Deep Sea Embers

On the deck of the Lost Home, Vanna quickly came to Duncan: "The Tide sent a message, and a large number of 'humanoid objects' drifted to their side, and collided with the hull of the ship. After the impact, the 'humanoid objects' Wandering and floating near them, as if being pulled by the invisible current..."

"Commander Orlando of the Restless Ship also sent a message." Agatha's figure also emerged from the shadow beside Duncan. "Their ship was surrounded by floating humanoid objects... There were also things gathering underwater and hitting the bottom of the ship. The impact sound can be heard almost in the entire cabin..."

She paused, as if she heard a distant voice again, and then added: "Polekinny, the commander of the Rest, said that she heard a whisper near the mechanical cabin that might have come from underwater - there was a voice , spoke in her mind:

"'You will become them, just like us.'"

Listening to the information coming from several other battleships of the United Fleet, Duncan frowned slightly. He especially noticed the message coming from the Rest: "Is it mental pollution?"

"It's not certain yet. Bishop Polekny is performing mental calibration in the church. Judging from the current situation, she may have really heard some kind of 'echo' lingering in this sea."

"Is there any report of damage to the ship?" Duncan thought for a moment and then asked.

"Not yet," Fanna shook her head and said, "All the collisions are just caused by the 'humanoids' drifting with the current and hitting the ship, which does not pose a physical threat to the ironclad ship... However, some ships have reported that their steam The organs and differential engines are making abnormal noises, and they seem to be slightly polluted. But overall, the pollution level is still low, and it has recovered after performing the appeasement ceremony."

Duncan nodded seriously and said nothing for a while, just looking at the sea in the distance.

Those pitch-black figures like dead trees in the sea are still drifting over from the direction of the mist-shrouded "six nautical mile boundary line", entering the range of the combined fleet like countless drowned corpses. They seem lifeless, but they seem to be invisible. Every ship drifting towards here is driven by force, continuously hitting the hull and knocking on the bottom of the ship.

These disturbing sounds are creating mental stress on every ship.

But for church elites who have undergone rigorous training, this level of mental pressure should not be a problem - so Duncan is not too worried.

After a brief thought, he ordered the entire fleet to move forward slowly again.

"We are already very close to the six-nautical-mile border," Lucretia couldn't help but remind her father. "Do we still want to go forward? In the border waters, conventional navigation methods are no longer so accurate. We have to Leave some safety margin…or you’ll accidentally cross the line.”

"We won't 'cross the line'," Duncan glanced at Lucretia, and part of his attention was on sensing the entire ship. "Don't worry, Lucy, I have the most accurate 'sea map' in the world." Map', it can mark the position and sailing distance of the Lost Home on the Infinite Sea in real time. If I still can't see the 'Holy Land' at six nautical miles, I will stop."

Lucretia opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something more, but after noticing Duncan's confident and gentle smile, she swallowed back what she wanted to say.

Duncan put part of his "eyes" on the captain's cabin.

He could clearly "see" that the "chart" on the table in the captain's cabin was "running" as usual, and slowly changing as the Homeless Ship sailed.

The fog on the chart is slowly dissipating, and the trajectory of the Lost Home is clearly reflected on the edge of the chart - the ship sails very slowly, and what is shown on the chart is a tiny displacement that is difficult to detect with the naked eye. , but for Duncan, who can accurately control the status of the entire ship, even changes that are imperceptible to the naked eye on the chart cannot escape his perception.

On the sea surface around the Lost Home, there are still more humanoid objects floating in from a distance, and the number seems to be a little larger.

Suddenly, Duncan noticed something appearing on the edge of the chart.

In the mist, an unrecorded "beacon" appeared on the parchment scroll.

The moment he sensed changes on the chart, he raised his head and looked in the direction pointed by the bow of the Lost Home.

Deep in the mist, a vague silhouette of land is gradually emerging.

Right on the six nautical mile border!

"It's land!" Nina ran to the high platform at the stern of the ship and shouted happily while staring at the shadow that was becoming clearer in the fog with wide eyes, "Land has appeared!"

Yes, land has appeared, and the land that appears in this direction is undoubtedly the target of the combined fleet this time - the lair called the "Holy Land" by those Annihilation Cultists.

Soon, several church warships following the Lost Home also observed the outline of the land. After realizing that the "holy land" was located at the critical point of six nautical miles, everyone tensed up in an instant.

At the tail of each church warship, large tracts of white steam were released above the ship's church, and sacred grease was poured into the cauldron. The sailors silently recited the names of their gods while running everywhere. At the gun emplacement, priests wearing burqas came to the deck and began to pour holy water on the cannons, light incense, and bless the cannonballs with prayers.

At the same time, there were still dark human-shaped objects floating from the sea in the direction of the "Holy Land", and floating objects still hit the hull from time to time. The disturbing "dong-dong" sound never stopped, knocking on everyone's body. The bottom of a ship seems to hit everyone's heart.

Along with a burst of flying colorful papers, Lucretia came to the observation deck at the top of the mast. She observed the "island" that appeared in the distance through the fog with extremely poor visibility. After a while, she Return to Duncan on the deck.

"There were some lights visible on the island, but there was no sign of any activity - there was a lifeless aura hanging around the area, and I felt like something was wrong."

Listening to Lucretia's report, Duncan just nodded slightly and then waved to the side.

The plump white dove immediately flew down from the nearby mast and almost hit Duncan on the shoulder with a "thud".

Duncan turned his head with a subtle expression and glanced at the pigeon on his shoulder: "...You should consider losing weight."

Ai Yi tilted his head and immediately emphasized his position loudly: "V me 50! V me 50!"

"... Pretend I didn't say it." Duncan sighed, ignored the pigeon's noise, and directly gave it an order from the bottom of his heart.

The next second, Ai Yi's body suddenly burst into flames, turning into a rugged bone pigeon and flying straight into the sky.

The bone pigeon wrapped in flames flew through the fog like an inverted meteor, approaching the shadowy black island from a high place.

Duncan, who stayed on the deck of the Lost Home, narrowed his eyes slightly.

Through the vision shared by the flames, a scene from an overhead perspective that was somewhat abstract and distorted, but with vaguely discernible details, began to appear in his mind.

Ai was quickly approaching the coast of the island - from the vision returned, Duncan saw the rugged edge of the latter as if it had been torn apart by something, and also saw a narrow and secret place. If not seen from the air, It is a secret port that is difficult to detect by observation. Further towards the interior of the island, roads and some scattered high and low buildings can still be vaguely discerned. There are also many weird and sharp things that look like stalagmites scattered on the island. It seems to be large in scale, but I can't tell what it is exactly.

As Lucretia reported, there was no sign of activity on the island.

A huge combined fleet, a flaming beacon burning in the thick fog, a huge strange bird wrapped in flames, flying over the port from close range - if these combined cannot make the Annihilation entrenched on the island If the believers react, there is only one possibility.

"There seemed to be no one on the island - at least no living souls in sight."

While maintaining vision sharing with Ai, Duncan turned his head and said to Lucretia beside him.

The people on the deck looked at each other.

"There are no living people on the island..." Fanna opened her eyes slightly and turned to look in the direction of the island, "They all ran away? Or are they dead? Or..."

She stopped suddenly, her eyes swept across the deck with some strangeness, and finally landed on the "humanoid rough" still lying quietly on the deck, guarded by the doll Luni.

"...Inform the people of the Church of the Deep Sea and Death that we need to get close to the island, and everyone should follow - don't fall behind in the fog."

Under Duncan's order, the entire fleet began to slowly approach the strange and rugged black island that exuded a disturbing aura.

The island in the distance is gradually becoming clearer, and as the distance continues to shorten, it takes on more and more details that feel inconsistent.

“Its edge looks like a piece torn off from some huge whole,” Duncan described to others what he saw from Aye’s perspective. “We are approaching the coast on the west side of it, and there are everywhere here. "It's all clustered rock formations, but between the cliffs there's a hidden waterway that leads to an inner harbor - the terrain appears to be gentle."

"Can a ship as big as the Lost Home be allowed in?" Nina asked curiously from the side.

"It should be possible, but I don't plan to just sail in - the same goes for other ships," Duncan said while thinking. "We still don't know the details of the island. My idea is to let the fleet go in front of the 'pass' Stop, then organize a group of people to take a small boat to the island, roughly understand the situation at the landing point, and then send more people ashore."

Others nodded.

At this moment, Duncan seemed to feel something and suddenly raised his head and looked forward.

He saw that the large ship, which had been used as a "spiritual torch" along the way and was captured from the cultists, was slowly accelerating.

Its speed was getting faster and faster, as if it suddenly broke free from the reins and rushed straight towards the "Holy Land Island" without Duncan's order.

It seemed to have lost its weight, as light as a gust of wind.

Almost in the blink of an eye, it had crossed the misty sea and arrived at the cliff with countless huge rocks standing on the edge of the island.

Then he hit it without hesitation.