Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1293: Chapter 1292: How to Destroy

The chaotic, disorderly wind blew over from the distant land of phantoms, kicking up gray-white fine sand, raising dust between the collapsing altar and throne. Within the dust, countless ancient phantoms seemed to rise and fall, only to vanish into thin air with the next sandstorm. The goddess on the throne gazed calmly and longingly at the occasional apparitions among the sands. Her voice, dignified yet seemingly laced with melancholy, finally sounded between the heavens and the earth: ”Indeed, Mr. Great Adventurer, we’ve stayed in this place too long, making many things seem blurred, including what we once valued and cared about... all disperse like dust in the wind.”

Wilder’s voice sounded quite surprised: ”Lady, you can be melancholic from the passage of time and things?”

”Gods are human too, they are the most human, Mr. Great Adventurer,” Lady Night’s voice seemed to carry a hint of amusement, ”Those who lose humanity either fall into madness or will eventually meet their end.”

”...and that ’thing’ that lurks around your throne?” asked the book on the stone pillar, ”Does it have humanity too?”

This time, the throne remained silent for quite a while, until the next sandstorm rose before a voice came from the throne: ”It certainly has its humanity, and in a sense, its humanity is pure and unstained.”

”...Is that so? I thought that thing didn’t even have the ability to think,” the voice of the Great Adventurer sounded surprised, ”So, it actually has humanity?”

”Ah, you are right, Mr. Great Adventurer. It indeed doesn’t have the ability to think...” The towering figure on the throne sighed gently, accompanied by her words, she slowly stood up. A scepter, formed of black and white, had somehow appeared in her hand. She gazed towards the desert’s end at a dark region resembling a city’s silhouette, stepping down the altar, ”Newborns also lack the ability to think, yet the world’s purest humanity exists before a baby’s first cry...”

The wind howled through the desert, and from afar in the city’s black-and-white silhouette, an indescribable, horrid mass formed of numerous proliferating limbs and mutant flesh started to conjure a form from the darkness. Like a great sun of flesh, it floated above the city, beginning to drift slowly towards the throne altar. Within that mass of flesh came ear-piercing sounds, as if countless screams and whispers mixed together, and where its flesh tendrils spread, the gray-white desert was quickly stained with a layer of maddening black-red blotches. Pure sand transformed instantly into filthy mud-like clumps.

But in the next second, an invisible force spread from the throne’s direction, instantly arresting the desert’s edge from contamination. The towering figure rising from the throne stepped toward the distance; the gray-white fissures wandering across the robe flowed like water and gathered at the scepter’s tip in her hand, as if commanding the world’s light and shadows.

”The ’baby’ is about to cry again, it requires a bit of ’care’ from its elders,” sounded the dignified yet leisurely voice of a lady between the heavens and earth, ”Mr. Great Adventurer, remember to focus on the star atlas, do not listen to or look at the movements from the ’border’.”

”Ah, this is certainly the world’s most terrifying baby... and the most frightening domestic scene,” the ancient book on the stone pillar let out a sigh, ”Okay, I understand, be careful.”

...

After a great effort, the piercing, clamorous alarms finally ceased, yet the red warning lights continued to flash relentlessly throughout the room. Gawain stood at the far end of the main control room, looking serious as he stared at the already entirely out-of-control system interface, remaining still for a long time.

It wasn’t until a familiar footstep sounded that he slightly turned his neck, slightly redirecting himself toward the direction of the sounds: ”I knew you would sneak over in the end.”

”I’m a thief, my hands can’t stay quiet, that would go against my professional spirit,” Amber’s carefree voice sounded behind Gawain, seemingly without any tension from ’disobeying orders’, ”Have you been standing here watching this gadget all this time? Are you trying to find the sentinel’s weakness from here?”

Gawain’s gaze returned to the hemispherical large terminal in front of him. He stared at the projected holographic image for several seconds before slowly speaking: ”I’m looking for this spaceship’s weakness.”

”This spaceship’s weakness?” Amber raised her brows and stepped next to Gawain, followed by staring intently at the large terminal alongside him for a good while, yet couldn’t understand a single symbol, ”You’re saying the spaceship’s weakness is this main control room? Sounds quite logical, as this is its control hub, after all... but wasn’t it said before that this main control room is actually unrelated to the spaceship’s operation now?”

”That’s precisely the problem,” Gawain said, ”The control hub is theoretically the spaceship’s weak point, yet this spaceship is no longer just ’a machine’. It continues its cruise in an out-of-control state over more than a thousand years. Its operation is unrelated to these collapsed control terminals... Actually, I’ve been trying to find a way to repair the system and take control of the spaceship’s operation authority from these terminals, you know, that even partial control of this spaceship would bring us unimaginable benefits, but I failed.”

”Failing is normal,” Amber was momentarily stunned but soon smiled, ”This is something left by the Voyager, and it has been corrupted by the Inversion Tide—either of these things would be tough to handle. Even gods aren’t all-knowing and omnipotent; surely there are things you can’t solve.”

”No, failure itself is not the issue; the biggest problem is... this.” Gawain shook his head, then stepped towards a nearby small terminal device. He kicked it, his foot creating a large hole in the severely corrupted device’s casing, and then reached into the hole, forcefully tearing away a large metal plate from its cover.

”Hey! That’s ancient...” Amber subconsciously exclaimed at Gawain’s ’violent dismantling’, but her gaze fell into the opened cavity moments later, rendering her speech stuck in her trachea.

The hole inside was nearly empty, except for a pile of obviously distorted, seemingly once-melted crystal structures and a few ashes. This thing was essentially an ’hollowed out’ empty shell.

Yet, above such an empty shell device, red warning lights representing system failures and a mess of holographic images continued to flicker.

”See? This empty shell still maintains a semblance of operation—despite it being in a system collapse state. It essentially shouldn’t emit even a glimmer of light,” Gawain spoke with a stern expression, ”Previously, Daniel said this spaceship is a ’corpse’ that continues living after being beheaded, but the actual situation might be even more eerie... Some force sustains everything here, the components of this spaceship are not just ’operating after leaving the system’. Their mechanisms surpass our understanding, not even conforming with our understanding of the material world... Who knows how much of this ship is in such a state, I even suspect the core essence of the entire ship has been ’hollowed out’.”

Amber gaped at the bizarre and scary scene in front of her, suddenly shivered and shrunk her neck: ”So... we can’t use any method to ’take over’ this ship, can we? Like whatever ’authority’ you mentioned?”

”Yes, we cannot take control of its ’operation authority’, because this ship has entirely metamorphosed into something... indescribable. It only appears to maintain its former guise, but its essence is more unsettling than the Tower of the Inversion Tide. Frankly, even if you gave me a chance to take over this spaceship, I wouldn’t touch it... because it’s a trap, leading us to doom,” Gawain spoke with an expression serious to the point of being slightly somber, ”Similarly, we should not attempt to learn any technology from this ship... Even if certain knowledge remains here that we could comprehend, those would definitely be ’poisonous’.”

Amber listened with a horrified expression, swallowing hard: ”So you tried to find this ship’s weak point earlier, meaning you actually...”

”I was thinking of ways we could destroy it,” Gawain said seriously, not hiding his thoughts and worries from Amber, ”We can’t deal with that ’Mother Harbor’ itself, and it doesn’t seem capable of making the first move, but this spaceship right before us... it feels like a threat to me.”

”Threat... This thing is indeed a bit eerie,” Amber muttered quietly, ”But on the other hand, hasn’t the ’sentinel’ already run away? The Mother Harbor and spaceship left behind, no matter how eerie, are just lifeless objects running on programmed procedures...”

”Has the sentinel really completely severed its ties with the Mother Harbor and this spaceship?” Gawain interrupted Amber, ”Did it really run out from the deep-sea just to escape the instructions and tasks shackling it? Perhaps... its ’abandoning post’ is just a temporary measure to complete some other task. And perhaps this spaceship and that Mother Harbor still have some arrangements left by it, which might become weapons aimed at us someday.”

Amber shrank her neck, and looking again at those ancient devices emitting red light around, she felt a prickling sense of tension, as if behind those flickering red lights were numerous cold, malicious eyes staring at her, a ”big catch” fallen into a predator’s maw. This feeling reminded her, and she couldn’t help but recall the chilling sensation of being watched by cold gazes and targeted by malicious minds she experienced earlier in the spaceship corridors.

”Well, do you have a plan?” She couldn’t help but rub her arm covered in goosebumps, looking at Gawain expectantly, ”You’re usually the one with a plan...”

”I’m still thinking, and I’m not sure if my ideas will be effective,” Gawain said with a serious expression, ”The technology of this ship is extremely advanced. Its armor and barrier could perhaps withstand any weapon a mortal civilization could forge today. As for internal sabotage... I wouldn’t know where to begin. Look around you, these control terminals were destroyed more than a thousand years ago, it’s utterly pointless. And there’s something else even more important...”

”Something even more important?” Amber asked instinctively.

”This ship might retaliate,” Gawain shook his head, ”It has a weapons system, defenses inside and out, and these things might be running automatically too — before fully understanding this ship, the cost of provoking this ancient weapon is likely more than we can afford.”

And with that, he exhaled lightly, with a hint of contemplation, said softly, ”So, I’m considering finding another way...”

The information gathered from the Sentinel Base and the journey left everyone’s nerves a bit tense, a tension that persisted throughout the ensuing voyage.

But in the end, this return journey concluded without any mishap.

A vague radiance appeared in the chaotic darkness outside the spaceship’s barrier, and within the radiance, a dust and cloud fell indistinctly from some lofty high place. Upon seeing this familiar sight, Gawain, now back on deck, finally let out a slight sigh of relief.

Melita rose from her resting place, stretching her enormous wings and tail covered in scales, while the others who had been resting for half a day stood up one by one to gaze at the increasingly distinct outline of the border of the War God’s Divine Realm. Even Daniel, who usually kept a stern face and rarely interacted with others, couldn’t help but exhale and mutter softly, ”Finally back...”

”Yes, finally back,” Mary whispered upon hearing her mentor speak, ”I’ve been so tense all along...”

Daniel glanced slightly at his female mage apprentice, huffing through his nose: ”Relaxing already? For an average mage, this journey is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure; you can’t have gained nothing — write a three thousand words summary, and submit it by next Monday.”

Mary’s expression stiffened immediately: ”...Yes, mentor...”

Gawain heard the exchange between Mary and Daniel, reminding him of something deep in the memories of his past life. An elusive smile appeared on his face, dispersing much of the serious and oppressive aura he had carried throughout this journey.

Meanwhile, after a brief slowdown and course adjustment, this spaceship finally returned to the place where they originally set out.

At the Border of the War God’s Divine Realm, surrounded by a cloud sea of yellow dust, the alliance flags were hoisted over the shattered city outskirts. Lady Windsor Maple, the highest official of Typhon, and Knight Solid, the commander of the White Knights and a powerful combat monk, stood with their respective teams in a ”safe zone” near the border, having waited long.

Among them was White Dragon Noreta, leading two young dragons.

Not only the explorers on the spaceship heaved a sigh of relief when the ship returned.

As the spaceship reached the closest point to the Divine Realm within the cloud sea, the Blue Dragon’s figure leaped from the edge of the deck, carrying scouting teams that set out two days ago and the large number of ”samples” they brought back, finally returning to the stable ground of the War God’s Divine Realm despite its ongoing disintegration.

This time, Amber was the first to jump off Melita’s back.

”Whew... At last, we can relax,” she shook her head, lamenting, ”Standing on solid ground feels so good... Just recently, I felt the ’War God’s Divine Realm’ was a dangerous place, and now returning here feels like coming home...”