Thunder and lightning roared, and dark clouds gathered.
From afar, the sea and sky could be seen shrouded in a pitch-black cloud, its atmosphere violent and eerie.
The dark area formed a stark contrast to the bright daylight outside.
Looking into that area,
Long, thick bolts of lightning repeatedly struck from the clouds, crashing directly into the sea.
The waves rolled, their currents swirling. Like a city wall, the waves continuously rolled and crashed, the entire sea like a boiling surface.
As the waves rolled and rose, a ship appeared and disappeared amidst the ups and downs.
Even in such a turbulent and chaotic sea, the ship's progress seemed unaffected, continuing its course amidst the crashing and surging waves.
The lightning bolts continued to strike, but not a single one struck the ship.
"This place is truly a mess." Alka narrowed his eyes, their shape shifting slightly, allowing him to see far into the distance.
He wasn't concerned with the stormy sea they were in, but rather the storm tornado bearing down on them in the distance.
"It's okay. By the time this tornado arrives, we'll have already left this place," Juanlu said from the side.
While the sea conditions in this area would be catastrophic for other ships, they were only so-so for Alka and his crew. It wouldn't even be enough to slow their progress.
But if that storm tornado approached, it would be difficult.
Not to mention that Julia could clearly sense the extreme instability of the surrounding space. Natural disasters under such conditions almost always carry other forces, so it was best not to touch them.
"I... well, I can't do it anymore. I need to... go back," a Vastva man said hurriedly, nearly losing his footing on the deck.
Then, as if falling, he tumbled into a crack in space, returning to the inner realm.
The crowd simply smiled at this situation.
Such turbulent waves were a common occurrence for them during their long voyage. It would happen at least once or twice a year, so they were already accustomed to it. But for the Vastva, such turbulence was a bit too much.
Not to mention that almost everyone on the Vastva side was seasick.
As they spoke, a wave eight or nine meters high slammed directly into their ship.
It instantly swept the sailboat in.
As the sea surged again, the Voice of Dawn floated out, seemingly unaffected by the previous wave's impact. Not even a drop of water could be seen on the deck.
A transparent film completely blocked out the rain and the crashing waves.
Only then could a water bottle be seen floating above the tree, sucking in any water that might have fallen onto the deck.
"Be careful! The surroundings are becoming increasingly chaotic," Julia, who was standing at the bow, observing the disaster, suddenly said.
Hearing this, the people on the deck, who had been chatting idly among themselves, suddenly grew serious.
Julia's specific mention of this meant that the surroundings were about to become even more chaotic.
Then Alka sensed something, her eyes radiating a deep blue light. She immediately extended her hands and pressed against the air.
A crack suddenly appeared where the lightning had struck. As soon as it appeared, it closed.
"Be careful! The space is becoming unstable, Lucilia!" The blue light from Alka's hands grew stronger.
Luciliah immediately leaped over, perched on Alka's shoulder, a dagger in her hand. It was the spatial dagger she had previously mastered. Both possessed spatial treasures, capable of stabilizing the damage to a certain degree at this moment.
"Boom!"
Another burst of thunder echoed.
A thick bolt of lightning struck down, several hundred meters from the ship.
After the strike, a three- or four-meter-wide crack in the damaged space appeared.
Like glass shattered by a stone, the crack spread outward.
Everyone could even see the void beyond the rupture.
The sea and waves swirled, sucked into the air.
As if the damage to the space had attracted something, another bolt of lightning struck.
The crack in the space widened.
The suction grew stronger, and even the Voice of Dawn, struggling to escape, could no longer withstand the force and began to be dragged towards the rift.
"Why not at this moment?" Alka watched the scene, a little irritated.
He and Lucilia had barely managed to stabilize the space around the ship, but the damaged area was far away. Stabilizing it would require a greater expenditure of mana, and there was a risk of tiny spatial cracks appearing around them.
The suction forces would then pull against each other, potentially freezing them in place.
But if they weren't mitigated, the spatial cracks would widen, and they would likely be sucked in.
Two cards flew out.
A brown Earth card and an icy-blue Ice card floated out, followed by an ice-wrapped stone ball.
Under Alka's distracted control, they flew towards the crack.
It slid straight into the crack.
The stone ball was just big enough to block the crack, but the crack was still expanding and would soon suck the stone ball completely in.
At this moment, the surrounding ice continuously froze the absorbed seawater, and the area covered by the ice ball grew larger and larger, until it exceeded the area of the expanded space.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Voice of Dawn accelerated rapidly, swiftly heading into the distance.
"Bang!"
A loud bang was heard.
A massive ice ball, approximately ten meters in diameter, smashed into the sea surface beside them.
The already chaotic sea became even more turbulent.
Everyone looked up.
Hail, like meteorites, began to fall from the sky.
"Voice of Dawn!"
At Alka's shout, a faint pink mist appeared on the bow of the Voice of Dawn, and then the space began to ripple, and the entire ship became illusory.
Then the entire ship's speed immediately accelerated. The illusory ship moved forward, and the waves passed through it without causing any impact on the ship.
A meteorite-like ice ball even smashed directly into the bow, then passed through the ship and fell into the water.
…
"What the hell? What's going on here?" The rain stopped and the sky cleared.
Arka leaned against the mast, breathing heavily.
It wasn't just him; everyone around him was feeling a bit off. The entire deck was wet, and the Voice of Dawn was controlling the branches to absorb the water.
What started as a simple sea condition had somehow escalated into an extremely exaggerated and extreme weather event. Various spatial cracks and hailstorms were completely incomprehensible.
Finally, lightning flashed randomly from all angles, indicating that space had become completely chaotic.
Sofia rested for a moment and said, "Because we're almost at the World Scar, only a few days away."
Hearing this, everyone nodded in understanding.
They had previously learned from various sources about the precautions required for traveling to the World Scar, most notably the high likelihood of encountering maritime disasters.
Therefore, most merchant ships and supply vessels seeking to enter the World Scar required guidance from church vessels or specialized navigation vessels.
They also had to wait for a certain time.
However, that only applied to weaker, ordinary ships and merchant ships without many powerful personnel.
For Alka and his companions, such a hassle was unnecessary.
They could simply pass through.
"Dang, dang, dang!"
However, just as everyone was chatting and resting, a clanging sound suddenly emanated from overhead.
It indicated that the observation room had noticed something.
Upon hearing the sound, Alka immediately stood up and surveyed his surroundings, immediately spotting the problem.
Two dangling red dots were approaching them from a distance.
Arka's eyes immediately shifted, and he looked in that direction.
They were two ships—unclear how to describe them, or whether they could even be described as ships at all. They looked more like steel artifacts floating on the sea.
They were objects forged from steel and molten fire, overlapping and fused like plate armor. Red lava could be seen flowing at the seams.
They weren't ironclad ships, but more like chariots or plates haphazardly pieced together from steel.
Atop the ships, a massive skull could be seen, along with various bone-like decorations.
The ships were completely devoid of masts or sails. Only the various spiked armor plates on their heads could be seen.
There were also cannon muzzles around them that looked like cannons.
"Demons?" Arka couldn't help but exclaim as he looked at the creatures aboard the ironclad ships.
A variety of demons with skin as red as blood or dark could be seen leaping and howling.
The only thing flying high on the ship was a single flag, a tattered sight, with black lettering on a red background.
The black pattern resembled a demonic claw, grasping an unknown object.
"Prepare to meet the enemy!"
After a brief observation, A-Ka turned and spoke without hesitation.
Everyone immediately split up, and the puppet girls took their respective positions.
As the two sides drew closer, they were finally able to observe each other more closely.
"Haha, the human ship killed them!"
The demon roared, and a creaking sound echoed from the ironclad ship. An exaggerated and wild cannon was aimed at A-Ka and his companions.
However, before the cannon could fire, a powerful beam of light shot directly towards them.
It accurately hit the location of the gun emplacement. With a burst of explosions, a huge gap appeared there, and various demons were blown away.
A massive hole had been burned in the area directly hit.
All that remained of the turret were scattered fragments.
Reflecting the attack was Simon, already piloting his mech and wielding his new weapon.
His entire mech had transformed into a turret-like structure, its chest and arms serving as supports for the massive cannon barrel.
An intense blue light emanated from the mech, frantically absorbing the surrounding magic energy.
"Bang!"
Another dramatic beam of light shot forth.
It ripped another massive hole in the ironclad ship, oozing out a molten mass that resembled molten lava, shrouding the area around it in a blanket of steam.
The enemy ships launched their attacks.
One after another, liquid-like molten shells hurled their way towards them.
However, the speed of these shells was clearly too slow for their own attack.
A water-blue card appeared before Alka.
The water below transformed into one water bomb after another, striking forward, the two sides canceling each other out.
"Ahahaha!"
However, amidst the evaporating steam, demons resembling imps flew out one after another, laughing and landing on the deck.
The molten flames of those shells contained not only lava but also the imps. This wasn't just a long-range bombardment, but also a boarding tactic.
However, as soon as the imps landed on the deck, they were kicked away by a small puppet.
How could these imps possibly match the strength of the fighting girls on the ship?
The immense force of that kick instantly transformed the imps into cannonballs, plunging them into the water. One look at the imps' forms revealed their doom.
More imps fell, but before they even reached the deck, they were slain by the puppet girls' blades.
It's important to note that even the weakest of the puppet girls were currently at the fourth stage.
At this point, some of the shells were clearly no longer carrying imps, but rather one or two powerful demons, each roughly mid-fourth stage strong.
Their bodies, seemingly composed of molten lava, resembled fire elementals.
A flash of light flashed by.
Before he could even blink, his lava-like body transformed into drops of molten fire, plunging into the sea.
Sofia, who had been attacking these lava monsters, had returned to the deck and was looking at his calf.
It was slightly red.
"A little hot."
After a brief exchange, Alka had already captured the most powerful individuals on the ship.
It seemed like just an ordinary warship; not even a powerful warrior at the fifth level could see it.
"Sofia, sink them."
"Yes, Captain," Sofia said with a smile, transforming into a streak of blue light and soaring away.
Seeing this, Simon's mech immediately dissipated.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked into the distance.
The blue light instantly stopped above the two ships.
"Humans, come to die!"
The demons on the ship laughed, seemingly still unable to comprehend the situation.
Some powerful demons, wielding massive weapons, flapped their wings and charged directly towards Sofia in the sky.
The imps on the ship swayed and laughed on the iron deck, as if already anticipating the death and bloody remains of the humans overhead.
Sofia's right leg was already covered in light.
A red light flashed, emanating from her earrings.
"Ha!"
A loud roar.
Sofia lifted his right leg, twisted it through the air, and launched a kick directly downwards.
The massive shockwave, visible to those in the distance, felt like a transparent boulder pressing down.
"Bang!"
With a resounding roar, the charging demons, without even realizing what was happening, turned into a cloud of bloody mist, then were pressed down, along with their blood.
A demonic ironclad ship was directly hit and sank with a creaking sound and the sound of water.
Of the other ironclad ship, only the head remained, just out of range. With a creaking sound, only the head remained on the surface.
The rest of the ship had broken off under the immense force and sank into the water.
A large amount of sea spray and steam from the lava emerged, and the rolling waves carried the remaining head into the sea.
The huge force of the waves crashed towards Alka and his companions' ship, causing the Dawn Sound to sway a few times on the sea surface.
Before anyone could see the attack site clearly, the waves and steam had not yet dissipated.
A streak of blue light flashed by, and Sofia was already standing on the deck.
This was their first real combat.
Sofia perfectly demonstrated the aesthetics of violence.
However, before Alka could ask anything, they spotted more ships approaching them from a distance.
This time, it was a small fleet of three ships.
Alka narrowed his eyes and looked over.
The three ships all used the same ironclad construction, but Alka immediately spotted the distinctive gear-shaped, round-eyed symbol of the Church of the Holy Machine on their hulls.
These were all warships of the Church of the Holy Machine.
Seeing this, Alka felt relieved.
"The Church of the Holy Machine's ships have arrived. I wonder if they're pursuing those demons or if they've been drawn here by the commotion," Alka said, and everyone waited.
The splashes and the air covering the attack began to dissipate.
Only various pieces of iron fragments emerged from the sea water, carried by the waves, and even some fragments of the devil's limbs could be seen.