Chapter 41 The Charge

The Sea Wanderer began accelerating towards Sylandis—braving the towering waves and the terrifying howls and storms emanating from the colossal tree. Enveloped in roaring flames, the ghost ship charged forward.

Sylandis seemed to notice this sudden change, and its instinctive resistance to dream invasion immediately took effect. The sea surged with monstrous waves, and the seawater, influenced by the giant tree, transformed into towering barriers resembling walls covered in sharp fangs and blades, crashing down on the Sea Wanderer's bow with crushing force. Amidst the roaring waves, countless hazy phantoms began to emerge in the storm, resembling an ancient army, interspersed with countless distorted and unrecognizable illusions of birds and beasts. They surged across the gaps between the waves, heading towards the ghost ship burning in the storm.

However, the Sea Wanderer showed no sign of avoiding the oncoming storm. Instead, its sails billowed further, and its speed increased even more.

Eerie green flames spewed from every deck seam, every cabin window, and every gun port of the ship, as if to ignite the entire sea. This living fire swept across the ocean and crashed directly into the storm of nightmare phantoms.

The towering waves were scorched by the flames, creating huge gaps as they steamed away. The blades of wind and waves were devoured by an invisible force, dissipating into harmless mist in the next gust. The phantoms emerging in the storm were transformed into true illusions in the flames—

They passed harmlessly through the hull of the Sea Wanderer; the spirit fire seemed to cause them no harm, and they could not affect the ship in any way. However, in the wake of the Sea Wanderer, these phantoms gradually stopped, as if awakening from a long dream, and silently dissipated into the wind.

Then, the Sea Wanderer sailed into an even greater storm, more phantoms, and nightmares closer to the essence of Sylandis.

Just as one can never perceive the exact moment when sleep begins, after a moment imperceptible to perception, the entire world outside the Sea Wanderer had plunged into a chaotic darkness. The Boundless Sea had disappeared, the sky had vanished, and the "sunlight" that had been spreading from the distant sea had also disappeared without a trace.

All that remained were the storm phantoms constantly churning in the darkness and the vast "tunnels" that appeared and disappeared in the storm, seemingly woven from countless vines and roots. The Sea Wanderer was speeding through this unspeakable "tunnel."

After another imperceptible moment, the sound also disappeared—the entire world outside the Sea Wanderer fell into silence.

However, the storm phantoms still existed, churning silently, making them seem even more bizarre and terrifying than before.

The Sea Wanderer continued to sail through the intertwined plant structures, the entire ship seeming to float in a void. In front of this void, only the vast shadow of Sylandis remained.

It seemed to have become the only entity remaining in the world, as if after the collapse of the entire world, after all things had fallen into silence, the only, the last tree.

Or, the first tree.

Luen felt a little better—after crossing that imperceptible "moment of entering the dream," or perhaps after some kind of "transformation" had suddenly occurred on the ship, he found that the constant calling in his mind had suddenly weakened. He felt his consciousness gradually regaining stability, and even heard the sound of his heartbeat in his chest once more.

He lowered his head and saw that his body was indeed gradually recovering.

Looking through the window, he could see the giant tree stretching for thousands of miles in the dark space.

Although he was still deep in this dangerous and terrifying "dream of the Ancient God," although he knew in his heart that Sylandis was still trying to "protect," or rather, kill every elf in the world, the old man could not help but whisper to himself, "...So beautiful..."

A voice came from the side: "Yes, so beautiful..."

Luen looked towards the sound and saw that it was the bizarre goat head on the navigation table gazing out the window with a sigh—faint green flames were flowing and rising between its wooden structures, and a flame was gathering beneath it, like a blurred and distorted spine, connecting it to the deck below along the table.

"In the beginning, I planted her in a darkness—just like this," the bizarre wooden goat head continued softly, as if immersed in memories, carefully picking up those fragments from the depths of its mind. "But she wasn't this big back then... Just a small sapling, crooked and twisted, even a little... ugly.

"I didn't know what she would grow into at the time, and I didn't even know what she should grow into—she shaped herself. All I did was let her grow, keep growing.

"Then, I learned to imagine more things, more trees, and plants that grew with the trees, and all kinds of creatures living among the plants... I placed them in various parts of that darkness, and from some unknown time, the darkness receded, the world began to flourish, and many... things beyond my initial imagination began to happen. Overall, it was very interesting—much more interesting than an endless and meaningless void.

"So, some intelligent creatures that grew up in the forest gave me a name. They said I was the 'Creator.'

"But I didn't quite understand the title they gave me. I didn't understand many of the things they said—they would also do some very strange things, and I couldn't understand them either.

"They gathered together to dance, placing the harvested prey at the feet of a wooden goat carved from tree roots. They erected huge waterwheels by the rivers, decorating the waterwheels with colorful ribbons. When they finally mastered the ability to fly in the sky, they leaped from the branches of Sylandis with huge flying machines, gliding across the hills, arriving at the end of Sylandis's gaze amidst cheers...

"They said it was to please the great Creator, to prevent the Creator from leaving.

"But I didn't understand what they were doing. I had no interest in their... performances and gifts. Never.

"But I saw that they were having a lot of fun, and I thought that was good."

Luen fell silent, his eyes slowly widening, looking at the bizarre goat head on the table with an incredible gaze.

He opened his mouth, but complex emotions blocked all his words—he only let out a strange groan from his throat.

Then, a sudden crackling sound in the captain's cabin interrupted all subsequent actions and words of the old elf.

Eerie green spirit fire ignited out of thin air, outlining a tall figure in the flames. Duncan stepped out of the fire, his gaze falling on the goat head: "Do you remember everything?"

"Fragmented, chaotic, only a general impression, and some flickering images," the goat head made a slight rubbing sound, slowly turning its gaze to Duncan. "I can feel that there are still many 'fragments' scattered elsewhere."

"Are you planning to collect them all?" Duncan asked casually.

"...Doesn't matter," the goat head was silent for two seconds, but shook its head unexpectedly. "At least it's not something to consider now."

"...Okay," Duncan gave the goat head a deep look, then turned his gaze to the window. "Prepare for 'contact.' We are not far from the 'trunk.'"

"Are you going to steer yourself?" the goat head asked.

"No," Duncan shook his head. "If I steer, I probably won't ever find where Sylandis is hiding—since you've remembered some things, then you continue to steer. I think this part of 'memory' should be enough for you to find the right direction."

"Understood."

The goat head replied concisely.

To be honest, Duncan felt a little unaccustomed to this guy suddenly speaking so concisely.

But he quickly put this strange thought behind him.

The Sea Wanderer began to pass through the layers of silent storm phantoms and the tunnels and curtains woven from countless vines and roots—this ghost ship, sailing on the edge of the dream, had wandered on the edge of this dark curtain many times, but this time, it finally found the right direction.

Duncan turned his head to look at Pope Luen.

After a moment of slightly awkward eye contact, he waved to Alice, who was standing beside him in a daze: "Come and untie the old man..."

"Oh." Alice agreed and came over with some regret to "untie" the old elf who was still tied to the pillar with ropes.

Luen's mouth twitched slightly, and he calmly opened his mouth while trying to hide his embarrassment: "Actually, I think it's okay. Miss Alice's actions also have a certain... professionalism in them..."

However, halfway through his words, a violent tremor suddenly spread throughout the ship!

It was as if the Sea Wanderer had instantly collided with some invisible behemoth. An unprecedented jolt suddenly came from the bow, accompanied by an ear-piercing noise that almost made one suspect that the ship would disintegrate in the impact. Then, the masts began to shake violently, the spirit sails erupted with intense flashes of light, and the flames flowing on the deck suddenly burst out of thin air!

Duncan instantly reacted to the sudden invisible impact, pressing his hand on the navigation table in front of him, first using the spirit flames to stabilize the state of the entire ship, and at the same time quickly shouted: "Tie him up again quickly!"

Alice's reaction this time was faster than ever: "Aye!!"

"Wait a minute!" Luen only had time to shout before he was tied up tightly by Alice again—this pope, in such poor condition, was no match for the living doll on the Sea Wanderer.

At almost the same time, the corner of Duncan's eye swept past the window, past the dark void around Sylandis.

Spirit flames erupted from around the Sea Wanderer, as if "smelling" something, and were spreading wildly towards that darkness.

And in the layers of light and shadow extended by the spirit fire, he saw... a shadow even larger than Sylandis!

(End of Chapter)