Gun of Ashes

Silent Sea, mysterious Silent Sea, the Silent Sea of the doomed.

Here, all the sources of secrets overlap, waiting for those who come later to uncover these dust-covered stories once more.

Even Lorenzo, at this moment, found it hard to calm his nerves. Facing such an unpredictable sea, he had thought about how he would confront it.

Loaded with gunpowder and lacquered antimony, no matter what lay in the sea, unleash absolute firepower upon it? Or speak with grand bravado, full power ahead, reaching the deepest part? He had contemplated all these, and far from being afraid, he was eager to try.

But Lorenzo didn’t expect everything to come so swiftly, shattering all his assumptions, leaving them completely unprepared and exposed under the darkness.

”We have stepped into the Silent Sea.”

Lorenzo held onto the door, stating again with seriousness.

Bola and Notar were initially calm, but then cracks appeared on their calm faces; a low mood surged, trying to overflow through the crevices, exposing fragile souls.

”Is it the erosion affecting us, causing illusions, making us unaware of these?”

Bola eventually calmed down, his muddled consciousness regaining some clarity, facing this dreadful news.

He felt somewhat guilty; Bola was a returnee from the Silent Sea, having venturing deep into it once, he should have been vigilant, yet he was completely unaware of these.

Notar’s mood was worse; he slowly backed away, leaning to the side, trying not to collapse.

”Silent Sea, we probably won’t be able to get out.” Notar said somewhat despairingly.

Notar didn’t know how to fight demons, but as the captain of the Morning Glow Advance, he was well aware of the condition of the Iron Armor ship underfoot.

The consecutive battles caused the wear of the Morning Glow Advance to rise sharply, the strongest weapon Ascalon was inoperable, the Armor of Original Sin carried, among them the Third Generation Armor was severely damaged, even its operator Blue Jade was badly injured, unclear if she can participate in the upcoming battle.

Now they must face the unknown Silent Sea in such a condition... Honestly, if it were the previous Notar, he might think it wasn’t too bad, because they had Froki as a navigator, but now everyone knows Froki went mad, became a foolish lunatic.

”We can get out, Notar.”

Lorenzo walked over and lifted Notar up, making him stand upright.

”How to get out? Erosion affected the equipment’s observation, not to mention these dense clouds.”

Notar looked out the porthole, the world was gray and dismal.

Dawn had already arrived, but the cloud cover was too thick, too gloomy, blocking most of the light, blurring the boundary between night and day, combined with the omnipresent erosion constructing this collective illusion, trapping them into a snare.

”So should we stop and wait to die?” Lorenzo questioned, ”What we can do now is only to move forward, Notar, rather than perishing drearily on the sea, why not burn the last bit of lacquered antimony to advance, right?”

Notar didn’t respond; he took a few deep breaths, rubbed his eyes vigorously, his eyes and Bola’s alike, were bloodshot with exhaustion, but he forced himself to perk up.

”Sorry, lost my composure.”

Facing a dire situation, not everyone has the strength to hold themselves up, Notar stood upright again, resumed steering, advancing in this gray-black world.

”Go fetch Froki, I need him to wake up.” Lorenzo asked Bola, ”Where is he now?”

”We’ve locked him up, but how to wake him up? Like we did with William?” Bola said.

”Yes, let Froki be re-corroded, this might awaken his mind, though he would certainly perish, do not tell Galron about these, their behavior is unpredictable.”

Lorenzo instructed, then looked towards Selyu.

”You stay here, ensure Notar doesn’t mess up, if he gets infected by erosion, you know what to do.”

Selyu nodded, easily entering a state of readiness. She wasn’t surprised by this cold decision; she even thought Lorenzo was correct. In such a plight, only an expert like Lorenzo could lead them to survive and get out.

She leaned into the corner, from here she could see the entire command room’s movements. If anyone were to enter the command room, Selyu would be able to notice them first.

Her hand retreated into her sleeve, the cuff bulging, hiding a loaded pistol inside.

”Bola, take me to see Froki.”

Lorenzo’s expression was extremely serious, upon realizing he had entered the Silent Sea, he completely abandoned all nonsense and contempt, maintaining an unprecedented vigilance, as if enduring some kind of invisible war.

Seeing the dedicated Lorenzo, Bola wiped his eye, finding it hard to imagine that this somewhat decisive guy was previously the one who carried a harpoon down to the sea to catch fish.

Lorenzo had to be vigilant, this was the Silent Sea, according to Bola’s recollections, every part of it brimmed with danger, and they had no path to retreat.

”What is that?”

Walking on the deck, Lorenzo’s pace slowed a bit, his sight captured many things he hadn’t seen before, apparently placed on the deck when he was unconscious.