Without the interference of accordion player Kaka, the August Lion spent two days and one night arriving near Gargoyle Atoll.
After being badly damaged in the last battle, the August Lion underwent a series of repairs and upgrades. The biggest change was the transformation of the engine and naval guns led by Henry, and more extensively combined magical crystal technology and alchemy technology. , greatly improving the speed and firepower of the battleship.
Originally, he wanted to give the accordion player Kaka a little modern shock, but he didn't expect to meet him at all along the way. Henry expressed his extreme disappointment.
"What are those? Gargoyles?" Martin asked, pointing to the black dots hovering over the Gargoyle Atoll.
"That should be it." Austin nodded, put down the telescope and shouted, "Every unit is ready for battle!"
Learning from the lessons learned last time, the August Lion did not slow down and approach, but first accelerated its sailing around the island, and then gradually approached the atoll in circles.
The gargoyles hovering above showed no hostility, and it seemed that the accordion player Kaka was not nearby.
"Going to the island?" Martin asked.
The August Lion was so close to the atoll that Austin even saw the red eyes of the gargoyles clearly with his naked eyes.
"Observe first and see how they react." Austin frowned.
This is so unusual. Even if Kaka, the accordion player, is not nearby, these gargoyles are not that ferocious, and the current position of the August Lion is enough for them to feel the threat and start to alert or attack.
"Get a rifle and shoot it," Austin shouted to Maffei.
The young man agreed, took the gun from the crewman next to him, aimed at the gargoyle flying highest and fired.
Gunshots rang out, but the gargoyle didn't react at all.
"Missed?" Martin looked at Ma Fei.
The latter blushed and muttered: "It should be a hit. I'll try again."
Then he fired again, this time aiming at the nearest one.
But still no response.
Austin thought for a moment and looked at Oliver: "I think it's fake, maybe an illusion. I want to send a team to the island to check the situation."
The experienced first mate agreed with him: "I and other crew members will stay on the battleship. You take Martin, Maffei and Henry aboard."
A few minutes later, a small boat was lowered and took the four-man team to the island.
"Be careful after you go to the island. If it involves illusion, we may be scattered." Austin suddenly remembered what Revry said the last time he went to the island, "You must remember the number of people we went to the island and their corresponding names. If you really encounter an illusion, this is the key to seeing through it.”
"In addition, there may be a monster on the island that can transform into other people or things. You must be careful."
Several other people nodded, and even Henry remained silent, waiting with bated breath.
As the boat approached the shore, a burst of thick fog suddenly appeared. Austin secretly thought something was wrong. When he was about to speak, he found that he was the only one left in the boat. Looking around, there was only white fog, and the visibility range was less than two meters.
Doug stood up, drew the revolver from his waist, and observed everything around him with wide eyes.
Not long after, a black shadow slowly emerged from the mist on the right, which seemed to be a slender boat. A boatman stood at the stern of the boat, using a slender pole in his hand to prop up the boat.
Doug licked his lips but did not raise the gun, because his danger sense showed no sign of being triggered.
As time passed, the black shadow gradually became clearer, and finally stopped next to Doug.
This is a slender boat, only big enough for five people. The boatman is wearing a tattered black robe, his face is hidden under the hood, and he can only see a mass of darkness. His skinny hands poke out from his sleeves, grabbing a Slender black pole.
In stark contrast, there were piles of gold coins occupying an entire seat in front of him. They were golden and formed a hill, exuding a charming light.
"It takes a gold coin to cross the river." The boatman spoke. His voice was not as hoarse as Doug imagined, but a very clear and childish child's voice, but he couldn't tell whether he was male or female.
"Crossing the river?" Doug was a little confused. This should be on the sea.
"You need a gold coin to cross the river." The man repeated without any intention of explaining.
Doug nodded, turned his hand and took out a pirate gold coin from Baie Island and handed it over.
"This won't work." The man shook his head and repeated mechanically, "You need a gold coin to cross the river."
Doug understood, took out Benjamin's pirate gold coin he got from Morris, and handed it to the man.
The gold coins disappeared from Doug's hands and appeared on the top of the pile of gold coins the next moment. The originally badly worn gold coins took on a new look and gave off an attractive golden light. The boatman said: "Get on the boat."
The boat was traveling through the mist, and the water was very calm. It really didn't look like the sea.
[Wouldn’t it be a little reckless? ] Austin had some doubts.
“Brave people enjoy the world first, and their sense of danger remains unresponsive.”
[I feel like you rely too much on danger perception, which is not good. ]
"Change slowly. As the saying goes, 'When you take a step, you gain wisdom.' You haven't eaten yet, so don't rush to make progress."
As the two talked, the boat began to slow down and finally stopped.
"We've reached the other side." The boatman pointed to the thick fog beside him and said.
The fog was so thick that Doug couldn't really see any land, but since everyone said so, let's go.
After jumping out of the boat, Doug stepped on solid ground. He wanted to look at his feet but found that half of his calf was in the fog, and he could only look lonely.
When I turned back, the boat had disappeared without leaving any shadow. I tried to take a step back and found that it was still land, not water.
Looking around, the fog here is even thicker, even to the point where I can't see my fingers.
"So, is there someone else coming to pick me up next, but we only have one pirate gold coin."
As soon as he finished speaking, a light the size of a soybean suddenly appeared in the thick fog ahead, wandering towards Doug.
More than ten seconds later, a guy dressed in the same attire as the punting man stood in front of Doug holding a kerosene lamp.
"Password." He said two words simply.
"Ah?" Doug was stunned. This was too abstract and there was no clue at all. How did he know what the password was?
"Password."
"The ugliness of angels is to scare away devils, but humans always prefer beautiful devils." Austin replied without thinking.
The man with the lantern turned around and walked slowly into the thick fog. The fog seemed to disperse a little, and Austin could just see his back clearly.
Looking down, I finally saw clearly what was under my feet - not land, but thick ice, and underneath the ice seemed to be an endless black abyss.
Austin took a breath and quickened his pace to keep up with the light.
Under the dim light, the mist on both sides seemed to have outlines, turning into strange and wonderful pictures: human fleets, sculptures of gods, twisted and weird sea monsters, giant hands stretching out of the sea, hidden in the abyss The countless eyes inside, the scales hanging upside down in the clouds... Each scroll is moving and changing, as if the scene is happening in real time, but in the end they all end up in a white mist.
I don’t know how long I have been walking and how many pictures I have seen. Just when Austin’s consciousness was about to sink in, a crisp sound of ice breaking brought him back to reality.
The lights in front have disappeared, and in front of Austin is a huge ice wall. No matter whether you look left or right, you can't see the end.
The sound of cracking came from under his feet. At some point, the ice layer under Austin's feet had become only a thin layer. The fine cracks started from where he was standing and spread in all directions - including, of course, The ice wall in front of me.
Austin wanted to walk, but his feet seemed to be stuck and he couldn't move an inch. Looking down, he could vaguely see a huge black shadow swimming in the abyss under the ice.
Bah——
The ice shattered.
