"Oh gods..."
Looking at the waves outside, Captain Costa of the Golden Ram wore an expression of despair.
The sound he made wasn't like a prayer, but more like the last breath being forcibly squeezed from his chest.
He was lamenting his fate. A temporary malfunction had caused the ship to suddenly lose control and veer outside the safe route.
Normally, even when entering dangerous waters, as long as you turned back to the correct route in time, you could regain safety.
But his luck was just that terrible. On the return journey, the ship suddenly stopped, as if seized by something, unable to move forward!
Creak
The ship was slowly sinking. Invisible forces overcame buoyancy, dragging the vessel down into the water.
Costa watched helplessly as the iron railings along the ship's edge twisted and deformed, deeply dented with mark after mark.
Looking closely, they seemed to be the impressions of countless fingers. In other words, many invisible arms had grabbed hold of this ship, trying to pull them into the deep sea.
Good god!
"Stoke the boilers! Keep feeding the fuel! Gunners, fire at the ship's sides!"
Costa shouted in terror and fury, his voice high-pitched. "Everyone listen up! If you don't want to die, then move!"
The crew wore equally fearful expressions as they frantically began their struggle for survival.
Whoosh!
Driven by bellows and massive amounts of fuel, the boilers burned red-hot, converting surging steam power into forward momentum for the ship.
Boom! Boom!
Cannon after cannon fired out, attacking the darkness beyond the ship's sides.
However, even the overloaded boilers couldn't break the ship free. The cannonballs flew through empty air, falling into the sea without hitting anything. The entire ship continued being pressed downward.
"Storm above!"
"Goddess!"
Chaotic wailing came from the cabins below. Those were the passengers aboard the Golden Ram, utterly despairing.
Even the crew fighting for their lives felt their own powerlessness, standing numbly in place with twisted, miserable expressions.
Fear completely seized Costa's mind. He could almost feel death approaching step by step.
Then he saw the sun.
Theoretically speaking, this was deep within the Berserk Sea, where the sky was eternally piled with dark clouds.
Even at noon, you couldn't hope to see the slightest bit of sunlight. But Costa would swear that in that instant, he and everyone on the ship saw the most brilliant sunshine.
Clear, bright, pure, magnificent.
That light seemed to pass through their bodies and shine directly into their hearts.
In a flash, Costa, trapped in a desperate situation, felt reborn. All negative emotions were completely dispelled.
The warmth of sunlight remained in his heart, giving him tremendous courage.
Boom!
At that moment, the entire ship suddenly rose a great distance, returning to its proper waterline position.
"Captain, our ship can move forward again!"
Though the crew were knocked around by the impact, excited shouts quickly rang out.
"Turn around immediately! Return to the safe route!"
Costa's spirits lifted.
He issued the order again, and the crew regained their vitality, quickly reversing direction and returning to the safe route.
Everyone on the ship was cheering, celebrating their escape from death. Some even had unnecessary thoughts, planning to convert to the Sun God. For people from the nation of Loen, this could be considered quite absurd.
---
Silas withdrew his hand, gazing at the violent sea in the distance.
Those blood-stained phantom arms and bluish-black tentacles were sizzling and burning, turning to ash.
The ordinary people on that ship didn't know that patch of sea was densely covered with such things. It was these creatures that had grabbed the ship and planned to spread death.
These spirit world creatures were tainted with the aura of death, making them extremely vulnerable to the abilities of the Sun pathway.
He watched the ship return to the safe route and depart, then looked around himself.
Click, click—
Several massive black monsters were crawling rapidly across the sea's surface, charging toward Silas.
Their limbs were thin and elongated, supporting their bodies like water striders. Upon closer observation, he discovered their bodies were actually composed of countless black skeletons!
With tooth-aching sounds of grinding joints, those skull heads rotated, turning their hollow eye sockets toward Silas.
Large numbers of bloody arms and bluish-black tentacles rose from the sea surface, clustering together, swaying endlessly.
In the distant darkness, even more strange spirit world creatures were rapidly approaching.
Silas's actions had revealed his position, provoking the hostility of creatures throughout the entire area.
They'd already harbored enmity and resistance toward him, and now they had ample reason to attack!
But Silas looked at them calmly, then manipulated the sound of tides within his body.
That illusory sound suddenly grew loud, even faintly transmitting outside his body, showing signs of spreading outward.
In the next moment, all the spirit world creatures' movements abruptly halted. Immediately after, the black skeleton monsters turned around and drifted away into the distance.
The bloody arms sharply retracted. The creatures spreading from farther away also quickly disappeared.
Soon, with Silas as the center, the entire sea area became extremely empty, with only the tactless storm still raging.
Whoosh—
They seem both fearful and resistant toward me.
Silas muttered to himself, then set off again, following the route toward Midway Island.
As the name suggested, Midway Island was located at the very center of the Berserk Sea. Most ships traveling from the Northern Continent to the Southern Continent had to dock here to rest and recover, preparing for the second half of their journey ahead.
Silas arrived at Midway Island near noon. The island was surrounded by storms and darkness. At the docks stood a lighthouse, perpetually lit to guide nearby ships.
He quickly landed on the island, discovering the ground here was completely bare.
Probably because it was perpetually surrounded by storms and lacked sunlight, the islands of the Berserk Sea had no vegetation at all, only some moss.
Midway Island had only one large town settlement.
Silas walked in with "psychological invisibility" activated, following the flow of people into a dimly lit bar.
Inside the bar hung numerous flags from Northern Continent nations: Loen, Feysac, Intis, Feynapotter, and more.
"Give me a Loenese Rye."
A man at the bar counter spoke to the bartender.
"11 soli per glass."
The bartender wiped a glass, speaking listlessly.
"That expensive? Why don't you just rob people!"
The man jumped in shock, then cursed angrily.
"tff, this is the center of the Berserk Sea! No sunlight, can't even grow a damn blade of grass!" the bartender shouted back.
"First time in the Berserk Sea, huh? Let me tell you, all the food on this island is shipped in by boats, so of course it's worth that price. Take it or leave it!"
So agitated... probably from not seeing sunlight for so long. Depression.
Silas thought to himself, casually waving his hand to release a "Soothe" to calm the bartender's emotions somewhat, then said, "One lemon water and a plate of fresh fish."
"Meow."
Luna poked her head out from Silas's arms, giving a soft call.