Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1365: Chapter 1364: Restoring Communication

Deep water technicians and deep sea witches are the two most critical technical talents in the Sea Demons Kingdom. They possess capabilities in engineering technology and theoretical research that far surpass other sea demons. They even create structures within their bodies during mimicry to enhance their computing abilities and assist in thought. Cassandra herself is a deep sea witch, but one deep sea witch is obviously not enough to tackle something as colossal as the Firmament Station.

Although Gawain Cecil mentioned earlier when leaving the Firmament Station that there was no immediate rush to repair the space station, since General Vanessa and an expeditionary army have arrived here, Cassandra casually asked, hoping that if they brought enough technical personnel, perhaps her sisters could have an early look at those ancient systems left by the Voyagers.

”Deep water technicians and deep sea witches?” General Vanessa was momentarily stunned, ”Not many—just the necessary team for maintaining war machinery and conducting wasteland research. I brought an army, not a scientific team.”

”Well, fine then,” Cassandra felt a bit disappointed. The sisters maintaining war machinery and conducting wasteland research are clearly indispensable for this expeditionary army, and with limited numbers, there’s no way to spare some to send to space, ”let’s leave it at that.”

”Why did you suddenly ask this?” General Vanessa asked curiously, ”What do you need deep water technicians and deep sea witches for?”

Cassandra glanced back at the mighty and towering Huge Tower under the night sky and then turned her head, saying softly: ”His Majesty Gawain Cecil plans to repair that space station—which requires the help of the Dragonkin and sea demons. And based on my previous exploration at the Firmament Station, the space facilities left by the Voyagers will... be very enlightening for our repair of the Antawen Vessel. I hope to start this matter as soon as possible.”

”He wants us to help repair that Orbital Ring Space Station?!” Vanessa immediately widened her eyes, and instantly realized that this was not only assistance from Antawen to the Cecil Empire—for the sea demons themselves, it was also a rare opportunity. In fact, upon learning about the Firmament Station from Cassandra, this sea demon general had already been contemplating how to speak up to allow more sea demons into space, only to find that the other party had already proactively offered an opportunity, ”You’ve agreed, have you? Agreeing is good, very good... We are just at the crucial stage of repairing the Antawen.”

Subsequently, the Deep Sea Warlord frowned and quickly calmed down, saying in a deep voice: ”However, among the sisters I have brought now, there are indeed none who can be useful in this regard. We need people who understand space engineering and the essentials of outer space environments... I will send a message to Antawen to let Her Majesty the Queen select a batch of sisters who are more skilled in the corresponding fields. Fortunately, there won’t be dissatisfaction from the Loren Continent’s shielded zone here, and we’ve brought high-powered communication equipment.”

Saying this, a slightly complex smile appeared on Vanessa’s face, a smile of joy mixed with endless reflection: ”They have really waited too long for this day...”

Cassandra glanced at the smile on the sea demon general’s face, hesitated for a long time, and couldn’t help but remind her aside: ”It doesn’t matter how long you’ve waited, the key is not to swim the wrong way this time...”

Vanessa: ”...We didn’t swim the wrong way!”

Thirty minutes later, the Empire Expedition Fleet, which had been anchored near the Voyagers’ Huge Tower for an entire day, finally set sail. Under the guidance of a recalibrated sea demon navigator, the large fleet led by the Winter once again turned its bow towards the Loren Continent in the northeast. Under the brilliant starlight, the majestic battleships cast enormous shadows on the sea surface, the calm sea was broken layer by layer by the metal-crafted bow, and as the fleet moved further away from the sea area where the Voyagers’ Tower was located, the unique ”environment” near the tower gradually dissipated—normal waves appeared again on the unnaturally calm sea surface, the sea breeze carrying a salty scent blew across the deck, stirring the naval uniforms of the sailors.

The Deep Sea Expeditionary Force from Antawen accompanied the Winter.

Byron stood at the edge of the upper deck of the Winter, gazing at the fleet in night sailing mode, his eyes inevitably falling on the sea surface near the fleet. Amidst the surging waves, he saw those lights piercing through the sea from beneath, the ”beacon lights” of the Antawen Expeditionary Force.

Those lights came from a large submarine ship—the flagship of the Antawen Expeditionary Force, the Abyssal Pacifier. It was a large, gray-white ship with a wide stingray-like body, a shape that defied any human understanding of ”ships,” yet it relied on a unique power structure known as the ”Vacuum Fluid Engine” to move rapidly under the sea surface. Its wide hull could transport thousands of deep sea warriors and a large number of war machines from Antawen to a distant continent, the seemingly unreasonable hull made of special alloys and with elemental affinity actually reduced resistance as it dipped deeper into the sea, allowing the vessel to sail swiftly near the seabed.

Anyway, from start to finish it all felt like unfathomable ”advanced deep sea technology,” yet unsuitable for human use for no other reason—the ship hadn’t been thought through for sealing, nor pressure resistance, it was entirely filled with water...

Around the Abyssal Pacifier, several smaller vessels sailed with it, serving as auxiliary ships for the large deep-sea troopship. At the moment these ”submarines” from Antawen were navigating close to the sea surface depths to mark their position for allies and assist in controlling nearby sea conditions. They relied on beacon lights with strong penetration power to outline a large and clear ”arrow” pointing to the Loren Continent on the sea surface ahead of the Winter.

With the strong sea currents generated by the numerous sea demons, the entire ”combined fleet” was nearing the Loren Continent at an astonishing speed.

Byron recalled the moment when the Abyssal Pacifier emerged from the distant sea and approached him. To be honest, he was quite startled—the huge ship roared out of the sea, racing towards them while leaking water from all around, throughout the cascading water sea demons continuously materialized from the rushing sea and scrambled back into the cabin. Later inquiry revealed that the sea demons hung on the outer layer of armor to ”feel the touch of ocean currents,” but when ascending, didn’t react in time, and all fell off...

It was quite a thrilling scene from every perspective, very invincible, very full of Martial Virtue.

The sound of scales slithering on the deck came from the side, Byron turned his head, seeing Cassandra ”walking” this way. The latter tilted her chin to indicate the lights on the undulating sea surface in front of the fleet, a hint of pride on her face: ”So? The Abyssal Pacifier is the largest scale ship we can currently sail, what do you think of it?”

”...Incredible, it’s the first time I’ve seen a ship like that, even more astounding than the ’deep-sea shuttle’ you used when arriving at Northport,” Byron said honestly, ”But what surprises me most isn’t the ship itself, but that your expeditionary force actually came by ship—when I first saw General Vanessa and her advance team, I thought they had swum over from Antawen...”

”There are always many misconceptions about our race endowed with talents in certain fields, assuming that sea demons adept at swimming would swim anywhere themselves, just like one might think dragonkin adept at flight would fly everywhere themselves. But in reality, we, like you humans, have convenient transportation tools available, so why swim? Especially when the expeditionary force needs to carry a lot of weapons and supplies—undertaking an ocean-crossing expedition without a large ship would be no easy feat.”

Byron thought about it, found the argument quite reasonable, but couldn’t help thinking of another sea demon he knew: ”But Tiel directly swam from Antawen to us back then...”

”So that one is truly badass...”

Byron: ”...”

The deck fell silent for a moment, as Cassandra gazed in the direction of the Abyssal Pacifier, seemingly lost in thought. After an unknown amount of time, she suddenly broke the silence with a low voice, ”It’s a pity, we haven’t been able to build a larger ship than the Abyssal Pacifier for many years... The power furnace on Antawen was damaged, which limits the scale of the foundry, and for a long time we haven’t been able to find ways to obtain other forms of energy—even though the ever-present Magic Power is always around us. Fortunately, the situation has finally changed, the deep water technicians have begun trying to replace Antawen’s original power system with more and more magic circuits. Perhaps one day in the future, we might show you something even more astonishing than the Abyssal Pacifier.”

”So you desperately need the knowledge of the Voyager to help you repair your ’spaceship’,” Byron said offhandedly, ”And His Majesty also needs you to help him fix his ’other body,’ this is a cooperative effort that benefits both sea demons and humans—besides Mage and Rune Technology, now we finally have new areas for cooperation.”

Byron was not someone who was very good at thinking and planning, and if this were in the past, these words would have been things he could never have uttered, but he’s been following Gawain for many years, hearing and seeing things that have allowed him to understand many truths he never considered before.

After all, he didn’t want to end up one day unable to debate even with Pea...

”General Vanessa has already contacted Antawen via the communication device on the Abyssal Pacifier, Her Majesty the Queen will soon select a group of outstanding space engineers and scholars, we have recorded the position of the ’Space Elevator,’ and can send people over at any time,” Cassandra said, ”I hope Talronde and the Sacred Dragon Kingdom can quickly realize the significance of those things in space, but this aspect shouldn’t be too concerning, after all, the Dragonkin initially...”

A feeling that was difficult to describe suddenly surged in, as if the fleet had crossed an invisible ”boundary.” Cassandra’s words suddenly stopped, and she slightly furrowed her brow, adopting an expression of listening attentively, as if she heard a ”sound” from the waves that human ears could not discern. This made Byron suddenly a bit tense: ”What’s wrong?”

”I heard Tiel’s Spirit Song—we’ve entered Loren Continent’s shielded zone.”

Byron quickly responded, ”Can you respond to her directly?”

”Yes, as long as we use the Abyssal Pacifier’s enhancement antenna,” Cassandra nodded immediately, ”We’ve restored communication with the land!”

...

At four in the morning, Gawain was woken up while sleeping soundly, and when he realized the person who came to find him was Tiel, he was left utterly perplexed.

He, Gawain, one of the most diligent in the entire Empire, being awakened at four in the morning, a time when normal creatures should be sleeping, by Tiel, the Empire’s most skilled at slacking off (and she herself is a fish), who usually seems to sleep like the dead most of the time!

Where is the reason in this?

Rushing to put on his nightclothes and arrive at the study, Gawain saw Tiel coiling spiritedly on the ground, swaying left and right. Without waiting for her to speak, he tossed a line over: ”Your biological clock must be fake, or you must be fake.”

However, Tiel immediately responded with a sentence that dispelled all remaining drowsiness in Gawain: ”Let’s not talk about that, I’ve made contact with Cassandra!”

Gawain was stunned—he knew where the Winter was, and where Cassandra was, but he never expected Tiel to contact the other side so quickly. In fact, after confirming Byron’s safety, ensuring Cassandra and Asharena’s safety leaving Firmament Station, he temporarily shifted his attention from the Winter to the situation on the Loren continent, just waiting a few days to receive news from the Winter, yet the message came so swiftly: ”You’ve contacted them?! They’ve returned near the continent?”

”They’re still at sea, but approaching at great speed,” Tiel said, quickly flicking her tail tip, looking as excited as she was by this exhilarating news, ”Cassandra said they previously drifted near a Voyager’s relic, originally it would take at least seven or eight days to sail back, fortunately they came across General Vanessa’s expeditionary force, now they’re sailing at full speed within a sea demon-created ocean current. She contacted me using the Abyssal Pacifier’s enhancement antenna, otherwise there’s no way to communicate so directly.”

Gawain didn’t wait for her to finish and was already puzzled, hurriedly interrupting, ”Wait, wait, General Vanessa’s expeditionary force? Where did this expeditionary force come from? What is the Abyssal Pacifier now?”

”The Abyssal Pacifier is one of our combat transport ships, you could translate it into ’The Mighty General of Seas Calming’...”

Tiel’s casual translation instantly overwhelmed Gawain’s face with absurdity, but he was more concerned about the situation of the expeditionary force mentioned just now: ”Wait, wait, I’m not asking this... What’s up with the expeditionary force?”

”Oh, our queen discovered something happened on Loren side, seemingly was tricked by the sentinel towers, so she sent our strongest Deep Sea Warlord with five thousand elite soldiers for alliance support...”

Gawain was already completely alert, upon hearing this instinctively glanced at the map hanging not far away, but a question popped up in his mind: ”Wait, then why are they appearing in the southwest of the continent, isn’t Antawen to the east...”

Tiel thought for a moment and naturally reached a conclusion: ”Surely they swam the wrong way, and since the planet is round, they ended up swimming over half the circle the wrong way...”

Gawain: ”Do you think everyone is like you?”

”But sea demons aren’t humans either.”

Gawain: ”...”