Chapter 366: Chapter 347: The Sunken Ship and the Return Home (4000 words)_2
If one has a little understanding of the "Queen and Goddess of Navigation" Church, they can easily recognize what that is:
The blessing Aiven received from the Goddess — the "Iron Cross Medal."
Effect: Divine Favored, the wearer is immune to the ocean’s harm.
Although the effect is simple, to take it out in such a situation.
It seems to be... a bit infuriating.
Obviously, the sinking Reynolds Ban thought the same.
The moment he saw that item, he, who had already accepted the fate of death, suddenly widened his eyes, and his body, which was as shriveled as wood, struggled again to fight Aiven!
Gurgle gurgle...
However, being firmly tied to the cannon, how could it be so easy to escape?
Aiven pinned the medal to the still somewhat intact military uniform on his chest, watching Reynolds Ban’s struggling gradually weaken, his figure shrink, and then completely disappear at the end of his vision.
Scratched his head a bit helplessly:
"You all make things so tragic, it makes us look like the villains!"
Among the three Extraordinary of Hilus, Stanley was besieged and killed on the front battlefield, martyred for the country! Edmond sacrificed himself in a desperate situation, giving his life for righteousness!! Reynolds Ban tried to perish together with a strong enemy, truly heroic!!!
Hiss—
Thinking about it this way, the painting style is instantly incorrect.
However.
Their hero is our foe!
No matter how noble the person is, as long as they are an enemy, it’s better for them to depart from this world...
After staying underwater for a while longer, confirming that Reynolds Ban had really sunk, Aiven felt a stirring in his heart.
"Kaka..."
A response from the Shadow Lizard Kaka had already echoed in his heart.
Whoosh—
The boundless shadow around his body, like a curtain, gently wrapped him.
The next moment.
The vision shifted, and Aiven had already entered the crevice between the Shadow Realm and the Material World.
A large lizard, about three meters long, with a flat and smooth body similar in size to an adult crocodile, was waiting for him.
Seeing Aiven arrive.
Just like Owl Bass, Kaka, who had gained significant growth in Aiven’s advancement ceremony, chirped happily twice, then suddenly shrank its body to about the size it was when first born, crawling up Aiven’s pants and onto his shoulder.
"Kaka..."
In fact, even without the Goddess’s blessing of the "Iron Cross Medal," Aiven would not have been in trouble, as he always had "Kaka" to ensure his safety, not to mention the ability to slip away in time if things turned bad.
Not intending to stay underwater long.
Just like during the battle with the "Iron Armor Sea Horse," Aiven, under Kaka’s guidance, took a step forward.
[Magic-like Technique: Shadow Jumping]
Swoosh—
"Hmm?"
Originally, guided by Kaka, he should have returned to the surface, but when Aiven opened his eyes, he found himself still in the deep, dark seabed.
And judging by the feeling in his body, this location seemed deeper than before.
"Kaka! Kaka!"
’There is something underwater that interfered with the recent "Shadow Jump."’
"There’s something strange."
In Kaka’s perception, there was a mysterious distortion in the deep water beneath, existing in the Shadow Realm. It’s fine to pass by from the Material World, but passing through the Shadow World could extremely likely cause a distorted path.
"Distortion of the Shadow Realm? Could it be that a ’Black Dam’ appeared here once ages ago?"
After seeing through the Sea Bird’s vision that soldiers on the sea surface had begun to clean up the battlefield, Aiven felt he might have little time to explore what’s affecting Kaka’s magic-like technique.
With the "Iron Cross Medal" immunizing him from the ocean’s harm, even if there were an accident, the impact of the deep sea on him would be minimal.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
After sequentially jumping through the gaps of the Shadow Realm twice.
Kaka began to cry continuously in Aiven’s mind; it had already found the target before Aiven!
"An old sunken ship?"
About six hundred meters underwater, at the top of a towering seabed mountain, a pitch-black sunken ship was stuck here.
In the Age of Navigation, sunken ships on the seafloor were naturally associated with various treasures and legends.
But judging by the faint remnants of its shape, it was quite different from the ships of modern nations. Just as people now look at steam ironclads, one could immediately tell it was an antique.
And it seemed to be at least two or three hundred years old, an "old" antique.
"Strange! Hilus explorers first came here about a hundred years ago, how could there be such an ancient human ship?"
Aiven was just about to swim through the dark open hatch, when a sudden flash of insight struck him.
Back in the Life Tree School’s heritage site, he had personally witnessed the scene of large groups of school wizards being driven off the land by the Church, fleeing to the open sea.
The time period of those events seems to match the era of this ship, roughly three to four hundred years ago. Could this be a sailboat used by wizards for their escape?
It just managed to escape further than the Snake-man Hibekrite and the others, but the outcome was no different.
Thinking of this, Aiven wasn’t in a hurry to enter anymore.
Anything associated with wizards needed to be handled with utmost caution.
"Kaka!"
The little lizard on his shoulder suddenly sprang out, its body swiftly expanded into a thin shadow, covering the thirty-meter long wreckage like flowing water.
Half a minute later.
When Kaka, in its lizard form, reappeared at the original spot, the sailboat, along with the surrounding mud and seawater, had vanished without a trace.
[Magic-like Technique: Shadow Secret Vault!]
Strictly speaking, Shadow Jumping is the instinct of all shadow creatures, while Shadow Secret Vault was Kaka’s biggest benefit obtained during Aiven’s advancement.
This portable space has the flaw of not being able to preserve freshness, where any living being or even seeds will be eroded by shadow energy, but the space is large enough.
Even though it has only been a short time since awakening this ability, the Shadow Secret Vault is already larger than a standard basketball court.
"Kaka, well done!"
He encouraged silently.
After storing away the wreck, Shadow Jumping proved to be unimpeded.
A few steps later.
Aiven and Kaka had successfully returned to the sea surface.
At this moment, the cleaning work on the sea surface had already completed.
The soldiers gathered all the prisoners of Hilus and surviving warships. The work of collecting war spoils was also finished.
Seeing him return, the officers and men of their two warships all let out a long sigh of relief.
Aiven, this formidable captain, had unwittingly become everyone’s pillar of support.
"Captain, sir!"
He stepped onto the deck of the Storm Horn, casually taking a war spoils list handed over by Boris, who was responsible for command in cleaning the battlefield.
In this battle, they captured Hilus’ Level 3 Battleship "Stendeburg," and "Daffodil," the last Level 5 ship with a damaged helm, along with a total of 623 surviving Hilus soldiers from four warships after the sea battle.
Also, they obtained a highly practical Ocean Treasure [Ocean Current Horn].
As for the other two Level 5 Cruisers, due to severe damage, they might capsize before being towed back to shore. The carpenter assessed them as only worth dismantling for materials.
The war spoils were roughly in line with Aiven’s expectations. However, he was puzzled, as this task was normally the responsibility of First Mate Borg. Raising his head, he casually asked:
"Where is the First Mate?"
Boris’ face turned slightly dark.
"Not very well..."
Simultaneously handing over another casualty list.
At this moment, Aiven’s hand hesitated for a brief second before carefully unfolding it.
"Helmsman Trish, Barrow, Brown...."
One by one, familiar names were listed.
Aiven vividly remembered the appearance, names, hometowns, skills, and hobbies of everyone on the ship... They had followed him to the New Continent, yet now over a third would never return home.
The joy of victory was instantly and utterly extinguished by this sheet of paper.
This unprecedented heavy toll since Aiven became captain caused even his strong shoulders to tremble slightly, as he quietly turned to gaze at the sea.
"Hoo—"
After standing still for a while, he deeply exhaled, then carefully folded the paper and placed it into his left chest pocket.
"I... will check on the wounded."
Tap... tap... tap...
His steps were slightly heavier.
An hour later.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!...
All survivors aboard the two warships fired twelve shots, paying tribute to the fallen comrades.
The two severely damaged cruisers became their coffins and were sunk into the deep sea, matching the unparalleled specification of sending off the Navy with Level 5 ships in sea burial ceremonies throughout the Kingdom.
But... what meaning does it hold for the deceased?
Hoo—
The sea breeze swept over, and the four warships raised anchors and set sail.
At this moment.
The thick fog had long dissipated.
Only the eternal sea remained, under a sunset almost kissing the horizon... blood-red like a river of blood!