Ashes Of Deep Sea Chapter 433

Chapter 433: Chapter 434: Looking into the Distance Chapter 433: Chapter 434: Looking into the Distance The mirror image turned to ashes, darkness began to recede, the phantoms of the Queen's Guard vanished, and the defiled creatures that invaded the City-State crumbled one after another, turning into rapidly drying black mud. The sounds of guns throughout the City-State also fell into silence–replaced, however, by an indescribable fear and silence that enveloped the entire city.

Everyone could see that colossal being, the one standing within the Endless Sea, gazing down upon the City-State from the clouds.

Just minutes before, the mirror Frost had turned to ashes in the “giant's” hands, and what was to come next, no one could guess.

Only the Ghostly Green Fire that spread across the entire city and covered the surface of the sea still burned fiercely–yet these flames did not harm people; they simply brushed past the real world like phantoms, at touch feeling only a benign warmth.

Agatha lowered her head and casually helped up the high priest whose face was a sickly shade, the flames burning on her arm made him somewhat nervous, but compared to the atmosphere that now enveloped the entire city, this bit of nervousness seemed insignificant.

“What comes next…” The high priest's face turned a bit pale as he looked at Agatha, at the Ghostly Green Spiritual Fire burning on her, his voice trembling slightly, “What will happen next?”

Agatha thought for a moment, then shook her head, “I don't know.”

The high priest's eyes widened, “You don't know?!”

“…I didn't ask,” Agatha said calmly, “The situation was urgent, and I didn't have many choices.”

The high priest was dumbstruck, with many questions he wanted to ask–the origin of that “giant” on the sea, the nature of the flames in the city, and the reason for Agatha's current appearance, but he found himself unable to voice a single one.

Agatha, however, paid no more attention to the high priest's reaction; she merely turned her face slightly, watching the last few delicate pale ash flakes slowly drift down upon her shoulder.

The drifting of ashes within the City-State had ceased unknowingly, and what landed on her shoulder seemed to be the very last one–vaguely, she felt as if someone had patted her on the shoulder.

“I must be off,” she heard someone speak beside her ear, “The journey in this mortal world is over; there still is a farther path awaiting me to tread.”

“Bon voyage, Bishop Ivan.”

The wind came from afar, blowing through the entrance of the Silent Sanctum, sweeping across the plaza in front of the gate, lifting that light cremation ash, letting it quietly dissipate in the wind.

…
Perched atop the bell tower behind the church, Sherry in her black dress looked down at the street below, sitting at the edge of the roof on a section of the wall that jutted out, her legs dangling outside, swinging them idly and muttering, “It's quieted down, huh…”
“Seems like everyone is scared out of their wits…” Nina stood on the small platform behind Sherry, looking up at the sky while she spoke, “I got scared too…”
“Who wouldn't be afraid at that sight,” Sherry shrank her neck, cautiously peering towards the large and hazy figure on the distant sea, “I never expected, Mr. Duncan resolved this trouble in such a way–bigger than the last time in Pland.”

“Uncle Duncan said the root of the Frost crisis was that mirror, so to solve the problem, the mirror had to be completely dealt with–sealing or stopping the Heretics' ritual could only guarantee temporary safety. The permanent solution was to uproot the mirror completely, bring it to the real world and burn it,” Nina said seriously, “But since the scale of the mirror was so vast, he needed a large enough 'bonfire'…”
“Right, right, I got it, you're great at starting fires, aren't you? I'll make sure to bring that up with Mr. Duncan,” Sherry waved her hands in agreement, then looked up, slightly puzzled, “But then again… what's Mr. Duncan doing now? Isn't the problem already solved? When's he coming back?”

At that, Nina looked up, her gaze drifting towards the huge figure above the sea outside the city, and after a moment's thought, she said, “Shall I go up and ask?”

“Off you go, then,” Sherry quickly gestured with her hand, “When you get there, don't forget to tell Mr. Duncan, say our homework was eaten by the Abyssal Hound…”
No sooner had she finished speaking than Nina turned into a bright arc of flame in mid-air and shot straight towards the overwhelming shadow that covered the sky outside the city.

…
From an elevation where he could overlook the entire expanse of the Frost sea, Duncan's eyes penetrated the gap in the clouds, quietly observing the sea below and the city.

The sea was boundless, stretching towards the far horizon, while the City-State seemed a lone disc floating upon the water, bathed in Sky Light, and at the edge where sea met sky, one could vaguely see a glorious wall of fog resembling an arc, encircling the entire Civilization Frontier.

This was a viewpoint never before experienced–he had never observed the world from this position, and it was likely that no one else in this world had ever done anything similar.

He could feel the “flames” that supported his current posture gradually extinguishing over the sea and the City-State, his stance hovering in the sky not sustainable for long, but before the stored energy depleted, he still wanted to look once more.

At that moment, a small flame that darted out from the clouds suddenly entered Duncan's field of vision.

The tiny flame danced among the clouds like a nimble swallow, and as it drew close to him, he heard Nina's voice enter his ears, “Uncle Duncan, what are you doing?”

“I am observing this world,” Duncan smiled as he softly spoke to the “flame”, and then lifted his finger, letting it dance upon his fingertip, “How did you get up here?”

“Sherry sent me up to see what you were doing,” Nina said cheerfully, the fire flickering on Duncan's fingertip–even though her current shape had expanded into a flame larger than a bell tower, in Duncan's eyes it still appeared quite small, “You said you are observing the world? What's interesting?”

Duncan smiled, lifting his chin, “Look, down there.”

The cluster of flames wobbled to the side.

“….Wow.”

“Amazing, isn't it,” Duncan whispered, “No one has ever looked down upon the Endless Sea and the City-States upon it from this height–not to mention that vast mist in the distance, so immense that even from my current perspective, one would feel suffocated at the sight of it.”

Nina thought hard for a moment, “….But if it were a normal-sized person, at the border of the Eternal Veil, they wouldn't feel it at all, because they can't see the whole thing.”

Duncan paused for a moment, and then suddenly burst into laughter.

“Right, you are correct, ordinary people who actually come up to that wall of mist would fail to perceive this oppressive and suffocating sensation, because they can't see the whole thing… We are high up, seeing too much.”

“Uncle Duncan, why do I feel like… your words have a deeper meaning?”

Duncan did not reply to Nina's question, he simply gazed quietly into the distance, and after a while, suddenly said, “Have you ever felt curious about what lies beyond that mist?”

“….The books say the mist is endless, there is nothing beyond it, only fog exists outside.”

Duncan looked toward his fingertip, “That's what's in the books, but what about your own thoughts?”

“….I think the books are just the scholars' guesses, Mr. Morris said it himself, everything that involves the world outside of civilization is mere speculation by scholars–so-called research is the process of verifying guesses,” Nina happily shared her thoughts, “There might be another world beyond the mist!”

Then she paused, as though suddenly realizing something, “Ah! Uncle Duncan, are you planning to cross that thick mist? Are you really going to try it? We're very close to the northern frontier, and now that you're so high, maybe you really could…”

“Unfortunately, it's not possible,” Duncan shook his head gently, interrupting the excited Nina, “I can't maintain this state for long, nor leave this sea area in this state–ritual methods have their limits. All we can do now, is stand here and watch.”

Nina seemed a bit downcast for a moment, then tentatively spoke again, “Then could I… go take a look? I can fly in the sky now~”
“But you can only fly for a short while, you are very aware of your limits,” Duncan shook his head again, “and I wouldn't recommend it, we know too little about that mist. Adventurous spirit and reckless actions are not the same.”

Nina fell silent for a short while, then dragged out her voice, “Oh–so we really can only stand here and watch.”

“The first step of a journey is to look into the distance,” Duncan's lips curled up as he felt the flame supporting him subside rapidly, this immense consumption of energy was reaching its critical point, but before dispersing his projection, he continued to smile, “Furthermore, we are not just looking into the distance, Nina. Have you noticed the appearance of the City-State? Such an orderly disk, so neat that it doesn't seem natural, and beneath that, the vast and profound sea, we still have no idea what lies at its depths…

“Heretics believe this world will ultimately be destroyed, and that they can create a new one, the church insists that following the guidance of the gods is the only way to keep the world eternal, but there are just too many unknowns in this world… Whether it's the heretics, the Church of the True Gods, or the scholars from various City-States, everyone's views about everything above the Endless Sea are one-sided.”

Between the sea and sky, the giant's massive body quietly dissipated, as the mirror-like sea gradually resumed its undulating waves.

A blaze descended from the clouds back toward the City-State.

The conversation between Duncan and Nina continued,
“Alright, Nina, go back. There's still much to do.”

“Oh… Ah, that's right! Uncle Duncan! I forgot to tell you, Sherry's and my homework were eaten by the Abyssal Hound!”

“….It's alright, Morris and I will prepare new ones for you.”

Chapter end

Report