Chapter 358: Chapter 362 “Sunken Island Chapter 358: Chapter 362 “Sunken Island Agatha stepped forward, her tone grave, “Where did that ‘ship that never arrived’ co from?”
“The port of origin was Prand, it made a stop at Rensa for resupply, and then Cold Harbor,” the soldier reporting the situation replied imdiately, “Frost was its last stop—everything was normal until it resupplied at Cold Harbor.”
“Damn it…” Colonel Lister pressed a hand against his forehead, his mood obviously very foul, “We are already swamped with troubles of our own… and now another ship has disappeared shortly before arriving at Frost… Where do we have the energy to deal with matters outside the City-State…”
Agatha watched the defense commander before her, her tone especially solemn, “But as you said, Colonel, it disappeared shortly before arriving at Frost—so we cannot rule out that it was affected by so kind of Transcendent phenonon.”
Lister looked up, “You an…”
“Frost is currently under the contamination of so Transcendent power. Unusual cases are frequent within the City-State, and the Sea Swallow incident has proven that these ‘anomalies’ are not just limited to this island. Now, with the White Oak vanished at the edge of the nearby seas, I have reason to believe that an ‘anomaly’ far larger than we can imagine is enveloping the entire Frost region—not only the land beneath our feet but also a vast area of the surrounding sea.”
Lister braced his hands against the table, then suddenly looked up after a few seconds, “We need to expand the blockade and issue warnings to all neighboring City-States—Frost’s contamination is spilling over, and a physical blockade is likely ineffective.”
He suddenly stopped speaking, bit his lip, and seed very hesitant. Agatha, of course, noticed this, “What concerns do you have, Colonel?”
“…We may have to negotiate with that great pirate,” Lister said darkly, “Although I personally, very, very much wish not to.”
“You an… Tirian Abnormal?” Agatha’s tone shifted slightly as well—as the “gatekeeper” of the City-State she was, after all, a native of Frost, raised on chilling tales of the Mist Fleet since childhood. “If you don’t go to bed, Captain Tirian will snatch you away in the heavy fog”—this was the most morable childhood recollection for every Frostfolk under fifty, and Agatha was no exception, “Do you think he will accept our negotiation?”
“It may not be a negotiation, but at least a conversation is necessary,” Lister lifted his eyelids, gazing at the gatekeeper before him, “He arrived here at a most sensitive ti, but has not made any further moves to this mont. I once suspected that he had ties with those ‘counterfeits’ occurring both inside and outside the City-State, but now it seems more like he is simply blockading the area—just like what we are doing. We need to send soone to talk to him, at least to figure out what he wants to do.”
“Legend has it that he is a cold and insane cursed individual, his breath as icy as the wind over the Chill Sea, and his gaze capable of freezing the sea surface,” Agatha said softly, “Who could act as this ‘envoy’?”
“Those legends are exaggerated; anyone with a bit of savoir-faire can actually find out that the Mist Fleet has relatively normal channels of communication with many powers across the Chill Sea. That so-called ‘Mist Venture Company’ even established an ‘office’ in Cold Harbor— that great pirate is rely particularly cold toward Frost,” Lister sighed lightly, “The matter of the envoy will be resolved. Among the military of the City-State, there is no shortage of the brave, and moreover…”
He suddenly stopped and thoughtfully lifted his head, looking out the window in a certain direction.
“Miss Agatha, did you just hear any strange sounds?”
“Strange sounds?” Agatha frowned slightly and also looked out the window, almost at the sa ti, she too heard a distant and deep weird noise.
It sounded like a continuous hum, yet it wasn’t any sound she recognized as naturally occurring in the world.
It was coming from the direction of Dagger Island.
In the near-sea region of Frost, a steel warship with a white hull and three main guns, flying the Queen’s flag, was cruising slowly, a short and sturdy captain stood at the prow, looking at the situation in the distance through his telescope—he wore the Queen’s Guard uniform from half a century ago, but his stomach had a horrifying hole that one could see right through, with fragnts of his torn clothing floating gently in the air like soaked in the sea, occasionally producing a string of bubbles from thin air.
He was a mber of the Mist Fleet, captain of the mighty warship Sea Raven, Nickson.
He was gazing at the small island with its twisting coastline in the distance.
And on the sea in that direction, one could also see so circling tiny black silhouettes.
Those were the naval vessels of the Frost City-State—they were enforcing the blockade on Dagger Island from another direction, and at the sa ti, they were cautiously observing every move of the Sea Raven and other nearby Mist Fleet ships.
“Those ships are really annoying,” a sailor slinked over, speaking beside the stocky Captain Nickson, “Can we fire a couple of shots to give them a greeting?”
“No, not unless you want General Tirian to stuff you in the engine room and blend you for twenty-four hours,” Nickson said without turning his head, “We’re not here to fight the Frostfolk—using the General’s words, right now we’re temporarily on the sa side.”
“Alright,” the sailor shrugged, “They’re blockading the other side of Dagger Island, and we’re blockading this side; it’s so ‘cooperation’ indeed. But if those guys get dazed and actually co close, then it wouldn’t be our fault if our cannons misfire, right?”
“If they misfire, you’ll be the first one to be shot over,” Nickson looked back at his subordinate, then turned his gaze back to the distant island, “Dagger Island… Tch, I rember when I used to stand guard there.”
“Back then, there was boiling gold to mine, and there was even a town on the island,” the sailor lanted, “Ah, those good days are gone forever.”
Nickson frowned, seemingly about to say sothing, but suddenly, he seed to hear sothing and his expression turned serious at once.
A strange humming sound… reached his ears.
“What’s that noise?” the sailor next to him reacted quickly, with a nervous look on his face, “Is it sothing those Frostfolk are doing?”
“I don’t know, but those ships from Frost don’t seem to be doing anything suspicious…” Nickson imdiately picked up his telescope, “They look just as clueless… Wait, Dagger Island is shaking!”
He suddenly pulled away from the telescope, looking bewildered at the distant sea.
A hazy fog was rising from the direction of Dagger Island, and a deep humming noise wafted over, stirring his mind as if trying to burrow into his thoughts. He saw the island as if it had co to life, its edges unfurling vague tentacles, which rose and squird in the mist, stirring the surrounding sea and fog, while the island itself was sinking, its surface filled with huge shadows like giants rising within the fog.
Nickson paused for a second before hurriedly raising his telescope again, wanting to take a closer look at the situation on the island.
Just as he was about to do so, a thunderous boom suddenly ca from the area enshrouded by the thin fog, followed by a series of dense explosions—the smoke rose from the island, lding with the surrounding sea mist, and the flashes and flas skyrocketing could be seen clearly even without a telescope!
Dagger Island had been detonated—all facilities on the island were exploding, and all “ultimate safety asures” pointed to the sa answer: Process No. 22, nitroglycerin explosives.
Nickson stared dumbfounded at this scene, and only after a mont did he realize what had happened, but imdiately, the sight before him once again exceeded his imagination.
Dagger Island was sinking, just like a warship with a blasted hull, sinking rapidly amidst a series of explosions.
“The island is sinking?” an astonished voice from his subordinate ca by his side, the sailor who had served on the ship for most of his life had never seen such a spectacle, “The Frostfolk… They sank Dagger Island?! Can they sink an island?!”
“Nonsense! There’s no such explosive in the world—how can an island be ‘blown’ away?!” Nickson imdiately retorted instinctively, but the sight before him made him swallow the rest of his words:
Dagger Island really did sink, and the speed of the sinking beca faster and faster, eventually reaching an unimaginable rate. Just a minute ago, he could still see two-thirds of the island above the surface, and a minute later, only a small peak remained, and after a few more seconds… the island had completely disappeared from the surface of the sea.
The mist dissolved away, and no trace of Dagger Island could be seen on the Chill Sea any longer.
“Not even a vortex has appeared…”
Captain Nickson swallowed hard, muttering in disbelief.
The distant sea remained calm; theoretically, the sinking of an island should trigger a terrifying vortex, one large enough to swallow the world’s largest ships, yet in reality… not a single vortex had appeared.
It seed as though… the island had not sunken but rather lted into the sea.
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