Chapter 349| True Bravery Never Feels Glorious While You’re Going Through It. It Feels Exactly Like What You Are Feeling Tonight: Nauseous, Cold, And Scared To Death.
The Sea of Mist stretched endlessly. The gray sky pressed down upon it like a blanket of smoke.
Waves battered the steel hull of the NRS Orion mercilessly. Boom... CRASH! Geysers of saltwater rocketed upward, drenching the wooden deck of the light destroyer as it relentlessly plowed through the storm.
Vwuuunggg...
The low hum of the mana-engines in the ship’s belly vibrated steadily, pumping a rhythm of tension into the veins of every crew member.
Not a single soldier was slacking off. The infantry stood on high alert. Members of Borch’s Ghost Squad melted silently into the shadowed corners of the deck, their eyes constantly scanning the horizon.
At the foredeck, Selene stood tall. The sea-blue robes of her Water Arcanum whipped fiercely in the wind. Behind the master of water, ten Luminara knights lined up in absolute silence.
Meanwhile, on the deserted aft deck... Rumina Sudrath stood all alone.
Her dark gray work gown fluttered slightly. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun. Both of her hands gripped the ship’s iron railing tightly, staring blankly at the churning foam trailing behind them.
A bizarre sense of emptiness crushed her chest. She was used to busying her brain with numbers to kill her anxiety. Yet, aboard this warship speeding straight into the enemy’s den, she had absolutely nothing to do.
Huurk!
A pathetic groaning sound shattered Rumina’s thoughts from the port side deck.
Rianor Sudrath slumped weakly, hugging the ship’s railing. The scientist’s face was now as deathly pale as a corpse. His glasses slid crookedly down his nose as he stared at the seawater with unparalleled despair.
His mechanical Arcanotech Bracer arm pulsed with a dim blue light, vibrating faintly as it adjusted its coordinates. Unfortunately, no matter how advanced the gadget was, it couldn’t save its owner’s stomach from seasickness.
Huurk... Rianor hurled the remains of his breakfast once again.
"Tsk, tsk. Look who’s dying over here."
Roland strolled casually from the stern. His left arm was still wrapped in thick bandages—courtesy of Ignis’s claws—yet the diplomat’s face radiated a vastly satisfied, mocking smirk.
Roland leaned his shoulder against the rail. "The great scientist of Northreach, capable of hacking demonic frequencies and assembling combat helicopters... brought to his knees just by the rocking of some waves?"
Rianor squeezed the iron railing tight, glaring from behind his fogged-up lenses. "Ugh... shut... your mouth, Roland... Hueee—"
"A truly beautiful irony," Roland chuckled. He turned to a passing logistics soldier. "Soldier! Brew some hot red ginger with two spoons of honey. Bring it here immediately."
"Right away, Lord Roland!"
Even though his mouth never stopped teasing, Roland stayed right there, watching over his brother. He let Rianor vent the torture of his stomach until a steaming porcelain cup arrived.
Rianor accepted it with trembling hands. Sluuurp... The spicy and sweet flavor slowly burned down his throat, soothing the turmoil in his belly.
"Thanks," Rianor muttered, barely audible, refusing to look at his younger brother.
Roland smirked, patting Rianor’s uninjured shoulder. "Don’t mention it. Just don’t pass out yet, brother, we haven’t even reached the borders of the Iron Empire."
Roland then walked away, leaving Rianor glaring at the sea with sheer hatred. Not hatred for the water, but hatred for a physical weakness he simply couldn’t calculate.
Roland headed toward the foredeck, approaching Selene.
Hearing footsteps, Selene gave a hand signal. The ten Luminara guards stepped back in unison, granting them privacy.
"Not seasick like your brother?" Selene asked without turning her head. Her eyes locked onto the vast expanse of the gray ocean.
Roland leaned his right arm against the railing and crossed his legs. "My stomach is a bit friendlier with the waves. But honestly... this ocean feels terrifying."
Selene nodded slowly. "In Luminara, we do not have seas this vast. For my people, the ocean is a black abyss. A place where mystery and death lurk beneath the water."
"And we are sailing straight into the heart of that abyss," Roland replied softly. "We are heading to the Iron Empire practically blind, Selene."
"What do you mean?"
"We have no idea what the Iron Empire’s political landscape looks like right now." Roland’s fingers tapped against the iron rail. "We don’t know if Emperor Regulus will even bother listening to diplomacy, or if he’ll just sink this ship on sight. Our only leverage is... a bitter historical truth."
Selene slowly turned her head. "What if they refuse to believe it? What if a grudge spanning thousands of years has frozen too solid to be melted by mere words?"
The sea wind blew coldly between them. Roland fell silent for a moment.
"If they refuse..." Roland met Selene’s icy gaze with his sharp gray eyes. "...then we will force them to see The Core with their own eyes. The truth doesn’t always save lives, Selene. But it is the only thing that makes this bloodshed worth stopping."
Selene stared at the diplomat for quite a while before finally shifting her gaze back to the sea. Two factions that once hunted each other were now standing side by side, facing the exact same destiny.
Night crept in.
The mana-lamps lining the NRS Orion flickered to a dim yellow glow, piercing the pitch black. The waves grew increasingly savage.
Rumina still stood at the exact same spot on the aft deck.
The freezing wind bit through her thin gown, yet she refused to go inside. The bowl of soup brought by a soldier was deliberately left to turn cold, untouched on a wooden table.
Thump... thump...
Heavy footsteps treaded the deck. Riven Sudrath approached.
The giant general in black armor, draped in a thick Wolf mantle, stood with his arms crossed beside Rumina. He didn’t say a word. He just stared out at the ocean alongside her.
Over ten minutes passed. Riven didn’t lecture his sister. He didn’t order her inside, nor did he offer any cheap words of comfort.
"Are you scared, Rumina?" Riven’s deep baritone suddenly sliced through the roaring waves.
Rumina fixed the hair covering her gray eyes with faintly trembling hands. "I do not know the word fear in my dictionary, Brother Riven. My calculations are purely rational."
"Liar." One word. Short, absolute.
Rumina was stunned. Her jaw tightened. "I am the Head Treasurer of Northreach. I—"
"You are my little sister," Riven cut in. His voice softened, yet it was heavy with authority. "And you are sailing straight into enemy territory, offering yourself up as a hostage."
Riven stared straight at his sister’s side profile.
"You’re gripping that railing until your knuckles are turning white. You rejected your food. And your eyes are staring at this sea as if you’re waiting for your own execution."
Tears threatened to pool in Rumina’s eyes. She opened her eyes as wide as possible, refusing to let them fall.
"Rianor tagged along because he holds the data on Project Legion," Riven continued softly. "Roland shoulders the diplomacy. I brought my sword to protect you all. But you..."
Riven’s massive hand lightly patted his sister’s narrow shoulder.
"...you don’t have a single military obligation here, Rumina. You could have just sat in the warm castle, auditing the treasury, and let someone else go. But you looked Father in the eye at the council room yesterday and said: ’Replace them with me.’"
Rumina’s fingers squeezed the railing even tighter. Her arms trembled violently.
"True bravery..." Riven looked back at the ocean. "...never feels glorious while you’re going through it, little sister. It feels exactly like what you are feeling tonight: Nauseous, cold, and scared to death. But you are still standing right here. That makes you the bravest soldier on this ship."
Rumina didn’t fire back with a sharp debate. The rigid woman simply bowed her head, biting her lower lip as hard as she could to suppress the quivering in her chest.
For the very first time in her life... Rumina allowed herself to be acknowledged as an ordinary human who could feel terror.
Main Navigation Room, NRS Orion.
The green and blue glow from the crystal screens dominated the cramped, ozone-scented room.
Borch stood with his arms crossed. His eagle-like eyes monitored the Ghost Squad technician who was busily twisting the dials of the Crystal Pager.
Bzzzt... krrr... bzzzt... Repeated static hisses.
"How’s the signal?" Borch asked flatly.
The technician shook his head in resignation, wiping his sweat. "The magnetic fog is too thick, Commander. The signal is bouncing back. Our comm lines to the Northveil relay tower are completely severed."
"Backup frequencies?"
"Nothing. We are fully isolated from the Northern mainland."
There was no panic on Borch’s scarred face. "Keep sending transmissions every hour. Our job is to ensure the channel stays open, regardless of whether anyone is listening on the other end."
"Understood, Commander!"
Two in the morning.
The vast majority of the crew were already asleep in their cabins. Rianor lay on his cot, no longer as pale as he was that afternoon thanks to Roland’s ginger brew, though his eyes were still squeezed shut to endure the lingering dizziness. Selene and the Luminara knights had withdrawn to the guest quarters.
Only Rumina and Riven remained on the aft deck, melting into the night.
Then—
BZZZZT...!!
The mana-lamps all across the ship suddenly flickered violently!
The previously stable hum of the ship’s engines... suddenly shrieked into a panicked roar! VWUUUNGGG... KRRRK!
Inside the navigation room, the crystal radar screens flashed blood-red. A colossal signal dot manifested on the sonar map. The dot was rocketing upward from thousands of meters deep, launching vertically straight toward the hull of the NRS Orion!
"CAPTAIN THORNE!" the radar operator screamed hysterically. "There’s a massive object right beneath us! Its size... it exceeds the length of this ship!!"
Captain Thorne leaped out of his command chair. "Enemy attack?!"
"No, Sir! The speed is logically impossible!"
"Activate the silent alarm!" Thorne roared. "Prime all mana-cannons! Do not sound the main siren!"
BOOM... BOOM... BOOM...
A terrifying vibration surged up from the seabed, violently shaking the steel hull.
On the deck, Riven reflexively yanked Rumina’s shoulder, shielding his sister against the cabin wall. The General’s hand had already drawn his sword halfway out of its sheath.
Vwuuunggg...
An answering resonance echoed from the bottom of the ocean. Extremely low. Incredibly ancient.
It was not the sound of a beast. It was a gargantuan infrasonic vibration that pierced right through the steel, rattling the teeth and nerve endings of anyone who heard it.
The seawater surrounding the ship suddenly boiled savagely! Giant air bubbles erupted, spewing a freezing aura that transmuted the surface of the water into jagged ice shards.
Rumina grabbed Riven’s sleeve, her breath catching in her throat as she stared into the abyss below.
And from within the churning ocean... an endless, colossal black silhouette slowly crept upward, rising to meet their ship.