20demayo 42: "Fog" is broken
42: "Fog" is broken
The Golden Dawn is in its third week away from Sabaody Archipelago.
The morning sun, which should have shone on the deck as usual, was completely blocked by the thick fog.
Lingling, with a honey shortbread that Gails had just made dangling from her mouth, squatted on the base of the Tarol statue at the bow of the ship, frowning as she looked at the white mist in front of her.
This fog is so strange. It doesn't have the salty, damp feeling that sea fog should have. Instead, it has a faint metallic smell, and when you inhale it, it makes your throat feel a slight stinging sensation.
"Auro! Is this fog broken?"
She raised her hand and waved, but the mist seemed to have weight, and the gap she created was instantly filled by the surrounding white mist, even blurring the main mast behind her.
Oro had just come up from the gold detection chamber at the bottom of the ship, holding a square gold plate in his hand.
The gold plate is covered with fine gold patterns, and the flowing light spots between the patterns represent the distribution of gold ions in the seawater.
Normally, these light spots will be evenly scattered along the edge of the gold plate.
But now, dense spots of light are surging in from the depths of the fog, and as the ship continues to venture deeper into the fog, the brightness of the lights is increasing dramatically.
"That's certainly true; there are things you can't see inside this fog."
Oro carefully sensed the gold dust scattered around the Golden Dawn.
"There seems to be something dark red in the composition of the fog..."
"I've seen similar ones in the deep veins of Treasure Island before, but the concentration wasn't nearly as high, and..."
Before he could finish speaking, the points of light on the gold plate suddenly began to flicker violently.
The originally orderly trajectory was twisted by an invisible force, and some of the light spots even dissipated directly at the edge of the crystal plate.
Oro frowned, slowly closed his eyes, and released more nano-sized gold powder.
These gold dust particles form his most precise "sensory network," allowing him to detect even the slightest vibrations as long as they are within his range of perception.
This time, however, the gold dust had only drifted six or seven hundred meters away from the Golden Dawn when it seemed to hit an invisible wall, its trajectory suddenly deviating, and some of it was even forcibly pulled into the depths of the fog.
What bothered him even more was that from the depths of the fog, a series of high-frequency metallic vibrations were constantly emanating—
It was neither the twisting sound of a broken ship nor the dull thud of a sea monster crashing against rocks.
Instead, it is a regular, resonant vibration, as if countless metal fragments are vibrating simultaneously.
"There is interference from an unknown force field, as well as a high-frequency vibration source."
Oro opened his eyes and saw Gails walking over with a huge wooden tray filled with dark green shortbread and sprinkled with fine white powder.
"Aurora, the antidote biscuits are ready."
Gails' light blonde braids were dusted with flour as she picked up a shortbread and handed it to her.
"I just had Taylor and the others try it. It relieved the stinging sensation in their throats and should be able to prevent any toxins that might be hidden in the fog."
Oro took the pastry and took a bite. The crisp texture was accompanied by a faint seaweed fragrance, and the slight stinging in his throat was indeed relieved a lot.
He looked behind Gails and saw Taylor squatting by the ship's side with Molly, the Moya sisters, and several other mermaids.
They used an elevator to send one person down at a time.
The mermaids would gently sway their tails in the seawater as they went down—this was a unique way for the mermaid race to sense water currents, more accurate than ordinary navigational instruments.
"Lord Oro."
Taylor was the first to look up, a few water droplets still clinging to her long blue hair.
"We discovered that the water flow in the foggy area was abnormal, not in the natural direction of ocean currents."
"Instead, it revolves around a certain 'center point' deep within the fog, like..."
"It's like being pulled by something huge, even the rhythm of the waves follows that center point."
Molly nodded in agreement, holding a seashell in her hand. Inside the seashell was a small amount of seawater, and tiny bubbles floating on the surface were rotating clockwise around the edge of the shell.
"Moreover, the 'resistance' in the water is very high. When my tail swings in the water, I can feel something 'scratching' my scales. It's not a reef."
Just as Oro was about to speak, Lingling suddenly shouted from the bow:
"Everyone! Look!"
"A shadow flashed by just now! A very big shadow!"
Oro looked in the direction she pointed; the white mist was still so thick it wouldn't dissipate, but the golden dust he had released now emitted an even stronger sensation—
About 400 meters away from the Golden Dawn, a huge "outline" is moving.
The edges of the outline have sharp protrusions, and when it moves, it will bring up a large amount of seawater containing a high concentration of dark red ions.
At the same time! A piercing "creak—" sound suddenly came from the fog!
It's like heavy metal being forcibly bent.
Immediately afterwards, a wrecked pirate ship burst out of the fog, its sails mostly torn, with a few broken ropes still hanging from the edges.
There are three deep claw marks on the left side of the hull, revealing the bone. The wooden planks at the edges of the claw marks are charred, as if they had been scorched by high temperatures.
Seven or eight wounded pirates lay on the deck. Some had broken arms, some had blood-soaked bandages wrapped around their legs, and several were unconscious with dark red bloodstains at the corners of their mouths.
The helm was empty, with only a green-haired man gripping the gunwale and roaring. He had a deep, bone-revealing wound on his left arm, and blood dripped from his fingertips into the sea, staining the surrounding water red.
"Get out of the way! That thing is coming again!"
The green-haired man's eyes instantly turned red when he saw the Golden Dawn. He brandished his scimitar, his voice hoarse as if it had been sanded:
"It's chasing us! Get the boat away quickly! Otherwise, you'll be targeted too!"
Oro's gaze fell on the scratches on the pirate ship—
The edges of the scratches were not the claw marks of ordinary sea creatures, but rather had a distinct "metallic sheen".
Deep within the scratches remained dark red powder, exactly the same color as the unknown ions he had sensed in the fog.
"Gails, come with me to check on their wounded."
As Oro spoke, he released gold dust again. This time, the gold dust did not spread, but instead drifted precisely towards the claw marks on the pirate ship.
"Lingling, you stay here and keep an eye out for any movement in the fog."
"Taylor, double-check the center of the water's rotation. Is it behind that ship?"
Gails nodded immediately, took out bandages and the antidote cookies she had made earlier from the medical kit, and quickly jumped onto the wrecked pirate ship.
The green-haired man saw her approach and warily raised his knife. Only when he saw the medical kit in Gails' hand did he slowly lower his weapon, panting heavily as he said:
"I am York, the captain of the Rumbar Pirates..."
"We've been trapped in this fog for a month now. Even though it's completely dark inside, those things attack us every night around midnight."
"Our ship's sonic cannons are completely useless; they just attract them instead..."
Oro astutely grasped the most crucial point in York's words:
"they?"