It felt as if countless needles were piercing his brain at once, accompanied by a muffled, chaotic, malicious, blasphemous whisper from an endless abyss, sounding directly in the depths of his consciousness.
"Ugh..." Karl grunted and subconsciously stepped back half a step, his face instantly paling.
And when he tore his gaze away from the stele with difficulty and looked at the monster holding it,
he saw an even uglier and more terrifying being intertwined with the stone tablet.
It was a hybrid monster that looked like a fish but wasn't, and a snake but wasn't.
Its upper body was roughly human-like, but covered in slippery scales and eerie folds, its arms thin with webbed fingers.
Its lower body was a thick, dark, scaly tail.
At this moment, the monster's hands were tightly gripping the black stone stele.
And its long, snake-like tail was coiled around the lower part of the stele, as if it were struggling with it.
But it seemed to be... trying to lift it or blocking something?
Karl's breath suddenly caught, his pupils sharply contracted, a chill ran from his tailbone to his head, and he suddenly felt his scalp tingle.
Although the details of the form were slightly different from what he knew, the iconic fish-snake hybrid, the profane and maddening aura...
This was... a Deep One? No... this body shape, this image associated with the stone monument... Could it be Dagon? Or something similar?
The nymph noticed the drastic change in Karl's expression and his obvious discomfort.
She immediately waved her hand to dismiss the water screen, severing the connection between the horror and Karl's senses.
Her blue figure seemed to tremble slightly with anxiety, and her voice held a note of worry.
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