Steel Earth did not respond to Gwen's signal. The hollow shell continued to operate according to the established procedure, and just like in the past, it stopped at the border of the divine kingdom for a moment before it began to retreat into the depths of darkness and chaos. An ancient engine or some other propulsion device roared from within the beast's body, and the translucent energy shield became thicker and more solid than before. Endless clouds of dust gathered from all directions, and as the 'ship' gradually retreated, the surging clouds of dust began to close over their heads.
Melita looked up at the direction of the Divine Kingdom of the God of War. The silent city that was shrouded in the evening sun was floating above a sea of clouds that were constantly disintegrating. Noretta and the others were still standing at the border, watching this side. The dust and clouds had gathered from all directions. The faces in the distance were gradually blurred in the clouds. Melita waved her hand forcefully, and the figures in the distance waved their hands as well. After that, the sea of clouds filled everyone's vision.
"We're starting to 'sink,'" Gawain said in a low voice. He looked up and saw that the layer of yellow clouds was getting thicker and thicker outside the shield. The surrounding light was getting dimmer and dimmer. "Next, we will lose contact with the world we know and enter a realm that mortals have never visited before. Be careful."
"The moment we stepped into the divine kingdom of the God of War, we had already stepped into a realm that mortals have never visited before." Daniel shook his head and said in a low voice. Mary, who stood behind Daniel, gripped the short staff in her hand tightly. She looked a little nervous, but also a little excited and expectant of the unknown.
Gwen could not help but take another look at the young female mage and nodded slightly.
As Daniel's mental state improved, the once submissive girl who lived in fear every day had also undergone a great change. She probably did not even realize it herself.
The 'light' from above was getting dimmer. As the steel warship sank deeper and deeper, the thick sea of clouds made of dust and clouds became as dark as the night. As the darkness outside the shield grew thicker, certain automatic systems on the 'Steel Earth' were activated, and more lights began to appear in the vision of Gawain and the others.
These floating light spheres that looked like street lamps were distributed on both sides of the road made of unknown alloys. They could not make the place as bright as day, but it was enough to allow them to see the surroundings clearly.
"This place should have been inhabited," Modir said thoughtfully as he looked at the lights that activated automatically as the 'sky' darkened. "Machines don't need these street lamps, only people do."
"We've left the 'sea of clouds'." Victoria suddenly looked up. Her eyes caught the changes in the scenery outside the shield. Although it was as dark as the night outside, the extraordinary's powerful vision could still distinguish the blurry 'scenery' in the darkness. She saw a rolling cloud moving away quickly outside the shield. Deep in the cloud, there was a dim yellow light that was almost indistinguishable to the naked eye. That was the divine kingdom of the God of War and the 'divine kingdom dispersion zone', and beyond the blurry cloud, endless darkness and chaos had come from all directions.
The steel ship left behind by the Voyager fell into the deep sea, and it was still sinking.
"We've left the material world, haven't we?" Amber looked a little nervously at the situation outside the shield. She could not help but whisper with her arms crossed. "Why do I feel a little cold … Can this shield really maintain a suitable environment for survival?"
"The surrounding temperature has not changed. You're scaring yourself." Gwen glanced at the cowardly Shame of the Alliance. "As for the material world … I'm more and more unsure of what the material world is, what the elements or the spiritual world is."
He frowned as he looked at the endless darkness outside the shield. And in the darkness, there seemed to be countless geometric lines floating, countless indescribable chaotic matter or 'patches'. "Do you see those things? Those 'entities' that seem to be floating in the darkness. We have just passed through a particularly large 'blob', but the 'ship' under our feet did not seem to interact with it at all. It was like passing through a shadow … But according to Mirmina, those 'objects' floating in the darkness should be 'entities' that can be touched … "
Amber's eyes widened. "Ship? You're saying that this thing under our feet is a ship? "
"I can't think of a more suitable name. 'Steel Earth' can only be used to describe its upper layer, and the overall structure and operation of this thing is clearly not an island. It is some kind of … navigation prop left behind by the Voyager, so I think it is a ship. Although the size of this ship is a little too big, beyond our imagination."
Gwen said slowly as he led the group to the front of the steel road. As they walked, they sensed the flow of energy around them. At the same time, they were still trying to contact the remaining Voyager System.
"Such a huge … ship …" The young female mage, Mary, swallowed her saliva. She looked at the alloy deck that extended into the distance and the ancient facilities built on the deck with a trace of reverence. This girl from the countryside had thought that she had broadened her horizons after adapting to life in the Imperial Capital. Even if she was not as knowledgeable as her teacher, she was at least a qualified mage. But now, she suddenly realized that there were so many unimaginable things in this world that were beyond her knowledge.
Melita heard Mary's soft exclamation. She just smiled faintly and looked at her. "The Voyager can create even bigger things, so big that even us Giant Dragon can't imagine."
Gwen smiled and shook his head. Yes, the Voyager's behemoth is indeed beyond imagination … Have you seen an orbital space station orbiting an entire planet?
A huge shadow suddenly emerged from the darkness and appeared above the shield of Steel Earth with a silent pressure. It looked like a black cylinder. Although it was a little weird to see another black thing in the darkness, Gwen and the rest could clearly see the outline and movement of this' chaos blob '. It floated out from the depths of the darkness and passed through the' ship 'under their feet as it spun. There was no vibration or ripple in the darkness.
"Once again … we have brushed past this' entity 'in the chaos," Kamel said in a low voice. The two light spots on his head flickered slightly, indicating that he was deep in thought. "It seems that the' ship 'under our feet has used some unknown technology to avoid interaction with the' entity 'in the chaos … Incredible, how did they do it?"
No one could answer Kamel's question, not even Melita, the Giant Dragon. But Gwen suddenly remembered the things that Mirmina mentioned to him in her report, the blurry boundary between matter and non-matter, the transformation between spirit and entity. He still could not understand the mystery behind it, but vaguely, he felt that the many strange phenomena at the 'bottom of the world' must have some connection with what Mirmina saw.
The people who set sail 1.8 million years ago … must have understood these mysteries and turned them into controllable technology. This giant ship that could sail in the deep sea was probably an application of these mysteries.
"By the way, what are those 'objects' floating in the darkness?" Amber looked up curiously at the chaos blobs that floated past the shield, appearing and disappearing in the darkness. "They don't look like the wreckage floating outside the divine realm. Although the wreckage has a weird shape, we can still see the color and original shape. But these black geometrical objects … some of them don't even seem to fit …"
Hu Po frowned. She seemed to be at a loss for words as she continued her description. Gawain, however, knew what she wanted to say and casually continued, "It doesn't conform to common sense in geometry... It shouldn't exist in the real world, right?"
"The senior advisors of the Theocratic Council have no unified view on the nature of these things," Kamel said in a low voice. "They speculate that these 'chaos drifts' may be fragments of thought from an even more ancient era. Their history has been completely submerged in the river of time. Even the oldest Dragon God does not know their origin. In the long period of forgetting and mutation, the echoes of the ancient era have turned into these invisible things floating in the deep sea … But another guess is that these things are not that old. They are also part of the reflection of the thought of this era, but the reflection logic does not conform to what we know …"
"… We still don't know much about the strange existence here." Gwen sighed softly and then looked at Kamel. "Can you locate the Explorer Marionette that was sent here earlier?"
"Yes, although it is in standby mode, it has been releasing a weak magic signal. I can sense that it is under a passage ahead," Kamel said, nodding. "I have memorized the route map that the marionette sent back. There is a route that leads to the interior of this' ship '… Although in terms of depth, it is far from the real' core 'of the ship."
Gwen nodded and motioned for Kamel to lead the way. The exploration team continued to move into the depths of the 'steel earth'.
At the same time, this ancient ship that had been in operation for 1.8 million years with a mysterious mission continued to 'sail' in the boundless chaotic space. There was no effective reference in sight. No one knew how fast the 'ship' was flying and how deep it was diving. Only the strange and chaotic shadows that kept passing by outside the shield reminded them that the 'land' under their feet was not stationary, but was always in a sailing state.
At this moment, a slight tremor suddenly came from under their feet. The exploration team that was heading toward a passage immediately stopped.
Amber looked around nervously and whispered, "What's going on? What's going on?"
Kamel raised his hand and drew a few simple runes in the air. After a moment, he whispered, "… We are decelerating and … floating."
Hardly had he finished his sentence when a hazy glimmer suddenly appeared diagonally above the 'iron ground'. In the boundless darkness and chaos, the glimmer was particularly eye-catching and unexpected!
Everyone instantly raised their vigilance, guarding against any indescribable horror that might emerge from the darkness. Gawain stared at the hazy glimmer as some vague speculations surfaced in his mind. As the glimmer got closer and closer, some fragmented floating objects orbiting around the glimmer gradually emerged from the darkness. Gawain's vague speculations were gradually confirmed.
The giant 'ship' began to 'float' towards the glimmer, and in the process, it cleverly avoided the debris orbiting around the glimmer. Or perhaps the remaining 'echoes' in the debris had sensed some extreme danger and avoided the ship's trajectory in advance. After a moment, the scene in the hazy glimmer gradually became clear, and when they saw what it was, everyone's eyes gradually widened.
It was a piece of land, a piece of fertile land, and a lush garden floating in the depths of darkness and chaos. A layer of light film enveloped the space like a bubble. In the space, spring was bright and beautiful, and flowers were in full bloom. There were countless rare and precious fruits hanging high on the branches, and the heavy fruits bent the branches of the divine trees. There was also fertile land that extended up and down, and all the flowers in the world were in full bloom. Two large rivers flowed through the fertile land and into a huge garden. Honey and wine flowed in the rivers, and they were suffused with a pale golden luster under the sunlight.
And in the garden, beside the flowing rivers, wonderful creatures with wings and the shape of fairies were busy making delicacies and exquisite ornaments. They offered the finished products to a long table in the middle of the garden. The table was extremely wide and surrounded by laughing guests. And at the end of the table, there were three beautiful figures. They had the lower body of a deer, but the upper body of a woman. They wore garlands of flowers, leaves, and grass, and their long blond hair cascaded down in front of them like a waterfall.
They … or 'they' were entertaining the guests at the long table. The feast seemed to have just begun, but it also seemed to have lasted for ten thousand years.
The ancient ship sailing in the darkness and chaos gradually approached the 'paradise' floating in the void. Countless detection devices were quietly activated, and several lights shone on the thin layer of light. But the holy spirits feasting in the garden turned a blind eye to it.
"That is …" Amber looked up and pointed at the 'garden' floating upside down outside the shield. She stared at the scenery in the garden, dumbfounded.
At that moment, Steel Earth was extremely close to the "paradise." It was even closer than when it was hovering at the border of the God of War's divine kingdom. With the vision of the members of the exploration team, they could clearly see the feast in the garden.
"… The divine kingdom of the three gods of fertility," Gwen said in a low voice. "Obviously, this is a new 'stop'."
As his voice trailed off, Modir blinked as if he was about to say something. But at this moment, a new change suddenly happened!
He saw that the shield above his head suddenly flashed, and an additional, pale blue barrier unfolded. Outside the new shield, the 'divine kingdom of fertility' floating in the dark and chaos suddenly changed its appearance!
The 'sunlight' that shone on the fertile land turned into a bleak, blood-red setting sun. The fertile land was covered with a layer of decaying, rotten swamp. What grew out of the soil were rusty scythes and hideous, twisted branches. Filthy blood flowed in the river and poured into the withered garden. The swollen, rotting monsters were constantly scooping up terrible limbs and rotten flesh from the blood river and sending them to the long table covered in thorns. Both sides of the long table were filled with thin, shriveled monsters, crazily tearing at the flesh on the long table and even their own shriveled body parts. And at the end of the long table, three hideous, twisted figures were quietly watching the feast that had lasted for ten thousand years. The garlands on their bodies had turned into thorns, and the green vines had turned into bone-piercing chains that extended to infinity as if to the end of the divine kingdom. Rotten blood was dripping from their bodies that were pierced by the chains into the blood river in the garden!
(End of Chapter)
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