Chapter 410 – The Twins
Chapter 410: Twin Lives
In the roar of cannon fire, a strange twin ghost ship just cut in, and in the eyes of the two sides of the war rushed across the battlefield, not to mention the sea fog ship, Tirian even felt that even the fog deep in those “fake” warships followed a few seconds.
Then, he heard Aiden’s voice from the side: “The ship …… captain, just ran past that seems to be also inside the fog out, we …… fight?”
On the bridge, a pair of eyes all turned to their captain, because the words that the captain had said a moment before were still stuck in everyone’s mind at this time:
After the start of the war, all the new things that appear in this sea are enemies.
“…… What the hell!” After a few seconds of embarrassingly unbearable silence, Tirian finally glared and bellowed, “Catch up? And you guys didn’t see the shadow of that ship in the ocean?”
Aiden instantly scrunched his neck, a reflection crossing his naked head as he hesitantly spoke, “I saw it, that shadow …… seems to be entwined with spirit fire.”
As soon as the first mate’s words fell, a low rumble came from deep within the Sea Mist’s hull, while the siren above the deck suddenly sounded – it was as if this Transcendentally-powered transformed, erstwhile Lost Country Fleet’s main battleship was responding spontaneously, affirming the first mate’s judgment.
“The ship’s sensing it too,” Aiden looked up and around with a complicated expression at Tirion, “Captain, what do you think that ship just came from?”
“…… Perhaps it is father’s arrangement, “Tirian said in a serious expression and said in a deep voice, “Don’t look deeply into it, continue the battle. Also notify all friendly forces, including the Frost Navy, not to block that weird …… forget it, I guess that speed ……”
As soon as he was in the middle of his words, the sailor listening to the radio next to him suddenly received some kind of message, and immediately stood up and reported in a loud voice, “Captain! The Frost Navy’s ‘Sea Lord’ ship came in contact, saying that just now there was a ghost ship with strange speed and weird appearance that suddenly rushed past their eyes and headed straight for the Frost Main Island, and they inquired whether that was our ship or not.”
Tirian pinched his brow hard for a moment before waving his hand, “You can’t mention the Lost Country ship to them – just say it’s a friendly ship, and don’t explain anything else. I’ll confirm the situation with ‘him’ once the battle has stabilized a bit.”
“Aye, Captain!”
The cannons roared, and the fires and explosions in the fog didn’t calm down a little from this momentary interlude, and between the huge columns of water that rose up to the sky in the distance, Tirian’s thoughtful gaze pierced through the fog of the engagement zone, quietly watching the direction in which the strange ship had just departed.
……
“I feel like we just ran into something!”
Lawrence hurriedly ran back to his table from beside the porthole and said aloud to a small mirror placed on the table, followed by an uneasy glance up to the outside, seeing that the sea outside the porthole was dim and hazy, as if countless shadowed and illusory things were floating on the surface, and for a moment it was impossible for one to distinguish where it was real and where it was an illusion.
The White Oak itself was traveling through the phantoms at an astonishing speed.
A black fog surged up from the mirror, and the female adventurer in the captain’s uniform appeared in the fog.
“We didn’t crash,” Martha said with a pleasant smile on her face, “we just barely missed it.”
“Nearly crashing is creepy enough!” Lawrence casually picked up the small mirror and darted out as he walked towards the window, “I hadn’t realized that just now when there was no frame of reference – what the hell kind of speed are we going now?!”
“Very fast, very, very fast-an invisible, formless phantom that can cross the waves like the wind,” Martha smiled, looking Lawrence in the eye through the mirror, “Do you remember what you said to me many years ago? You said that you would transform the White Oak and Black Oak into the finest pioneer exploration ships, and then join me, sweeping across the sea like the wind …… my love, we are now at least seven to eight levels.”
“That was a metaphor on my part! A metaphor!” There was a hint of horror in Lawrence’s eyes, for just as so spoke, he watched as yet another massive phantom swept almost grazing the porthole in front of him to the rear, the phantom’s bridge towering, the turrets on the side of its hull pointing away into the distance, as it raged in battle with an enemy in another dimension, and as if the White Oak-Black Oak had rushed straight past the muzzles of its main guns.
After a moment, Lawrence raised his hand to tap his forehead and sighed, “Never mind, just make sure you’re safe, what’s going on out there right now?”
“We’re crossing the war zone waters.” Martha’s tone was gentle and calm.
“War zone? Who’s at war?”
Martha in the mirror turned her head as if she was observing the situation on her side of the room, and after a moment turned her eyes back, “The Frost Navy of the real world, and that great fleet of Sea Mist, and their opponents are the Fakes that have come up from the mirror image to the real world.”
Lawrence’s heart sank and his expression became grave, “…… The final moment has arrived?”
“It looks like it’s here,” Martha said softly, “The mirror image is rejoining the real world, and the final process of ‘reversing the phase’ has begun.”
“Why so soon? I thought you said the process wasn’t that early?”
“I can only make generalized speculations, Lawrence – after breaking away from the ranks of the fakes, the connection between me and this mirror world has been weakening at a rapid rate; I don’t know what’s happening, but someone has obviously consciously accelerated the process of mirror reversal… …” Lawrence didn’t say anything for a while, he just looked out the window, at the hazy and chaotic sea and those ever-passing phantoms of nothingness, and only after a few seconds did he suddenly ask, “We’re still sailing through the Mirror Sea?”
“Yes, we’re still trapped in this mirror world,” Martha nodded, “but the barrier between the mirror and the real world is blurring – leaving us little time.”
“What happens if the reversal is actually complete?” Lawrence asked.
“A city-state turns into a hotbed for the descent of the Ancient Gods, what do you think will happen?” Martha asked back with a calm expression.
Lawrence subconsciously pressed his temples.
“…… Damn, how far are we from Frost?”
“We’re almost there,” Martha raised her hand in the mirror and pointed out the window, “I can already see the lights of the harbor area on my side, untold numbers of ships are massing in the surrounding waters, countless replicas of shipwrecks from the past half century- -but they’re ignoring the Black Oak, at least for the time being.”
Nodding gravely, Lawrence grabbed the mirror that he had used to talk to Martha and pushed the door open to leave his captain’s quarters, asking in a hushed voice as he walked in the direction of the bridge, “What do you need me to do when we reach the Frost?”
“Find their lair – the force that was used to create and maintain this mirror world is deep within the Frost, and I can sense its approximate location,” the smile that was always on Martha’s face shifted to a serious one, and she looked into Lawrence’s eyes with an extraordinarily serious tone as she said. “And once you start looking for it, the fakes that are coiled around the city-state should react immediately as well, I’ll find a way to stall them.”
“Can …… deal with just two ships, Black Oak and White Oak? You just said that there are countless ships gathering ……”
“We’re part of the Lost Country Fleet, Lawrence,” Martha said with another smile on her lips, “And it’s not like we’re the only ones involved in this fight.”
Lawrence responded quickly, looking thoughtfully out the corridor window.
The shadows of those massive ships were fighting in the distant sea, and as time went on, the line between mirror image and reality was blurring further, and soon, including both mirror frost and real frost, this entire area of the sea would be ablaze.
“I see,” Lawrence nodded, withdrawing his gaze from looking out of the window and continuing to walk briskly in the direction of the bridge, “but there’s still one last question – it’s fine for me to lead the team into the Frost, but what are we going to do about the that …… ‘contraption’ deep within the city-state? If that’s really an Ancient God or part of an Ancient God, as you say, then unusual weapons might not be able to deal with it.”
The bridge arrived.
Lawrence settled down and stepped forward to push open the door.
His first mate, his second mate, the ship’s chaplain, his crew, were all here waiting for him.
There was also the odd-looking anomaly 077-Sailor-the dryad had found a crew cap from the White Oak somewhere to wear on his head, and at the moment was sitting decently in one of the chairs, studying the rest of the crew with curiosity and concentration.
Lawrence approached them, and the crew rose to salute him.
Martha’s voice then came through the mirror, “You’ll have help.”
Lawrence responded to the crew’s salutations, and when he did, he looked at Martha in the mirror in surprise, “Help?”
“Yes, helpers – for the past many years, they have fought in the depths of this mirror world, trying to break through the door that leads to the deepest part of the city-state, but never succeeding, you go and find them, you don’t need to explain your intentions, they will naturally become your helpers …… probably.”
“Probably?!”
“Because I’m not sure what kind of beings they are, either, or whether they can communicate with people or not-Lawrence, you know, I haven’t had much freedom, though I’ve been wandering around here for years.”
“Well, I see, Helper,” Lawrence sighed, and then his tone took on a note of curiosity, “I thought we were the only ones here fighting the ‘fakes’ around us, but I didn’t realize there were others, too. Who the hell are they?”
“They call themselves the …… Queen’s Guard.”
(Push book time, book title: “Savior busy forked”, direct quote from the author’s own testimonials: “A twisted book with only meaningless trolling and nothing else”, you can go and support it if you’re interested.)
(End of chapter)