In the following days, a storm was brewing on the Black Sea.
Shilius secretly sent out several exploration ships led by Tier 3 Transcendents and hurried to the New Continent. The specific destination was unknown.
The countries with overseas colonies took advantage of this season of the year when the sea conditions were the best to organize the last autumn voyage with some trepidation.
No one would go against gold coins, not to mention now that the countries on the continent were heavily dependent on colonial blood transfusions, they would not let go of any opportunity for large-scale navigation in a year.
But.
Because no one knew what kind of far-reaching impact the addition of a goddess to the Black Sea would have on the sea, the specifications of the escort fleet were all beyond the past.
Even the Tier 4 battleships that were usually used as flagship of the escort fleet were mostly sent out. (No matter how important the escort fleet was, the level of the warships would not be too high. As escorts, it would be ridiculous if they were not as fast as merchant ships, except for Quasi Legends.)
Of course, the Kingdom of Faletis was no exception.
The signal flag was waved.
"Anchor! Set sail! "
Just as His Royal Highness said, the window was too rare. Elvin and the Storm Horn returned to New Haven and did not have much time to rest.
After a short reunion with his family and the maintenance of the warship was completed, it followed the merchant fleet that had been organized and headed to the New Continent without stopping.
There was also a Tier 4 ship, the Endeavour, and three Tier 5 patrol ships that formed the escort fleet, as well as 25 merchant ships of various sizes. The total number of ships reached 30!
Even before the departure, Ambrose, who had stayed in the Kingdom of Tylon to help the local church stabilize the faith of the people, did not make it back in time. His other friends in New Haven did not have time to gather.
And after their escort fleet arrived at the New Continent, it would be rotated with the previous batch of navies stationed there. It might take half a year for them to return to New Haven, which would be next spring.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh …
The seemingly connected white sails slowly sailed out of the port.
But it was far from comparable to Shilius's "Treasure Fleet." Without the strength of an overlord, they did not dare to organize a fleet that was too large to be ostentatious.
Moreover, due to the relatively poor conditions of the kingdom's colonies, the goods in the fleet were far inferior in both quantity and value compared to the goods that Shilius carried back and forth (gold, silver, and other precious metals, as well as expensive ink tree dyes).
Before the end of this year's final window, they would ride the 'Trident Current' and return to the New World via the Teskar Current, using roughly two months to reach the northern part of the New World.
It was also where the colonies of Faletis and most of the Tulip members were located.
Because the direction of the ocean current was from the relatively safe mainland to the New World, and the temperature of the ocean current on the way back was much lower, there was almost no need to worry about the activities of overly dangerous magical creatures.
Of course, Elvin would not forget to load his Storm Horn with all kinds of goods, such as industrial textiles and the most sought-after guns in the New World. Although it was openly smuggling, he had the right to not use the expired goods, right?
On the other side.
After several emergency consultations with the leaders of the Kingdom of Tylon, Faletis announced to the public that most of the loot had been returned to the Nederland Bank Group.
The actual amount returned in secret only accounted for 60% of the total lost, and this was the result of the bank group paying an unimaginable 'security fee'.
But even so, the bank group's board of directors, led by the 'former chairman' Old Joel, were already very grateful.
Everyone was an adult, and the Kingdom Guardian was not their bodyguard. Although the incident happened on Tylon's soil, it did not mean that the Kingdom Guardian was a public servant who would not pocket the money he found.
Being willing to part with a part of the deal was already on account of their hundred years of 'friendship'.
For the current bank group, losing the gold and silver that could be earned back was a small matter, but these unique items were the key to restoring the bank group's reputation!
As for the remaining 40%, of course, it had been divided cleanly between the two countries.
Of course, it was up to them to decide which items to return and which to keep.
The bank group adhered to neutrality, but the two countries had their own standpoints.
If the items of allies or close neutral forces were returned at a higher price, they would earn a favor, and the ownership of the items still belonged to them. As for the treasures of enemies or competitors, such as Shilius, Zack, Atlan, and so on, of course, they would gladly accept them.
Even the bank group could not say anything about this situation. In a situation where Tylon itself was attacked by sea monsters and suffered heavy losses, this outcome was countless times better than being robbed by Huggins.
The bank group's latest board of directors had even decided that after this incident, their headquarters would be rebuilt in Tylon.
At the same time, they would also greatly increase their investment in Faletis and Tylon.
The advantage of not having any political orientation was that they could smoothly do business all over the world, but they also lacked the highest combat power that only the secular ruling class had.
After this disastrous incident, they learned from the painful experience and were ready to carry out the first step of their plan to obtain the protection of a rank 4 titled warrior. They were still using the method they were best at, which was to use money to pave the way!
Perhaps wealth was not very useful to a rank 4 titled warrior, but the kingdom they were in would never complain about having too much.
Even if they had to pay the price of … losing a part of their customers forever!
Besides that.
In view of the fact that this incident had caused serious damage to Tylon and the most seriously damaged water city, Niske, was almost razed to the ground, His Holiness the Pope, as the representative of the Tulip Alliance, issued a kill order for Huggins!
Anyone who provided clues would receive a high reward, and anyone who killed him, regardless of whether they were citizens of the Tulip Alliance or not, would receive a generous reward from the Alliance.
The biggest victim of this incident, Tylon, even sent out the "Halberd of Lightning", who was in his prime, to search the sea, vowing to make Huggins, who had luckily escaped from the "Rose Swordsman", pay the price.
However.
In the following period of time, Huggins and the pirates under his command disappeared without a trace, just like after the "Beluga Whale Harbor" massacre.
Everyone understood that it was almost impossible to find Huggins, who was under the protection of the "Sea Witch", just like last time when he was under the protection of the "Mother of Sea Monsters".
Under such circumstances, the situation on the sea was just as the upper echelons of the human kingdoms had expected. Waves that could not be ignored slowly rose.
.....
The black sea surface that completely separated the new, southern, and old continents formed a huge and narrow S shape.
There weren't many islands on the vast ocean.
However, the most prominent feature of this underwater landscape was the S-shaped ridge that ran from north to south. It was called the Black Sea Ridge.
In other words, the Black Sea wasn't actually the deepest in the center. Instead, it appeared shallow, deep, and shallow from the land.
The nest of the "Mother of Sea Monsters" was also the place where the sea monsters in the Black Sea were the most active. Many seafarers who had sailed the ocean knew this place very well.
Near the Summers Trench to the northwest of the first S-shaped turn, the triangular area with a radius of at least 500 kilometers was an absolute forbidden zone for humans.
Fortunately, it wasn't on the main route between the continents, so it wouldn't affect human shipping if they paid a little attention to it.
However.
In the north of the center of the S-shaped "Middle Black Sea Ridge", there was a huge "ocean basin" that suddenly lowered. Nobody knew how deep the "ocean basin" was.
He only knew that when he looked down from the ship, it was pitch-black like a bottomless abyss. It was completely different from the sea surface in other parts of the central ridge.
Because of this uniqueness.
After the start of the Age of Exploration, the explorers of Shilius, who were the first to discover the New World, gave it the names "Eye of the Black Sea" and "Source of the Sea". They believed that this place, which was almost at the center of the Black Sea, might be the ultimate source of the entire sea!
However, they didn't know.
In the distant ancient times, it already had its own name: "Eye of the Storm"!
And the one who named it was its former owner, the Black Sea Goddess Hipponoa!
This was very normal. For ordinary humans, three hundred years was enough to witness the rise and fall of a country, let alone a name that was lost in history.
However, from now on, humans would definitely slowly remember this name.
That was because its owner had returned.
Huff … Huff …
Because of its owner's departure, the Eye of the Storm, which had been silent for three hundred years, had begun to gradually recover. Although it was far from being as violent as before, it was still steadily growing stronger.
Perhaps it wouldn't affect navigation much in the short term, but as the power of the Black Sea Goddess gradually radiated out, no one would be able to ignore this subtle influence in the future.
Just like the Summers Trench that belonged to the "Mother of Sea Monsters".
Most importantly, it was just like the route that Shilius had taken to discover the New World.
If a straight line was drawn between the "Kingdom of Shilius" and the "Golden Sea", this huge "ocean basin" called the Eye of the Storm was precisely at the center.
Like a fatal nail, it was firmly nailed to the weak point of Shilius' existing route!
Deep in the ocean basin.
Gurgle … Gurgle …
A great white whale with white light flowing around its body led a group of humanoid creatures with gills, scales, and webbing behind it. They swam past the edge of a magnificent city surrounded by a huge circular dome.
Although this underwater city was only left with ruins, from the size of its ten-kilometer diameter, one could tell that this place used to be prosperous!
This was the holy residence of Hipponoa, the underwater city "Herakrian"!
After three hundred years, there were finally signs of life here again.
A large number of nine-fingered men, who were originally pirates but were now preparing to be Raging Waves priests under the goddess, were busy in the ruins.
Bit by bit, they cleaned up the original ruins and slowly restored this place to its original state.
However.
Apart from these humans, there were also many non-humans active here.
They had long seaweed-like hair, their ears were replaced by fins, and their teeth were sharp. They looked like beautiful women.
They were tall and muscular Riptide Murlocs with gills, scales, and webbing.
The shortest was more than three meters tall. Their green skin was covered with strange patterns, and there were lightning flashing around them from time to time.
There were even … Drowned souls whose bodies were translucent and dark blue. Their costumes spanned across various eras, as if they were made of fog or water.
Of course, there was also a group of wild sea monsters that didn't belong to the "Mother of Sea Monsters"!
As the earliest God of the Black Sea in human history, Hipponoa obviously wasn't someone who enjoyed her position without doing anything. As soon as she returned, she had already subdued a large number of powerful Transcendent creatures living in the ocean unknown to humans.
And what was the purpose of her gathering these creatures?
The answer was obvious.
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