CHAPTER 260: CHAPTER 259: SHADOW AND BLACK DAM

On the eleventh day of Aiven’s party arrival at Nisk Water City, it was also the fourth day of the second patrol of the Storm Horn.

The entire second routine patrol mission was still smooth sailing, and they had already started their return after reaching the open sea boundary.

Evidently, compared to life in Nisk Water City.

The days of patrolling during this period were indeed somewhat torturous, especially in the uncertain situation, not knowing when or if the enemy would come!

"When will the days of only passively waiting for the enemy to come to us finally end?"

Milan leaned weakly against the railing of the poop deck, looking at the white wake left by the battleship as it sailed through the sea, speaking listlessly.

"As a ’Prophet,’ do you have the nerve to ask us this question?"

Aiven shot him a glance, thinking he himself would like to know when it would end!

Drifting like this all day long, although it does not greatly impact his current research progress.

But he always needs to spare some energy to guard against potential enemy attacks at any time, or even the worst-case scenario—Sea Monster!

Indeed, it was some mental strain.

Though the pressure on his shoulders was not heavy, Aiven certainly looked forward to ending this kind of life as soon as possible.

"Obviously Hawkins has an Evil God supporting him, even the Kingdom’s official channels haven’t got the slightest news.

Let me do the divination? Not to mention whether I can divine anything.

Even if I could, before I even say the results, I might already be polluted by the Evil God’s spiritual perspective into a mass of wriggling rotten flesh.

Do you so eagerly want to see me sacrifice myself dramatically?"

Milan rolled himself over like a sun-dried salted fish, faced Aiven and pulled a goofy face with tongue out and eyes askew.

"Hmm...."

Milan’s point was valid, although Aiven had encountered a similar issue before.

When divining about the "Box of Dead Souls" in Percy, the "God of Opera’s" hands, similar issues occurred.

However, at that time, he didn’t have to worry about losing control or endangering his life, as the source of power, Percy, was sealed.

He was merely unable to divine any results.

But the thought process at that time could be borrowed, which was not to directly divine the target with powerful forces but rather to divine individuals potentially influenced by it.

What goes by leaves traces unless one becomes so powerful that they are a universe unto themselves, they must partake in intricate connections with the world.

Just like humans cannot directly observe Black Holes but can indirectly observe through various celestial bodies and micro-particles affected around them.

Divination Art naturally can adopt this method.

"Divine the future of the Storm Horn?"

Upon hearing Aiven’s idea, Milan fell into contemplation.

As a newly appointed "Prophet," striving to improve his witchcraft skills has always been what he actively pursued. This technique not belonging to the realm of witchcraft had been somewhat neglected.

"Exactly, as part of the defense force of Leiden River Valley, if any unexpected situation occurs, we would be the first to bear its brunt.

If we can determine when we might encounter unexpected danger, we can indirectly infer the timing of the enemy’s action.

Though indirect influences from higher positions might occur, even a few words of divination would be beneficial."

Aiven believed his idea could work, at least it was validated previously when confirming the life and death of the last "Random Host" Wack Wells.

"Indeed, it’s not impossible to give it a shot, passively waiting like this isn’t the solution.

The more numerous the subjects divined simultaneously, the greater the difficulty.

We can select ten people representing various roles among the crew, thus greatly lowering the difficulty.

Moreover, even if the official ’Prophets’ found nothing, it doesn’t mean we will fail.

Divination relies on inspiration; when inspired, even an apprentice can foretell astonishing prophecies.

Let this ’Prophet’ give it a try!"

After pondering and stroking his chin for a while, Milan clapped his hands, cracking his joints, showing some enthusiasm.

This indirect divination poses low risk, even if it fails, it would merely result in no outcome, not threatening the caster’s safety.

However, proactively initiating a divination potentially impacting hundreds of lives differs from passively receiving Spiritual World information.

In a passive state, one cannot actively select the information they wish to know, akin to being a signal receiver passively receiving Spirit Realm transmissions, just like when receiving the prophecy of the fatal danger of "Silver Wings" being ambushed by "Shark Tooth Pirate Gang."

Though receiving prophecy passively, it was the last thing Milan wished to see.

Since attaining the capacity for proactive prophecy as an Official Wizard (Prophet), it merely requires some extra ritualistic preparations.

"Give me seven candles, a pot of holly leaf oil, a sheet of incense, three pieces of white crystal jewelry, a large silver container of some size...."

Milan unceremoniously listed a series of required materials, knowing Aiven’s "Magic Pocket" certainly had them stored. He pulled out his crystal ball, rolled up his sleeves, preparing to tackle the challenge.

It’s as if the difficult problem that made the official "Prophet" return defeated could easily be solved by his hand.

Yet, just as he raised his head to verify the sun’s position currently, his actions suddenly froze!

Aiven, still lowered in head, followed Milan’s instructions, pulling out items he needed one by one from the "Magic Pocket," felt considerably well-stocked since acquiring portable space.

Not only did it store various witchcraft supplies, weapons, food, and water, but the Alchemy Bombs he was eligible to receive as a Battleship Captain were also tossed in two boxes.

The one who once mocked Milan for being overly cautious was actually no less so.

Pa! Pa!

Aiven suddenly felt Milan tap him on the shoulder and looked up to ask, "What’s up?"

"I feel like our trouble has arrived!"

Milan’s face was stiff with a trembling tongue as he slowly raised his hand to point at the sea surface not far away.

"The divination result? How could it be this fast...."

Aiven’s puzzled words were only halfway out before he realized something, his body sprang up instantly, and he looked towards the sea surface not far from the right front of "Storm Horn," as indicated by Milan’s finger.

The sea surface, which was calm just moments ago, had suddenly changed color!

Glug glug...

A huge area like ink had rapidly spread beneath the surface, with the seawater boiling like it was being heated constantly, bubbling with white foam.

Subsequently, the churning seawater formed water walls three to four meters high, rushing out with a roar centered around the shadow.

Huge waves slapped against the ship’s side, with splashes flying up onto the deck.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh... whoosh whoosh whoosh...

Waves surged one after another, as if some gigantic creature was about to surface from the depths... The momentum when the great white whale emerged to attack a whaling ship was nothing compared to this.

Completely incomparable!

The "Storm Horn," a Level 4 Battleship, seemed like nothing more than an insignificant bug next to the shadow.

"So big! Could it be...."

Changes were not only occurring from the sea floor.

Whoosh——

Whoosh——

At the same time, strong gales seemed to blow directly from the void, completely canceling out the normal sea winds.

The direction of the surging waves changed, with waves whipped up by the mysterious strong gales and waves roiling up from the sea floor intersecting on the surface.

Then, the front and back three-to-four-meter-high waves silently merged into giant waves seven to eight meters high, carrying a terrifying momentum as they surged towards the almost close-at-hand "Storm Horn"!

In Aiven’s "Data Visualization," the wind speed at that moment was like an explosion.

In almost an instant, it had intensified to 21.8 meters per second, pushing water walls 8.53 meters high like mountains crashing down.

And the shadow beneath the water had extended at least 6 kilometers!!!

"Vid, take down the mainsail! Tack into the wind!"

No longer concerned with observing what exactly was happening, Aiven frowned tightly, quickly issuing orders to the Sailor before taking over the helm personally to steer the ship head-on to meet the water walls.

Turning to flee in the face of giant waves was asking for death; charging head-on into the wave peaks was the safest choice.

’Goddess bless! Just hope what we’re encountering this time isn’t a Sea Monster!

A creature of this size, even if it’s the "Sea God’s Son," wouldn’t be long enough! Could it be.... the ’Mother of Sea Monsters’ personally coming to attack?!’

The experience of encountering a Super Storm in the open sea had already given the crew of the "Storm Horn" experience in dealing with such situations.

Suddenly faced with unexpected changes, they didn’t panic either, each carried out their duties in an orderly manner to maneuver the battleship.

Bang——

The bow cleaved through the water wall, splashing water everywhere. Yet despite this, the pinnacle of human shipbuilding technology, the Level 4 Battleship, was still pushed far away by the roaring winds and giant waves.

Crash——

However, thanks to taking the best possible position to greet the giant waves, the wooden hull didn’t suffer heavy impact, and no damage occurred.

However.

Just as the crew was prepared to adjust the stance and brace for the unending onslaught of incoming giant waves, the wind direction on the sea surface suddenly made another one-eighty-degree turn!

The giant waves in front vanished like a mirage at the same time.

Meanwhile, behind them, another giant wave no smaller than the front one had already formed in a blink of an eye.

Boom!

This time, there was no more opportunity for the "Storm Horn" to evade; the massive force threw the battleship fiercely into the air, briefly riding on a cloud, before heavily crashing back onto the sea surface.

From a wave summit over 8 meters high, it plunged straight into a wave trough about 10 meters deep.

Massive amounts of seawater flew into the sky, then transformed into a heavy rain showering down, drenching the crew members of the "Storm Horn" who were swaying back and forth into soaked rags.

By now, the enormous waves and strong winds from before had completely disappeared like illusions across the sea surface.

The crew, dizzy and disoriented, picked themselves up.

"Captain, look! We seem to be trapped!"

Returning the helm to the sailor, Aiven had hardly begun to catch his breath before his attention was drawn by Sailor Vid’s startled cry.

When Aiven looked at the suddenly appearing objects on the sea surface encircling his "Storm Horn," he took a sharp breath:

"It’s.... the Black Dam?"