Pirate Kingship.

Chapter 590 Landing on the Eastern Continent: Undersea Tombstone, Skeleton Coast

Time flies, and in a blink of an eye it is the seventh day since the Golden Deer entered the second circulation belt.

Compared to other conventional adventure ships, Byron and his crew have easily covered a distance that would take them more than a month to travel at full speed.

During this period, they parted ways with the Ferdinand family. After seeing the true face of the "traitor" with their own eyes, the members of the Jinquan family were no longer prepared to take risks in the Eastern Continent.

Instead, he drove the strange warship upstream, preparing to return to Florence to compete for the position of Grand Duke!
For them, even if the sky falls, it is not as important as this matter.

Byron released the grand fleet again, both for training purposes and to familiarize the sailors with the routes in preparation for subsequent large-scale navigation.

They did their best to eliminate all safety hazards along the way and redraw the navigation charts.

With Byron and Violet in charge, although they encountered many unexpected situations along the way, they were able to escape without any danger.

Again, the high sequence is the high sequence in the whole world, and they are the top few in any continent.

It is impossible for him to suddenly become a small fry like a god from the sky, and it is also impossible for him to be beaten by a group of unknown people when he arrives at a new place so that even his mother can't recognize him.

Even though Byron's mother was always by his side, and even if he was hit by the "face-disfiguring foot", Hathaway would definitely be able to recognize him at a glance, but she didn't find the joke funny at all.

"Mom, is it okay for us to just wait like this? How can this really become a fairy tale?"

In the captain's room, Byron, Violet, and Hathaway looked at the exclusive magic book "Alice's Pillow Book of Fairy Tales" spread out on the desk.

The cover with a crescent-shaped fairytale town painted on it opens to reveal the fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" with the mermaid princess Hathaway herself as the protagonist.

As they got closer and closer to the Eastern Continent's [Corridor of Truth], the words of this fairy tale gradually began to flicker with dreamlike colorful lights.

It seems that through Byron, the signal "base station", a series of phantoms are emerging from the memory of the ocean of human collective subconsciousness, telling the tragic love story of the little beauty.

The story belongs to the Old World, but it comes to life in the Eastern Continent.

Hathaway sensed the progress, and the corners of her cherry-colored lips curled up, revealing an irrepressible joy:

“This is already within the range of the Corridor of Truth.

Special rules combined with the exceptionally active source tides will induce the fairy tale that has been spreading in the Old World for nearly twenty years to become active and eventually descend into the real world.

The entire Eastern Continent actually has two core survival taboos:

First, everything that is said must be known! Second, it is not people who chase after knowledge, but knowledge that chases after people!

When the 'Little Mermaid Princess' in this story comes after me, as long as I can successfully defeat and absorb her, I can complete the final promotion ceremony.

Becoming a superior wizard is the fairy tale itself!
The "Stairway to Immortality" is a dreamlike fairy tale that has become part of the collective subconscious of humanity.

As long as it circulates among humans or other intelligent species, I will remain immortal!"

Byron and Violet have almost understood the system of this wizarding school.

It is known that once a wizard of the school is promoted to the fifth level, the path ahead will be the same as that of other systems.

There is no need to wait for the truth to be realized, you can directly switch to the normal demigod path.

After all, the main function of the "Truth Manifestations" that are at least equivalent to demigods conceived by various schools is to safeguard the early growth of school members.

Perhaps some people believe that the [Truth Manifestation] that gathers a vast amount of knowledge will eventually be realized, but it is highly unlikely that it will be their generation.

There may be saints who sacrifice themselves for others, but we cannot expect every member to be such a person.

Most wizards who prefer rationality do not want the final creation to be occupied by a "chief" with a brain after it is born, allowing it to be activated in disguise.

Just like the small and medium-sized city-states that were born and died at will in [Beast Paradise], due to their insufficient size, once the totem god at the center of the anchor chain got out of control, it might affect the entire tribe.

When various major schools of thought explore the boundaries of human cognition, they may inadvertently touch upon the realm of gods.

It would be better if the [embodiment of truth] was a purely dead object, but with "human nature" there is the possibility of corruption, and the risk increases dramatically.

Although the "Fairy Tale Town School" is considered a university school with a history of thousands of years in the Corridor of Truth, Hathaway still does not have high expectations for the "Fairy Tale Town" that she envisions to be comparable to the kingdom of demigods.

I thought that as long as I could get a [priesthood] after being promoted to the fifth level, my life would be completely complete.

At this time, Violet asked the most crucial question with some concern:
"Mom, if the mermaid in the fairy tale finds you, are you confident that you can defeat it in the ritual?
The information you shared seemed to say that a fairy tale coming to life is roughly equivalent to having one foot halfway into the threshold of the fifth level.

In order to complete the ritual, one must not rely on external forces, but use one's own accumulated witchcraft system and wisdom to defeat it. At the very least, one must use props and treasures made by oneself."

But Hathaway took a piece of bear biscuit from the silver plate on the table and stuffed it into her mouth, waving her white and tender hands nonchalantly:

"It's a small matter. Although I have slept for nearly twenty years, the knowledge in the magic book is far less than that of others, and I have not explored the unknown areas enough.

But in terms of accumulation, no one in the entire school is more powerful than me.

That is a son of the fifth rank!"

There is a sentence on the title page of Alice's Pillow Book that is exactly the same as the one in the Sailing Log:
“Some say we live on a peaceful island called ignorance, surrounded by an endless black ocean.

Maybe I shouldn't have set sail from the beginning!

But we have to do it.”

In other words, it requires school members to try to step out of their comfort zone and see a wider world.

It is also the source of the endless vitality of wizarding schools.

But
The comfort zone is so comfortable, why should I step out of it?
Even if Hathaway can win easily by just playing badly, why should she do the work herself?
Others have to carry it on their own because the ritual excludes irrelevant external interference. They can only continue to expand their own knowledge reserves and go through untold hardships to master one more black magic to increase their chances of winning.

Hathaway is different, she is lucky.

After sleeping for twenty years, the son not only grew up well, but also accidentally flew into the sky.

The son was her own child, and of course he was the product of her accumulated strength and creation, the most precious treasure in her life.

Even mysticism has to admit this!

If you leave such a big thing unused, wouldn't that be a sign of something wrong in your brain?
What's more, Byron is the love child behind the fairy tale of "The Little Mermaid" and the continuation of the fairy tale. It is only reasonable for him to protect his old mother from wind and rain.

The more Hathaway thought about it, the more she felt that she was very far-sighted. This fairy tale was so profound and lingering that she couldn't help but put her hands on her waist. She was so impressed.

The style of the Little Mermaid is obviously different from those elders who force their children to endure hardships and make them feel that they owe them something.

Byron also cooperated very well. Like a loyal lackey, he picked up a finger biscuit, dipped it in strawberry jam, and passed it between his mother's outstretched slender jade fingers, praising her wholeheartedly:

"Great! Really great! Mother is really insightful!"

Hathaway took a puff of a lady's cigarette, exhaled a sweet strawberry aroma, and raised her pointed chin slightly to her son and daughter-in-law:
"That's for sure."

Anyway, I'm settled in this comfort zone, and not causing any trouble for Byron is already my greatest contribution.

It's like, I'm the world's best swimmer, and suddenly some random guy comes out and asks me to step out of my comfort zone and practice a foreign language? No doubt, I'll give him a big slap on the spot!

dong dong dong.
At this time, there was a knock on the door, and [Navigator] Delia reminded:
"Captain, we have entered the coastal area of ​​the East Continent.

According to the nautical charts seized from several Old God churches, we are at most half a day away from the Skeleton Coast, the first stop on the eastern continent at the end of the circulation belt.

If you hurry, you can see the most dangerous coast in the world in an hour or two.

It’s just that the Church of the Old Gods can be exempted from the Sea of ​​Monsters to a certain extent.

There are not many ships traveling through the circulation belt between the South Continent and the East Continent, and most people will disperse to their own territories when they reach here.

The charts behind it haven’t been updated for several years.”

"understood."

Byron asked his mother to put away the magic book and stay by his or Violet's side for the next few days to avoid being caught off guard by the fairy tale coming to life.

Then he pushed the door open and walked out onto the deck of the Golden Deer.

Taking a deep breath, he could easily sense a different kind of restlessness and liveliness in the salty sea breeze.

Here, the underwater continental shelf rises sharply. The extraordinary people can open their spiritual vision and see the seabed directly. There are many sunken ships lying quietly on the seabed.

Most of them have half of their bodies stuck in the mud, and are covered with blue-black algae, like underwater tombstones.

In the eyes of the old sea dogs, it did not look like an ordinary shipwreck.

It was as if someone had thrown it into the seabed with great force.

At the same time, the further we went, the heavier the fog became, the darker the sky became, and the air was filled with a cold, decayed smell.

"Retract topsails, and slow down the entire fleet.

Level 2 combat readiness!"

Byron waved his hand, and First Mate [Iron Wall] Bruch repeated his orders to the entire fleet over the command network.

Twelve heavily armed cruisers retracted their sails and slowed down, forming a single column with the Golden Deer as the lead ship. Five thousand elite soldiers loaded their artillery and bullets, preparing for any possible attack at any time.

Before Delia could raise the lantern filled with pilot whale oil to explore the offshore waters, Byron had already used his [Divine Vision] to sweep underwater and immediately let out a light exclamation.

However, I saw many things in the underwater shipwreck that should not appear in this era and this place.

There are antiques inside that were mainly active in the inter-sea waters and the east and west coasts before the Age of Discovery began. They appear here most likely because of a randomly generated "blue hole".

There are some local exotic ships equipped with whale oil machinery. Judging from the degree of rust on them, they have not been lying here for very long.

There are also many adventure ships that have come from the Old World in the past year. Due to some unknown accidents, they have become underwater tombstones.

It was in the vicinity that Salant, who had encountered the whale hunter Jack Harold by chance and was rescued by him, also frowned:

“Captain, when I passed by here more than two years ago, there were quite a few shipwrecks, but not as many as there are now.

The most dangerous place should be the Skeleton Coast near the shore, which is a shipwreck cemetery and a wasteland of bones, but it is still more than a hundred nautical miles away from us.

Could it be that it was accidentally occupied by some weird thing and turned into a hunting ground? And this posture of being stuck upside down in the sea and becoming a tombstone always feels familiar."

In the dead silence, the excitement of the fleet, which had been rising because of the upcoming arrival at the destination, was suppressed again.

Recalling the various horror legends in the [Corridor of Truth], they all became extremely alert.

After another two hours of advancing, the number of underwater tombstones transformed by shipwrecks not only did not decrease but increased instead.

The palms of the soldiers holding guns on the boat were sweating, and the sound of someone swallowing saliva could be clearly heard.

Sudden.

"Captain, something is coming."

Guts, the [Phantom Blade] who had been guarding on the mast, materialized a strange telescope that could penetrate the fog, and unexpectedly discovered a strangely shaped golden ship suddenly appeared on the empty sea not far from the fleet.

There was no flashing green light, and it was not a ghost ship. Instead, it seemed as if it had escaped from the Sea of ​​​​Source through the world's cracks.

The ship is bright golden in color with colorful patterns. It is about 40 meters long and extremely slender. There is an eagle-like figurehead on the bow.

But someone had dug out the eagle's eyes, leaving only two black holes, with blood constantly flowing out of the eye sockets.

The ship probably sensed the gaze of a living person, and immediately turned its bow and charged forward aggressively.

Seeing such a strange scene, the crew members couldn't help but shudder.

Before anyone else could react, Hathaway and Salant, the aunt and nephew who were native to the East Continent, said in unison:

"It's the Sun Boat School's out-of-control manifestation of truth, the [Sun Boat Heliopolis]!"

Then they each hid behind their son (cousin) tacitly.

Without waiting for Byron to ask further questions, they started to tell each other's secrets one after another.

"In mythology, the solar boat [Heliopolis] is believed to be the vehicle of Horus, the [blind man], [hawk-headed god], and [god of the sky].

He has a series of priesthoods including [Sky], [Sun], [Moon], [Royalty], [Protection], and [Revenge], etc.

The solar boat is used to travel across the sky each day, driving the sun and moon.

The inhabitants of the Desert Empire believed that by riding in the solar boat, they could connect with the power and blessings of the God-King.

All solar boats that imitate this shape are regarded as a medium for communication and contact between humans and gods, and have a very high sacred status. "

"The ancient 'Solar Boat School' of the Desert Empire started its research on this treasure as the 'Reality of Truth'.

He built a prototype using gold, diamonds and various jewels, and slowly engraved his research results on it, hoping to make it into a "spaceship" that could go to the sun.

The result was obvious. They had only been researching for less than a hundred years when a chief wizard secretly placed his own mummy in the hull, hoping that the school members would help him.

However, this caused the treasure to accidentally go out of control and become a [Cursed Object].

The two largest diamonds in the world, one representing the sun, the other representing the moon, were lost.

The ship gained its own consciousness and began to chase after its two lost eyes and the blood of living people.

Although it is far inferior to the Noah's Ark, which is equivalent to a sixth-level demigod, it has the strength of a fifth-level demigod, and I don't know how many people it has killed over the years."

Byron listened to their stories and quickly understood the whole story.

"From the desert empire ruled by the Sedge River Flower Snake and the Queen? I knew that after encountering them twice before, we might meet again in the future."

As for the Solar Boat, to put it simply, a black witchcraft accident caused the creation to go out of control, and the boat and two diamond eyes all became powerful cursed objects.

One eye symbolizes the sun and the other eye symbolizes the moon. The sun represents light and the moon represents darkness, both of which are the powers of Horus.

Among them, the "Mountain of Light" is the largest white diamond in the world and the eye of the sun.

The curses on other cursed objects: death, the whole family being intact. Compared to this one, they are not even worthy of carrying shoes.

Because the disaster it brought to its master was - the destruction of the country!
According to legend, it is a symbol of power and wealth, but also the root of bloodshed and death. Only the most powerful people, such as monarchs, are qualified to obtain it, but they will eventually lose their power because of it.

Over the years, "Mountain of Light" has fallen into the hands of many owners, but wherever it goes, strife, blood, and misfortune follow.

This led to the demise of at least two dozen principalities and countries on this continent.

But the monarchs still enjoy it, because in this land, it undoubtedly represents the sun and the royal power, and is an extension of Horus' power.

What if I am the exception who is "appointed by Heaven"?
The other black Orlov is the largest black diamond in the world and is the Eye of the Moon.

Those who obtain the "Mountain of Light" will have their country destroyed, and those who obtain the "Black Orlov" will all end their lives by jumping off a building or a cliff.

Even the warships at sea would suddenly and uncontrollably fall straight to the bottom of the sea, just like the unfortunate creatures in the surrounding water.

The Eye of the Sun "Mountain of Light" is aimed at the country.

The Eye of the Moon "Black Orlov" is personal.

The solar boat [Heliopolis] targets both at the same time, and has caused countless tragedies in its quest to retrieve its two "eyes".

Encountering this sun boat is more frightening to the people of East Continent than encountering a ghost ship.

Horrible, weird, bloody, just one name is enough to stop a child from crying.

At the same time, Byron also learned the taboo:

Never let your eyes fall on the other party. This ship is extremely sensitive to human gazes and will dig out people's eyes if they follow their gaze.

"Golden Deer, activate [The Navy is the Empire, the Empire is the Navy]!
Open the gun ports and prepare to fire."

At Byron's command, the entire fleet immediately merged into the Golden Deer.

He has "My rules are rules" to rely on, and he doesn't care about its taboos at all.

Just as Byron was staring at the Sun Boat and ordered a salvo to the Golden Deer, wanting to see whether his own legendary battleship was more powerful or this cursed object was more powerful.

Perhaps he felt the overly "eager eyes" of more than 600 ship-borne heavy artillery locked on him, and suddenly made a 90-degree turn!

As if he didn't see the fleet of 5,000 people, he turned around and walked away, quickly distancing himself from them.

In the blink of an eye, it passed through a world crack and disappeared into the material world.

Even the fog in front of my eyes dissipated.

Byron and crew:
The rapid switch from "give me your life" to "sorry for bothering you, goodbye" made them feel like they had punched the air and felt extremely uncomfortable.

Salant, who grew up listening to each other's stories, couldn't help but look embarrassed when faced with his cousin's puzzled look of "That's it?"

He also didn't know that this thing would actually bully the weak and fear the strong.

Fortunately, the "whooshing" sound of the wind in front broke the awkward atmosphere.

The Skeleton Coast is finally here!

The "Skull Coast" has been verified by the world itself and has the title of "the most dangerous coastline in the world".

The waters were crisscrossed, undercurrents were surging, jagged reefs were hidden beneath the sea surface, and thick fog was floating on the sea, obscuring the crew's vision.

Strong winds of more than level 8 roar all year round, rolling up the small sand dunes on the beach, making a rumbling sound like the howl of a ferocious beast.

The pale beach was torn into mottled and wrinkled by the strong wind, and the rocks on the shore were carved into strange shapes, as if they were monsters that had just struggled out of hell, with hideous faces.

Under such sea conditions, ships passing by here naturally often suffer accidents.

Many survivors of the shipwreck stumbled onto the shore, thankful to be still alive, but they were slowly tortured to death by the wind and sand, and had no way of getting out of the desert before they died.

Therefore, the Skeleton Coast is covered with various shipwrecks and crew remains, and it looks dazzlingly white at first glance.

The Golden Deer, which had been well prepared, was not affected and easily passed through the turbulence.

You can see a clear forest belt separating the north and the south.

Continuous forests emerge on the southern side of the Skeleton Coast.

There are trees over a hundred meters tall everywhere, and trees two or three hundred meters tall are not uncommon. A random blade of grass can grow taller than a small tree.

They are a whole circle larger than the creatures here in the southern continent.

The tallest tree in the Zoo is the Genting Giant, which is over one thousand meters tall. There may be even taller super tree kings here.

The same is true for animals. Although not as exaggerated as plants, we can still see a considerable proportion of traces of giant monster activities.

Salant coughed lightly to ease the atmosphere:
“We’d better establish a base here.

The second circulation belt has been cleared and there are no major problems on the road.

Except for the swamp giant, the others are not too difficult to fight. A fourth-level heroic transcendent with his guards should be able to charge through them.

Although the Skeleton Coast is dangerous, at most it will destroy those adventure ships that are not up to standard and may also bury some inexperienced navigators.

The solar boat did not hunt down everyone. Even if the boat sank, there would always be a few people who would not die.

But why is there no adventurous captain who can send a message back?"

Byron mused:

"If the problem is not on the route, then it is most likely on land."

Suddenly turning their heads, they saw a girl wearing a little red hat waving at them from afar on the lush green coast.

(End of this chapter)