Chapter 391: Chapter 395: The Gradually Approaching Mirror Image Chapter 391: Chapter 395: The Gradually Approaching Mirror Image On the patrol cruiser, everyone was staring agape at the imnse ship that suddenly burst out of the thick fog, nearly grazing the cruiser’s side with a bow almost twice as high, watching its corroded hull slide slowly forward. Above the “Warrior,” a tattered and outdated banner seed to still hang, those cloth strips whose original appearance was now indiscernible flapped wildly in the night wind, looking like loose… shrouds.
The commander of the patrol cruiser was the first to snap to action.
“Keep turning, accelerate away!” he yelled, “Don’t get caught in that ship’s wake!”
Gliding past a main battleship at this distance was extrely dangerous, especially for a patrol cruiser—a small ship—because the flow of water around and behind a large ship could greatly disturb the smaller vessel’s course, where any collision in the violent swaying could be fatal.
The steam core started roaring again, and the helmsman was now feeling the terrifying influence of the larger ship— the cruiser’s hull was drifting and swaying to one side, he had to exert all his strength to stabilize the ship amidst the irregular currents and accelerate away from the colossal object that was perilously close.
The helmsman’s efforts were on the verge of failing.
The speed of the “Warrior” exceeded expectations, and the turbulent currents that enveloped the ship were so strange and unpredictably ancient that they even surpassed the helmsman’s many years of accumulated experience—he felt as though countless invisible ropes from the sea’s depths were entangling the cruiser’s rudder and hull, maliciously dragging the small ship closer to that old battleship, which seed like a ghost ship.
The entire ship began making discomfiting creaking and groaning sounds, as if being forcefully torn apart by sothing unseen.
The small gap that the patrol cruiser had just managed to obtain through a sudden turn and full-throttle engine lasted only a few breaths before the entire ship began to visibly draw closer to the stern of the “Warrior,” that rusted “cliff” rapidly enlarging in everyone’s field of vision, with many shuddering, ghastly figures—neither human nor humanlike—appearing near the railings of the Warrior, overlooking the about-to-capsize small ship with a bone-chilling gaze.
“We’re going to hit! We’re going to hit!”
Soone cried out, and the sailors imdiately ran toward the nearest railings or handrails to avoid being thrown overboard at the mont of impact. Still, at the very mont when the side of the cruiser touched the stern of the Warrior— the latter disappeared.
The “Warrior” vanished right before everyone’s eyes.
Like a dreadfully awakening nightmare, the old main battleship that had blotted out the sky just a second ago vanished in an instant from the soldiers’ sight, leaving only the terrifying impression and fearful emotions trembling in each person’s heart; the people on the bridge and the deck looked at each other as if waking from a profound dream, cluelessly uncertain about their whereabouts.
The fog dissipated, the chilly radiance of the Creation of the World shone on the sea surface, the cold sea breeze made many sober up, and only a swathe of undulating ripples remained on the empty sea, along with pieces of drifting ice floes in the distance.
The patrol cruiser’s commander slowly released his grip on the railing, moved next to a porthole, and looked out at the sea. A subordinate approached him, muttering to himself as if in soliloquy: “A collective illusion? Was that just a mirage?”
“…It wasn’t an illusion,” the commander said in a low voice. He raised his hand, pointing at a section of the railing outside the porthole, “See that? The railing is damaged—we’ve already hit sothing.”
“Where did it go then? The previous ‘Sea Swallow’ didn’t end up like this… the Sea Swallow didn’t ‘disappear into thin air’ until it was completely shattered. Moreover, the currents around us changed just now, the helmsman couldn’t even control the course…”
The commander did not speak imdiately, but after pondering for a long while, he finally slowly said, “Perhaps… we just sailed into so sort of crevice—the ones that suddenly appeared and disappeared were not the ghost ship, but ourselves.”
The subordinate’s face instantly showed a mix of astonishnt and horror, then instinctively looked toward the distant sea and in the direction of Frost City-State. After a few seconds, he spoke, “So… have we returned to the real world now?”
“…Signal the Sea Mist and Frost mainland imdiately,” the commander said after a brief contemplation, speaking quickly, “Compare their responses and ascertain our own state—before we can confirm the situation, do not approach any ships that appear in the surrounding waters.”
“Yes.”
…
“They encountered a battleship that sank forty years ago? And then, right before the collision, that battleship suddenly disappeared?” In the captain’s chamber of the Sea Mist, Tirian leaned back in the chair, raising an eyebrow after hearing the report from his first officer, Aiden. “Now they’re still wandering in the patrol area—because they’re afraid to confirm whether they’ve returned to the real world?”
“Yes, it seems the commander of that patrol ship deduced they briefly entered an ‘Anomaly Waters’ based on the various phenona they encountered when they ca across the ‘Warrior’ before. Now they are trying to confirm whether the surrounding environnt is real by contacting both the Mist Fleet and Frost,” Aiden nodded, then shrugged his shoulders, “I think they might be a bit spooked, on edge.”
“…No, this is the correct caution,” Tyrion, however, shook his head, his expression quite serious, “We might not like the current Frost Navy, but we must acknowledge that they have indeed defended the City-State for fifty years—in terms of experience dealing with Transcendent phenona, they are no less competent than us. That commander’s judgnt is likely correct.”
Hearing the captain’s words, Aiden’s expression finally turned serious as well, “So… they really briefly entered an ‘Anomaly Waters’ that might overlap with the real world? And they encountered the Warrior there?”
“The Warrior, eh… I still rember that ship. When it was first built, the queen herself had conducted its christening,” Tyrion said with a hint of lancholy, “Do you rember how it sank?”
“Of course, after all, it was sunk by us,” First Officer Aiden nodded, “After the ship fell under rebel control and underwent so modifications, it was sent to eradicate our ‘fugitive fleet’. In the first engagent, it was sunk by an ambush you arranged, just off the coast of Frost—successive cannon fire hit the ammunition compartnt and fuel stores, nearly breaking it in half.”
“Yes, broken in half, but the patrol ship saw a complete Warrior,” Tyrion said, “So clearly—it’s a replica similar to what happened with the Sea Swallow.”
“Frost has always been looking for the source of those ‘replicas,’ since they always seem to appear out of nowhere…” Aiden mused, “Could it be… a hidden overlapping space?”
“Frost will likely receive the news soon. The clever ones among them will analyze that possibility, and as for us, we needn’t worry about them—we have our own tasks.”
“Are you going to report this to the old captain?”
“Of course, he’s been waiting for my latest news,” Tyrion said, raising his hand to point outside, “You go out first, close the door, and don’t let anyone in.”
“Yes, Captain.”
…
“Tyrion has reported a new developnt.”
Inside a temporary residence on Oak Street in Frost City-State, Duncan spoke to Maurice and Fenna, who were sitting across from him.
Next to him, Nina was engrossed in a history book, while Sherry, who had wandered around with him until midnight, was already dozing off.
“A new developnt?” Maurice imdiately adjusted his sitting posture, “Sothing happened at sea?”
“A Frost patrol ship in the southwestern waters encountered a navy battleship that sank forty years ago, suspected to be a ‘replica’ like the Sea Swallow, but no battle ensued—after a light collision, the ‘replica’ battleship vanished before the eyes of the patrol ship. Now it’s uncertain whether new replicas have suddenly appeared on the ocean or whether the patrol ship entered an Anomaly Waters parallel to the real world for a short ti—the latter is more likely.”
“…An Anomaly Waters parallel to the real world…” Maurice analyzed the phrase, his expression gradually turning solemn as he raised his head, “This seems to confirm your discovery tonight…”
“Yes, another Frost appeared in the mirror—if all the replicas, even the Heretics’ lairs, are hidden in a ‘mirror world’, that would explain why the source of contamination cannot be found even after scouring the entire city,” Duncan spoke slowly, “And there are the ‘Crows’ who vanished without a trace only to reappear out of thin air, the nurous Replication individuals of unknown origin in the City-State, certain personnel’s disappearances… All can be accounted for.”
Maurice and Fenna looked at each other, seeing the sa gravity in each other’s eyes.
“…Ordinary heresy and demonic enemies I can handle, even if the enemies are strong, by marshaling more manpower and firepower we can always cleanly resolve them, but the enemies in the mirror…” Fenna frowned deeply, looking a bit vexed, “I can’t think of a solution right now… I can’t even figure out how the Heretics managed it.”
“If this is also within the authority of the Transcendent Saint, then His power is clearly not limited to spreading from the deep sea to the surface, but also in a large scale dissemination, this is no longer just making a few replicas as a ‘small event.'” Maurice also spoke up.
Both “professionals” seed troubled, and seeing this, Duncan smiled, “Actually, I’ve already cast a spark into the other side of the mirror.”
Maurice & Fenna: “…Ah?”
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