Under the watchful eyes of all, the ship wrapped in Spectral Flas, like a blazing torch, collided head-on with the craggy cliffs—yet the expected explosion and thunderous collision sound did not occur.
The ship seed to "lt" at the instant of impact, its sturdy deck, hull, and keel structure all lted like mud, flowing down, and silently slapped onto the cliffside. Rather than saying it crashed into it, the mont of impact was more like a lump of mud "splattered" on the cliff—then, the entire ship seed as if it had been absorbed by the island, disappearing completely among the clustered, craggy stone pillars.
As for the Spectral Flas that had been burning fiercely on the ship just a mont ago, they now ford a massive ring of fire upon impact with the island’s cliffs. The eerie green sea of fire unfolded like ripples along the coastline and, after a mont’s delay, splashed into the sea, igniting the mist-shrouded waters and slowly spreading out in front of the combined fleet.
The incident was sudden, and it seed that the fleet from the Church had yet to react to what had happened, while on the Holoss, Nina had already opened her eyes in astonishnt, "Did that ship ’commit suicide’?!"
Lucresia’s tone sounded sowhat incredulous, "Dad, did that ship... just break free from your orders?"
Duncan did not answer; he just frowned tightly, confirming in his mind the vague "perception" that the ship had sent him just before it collided with the cliff. After a long ti, he finally broke the silence thoughtfully, "No... it wasn’t out of control."
"Not out of control?" Lucresia was sowhat puzzled, "Then why did it suddenly crash into the cliff..."
"The order I gave it was ’go ho’—so it did," Duncan said slowly, "I just previously thought that a ship’s ’ho’ was the port where it usually docks and is maintained, but for that ship... its ’ho’ must be the island itself."
Lucresia seed to be pondering the aning of Duncan’s words, but those who had previously experienced the Frost incident, like Fenna and Morris, were starting to catch on. Morris suddenly furrowed his brow, "You an, that ship is..."
Duncan’s expression was serious, "The ship was built with the ’substance’ from the island, at least a large part of it."
The loss of the "pathfinding ship" was unexpected, but it did not have much of an impact on the combined fleet—the fleet had already found the location of Holy Land Island, and the course had been recorded on the sea chart. Now, the eerie green Spectral Fla was burning quietly on the sea surface, continuing to suppress the fog around the area, and shortly after, the Brilliant Starship discovered the entrance to the "fjord" that Ai Yi had seen from the air.
Despite so accidents, for the Deep Sea and the priests of the Death Church, the investigation of "Holy Land Island" still had to proceed as planned.
Two small landing boats, released from Tidal and No Rest, soon arrived near the Holoss, each carrying eleven Marine Corps mbers and one Ard Priest, waiting for Duncan’s arrangent.
On the Holoss, Duncan was deciding who would accompany him ashore.
"Fenna, Morris, Alice, you co ashore with ," Duncan looked at his followers on deck, quickly selecting appropriate personnel, then his gaze fell on Sherry, who seed to be trying hard to diminish her presence, "Sherry, you too."
"I’m not good at exploring, and I’m not as experienced as the old man..."
"I know, but we need Dog’s abilities," Duncan casually interrupted Sherry’s muttering, "It’s a Profound Demon and is adept at perception and tracking, which will be very useful on this ’Holy Land Island.’"
Sherry listened, her expression suddenly becoming a bit delicate. She carefully thought it over before realizing—her main purpose was to be Dog’s leash...
However, Duncan didn’t mind Sherry’s suddenly delicate expression. Once he had decided on the personnel to go ashore, he waved his hand at the others, "The rest stay on the ship. The environnt here is strange, so if there is any unusual activity on the ship or nearby waters, contact us imdiately."
"Don’t you need to accompany you?" Lucresia couldn’t help but step forward, "I’m fairly familiar with the frontier and have a lot of experience exploring strange islands..."
"I do, but not now," Duncan shook his head, obviously having already made arrangents, "Return to the Brilliant Starship and keep an eye on that ’saint’. It will be very useful later. I will first scout the island. If I find a suitable ’location’, Ai Yi will pick you up."
Lucresia thought for a mont and nodded, "I understand."
Duncan nodded slightly and then took the chosen personnel and headed to the edge of the deck.
Just then, a clang and clatter of a large noise suddenly ca from not far away.
Duncan looked up in the direction of the noise and saw a small boat on the middle deck, covered with tarpaulin, rocking on its stand—
That was the landing boat carried by the Holoss.
However, in everyone’s mory, the main use of that small boat was to tie two ropes on the side for Alice to hang clothes or to let Sherry, who wanted to avoid howork, sneak in to sleep.
Duncan silently watched the clattering small boat for a couple of seconds before speaking up, "Ai Yi will take us to the island."
The small boat quieted down for a mont then began to rock more vigorously, knocking its bow against the wooden supports it was fastened to.
Duncan: "..."
"Captain," Alice finally ca over and tugged at Duncan’s sleeve, whispering in his ear, "Why don’t we take it with us... I think it’s about to cry..."
Duncan looked at Alice with a peculiar expression, then at the small landing boat on the deck that did seem indeed unhappy, finding the whole situation oddly amusing, but eventually, he sighed helplessly, "Alright, we’ll go ashore in the small boat as well..."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the small boat on the deck instantly broke free from its ropes and iron hooks, while the crane on the side of the deck began to creak and groan into action, lifting the small boat from its wooden support and placing it into the recess on the mid-deck side.
The entire set of motions was fluid, as if afraid the captain would change his mind.
Duncan: "..."
In any case, with the landing boat released from the Holoss, three small boats in total detached from the combined fleet and found the secret entrance along the giant rock cliffs at the periter of Holy Land Island, beginning their journey into the interior of the island.
After passing through the "fjord entrance," which looked like the mouth of a colossal beast, they were greeted with towering, eerie stone pillars on both sides, the calm, dark blue waters, and the mist still hanging everywhere.
The three small boats proceeded cautiously through the fog, where amidst the haze, one could faintly see shadowy port facilities on the coast ahead, and illusion-like lights quietly radiating a glow in the mist, like indifferent and murky eyes floating in the air.
Duncan and his party were on a small boat that needed no human pilot for navigation, while the landing boats from Tidal and No Rest were powered by small steam cores—the sound of the steam cores running broke the silence of the fjord, and the swishing sound of the boats breaking the water, reflected off the cliffs on either side, beca a jumbled mix.
Fenna suddenly furrowed her brows.
She turned to look at the captain but saw that he was also frowning in the direction of the mist, and the two steam-powered boats from Tidal and No Rest behind the landing boat seed to have noticed sothing as well, beginning to slow down.
The echo in the fjord weakened accordingly.
Fenna cocked her head, listening intently and whispered, "Do you hear it?"
Sherry seed not to notice anything unusual, but she felt the change in atmosphere and twisted her head nervously, "Hear... what?"
The sound of light chain friction emanated from the shadows, and Ah Dog slowly raised his head, "There’s the sound of a fourth boat... in the fog, moving along with us."
Sherry’s face changed slightly, lowering her voice, "What the fuck?"
Duncan said nothing but raised his hand to signal to keep moving forward.
The sound of chanical propellers started again, and noise once again filled the fjord—the buzzing and rumbling, and amidst these sounds, even Sherry could hear the sound of the "fourth boat."
This ti, the sound was even more distinct—Sherry even made out the amalgamation of a steam engine-like roar, yet sowhat deeper, and the noise of a ship’s bow breaking the waves.
She widened her eyes, searching for the direction of the sound, but found that all noises were blending with the echoes in the fjord, making it hard to discern the location.
She could only be sure there was indeed a fourth boat, and it was hiding in the mist nearby, sotis... it even seed to be right beside them.
Maurice seed to suddenly discern sothing, he stared intently at the mist-wrapped surface of the water, pulling out from his chest a peculiar device that resembled a lens, and peering through it in that direction.
A misty shadow appeared in the lens, like an abstract and illusory boat.
However, in the next second, the phantom in the mist was suddenly tinged with a layer of ghostly green—the Spectral Fla engulfed it in the blink of an eye and then instantly vanished.
The sound of the fourth boat disappeared.
Alice looked confused at the flash of light in the mist that passed by, then looked up at Duncan, "Captain, what was that?"
"I don’t know," Duncan shook his head, "It could be sothing in the mist trying to ’imitate’ us, or it could just be an illusion produced by this unique environnt... Anyway, it’s not a big problem, since ’sothing off’ is simply part of the daily life of the borderland."
Alice made a sound of understanding, then turned her head to look at the water ahead of the small boat.
"Oh, we’ve arrived."
As the puppet’s voice fell, what had been a hazy port in the mist suddenly ca into clear view.
The three small boats had reached shore.
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