Embers of Embers

Chapter 547 Sea of ​​Death [Thanks to the leader of Goumian 33]
Everything within the field of vision was gray, and there were faint bursts of thunder coming from a distant place, as if a storm was brewing somewhere.
"Something's wrong. How long do you think it has been since I fell into coma?" Lorenzo turned around and asked Seleu, "Just judge by your feelings, Seleu."
"How...about how many hours?" Seliu said.
"It was already late at night when we left, plus fighting and coma." Lorenzo's expression became solemn, and he ran straight towards the deck.
"What's wrong!"
Seliu followed hard behind him, and the equipment made her very slow.
"Didn't you notice? It should be almost dawn now!" Lorenzo shouted loudly, "But the field of vision is still dark, and there is no sign of dawn."
The whole world seemed to lose its light and was covered by heavy lead ash. They were piled up one after another, trapping everyone here like a heavy city wall.
"So? If there are dark clouds, this is normal..."
Seliu said, but at the end of her words, her voice couldn't help but tremble. She noticed something, something that she ignored, something that she should have noticed.
Corrosion not only affects the operation of equipment, but also affects people's cognition. Under the fierce battle, the spirit is extremely tense, and under such high pressure, no one notices those subtle changes.
I don't know when the deepest darkness has enveloped them, but no one knows it.
……
"Has the fighting stopped?"
In the darkness, someone asked such a question, and after a while, another weak voice answered.
"Probably, there has been no shelling for a while, it should be over."
Gallon responded to the deputy's question. In this dim cabin, he was half lying on the cold ground.
This is a cargo hold. These people probably didn't expect that they would have anything like "prisoners", so they had to temporarily imprison Garen and others here. Their attitude was not bad, at least it could be considered friendly.
The ship's doctor gave Gallon a brief treatment. After stopping the bleeding, he used several wooden frames to correct the position of his ankle, and also gave him a crutch.
So now Garen doesn't have any worries about his life... For the time being, now that they have boarded the pirate ship, they are already in a state of prosperity and loss to a certain extent.
"Sir, what should we do next?"
The deputy leaned towards Garen, who was the only one with the ability to move freely.
"I do not know."
Kanon replied simply.
His eyes were dull and scattered around casually, with a look of death on his face.
Garen witnessed with his own eyes the Ice Bay falling into a sea of ​​fire, and also witnessed Floki going crazy. The things he cared about in his life were not too many, but they all collapsed in one night.
He completely lost his so-called fighting spirit, his mood was also declining for some reason, and darkness gradually eroded his heart.
"Sir, cheer up!"
The deputy was unwilling to accept that Garen had become like this. He knelt beside Garen and tried to make him sit up, but Garen was slumping feebly as if someone had removed his bones.
"What else is worth striving for? Clough."
Garen asked the deputy in confusion, and then he looked at the corner of the cabin. The stench and urine smell came from that dark corner.
"I was a defeated slave at the beginning. I killed my master and fled all the way to Lingbing Bay. I was wanted and hunted. Lord Floki accepted me. He accepted all of us. Then From that moment on, I decided that I would give everything I had to this territory.”
In the dark corner, the rickety figure trembled, and he uttered a burst of indistinct murmurs, followed by silly laughter.
Garen closed his eyes in pain. Floki's madness was not enough to defeat him, but when he saw the volley of artillery destroying the Ice Bay with his own eyes, he was swallowed by the darkness.
For strangers like Lorenzo, they cannot have such feelings, but for Garon, this land has a profound meaning to him. It is the place where he starts over and where he swears allegiance.
Bingbing Bay was severely injured, and the lord Floki became a fool. This place will become a battlefield for the king and the lords to compete. Even if he returns alive, he will inevitably be used and killed.
Overnight, the Lingbing Bay that Garon knew was far away from him. He tried his best to hold on to this land, but in the end he was still vulnerable.
Seeing Galen like this, Clough didn't know what to say. He stepped aside and sat down slowly. Now their life and death depended on the wishes of Lorenzo and others, and he didn't know what would happen next. What.
The strange thing is that Clough isn't that scared anymore. Maybe it's because, like Garen, he has nothing to worry about anymore, so he doesn't have anything to fear anymore.
His background was better than Gallon, but only better. Clough came from a remote and cold island. After a harsh winter, he was the only one left in the village.
Then...then Clough came to Lingbing Bay and started a new life here.
"Ah...ah!"
A sudden roar awoke the two of them from their slumber, and Floki struggled violently.
Garen and Clough wanted to try to comfort Floki, but they stopped before they could take action. A cold and depressing power suddenly appeared. It had been lurking around the two of them for a long time, until then. Showing its ferocious fangs.
In the darkness, for some reason, Floki's figure became ferocious, exuding a terrifying aura. The two of them couldn't see Floki's appearance at all, but they still felt the pressure, as if there was something hidden in the darkness. It is a beast that chooses and devours people.
"Big... lord."
Garen tried to shout, and with the shout Floki squirmed and crawled out of the darkness.
The familiar face became extremely hateful, the mortal's facial features were twisted together, saliva flowed from the corners of his mouth, Floki was tied up, and he was moving hard on the ground, like a maggot, but like he was tied up beast.
"What's going on here?"
Garen has never seen Floki like this. Although he is crazy, he is not very aggressive. But now Floki seems to be infected by something and becomes bloodthirsty.
"From just now, I feel like something is touching us, Garen."
It's like being stared at by a bloodthirsty beast in a dark forest.
Clough was keenly aware of this strange influence. Human instinct made him fear this unknown strangeness, and even the honorific title was forgotten for a while.
After listening to Clough's words, Garen seemed to be awakened. After getting rid of the confusion, he recognized everything in front of him. In an instant, all the information broke through the barrier and poured into his mind.
The weird feeling lurking around him became more and more obvious at this moment. Garen could even hear the incessant murmurs, with an inescapable stickiness in their voices, and the smell of the sea lingered on the tip of his nose.
He could even hear the trickling sound of water, like raindrops after a storm, waves passing by on the deck, saliva left from the mouths of beasts...
It seems that there is some invisible monster wandering around them at this moment. Mortals cannot observe these strange existences, but like reflections in water, Garen cannot touch those strange existences, but he can feel them overlapping with reality. The shadow left in reality.
This increasingly nauseating feeling, the sinking mind, and the gradually distorted vision.
Garen couldn't see them, but he could feel them.
"what!"
Floki roared, and he squirmed closer to Garen, trying to bite him hard, but Clough pressed up in time and pinned Floki firmly under him.
He struggled so fiercely that Clough could hardly suppress him. It was only then that Clough discovered the power in Floki's body.
In the past few months, Floki's body has been weakening due to his madness, as if he was about to die. This sickly body makes everyone feel weak, but now Floki seems to have never lost these powers. Shockingly big.
"Hold it down!"
Garen also recovered from his panic at this time, and he also pressed on Floki's body, restraining him firmly.
This kind of struggle didn't last long. Clough picked up the extra rope and wrapped it tightly a few more times. Floki finally calmed down and curled up in a dark corner, panting like a beast from time to time.
"What do you think, this feeling..." Clough asked Garen with some fear.
After they woke up from the numbness, they realized the strange atmosphere in the cabin at the moment. They saw through the falsehood and saw the real world.
"I...I heard adults talk about this feeling," Garen seemed to be reminded of some memories. He looked at his trembling hands, "This feeling of the heart being clenched, this feeling of the blood being cold. Feel."
"This is fear from the heart, awe from the heart, laden with sacrifices, offering blood and glory to the gods."
Garen whispered something that Clough couldn't understand. This was what Floki had said to Garen. Garen, like Clough, didn't understand it at all, and Floki said with a smile. When Long felt that power, he would naturally understand the meaning of these words.
The next moment Garen struggled to get up. He held on to the wall and struggled to stand upright until he could see the outside world through the porthole.
It was a bleak world, with hazy gray fog connecting the sky and the sea, blocking every confused soul like a city wall.
"We... have entered the divine realm."
Garen said softly.
……
"Notar, how is the situation?"
Shrike walked into the command room tiredly. In order to prevent monsters lurking on the ship, he had just led a team to search the entire Morning Glory Advance. The good news was that there were no monsters on the ship, and even if there were, they were turned into corpses. The bad news was that there were no monsters on the ship. The damage to the hull was more serious than they expected.
"It's okay. We are out of the enemy's range, but it will take some time to get rid of them."
Notar said, wrapping his coat tightly around him.
The temperature in the command room is very low. It was also affected during the fierce battle. The glass was broken and the cold wind rolled inside. The soldiers repaired this place not long ago, but it was only a simple repair, and there was still leakage in the gaps. The wind makes people tremble uncontrollably.
"Have the effects of erosion not abated yet?" Notal asked again. "The Geiger counter keeps beeping. It's really noisy."
"I don't know, but it's normal. This kind of thing will remain for a while."
Shrike walked to the table, which contained pinned charts and other information. He looked at them very tiredly.
He first went to the Casino with Lorenzo, and then went to kidnap Floki. Then there was this fierce naval battle, for which Shrike even put on the Original Sin Armor.
I didn't sleep all night, and I was eroded again, and then I took a few florund potions. Now the potion's effect is fading a little bit, and my tired spirit is gradually exposed.
The whites of Shrike's eyes were bloodshot and his mental state was very bad. He needed to rest, but the crisis was not over yet and he could not stop yet.
"erosion……"
He whispered, and then looked at the affected instrument panel. The readings were still inaccurate, the needles were shaking back and forth, and the compass was spinning wildly. No one knew the direction they were in.
What happened in front of him made Shrike seem to remember something, but his spirit was really tired, and for a while he just couldn't remember his vague memory.
It's just...it's just that Shrike thinks this thing should be very important, very important.
What is it?
Shrike looked at the chart on the table. Small red flags were inserted all over the chart along the route of the Morning Glory Advance. It started along Yin Erweg, went deep into the Viking countries, and turned around at Lingbing Bay.
"Where will we go after we get rid of them? Shrike."
Notar asked, he was at the helm, looking at the gray world, not sure where to go.
There was no sun, no stars, just monotonous gray. It seemed that at a certain moment they had entered the world of the dead, roaming on the sea of ​​the dead, with no end in sight.
"after……"
The shrike picked up a small red flag and tried to place it on the chart. He looked at the position of Lingbing Bay, and then analyzed the position of the Morning Glory Advance.
"cliff……"
His voice sounded like he was dreaming. Shrike remembered that the Morning Glory Advance made a large circle around the Lingbing Bay, with the cliff behind it, and then accelerated to escape the enemy's pursuit...
Shrike thought so, sliding his fingers on the chart along with the analysis in his mind, until he touched a blank space.
There were no markings, nothing drawn on them, just a dull blank space.
It is really too mysterious, and only Floki roughly knows its scope, so its location is not very clear on most charts, but what is certain is that it is in the north, more distant to the north, the north after crossing Lengbing Bay.
The sleepiness and confusion in Shrike's eyes disappeared, and what appeared instead were the pupils of his eyes that had tightened again, filled with fear and panic. He could clearly feel that at this moment, the beating of his heart became a little more intense. The hot blood is transported throughout the body to dispel the cold.
"Notar, don't you think these Geiger counters are beeping for too long?" Shrike murmured.
"It's normal. We have just been attacked by demons, and there will always be residual erosion."
Notal was still affected. In order to explain this deformed reality, his mind naturally revised his cognition and distorted reality so that Notal felt that the logic of reality had not been broken.
"No... erosion is also divided into strong and weak levels. Don't you think the frequency of these sirens is too consistent? The Morning Glory Advance is so huge, there will always be areas that are slightly affected. How can it be so consistent?"
Listening to Shrike's words, the illusion in Notar's eyes gradually dissipated, and he responded.
"Unless there's an extremely large source of pollution that hangs over all of us directly."
"I should have remembered it earlier, I shouldn't have forgotten it."
Shrike looked at the blank area on the chart and said regretfully that he was too tired and these complex factors led to his negligence.
"We've arrived."
Shrike's words were interrupted, and the door of the command room was suddenly kicked open. Lorenzo rushed in with a nervous look on his face, screaming at Shrike and Notar.
"Sea of ​​Silence! This is the Sea of ​​Silence!"
In front of this silent sea, the Morning Glory Advance seemed so small. It moved forward slowly. Facing this gray and dead world, it had no way of turning back.
(End of this chapter)