Conquest Sea, aboard the Shimmering Pearl. In the gray months of January and February, thick, heavy clouds pressed against the sky. Over the vast and gloomy sea, a massive cruise ship advanced steadily. This cruise ship, carrying more than 2,700 passengers, had at this moment veered off its original route, heading toward a desolate stretch of sea, yet the vast majority of passengers onboard had not noticed this at all. Inside one of the cabins on the cruise ship, Dorothy, dressed in light clothing, sat by the window, gazing out at the surging sea with a grim expression. At this moment, Dorothy had just used a small corpse marionette to eavesdrop on a conversation between Costa and Massimo at the stern of the ship, learning about their upcoming actions. She felt uneasy about these people’s plans. “These guys… they actually plan to steer the ship toward a nearby stronghold of the Abyssal Church and ask the people there to help locate me? The place they’re heading to is called White Tear Island, and the person they’re trying to contact seems to be named Swordscale… apparently someone from the upper ranks of the Abyssal Church in charge of temple rituals and defense.” “Judging from how they referred to Swordscale, his status in the Abyssal Church is very high—high enough to punish Costa and Massimo, those two White Ash Beyonders. Therefore, he is very likely a Crimson.” (T/N: Red Completion > Crimson) “This is bad. These two are actually steering the ship toward a location where a Crimson resides. If they really get the ship there and that Crimson comes for me in person, that’ll be a disaster.” Dorothy thought with a furrowed brow. By now, she had come to understand that on the Beyonder path, the leap from White Ash to Crimson was immense—far greater than the leap from Black Earth to White Ash. Within a large Beyonder organization, White Ashes could be considered senior officers, while Crimsons were in the leadership ranks. After advancing to Crimson, even a Beyonder’s life form would begin to change, granting them lifespans of several centuries, far beyond normal humans. In contrast, White Ashes still had lifespans at the level of ordinary people. Therefore, though Dorothy had already advanced to White Ash, she absolutely did not want to engage a Crimson in person. Even dealing with a Crimson derivative was already extremely difficult for her. “Right now, this Shimmering Pearl is heading toward an island affiliated with the Abyssal Church. There’s a temple on the island garrisoned by a Crimson. Aside from that Swordscale, I have no idea how many other Abyssal Church forces are stationed there. If I just go like this, it’s like walking into a tiger’s den—regardless of whether I can hide, it’s incredibly dangerous. When faced with a Crimson, I won’t be able to control the situation.” “So… no matter what, I can’t let these people steer the ship to White Tear Island. Once we’re there, faced with a Crimson’s true body and a whole host of Abyssal Church members, no amount of maneuvering will matter.” So Dorothy thought. She understood that while strategy and maneuvering could help turn the tide when the power gap wasn’t too large, in the face of absolute and overwhelming force, plans lost their effectiveness. Thus, Dorothy now had to figure out how to stop them from getting the ship to its destination. “But… how exactly should I stop them? Based on my scouting these past few days, nearly half the crew are Abyssal Church followers. The entire bridge is manned by them. Costa even stays there for extended periods. Trying to stop them by force would basically mean launching a head-on fight with them.” Rubbing her chin, Dorothy frowned and thought. Truth be told, she was very reluctant to engage in battle with two Tide Path White Ash-rank Beyonders in the middle of this vast sea. Because on the ocean, Dorothy relied on the ship to stay afloat, while those water-art wielders didn’t. In the worst-case scenario, they could simply sink the ship, and Dorothy would be powerless to stop it. It was the same old problem—they had too many tools at sea and high tolerance for error. If Dorothy wanted to fight them head-on, she would have to inflict serious damage on both White Ashes at once, right from the start. But since both of them were Chalice Beyonders, pulling that off was just too difficult. “Tch… this is tough… Given the current situation, aside from engaging them head-on and forcibly seizing control of the ship, there’s no other way. But even if I fight them directly—not to mention whether I can win—if I do and they become desperate enough to sink the ship, that’d be the worst-case scenario. Unless I take them both down before they can react… but with my current power, killing two White Ash-rank Chalice Beyonders in the opening move is way too difficult…” Dorothy anxiously gripped her hair as she thought. While she was thinking, she also looked out the window toward the distant sea, toward the cloudy sky without a trace of sunlight. “Cloudy weather… for a Thunder Summoner, it’s decent enough, but not as good as a thunderstorm. If a storm suddenly rolled in, maybe I could actually try fighting them head-on. But from the looks of it, this cloudy weather’s going to hold—it doesn’t seem like it’ll turn into a storm… If the weather isn’t ideal and I still have to fight them directly, am I supposed to use that stone statue and ask that old man for help?” Dorothy gazed at the thick clouds outside. Due to the season, the weather at sea hadn’t been great recently. There was barely a short stretch of sunshine a couple of days ago, and it turned overcast again by yesterday afternoon. Though it wasn’t raining now, there was no sign the clouds were clearing up either. According to the nautical books Dorothy had read before at the Royal Crown Library, this part of the sea during this season was mostly dominated by cloudy weather. Sunny days like the one two days ago only lasted a short while. "So this cloudy weather… will likely persist for a long time…?” Gazing at the clouds in the sky, Dorothy couldn’t help but mutter. Then, a faint idea emerged in her mind, and the frown on her face quickly relaxed. As though something had occurred to her, she sat up straight and murmured, "That’s right, if the cloudy weather lasts long… maybe I can try this…" "Tch, but that brings up another issue. According to those guys, if the ship sails at full speed, it’ll only take a little over a day to reach White Tear Island. If we take any longer, they’ll start getting suspicious. But the ship has already veered south for about a day now—it’s long since left the coast and gone deep into the Conquest Sea. Given our current position, I doubt we can reach land again in just over a day. Once they get suspicious, everything resets." Not long after her brow had relaxed, Dorothy furrowed it again and muttered to herself. Though she had just come up with an idea, it currently only looked like a way to slightly delay their journey to White Tear Island. Once they realized something was off, everything would return to how it was. “Even if the ship now turned north at full speed toward the mainland, it still wouldn’t reach the shore in a day, so for this plan to work, I’ll need to carefully refine it further.” Arms crossed, Dorothy continued thinking seriously, and after pondering for a while, a sudden realization struck her. “Right, Vania should also be on her way to Ivengard by now. If I remember correctly, she was traveling aboard a special church vessel under the guise of a pilgrimage. When we last communicated, she said she had left Tivian two days earlier than us, but had waited for four days at Bass Port in Falano to join up with other pilgrims headed to Ivengard. In the end, she departed from Bass two days later than Neph and me…” “There’s only one optimal sea route from Bass to Ivengard, so… Vania’s ship, which departed a day later than ours, should now be steadily traveling east on the proper course. Meanwhile, a day ago, this ship I’m on began veering off the main route and heading south. Not long ago, it even turned west… In any case, ever since it left the normal route, the Shimmering Pearl hasn’t kept moving east—so for a certain amount of time, it would be impossible for it to maintain relative distance from Vania’s ship.” “Because of the back-and-forth with those people on this ship, the Shimmering Pearl has been wandering south and west ever since veering off course. As a result, a ship traveling normally along the sea route would eventually catch up. If my calculations are right… we shouldn’t be too far apart now!” That was Dorothy’s conclusion. She immediately shut her eyes and began using the Information Channel to sense Vania’s current location—to determine how far apart they were. Then, she opened her eyes. “This distance… it’s doable…” Upon confirming Vania’s location and their current proximity, Dorothy visibly relaxed. She then promptly closed her eyes again, and in the name of praying to Aka, used the Information Channel to send a message to Vania, asking: how big is the church ship on her side? What’s its escort strength? … “Eh? Miss Dorothea… is asking me for help through Aka again?” Inside a simply decorated yet spacious and well-lit cabin, Vania, who had been solemnly praying at a modest altar, suddenly opened her eyes. After glancing around, she murmured. “Normally, Miss Dorothea only asks Aka to pass messages in truly urgent situations. Which means… she must be facing a crisis again? It really feels like Miss Dorothea constantly gets caught up in incidents… Ever since I met her, my own involvement in various events has skyrocketed too…” Standing up, Vania adjusted her glasses over her white nun robes—vestments of a Healing Prayer Priest—as she thought quietly to herself. Looking back on the past half-year, she had been pulled into more incidents than in her entire prior decade. Of course, in exchange, her achievements and rank had also climbed at a rapid pace. “No time to dwell on it. If Miss Dorothea is in danger, she’s surely fighting against cultists or evil sects again—I have to support her however I can.” “But since she’s asking how large our ship is and about its guard strength, I’ll need to step out and confirm a few things…” Thinking this, Vania stepped out of her cabin, opened the door, and briskly walked down the plain corridor toward the deck. On the way, she passed a fellow pilgrim—a gaunt ascetic monk. Offering a slight bow in greeting, she continued onward. After climbing a flight of stairs, she reached the deck of the ship she was riding. The howling sea wind whipped at Vania’s white robes, marked with the insignia of a Healing Prayer Priest. Gulls cried and circled in the overcast sky. Holding onto her nun’s veil against the wind, Vania surveyed her surroundings. What lay before her was a wide, open deck, and beyond it, far out on the sea, were multiple fully armed escort warships. On the vast ocean, three ordinary passenger ships advanced in formation, one in front and two behind. Encircling them was a neat escort formation—six church warships flying the Radiant Sun flag, arranged as two large ships and four smaller ones. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎 At the front of the formation, the two large warships were nearly a hundred meters long, armored with thick plating from bow to stern. Each had twin main cannons fore and aft, and rows of smaller side guns lined both flanks. Three tall, thick smokestacks billowed black smoke into the sky. At the prow stood a figurehead carved in the shape of a sword-wielding angel. Beneath it was an exaggeratedly massive ramming spur. In addition to signal flags, scrolls covered in scripture were strung across the deck, and verses were also densely printed on the steel armor belts. Countless sailors in uniform moved busily across the deck. “Hmm… the escort forces assigned to us by the Sacrament Knights, who specialize in protecting pilgrims at sea… what exactly are their full capabilities? Figuring that out is a bit of a headache… If I ask too many detailed questions, I might draw suspicion…” Gazing at the circle of warships surrounding her vessel, Vania thought to herself with mild concern. In the end, she decided to just report what she could see directly to Dorothy. … Conquest Sea, aboard the Shimmering Pearl. Beneath the gray sky, the massive cruise ship was sailing west. Under Costa’s orders, it was heading toward White Tear Island in the west. More than 2,700 passengers, unaware and still caught up in their leisurely cruise, were on their way to a destination that had nothing to do with them. Inside the cockpit, two sailors sat at their stations, bored out of their minds and chatting to pass the time. They were discussing whether drinking human blood straight or cooking it first made it taste better. Once the course was set and the rudder secured, they typically found various ways to kill time. While they were chatting, the sound of approaching footsteps came from outside. The two sailors immediately perked up and turned toward the door, where they saw First Mate Bins walking in with a stern expression—he was technically their superior officer. Upon seeing First Mate Bins, the two sailors stood up immediately and greeted him. Bins gave a slight nod in return before asking, “There’s no issue with the current heading, right…?” “No problem at all. Following Mr. Costa’s instructions, we’re heading due west—destination, White Tear Island!” The sailor answered seriously. Bins said nothing in response. Instead, he slowly walked over to the helm, surveyed the area, and fixed his gaze on the compass mounted beside the rudder. After closely inspecting the compass, a frown formed between Bins’s brows. He then turned back and shouted loudly at the two sailors. “This is west? You two, come take a good look at this compass! Look where the needle is pointing! Now tell me again—what direction are we sailing?!” Shouting in anger, Bins glared at the two sailors. The two blinked, confused, then rushed over to the compass mounted beside the helm. After confirming the position of the needle and checking the ship’s current heading, they realized it was indeed not heading west—but southwest. At this rate, they definitely weren’t going to reach White Tear Island! “Uh… Ah, we’re terribly sorry, Mr. Bins! We must’ve gotten careless. We’ll correct it right away!” “Hurry it up! Do it before Mr. Costa comes to check. If this deviation causes any delay in reaching White Tear Island, you’ll both be in for it!” Realizing the ship was off course, the two sailors scrambled to correct the heading. Meanwhile, unseen by any of them, beneath the compass and inside the control panel, a tiny insect crawled beneath the device—its body coursing with barely visible arcs of electricity. Elsewhere, Dorothy sat calmly in her cabin, sipping coffee as she listened to the noise coming from the cockpit. After taking a slow sip, she turned to gaze at the cloudy sky outside the window. “Heh… what careless fools. In weather like this—with no sun, no stars—the compass is the only reliable navigator. If you don’t stick to it strictly, you’ll never reach your destination.” Dorothy murmured to herself as she raised her delicate hand, gazing at the faint arc of electricity dancing between her fingertips. While she couldn’t kill two White Ash-rank Beyonders in a single strike, subtly manipulating the magnetic field of an entire ship was still well within her abilities.