Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 712 - Chapter 712 Chapter 709 Holy Land Island

Chapter 712: Chapter 709: Holy Land Island Chapter 712: Chapter 709: Holy Land Island On the deck of Homeloss, Fenna briskly approached Duncan, “Tidewave has contacted us; they’ve also had numerous ‘humanoid objects’ drifting their way and colliding with the hull. After the collision, the ‘humanoid objects’ lingered nearby, as if being drawn by invisible ocean currents…”

“Restless’s commander Orlando also made contact,” Agatha’s figure emerged from the shadows beside Duncan, “Their ship is surrounded by floating humanoid figures… And something is gathering underneath the water, hitting the outer shell of the ship’s bottom. The impact noises can be heard throughout the entire deck…”

She paused for a moment, as if hearing distant sounds again, and then added, “Restless’s commander Paulette Ginny said she heard what might be whispers from under the water near the engine room–a voice in her head spoke:

‘You will become like them, just like us.'”

Listening to these updates from other flagship vessels of the allied fleet, Duncan’s brow furrowed slightly, and he paid particular attention to the message from Restless, “Is it spiritual contamination?”

“We can’t be sure yet. Bishop Paulette Ginny is currently performing mental calibration in the chapel, and as of now, it seems she really might have heard some sort of ‘echo’ lingering in this region.”

“Are there reports of ships being damaged?” Duncan pondered for a moment before asking another question.

“Not at the moment,” Fenna shook her head and replied, “All the collisions are just those ‘humanoid objects’ drifting and hitting the hulls, posing no physical threat to our armored vessels… However, some ships have reported abnormal noises from their steam engines and differential machines, as if there’s been a mild contamination. But overall, the level of contamination remains low, and everything returned to normal after carrying out soothing rites.”

Duncan nodded solemnly, remaining silent for a time, just gazing out at the distant sea.

Those eerie black humanoid figures, like driftwood in the sea, kept drifting over from the mist-shrouded ‘Six Nautical Miles border’, entering the range of the allied fleet like countless drowned corpses, lifeless yet seemingly driven by an invisible force. They continued to collide against every ship, knocking at their hulls.

These unsettling noises were creating psychological pressure on each vessel.

But for the rigorously trained elite of the church, such levels of psychological pressure should be manageable–so Duncan wasn’t too concerned.

After a brief moment of contemplation, he ordered the entire fleet to advance slowly once more.

“We’re already very close to the Six Nautical Miles border,” Lucrezia couldn’t help but remind her father, standing beside him, “Should we keep moving forward? In the border waters, conventional navigational methods are no longer precise, and we need to leave some margin of safety… Otherwise, we might accidentally cross the boundary.”

“We won’t ‘cross the border’,” Duncan glanced at Lucrezia, while part of his attention was on sensing the entire ship, “Don’t worry, Lucy, I have the most precise ‘sea chart’ in the world. It can mark in real-time Homeloss’s position and distance traveled on the Endless Sea. If we still can’t see the ‘Holy Land’ at the Six Nautical Miles mark, I will stop.”

Lucrezia opened her mouth as if she had more to say, but after noticing Duncan’s confident and gentle smile, she swallowed her words.

Duncan then turned part of his “gaze” towards the captain’s cabin.

He was able to “see” clearly that the “sea chart” on the table in the captain’s cabin was “operating” as usual, slowly changing along with the voyage of Homeloss.

The fog on the map was slowly dissipating, and the path traversed by Homeloss was clearly reflected on its edge–the ship was moving slowly, and the displacement shown on the chart was almost imperceptible to the naked eye. However, for Duncan, capable of precisely controlling the state of the entire ship, even the smallest changes on the chart couldn’t escape his perception.

And around Homeloss, more humanoid objects kept drifting over from afar, their numbers seemingly increasing.

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

In the mist, an uncharted “landmark” appeared on the parchment.

The moment he perceived the change on the chart, he looked up towards the direction in which Homeloss’s bow was pointing.

In the depths of the fog, the vague silhouette of land was gradually emerging.

Right on the Six Nautical Miles boundary line!

“It’s land!” Nina ran excitedly to the high platform at the stern, her eyes wide as she stared at the shadow that was becoming clear through the fog and shouted with joy, “Land ho!”

Yes, land had appeared, and the land that appeared in this direction was undoubtedly the goal destination of the allied fleet–the nest those Heretics called the “Holy Land.”

Quickly, several church battleships following Homeloss also observed the contours of the land. Realizing that this piece of “Holy Land” was right on the critical point of the Six Nautical Miles, everyone instantly tensed up.

At the rear of each church warship, massive clouds of white steam were released from the church-on-board. Holy grease was poured into the Spiritual Fire basins while sailors silently chanted the names of their deities, running to their battle stations. Priests in robes went up on deck, started consecrating the cannons with Holy Water, ignited the incense, and blessed the ammunition with prayers.

Meanwhile, the ominous black humanoid figures kept drifting from the direction of the “Holy Land” towards the ships. Time and again, floating debris hit the hulls, that unsettling “thud” sound never ceased, knocking against the bottom of each ship as if striking everyone’s hearts.

Amidst a flurry of colorful paper flying past, Lucrezia climbed to the lookout on top of the mast. She observed the “island” appearing in the distance through the fog with extremely low visibility, then returned to the deck and back to Duncan’s side.

“The island had some lights visible, but there was no sign of any activity–a sense of deadness was pervading the area, and I felt something was wrong.”

Listening to Lucresia’s report, Duncan just nodded slightly, then waved to someone nearby.

The plump dove immediately flew down from the nearby yardarm, nearly thudding onto Duncan’s shoulder with a “thump.”

Duncan turned his head with a subtly complex expression to look at the dove on his shoulder, “… You should consider losing some weight.”

Ai Yi cocked her head and immediately emphasized her stance loudly, “V my 50! V my 50!”

“… Never mind,” sighed Duncan, ignoring the clamor of the dove, and commanded it in his mind.

In the next second, Ai Yi’s body suddenly burst into flames, transforming into a skeletal Bone Dove and soaring into the sky.

The Bone Dove, engulfed in flames, dashed through the mist like a meteor flying backwards, approaching the dimly visible black island from high above.

Duncan on the deck of Homeloss narrowed his eyes slightly.

With his vision shared with the fire, a somewhat abstract and distorted overhead view with faintly discernible details began to emerge in his mind.

Ai Yi was rapidly approaching the coast of the island–through the vision returned, Duncan saw the jagged and sinister edges of it, as if torn apart by some force, and a narrow, secret port that was difficult to detect unless observed from the air. Closer inland, he could vaguely make out roads and a mix of uneven buildings, along with many strange, sharp, stalagmite-like objects scattered about the island. The size seemed to be substantial, but it was unclear what they were.

It was just as Lucresia had reported; there were no signs of activity on the island.

A massive joint fleet, a Flame Lighthouse burning fiercely in the mist, a gigantic bird wrapped in flames swooping close past the port–if none of these could elicit a reaction from the Heretics ensconced on the island, then there was only one possibility.

“It seems there’s no one on the island–at least, no living people are visible.”

Duncan, while maintaining his shared vision with Ai Yi, turned to Lucresia beside him.

The people on the deck looked at each other.

“No living people on the island…” Fenna’s eyes widened slightly as she turned to look in the direction of the island, “Have they run away? Or died? Or…”

She suddenly stopped, her gaze sweeping across the deck in a peculiar way before settling on the “rough human form” still quietly lying on the deck, guarded by the doll Luny.

“… Notify the people from Deep Sea and the Death Church that we need to approach that island, everyone follow–don’t get separated in the mist.”

Under Duncan’s command, the entire fleet began to slowly approach the jagged and eerie black island that emanated an unnerving aura.

The island in the distance was becoming clearer and, as the distance shortened, it revealed more and more discordant details.

“Its edges look like they were torn from some vast whole,” Duncan described the scene seen through Ai Yi’s perspective to the others, “We are approaching its western coast. There are clustered rock formations everywhere here, but among the cliffs, there’s a concealed waterway leading to an internal port–where it seems flat.”

“Can Homeloss, a ship this large, fit in there?” asked Nina out of curiosity.

“It should be able to, but I don’t plan to just sail in–not the other ships either,” Duncan pondered aloud, “We still don’t know the full details of the island. My idea is to have the fleet stop in front of that ‘strait’, then send a group in boats to land on the island to get a general lay of the landing point before sending more people ashore.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

At that moment, Duncan seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up ahead.

He saw the large ship, which had served as a “Spiritual Fire torch” and had been captured from the Heretics, beginning to accelerate slowly.

Its speed was getting faster and faster, as if it had suddenly broken free of its reins, charging straight toward the “Holy Land Island” without Duncan’s order.

It seemed to have lost its weight, as light as a breeze.

In the blink of an eye, it had already crossed the sea shrouded in mist and approached the island’s edge, where countless jagged boulders loomed.

Then, without hesitation, it crashed into them.