The pirate crew led by "Iceberg General" not only includes Edwina, who is a Sequence 5, but also three other Sequence 6 members, but this is the strength of "Pirate General".
Generally speaking, in large pirate crews, only the captain is a Sequence 6, and at most the first mate is also a Sequence 6. It is rare to have a third Sequence 6, because if that were the case, the captain would not feel safe.
However, the "Dawnbreaker" pirate crew in front of Edwina was somewhat of an exception, with three Sequence 6 members.
Blue Walls, the first mate of the "Golden Dream," said, "No wonder they wiped out three large pirate groups in just two or three weeks at sea. It turns out they were strong."
Edwina nodded slowly: "Be careful of their attack."
It cannot be ruled out that Captain Galt intended to assassinate Vice Admiral Iceberg on this island after making sufficient preparations, since eliminating a pirate general is the quickest way to become a pirate general himself.
...
Meanwhile, the "Dawnbreaker" pirate crew's exploration continues.
"Vice Admiral Iceberg is beautiful, and... and she reminds me of my grammar teacher," said Boatswain Salina.
Crew member Boris couldn't hold back any longer and ripped off the tape covering his mouth, asking, "You actually went to school?"
Salina rolled her eyes at him: "What? Can't I go to school?"
"I was just a little surprised, I felt..." Boris quickly re-taped the tape, because if he continued, Salina would hit him.
Odis, who was walking ahead, laughed and said, "I heard that's how 'General Iceberg' got his way; he likes to be other people's teachers."
Salina was taken aback: "Isn't she afraid of getting beaten up?"
Second Officer Rupert laughed and said, "On the high seas, how many people can beat her?"
Salina nodded: "That's true."
Then she realized, "Captain, how did you know about Vice Admiral Iceberg's extraordinary methods?"
"Look at their flags," Odis said. "They have symbols of books and eyes on them, and if those two symbols appear together, it basically points to the 'reader' path."
Salina suddenly realized: "So our flag also has an eye symbol, but no book symbol, which represents the 'peeping to the bottom' path."
"So, the banner of the 'Elemental Dawn' also has eyes, and the 'Mysterious Queen' is also an extraordinary being of the 'Spy' pathway?"
Odis smiled and said, "That's right."
At this moment, Bazel parted the lush vegetation in front of them, and a ruin almost completely covered in greenery appeared before them.
By this time they had located the eastern side of the island, and "Admiral Iceberg" and her crew must have landed from this direction.
Odis said, "It seems that their target is indeed not this ruin."
"Since we're here, let's go inside and take a look, and rest for a bit."
The ruins were full of vegetation, but fortunately, the adventurers had cleared many paths.
The group strolled through the ruins, feeling the ancient atmosphere of the place.
They soon discovered that the city was tilted, as if it were built on a mound.
After passing through two ancient streets, they found two buildings that were relatively well-preserved, and it seemed that previous explorers had cleared the area and used it as a campsite.
Odis and the others entered one of the ruins and looked around: "Judging from the architectural style, this should be a ruin from the Tertiary period."
Third Officer Bivis, the only one among the crew members who had studied this subject, said, "It's a pity that the markings and murals are no longer legible. Otherwise, we could have further determined whose relics these are."
As they were talking, the group arrived at the third floor of the building.
This is one of the higher points in the area, offering a panoramic view of the entire street.
Odis observed that many of the buildings exhibited a distinctly asymmetrical style in their exterior design.
Bivis also noticed this: "Are there Quaternary period buildings here too?"
"It seems to be a city built in the Tertiary period, but still inhabited in the Quaternary period," Odis said, then looked around. "Have you noticed? There are no churches here."
It was only after Odis pointed this out that everyone noticed that there was indeed no place resembling a church in the ruins.
This is rather strange, as cities in either the Tertiary or Quaternary periods should have churches.
Continuing upwards, when you reach the top floor, your view can now bypass the treetops and see most of the island.
Odis noticed that the ruins were not built on a mound, but were surrounded by a plain, with only a mountain in the distance.
The low-lying area of this ruin looks like it's sunken into a pit.
Odis suddenly realized: "It's not that the ruins are high or low, but that part of the ruins is buried underground."
Rupert joined the conversation: "Was there an earthquake?"
Odis looked around: "It doesn't seem like it. If there had been an earthquake, many buildings around here would have collapsed completely."
However, what they saw was that although these ruins were covered by vegetation, most of them had not suffered any serious collapse.
Third Officer Bivis asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why did this happen?"
Odis did not continue the discussion, but simply pointed in a direction and said, "According to the urban design style of the Tertiary period, the church should be in that direction, and it was also buried underground."
Salina looked in the direction the captain was pointing: "That's the direction 'Iceberg Admiral' and the others were heading."
They exchanged glances and immediately understood that "Lieutenant General Iceberg" and his men's target was likely the buried church.
They landed on the east side and searched more slowly than "Dawnbreaker," possibly because they arrived at the ruins, located the church, and then set off again.
The crew members were not surprised by this; generally speaking, churches are not only places of prayer, but can also be seen as "extraordinary centers" of a city.
Although there was no systematic official system of Extraordinary Beings in the Fourth Age, the Extraordinary Beings of the Church resided in the church at that time.
Therefore, churches are a very important part of ruins, where you are likely to find extraordinary properties or magical items.
"Lieutenant General Iceberg" must have obtained a clue and the approximate location of the church, which is why he decided to conduct today's exploration.
"Let's take a break." Odis sat down on a fallen stone pillar. "Noy, help me with divination. What's the approximate location of the extraordinary creature I'm looking for?"
Noi agreed, took off her pendant, closed her eyes and silently recited the divination inscription. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the pendant was slowly rotating.
She said, "The divination failed."
"It seems they have the ability to ward off divination." Odis smiled helplessly. "We'll just have to rely on luck."
If you really can't find it, you have no choice but to write to the "mysterious queen" and ask her if she has any ideas.
Odis pondered for a moment before saying, "You all rest here for a while. I suddenly thought of an idea. Let's give it a try."
As he spoke, he used the "flying scroll" to fly into the air, and then took out the "Pituitary Gland of the Trickster Pegasus" from the "Wilderness of Knowledge".
Although the Sequence 5 level does not yet possess the power of "Extraordinary Aggregation," the "Shimmering Star Tree" will certainly be attracted to the "Pituitary Gland of the Trickster Pegasus."
Because it can also advance by consuming such a main ingredient, another main ingredient of a potion is extremely attractive to such an extraordinary creature.
Odis flew low over the forest, holding the extraordinary material, carefully observing his surroundings.
Suddenly, the "pituitary gland" in Odis's hand flew to the ground on its own. He smiled, clearly indicating that the "Shining Star Tree" was nearby and that he was manipulating the "pituitary gland" to move closer to it.
Odis made the pituitary gland fly in front of him, and he followed closely behind.
Suddenly the pituitary gland sank, and Odis chased after it until it hit the ground, but found nothing unusual.
Odis realized that the "Shining Star Tree" must have sensed the danger and abandoned the "pituitary gland".
Odis was not surprised by this; even if it was "a tree," at this level, it still "had a brain."
Perhaps, once it realizes the danger, it will deliberately throw the "pituitary gland" out, making it difficult for Odis to find it.
Odis put away the "Pituitary Gland of the Deceptive Pegasus." For him, finding the approximate location of the "Shining Star Tree" was enough.
He returned to mid-air, put on the "Hand of Judgment" and the "Harvest Gauntlets," took out several "Explosion Scrolls" from his bag, and threw them one by one into the surrounding forest.
Boom! Boom!
The crew members, who were resting in the ruins, heard the explosion and rushed to check. They found that the captain was dropping a scroll, so they sat back down to rest.
They were already familiar with the captain's scroll and weren't surprised. Since the captain hadn't ordered them to help, there was no need for them to actively seek it out.
The "Iceberg General" and his men, who had just located the church in the distance, immediately became alert.
What happened? Did the Argo fire on the island?
"Iceberg Admiral" quickly flew up to investigate. After watching for a while, she returned to the ground with a strange look on her face: "It's Gar who's hunting with the 'scroll'."
"A scroll?" Second mate Orpheus thought he had misheard. "A scroll could be that powerful?"
But he immediately realized that his question seemed to be questioning the captain, so he changed his tone and said, "It seems that this 'Captain Gar's' scrolls are somewhat special."
Edwina nodded: "It is indeed somewhat special."
Then she ordered, "First mate, you take some men and climb to the treetop. If Gar gets close, issue an alert immediately. The rest of you, continue digging."
Those scrolls are very powerful. If Gal throws a few scrolls around in mid-air, it will definitely cause considerable casualties.
...
When Odis threw the fifth scroll, he saw a lush vine suddenly "stand up" from the tree and "run" behind the tree to avoid the explosion.
This is it!
Odis used the "Travel Ring" to travel to the tree and threw a punch with his right hand, which had the "Harvest Gauntlet".
Click~
The towering tree was cut in half, and the "vines" that had been hiding behind it were also knocked away.
In mid-air, the vine changed shape and turned into a small tree with interconnected, star-like patterns that twinkled as it was knocked away, like stars blinking.
The tree's roots are more like tentacles, which move swiftly across the ground after it lands.
That's the "Shimmering Star Tree".
The vines that appeared earlier were actually a disguise for the "Shimmering Star Tree".
After seeing the starlight shimmering on the tree, Odis suddenly had the illusion that the surrounding light had dimmed and that night was about to fall early.
The "Shining Star Tree" suddenly seemed very far away from Odis, as distant as the stars in the sky.
This must be some kind of illusion. Odis used the "Harvest Gloves" to set off walls of fire around them, instantly igniting the dense forest around them.
The fire illuminated the surroundings, and although the "Shimmering Star Tree" was an extraordinary creature, it was still a tree after all. Upon seeing the fire, it immediately used its roots to escape.
The sense of "night" and "distantness" vanished instantly.
Odis raised his hand and summoned another flock of fire crows, which bombarded the "Shining Star Tree".
The "Shining Star Tree" was surrounded by shimmering starlight and used its extraordinary abilities to create gusts of wind around it, which always managed to blow away fire crows that approached it.
Odis once again used the "Travel Ring" to appear behind the "Shining Star Tree," raising the "Hand of Judgment": "Imprisonment!" "Death!"
With a punch, he sent the "Shining Star Tree" flying again.
Having learned from the previous hunt, Odis rushed forward, stomped on the "Shining Star Tree," and delivered another punch with the "Harvest Gloves."
Harvest!
They simply cut the tree in two.
The "Shining Star Tree" remained still, but Odis stood to the side, ready to strike again at any moment.
As the stars on the "Shining Star Tree" converged in one spot, Odis knew that the other party was indeed dead.
So the entire tree was placed in the "knowledge wilderness".
Once again in mid-air, Odis used two "Whirlwind Scrolls" to extinguish the fire in the forest. Returning to the ruins where they had rested, Odis said to everyone, "I'll treat you all to barbecue tonight!"
Salina immediately replied, "Great!"
Odis once roasted meat for everyone, and the taste made Salina's mouth water just thinking about it.
Knowing that the captain had succeeded in his hunt, everyone smiled and agreed, one saying he would cut the meat, another saying he would start the fire.
Afterwards, the crew members chatted and laughed while resting for more than half an hour.
Since there was nothing important to do today, everyone treated it like a picnic, searching the surrounding area again. After hunting down another extraordinary creature, they began hunting ordinary animals.
They were all extraordinary individuals, hunting ordinary animals with ease. They quickly caught some pheasants and rabbits, and even a wild boar and a deer.
With a bountiful harvest, the group embarked on their return journey. However, Odis could not simply return, so he led his crew back to the ship, roughly in the direction of the church.
Their ship was indeed in this direction, and they could return from here, so it wouldn't arouse suspicion.
As the group walked back, chatting and laughing, Odis, who was at the front, suddenly stopped and looked up, asking, "Are those 'Iceberg General's' subordinates up ahead?"
A few dozen meters ahead, Blue Walls, the first mate of the "Golden Dream," parted the treetops and jumped down: "What are you doing here?"
"We're heading back to the ship," Odis said. "Should we leave you two pheasants?"
However, he clearly had no intention of staying, and before the other person could answer, he paused and asked, "What are you doing in the tree?"
Blue thought to himself: It's all to prevent you from flying over and dropping the scroll.
But in the end, he simply said, "Stand on guard."
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Then Blue pointed out a direction: "You should leave in that direction."
The members of "Dawnbreaker" all guessed that the church should be located behind Blue, and that "Admiral Iceberg" should be leading his crew to excavate the church at this time.
Just as the crew was about to leave, Odis suddenly said, "I'm curious, is that church the church of the 'Ancient Sun God'? Or the church of the 'True Creator'?"
Blue paused for a moment before saying, "This is not something you should know."
This caused the crew of the Argo to put down their prey and glare angrily at the first mate of the Golden Dream.
Out of courtesy, they could follow the directions Blue indicated, making it convenient for them.
But Brudi's answer was a bit too much. He could have said he didn't know, or wasn't sure, or even refused to answer, but saying "it's not your business" was just too arrogant.
Odis raised his hand to signal everyone not to act rashly, and he sneered, "Then I'll wait on the sea and go to the church after you leave."
"Judging from your unprofessional behavior, you can't find anything important."
Blue Walls clenched his fist, and the muscles in his arms bulged as if they were full of power.
Odis put the black glove back on. Blue paused for a moment, then said in a relatively polite tone, "I'm sorry, I'm not entirely sure about your question either."
He is a "craftsman," and the Sequence 7 of this path is "appraiser." He sensed it the moment Odis put on the gloves; it was a Sequence 5 sealed artifact.
Pirates may be cruel, arrogant, or immoral, but they know how to be pragmatic.
Odis immediately put on a smiling face: "Alright, then I won't bother you any longer."
"Wait a minute." At this moment, "Iceberg General" parted the dense bushes on the ground and came out from behind: "Since you are so interested, let's go and take a look together."
Not only were Bazel and the others stunned, but Blue was also stunned.
This invitation was somewhat hasty, or rather, according to the rules among pirates, a pirate crew would almost never proactively invite another pirate crew to join them when exploring ruins.
Unless they encounter some unsolvable problem during the exploration.
Odis smiled slightly and agreed, "Okay."
Then he said to the crew, "You go back first, I'll go take a look."
As he spoke, Odis took off his gloves.
The crew did not return immediately. Bazel had Bivis take Noy and Boris back with the game, while the rest of the crew waited there.
Odis didn't insist. He tossed a bottle of mosquito repellent oil to the crew and then approached "Iceberg Admiral": "I often explore ruins, and perhaps I can offer you some assistance."
"If I am the one who receives spoils of war because of the help I provided, then I should also have the right to share in those spoils."
"I will not take any spoils if I have not provided any help."
"Iceberg Admiral" Edwina nodded: "Okay."
Then she said to Blue, "You go down too, and Orpheus will keep watch for you."
The three of them turned back together and walked for a minute or two before arriving at the tunnel dug by "Iceberg General's" subordinates.
The top of the church is still above ground; once the top is dug out, you can enter from there.
"Lieutenant General Iceberg" did not rush to let Odis enter the tunnel, but asked first: "Why do you say this is the church of the 'Ancient Sun God' or the 'True Creator'?"
Odis replied, "Among the ruins just now, there were buildings from both the Tertiary and Quaternary periods."
"This shows that the city existed during the Tertiary period. During the Tertiary period, only the 'Ancient Sun God' dared to openly build a church on the northern and southern continents."
"During the Fourth Age, neither the 'Six Gods' nor the 'Emperor of the Underworld', also known as the 'God of Death,' would have built a church here."
At that time, the six gods each had their own divine kingdom. The only one who might have built a church on the sea, the "Lord of Storms," did not have his divine kingdom here.
The Grim Reaper only built churches in the Southern Continent, and the buildings in that ruin were clearly not in the style of the Southern Continent.
Perhaps only the "true creator" would build a church in such a place back then.
"Lieutenant General Iceberg" nodded: "It seems you have extensive knowledge of occultism. Please leave."
Without much thought, Odis arrived at the tunnel. After the top of the church was dug out, what appeared before Odis was a huge, downward-facing hole.
He waved to the pirate who handed him the rope, then used a "flight scroll" to fly down.
Although the church was buried in the soil, it was almost completely destroyed. It was pitch black inside, with only the brazier set up by "Iceberg General's" men and the lanterns they carried providing light.
Odis noticed that the pirates were searching the church separately with lanterns, but he didn't know what they were looking for.
He landed on the ground, and Edwina and Blue followed suit. Only then did "Iceberg General" say, "During the exploration just now, someone triggered the extraordinary mechanism here, closing the portal to the below."
"Jodson and several other members are still on the lower level. Blue, find the mechanism to open the passage as soon as possible."
Blue is a "craftsman" and is quite familiar with mechanisms. Just now, "Lieutenant General Iceberg" took Second Officer Orpheus to replace First Officer Blue so that he could find the mechanism. That's when he overheard Odis's question.
Odis sounded like he knew a lot about ancient ruins, which is why "Iceberg General" decided to bring Odis along to see if he could be of any help.
Then "Iceberg General" said to Odis, "You can walk around and see if you can find any clues."
Odis nodded: "Okay."
He thought to himself that although "Iceberg General" looked cold and aloof, he was quite meticulous in his work. After confirming his extensive knowledge of occultism several times on the tunnel floor, he went down to explain the problem they had encountered.
Because when he was up there, "Lieutenant General Iceberg" had limited manpower, and the fate of the third mate was still unknown.
Odis, however, was able to summon his crew to attack "Admiral Iceberg" and others.
Once underground, Odis was all alone, while "General Iceberg's" subordinates were mostly there. Even if Odis had any ideas, he dared not act rashly.
"Lieutenant General Iceberg" led First Mate Blue to the passageway. Odis did not follow, but instead glanced at the inside of the hall. There were no statues or signs there!
Odis frowned. Theoretically speaking, if this were the church of the "ancient sun god," there should be a huge cross here.
If this were a church of the "true Creator," there should be a person hanging upside down on a cross, but there is nothing here. How would he make a judgment?
Odis pondered for a moment, then said to the pirate beside him, "I'd like to use the lantern."
"Admiral Iceberg" also sent two pirates to follow Odis.
Without waiting for the pirate's reply, Odis picked up the lantern and flew up again. Just as he had expected, there were still some broken murals on the top of the tall church.
The two pirates below could only watch helplessly; their "guest" had flown away, how could they possibly follow?
Oedipus, carrying a lantern, saw a mural depicting a tall, majestic mountain peak with a magnificent cross atop it.
He immediately concluded that this was the church of the "ancient sun god".
After the fall of the "ancient sun god," Adam likely took over this place.
At that time, the divinity of the "ancient sun god" had already awakened within Adam. Odis speculated that He removed the giant cross to prevent the believers' prayers from being directed directly at "God" and making "God" more active.
Odis landed back on the ground and went to observe the entrance to the passage.
He soon discovered some mystical characters around the entrance to the passage. These characters were neither "Giants' script" nor "Dragon script," but a kind of mystical symbol that Odis had never seen before.
However, he quickly realized that these symbols were likely used by ancient humans, as some of them were quite similar to modern occult symbols.
Odis speculated that these were symbols commonly used during the Tertiary period, similar in function to "Giants" and "Dragons," but later, because truly advanced magic arrays were lost, these symbols were simplified into the mystical symbols we know today.
Although the symbols of Odis at the entrance to the passage were new to me, their location was similar to that of the symbols at the ruins of the Abraham family and some of the secret doors in the "underwater city".
Based on his previous exploration experience, Odis could basically guess where to open the mechanism.
Odis then conjectured that this design remained a relatively common structure until the Quaternary period.
Later, the function of the magic array seemed to be deliberately weakened, and this kind of mechanism that uses magic arrays to open and close gradually faded from people's sight.
Seeing that Blue was still measuring the ground and walls around the passage, he said, "Let me give it a try."
Blue was taken aback, glanced at the "Iceberg General," and Edwina pondered for a moment before saying, "Please."
Odis took out spiritual materials and a soft brush and began to draw a magic circle on the wall.
This magic circle is similar to the one used in the "Underwater City" before; it's essentially bypassing the combination lock in the mechanism and setting a new one yourself.
His movements were very smooth and natural; in just over half a minute, he had drawn a small magic circle.
This made many of the surrounding pirates swallow hard. They couldn't help but wonder how many lessons and how much practice one must have taken to draw so quickly and so well.
"Lieutenant General Iceberg" paused for a few seconds before saying, "This magic circle is very peculiar, and I have never seen many of the mystical symbols used in it before."
The magic circle drawn by Odis used "Garbage runes".
Based on his previous research, regardless of the type of mystical characters, the spell circles written with them have little difference in function, and these symbols are universal except for the key positions of the spell circles.
The other crew members were stunned; they hadn't expected that the captain wouldn't recognize these symbols!
For a moment, they even felt a little horrified.
Odis simply smiled and said, "I have been studying magic arrays for many years."
He thought to himself: If we include the "time acceleration" in the "Knowledge Wilderness," it's probably been 20 years. Later, I can say that I started studying magic arrays when I was three years old.
"Lieutenant General Iceberg" simply nodded slowly without saying anything, but Odis noticed that the way she looked at her was no longer as cold as before.
Odis put away the brush and spiritual materials, then infused the magic circle with spiritual energy.
Clack~
The mechanism was activated, opening the downward passage. However, Third Officer Jodson and the other crew members did not wait on the descending steps.
"They may have gone to explore if there were any other exits," Bru said.
"There should be some danger down there," Edwina said. "Blue, you stay here. Daniels, you take five crew members and come down with me."
Then she looked at Odis: "Gal, you are not on my crew, so I can't order you around, but I hope you can come with me."
"No problem," Odis smiled. "I won't refuse spoils delivered to my door."
He seemed to be reminding Edwina of their previous agreement regarding the spoils, which was indeed meant to reassure her.
It would be rather strange if Odis didn't mention any conditions at this point.
The situation was urgent, so after a quick preparation, the group went up to the next floor together.
At the bottom of the stairs, there is a long corridor with rooms on both sides and horizontal corridors, making it a fairly large space.
Because there might be unknown dangers, we can't shout; we can only search along the corridors one by one.
After searching for a while, Odis said, "I think we don't need to look anymore. We've been operating on this floor for so long. If they were on this floor, they should have heard us by now."
Edwina nodded and immediately ordered, "Go to the next floor."
As they continued walking, Edwina asked, much like Corodes, "Do you know the structure of a church in the Tertiary period?"
"I know," Odis said. "Gods go to temples, and tombs go to burial sites."
"The next level should be the burial ground."
If there is any danger, it will likely be on the next floor.