Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1283: Chapter 1282: Salvaged Cargo

The door leading to the ”control room” opened, yet not only was Amber herself in a fog, even Gawain, the ”satellite spirit,” couldn’t understand how all this was happening—he certainly didn’t believe this half-elf’s ”pat-and-repair” method truly fixed this ancient access control system. After thinking it over, he could only temporarily chalk it up to a coincidence—even if he didn’t believe it was a coincidence at all.

”After all, it’s such old stuff, isn’t it? Over a million years, there must be some problems inside... Wait, do you hear some kind of noise in there?”

Amber muttered on the side, yet Gawain had already stepped past her, walking towards the other side of the door.

Just as he crossed the threshold, countless flashing red lights filled Gawain’s vision, and his heart instantly leapt into his throat—then he saw the scene inside the ”control room.”

It was an extremely spacious fan-shaped hall, with numerous control consoles that looked like operational equipment and ancient devices whose functions were completely indiscernible, housed in the sectors of the hall. In the red lighting that filled the entire room, countless holographic projections floated above each piece of equipment, and at this moment almost all interfaces were flashing with blinding red lights and erratically jumping chaotic symbols, charts. Further, a series of black-red smudges covered the originally silvery-white floor and walls. Between these smudges, one could see grooves and pits left by what seemed like intense corrosion. The dreadful scene was as if some enormous creature, oozing deadly venom, had wandered through this hall, leaving countless imprints with its toxic limbs!

A continuous alarm sound filled the hall, its urgent blare disturbing—this was what Amber had just heard a few seconds ago.

”I have a bad feeling about this...” Amber followed closely into the control room, and upon seeing the scene inside, her eyes instantly widened, ”I guess when this place is functioning normally, it surely doesn’t look like this...”

”It’s the Inversion Tide’s pollution... indeed it’s the Inversion Tide’s pollution...” Gawain muttered to himself, shocked by the scene behind the door, yet vaguely having foreseen it in his heart. The prominent red warning lights and continuous alarm sounds still filled the area. He stepped into the control room, heading towards the console streaked with signs of pollution. At the end of his view, at the frontmost sector of the fan-shaped hall, stood a massive hemispherical device. The enormous holographic image projected above the device also flickered with countless erratic lines and warnings that had perhaps accumulated for countless years. At the center of the continuously shaky and distorted image, some intermittent characters caught Gawain’s eye:

System critically damaged, unknown invasion out of control...

Footsteps sounded from behind as others also entered the control room one after another. The warning lights and alarm sounds from all directions made everyone tense and bewildered, even the usually calm and indifferent Victoria instinctively tightened the grip on her combat staff and moved slightly closer to Modir. Melita stepped out from the group, quickly approaching Gawain’s side, her voice low and grave: ”We’ve come too late once again... or perhaps we’re late by many years, this place has already been polluted.”

”Yes, it has been polluted, and after the polluter finished their destruction here, they disappeared without a trace,” Gawain glanced around at the devastated control room, where the traces of pollution were appalling, but the culprit of the pollution was clearly not here, ”No spatial rifts can be seen here, nor is there any sign of damage in the cabin itself... How did ’that thing’ come and go?”

Melita took a gentle breath: ”Perhaps it ’evolved’ here, acquiring some ability to transcend the constraints of material rules and move itself... or perhaps there are other escape routes...”

”But this ship is still flying,” Kamel floated over from the side, his voice buzzing, ”perhaps the damage here isn’t as severe as we imagine—at least it can still carry out patrol duties between the kingdoms...”

”Is that really so?” Gawain frowned deeply, his voice low and slow, ”Is it truly still on a normal patrol? All control devices here have suffered severe failure, the main system is unresponsive, the whole control room is as if ’dead,’ yet the spaceship has been ’normally’ cruising day after day for hundreds of years, don’t you find this more frightening than if it had crashed?”

”A dead man who’s been decapitated is not terrifying, it’s scary that he’s been living as normal for hundreds of years after losing his head,” Daniel’s face reflected the surrounding red light, his voice cold with a touch of chill. ”Especially when he continues living as though nothing has changed for centuries even after being beheaded...”

Daniel’s words sent a shiver through everyone there, making them all realize the true terror behind the completely ”dead” control room and the seemingly undisturbed cruising spaceship. Just then, they felt a deep rumbling beneath their feet, as if some large-scale operation was underway in the power system of this colossal ship—Amber jumped up immediately, clinging to Gawain’s arm like a koala, while Gawain instinctively turned his head, looking at the largest hemispherical holographic projection.

He saw the chaotic, jumping lines quivering, and within the completely collapsed ship system, something residual seemed to be stubbornly functioning. He perceived vaguely sketched external monitoring images, witnessing a vast shadow appearing at the end of the ship’s course. Amid jerky, jumping characters, he barely discerned some content—”Approaching... Mother Harbor...”

...

Churning, murky clouds shrouded the corrupt dark earth, high above charged clouds were releasing strong currents, bright flashes briefly illuminating the eternally dim wasteland. Amid the delayed thunder, Fyrna suddenly looked up, her face dark as she stared towards some direction high in the sky—yet her eyes didn’t focus on those clouds but seemed to look through them, gazing at somewhere even more distant.

Lelena, supervising on site nearby, also raised her head simultaneously. The paired Twin Elves remained silent for a moment before Fyrna broke the silence—her voice resonating directly in Lelena’s mind: ”Did you sense it?”

”I sensed it. Someone opened the control room door on Ship Three... that sealed door,” Lelena replied likewise directly through their psychic connection. Her voice, as cold as Fyrna’s, carried an expression of unprecedented gloom on her perpetually smiling face, ”Someone has invaded...”

Fyrna slightly lowered her head as if listening to sounds from afar. After a moment, she said, ”Identity recognized, it’s a star atlas Custodian, a relic of ancient exotic access privileges.”

”Star atlas Custodian? That pathetic caretaker?” Lelena’s gaze turned cold, ”Wasn’t she trapped in her miserable ’Sanctuary’? Even locked in by her own spawns... How could she possibly escape?”

”That pathetic caretaker is still trapped in the Sanctuary, she won’t break the stalemate even in ten thousand years, I can feel it...” Fyrna shared in their psychic link, once again raising her head to look at the boundless wasteland far away. ”Perhaps just a few vermin, stumbling into places they shouldn’t have trodden...”

”Not worth bothering with?” Lelena frowned.

”...The cost is too great; our mortal bodies are too frail for further ’connections’,” Fyrna shook her head after a moment of thought. ”But no need to worry either, Ship Three hasn’t issued further warnings, those weak intruders... Even if they set foot in the control room, they’re incapable of affecting anything, and should they dare to do something... the automatic alert system will naturally correct their ’mistakes’.”

”...Perhaps, but it’s still a variable,” Lelena said, looking at the wasteland plains not far off. The busy Treants and aberration Giants caught her eye, while a Deep Blue Rift already formed in the air laid quietly in the pit shaped by the earth’s depression. ”I dislike unforeseen events... Maybe we should accelerate the process, letting these dim-witted beings maximize their remaining value.”

”If these stupid creatures were even slightly useful, we wouldn’t have been lingering on these wastelands for so long,” Fyrna said coldly, staring at the aberrations and Treant Priests busying themselves on the plains, just like looking at a swarm of squirming bugs and annoying rotting wood, ”Not only are they inefficient, but even the Rune Stones they produce... frequently have problems.”

Lelena squinted slightly, her ”sister’s” words reminding her of the recent accidental incidents: ”Rune Stones... there have been several instances recently where Rune Stones lost responsiveness. These stones, made with much effort and resources, disappear without a trace soon after being placed into the Deep Blue Vein Flow, and Balken can’t find any reason, always replying that it’s under analysis, under research!”

”Perhaps we expect too much from these followers. Their rudimentary skills are insufficient to handle the knowledge we’ve imparted to them—even just making some of the most basic polarization controllers.”

”But they’re all we have at hand right now,” Lelena shook her head, ”Since there are quality issues, we’ll make up for it with quantity. After all, they don’t tire, and for their so-called ’great cause’, they’re willing to work tirelessly. Increase the quantity of Rune Stones, speed up adjustments to the Deep Blue Webway... Variables have appeared; the plan must be completed urgently.”

The mental dialogue ended, and the Twin Elves remained silently standing on the boulder, overlooking the nearby ”construction site.” Their conversation was entirely telepathic, and to the Treant Priests wandering nearby, the two elves seemed to do little besides occasionally looking at the sky and the distance.

Not far on the plain, the stabilized Deep Blue Rift lay quietly in the pit on the ground, and two Aberration Giants took heavy steps towards the pit. On their shoulders, a black Stele with complex rune structures was slowly glowing, ready to be placed into the rift.

...

Water Elemental Realm, deep in the Boundless Sea.

A glow of azure-blue flows in the depths of the sea, and a layer of unstable ”interlayer” on the outside separates the flowing light from the seawater. This river flowing in the sea stands as a magnificent sight, but the native Water Elements steer clear of these beautiful rivers – the pure Magic Power filled in the Deep Blue Webway affects their health.

But the Elemental creatures from overseas bear no such worries. They appreciate the beauty of these Magical Vein Flows, and sometimes feel like diving straight in.

Two sea demons sentinels hovered in the water close to one of the Deep Blue Vein Flows, one with long pale purple hair and the other with blue hair down her shoulder.

They tightly gripped the Trident Light Wave Blades in their hands, carrying Particle Pulse Rifles at their waists, while they intently watched the rushing blue ”river,” their whole bodies tense.

Assigned here as sentinels, the Tidal Royal Guards were fully focused on monitoring the Deep Blue Webway.

Suddenly, the sea demon with long pale purple hair seemed to sense something in advance, subtly lifting her trident. In the next instant, a swift shadow appeared in the rushing blue light flow, an unknown entity darting rapidly through the energy torrent. It moved fast — but not fast enough to evade the trained Royal Guards’ reactions.

The trident thrust swiftly, the Light Wave Blade effortlessly cutting through the immaterial energy torrent, followed by a crisp ”ding” echoing through the seawater — as the purple-haired sea demon flicked her hand, a large dark cube with a flickering bright surface was knocked out of the Deep Blue Vein Flow, tumbling as it drifted off in the Boundless Sea.

”Hey! Got it, got it! Vila, quickly retrieve that thing—with your big tail!”

”You don’t have to tell me!” The blue-haired sea demon, called Vila, swiftly turned, her long snake tail unfurling in the water, stretching several times longer in the blink of an eye, curling up the heavy black cube. The cube’s weight pulled her downward sharply, but in the next moment, she controlled the surrounding seawater to secure her position, then dragged the cube back in front of her.

”Got it, Korolin,” Vila looked at her comrade, ”Let’s head back to the outpost.”

Purple-haired sea demon Korolin carried a joyful smile, slinging her trident over her shoulder while wrapping her tail around the cube’s edge. Together with her partner, she dragged the heavy trophy towards the looming shadow floating on the sea surface not far away.

With a splash, the two sea demon sentinels surfaced on the Boundless Sea, where continuous eternal rain poured ceaselessly.

The edge of the outpost automatically descended a small platform, and the two sea demons placed their heavy ”cargo” onto it, then nimbly leapt from the water onto the platform. It smoothly rose and slid to the side. Moments later, Korolin and Vila brought their trophy back to the rest area of the outpost.

They pushed and pulled, moving the heavy black cube to an open area.

And beside them, three identical black cubes were quietly lined up in a row.

Each cube bore a large broken area, a result of the Light Wave Blade’s powerful strike, the cube’s intricate internal structures now ruined by the impact, losing its intended function naturally.

Vila used her tail to roll the fourth cube into its designated place, the last bit of rune glow on its surface fading away as its internal systems collapsed, leaving four black cubes lined in a neat row.

”Another one sorted out, and counting this latest one, it’s the fourth we’ve retrieved these days,” Korolin stood before the cubes, examining their dark exteriors with a bewildered expression, ”So, what are these things exactly... what are we supposed to do with them... why hasn’t the Queen responded?”

”Come on, the Great Witches need time to analyze and discuss, don’t they?” Vila glanced at her comrade, ”We just have to wait patiently.”