Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 553 Is it the city in the mirror?

Since ancient times, humans have been facing two survival problems: one is how to conquer nature; the other is how to conquer disasters. The former includes dangerous environments, changeable climates, and even powerful aliens and monsters; the latter refers to various disasters caused by more complex factors: storms, earthquakes, mudslides, volcanic eruptions, avalanches... The power that Saint Tomi obtained from the girl's royal power was inherited by later generations, who successively developed extraordinary, magic, and magic systems, thus completing the conquest of the former; and the natural disaster missions in the seven major orthodox churches completed the conquest of the latter with the innate wisdom and talents of humans.

Galene felt that the natural disaster detection device was useless because she stood on the side of the mirror elves. For the aliens who were born with the ability to use magic, natural disasters were terrifying, but as long as they were protected by the demigods, the tribe could survive the crisis without any serious damage. But humans were different. Even at the moment when the magic system had lowered the threshold for entry into the mysterious world, the number of humans who had mastered extraordinary powers was still less than one ten-thousandth of the total population, and we had to exclude those extraordinary people, evil gods or angels who only wanted to pursue power and faith and were indifferent to the disasters of their compatriots. In this way, the only extraordinary force that was truly dedicated to the human race was the Church Alliance.

The natural disaster detection device invented by the Natural Disaster Mission has essentially departed from the unspoken principle of "power must be used to pursue higher desires" in the mysterious world, and positioned it as a magical device that "can benefit ordinary people". The mirror elves of Nereids, who are blessed by two demigods, certainly don't know how helpless weak humans are in the face of natural disasters, and what kind of power they can unleash after possessing such a magical device that can predict natural disasters.

Whether it is early prevention, evacuation, construction of shelters, or post-disaster relief, reconstruction, and epidemic prevention, it is enough to save countless precious lives. Perhaps this is why the believers of the Scourge Mission are called "messengers": what they convey to the world is not only the news of disaster precursors, but also the hope of life.

Even though he was already in an enemy position, Metien still had to say that the person who invented the natural disaster detection device was truly great.

Of course, Metien didn't say these thoughts out loud. After the journey, she understood that some things in the world are not about right or wrong, but about position. So there is nothing that must be said, especially when the other party has stated his position and is firm in his attitude, there is no need to say these words that may cause conflicts. Although the pink-haired little girl is often regarded as naive by her brother and others, she is not a fool.

So, she just asked a question that any girl of her age would ask out of curiosity: "How did the people from the Order build these natural disaster detection devices in such a deep sea? Do they also know how to breathe underwater and adapt to the deep sea?"

"How is that possible?" Galene was amused by the girl's innocent words, with a slight smile on her lips. "I haven't personally seen the scene of them building the natural disaster detection device, but I heard from colleagues who have monitored ships at sea that these devices are assembled in advance and then dropped into the target sea area by specific methods on human steamships. Once they land, they will automatically adapt to the surrounding environment, fix themselves, and start operating... That's probably it."

"I see. Are there many natural disaster detection devices under the Azure Sea?"

"It shouldn't be that many. At least on the route I'm responsible for patrolling, the number will not exceed ten."

"Oh."

……

During the chat, Yunjingkongdao, under the guidance of the mirror elf soldiers, continued to swim deeper into the sea. How many meters deep was it here? The visitors on the ground were not sensitive to this. Maybe it was three thousand meters? Or maybe it was four thousand meters? "We are almost there, everyone." About half an hour later, Jialene suddenly spoke up to remind them. As her voice fell, Yunjingkongdao climbed over a seabed rock mountain that blocked the road, presenting the scene ahead to everyone.

It was a flat and open seabed plain. A large area of ​​deep-sea algae spread out like a lush forest, extending to the edge of the sight. As the waves flowed, layers of green waves were raised. The sound of the waves could be faintly heard. In the central area of ​​the plain, surrounded by ancient forests and echoing with the green waves, stood a huge and steep black rock mountain. It seemed like a magnificent fortress cast by the ancient dwarf craftsmen with obsidian steel. It lay there motionless, taking away the Everyone's attention seemed to hinder the sea from flowing forward; the dark colors were too deep, and once the sight fell on them, it would be swallowed up and cut off in the endless abyss; anyone facing its silent and heavy posture could not help but feel a sense of subjugation and fear from the bottom of their hearts, as if they were not facing a rock without self-awareness, but facing a deep-sea beast that was trying its best to restrain its cruel nature. They had to be careful to avoid angering its majesty, triggering its rage, and bringing about a disaster like a landslide.

It is a solid mountain, an immovable fortress, a dormant beast, or perhaps a volcano that has not yet cooled down after an eruption. On the surface of its iron body, scarlet magma flows in the hideous and scattered cracks. The sticky liquid is burning and releasing blazing flames. From a distance, it looks like deep red lines engraved on its surface, wriggling and extending like life, emitting dazzling red light all the time, illuminating this underwater plain that should have been dark and lightless, and adding a bit of mystery and fantasy to this cold creation of nature.

If this dark underwater rock mountain alone is enough to form people's initial imagination of the world they are about to face, then the city built on the rock mountain has undoubtedly magnified this imagination hundreds or thousands of times, so that people have not yet recovered from the heavy sense of oppression, and when their eyes move upwards, they are stunned again and fall into another shocking feeling of suffocation.

What comes into view is a towering holy wall with crystal-cast spires floating on it. Behind this wall is a beautiful and prosperous city. Its main structure is layered, with numerous buildings and towers in the city. Each layer has a bustling street scene, with people shuttling between houses, shops and workshops, making it extremely prosperous. At the same time, you can see mirror-like transparent stairs suspended in the air along various areas of the city, circling in the air, with teams of mirror elf soldiers walking neatly on them, patrolling and guarding the entire city. The mounts under their crotches are not ordinary seahorses, but another kind of four-legged sea beast with huge wing fins. When the wing fins are spread out, they can glide down with the water flow and quickly reach any corner of the city.

These suspended stairs eventually meet in the sky above, forming a giant, flower-like platform that firmly guards the majestic and magnificent crystal palace in the center. The transparent ice-blue color makes it look not like a building, but rather like an exquisite work of art carved from an entire iceberg. The unique artistic style of the mirror elves gives the palace the most delicate lines and the most elegant appearance, and the seven cold crystal-like towers are arranged on the outside of the palace in the position of the Sirens constellation, flashing different colors with the surge of the tide, from verdant green to deep gray, from holy white to mysterious purple, from cold blue to warm red... Gorgeous and spectacular, it simply does not look like a creation of the human world.

At the same time, on the left and right sides of the city, there is an ancient guardian statue. They are nearly 100 meters high, wearing armor and helmets, with a solemn and serious temperament, holding a sword in one hand and a crown in the other, guarding this city located on the deep sea rock mountain unswervingly, defending all the glory and vicissitudes since its birth.

Metien and her friends were stunned, staring at this beautiful and gorgeous city that looked like a work of art. For a moment, they didn't know what words to use to describe their current feelings. At the same time, Galene's proud voice sounded in their ears -

"Dear guests on earth, welcome to the capital of the Azure Mirror, the eternal light under the blue sky and sea, the great city named after the ancient hero of the sea:"

"The City in the Mirror, Nereids!"

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)