Chapter 1365: Reestablishing Contact

Deepwater Technicians and Deepsea Witches—these were the two most vital technical specialists in the Sea Witch Kingdom. Their engineering skills and theoretical knowledge far surpassed those of other sea witches. To enhance their abilities even further, when mimicking other forms, they would create internal structures that boosted their computational power to aid their thinking. Cassandra herself was a Deepsea Witch, but facing a colossal entity like the Sky Station, one Deepsea Witch was clearly not enough.

Although Gawain had said earlier that repairing the space station wasn’t urgent, now that General Vanessa and her expeditionary force had arrived, Cassandra casually asked if they had brought enough technical specialists. Perhaps they could send some sisters ahead to examine the ancient systems left behind by the Voyagers.

“Deepwater Technicians and Deepsea Witches?” General Vanessa paused. “Not many—we only brought the essential teams for maintaining war machines and conducting wasteland research. I’m leading a military force, not a scientific expedition.”

“I see…” Cassandra sounded a bit disappointed. The sisters who maintained war machines and studied the wasteland were obviously indispensable to the expedition, so with limited numbers, they couldn’t spare any for space missions. “Then never mind.”

“Why the sudden interest?” Vanessa asked curiously. “What do you need Deepwater Technicians and Deepsea Witches for?”

Cassandra glanced at the towering structure looming in the night, then lowered her voice. “His Majesty Gawain Cecil plans to repair that space station. It will require the help of both dragons and sea witches. From my earlier exploration of the Sky Station, the Voyager’s space facilities could provide valuable insights for repairing the Antavian. I want to get started as soon as possible.”

“He wants us to help fix that orbital space station?!” Vanessa’s eyes widened immediately. She realized this wasn’t just Antavian aiding the Cecil Empire—it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the sea witches themselves. In fact, ever since Cassandra mentioned the Sky Station, the sea witch general had been pondering how to persuade its current controller to allow more sea witches into space. She hadn’t expected the other side to offer an opportunity so proactively. “You’ve already agreed, haven’t you? That’s good… we’re right at a critical stage of repairing the Antavian.”

Vanessa’s brow furrowed as she quickly composed herself and spoke in a low voice. “But among the sisters I brought, none have the expertise needed for this. We need people familiar with space engineering and the basics of outer space environments. I’ll send a message to Antavian immediately, so the Queen can select a group of sisters skilled in those fields. Fortunately, we’re outside the Loren Continent’s signal-blocking zone, and we have high-powered communication equipment.”

A complex smile flickered across Vanessa’s face—joy mixed with deep emotion. “They’ve been waiting for this day for so long…”

Cassandra watched the sea witch general’s smile and hesitated before quietly adding, “Waiting so long is fine. The day has finally come. The key is that this time, they don’t swim the wrong way…”

Vanessa: “…We’re not swimming the wrong way!”

Thirty minutes later, the imperial expedition fleet, which had been anchored near the Voyager’s towering structure for a full day, finally weighed anchor. Guided by sea witch navigators who recalibrated the course, the massive fleet led by the Winter’s Chill turned its prow northeast toward the Loren Continent. Under the brilliant starlight, the imposing warships cast vast shadows on the sea. The calm waters broke into waves as the metal bows sliced through, and as the fleet moved away from the Voyager’s tower, the unique “environment” around it gradually faded—the unnaturally still sea gave way to normal waves, and the salty sea breeze swept across the decks, ruffling the sailors’ naval uniforms.

The deepsea expeditionary force from Antavian sailed alongside the Winter’s Chill.

Byron stood at the edge of the upper deck, gazing at the fleet navigating through the night. His eyes drifted to the sea nearby, where he saw the glow of “beacons” beneath the waves—lights belonging to the Antavian expedition.

Those lights came from a massive underwater vessel—the flagship of the Antavian expedition, the Abyssal Pacifier. It was a strange, gray-white ship with a broad, manta ray-like hull that defied human notions of what a “ship” should look like. Powered by a bizarre “vacuum fluid engine,” it moved swiftly beneath the surface. Its vast hull could carry thousands of deepsea warriors and countless war machines from Antavian to distant continents. The seemingly illogical hull was forged from a special alloy with elemental affinity—submerging deeper actually reduced resistance, allowing the ship to race along the seabed.

From start to finish, it was an unfathomable example of “advanced deepsea technology,” but utterly unsuitable for human use. The reason? The ship wasn’t sealed or pressure-resistant—it was filled entirely with water.

Surrounding the Abyssal Pacifier were several smaller vessels acting as escorts. To mark their position for allies and help control local sea conditions, these Antavian “submersibles” sailed near the surface, using powerful beacon lights to draw a huge, clear arrow on the water pointing toward the Loren Continent ahead of the Winter’s Chill.

Propelled by strong currents generated by the sea witches, the entire “joint fleet” was rapidly closing in on the Loren Continent.

Byron recalled the moment when the Abyssal Pacifier suddenly emerged from the distant sea and headed toward them. Honestly, he’d been startled—such a massive ship had just burst from the water with a thunderous roar, leaking water from all sides as sea witches clumsily scrambled back inside, having been swept off the outer armor while “feeling the caress of the currents” during ascent. Later, he learned that was just their way of connecting with the sea flow.

It had been a thrilling, almost invincible display—full of raw martial spirit.

The sound of scales slithering across the deck came from beside him. Byron turned to see Cassandra approaching, her chin raised toward the flickering lights ahead of the fleet, pride evident on her face. “What do you think? The Abyssal Pacifier is the largest ship we can currently build. Impressive, isn’t it?”

“…Incredible. It’s the first time I’ve seen a ship like this—more amazing than the ‘deepsea shuttles’ you used when you first arrived at North Harbor,” Byron admitted honestly. “But what surprised me most wasn’t the ship itself—it was that your expedition actually came by ship. When I first saw General Vanessa and her vanguard, I thought they’d all swum here directly from Antavian.”

“People always misunderstand us gifted races in certain fields. They assume sea witches, being good swimmers, always travel by swimming, just like you think dragons always fly everywhere. But in reality, we have convenient transportation just like humans. Why swim if you don’t have to? Especially since the expedition carries heavy weapons and supplies—without a big ship, crossing an ocean would be impossible.”

Byron thought it made perfect sense but couldn’t help recalling another sea witch he knew. “But Tyr swam all the way from Antavian to us back then…”

“So that guy really is something else…”

Byron: “…”

Silence fell on the deck. Cassandra stared toward the Abyssal Pacifier, lost in thought. After a long moment, she broke the silence softly. “It’s a pity we haven’t been able to build anything larger than the Abyssal Pacifier for many years. Antavian’s power reactors are damaged, limiting the size of our shipyards. For a long time, we couldn’t find alternative energy sources—even though magic is everywhere around us. But now things are finally changing. Deepwater Technicians are trying to replace Antavian’s original power systems with more and more magical circuits. Maybe one day, you’ll see something even more astonishing than the Abyssal Pacifier.”

“So you really need the Voyagers’ knowledge to help repair your ‘spaceships,’” Byron said casually. “And His Majesty needs you to help fix his ‘other body.’ It’s a mutually beneficial collaboration for sea witches and humans alike. Beyond magic and runic technology, we finally have a new field to cooperate in.”

Byron wasn’t naturally a deep thinker or planner. In the past, he never would have said something like this. But after years alongside Gawain, he’d learned a lot of things he hadn’t considered before.

After all, he didn’t want to be out-argued by a pea someday…

“General Vanessa has already contacted Antavian through the Abyssal Pacifier’s communication system. The Queen will soon select a group of excellent space engineers and scholars. We’ve recorded the location of the ‘orbital elevator’ and can send people there anytime,” Cassandra said. “I hope Talrond and the Holy Dragon Principality will quickly realize the significance of those things in space. But that shouldn’t be a problem—they were the same way with the dragons back then…”

Suddenly, an indescribable sensation washed over them, as if the fleet had crossed an invisible boundary. Cassandra’s words trailed off mid-sentence. She furrowed her brow and tilted her head, listening intently as if hearing a sound beyond human perception. Byron tensed. “What is it?”

“I’m hearing Tyr’s psychic song—we’ve entered the Loren Continent’s signal-blocking zone.”

Byron reacted quickly. “Can you respond to her directly?”

“Yes, as long as we use the Abyssal Pacifier’s enhanced antenna,” Cassandra nodded. “Our communication with the land has been restored!”

…

At 4 a.m., a groggy Gawain was abruptly awakened. When he learned it was Tyr who had come for him, he was utterly baffled.

He—Gawain, one of the most diligent men in the entire empire—was being woken up at 4 a.m., a time when any normal person should be asleep, by Tyr—the empire’s most notorious slacker (and a literal fish), who usually seemed half-dead from sleep.

Where was the logic in that?

Groggily throwing on his pajamas, Gawain hurried into the study and saw Tyr perched on the floor, swaying left and right with bright eyes. Before Tyr could say a word, Gawain tossed out, “Is your biological clock broken? Or are you the fake one here?”

But Tyr’s next words shattered the last of Gawain’s sleepiness: “Forget that for now—I’ve made contact with Cassandra!”

Gawain froze. He knew where the Winter’s Chill was, and he knew where Cassandra was, but he hadn’t expected Tyr to get through to her so quickly. In fact, after confirming Byron was safe and that Cassandra and Asalina had left the Skyreach Station unharmed, Gawain had shifted his focus to the situation on the Loren Continent, waiting to hear from the Winter’s Chill in a few days. He hadn’t expected news to come this fast. “You got through to them? They’re already near the continent?”

“They’re still at sea, but closing in fast,” Tyr said, wagging her tail tip excitedly, clearly thrilled by the news. “Cassandra said they got lost near one of the Voyager’s ruins. It would’ve taken at least seven or eight days to get the ship back on course, but luckily they ran into General Vanessa’s expeditionary force. Now they’re speeding through the currents created by the sea witch clusters. She contacted me using the Abyssal Pacifier’s enhanced antenna—otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to communicate this directly.”

Gawain was already completely baffled and cut her off, “Wait, wait—General Vanessa’s expeditionary force? What expeditionary force? And what’s the Abyssal Pacifier?”

“The Abyssal Pacifier is one of our combat transport ships. You could also call it the ‘Sea-Calming, Border-Defending, Mighty General’—”

Tyr’s casual translation made Gawain want to roll his eyes, but right now he was more focused on the expeditionary force she mentioned. “Stop, I didn’t ask about that. I want to know about the expeditionary force. What’s going on there?”

“Oh, our queen found out something’s wrong on Loren, and it looks like the Sentinels double-crossed us. So she sent our strongest warlord with five thousand elite troops to support the alliance.”

Gawain was now fully alert. He glanced at the map hanging nearby and a question popped into his mind. “Wait, if that’s true, why are they showing up in the southwest of the continent? Isn’t Antavian to the east?”

Tyr thought for a moment and shrugged, “They must have swum the wrong way. The planet’s round, so they ended up swimming almost halfway around in the opposite direction.”

Gawain scoffed, “You think everyone’s as clueless as you?”

“But sea witches aren’t exactly human.”

Gawain: “…”

(End of chapter)