Chapter 190: Dark Veiled Sea 6
Chapter 190: Dark Veiled Sea 6
Chapter 190: Dark Veiled Sea 6
“Wow! Lord Asura, look at that!”
Aris pointed out the window in awe.
There were schools of deep-sea fish swimming nearby.
Their scales sparkled and created an abundance of colors, the reason behind Aris’ amazement.
“It's the first time I've been this deep in the sea. Everything is so mysterious.”
Brynhild’s eyes also glittered as she watched the scenery.
Suddenly, an ugly creature stuck to the window.
“Wha, what the heck is that?!”
“So gross...”
The two women turned away and covered their eyes.
When Davy Jones saw it, he pressed a certain button in the captain's room...
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!
A strong electric current flowed on the outer layer of the Nautilus, turning the weird creature into barbecue.
“Phew... It almost scared me to death.”
“Right? I hope we don’t see more of them. They’re bad for my heart.”
Even if they were in the Nautilus, this was still an unknown sea area.
Originally, Davy Jones couldn’t approach this zone.
However, after finding the Abyssal Ship, he had decided to break the rules set by the Sea God himself.
He was about to ask Drake, the former Pirate King, to find his lover Anne Bonny.
Davy Jones thought that Drake still existing despite being dead wasn’t particularly strange, as ghost ships often appeared.
But...
'I never expected to meet people like this.'
Davy Jones scratched his head as he watched the two women chatting.
One was a red-haired Demon King from another dimension
The other was a Valkyrie (resurrected after thousands of years), said to have been exiled from the heavenly world for falling in love with a human hero.
A young man with black hair planned to challenge the power of the Demon God after sealing all 72 Demon Kings.
The other man was a descendant of the Sea God who had become the human’s vassal.
Finally, there was the troublemaking saintess and the fiery Dragon Slayer back on land...
It was a combination that he could never have imagined.
However, from now on, he would be a part of them.
Woohyuk approached him as Davy Jones thought to himself.
“How much left until we reach the seafloor?”
“We are almost there. Everything is going well.”
Lilith's Unholy Chalice was able to calm the raging Dark Veiled Sea.
Thanks to this, the underwater exploration was proceeding smoothly.
The fierce sea creatures had not attacked since the two krakens were protecting the Nautilus from both sides.
“How do you usually salvage the objects on the seabed?”
“I use the magic-engineered equipment installed outside the hull. Other times, I mobilize some marine animals.”
Davy Jones’ rank among the Sea God’s vassals was second only to Triton.
That was why he could control a fabulous monster like the mother Kraken.
Woohyuk nodded and then turned his gaze back to the window.
As the Nautilus illuminated the seabed, the remains of the Erendia Kingdom gradually showed itself.
“That’s a familiar architectural style. It looks a lot like the ruins of the Rhine Kingdom.”
“Maybe people often traveled between Erendia and Rhine in the past? The two are geographically close.”
“Aris is right. In the past, this bad weather probably didn’t exist, so they could’ve had ships come and go between the kingdoms.”
Aris and Brynhild observed the buildings beyond the windows.
Triton, who had been silent so far, turned to Woohyuk and opened his mouth.
“My Lord, I will exit the Nautilus and take a closer look at the ruins.
"Do as you want. However, be careful not to damage the ruins even if a battle occurs.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
Triton climbed onto a magic-engineered device in the corner of the captain's room.
After a while, a blue magic circle unfolded below him and he teleported to the upper part of the Nautilus.
“I have given orders to the underwater creatures in the area to investigate. So if they find anything, they will come report.”
“How convenient, Captain. In any case, this place feels familiar for some reason.”
It wasn't just because the ruins were similar to those seen in the Rhine Kingdom.
As Woohyuk tried to find the reason, a sturgeon waved its fins and approached the window.
“It looks like they've already found something. But they seem to be joyful that you’re here, My Lord.”
“… Ah, I think I know why. I've been here before. It was in a different dimension, though.”
The Calm Sea.
The bottom of the huge lake, which was part of the tutorial stage, was directly related to the Erendia Kingdom.
Quite a surprising connection.
A series of system messages popped up before him as if the system had read Woohyuk's thoughts.
[Due to the exploration of this unknown territory, the title 'Ruler of the Calm Sea' will be renewed to 'Ruler of the Dark Veiled Sea'.]
[You can now control the natural phenomena of the Dark Veiled Sea, and you can utilize the sea creatures in the area.]
[The abilities of 'Ruler of the Calm Sea' are maintained.]
He had not expected the new title
Its utility would be tremendous.
If he could navigate through the Dark Veiled Sea, he could easily conquer the Eeth Continent.
Moreover, its marine resources could not be ignored.
While Woohyuk admired his new abilities, Davy Jones pointed out the window.
“That's what the sturgeon found.”
A tall and grand building similar to a fortress.
It was designed with magic engineering from the ground up, so it exuded a strange sense of heterogeneity.
“It seems like they have facilities prepared against intruders. Let me send the jellyfish over there first.”
Woohyuk was now the Ruler of the Dark Veiled Sea, so he was able to give orders to the animals without Davy Jones' help.
As the jellyfish approached the building, an elongated device resembling a cannon popped out of the building's surface and fired a red shell at it.
Boooooom!
The jellyfish was erased from existence without leaving behind any traces.
Aris and Brynhild stared in horror.
“An, an automatic defense system!?”
“How dangerous. If we approached it, we would be like mosquitoes flying towards a flame...”
That single shot had shown the overwhelming technological power of the Erendia Kingdom.
As the group stood and stared hesitantly, the sturgeon next to the submarine turned around and drew a circle.
It was expressing that it had a good idea.
Woohyuk nodded as a sign of permission.
“First, let’s see what he plans to do.”
“I’m worried for him. One misstep and he becomes a grilled shark.”
“Can’t we just send Triton?”
And now, a nameless sturgeon was more popular among the women than Triton himself.
As he lightly ignored their words, Woohyuk silently stared in the direction where the sturgeon had disappeared.
Maybe he was going to call someone else.
As expected, the sturgeon appeared with a creature with a red shell after a while.
“It's a lava turtle. Those can withstand high heat particle cannons.”
“Aren’t the defenses a bit too weak if they can get penetrated by a single animal?”
“Yes, but the fortress might use a different means of attack if the turtle gets too close.”
“… Then I’ll have to help it a little.”
Woohyuk walked toward the window of the captain's room.
When he raised his hand, the lava turtle was covered and protected by a black shield.
“Now it won’t get pierced by metal objects.”
“With Lord Asura’s demonic energy, it could withstand even the highest level of divine magic.”
The two women put their hands on their chests and sighed in relief.
After a while, the lava turtle swung its short limbs and headed towards the unknown building.
Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom!
Booooooooooooooom!
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooom!
Dozens of cannons fired red shells at the inoffensive animal.
However, the lava turtle continued to swim, facing the attacks as if they were nothing.
Soon, it arrived at its destination...
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!
Hundreds of smaller barrels popped out of the building’s surface, and countless bullets loaded with mana were fired.
If Woohyuk hadn't covered the turtle with demonic energy, the lava turtle would have become a beehive by now.
What was left now was to open the tightly closed entrance that resembled an iron gate.
[Code Red. Code Red. Only those with administrator privileges can access.]
[Enter the administrator verification code using the virtual keypad created in front of you. The time limit is 1 minute.]
[If the administrator verification is not authenticated within the time limit, unmanned magic soldier troops will be dispatched.]
The unmanned magic soldier troops literally meant AI infantry that were assembled with magic-engineered parts.
It was an incredible scientific achievement.
But now wasn't the time to admire the technology.
“We’re stuck now. They’re asking for a passcode...”
“Is there any other way? If it were a security system designed with runes, I would’ve gone there, but it all looks like magic engineering to me...”
Most importantly, the time limit was 1 minute.
As everyone panicked, Woohyuk took out the Hourglass of Time.
Afterwards, he placed it on top of the table at the center of the captain's room.
Rumble.
Golden sand began to flow down the narrow hole from the top of the hourglass.
“I reduced the passing of time by 300. It’s the most I can do with my current abilities.”
The maximum speed reduction was -1,000, but this was more than enough time for now.
What was originally one minute had increased to five hours.
“By 300? So we have five hours now. But how do we get the verification code?”
“I found this in the Golden Rose Society’s laboratory. At first I didn't know what it was, but now that I look at it, it's made up of the symbols and characters on the keypad.”
Woohyuk opened some kind of research journal on the table.
After reading it silently, Aris gasped in surprise.
“It's a very advanced cryptography theory. It looks like a document belonging to the person who designed that fortress.”
“Do you think the security code is written in there?”
“I’m not sure. We'll need to analyze it in depth. But the creator of this fortress probably left this behind for a reason.”
If the Erendia Kingdom received the Sea God's wrath, it would disappear from everyone's memory.
With that possibility in mind, the architect might have prepared this on his own.
During his last moment, he could have teleported his research journal somewhere on the Eeth Continent with a magic-engineered device.
The Golden Rose Society must have been found it by chance.
It was a simple guess, but it seemed believable.
Everyone nodded to Woohyuk's hypothesis.
“Now, let’s study this. We don't have any other clues.”
“I'll help if you find runes in there. It seems unlikely though since it’s the records of a magic engineer.”
As the two women clung to the journal, Woohyuk turned to Davy Jones.
“Is there anything you could help us with?”
“… I am illiterate. I was an orphan, and I couldn't even read children's books.”
Davy Jones was straightforward like most pirates.
Woohyuk then pulled out an old book from his pocket.
“Then you read this while we study the research journal.”
"Huh? But I just said that I can’t...”
“It is a magic book about the common language of the Eeth Continent. Even if you are illiterate, you can read it until the end. You just have to imbue it with mana and read with your mind.”
This was possible because the letters themselves consisted of mana.
Davy Jones grabbed Woohyuk's magic book in tears.
They were definitely not tears of joy.
He now had to spend five hours in boring self-study.