Chapter 709

Chapter 709: Holy Land Island

On the deck of the Vanished, Vanna hurried over to Duncan: “The Tide just sent word. A large number of Humanoid Husks have drifted to their side too and are colliding with their hull. After the impacts, the Humanoid Husks linger and drift around them, as if pulled by an invisible current…”

“Not only that. Commander Orlando of The Rest also sent a message,” Agatha’s figure rose from the shadows beside Duncan. “Their ship is surrounded by floating Humanoid Husks… and something is gathering underwater, striking the bottom of the hull. The knocking is loud enough to be heard through almost the entire deck…”

She paused for a moment, as if listening to some far-off sound, then added: “Bishop Polly of The Rest says she heard whispered words near the engine room, probably coming from under the water – a voice spoke in her head:

“‘You will become like them, just like we did.’”

Listening to these reports from the other main ships of the united fleet, Duncan frowned slightly. He paid special attention to the news from The Rest: “Is this mental corruption?”

“We can’t be sure yet. Bishop Polly is undergoing mental calibration in the Cathedral. For now, it looks like she really did hear some kind of ‘echo’ that haunts this sea region.”

“Any reports of ships being damaged?” Duncan thought for a moment, then asked another question.

“None so far,” Vanna said with a shake of her head. “Every impact is just those Humanoid Husks drifting with the current and knocking into the hulls. They pose no physical threat to ironclads… but some ships report that their steam engines and Sorting Engines are making strange noises, as if mildly corrupted. Overall the corruption is still light. After performing calming rituals, everything went back to normal.”

Duncan nodded with a grave expression. For a while he said nothing, only stared out at the distant sea.

Those pitch-black figures like driftwood still floated in from the thin mist at the “six-nautical-mile boundary”. They drifted in like countless drowned corpses sweeping into the fleet’s range. They looked lifeless, yet unseen forces drove them toward every ship, where they kept knocking at the hulls and hammering at the keels.

These unsettling sounds were creating mental pressure on every vessel.

But for Church elites who had gone through strict training, this level of mental strain should still be manageable. So Duncan was not too worried.

After a short moment of thought, he ordered the whole fleet to advance slowly again.

“We’re already very close to the six-nautical-mile boundary,” Lucretia could not help reminding Father from the side. “Are we really going farther in? Navigation methods don’t stay very accurate out here in the border seas. We need a safety buffer… otherwise we might accidentally cross the boundary.”

“We’re not going to cross the boundary,” Duncan said as he glanced at Lucretia. Part of his focus was still on sensing every part of the ship. “Don’t worry, Lucy. I have the most accurate enchanted sea chart in the world. It can mark the position and distance of the Vanished in the Boundless Sea in real time. If we still can’t see the ‘Holy Land’ at six nautical miles, I’ll stop.”

Lucretia opened her mouth, seeming like she still had something to say. But when she saw Duncan’s calm and confident smile, she swallowed the words again.

Duncan shifted a part of his “gaze” into the captain’s cabin.

He could clearly “see” the enchanted sea chart on the table. It was “running” as usual, slowly changing as the Vanished sailed on.

The mist on the enchanted sea chart was slowly thinning, and the track of the Vanished’s voyage appeared clearly along the chart’s edge. The ship was moving very slowly, so on the chart the shifts in position were almost too small to notice with the naked eye. But for Duncan, who could sense the entire ship with precision, even changes too tiny for the eye on the enchanted sea chart could not escape his awareness.

Out on the sea around the Vanished, more Humanoid Husks kept drifting in from afar. Their numbers even seemed to be growing.

Suddenly, Duncan noticed something appear at the edge of the enchanted sea chart.

Through the mist, an unrecorded “marker” appeared on the parchment scroll.

The instant he sensed the change on the enchanted sea chart, he raised his head and looked toward the direction of the Vanished’s bow.

In the depths of the fog, the blurry outline of land was slowly appearing.

Right on the six-nautical-mile boundary line.

“Land!” Nina thudded up the steps onto the platform at the stern. She stared wide-eyed at the growing shadows in the mist and shouted happily: “Land is showing up!”

Yes, land had appeared. And in this direction, there was no doubt that this land was the objective of the united fleet – the nest the Annihilators called their “Holy Land”.

The Church warships following behind the Vanished soon saw the outline of land as well. Once everyone realized that the “Holy Land” lay right at the edge of the six-nautical-mile limit, every nerve went taut.

At the stern of every Church warship, billows of white steam burst out from the tops of the shipboard Cathedrals. Consecrated oils were poured into the Holy Braziers. The seamen ran to their gun stations while quietly chanting the names of their Gods. Robed priests came out onto the decks. They poured holy water over the cannons, lit incense, and blessed the shells with prayers and divine blessings.

At the same time, more black Humanoid Husks kept drifting over from the direction of the “Holy Land”. Floating shapes still bumped into the hulls from time to time. The unsettling knocking never stopped, beating against the bottom of every ship, as if pounding on every heart.

A swirl of colorful paper scraps blew past as Lucretia appeared on the lookout platform at the top of the mast. She peered through the poor visibility toward the island appearing in the distance. After a while she returned to the deck and came back to Duncan’s side.

“I can see some lights on the island, but no signs of activity at all. The whole area feels smothered by a dead, lifeless air. Something feels wrong.”

Duncan listened to Lucretia’s report and only gave a small nod. Then he gestured to the side.

The plump White Dove swooped down from a nearby yardarm and almost slammed into his shoulder with a dull thump.

Duncan turned his head with a strange expression and looked at the dove on his shoulder: “…You should think about losing some weight.”

AI tilted her head, then loudly declared her stance: “I only weigh fifty! I only weigh fifty!”

“…Forget I said anything.” Duncan sighed. He ignored the noisy bird and gave her a silent order in his mind.

In the next instant, blazing flames burst from AI’s body. She turned into a bony, skeletal dove and shot straight up into the sky.

Wrapped in fire, the bone dove streaked through the mist like a meteor flying in reverse, closing in on the dark island from above.

Back on the deck of the Vanished, Duncan narrowed his eyes slightly.

Through the shared vision inside the flames, an abstract, twisted, yet still recognizable bird’s-eye view formed in his mind.

AI was quickly approaching the island’s shore. From the view she sent back, Duncan saw the coastline, jagged and cruel as if something had torn the island out of a much larger whole. He also saw a narrow, hidden passage – a secret Harbor that would be hard to spot without viewing it from the air. Farther inland he could faintly make out roads and buildings of different heights. Many strange, sharp objects rose like stone spires across the island, spread over a large area, but their exact nature was impossible to tell.

Just as Lucretia had reported, there was no sign of activity on the island.

A vast united fleet. A blazing lighthouse of fire in the thick mist. A huge flaming monster-bird sweeping low over the Harbor. If all of that still failed to draw a reaction from the Annihilators on the island, then there was only one possibility.

“It seems there’s no one on the island – at least, no living people,” Duncan said as he kept sharing vision with AI and turned his head toward Lucretia.

Everyone on deck looked at each other.

“No living people on the island…” Vanna’s eyes widened a little. She glanced toward the land. “Did they all run? Or are they all dead? Or…”

She suddenly stopped. Her gaze swept the deck with a strange look before settling on the humanoid Rough Husk that still lay there quietly, guarded by Doll Lunie the warden.

“…Inform the people from the Deep Sea and the Death Church. We need to move closer to the island. Everyone is to stay together – no falling behind in the fog.”

Under Duncan’s order, the entire fleet began to close in on the jagged, twisted black island that gave off such an uneasy air.

The distant island grew clearer and, as the distance shrank, revealed more and more details that felt fundamentally “off”.

“Its edge looks like a fragment torn off from some much larger whole,” Duncan said, describing to the others what he saw from AI’s perspective. “We’re approaching the western coast. There are clusters of rock formations everywhere, but between the cliffs there’s a hidden waterway leading to an inner Harbor. The terrain there looks relatively flat.”

“Could a ship as big as the Vanished fit in there?” Nina asked curiously.

“It probably could, but I don’t plan to just sail straight in – and neither should the other ships,” Duncan said, thinking it through as he spoke. “We still don’t know the situation on the island. My idea is to have the fleet stop in front of that ‘gorge entrance’. Then we send a team ashore in small boats. Once we have a rough idea of the landing zone, we can send more people up.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Just then, Duncan seemed to sense something. He suddenly raised his head and looked forward.

He saw the large vessel ahead – the one they had seized from the cultists and used all along as the “spirit flame, the Sacred beacon Torch” – beginning to pick up speed.

It moved faster and faster, as if it had slipped its reins. Without any order from Duncan, it rushed straight toward the “Holy Land Island”.

It seemed to have lost all weight, light as a gust of wind.

In almost the blink of an eye, it swept across the misty sea and reached the cliff line at the edge of the island, where countless massive rocks jutted up like fangs.

Then it slammed into them without the slightest hesitation.