"Damn it! Damn it!" Balladeer cursed when he realized the ship's shadow before them was intentionally blocking their path.
Now he couldn't advance or retreat, so he could only curse loudly.
He didn't know if he was cursing the island or himself for not daring to take a closer look.
"I told you, you'd be stuck here without me." Ember saw Balladeer stomping his feet in anger, so he pulled him back and walked to the very front of the ship.
"What's your plan?" Balladeer's eyes lit up when he saw Ember's confident expression.
That's right, Ember was also going to Tsurumi Island. They didn't need to rack their brains like this; Ember would surely step in eventually.
"There's no good plan." Ember said it quite righteously.
"No plan, you..."
"But I'm strong, aren't I?"
Ember changed the subject, effectively cutting off Balladeer's words.
"What's the use of being strong? My strength is so great, yet I couldn't do anything?" Childe looked at the tightly linked ships around them. He had pulled these ships over by himself at first!
"That's because your strength isn't great enough. Move aside, move aside!" Ember looked at Childe with disdain and waved his hand, telling everyone else to step back.
He reached his hand back and pulled out a straight sword. Childe and Balladeer behind him widened their eyes, still unable to see how Ember had taken out his weapon.
"Watch closely. If you don't do well, who knows, a move like this might just land on your heads someday!"
Ember didn't pay attention to the gazes behind him. He held the sword with both hands, tilting the blade slightly behind his back.
Combat Art: Stormcaller—A lost combat art of Stormveil. Enshrouds the weapon in a storm, releasing it forward. Can be cast consecutively.
"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!"
The piercing sound of howling wind appeared on the sea. A trace of white appeared on the sword blade that Ember held behind his back. Then, this white grew brighter and brighter, and the sound it emitted became louder and louder.
"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—"
In just a moment, the sound was deafening, causing everyone present to instinctively cover their ears.
When the white light on the blade became almost solid, Ember swung the sword he had held behind his back.
"Boom!"
White light poured from the sword, forming a massive, rotating, swirling mass of wind.
The wind mass was initially only half a person's size, but as it advanced, it grew larger and larger.
In the end, the wind mass was no longer a wind mass, but a storm swirling above the sea.
Wherever the storm passed, the thick fog dispersed, and the sea parted. Blue sky and white clouds replaced the monotonous thick fog, once again becoming the familiar background for everyone else.
Those who had drifted in the thick fog for a long time saw this and felt that the blue sky and white clouds were so welcoming; just looking at them made one feel refreshed.
"I thought it was something else. Turns out it's just a phantom created by the ley lines."
The white mist dissipated, and the shadow hidden within the fog was exposed before Ember's eyes.
After losing its disguise, the shadow was entirely illusory blue. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that this was a phantom that only appeared when the ley lines had a problem.
Many ghost stories in various places ultimately had this reason nine times out of ten.
"See, you were scared like this by a ley line phantom, and you call yourself a Harbinger!" Ember put away his weapon and teased Balladeer.
"Ley... ley lines. Since it's ley lines, it means we're not far from land."
Balladeer forced himself out of his shock. He looked to both sides; in the distance, thick white curtains stretched to the horizon, and only their current location had sunlight shining down.
"Land?" Ember's ears twitched. Indeed, as Balladeer said, if there were ley lines, it meant land was not far.
It's not that there are no ley line anomalies at the bottom of the sea, but those anomalies only affect the seabed, and none have been seen to directly affect the surface of the sea.
"Clang, clang, clang!"
"Then what are we waiting for! Everyone, row! Tsurumi Island is almost here!" Ember pulled out a brass gong he had bought from a Liyue street vendor and struck it forcefully.
The Fatui, immersed in shock, were roused by the loud gong. They looked around and found that the fog curtain on both sides, which had just been separated by the storm, was beginning to close.
"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
Seeing this, Childe and Balladeer quickly cut the chains connecting the ships. Then they shouted to the other ships nearby:
"Everyone, full speed ahead! We must see land before the fog closes in!"
At Childe and Balladeer's command, the surrounding ships rapidly accelerated. Without much oversight from the two, the fleet burst forth with a speed it had never possessed before.
Their previous experiences had fully demonstrated the strangeness of the mist surrounding Tsurumi Island. Any normal person would certainly not want to navigate in such mist.
The ships cut through the waves. Just as Balladeer had said before setting off, human-powered boats were not necessarily slower than mechanical ones, and now the Fatui proved this point.
Of course, how long this 'pumped up' state could last was unknown; it was not as stable as an engine running.
However, judging by the current momentum of the Fatui, they were still far from exhaustion, and this became even more apparent when a dark line appeared on the horizon.
Facts once again proved that human potential is limitless. Just as the thick fog was about to completely close in, the speeding fleet all rushed towards the shore.
"Hmph... hmph..."
"My... my hands... are cramping..."
"Never again in this life... let me see anything like an oar. I... I want to throw up..."
...The Fatui helped each other to the island's shallows. As soon as they reached land, many simply collapsed onto the ground.
"Get up immediately! Keep going!" Balladeer saw the Fatui lying flat on the beach like salted fish, and his anger flared.
It was so hard to finally get ashore, but they couldn't immediately start exploring. Balladeer felt as uncomfortable as if a cat were scratching his heart.
"If you want to go, go by yourself. I need to rest for a while too." Childe heard Balladeer's words and immediately mimicked the Fatui on the ground, slumping down himself.
Did Balladeer really think activating his Foul Legacy Transformation was easy? Childe's previous nonchalant demeanor was because the situation was strange, and he was enduring it for the sake of morale.
Now that he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, Childe immediately stopped pretending.
"You..."
"Me what? Don't you see the fog closing in again? Without adequate preparation, even the strongest warrior can capsize in a ditch."
Childe saw Balladeer's furrowed brow and immediately interrupted him.
The dense fog of Tsurumi Island not only existed on the sea but also enveloped the entire Tsurumi Island.
In just this short time, the dispersed fog had already closed in again. The light from the sky was blocked layer by layer by the thick fog, and very little reached the ground.
This made Tsurumi Island, shrouded in fog, seem to be in eternal night.
"I didn't expect you to say something so reasonable?" Ember's figure emerged from the fog.
"Bang!"
A heavy object landed, and the fog swirled a bit.
"What's that?" Balladeer was some distance from Ember, so he only saw Ember throw a lump of shadow onto the ground.
"Firewood." A flame appeared on Ember's fingertip, then he flicked his finger, and the flames soared.
A bonfire several people high burned fiercely. Although the visibility in the fog on Tsurumi Island was less than ten meters, in front of such a fire, the thick fog was still torn open.
The Fatui lying 'dead' on the ground saw the rising fire and, regardless of their body aches, all moved closer.
The nearby fog was getting thicker and thicker, and no one knew what would happen if they were swallowed by it.
"By the way, what about our ships?"
In front of the bonfire, Ember looked around and found that he couldn't even see which direction the sea was in anymore.
The fog here was really thick.
"Where did you get this wood?" Balladeer asked, looking at Ember.
"Chopped it? Did you think I conjured it?"
"I actually did think that just now."
Balladeer nodded, then said indifferently:
"Since there's wood on the island, we can rebuild. They're just a few ships; if they're gone, they're gone."
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"