Under the dark night sky stretched an endless, vast ocean. The sound of waves crashed against the shore, whipped by the sea breeze. The starry sky was obscured by thick clouds, and in every direction, there was only darkness.
Upon this dark sea, several points of Light were arranged far apart, moving forward. Upon closer inspection, one could see that these were the lights emitted by several ships. A not-so-small fleet was sailing on the pitch-black sea.
This was the Church's escort fleet protecting pilgrims. After leaving Navaja, the fleet sailed day and night towards their intended destination, Iweig. It was now the second night since the fleet had left Navaja, and they were not far from their destination.
In the center of the fleet were three ordinary passenger ships being escorted, carrying pilgrims heading to the Holy Mother's sacred land. These pilgrims mostly came from countries like Prit, Faloro, and Ilmo. They were primarily devout Holy Mother believers from the common people, who, due to their fervent faith, generous donations, or noble character, had been granted the honorable qualification by the local Church to come on pilgrimage through official channels. They were practically representatives of the Holy Mother faith among the common folk.
Of course, besides these common believers, a small portion of the pilgrims were the Church's own clergy. They were also granted permission to participate in this pilgrimage, often due to voluntary application or rewards from their superiors, and Vanya was one of them.
Inside the passenger cabin, Vanya was devoutly performing her evening prayer as usual. After completing her daily prayer, she opened her eyes and checked the time on the wall.
"Is it this late already? It's getting late..."
After checking the time, Vanya slowly got up and yawned. Then, she turned her head to look out the porthole at the endless black sea, watching the starlight and moonlight that were often obscured by dark clouds.
'The sky is so dark... you can barely see anything. I read in a book once about fish leaping under the moonlight. I thought I might see it once after being on a ship for so long, but the weather hasn't been very good most of the time recently...'
Vanya thought with a slight sense of disappointment. Then, she stretched and looked at the pile of books and a small map placed on the table beside her. She focused her gaze on the map, examined it for a few moments, and tried to confirm her location on it.
'We've been sailing at sea for some time since leaving Navaja. According to the crew, we should reach Iweig soon. Although Mr. Jode and the others aren't on board, the entire fleet is operating normally. Everyone is doing their part, and there haven't been any mistakes. My initial worries seem unnecessary.'
Vanya thought to herself. She couldn't help but worry when she saw that Mr. Jode and others had to leave the fleet due to the Inquisitors. Now that she saw the fleet could still operate normally without a commander and without any mishaps, her original worries gradually disappeared.
"I hope Mr. Jode and the others will also be safe in the end. May the Lord bless them."
After murmuring these last words, Vanya tidied up the books on her table, then went to the cabin's bathroom for a simple wash. She took off her Sister's habit and changed into her pajamas. Finally, after extinguishing the Light on the table, she lay down on her bed and pulled up the covers.
Eventually, amidst the subtle rocking and the gentle sound of the waves, Vanya gradually fell into a peaceful sleep.
...
While most passengers and crew were in deep slumber, the escort fleet continued to sail forward in the darkness. The sailors on duty maintained their course while also keeping a lookout on the vast, dark sea, watching for any other ships that might appear in the darkness and paying attention to all possible situations.
As the night deepened, weariness gradually spread throughout the fleet. Even the sailors on duty occasionally yawned during their monotonous work. And along with this weariness, fog began to spread from the distant dark sea.
Unbeknownst to anyone, a faint mist gradually began to spread over the sea where the fleet was sailing. As time passed, this mist gradually became thicker, slowly forming sea fog.
Regarding the formation of sea fog, the sailors on duty noticed it at first but didn't pay too much attention. Fog at sea is a normal phenomenon and not surprising.
But as time went on, the fog became thicker and more widespread, and something unexpected happened. The Hui Jian Lamps hanging everywhere on the fleet's ships suddenly emitted an alarm-like sound. The nearby sailors were suddenly startled by this alarm and, grabbing their weapons, rushed to the location of the Hui Jian Lamps. They then discovered that almost all the Hui Jian Lamps had detected traces of abnormal Spirituality at the same time, abnormal Spirituality of the "Cup" and "Light."
Seeing the warning from the Hui Jian Lamps, all the sailors immediately became highly vigilant and began to try to find out where the abnormal Spirituality traces were. After searching for a while, they couldn't find anything. Finally, the temporary commander of the fleet discovered the anomaly.
"Fog, it's fog! There's something wrong with this fog, it was created by Extraordinary abilities! It's very likely a Water Manipulator!"
On the deck of the flagship 'Boone,' the temporary commander activated his Spirituality vision and, after looking at the thick fog around him, shouted loudly. Then, he immediately gave orders.
"We are under attack! All ships be on alert! Use the 'Wind Calling' Shadow Sigil to disperse the fog!"
Soon, the temporary commander's order was transmitted to the entire fleet. All the escort ships immediately took out a type of "Shadow" Sigil and Spirituality storage they had in reserve. After using them, they summoned gusts of strong wind, and the sea fog spreading between the ships was temporarily blown away by the strong winds.
This was the 'Wind Calling' Shadow Sigil, which could summon strong winds to disperse sea fog and counteract adverse natural winds. It had many uses at sea, so the Church's fleet often kept them in reserve, and now was the time for it to be used.
As gusts of strong wind blew, the previously spread sea fog was forcibly dispersed. The temporary commander standing on the deck, mobilizing his Spirituality, used the Black Earth Stage "Light" vision, which allowed him to see clearly even at night, and stared intently at the gradually dissipating sea surface. He wanted to see where the Extraordinary using the ability was and if any other ships had approached without being detected.
However, no matter how the temporary commander observed, he did not see any other abnormal ships approaching his side. This made him somewhat confused for a moment.
'No other ships are approaching... Where is this ability user? Where are the attackers hiding!?'
Looking at the endless dark sea, the temporary commander thought in confusion. At this moment, due to the exhaustion of the Spirituality storage, the summoned strong winds gradually began to subside. What the temporary commander did not expect was that not long after the wind stopped, mist began to appear around the fleet again. A faint mist gradually rose from the dark sea, and at a visible speed, it gradually became thicker, and a new round of sea fog gradually formed.
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Seeing this scene, the temporary commander couldn't help but be startled, and the ominous feeling in his heart grew stronger.
'Again? Such a large-scale sea fog, do they still have Spirituality to create it? This involves Chalk Stage Extraordinary, and possibly more than one!'
Facing the thick fog that was appearing again, the temporary commander thought with a grim expression. After confirming that the opponent had Chalk Stage Extraordinary, his heart sank sharply.
He knew very well that there was not a single Chalk Stage Extraordinary on his fleet's ships now. If the opponent indeed had multiple Chalk Stage Water Manipulators, then their situation would become extremely dire.
"Are there any more 'Wind Calling' Shadow Sigils?"
"No, Captain, both the Sigils and the storage are used up. There were only five in total."
The temporary commander asked the sailor beside him, who replied somewhat helplessly. After hearing the sailor's words, the temporary commander paused, looking at the increasingly thick sea fog on the sea with a more serious expression.
"Since those guys are Water Manipulators who can create sea fog, they might be hiding in the sea. Notify the'Stone Stage' and'Sculpted Tomb' and release the depth charges!"
The temporary commander ordered. Soon, his order was transmitted to the two destroyers at the rear of the fleet. The sailors immediately gathered at the stern of the ships and threw cylindrical depth charges into the sea. Then, huge splashes were blown up on the sea surface where the fleet had passed.
As the explosives detonated in the sea, the not-so-loud buzzing explosion sounds continued to ring out. However, the surrounding fog did not weaken with the sound of the explosions; instead, it intensified. Seeing this scene, everyone knew that the depth charges did not have much effect on the submerged Water Manipulators.
"Depth charges... they are mostly used against large sea beasts, and are not very effective against Water Manipulators who can lurk close to the ships... The bombs exploded too far from them to hurt them..."
"Damn it, if only Mr. Jode and the others were here, at least we could have used 'Boiling Bottom' to teach those guys a lesson!"
Seeing that the depth charges were useless against the fog, the temporary commander couldn't help but grit his teeth and say. Because there was no Chalk Stage present, many key functions on the escort fleet could not be used, which put them at a great disadvantage.
The enemy might be lurking underwater, but the people on the fleet had no good countermeasures. They could only watch as the surrounding fog became thicker and thicker, and the visibility became lower and lower, to the point where they could no longer see the lights of their companions' ships in the distance.
Facing the increasingly thick fog, the temporary commander had no choice but to order all the warships in the fleet to activate the 'Radiant Light' lamps, which required consuming Spirituality to illuminate, using light that was infinitely stronger than ordinary gas lamps to penetrate the thick sea fog. In this deep fog, the sailors on the warships could only see the hazy, blurred lights of friendly ships beside them outside the ship. Thanks to these dazzling strong lights, they were not unable to identify and communicate with each other, and they were not fighting alone in this thick fog.
The fleet continued to sail in the thick sea fog. Facing the strange fog, all the sailors couldn't help but be on edge, fully focused on guarding their surroundings, fearing that the enemy might suddenly emerge from somewhere in the thick fog to launch a surprise attack. In their opinion, the enemy creating such a large area of sea fog must be trying to launch a surprise attack. Therefore, they gathered together, holding weapons and guarding in all directions.
The temporary commander was also like the sailors, holding a weapon and guarding against enemies who might emerge from anywhere at any time. As time passed, no enemies appeared, and there was Silence in the sea fog.
There was no surprise attack, no destruction. Although the thick sea fog obscured everything, there was no attack or battle in this fog. Although everyone was highly vigilant about the thick fog around them, this thick fog, besides obscuring vision, did not show any danger. If it weren't for the warning from the Hui Jian Lamps, they would have almost considered this to be ordinary sea fog.
Just like this, time passed by minute by minute. Just as everyone began to feel a slight confusion about this nothingness, the fog actually began to gradually dissipate.
Visibly, the originally thick sea fog rapidly thinned. In just a few minutes, the fog that enveloped the entire fleet completely disappeared. The sailors could once again see the ordinary lights on the friendly ships in the distance, as if the previous fog had never occurred. Facing this situation, everyone couldn't help but be surprised.
"What's going on? Why did this fog just dissipate like this? Didn't those guys do something while the fog was here?"
Facing this scene, the temporary commander murmured in confusion. Then, he began to focus his attention on the other friendly ships in the darkness. He needed to confirm their losses.
And after he confirmed, he was stunned on the spot.
The entire fleet was composed of nine different ships. Therefore, the temporary commander looked out from his ship and could see eight points of Light on the dark sea. Now, he could only see five.
Three of the fleet's nine ships, in this thick fog, were simply gone. And the ones that were missing were precisely the three passenger ships that did not have 'Radiant Light' lamps installed, the ones carrying the pilgrims that the escorts were supposed to protect.
The three passenger ships carrying the pilgrims had inexplicably disappeared in this thick fog. What remained at the scene was the nearly intact escort fleet.
This escort mission was a complete failure.
...
At this moment, far from the Church fleet, three passenger ships sailing in formation continued to sail on the sea. Carried by a strange current, these three ships had left the fog long before and had sailed all the way here.
On the deck of the passenger ship at this time, the sailors who couldn't find the escort ships were also in chaos. They looked around, trying to find traces of the scattered fleet. Suddenly, a water column shot up from the sea surface, and when this water column fell onto the deck of the passenger ship, it brought not only seawater but also a figure, a shirtless male figure.
Around thirty years old, covered in seawater, with disheveled hair and a strong, bare-chested body, the man slowly stood up under the watchful eyes of the sailors. Then, he spoke in a calm voice.
"From now on, these three ships are under our control. Warriors of Light, do not resist. We have no intention of harming anyone now. As long as you cooperate with us, everyone can be safe and sound."