Chapter 357: FTG Chapter 353: Bizarre Fish Shadow
Within the thick fog, a black shadow slowly approached.
Erzi and the others wide-eyed their gazes to look over. Even though they couldn’t see clearly due to the influence of the fog, they could be almost certain that the opponent was not human, because it possessed neither a human torso nor human hands and feet.
Even more peculiar was that it actually didn’t touch the ground, but hovered in the air as it floated over.
As the black shadow drew closer and closer, the few of them discovered that from its outer appearance, it resembled a fish even more—
Its head was slightly triangular, its body was flat and long, with fins flapping and swaying on both sides, and there was also something like a fish tail wagging behind it. It looked no different from a regular fish.
But this was on land!
How could a fish come ashore?
What’s more, this "fish" within the thick fog wasn’t just as simple as coming ashore, but was already swimming in the air!
In all her years growing up, aside from the Pisces Celestial Spirit, Erzi had never heard of any fish that could survive after leaving the water, let alone be capable of flight.
While everyone was filled with alarm and suspicion, they discovered that more and more black shadows were emerging from behind this fish shadow, and the newly emerged black shadows were also all fish shadows identical to the first one.
Seeing this, Gray and Gajeel put down the game cards in their hands and stood up one after another. Natsu and Happy also abandoned their fishing rods, and the few of them gathered together, watching the approaching shadows of the fish school with vigilant expressions.
Suddenly, a chilly wind blew past, dispersing the fog.
The true face of the shadows was finally exposed before everyone, and it was indeed a school of fish swimming in the air!!
"Eeeek?!!!" × N
Every single person widened their eyes, screaming in unison.
"Fish... fish are actually swimming in the air? And so many of them!"
Looking at the scene before him, Happy’s saliva flowed continuously, and his two eyes turned into red hearts pulsing and leaping frantically.
"I can’t be dreaming, can I?!"
Natsu gave himself two harsh slaps, the two "smack-smack" sounds crisp and resounding: "Mmh... it hurts, looks like it’s not a dream!"
The others felt immensely speechless: "...You fellow are really capable of ruthlessly handling yourself."
"What kind of things are these??"
As the fish swam to the front of the few people, Gray couldn’t suppress his curiosity and reached out to poke at one, only to discover with astonishment that his finger actually penetrated straight through the fish school before him, which instantly gave him a fright.
Beside him, Happy spread his two paws to lunge at a fish, but also lunged into empty space, nearly breaking his teeth from biting hard.
Seeing this, both the human and the cat were stunned: "Passed right through?!"
Gajeel and Natsu began sniffing wildly, frowning as they said: "I didn’t smell any unusual scent."
"Could this be an illusion? For instance, a mirage or something?"
"What’s a mirage?"
"It’s... uh..."
Gajeel pondered for a few seconds, discovering that it was hard to explain to Natsu, so he simply stiffened his face: "Serves you right for not listening properly during class normally, I’m absolutely not telling you!"
Natsu didn’t take it to heart: "Hahaha... actually you aren’t clear about it either, right."
Gajeel raised an eyebrow and sneered: "You think I’m an academic failure like you?"
Erzi ignored the bickering between the two, choosing instead to observe the surrounding environment first, before finally pointing at the ground and saying: "No, this is not an illusion!"
"Look, these fish have shadows!"
Hearing this, everyone immediately looked toward the ground, and sure enough, they saw the shadows of the fish school on the earth.
Whether it was the refractive phenomenon of a mirage or a phantom image created by illusion magic, neither were physical entities, so naturally they wouldn’t have shadows; since the fish school before them had shadows, it meant they truly existed within this space.
"Having shadows means there’s a physical entity, but why can’t we touch them?"
With the shallow experience of the few people, they truly couldn’t think of a suitable answer.
At this moment, Happy put on a difficult face: "Could it be..."
Everyone looked at him in confusion one after another: "Could it be what??"
"Could it really be the Water Ghost Fish?!"
Happy’s face showed horror: "Because too many people fish in this pond, the resentful souls of the fish that were eaten have come to take revenge??"
Natsu’s face also turned pale: "This is bad, I’ve also caught fish here before, could they be wanting to take revenge on me too?!"
The two looked at each other, and subsequently—
"Aaaaaah!!!"
"We’re doomed, we’re doomed, we’re doomed!!!"
Seeing this human and cat acting like idiots, panicking to the point of shouting loudly and running back and forth on the spot, Erzi, Gray, and Gajeel were all completely filled with black lines.
"These two people have completely forgotten that the so-called ’Water Ghost Fish’ was completely made up by Gajeel on a whim, right!"
"Being with them always gives me the illusion that I am a peerless genius!"
"Birds of a feather flock together as expected, the one partnering with an idiot is also an idiot!"
Right at that moment, Natsu and Happy suddenly stopped, approaching a swimming fish, and asked earnestly: "Are you guys the Water Ghost Fish?"
The three felt even more helpless, shaking their heads, sighing, and throwing up their hands in unison.
"We already told you the ’Water Ghost Fish’ is fake!"
"And how could a bizarre thing like this possibly speak?!"
"Even if it could speak, why would it answer your question?!"
However, accidents always come caught off guard.
They saw that the swimming fish being questioned suddenly raised its fin, subsequently speaking in human tongue: "That’s right, we are the Water Ghost Fish!"
The three were shocked on the spot: "(ΩДΩ) It actually really answered?! And it really is the Water Ghost Fish?!"
Natsu and Happy panicked once again, once more excitedly screaming loudly and running wildly back and forth on the spot.
"Aaaaaah—!!!"
"It really is the Water Ghost Fish!!"
"We’re going to suffer terribly!!"
Something’s wrong!
Ten parts or even twelve parts wrong!
After the surprise, the three of Erzi finally reacted.
This absolutely could not be any ’Water Ghost Fish’!
Someone must be hiding in the dark playing a trick on them!
Who could it be?
Right!
The exchange student named Macbeth who fought against her a few days ago, didn’t he know magic that could ’distort light rays to create illusions’!
Also, Juvia had said before that among the exchange students, there was another person who knew ’sound magic’ and could hear the inner voices of others!
If it were these two joining hands, then the strange phenomenon before them would be completely explainable!
Thinking up to this point, Erzi began to perceive the changes in the surrounding magic power, and finally...
"Right there!!"
Erzi gave a loud shout, raising her hand to point behind the tree not far away, which was precisely the place where she perceived unusual magic power.
She rushed forward with quick steps, reaching out to yank, instantly pulling a figure out from behind the tree.
"Ah—!!"
The figure let out a scream, drawing the gazes of Gray and the others over.
Everyone focused their eyes to look, and the one falling into Erzi’s hands was none other than...
"Uh... Juvia? How could it be you?"
Juvia looked at Erzi with resentment: "You and Gray-sama ran out in the middle of the night to have a tryst, of course I had to follow behind to prevent you from having improper intentions toward Gray-sama!"
Who would have improper intentions toward him?!
Erzi’s face was full of black lines, her gaze subconsciously looking behind Juvia, only to discover that there were indeed several people standing behind her.
