YM778.TV Chapter 69: | 069 | Crusaders of Humanity
"Our destination, huh?" Opening the door of the captain\'s quarter was a buff man wearing a medieval captain\'s uniform. He was Captain Stolz, the commander of Everlasting Sun.
As he stepped out of his quarters, the sun shone over his body unveiling his bald head and patched left eye. He only needed a hook to be a stereotypical pirate captain, though in reality, he was far from an actual one.
He was the commander of Everlasting Sun, the capital battleship of the Fleet Principatus Humanum.
The fleet was an expansionary force of Europa that would pave the way for newer colonies to be built in foreign seas. They would fight against locals and dominate the sea region, giving way to humanity\'s development.
They planned to return to Europa for maintenance, but as they passed through the sea region of the Colonial Dominion of Terra, its Viceroy reported to them strange occurrences.
So, before returning to the continent, they decided to investigate the disappearance of the escort ships and the merchant ship Pinguis Arca.
Captain Stolz walked towards the wooden railings of the medieval battleship where two hundred cannons pointed to the starboard. Anything that met the firing range of these cannons would instantly be decimated into debris.
He soon noticed the wooden boards and debris floating throughout the tide and felt a whiff of charred flesh.
"It seems that they were attacked by sea monsters." Captain Stolz remarked, but the First Mate raised an eyebrow and reminded him of the reports sent by Pinguis Arca to the Viceroy.
"According to the Viceroy, the captain of Pinguis Arca spoke about a strange metallic ship chasing after them. I doubt the captain would misunderstand a sea monster as some ship."
Hearing the words of the first mate, Captain Stolz raised an eyebrow. A metallic warship was something that was already done in Europa. But their size didn\'t exceed 50 meters yet as they were extremely heavy compared to wood.
While they do provide high defense against cannon balls, such capabilities were already available in their warships through the acquisition of War Masters.
"Perhaps all of them were eaten by the herd of sea monsters. After all, it is rare for any ship to handle a herd of them. Most would sink and disappear from the high seas."
"But…" Captain Stolz furrowed his eyebrows as there was something that bothered him the most.
"These parts of the sea region aren\'t in the known sea routes of Leviathan Herds. It was practically improbable for the escort ships and merchant ships to succumb in one."
"Unless, of course, it was the War Masters that called upon them." Captain Stolz wasn\'t far from the truth. With the inclusion of the escort ships containing War Masters of their own, it wasn\'t far-fetched to conclude that the sea monsters were called upon.
"But why?" The First Mate questioned since calling upon sea monsters was suicide. Even activating such a forbidden spell required them to use their own lives to amplify its range to be effective.
"It\'s obvious… They lost against the so-called metallic warship. As a final stand of dragging the ship with them, they activated the forbidden spell, Siren\'s Call, onto this sea." Captain Stolz calmly stated while observing the debris field.
"Doesn\'t that mean that the Leviathans have already sunk that ship?" The First Mate remarked, but Captain Stolz shook his head and rejected her words.
"It\'s far from simple, right, War Master Theodore?" After shaking his head, Captain Stolz glanced at the old man beside him.
"As expected of the captain, you have great instincts." War Master Theodore was the head war master of the Everlasting Sun. He was amongst the strongest War Masters in the Ferus Sea.
"There are mana disruptions throughout the sea. A great battle has taken place in these very waters. From the cries of mana, there is an Elder Leviathan. But an unknown mana is seeping along with the waters."
"It\'s incredibly hidden, but very clear once discovered. It appears that things really are far from simple, Captain Stolz." Theodore\'s gaze turned cold as he continued.
"The Dragoness was here, fighting the Elder Leviathan."
When Captain Stolz heard of the dragoness, he clenched his fist and furrowed his eyebrows. The dragon that had disappeared had finally reappeared.
"I didn\'t think that she would be in the Colonial Dominion of Terra. After all, it is far from the safest place to be with its proximity to Europa." Captain Stolz remarked and continued.
"It looks like she handled the Elder Leviathan that was brought along with the herd."
Unexpectedly, however, Theodore shook his head and uttered with aloofness.
"It wasn\'t she that took care of the Elder Leviathan, Captain Stolz. Metallic warships were the ones that killed it. She only made it stationary, judging from the enveloping mana along the Elder Leviathan\'s mana."
"The sea monster practically exploded into bits. These metallic warships have more significant firepower than us." The situation was something that needed to be taken seriously.
The words of Theodore resounded in Captain Stolz\'s mind. An unknown force was hiding in the sea region of the Colonial Dominion of Terra. If they didn\'t handle it, the force might grow into something larger.
Such things must be prevented especially with the Colonial Dominion of Terra being the gateway of Europa into the Ferus Sea.
"It seems that we need to make a call with the Sovereigns." Captain Stolz asserted before the wooden battleship trembled. Some crewmen lost their balance and fell, but most handled it with ease.
"Captain!" A crewman yelled while pointing at the sea.
Captain Stolz walked towards him, and upon arriving beside the crewman, he saw a gargantuan carcass brimmed with explosive wounds. His eyes became colder the more he gazed upon the corpse of the Elder Leviathan.
"Call the Sovereigns!"