Chapter 396 – The Gradual Approach of the Mirror Image
Chapter 396 – The Gradually Approaching Mirror Image
On the patrol ship, everyone stared blankly at the huge ship that suddenly rushed out of the fog, watching its bow that was almost twice as tall as the patrol ship almost graze the side of the ship, watching its mottled and rusted hull slowly move forward, the Warrior seems to still be hanging an old and tattered flag above it, and those cloth strips that were already completely indistinguishable from their original appearance were swaying wildly in the night wind, looking like loosened The appearance of the cloth in the night wind swaying haphazardly, looks like a loose …… shroud.
The commander of the patrol ship was the first to react.
“Continue steering and accelerate away!” He shouted, “Don’t get caught in that ship’s wake!”
Brushing up against a major battleship at this distance was extremely dangerous, especially for a patrol ship belonging to a small vessel – the currents around and aft of a large ship would greatly interfere with the smaller vessel’s course, and any brush against it in the violent rocking would be fatal.
The steam core began to hiss again, and the helmsman was now feeling the horrific effects of the large ship – the patrol ship’s hull was swaying to one side, and he would have to work as hard as he could to stabilize the ship in the unruly currents and accelerate away from the behemoth that was so close at hand.
The helmsman’s efforts were on the verge of failure.
“The Warrior was traveling faster than expected, and the turbulence surrounding the ship was even more treacherous and strange than the helmsman had experienced over the years – it felt as if there were countless invisible ropes on the bottom of the sea wrapped around the rudder and bottom of the patrol boat, dragging the boat with malicious intent. He felt as if there were countless invisible ropes wrapped around the rudder and bottom of the patrol boat, dragging the small boat closer to the old battleship like a ghost ship with malicious intent.
The whole ship began to make a disconcerting creaking sound, as if it were being vigorously torn apart by something unseen.
The little distance the patrol ship gained from the sudden turn and full engine load lasted only a few breaths, then the ship began to close in on the stern of the Warrior at a speed that could be seen by the naked eye, and the rusty “cliffs” rapidly enlarged in everyone’s view, with many shifting, shimmering, and seeming shapes and colors. The rusted “cliffs” rapidly enlarged in everyone’s vision, and many shifting, terrifying figures that looked like human beings appeared near the side of the Warrior, looking down on the boat that was about to capsize with a chilling sight.
“It’s going to crash! It’s going to crash!”
Someone exclaimed, and the sailors immediately ran for the nearest rail or handrail so as to avoid being thrown overboard at the moment of impact, yet the moment the side of the patrol ship came into contact with the stern of the Warrior – the latter disappeared.
The Warrior disappeared, disappearing in plain sight.
Like a waking nightmare, the old main battleship that had covered the sky a second before just instantly dissipated in front of the soldiers’ eyes, leaving only the impression of horror and fear shaking in everyone’s heart, and the men on the bridge and on the deck looked at each other as if waking up from a dream, not knowing where they were.
As the fog dissipated, the cold light of the World’s Creation poured over the surface of the sea, and the cold sea breeze brought many of them to their senses; all that remained on the open sea was an undulating wave of broken water, and fragments of ice floes balking in the distance.
The commander of the patrol ship slowly loosened his grip on the railing and came to the porthole, looking out over the sea as one of his men came up to him and mumbled as if to himself, “Collective hallucination? Was that a phantom just now?”
“…… It wasn’t a hallucination,” the commander’s voice trailed off as he raised his hand and pointed to a guardrail outside the porthole, “See that? The guardrail is broken – we’ve just hit it.”
“And where has it gone now? This didn’t seem to be the case with the previous ‘Petrel’ …… The Petrel didn’t ‘disappear into thin air’ like that until it was completely smashed. And just now the sea current around us suddenly changed, the helmsman couldn’t even control the course ……”
The commander didn’t say anything for a while, and only after a long period of contemplation did he slowly say, “Perhaps …… we just sailed into some kind of crevice – it wasn’t the phantom ship that suddenly appeared and suddenly disappeared, but ourselves .”
An expression of dismay and horror instantly surfaced on the ministry’s face, and immediately afterward, he subconsciously looked at the sea in the distance, as well as the direction of the Frost City State, and only spoke after a few seconds, “So …… are we back in the real world now?”
“…… Call both the Sea Mist and Frostbourne,” the Commander said quickly after a brief pause, “Compare their responses to determine our own status- -don’t approach any ships that appear in the nearby waters until we can determine the situation.”
“Aye.”
……
“They ran into a battleship that sank forty years ago? And then that battleship suddenly disappeared just before it was about to crash?” Inside the captain’s room of the Sea Mist, Tirian leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow after listening to First Officer Aiden’s report, “And now they’re still wandering around the patrol waters – because they’re too afraid to confirm if they’re back in the real world?”
“Yes. The commander of that patrol ship seems to have determined that they briefly sailed into an ‘anomalous sea’ based on the phenomena they experienced during their previous encounter with the Warrior, and now they’re contacting both the Sea Mist Fleet and the Frost in an attempt to determine if their surroundings are real,” Aiden nodded, followed by a shrug, “I think they might be a little spooked and jumpy.”
“…… No, it’s the right caution,” Tirian shook his head instead, his expression rather serious, “We can dislike the current Frost Navy, but we must recognize that they have indeed defended the City State for fifty years –They are no inferior to us in terms of experience against transcendental visions, and that commander’s judgment should be correct.” Listening to the captain’s words, the expression on Aiden’s face finally followed suit with seriousness, “So …… they really did sail briefly into an …… ‘anomalous sea’ that may overlap with the real world ‘? And met the Warrior there?”
“The Warrior, ah …… I remember that ship, the Queen herself even cut the ribbon for it when it was first built,” Tirian intoned, “Do you remember how it sank? ”
“Of course I remember, it was sunk by us after all,” First Mate Aiden nodded, “The ship underwent a bit of a makeover after it came under the control of the rebels, and was then sent to eliminate our ‘renegade fleet’, only to be caught in the first exchange of fire It was sunk off the Frost by the ambush you arranged – several rounds of shelling hit the ammo bays and fuel depots one after another, and it nearly snapped at the waist.”
“Yes, snapped at the waist, but the Warrior seen by that patrol ship was an intact ship,” Tirian said, “so it’s obvious – a forgery similar to the Petrel.”
“The Frost side has been looking for the source of those ‘fakes’ because they always seem to ‘appear out of thin air’ …… “Aiden pondered, “Could it be …… a hidden overlapping space?”
“The Frost side should be getting the message soon, the smart ones among them will analyze that possibility, as for us, we don’t have to worry about it for them – we have our own mission.”
“Are you going to report this to the old Captain?”
“Of course, he’s been waiting for new information from me,” Tirian said, lifting a finger and pointing outside, “You go out first, and close the door behind you, and don’t let anyone in.”
“Aye, Captain.”
……
“A new situation has been reported from Tirian’s side.”
Duncan said to Maurice and Vanna, who were sitting across from him in their temporary quarters on Oak Street, in the Frost City State.
Beside him, Nina was holding a history book in her hands, and Shirley, who had wandered outside after himself until midnight, was sleepy and slumped over.
“New situation?” Morris immediately adjusted his sitting position, “Something happened at sea?”
“A Frost Patrol ship encountered a naval battleship that sank forty years ago in the southwestern waters, suspected to be a ‘fake’ like the Sea Petrel, but no battle broke out between the two sides-after a light impact, the After a light collision, the ‘fake’ battleship disappeared into thin air in front of the patrol ships. Now it’s impossible to say whether a new fake suddenly appeared on the sea, or whether that patrol ship sailed for a short period of time into an anomalous sea parallel to the real world – the second is a bit more likely.”
“…… Anomalous sea parallel to the real world ……” Morris analyzed the words, his expression slowly becoming solemn as he looked up, “This seems to corroborate your discovery this evening ……”
“Yes, another Frost appeared in the mirror – if all the forgeries, and even the lairs of those cultists, are hidden in a ‘mirror image’, that would explain why a search of the entire city could not find the contamination’s source,” Duncan said slowly, “as well as the ‘ravens’ that at one time went to unknown destinations and then returned out of nowhere, the large number of replicants of unknown origin in the city-state, the disappearance of certain personnel …… all explains it clear.”
Maurice and Vanna looked at each other, and in each other’s eyes they saw the same gravity.
“I can deal with …… ordinary heretics and demons, even if the enemy is strong, I can always solve it cleanly by mobilizing more manpower and firepower, but the enemy in the mirror ……,” Vanna frowned and looks a bit headache, “I can’t think of a solution for a while …… I can’t even think of how those heretics did it.”
“If this is also the authority of the Profound Holy Lord, then His power is obviously not only spreading from the deep sea to the surface, but also spreading on a large scale, this is no longer a ‘small’ movement like creating a few replicas.” Morris also spoke up.
Both ‘professionals’ seemed to be in distress, so Duncan smiled at the situation, “Actually, I’ve already thrown a spark across the mirror.”
Maurice & Vanna: “…… Huh?”
(end of chapter)