Chapter 350.1
After the attack by the Desert Phantom, the journey through the Salt Desert thankfully remained uneventful.
Some soldiers began showing signs of fatigue, but Isaac, keeping a watchful eye from the rear, ensured no one fell behind. In a place like this, lagging meant death, so the soldiers pressed on, clenching their jaws.
The endless expanse of the salt desert created mirages that drained the soldiers’ spirits and added to their exhaustion.
Curious, Isaac asked Aidan, “This might sound like a dumb question, but doesn’t salt dissolve in seawater? How is it that this salt desert lies right next to the sea yet doesn’t melt away?”
Originally, he had thought it was simply a “miracle of divine omnipotence.” However, the question was related to how they planned to retrieve the god of the Salt Council from beneath this desert.
He knew methods involving relics, rituals, and sacrifices, but a thought struck him—what if they could just flood the salt desert with seawater and dissolve it all?
Aidan, looking slightly uneasy, began to explain. “I don’t know the exact details, but from observing the coastline and seafloor on our way here, I believe that the Mirmia coastline forms a sort of basin.”
“Like a bowl?”
“Yes. When the Lighthouse Keeper raised that cursed sun, the seawater in the basin began evaporating. As the water level dropped, seawater continued to flow in, only to evaporate just as quickly… I’ve heard the process was rapid and abrupt. There’s even a legend that the curses within the resulting vapor gave rise to the storms in the Nightmare Strait.”