by Feng Yue
The warm currents from the east and the north brought a fruitful fishing season, which made it one of the largest fishing grounds in the world. Every spring and winter, fishing boats from all over the world would fish here, competing for the various fishes that had swum here.
In half a month, the luscious fish would be delivered all over the world and be served on the dining tables of the nobles, becoming dishes that would satisfy the appetite of food lovers.
Unfortunately, the sea region had now become a forbidden area.
Not only had the high concentration of fishing boats seen in the past disappeared, but few fish were also left.
The Royal Fleet stopped at the intersection point of the territorial waters of Anglo and the high seas and paused.
Meanwhile, in the bridge of the flagship, all the generals surrounded something that had just been fished out from the sea in silence, without saying anything. It was originally a 12-faced object made of black iron, and God knew how long it had been soaking in the sea water. It was covered in copper-colored rust and even had a layer of barnacles and seaweed parasitic on it.
As a musician of the school of abstinence cautiously dismantled it, the dodecahedron, which was half a person tall, was slowly stripped of the barnacles on the outer shell, revealing the inscription hidden behind the rust.
Everyone’s expression was dark.
“Something new that I have never seen before, does anyone want to explain it to me?” Ye Qingxuan looked at the artificial creation in front of him and turned back to ask.
“The Disintegrating Water Demon’s Son, Type Six.” Sylvaine said, “Asgard’s naval weapon. It is equipped with a resonator specifically targetting the aether engine of ships. The sensing range is 600 meters, and it will automatically approach passing vessels. Once it reaches critical distance, it will be triggered, and the aether bomb inside will destroy the ship’s armor. Only two of it are needed to blow the armor of a warship into pieces.”
“So powerful?” Ye Qingxuan’s next sentence made everyone turn ghastly pale. “Let me try…” Having said so, before anyone had time to stop him, he reached out unhesitantly and hit the aether bomb. The next moment, a crisp sound rang out, and the dodecahedron instantly disintegrated. Immediately, a horrifying brilliance erupted from it. A high temperature enough to vaporize the entire bridge was brewing up, crushing the air, and it swept in all directions.
But then, the terrifying shock waves and the high temperature were restrained in an invisible domain. Within the hexahedron outlined with music theory of the school of abstinence, the terrifying shock waves and the high temperature continued rebounding, illuminating the shocked look on everyone around.
Only Ye Qingxuan cupped his chin and slowly nodded. “Quite powerful indeed, comparable to the damage-dealing movements of musicians of the school of modifications.” As he said so, he turned back and looked at Sylvaine. “How many of these do they have?”
“I don’t know.” Sylvaine smiled bitterly. “The Asgardians’ war reserve has always been the most plentiful among the various country. A specialized minelayer can lay thousands of bombs. They probably spread these things in the ocean current several days in advance. Now, they are drifting along with the currents, and I am afraid that they have spread all over the sea region by now.”
Sylvaine did not finish his words, but Ye Qingxuan understood what it meant.
If they didn’t do anything to stop it, more and more of these things would probably flow to Avalon along the ocean currents. Then, Avalon would undoubtedly be completely blocked off by these things.
No ship would be able to set sail.
“They want to attrite our resources,” Sylvaine said coldly. “We have to deploy at least half of our ships to remove the mines, and the musicians have to spend most of their energy on it. Even when we go to war, we would have to assign some manpower to prevent the ships from hitting a mine.”
The captain of another warship said, “But to pass through the blockade, we must first get rid of these things, otherwise we can’t fight at all.”
“Should we clear them up?” Sylvaine looked at Ye Qingxuan, who was the actual commander of the fleet, although most of the time he was just a scapegoat that rarely interfered in the operating of the fleet.
“Yeah, clear them up. After all, we still have to go on our way.” Ye Qingxuan gave a wave of his hand and ordered, “Organize the Royal Musicians to conduct a large-scale summoning. Many musicians probably rear aquatic phantom beasts, they should be able to hasten the process. We need not intercept all of them, it will suffice to just clear our sea routes out. As for the rest, just let them float to Avalon. If the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth can’t even keep them out, what’s the point of it?”
The bombs laid by the Asgardians were like caltrops on the ground. Although they were inconvenient and troublesome, they could at most be said to have disgusted Anglo.
Such was war. When necessary, even the massacre of civilians was within the scope of consideration, let alone little things like these?
“Unfortunately, the Asgardians overlooked one point.” Ye Qingxuan motioned to someone behind him, and a musician holding an iron box stepped forward quickly, putting it in front of Ye Qingxuan.
“They can dig traps, and so can we.” As he said so, Ye Qingxuan opened the seal on the iron box with his signet ring, and he took out two small wine glasses from it. Seeing everyone’s shocked expression, Ye Qingxuan smiled. “We need not compete against them to be the nicest.”
He weighed the Cups of Integrity and Courage in his hands and grinned. “Let’s compete to be the most terrible!”
…
In the sharp noise of the war alert, it was busy on board all the warships of the Royal Fleet. Countless sailors rushed here and there, sealing all the gaps. Thick, heavy protective clothing and respirator masks covering the entire face were distributed at the bow of the ship. Soon, in the short span of half an hour, all the warships were in place.
Meanwhile, in the magnificent melody, the thick layers of clouds above the sky slowly parted, and the dark behemoth broke through the clouds. With the behemoth’s spine as its core, the organ was played together by sixteen musicians.
Hot steam spewed from the body of the Mountain of Nomadism, emitting a harsh melody. Under the guidance of the music theory of Jiu Xiao Huan Pei, countless perception threads extended from Ye Qingxuan’s body, connecting themselves to the Mountain of Nomadism. With it as the core, countless strands of music theory of the Heaven Ladder shrouded the entire Royal Fleet within.
They were connected as one.
As compared to the phoenix, which appeared when Mabel did so, nothing unusual occurred when Ye Qingxuan’s Symphony of Predestination engulfed the fleet, but in the musicians’ sensing, the hundreds of warships had been completely united as one at the moment, becoming the physical form and embodiment of a tenacity.
Then, the mighty melody was played.
The calm ocean instantly started boiling. Countless clouds of water vapor rose from the surface of the sea, turning into a fog so thick and heavy that one couldn’t see the fingers on one’s stretched-out hand. In the area shrouded in the thick fog, everything turned pure white.
The thick fog expanded wildly in the melody. Like a white blanket, it instantly covered the region within a few hundred miles of the fleet and was still slowly extending towards the surroundings.
It was as if it was alive.
In the short span of a few dozens of minutes, one-third of the entire Northern Waters had been covered in the undispellable fog, and it was only a matter of time for the remaining two-thirds to be engulfed as well.
It was the thick fog that once shrouded the entire Anglo.
When the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth which had received all the power of Leviathan infused the Mountain of Nomadism with Firebird, it gave the talent to the offspring of Leviathan as well.
Unlike the strange weather that was almost like a projection of the realm of aethe
r back then, the fog at the moment had no other effect other than to obstruct the line of sight and the sensing of musicians.
It could deal no damage as well.
It sufficed to merely exist as a medium.
At the bow of the Mountain of Nomadism, Ye Qingxuan smiled and slowly raised the two cups in his hands high.
The Cups of Virtue.
One was Integrity and the other was Courage, both of which represented admirable qualities, also known as weaknesses!
Following Ye Qingxuan’s actions, a huge hole seemed to have opened up in the entire sea of aether in an instant. Countless streams of aether were forcibly extracted, and the waves caused could even be sensed by the Asgardian fleet far away, which was not even in the northern waters.
At the moment, it was not Ye Qingxuan who was extracting the aether, but the Royal Fleet that had been united as one with Ye Qingxuan.
The aether engine of hundreds of warships madly extracted power. Even if every engine was just a small drop, they could form a torrent when gathered together.
Such huge aether waves were simply as conspicuous as torches in the night in the detection of large-scale instruments of harmonious melody, but at the moment, the night was covered in thick fog, and even the position of a torch was difficult to detect.
Under the irrigation of the power, Ye Qingxuan slowly tilted his hands. From the sky, he spilled the virtues in the cups into the thick fog beneath his feet.
It was as if sweet nectar was falling from the sky.
The wisps of water vapor falling from the Cup of Integrity soon merged into the fog and spread rapidly, lending the water vapor a cotton-like texture. Wherever it passed, the vague water vapor became like sticky glue. Together with the nectar in the cup, the terrifying toxicity quickly spread in the fog.
A pungent scent rose from the thick fog.
The mist that had been attached by ‘Integrity’ became wisps of cotton, hiding in the thick fog, constantly floating around pervasively. Everywhere it passed, even steel made a hissing noise.
The poisonous gas that was transformed from aether was of a semi-colloidal state, and it was a terrifying enemy for all living things that could breathe. Once it entered the lungs, it would quickly cause the organs to contract and become dehydrated until the person finally became a dry corpse after uncontrollable vomiting and dehydration. Even if one’s skin came into contact with it, the poison would cause the epidermis and dermis layers to rapidly decay, become inactive, and turn into cracked, rotten rubber.
In contrast, what sprinkled from the Cup of Courage was fluttering grass clippings. They were like granules that were dried in the sun after weeds were chopped up, the fine hairs from willow trees flying everywhere in the wild in springtime. The spores proliferated wildly while absorbing aether fell from the cup, just like salt being sprinkled on the barbecued meat. They dotted the fog, completely harmless, and one couldn’t possibly imagine its horrifying appearance after parasitizing the human body and growing wildly.
The Cup of Integrity would rob one of all moisture and vitality, making people lose their flexibility.
The Cup of Courage would blind one, growing and expanding wildly.
After approaching their limit, the weapons that would suffice to completely wipe off an entire large city in a short period of time absorbed a massive amount of aether, completely changing the nature of the thick fog.
In the next week, the entire northern waters would become a completely inaccessible region. Without protective clothing and a respiratory mask, one would completely become the host of the plant and a pile of rotten meat just by walking outside for one round.
It was a pity for the pasture of fish farming to go to waste, though.
Countless fishes floated up from the sea, the whites of their eyes showing, and their abdomens gradually swelled. In the end, countless grass seeds broke out of their abdomens and floated about on the water.
Ye Qingxuan put away the Cups of Virtue and slowly shook his head.
The war had yet to begin, but the consequences had already shown themselves.
The pasture probably could not recover within a decade.
The armored knight wearing a protective mask ran out and went down on one knee behind Ye Qingxuan. “Your Royal Highness, a report from the fleet. Traces of the whereabouts of the Asgardian Navy have been discovered.”
“Let the ones good at war deal with war. Go tell Sylvaine to go about it the way it should be done, and that he need not be concerned about me.” Ye Qingxuan took the report and walked to the bridge of the Mountain of Nomadism. Raising his voice, he commanded, “Notify the whole fleet, the target is 72 degrees south, 400 nautical miles away!”
In the rumble, the Mountain of Nomadism shook violently, and the huge figure unceremoniously passed the accelerating Royal Fleet, disappearing into the depths of the fog.
“So, let’s go say hello to our enemies.” In the bridge of the steel behemoth, Ye Qingxuan’s fingers tapped on the armrest, and he hummed a vague tune softly.
Going against Leviathan at sea?
Friend, have you gotten something wrong?
710 Thinking
There was only silence in the entire corridor. The young musician stood in front of the door with a plate of dinner in his hands. He hesitated and looked at the closed door of the cabin in front of him. This was a corridor that he had been walking through countless times for the past six years, as he had had to bring dinner for those officials that had no time to head to the canteen.
But this time around, he was exceptionally hesitant. It was as if he was about to face a terrifying beast. This hesitation did not necessarily come about due to a threatening appearance or strong words but was more of a gut feeling instead. It was the sense of danger and fear that herbivores possessed when faced with their predators.
He swallowed his saliva and bucked up his courage to knock on the door. There was only silence and there was no response. But the feeling of chill thickened. He hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door again.
This time around, he froze. On the other side of the door, he could sense a pair of eyes looking over in his direction. Those eyes seemed to be able to penetrate through metal, physical objects, and his body to see directly into every inch of his soul.
“Please come in,” a deep voice said from behind the door. It was neither cold nor strict, and he felt a lot more relieved. But the moment he pushed open the door, he immediately felt a strange gust of chill. His hands that were holding on to the tray could not help but tremble.
He saw it. There were countless slim threads hanging in the air everywhere. Red, black, white, green… There were plenty of notes, photographs and pages from case files pinned onto the walls, occupying every inch of the room. Those thumbtacks were attached to the threads, and the latter crisscrossed the entire room so that it formed a gigantic web. There were case files and notes everywhere on the table, walls, floor and even on the bed. It was like the lair of a spider.
The white-haired man’s back was facing him as he squatted amongst the messy piles of case notes. He was staring at the threads on top of him and seemed too deep in thought. He seemed to be searching for something amongst the threads.
“Mr. Rommel.” The musician, who was in shock, lowered his head and did not dare to look at him. He only spoke softly, “Your dinner…”
“Just leave it there, thank you.” Rommel pointed at a spot near the entrance. The musician felt relieved to finally be able to leave the tray behind before closing the door gently. He was only able to relax and breathe normally after he had turned the corner of the corridor.
The room was silent and Rommel was like a statue, as he remained motionless and continued to be deep in thought.
“How terrible.” In the darkness, a voice sighed and spoke. A thin middle-aged man appeared out of nowhere and picked up the tray of dinner that had already gone cold. He grabbed the utensils and began to dig into the dinner unceremoniously, even as he conti
nued to speak while chewing on his food. “He was kind enough to bring you dinner, yet you couldn’t even be bothered to look at him. Besides, you have been on the Stronghold on Sea for so many days but all you have done is to lock yourself in the room and stare at the photos of the same man. Hey, you know something? In Asgard, if someone’s room is filled with photos of men, then you will be deemed as a homosexual…”
“Are all the imperial guards of the Golden Palace as talkative as you?” Rommel countered without even turning his head. “If you wish to leave the room, please go ahead. Do whatever you want, Schwartz, just don’t disturb me.”
“That’s not possible.” Schwartz shrugged his shoulders. “After all, this is my duty.”
In the Asgard army, when a musician was appointed as a commander, he would be given his own personal guard. During wartimes, the two of them would stay together at all times and must never be apart from each other by more than ten meters. Its main purpose was to prevent any assassinations or accidents from happening. Although this was unnecessary for a scepter like Rommel, the old musician still insisted on sending him an imperial guard from the Golden Palace before his departure.
These knights, who were specially selected from the Asgard army, had to go through long periods of training and even had to change their names and erase every single trace of information about themselves in order to become an imperial guard of the Golden Palace. In past centuries, they had been responsible for the safety of the Emperor or important officials and have earned the reputation of being the best guards in the entire world. At the same time, they were also excellent assassins. Other than protecting the people that they had been assigned to, they might sometimes have to carry out certain unpleasant tasks behind the scenes.
Loyal, hardworking and fearless. Despite so many excellent qualities, they could not compensate for the single major flaw, which was that this guard that had been assigned to Rommel was a chatterbox.
“It has been so long, what exactly are you doing?” Schwartz was playing with his curly black hair. He was finishing up his dinner in a squatting position and continued to ask, “Unrequited love?”
