Chapter 699: Fell Before Even Setting Foot on the Island?
What did that mean?
Beatrice blinked, somewhat bewildered.
That truly was an entire mass of dark clouds, blocking out the bright sunlight above.
Wait.
Beatrice suddenly reacted. She could clearly see the sunlight overhead. The surroundings were completely clear—so how was it that so many clouds had gathered specifically above Castel?
A long, melodious steam whistle drifted in from afar. It was not loud, yet it carried an incomparable weight, low and deep, as though the entire sea were singing.
The clouds parted slightly. The immense propeller blades tore through lingering wisps of vapor that had not yet dispersed, carving elegant arcs across the sky.
Beatrice’s eyes widened abruptly.
She understood what Zoe meant now—that dark cloud was the Celestial Behemoth.
The entire airship burst forth from the cloud layer, wrapped in a storm. Sharp white lightning flashed like frenzied silver serpents, howling across the heavens alongside it.
Thick bolts of lightning flickered, illuminating the dark yellow outer hull, allowing the sharp shark-teeth paintwork to briefly reveal itself through gaps in the clouds.
It cast the dark clouds behind it, yet more clouds formed ahead. The whole airship resembled a giant whale, swimming through an ocean of storm.
“Celestial Behemoth.”
Beatrice stared at the colossal existence in the sky, lost in a daze.
“Those people are really bold. They actually moved the Storm Generator onto an airship.”
“I’m guessing that was Tata’s idea.”
“One day Tata’s going to be jointly boycotted by the airship’s Machine Soul too—just like how he gets scolded every time he boards one now.”
“That’s hard to say. The Celestial Behemoth hasn’t crashed, after all. And pairing an airship with a Storm Generator is actually pretty good. You can even hide inside the clouds.”
“True. When it drops bombs now, they really fall like rain. Blow the ground into flames, then conveniently use the storm to put the fire out.”
Beside her, Zoe and Gaia whispered in low voices, occasionally letting out quiet laughter. Beatrice gripped the handrail on the wall of the Passenger Cabin, her heart filled with confusion.
She had thought airships were already incredibly formidable creations.
But the Celestial Behemoth in the distance—was it not more than ten times larger than the one she was on?
In truth, Beatrice had secretly wondered: if the Empire were to go to war with Castel, what chance of victory would there be? She had thought that if airships like this were few in number, perhaps they could still attempt a confrontation.
But now, she suddenly felt lost.
Watching the airship advance while carrying an entire mass of dark clouds, the shock within her was beyond words.
A war beast like this did not even need to attack. It only had to arrive at the battlefield, appear above the soldiers’ heads, and remain there quietly—morale would collapse on its own.
The knights might charge on horseback, pay enormous sacrifices to pierce through the enemy’s battle line, only to look up and realize they had merely advanced from the airship’s dining hall into its lounge.
The Celestial Behemoth was leaving the island, moving in the exact opposite direction of the airship Beatrice was on. The two crossed paths.
Once it drew near, she could no longer see its full form.
Beatrice only felt as though the sky were falling.
An overwhelming pressure dried her mouth and tongue. Though there was still considerable distance between them, she felt as if the entire world were pressing down upon her.
Like standing alone on an empty street during a torrential downpour—looking up at the sky and finding that even the heavens had lowered.
She could not breathe.
As if sensing her thoughts, a deep steam whistle sounded. The instruments around her vibrated with a humming tremor, and the Celestial Behemoth rose slightly in altitude.
The light outside the porthole brightened.
The sky lifted once more. Sunlight poured down, blue sky and azure sea, as though the apocalyptic scene moments ago had been nothing but illusion.
Only by straining to look upward could she glimpse, between the clouds, the fleeting airship paintwork—an eye. It cast a cold, emotionless glance before disappearing.
Beatrice staggered back two steps and collapsed into the furnace, gasping for breath.
Gears turned softly. The Machine Soul spoke in a gentle, delicate tone, as though offering comfort.
Beatrice felt her condition was not very good. The 【Anchor Point】 in the Sea of Unawareness showed signs of loosening.
Before she could react, however, it seemed as though a whisper rose beside her ears. The illusory sea instantly became calm.
There would be no storm near Castel’s waters—not even in the Sea of Unawareness.
Noticing something was wrong with her, Gaia and Zoe hurried over, nervously checking her condition, speaking over one another in concern.
“Beatrice, are you alright? I have some incense here—want some?”
“No, no, no, that’s from the Mechanical Sanctum. The Machine Soul doesn’t like it.”
“The one the Machine Soul doesn’t like is you. Beatrice would definitely be fine.”
“T-Th-that’s nonsense!”
“Look, Beatrice doesn’t look so good. She looks like she’s about to vomit… wait, no way—”
She had originally been fine. But after they said that, her stomach truly began to churn violently.
Gaia’s face stiffened. She exchanged a glance with Zoe, and both wore expressions that said this was very bad.
The next second, Beatrice’s pollution breath blasted them several meters away.
The Stoker, wearing a full set of protective gear and carrying a shield, came over to clean up.
In a distant corner, Gaia and Zoe patted their chests, still shaken.
“Whoa, that was close. Good thing the avatar took the hit.”
“Seriously. That was intense.”
“Isn’t this troublesome? How are we supposed to bring her to Castel now?”
Both wore worried expressions.
Beatrice was a Transcendent of the Church of Candlelight and knew quite a bit about the Mechanical Sanctum. If she went to Castel, she would almost certainly develop Castel Syndrome.
For others, that might not be such a big deal. At worst, they would go a little mad, stay in the hospital for a few days, maybe require some assistance from Big Gwen to contain them.
But Beatrice’s situation was more complicated.
Her body was extremely fragile now. She could hardly endure any turmoil. Even without external stimulation, she might collapse on her own.
Add Castel Syndrome on top of that—wouldn’t she explode outright?
Zoe and Gaia had originally planned to let her adjust slowly, acclimating bit by bit.
But they had not expected that she would fail to endure it after merely catching a distant glimpse—before even setting foot on Castel.
If she actually went to the island, what then?
Both were deeply worried.
After these days of interaction, Gaia and Zoe had discovered that although Beatrice’s status was terrifyingly high, she was actually quite easy to get along with.
Not quite friendship—but there was at least some goodwill.
And even setting that aside, a pollution fountain alone was worth Castel investing significant effort into handling. After all, steam engines were increasing in number, while there was only one Stellar Furnace.
So the two racked their brains for solutions.
After a bout of chaos in the Passenger Cabin, things gradually calmed down.
Beatrice lay sprawled inside the Steam Engine, vomiting for quite a while before finally recovering.
Weakly, she lay inside the Combustion Chamber, breathing heavily.
“How strange. I was clearly stimulated… so why does my condition actually seem to have improved?”