Shrouded Seascape

On this bizarre surface realm, even though the Narwhale could now fly in the air, it dared not soar too high. After all, no one knew what was lurking up in the skies.

She glided just a few meters above the ground, giving the crew a chance to familiarize themselves with their newly retrofitted ship.

Working on a floating airship was different from steering a traditional one in the waters or on land. The crew needed time to practice and adapt.

Fortunately, they didn't run into any dangerous creatures during this training journey. The barren semi-desert region remained desolate.

As they drew closer to their destination, they soon saw layer upon layer of treads and tire marks crisscrossed the ground. They were tracks left behind by previous exploration vehicles.

Soon enough, Charles didn't even need a map; he just needed to follow the tracks to reach their destination.

Along the way, Charles would occasionally run into returning exploration teams. Upon talking to them, he learned that the exploration efforts had already commenced.

Although ascending into the skies risked relicfication, there was always bound to be a solution. As long as everything on them were relics, there was no fear of any of them turning into one.

The time passed swiftly and the long journey came to an end as Charles found himself once again beneath the towering black wall.

The exploration vessels that had arrived earlier had halted next to the darkness. From afar, it seemed as though a small steel town had been established at the base of the wall.

"Captain, it looks pretty lively. I never thought there would be a day where we'd do collective exploration," Dipp commented excitedly as he leaned out over the ship's railings.

Watching the fleet of airships and exploration vessels in the distance, Charles thought to himself. They seemed to be an exploration fleet formed under the direction of the Explorers Association. I wonder if they've found any new clues while I was at the outpost.

Their objective now was clear. First, they had to find the embodiment of darkness itself. Then, they had to figure out a way to bring it back. If they couldn't find a way, then he intended to find the Foundation and either persuade them to send it back down to the seascape or resort to threat.

Woosh!

A sudden burst of sparks erupted above the distant black wall.

Under everyone's watchful gazes, the flames within the darkness looked like a colossal firebird as it crashed heavily to the ground.

Charles took over the monoscope and peered through it to see the crash site. Apart from the scattered wreckages of the Foundation's planes from the previous round of exploration, there were new twisted, blackened pieces of metal.

A place that posed a challenge to both the Foundation and Paiper's forces was certainly going to be a difficult place to explore.

Noticing the arrival of Charles' Narwhale, the leader of the exploration fleet quickly came forward.

The man looked to be in his fifties. His legs were made of iron and clanked against the deck as he walked.

From the man's determined gaze under his scarred forehead, Charles could see that the Explorers Association had surely made a comprehensive consideration before choosing the man as the fleet captain.

"Governor Charles, the situation isn't looking good. It is extremely dangerous up there. Our men have been working around the clock to break through, but casualties are high. We will haven't found the darkness itself," the man said rapidly, his hoarse voice tinged with urgency.

"How high have you managed to explore?" Charles asked, looking up at the towering black wall in front of him.

"This is a rough map. We've explored up to 1500 meters. Our men are currently trying to break through the third floating island," the man answered as he laid out a long map vertically before Charles.

The map depicted not just one but multiple floating islands in the skies. They came in varying sizes but shared one common trait: all of them hovered in the air.

A large portion of the map remained blank; clearly, the fleet had yet to explore those territories.

The most distinctive thing Charles noted on the map was the addition of two new floating islands to the one Charles had previously visited, connected by dotted lines.

Though the map depicted three floating islands, it didn't imply that there were only three of them up there. Rather, it reflected the huge human cost they had paid to gather this limited information.

"What anomalies did you encounter on the second floating island? What caused the casualties?" Charles asked the most important question.

Depton, the fleet captain, placed his finger on the map and traced the area between the second and third floating islands.

"There's a peculiar forest between the two islands. It grows at a 90-degree angle and frequently, creatures would fly out of it and attack our airships. They were the ones behind most of our losses. Clearly, those creatures have been relicifed.

Governor Charles, to be honest, it's quite lively up there compared to this barren ground below. Also, we discovered something unusual in that forest. I think you need to see this," Depton said, placing a photograph before Charles.

Charles' pupils contracted to the size of a needle tip as he studied the image.

It was a skull wrapped in multicolored moss that resembled vomit. Despite its deformed appearance, Charles was certain that it was a human skull.

"Captain, do you think it might be one of the people from the Foundation?" Dipp asked.

However, Charles shook his head in disagreement. "Not necessarily. If it were someone from the Foundation, their body wouldn't decompose so quickly."

If the skull really didn't belong to someone from the Foundation, it meant a few intriguing possibilities.

If there were living humans on the surface, wouldn't that mean that they just had to find their habitat and they could then confirm that the surface could also support life for the people of the Subterranean Sea?

However, with only one skull, Charles couldn't be absolutely sure. He needed more information.

"Besides this skull, were there any other traces of human existence?" Charles asked.

"No."

"Then, did any of you encounter the three pink eyes up there?"

Charles really wanted to know if the entities that had fought the Foundation and Paiper actually lived here or were just merely passing by. The answer would be of great help in the planning stage of his future exploration.

"No," Depton replied. However, he felt like he was sounding too certain and quickly added, "At least, no returned airship had reported about three pink eyes. Some of the missing airships might have encountered them, but they couldn't report back."

Depton's words made sense. If anyone were to run into those three pink eyes, it would be a challenge to return alive.

Charles pondered for a moment and decided not to waste any more time. He turned to Depton and instructed, "I'm going up there myself. Send me a guide—someone that has been up there."

Depton gave an affirmative nod and turned around to leave quickly.

When the Narwhale entered the darkness again, she was ferrying a new passenger—a woman with a lone arm.

Alongside Charles, three other airships also ascended. All of them had the same exploration mission.

"Captain Charles, the monsters in the forest move incredibly fast. The bird species that had attacked our airships' gas bags had no feathers, and their heads had five evenly spaced rotating eyes.

"Their hooked beaks are extremely sharp. If they are not intercepted quickly enough, they can puncture the gasbags within three seconds," the woman explained slowly. The teeth on the right side of her mouth were missing, so her voice sounded breathy due to the gaps, but she still tried her best to describe what she had been through.

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