Deep Sea Embers

The low and majestic sound of the siren echoed on the sea, and the sacred steam spewed out from the ship's core compartment, vibrating the high chimney of the Seafog and every intricate pipe inside, and in this place, the whistle was like a war horn. In the humming, all the sailors took action.

The hoist creaked and sent the propellant packs and heavy artillery shells into the combat ammunition depot under the fort. The steam pipes roared endlessly, sending holy gas into key institutions and blessed areas everywhere. Sailors walked through the decks and corridors, Respectively enter the combat position.

When the whistle sounded for the second time, the chapel at the tail of the Seamist rang a bronze bell, which symbolized the blessing of the goddess of the storm, and the blessing of Gomona came to this ship, which was regarded by the world as a "curse". " on the dreaded warship.

On the other main battleships of the Sea Fog Fleet, similar bells and whistles sounded one after another—the bells of churches on board reverberated in the fog, vaguely as if there were mysterious resonances, all in unison The chiming bell even began to interfere with reality, causing the thick fog on the sea to lighten and dissipate a little.

At the same time, along with the actions of the Sea Fog Fleet, the Frost Navy, patrolling the nearby patrolling waters, also responded—flags were raised, lights were flashing, and the sound of sirens and the bells of the ship's church were reflected in the fog. reverberate!

At this moment, half a century of entanglement and hostility between the two fleets finally gave in to this vision that descended on everyone. Under the strange and dangerous dense fog, the navy built by the living and the fleet dominated by the undead It has become the only force that can rely on each other.

No one knows when and in what form the enemy will appear, but everyone knows that every strange ship that appears on the sea next is an enemy.

Even every "friendly ship" that refuses to respond to communications is also an enemy.

The enemy is the sea itself.

Everyone's nerves are tense, waiting for changes in the fog, waiting for new news from Frost Island, or any other possible intelligence and instructions, and this depressing waiting will last forever After a while, Tirian, who was in command on the Seamist, suddenly felt a strange feeling.

He seemed to feel a gaze, but this gaze did not come from any exact direction—as if a gaze across time rather than space, cast from the distant past, was quietly falling on him.

He raised his head in astonishment, subconsciously looking around the bridge of the Sea Mist.

First mate Aiden was communicating with the boatswain, and the correspondent was communicating the coordinates of their respective ships with the Frost Navy. The old black-robed priest had already rushed over from the chapel, and he was praying with his eyes closed beside the gunnery chief's seat. Fog blocks the view of the sea, and the priest's spiritual guidance will be the greatest reliance on the battleship fighting the enemy in the fog.

And farther away, a figure was standing quietly by the porthole.

In a trance, Tirian recalled the scene half a century ago - in that already yellowed memory, Her Majesty the Queen had personally boarded this warship. At that time, the Sea Mist had not experienced the fifty years of growth. , it is still another look that is older and more vicissitudes, and the queen is standing there, staring at the distant sea for a long time.

From that position she gave the order to keep the Fog Fleet away from the Frost in three days.

Now, the figure slowly turned its head and gave another order.

"Tirion, defend Frost."

After half a century, the second order finally arrived.

Tirian woke up suddenly, feeling his heart beating, his eyes were burning and stinging as if he was looking directly at some kind of knowledge close to the "truth", the noise in his mind was also roaring and shaking, and before he could think carefully about what he saw just now Whether that scene was an illusion or something else, the rapid alarm bell sounded suddenly on the bridge, interrupting all his thoughts.

While the bell was ringing, out of the corner of his eye he could already see the scene on the sea in the distance - amidst the mist, a huge ship silhouette was emerging from the thick fog, as if the sea itself was rising upwards, creating a scene from the past. the ghost.

The "ghost" has a towering mast, and the old-fashioned chimney structure is like the growth of coral on the back of a sea monster. It is slowly adjusting its orientation, moving towards the flank of the sea fog fleet.

So close, you don't even need spiritual guidance from a priest.

"Visual units appear! Silhouette recognition, third-party ships!" The observer shouted loudly.

"Fire," Tirian stepped back to his captain's seat, his voice as majestic and cold as an iceberg, "except for the ships already on the identification list, everything that appears on this sea is an enemy."

In an instant, the artillery roared and the thunder exploded!

On the Haiwu, the three main turrets that were at the best shooting angle launched bombardment one after another. The heavy armor-piercing shells that had been ready to go flew out of the gun bore amidst the thunder, and turned into a raging fire falling from the sky in the dense fog The meteor smashed hard towards the shadow of the ship that appeared in the distant fog!

And almost at the same time when the Sea Fog launched its attack, there were successive artillery roars in the fog—it sounded like distant thunder. In a series of flashes of fire, lines of fire pierced through the fog, heading towards The sea area where the Sea Fog is located is crashing down.

Tiri sat quietly on the captain's seat, squinting his eyes slightly, listening to the distant roar, and counting the flight of the shells.

It's an old-fashioned 356mm main gun, four triple mounts... Which old friend is it?

The "Duke of Loon", which once performed the Queen's Guard mission? Or is it the "Knight" that sank heroically against the children of the deep sea in the storm? Or... "Warrior"?

The howling sound was like the mournful cry of a banshee, and the thunder that fell from the sky shattered the remaining peace of the sea, and the huge explosion stirred up water columns dozens of stories high, and even the lingering dense fog on the sea was torn to pieces in the shock wave , turning into countless pale turbulent streams.

None of the shells flying from the opposite side of the fog landed near the Sea Fog, and the same was true of the Sea Fog's first round of shelling.

"It's the 'Knight', pay attention to its side rapid-fire guns," Tirian opened his eyes, his voice was not loud, but it was heard clearly in every soldier's ears, "this distance is enough for the rapid-fire guns to exert their power It's over—the steam core is pressurized, and the distance is opened."

"Yes! The steam core is pressurized! Keep the distance!"

The "heart" in the depths of the Sea Fog let out a deep roar, and the whole ship began to speed up and turn slowly. On the nearby sea surface, large pieces of ice floes also began to emerge rapidly, spreading rapidly in all directions like some kind of living thing , building a battlefield that is beneficial to the Sea Fog.

And just as the ship started maneuvering, out of the corner of his eye, Tirian suddenly noticed that there was another fire light outside the porthole on the other side, accompanied by a distant shadow.

First officer Aiden immediately shouted loudly: "The second ship was found, the radio did not respond, it is not on the identification list!"

Before Aiden finished speaking, another low-pitched roar came from afar.

"Third ship! Not on the identification list!"

"There is a communication from the Sea Crow, they have already fought multiple enemies!"

"There is a communication from the Frost Navy, and a battle broke out in the city-state's offshore waters!"

"The first and second main guns give priority to dealing with the Knight, and the third main gun and long-range auxiliary guns deal with other enemies within range," Tirian's voice did not change at all because of the successive appearance of enemies on the sea. He just calmly watched the shadow of the ship in the depths of the dense fog that was still firing guns and approaching this side against the ice floes, "Don't worry about how many enemies there are - all the strange things that appear on the sea are enemies. This is just the beginning."

The first officer, Aiden, also spoke loudly: "Listen to the captain, shoot whatever happens at sea. Even if these old guys survive, they are no match for the Sea Fog Fleet. Keep firing!"

Accompanied by the order from the bridge, all the main guns and secondary guns of the Sea Fog started firing salvos, and the scorching fire ignited the dark and chaotic thick fog time and time again.

While the artillery roared, more unrecognized ships began to appear on this vast sea!

As Tyrian said - this is just the beginning.

The frost of the mirror image is rising, the border of reality is blurring in the fog, and the things that once sank in this sea are entering reality on a large scale in the form of replicas!

And then all the things that appear on this sea are enemies!

"Let's make a big fuss!" Aiden's broken gong-like voice yelled on the bridge, and the bald man had an almost ferocious smile on his face. It was obvious that he hadn't had such a hearty battle for a long time. Let the evil fire of the past fifty years be vented, brothers, open the eyes of those sissies in the Navy! Let them see that the Sea Fog Fleet is..."

Suddenly, the noisy voices of the pair stopped abruptly, and he seemed to be strangled by an invisible hand, and suddenly stared at a certain direction with wide eyes - and in the next second, Tirian knew why he There will be such a reaction.

Another shadow of a ship appeared in the thick fog very abruptly, and then rushed directly into the battlefield at a speed almost like lightning. The shadow of the ship was different from any enemy that appeared so far, and it was different from what Tirian thought. Any famous ship in the world—

It was a solid black mist, a tangible shadow, a mass of nothingness that vaguely looked like a ship! It broke through the dense fog like some kind of weird shadow reflected backwards from the mirror, and rushed straight towards it roaring. Compared with the weird shape of the "Shadow Ship", the crew of the Sea Mist instantly What remained silent was the "shadow" of the ship's reflection in the sea.

That was another ship, a "ghost ship" lingering in green flames, and in the eyes of all members of the Sea Fog Fleet, it was even weirder and more terrifying than phantoms!

The "twin ships" with the sea surface as a mirror ran out suddenly, roaring across the sea surface, one was emitting billowing black smoke on the surface of the sea, and the other was emitting faint green fire below the surface of the sea. Speeding past the side of the Sea Fog, he was already on the other side of the battlefield in the blink of an eye.

Tirian dared to swear to his father that he had never seen such an outrageously fast large ship in his life!