Odis and Leonard hurried to the department store on Norhouse Island, a small town department store that couldn't compare to the department stores in Backlund.
Although it has two floors, Odis always feels like a "small supermarket in a county town".
After circling around and finding the office area, Odis and Leonard barged in and found Jeff, the department store owner, flirting with his female secretary in his office.
While Jeff was still in a daze, Odis had already strode forward, grabbed Jeff by the collar, and lifted him up: "I want to ask you a few questions."
Leonard then gestured for the somewhat frightened female secretary to leave and closed the door.
Then he looked at Odis and Jeff, thinking to himself: It seems very impolite to ask questions like this.
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Jeff struggled for a moment, but when he realized he couldn't break free, he knew he had met a formidable opponent: "You...you may ask."
Odis asked, "How can we find Balk?"
"Can't find it..."
Odis pretended to throw Jeff out.
"We really can't find one…" Jeff quickly said, "Who can find a ghost ship on the high seas?"
Odis then asked, "In what direction has he been mainly appearing on the island of Norhaus lately?"
"I really don't know!" Jeff said with a mournful face. "I was just helping him gather information and dispose of the stolen goods."
"He provides the money, I just do the work."
Leonard, who was standing nearby, then said, "I think we should interrogate them in my own way."
Odis asked cooperatively, "In what way?"
"Directly invade his mind," Leonard said. "Then confuse his thinking, and whatever you ask him, he will obediently answer."
"The only insignificant cost is that he will become an idiot from now on."
Jeff swallowed hard. He had some exposure to extraordinary information and seemed to have heard of such things when he boasted to some extraordinary individuals.
Odis said, "How could you interrogate a prisoner in such a brutal way?"
Jeff immediately nodded, indicating his full support for Odis.
"It's easier to do it my way," Odis said. "Just kill him and he'll answer whatever you ask."
Jeff said with a wry smile: "We can't always take the easy way out!"
Then, Odis casually added, "For example, the information about Jeff's connection with Balk, and that Balk was looking for something in the nearby waters, was obtained in this way."
Jeff swallowed hard. He hadn't expected these two to know so much, and it was clear that some members of the "Skull" pirate crew had been killed, and those killed must have been important members, otherwise they wouldn't have known such important information.
"I'll talk…I'll talk," Jeff said after a moment's hesitation.
Although if Balk finds out he's leaked the secret, he'll definitely die a horrible death, but if he doesn't tell, he'll die today.
Moreover, these two people in front of him are quite strong, so perhaps Balk won't have a chance to take revenge on him.
Jeff took a deep breath before saying, "I overheard the first mate of the 'Skull' mention that they've been circling around the northern part of Norhouse Island lately."
Odis put Jeff down: "Where exactly is it? Due north? Northeast? Or northwest?"
"Northeast," Jeff quickly said. "A merchant ship spotted the 'Skull and Bones' in that direction yesterday."
Odis patted Jeff on the shoulder: "Good, is there a picture of the 'Skull and Bones' here?"
"No, but I can draw it for you."
After saying that, Jeff quickly picked up a pen and drew the general structure of the "Skull and Bones".
After obtaining the portrait of the "Skull," Odis and Leonard entered the spirit world without stopping.
Jeff stared blankly as the two men disappeared through the illusory door, and after a long while, he said, "We've lost a big client."
...
Back in the cockpit of the "Argo," Odis said, "We have a course. Head northeast towards Norhaus Island!"
While Ireiz was replanning the course, Odis called a meeting with the entire crew.
He said, "The target we are looking for is currently searching for something in the 'dangerous waters,' so we may also have to enter the 'dangerous waters.' Everyone should be mentally prepared."
"However, even if the other party is a ghost ship, it is impossible for it to stay in the 'dangerous waters' for a long time. It should leave the dangerous waters frequently to rest and recuperate."
"We will search around Norhaus Island, hoping to find them outside the 'dangerous waters' and defeat them."
Everyone said in unison, "Yes."
Odis reiterated: "Furthermore, there is only one captain on this ship, and the three 'Red Gloves' must also obey my command."
Leonard nodded: "Yes!"
After the meeting, the crew members took turns observing the sea from the bridge.
Odis returned to his workshop, rested for a while, then put on his "craftsman's pocket watch" and began to make a "miniature spirit wave cannon" according to the blueprints.
Thanks to the magical items, Odis can make all the parts as long as she has the raw materials, so she doesn't need to go to Lasha Island to "place an order".
Around noon, they arrived at the northeastern part of Norhaus Island and began searching the area.
Although there is a general direction, the sea area is very large, and it depends on luck when we can find each other.
They spent the whole afternoon searching the entire sea area, and even after making a third of the parts for the "miniature Lingbo Cannon", they still hadn't found anything.
Odis came up to the deck and saw that the sun had already set. He planned to find a place to anchor and repair himself that night, because this area of the sea was not in the shipping lane and was relatively close to some islands, so there was a high possibility of hidden reefs.
It would be troublesome if we ran aground.
At that moment, Rupert, who was on duty, took out a pair of binoculars and reminded the captain, "Captain, there's a situation at ten o'clock."
Odis took the telescope and looked in that direction, but he couldn't see clearly what was going on. However, there was a flock of seabirds circling around there.
Odis ordered, "Change course and go check it out."
The Argo then changed course, and Odis returned to the bridge.
After sailing for more than ten minutes, Odis, who was looking through binoculars, said, "They are dead fish."
Rupert was taken aback: "Dead fish?"
"Yes, the sea is full of dead fish," Odis said.
As the Argo continued its journey, a few dead fish appeared on the sea surface.
The spirits of everyone aboard the Argo were filled with unease, and they all went to the bridge to look ahead.
Odis lowered his binoculars: "'The Skull' must have been here not long ago."
He speculated, "I don't know the ship's specific capabilities and negative effects, but I guess it must occasionally cause large-scale deaths of marine life in the surrounding area."
Odis looked at everyone: "This is a fairly reasonable guess."
"Or rather, the only variable around us is the 'Skull Ship,' which could cause a large number of sea fish to die."
Everyone nodded, and after hearing what Odis said, they also felt that this was probably the case.
"Just keep sailing on the surrounding waters! Hmm, a little closer to the dangerous area." Odis immediately ordered, "They'll definitely come out of the 'dangerous area' before nightfall!"
So, Odis then deployed crew members to keep watch all around the Argo.
Because of limited manpower, Odis also asked Leonard and two others to help.
At this point, the Argo entered the area with the most dead fish, and the spiritual unease of everyone on board intensified.
That's because there were just too many dead fish. The eyes of each dead fish seemed to be gazing at the sky, or perhaps at the people on the "Argo".
They rose and fell with the waves, seemingly not completely dead yet.
It was the gaze of the dead fish that made the crew members feel somewhat uncomfortable.
However, there was only unease, but no sense of danger.
After passing through the area filled with dead fish, everyone breathed a long sigh of relief. Then they swam around the area, carefully observing their surroundings.
Around 6 p.m., the sun was about to set below the horizon, casting several beautifully colored fiery clouds on its surface.
Having just finished dinner, Ilse, who replaced Leonard, glanced at the horizon and said, "There's going to be a pretty big storm soon."
Leonard looked at the horizon again. He thought the scenery was quite beautiful, and there weren't many clouds in the sky. Was there going to be a storm?
"Fold down the sails!" Upon hearing Yilai Zhe's words, Odis immediately ordered, "Those who haven't had dinner, hurry up and eat, it might be very busy later."
Leonard glanced at the horizon one last time before returning to the deck below to have dinner.
They were only halfway through dinner when the wind started to pick up outside. Just as Leonard and the others were finishing their meal, they heard a rapid alarm and Captain Odis's command: "All crew members, to the bridge! The 'Skull' has been spotted!"
Leonard paused for a moment before quickly dropping the food and running onto the deck.
Upon reaching the deck, he was taken aback. The beautiful sunset and fiery clouds that had appeared moments before had vanished, replaced by oppressive dark clouds.
These dark clouds, like ink, are flowing from one sky to another.
Leonard saw that the dark clouds had just passed over the Argo, and he could still see the clear sky in the distance.
On the other side, night seemed to have fallen early, with the distant dark clouds appearing to be touching the sea.
He hadn't expected that the situation on the sea would change so drastically in the time it took to have dinner.
Upon arriving at the captain's cabin, Second Officer Rupert handed Leonard a pair of binoculars and pointed him in a direction.
Leonard saw a ship sailing towards him on the sea beneath thick, dark clouds.
That's the "Skull and Bones"!
Leonard immediately recognized the portrait as "Skull and Bones"!
The reason why the "Skull and Bones" could still be clearly seen from such a distance was because lightning and hurricanes surrounded it, and the bright silver-white lightning illuminated the sea around the "Skull and Bones".
The waves over there are much bigger than here, some even as high as small hills.
Lightning and hurricanes seemed to have been summoned by the "Skull and Bones," and they were sailing in with the torrential rain.
Leonard lowered his binoculars and asked, "Is the 'Skull and Bones' heading towards us?"
Could it be that they have already discovered the "Argo" and are preparing to launch an attack?
"I thought so at first too," Odis said. "Watch for a while longer."
Leonard picked up the binoculars again and looked. Suddenly he saw a huge evil spirit appear on the sea. The evil spirit was as tall as a giant and raised the axe in its hand to chop the sea surface.
In an instant, the sea was split open, and the hurricane and lightning were also split open.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the "Skull" quickly broke free from the encirclement of the hurricane and lightning.
Hurricanes and lightning then struck the enormous evil spirit and quickly shredded it.
Leonard immediately understood: "Lightning and hurricanes are besieging the 'Skull'."
"That's right," Odis said. "I suspect the 'Skull' may have gotten into some trouble with something it shouldn't have in the 'Dangerous Seas,' and now that thing has chased after it from there."
After pondering for a moment, he said, "Sail to the 'Skull'! Prepare the 'Soul-Destroying Cannon'."
Since there might be danger over there, we can fire a shot from a distance to see what the situation is before making any decisions.
This was the first time Leonard had heard the word "Soul Extinguishing Cannon." It was a compound word, and he understood its literal meaning.
Then he saw the deck in front of the cockpit open, revealing a very complex weapon with both industrial and aesthetic appeal.
Tap tap tap~
At that moment, large raindrops began to fall, and in an instant, the wind and waves grew much larger, causing the Argo to tilt.
The oppressive feeling of the storm made Leonard and the other two members of the "Red Gloves," who were on their first voyage, feel incredibly small.
The Argo and the Skull were like a seesaw, one soaring to the "peak" of the waves while the other plummeted to the "trough".
At this moment, the "Spirit Extinction Cannon" had completed its charging, and the pale white "barrel" reappeared, making the dim deck shine.
However, it did not fire immediately because the Argo was trying to find the best angle of attack.
The Skull appears to have sensed the threat and is fleeing in the opposite direction from the Argo.
Finally, both ships arrived at the "peak" of the waves.
As Odis, who was looking ahead with his telescope, was about to order the cannons to fire, he suddenly saw a man following behind the "Skull".
The person was holding something that looked like a staff, running across the sea, chasing after the "Skull Ship".
On the sea, he moved with the same agility as if he were running on flat ground. The hurricane swirled around him, causing his robes to billow and fly away.
They flew and ran, keeping up closely with the ghost ship, and occasionally attacked the "Skull" with lightning.
Odis paused for a moment before giving the order: "'Spirit Extinction Cannon' stop charging, switch to 'Spirit Wave Cannon'."
Soon, the pale white "cannon barrel" disappeared, and after waiting for more than ten seconds, an "extraordinary puppet" replaced the two protruding metal rods.
Although more than ten seconds had passed, the spiritual energy that had been gathered had not yet dissipated completely. Under the influence of the magic array, it had undergone certain changes, causing a layer of white frost to cover the "extraordinary puppet".
It was lifted back below the deck by two "extraordinary puppets" before it began to recharge.
Once the "Extraordinary Puppet" reported that aiming was complete, Odis immediately ordered: "Fire!"
The "Lingbo Cannon" does not require a very stable firing angle; it can be fired as long as the position is right.
Leonard saw a tiny point of light emitted from that intricate mechanical structure.
That point of light seemed to contain enormous energy, tearing through the waves and crashing against the hurricane, as if nothing could stop it.
Boom!
Even amidst the thunderous storm, the deafening sound of the explosion could not be masked.
From the waves parted by the flash of light, Leonard saw a massive explosion, with flames and shockwaves shooting straight into the sky, clearing away much of the dark clouds.
Odis was staring at the person chasing behind him. The other person seemed to have dived underwater and probably wasn't seriously injured.
Soon, the waves closed up again, and the explosion was no longer visible.
At this moment, Leonard seemed to come to his senses: "What is that?"
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
The boatswain, Salina, standing nearby, chuckled smugly, "That's a cannon invented by the captain. How about that? It's very powerful, isn't it? I was quite startled when I first saw it."
She emphasized, "It was a real jump!"
Leonard nodded blankly and asked again, "What's that?"
Odis took off his binoculars: "Just think of it as an extraordinary weapon."
He then ordered, "Forward four! Turn left to avoid the 'Skull and Bones' directly behind."
Regardless of who is chasing the "Skull Ship," Odis intends to stay away from it.
In such large waves, "Forward 4" is extremely dangerous; even with the "balance system" operating at full capacity, it can still feel violent shaking.
But now we must speed things up and check on the "Skull and Bones".
Finally, upon reaching the "peak" of the waves once more, Odis, using his binoculars and the dim light, saw that the explosion had caused the "Skull" to capsize, and it appeared that many crew members had fallen into the water.
However, the ghost ship was not an ordinary sea vessel, so it must have used some kind of protective measures to avoid being directly destroyed by the "spirit wave cannon".
At that moment, the person who had been running on the sea parted the water and emerged from the waves.
He was indeed unharmed, and continued to hold up his scepter, summoning lightning to attack the "Skull".
Suddenly, several large tentacles parted the seawater, wrapped around the "Skull Ship," and dragged it away from the attack of the person wielding the staff.
Odis noticed that the large tentacles looked like those of a sea monster from the deep sea.
However, its color was very abnormal, and it seemed to show signs of decay, so it should be the corpse of a sea monster.
Since they can still summon the corpse of the sea monster, it means that Balk is not dead, and the "Skull" can hold on for a little longer.
Odis ordered, "Follow them!"
Since someone was chasing the "Skull Ship," Odis was naturally happy to follow and watch the show.
However, they cannot be too far apart, otherwise they may miss the best time to collect the body.
Odis lowered his binoculars and took a deep breath: "Where did the 'Skull Ship' get involved with that guy?"
Leonard and the others also saw the person emerging from the waves.
But they had no clue.
Odis then speculated, "Could it be that they found the ruins, but because they weren't warned, they explored them and ended up getting involved with the wrong people or things?"
The ruins had existed for over a thousand years, so it was unlikely that any living people still existed there. That's why Odis called them "things".
Leonard observed the "Skull and Bones" outside and said, "That's very possible."
Odis took a deep breath: "The 'weapon' of the Fourth Epoch is still functioning properly."
Leonard put down his binoculars and said, "To be honest, I wasn't that surprised, especially after witnessing the power of the 'Spirit Wave Cannon'."
Then he asked, "What should we do next?"
"Follow at a distance," Odis said. "Even if the 'Skull' is a ghost ship, it must have been damaged by the 'Spirit Wave Cannon'. With such a powerful enemy behind it, it should be sunk soon."
"We can wait until that guy with the staff leaves before we go collect the body."
Leonard asked, "What if the person with the staff doesn't leave?"
"If he doesn't leave or take Balk's body with him, we'll leave," Odis said. "We don't know who the other party is yet, so we can't risk taking Balk's body."
"Even so, your mission is basically complete. First, you stopped Balk from continuing his exploration. Although you didn't stop him, he really couldn't continue exploring."
"Secondly, the ruins are almost certainly in the nearby 'dangerous waters,' and the guy chasing Balk with the staff probably came from there."
"If you feel that this is still not enough to explain things, we can wait until the storm subsides and then try to find the exact location of the ruins again."
Leonard seemed to have a different opinion, but in the end he simply said, "Okay."
After all, Captain Gal had previously emphasized that all actions at sea should be carried out under his command, so it was already quite kind of him to explain it so earnestly.
Then, silence fell over the driver's cab as everyone carefully observed the situation ahead amidst the swaying.
The sea monster's corpse, which was entangled around the "Skull Ship," seemed tireless, dragging the ghost ship at an extremely fast speed, which even the "Argo" 4 could hardly keep up with.
Meanwhile, the people chasing after the "Skull and Bones" seemed quite relaxed, keeping up at a leisurely pace.
After chasing for more than half an hour, Odis and the others saw through their telescopes that hail had begun to fall from the sky.
At this moment, Yi Lai Zhe said, "We have entered the 'dangerous waters'."
Odis asked the "extraordinary puppet" in front of the instrument panel, "How is the ship operating?"
After a careful inspection, the "Extraordinary Puppet" reported, "Captain, the 'Balance System' is operating at full capacity, and everything else is normal."
Odis nodded: "Keep chasing."
The hailstones were blocked by the "Argo's" protective shield, which would glow each time a hailstone blocked it, giving the crew a constant sense of security as the "Argo" was surrounded by flashes of light.
Especially Iraiz, who had seen ships sunk by hail and knew how terrible hail at sea could be.
But soon, that sense of security vanished.
At first, everyone saw some enormous objects falling from the distant sky.
Upon closer inspection, they discovered that the hailstones were the size of large ocean-going ships, which completely exceeded Leonard and the others' understanding of hailstones.
Odis quickly ordered the "Extraordinary Puppet": "'Extraordinary Machine Gun' stand by! Attack the large hailstones!"
But soon, the hailstones in the sky grew to the size of small mountains. The "extraordinary machine gun" had a limited firing angle and might not be able to destroy them in time, after all, it was not an anti-aircraft gun.
The situation is now extremely dangerous; even the Argo would be damaged if it were to strike like that.
Odis looked ahead again through the binoculars and finally decided: "Prepare to dive!"
"Submerge...?" Leonard thought he had misheard. He had heard that they had developed ships that could fight underwater, called submarines.
But the Argo is a seagoing vessel, so how could it submerge?
In fact, not only was he very surprised, but the other crew members were also very surprised. Salina exclaimed, "I thought I had seen all the functions of this ship, but it always manages to surprise me."
After asking the "extraordinary puppet" in front of the "dashboard" about the operation of the magic circle, Odis said, "With the buffer of the seawater, we can easily avoid these huge hailstones."
Then he gave the order: "Activate the 'water-repellent membrane'."
The "Extraordinary Puppet" pushed a control lever to its maximum, and a thin film suddenly appeared around the "Argo," protecting the ship as if it had turned into a giant egg.
After checking and seeing that the "water-repellent membrane" had been successfully deployed, Odis issued the second command: "Activate the 'anti-buoyancy array'."
His design for the diving system did not employ "traditional" submarine technology, but instead utilized mystical alterations to mechanics to manipulate the Argo to sink or rise.
Just then, a huge hailstone fell not far from the Argo, creating a large splash even in the stormy waves, almost capsizing the Argo.
Odis quickly ordered, "Dive!"
Suddenly, everyone felt that the surrounding environment had changed, but they couldn't pinpoint exactly what had changed until they saw the things on the table floating up, realizing that the force field had fallen into some kind of chaos.
Immediately, the Argo plunged into a huge wave and quickly submerged.
But soon, the Argo broke through the mountain-like waves, briefly appeared on the surface of the sea, and then submerged again.
This is because the waves are so high. When we were diving, we were at the "mountainside", but now we are only at the "foot of the mountain" on the other side.
Soon, the Argo completely submerged, and the sounds of the torrential rain and strong winds disappeared instantly. Leonard and the others even felt a slightly eerie silence.
The "water-repellent membrane" isolates the seawater, creating a magical scene that makes you feel as if you've suddenly entered an underwater world.
However, it was pitch black all around, so Odis ordered the searchlights to be turned on, and only then could he see what was in front of him.
Actually, you can only see the seawater, it's just that the field of vision has become farther.
Although the huge hailstones create a considerable impact when they fall into the sea, they do not sink and eventually float on the surface, which relieves the Argo from the problem of hail.
After repeatedly inquiring about the operation of the magic circle, Odis smiled and said, "Hopefully, the person chasing the 'Skull' thinks we've retreated."
What he actually meant was to say, "I hope you think we've sunk," but that's the kind of thing to say on the high seas.
Before setting sail, Odis thought that only the East had taboos on ships. After setting sail, he learned that whether they were people from the North Continent, the South Continent, or the locals of the Raging Sea, there were many taboos at sea.
For example, some places strictly prohibit crew members from bringing black suitcases onto the ship, some places strictly prohibit bringing bananas onto the ship, and some places prohibit saying words such as "rabbit" or "knife" on the ship.
In addition, because the sea is so unpredictable, people who frequently go to sea have a great deal of awe for it, so those who frequent the sea generally believe in the "Lord of Storms".
Then, Odis added, "Each dive can only last for half an hour, and then we need to go to the surface to get some fresh air and let the 'dive system' rest for a bit."
"At that time, everyone should determine the location of the 'Skull and Bones' as soon as possible to see if the course needs to be adjusted."
A few seconds later, everyone seemed to come to their senses and accept the fact that they were now in the sea.
Second Officer Rupert asked, "Will being in the water affect our speed?"
"It won't have much of an impact," Odis said. "The currents in the sea are propelling us forward now."
No one had any other questions; they were all staring blankly at the sea in front of them.
Occasionally, sea fish or other marine life can be seen swimming around, but not in large numbers. It is likely that most of them have swum to other sea areas or deeper places to avoid the storm.
Odis sat down on a chair to rest, as the chase at sea was very tiring.
Half an hour later, the Argo returned to the sea to rest. Large hailstones were still falling on the shore, and the sea wind had become much stronger, causing the Argo to tilt to one side.
The wind was so strong that you had to shout to be heard.
The driver's cab was tilted at about 30 or 40 degrees, and Odis and the others only felt comfortable when they leaned against the wall.
By this time, it was completely dark, and everything in sight was gloomy, looking as if it were the end of the world.
After searching for a while, the location of the "Skull" was confirmed again. This ship is really resilient. Half an hour has passed and it is still being chased, but it does not seem to be sinking.
Because the sea was still dangerous and the wind was too strong, Odis chose to dive again.
With the sound of the wind gone, the surroundings became quiet again, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Odis poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down to rest for a while.
A few minutes later, Rupert, who was observing from the glass window, looked outside and suddenly said, "Something's not right."
Everyone was taken aback and rushed to the driver's side window to look out. For a moment, they didn't notice anything amiss, but their intuition told them that something was wrong with their surroundings.
Two or three seconds later, Odis suddenly realized: "There isn't a single fish here!"
Last time I went down, I could occasionally see fish swimming around, but this time there was nothing at all!
At that moment, everyone saw a white light on the seabed ahead.
Such light was particularly striking in the dark sea.
Odis strained to observe through his telescope, but due to poor visibility, he had to travel some distance before he could see the ruins on the seabed emitting a pale white light.
That should be Leonard's goal!
That military outpost from the Quaternary period!
"'Spirit-Destroying Cannon' Charge! Rise!" Odis felt his hair stand on end; he had no interest in exploring such a dangerous ruin.
When the Argo returned to the surface, Odis and the others immediately saw that the person who had been chasing the Skull with the staff was quietly waiting for them not far ahead on the sea.