Chapter 248 Entering Black Reef Bay
The Adventurer sliced through the deep gray waves, leaving the clamor of Port Beren far behind. All that remained was the muffled sound of bulging sails, the rhythm of waves hitting the hull, and the whistling of the sea breeze past their ears.
Li Wen stood by the ship’s railing, her hood pulled lower than usual. Her gaze pierced through the thickening twilight and the cold mist rising from the sea, fixing on a blurry black dot in the far distance, almost merged with the horizon. It was a ship belonging to the Divine Cult of Eternal Blessing, revealing only a faint silhouette in the last lingering glow of the setting sun.
“Maintain a distance of more than five nautical miles,” Captain Remington’s hoarse voice carried through the wind. He stood by the rudder, his figure seeming as stable as a mountain. His eyes, perpetually weathered by the sea breeze, were narrowed as if they could penetrate the sea fog. “Get any closer, and those lunatics will start sniffing our scent from the sea breeze. This isn’t alarmist talk; it’s the experience of an old captain.”
His large, scarred hands held the heavy rudder steadily, his knuckles turning slightly white from the effort. Under his command, the Adventurer’s course was not a straight pursuit but a subtle arc. It cleverly utilized the surging waves and the almost imperceptible white wake left by the distant cult ship on the ocean surface as cover.
Li Wen could clearly feel the slight turn of the ship. Each subtle rotation of the helm was accompanied by a tremor of the keel rubbing against the water. This wasn’t mere tailing; it was more like a stealthy dance integrated into the ocean’s rhythm.
Remington did not use any obvious Extraordinary Power to accelerate or alter the ocean currents, as that would be like lighting a torch in the dark. Instead, he maximized his profound understanding of the marine environment, honed by his mastery of the “Fury Tide Commander” path.
“The ocean has life,” Remington’s voice wasn’t loud but clearly reached Li Wen’s ears. He spoke as if teaching, or perhaps as if talking to himself. “Tides, swells, deep currents… they all have their own temperaments and paths. To follow someone’s ship stealthily at sea, you must learn to borrow its power, not defy its will.”
He suddenly steered the rudder, and the Adventurer’s hull tilted slightly, cutting into a broad, diagonally incoming swell. The giant wave lifted the ship, and using this natural force, the ship’s speed momentarily surged before it slipped into the trough as the wave crest fell. The trough’s depression cleverly concealed the hull’s height. The entire maneuver was fluid and hidden, like a fish merging with the seawater.
Fu Qingyan and the others huddled on the opposite side of the railing, their gazes, a mixture of tension and awe, fixed on the captain at the helm. Moria stood at the stern, looking back towards the direction of Port Beren, shrouded in dark clouds, lost in thought.
As night fully descended, the cult’s ship ahead had become an even more indistinct ghost under the cover of darkness. Only the occasional moonlight filtering through gaps in the clouds illuminated a corner of its sail, confirming its continued existence.
Li Wen stretched her perception to its limit, her sight extending into the night, catching the subtlest traces the ship left on the dark sea surface.
“They are correcting their course,” Li Wen’s voice came through the sea breeze, stating calmly. “Northeast… they’re entering deeper waters.”
Remington grunted, a trace of solemnity in his voice. “That’s the entrance to Black Reef Bay. The real trouble is about to begin.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a more dense, jagged dark silhouette vaguely appeared on the gloomy horizon ahead. The silhouette, like the fangs of a giant beast, abruptly pierced the boundary between sea and sky, carrying a heart-pounding sense of oppression. Even from a great distance, one could feel the inauspicious aura emanating from that sea area. The air seemed to become more humid and viscous, carrying a heavy salty and fishy smell, and an indescribable, decaying scent originating from the depths of the sea.
The once relatively regular sound of the waves became chaotic as they approached that area, interspersed with the muffled roaring of the undertow.
The Adventurer seemed to be sailing into an invisible swamp. The sea breeze here became strangely unpredictable, sometimes strong, sometimes stagnant, carrying unsettling whimpers. The color of the seawater also subtly changed, shifting from a deep, inky blue to an inauspicious, turbid hue that made one’s heart sink just by looking at it, as if all the despair and death that had befallen this sea area over countless years had settled within it.
“Feel it?” Remington’s deep voice sounded. “This sea is dead, yet terrifyingly active. Beneath the surface are countless invisible reefs. Those things aren’t even fully marked on the most detailed sea charts. They’re like the fangs of deep-sea demons, just waiting for the fearless to deliver themselves, and then they’ll bite hard.”
Like them.
The captain adjusted the rudder, and the Adventurer, at an extremely subtle angle, avoided a swirling vortex of water that was only slightly darker than its surroundings and barely visible to the naked eye.
Fu Qingyan and the others also felt the drastic environmental change. The chilling sea breeze seemed to penetrate their bones, bringing waves of cold. The faint rotting smell in the air grew more intense, making the players, accustomed to the scents of cities or forests, feel short of breath, even dizzy and nauseous. The elven girl Sugar instinctively tightened her coat, her face pale, enduring the discomfort, and whispered, “This place is really creepy…”
Moria withdrew his gaze and looked towards the dark silhouette drawing nearer in the distance. His light-colored robes remained unmoving in the bizarre sea breeze, his light-colored eyes reflecting caution and solemnity. Though he said nothing, the calm aura around him seemed to form an invisible barrier, shielding him from most of the negative environmental effects.
Amidst this oppressive silence, a sudden change occurred.
The wind, which had been merely eerie and unpredictable, suddenly turned violent, sweeping from all directions without warning, letting out sharp howls. The dense dark clouds overhead seemed to be stirred by an invisible giant hand, churning and gathering instantly, pressing down on the sea surface with such blackness that it felt as if the sky itself was about to fall.
Raindrops as large as beans, mixed with salty seawater, smashed violently onto the deck, the sails, and everyone’s faces and bodies, making sharp cracking sounds. In the blink of an eye, the vision was completely blocked by the white curtain of rain and the heavy mist rising from the sea. The Adventurer was like a ship thrown into a giant, madly spinning drum.
“It’s a storm! Hold on tight!” Remington’s roar erupted amidst the howling wind and rain, overpowering all other noise. His muscles tensed, his feet seemed nailed to the deck, and his thick arms gripped the wildly shaking rudder, veins bulging.
The entire ship violently pitched and trembled, its keel groaning under the strain. The previously steady pursuit course was instantly disrupted, and the prow was violently pulled to the left by a brute force.
Cold sweat beaded on Remington’s forehead, but he still fought with all his might to regain control of the ship.
But just then, the Adventurer’s hull suddenly jolted!
*Bang—*
A dull, immense impact sound came from the bottom of the ship. The hull seemed to have hit something large and hard. The ship lurched violently upwards and then crashed back down into the sea, kicking up massive splashes. Those on deck were thrown up and then slammed down by this force, creating chaos.
“Hit a reef?” someone shouted, unable to tell who it was.
“No!” Captain Remington’s weathered face was now filled with solemnity. He yelled, “There’s something under the sea! It’s pulling the ship!”
