Chapter 1354 — Deep in the Vast Ocean
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
"I know, the Society of Blame-Everything," Amber waved a hand, then spoke again with some anxiety, "Tell me... could this be some kind of weapon they've built? A weapon that can strike out at the sea from across the entire continent? Maybe the anomalous celestial phenomena we've observed all over the continent are just the interference released when this weapon was activated. After all, they have the Deep Blue Leyline Network to support them—as long as there's enough energy, even with limited technical skill they can build something terrifying..."
"There's no use in wild guessing now," Gao Yang shook his head. "Only one thing is certain: a fleet that large can't vanish into thin air. Tyr has also confirmed that Cassandra still 'exists'—that siren navigator hasn't died back to Loren or back to Antavien—so I'm more inclined to think Byron's fleet is still sailing somewhere on the sea, only for some reason... they moved an enormous distance in an extremely short time, even to a place Tyr's song can't reach..."
......
A breeze swept across the open, calm ocean, bringing with it a fresh, faintly briny scent; gently rolling waves lapped softly against the alloy armor on the warship's flanks, and the towering prow met the brilliant sunlight pouring down from the sky, casting a broad shadow on the sea—this stretch of ocean was so calm at this moment that it was as if the earlier storm and the chaotic magic had all been an illusion.
The magical interference permeating the waters had not yet fully dissipated; the ship's communication systems and various sensing devices were still constantly picking up magical signals difficult to parse. These residual traces were the only evidence that the storm had truly existed. Byron stood on the platform of the captain's seat, brow tightly furrowed as he stared at the interference noise projected from the communication device, then turned his head toward the technical officer beside him. "Still no way to restore communications?"
"No response on any channel—our contact with the continent is completely severed. Only the fleet's internal communication system is still running normally," the technical officer reported with some nervousness. "Also, the ocean readings are highly abnormal. This stretch of sea is completely unfamiliar."
"...Keep calling." Byron gave the order, then stepped away from the captain's seat. He passed through a busy control center and the connecting bridge on the side of the command deck, pushed open the heavy sealed hatch, and came out onto the observation deck of the upper deck. The warm sea breeze blew in from afar, stirring his messy hair and his equally messy mood. He gazed into the distance and saw only the mist and clouds that had not yet fully dissolved from the horizon after the storm, and between them, a vast ocean.
No land, no islands, no reference objects of any kind that ought to be visible in these waters. The Wintercold was drifting in the center of an endless ocean. This was a completely unfamiliar sea, not on any known route, and it had clearly exceeded the transmission limit of the circumcontinental route's communication chain.
Footsteps came from nearby. Byron turned at the sound and saw Ashalena, the red-haired dragon-marked witch, walking toward him. He gave her a slight nod. "It seems the storm 'flung' us into unfamiliar waters. Our deviation from the route is even more extreme than I imagined."
"...A storm can't 'fling' a group of giant ships of this scale. We've clearly come far from Loren's coastal waters," Ashalena shrugged. "Did you notice the warm sea breeze here and the angle of the sunlight?"