Chapter 582

Chapter 423: Sea Fog

Under the dark night, there was an endless expanse of vast sea. The sound of waves could be heard swishing under the sea breeze, and the starry sky above was hidden by thick clouds. Looking around, everything seemed to be shrouded in darkness.

On this dark sea surface, several points of light were visible, spaced far apart as they moved forward. Upon closer inspection, one could see that these lights were emitted from multiple ships. A rather sizable fleet was sailing on the pitch-black sea.

This was the Church’s escort fleet for pilgrims. After leaving Navaha, the fleet had been traveling day and night toward their original destination, Iwig. It was now the second night since they left Navaha, and they were not far from their destination.

In the central part of the fleet were three ordinary passenger ships carrying the pilgrims heading to the Holy Mother’s holy site. These pilgrims mostly came from Prit, Faraluo, Ilmo, and other countries. They were mainly devout followers of the Holy Mother from the common folk. Due to their sincere faith, generous donations, or noble character, they had been rewarded by the local churches with official pilgrimage qualifications. They were almost all representatives of the Holy Mother’s faith within the common people.

Of course, besides these devout followers, there was also a small portion of church clergy among the pilgrims. They often participated in this pilgrimage due to their own applications or rewards from superiors. Vania was one of them.

In the cabin of the passenger ship, Vania, like she always did, was devoutly praying in the evening. After ending her daily prayer, she opened her eyes and glanced at the time on the wall.

“It’s already this time? It’s getting late…”

After checking the time, Vania slowly got up, yawned, and then turned to look out the porthole at the boundless black sea. She gazed at the stars and moon often obscured by dark clouds.

‘The sky is so dark… Almost nothing can be seen. I read in books about fish leaping under the moonlight. I thought we might encounter such a scene during our long journey by sea, but the weather has mostly been bad recently…’

Vania thought somewhat disappointedly. Then she stretched, looked at the pile of books and a small map on the desk beside her, and focused her gaze on the map to confirm her position.

‘After leaving Navaha, we have been at sea for some time. According to the crew, we will reach Iwig soon. Although Lord Jorde and his group are not on board, the entire fleet is operating normally, everyone is doing their jobs, and there have been no mistakes. My initial concerns seem unnecessary.’

Vania thought to herself. When she saw Jorde and others had to leave the fleet due to the inspector, she couldn’t help feeling worried. Now seeing the fleet continue to operate smoothly without a commander, her worries gradually faded away.

“I hope Lord Jorde and his group can also be safe. May the Lord protect them.”

After saying this softly, Vania tidied up the books on the table, went to the cabin bathroom for a simple wash, changed out of her nun’s robe into her pajamas, and finally extinguished the lamp on the table before lying down on her bed and covering herself with a blanket.

Finally, in the gentle rocking and soft sound of the waves, Vania gradually fell asleep peacefully.

…

When most passengers and crew members were in deep sleep, the escort fleet continued to sail forward in the darkness. The duty sailors maintained the course while keeping a vigilant watch over the vast dark sea, paying attention to whether any other ships appeared in the darkness and noting any possible situations.

As the night deepened, drowsiness began to spread throughout the fleet. Even the duty sailors, working in monotonous boredom, occasionally yawned. Along with this drowsiness, fog began to rise from the distant dark sea.

At some point, a faint mist began to spread over the sea where the fleet was sailing. As time passed, this mist gradually became thicker, forming sea fog.

Initially, the duty sailors noticed the mist but didn’t pay much attention, as fog at sea was a normal occurrence and not worth being surprised about.

However, as time went on, the fog grew increasingly thick and widespread. An unexpected event occurred: the lamps on each ship suddenly emitted alarm-like warning sounds. Nearby sailors were startled by the alarms, grabbed their weapons, and rushed to the positions of the lamps. They discovered that almost all the lamps simultaneously detected abnormal spiritual traces—abnormal “Cup” and “Lamp” spirits.

Seeing the warning from the lamps, all the sailors immediately heightened their alertness and started searching for the source of the abnormal spiritual traces. After searching for a while, they couldn’t find anything. Eventually, the temporary commander of the fleet discovered the cause of the anomaly.

“Fog, it’s fog! This fog is problematic; it’s created by extraordinary abilities! It could very likely be a water mage!”

On the deck of the flagship Buon, the temporary commander activated his spiritual vision, looked at the dense fog around him, and loudly announced, then immediately ordered:

“We’ve been attacked! All ships, be on guard! Use the Wind Summoning Sigil to disperse the fog!”

Soon, the temporary commander’s orders were relayed throughout the fleet. All escort ships took out a reserve “Shadow” sigil and spiritual storage item, invoking strong winds that temporarily dispersed the sea fog.

This was the Wind Summoning Sigil, capable of summoning strong winds to disperse sea fog and counteract adverse natural winds. It had many uses at sea, which was why the Church’s fleet always kept them. And now was when they would come into play.

With the strong winds blowing, the dispersed sea fog was forcibly blown away. Standing on the deck, the temporary commander mobilized his spiritual energy, using the Black Earth Tier “Lamp” sight that allowed clear vision even at night. He closely watched the sea surface as the fog dissipated, trying to discern where the extraordinary beings were using their abilities and whether any other ships had approached undetected.

No matter how he observed, the temporary commander saw no signs of any other unusual ships approaching. This momentarily confused him.

‘No other ships approaching… Where are these ability users? Where are the attackers hiding?’

Looking at the boundless dark sea, the temporary commander puzzled in his mind. At this moment, due to the exhaustion of the spiritual storage items, the strong winds summoned gradually subsided. To his surprise, after the winds stopped, the fog around the fleet began to rise again. A thin mist rose from the dark sea, increasing in density at a visible speed, forming new sea fog.

Seeing this, the temporary commander’s heart jolted, and his unease intensified.

‘Again? With this large-scale sea fog, do they still have the spiritual energy to create it? There must be White Tier extraordinary beings involved here, and possibly more than one!’

Facing the renewed thick fog, the temporary commander grimly thought. Upon confirming the presence of White Chalk Tier extraordinary beings, his heart sank sharply.

He clearly knew that there were no White Chalk Tier extraordinary beings on his side, and if the enemy really had multiple White Chalk Tier water mages, the situation would become extremely dire.

“Are there any more Wind Summoning Sigils?”

“No, sir. Both the sigils and storage items have been used up. We only had five of them.”

The temporary commander asked a nearby sailor, who replied somewhat helplessly. After hearing the sailor’s words, the temporary commander paused, looking at the increasingly thick fog with a heavy expression.

“If those water mages can create sea fog, they might be hiding underwater. Notify the Stone Tier and Tomb Carving Tier ships to release depth charges!”

The temporary commander ordered. Soon, his command reached the two destroyers at the rear of the fleet. Sailors immediately gathered at the stern, dropping cylindrical depth charges into the sea. Then, huge splashes erupted along the path of the fleet.

With the explosions of explosives in the sea, the not-so-loud humming sounds continuously rang out. However, the surrounding fog did not weaken with the explosions but instead grew stronger. Seeing this, everyone realized that the depth charges had little effect on the submerged Canglang Singers.

“Depth charges… usually used against large sea creatures. They’re not very effective against water mages lurking close to ships… The bombs are too far from them to hurt them…”

“d*mn it, if Mr. Jorde and his team were here, we could at least use Bottom Boil to teach those guys a lesson!”

Seeing that the depth charges were ineffective against the fog, the temporary commander clenched his teeth in frustration. Without a White Tier overseeing, many critical functions of the escort fleet could not be activated, putting them at a significant disadvantage.

The enemies might be lurking underwater, but the people on the fleet had no good way to respond. They could only watch as the fog around them grew thicker, visibility decreased, and they could barely see the lights from the ships of their comrades in the distance.

Facing the increasingly thick fog, the temporary commander ordered the fleet’s warships to activate the Glimmer lights, which required the consumption of spiritual energy. Using the light many times stronger than gas lamps, they penetrated the thick sea fog. In this dense fog, sailors on the warships could only see the hazy and blurry lights of friendly ships outside. Thanks to these powerful lights, they could still communicate and coordinate with each other, avoiding fighting alone in the thick fog.

The fleet continued to sail through the thick sea fog. Facing the strange fog, all the sailors were on high alert, focusing intently on their surroundings, fearing that enemies might suddenly appear from somewhere to launch an ambush. They believed that the enemy creating such a large area of fog was surely planning a surprise attack, so they gathered together, holding weapons and guarding all directions.

Like the sailors, the temporary commander held his weapon, ready to defend against any possible attack from any direction. As time passed, no enemy appeared, and the fog remained eerily silent.

There was no surprise attack, no destruction. Although the thick fog obscured everything, no attacks or battles occurred in the fog. Though everyone was highly alert to the dense fog, it showed no danger beyond obscuring their vision. If not for the warning from the lamps, they would have almost mistaken it for ordinary sea fog.

Thus, time passed second by second. Just as everyone began to feel a bit perplexed about the lack of action, the fog actually started to dissipate.

Visibly, the originally thick sea fog rapidly thinned. Within just a few minutes, the fog that had enveloped the entire fleet disappeared completely. Sailors could once again see the ordinary lights of friendly ships in the distance. Faced with this situation, everyone felt a wave of astonishment.

“What’s going on? How did the fog suddenly disperse? Did those guys do something during the fog?”

Facing this scene, the temporary commander said in confusion. Then he turned his attention to the dark sea and the other ships of the allied fleet, needing to confirm their losses.

After checking, he stood rooted to the spot.

The fleet consisted of nine different ships. From his ship, the temporary commander could see eight lights in the darkness of the sea. Now, he could only see five.

Of the nine ships in the fleet, three had vanished in the thick fog, precisely the three passenger ships without Glimmer lights, the ones meant to protect the pilgrims.

The three passenger ships carrying the pilgrims had mysteriously disappeared in the thick fog. What remained was almost intact the escort fleet.

This escort mission was a complete failure.

…

At this moment, far from the Church’s fleet, three passenger ships continued to sail on the sea surface. Driven by an unusual ocean current, these ships had long since left the fog and continued their journey here.

On the deck of the passenger ship, the sailors who couldn’t find the escort ships fell into chaos. They searched everywhere, hoping to find traces of the lost fleet. Suddenly, a jet of water spurted from the sea, landing on the deck of the passenger ship. Along with the seawater, a figure emerged—a bare-chested male.

Around thirty years old, drenched in seawater, with messy hair and a muscular body, the man stood up slowly amidst the wary eyes of the sailors, then spoke in a calm voice.

“Starting now, these three ships are under our control. Warriors of Glimmer, do not resist. We currently have no intention of harming anyone. As long as you cooperate, everyone can live in peace.”