Chapter 465: The Battle Against the Rising Tide

To be honest, hearing about the phenomenon called the “Black Trap” from Tyr suddenly weighed heavily on Gawain’s mind, filling him with an indescribable pressure.

Beyond the magical storms… there might be other threats in this world—threats so immense they could wipe out entire civilizations. What’s even more terrifying than the storms themselves is the intangible, formless nature of this danger. Even the sea witches, who had witnessed more than a dozen cycles of the magical storms and observed this world for countless years, had yet to grasp the true essence of this threat.

It was an unsettling truth.

Gawain’s face grew serious and somber. He fell silent, stroking his chin thoughtfully. Tyr waited quietly by his side until he suddenly exhaled, breaking the silence. Only then did the sea witch speak, her tone calm and measured: “Feeling a bit hopeless all of a sudden?”

Gawain’s reply was a single, firm word: “No.”

“You don’t have to pretend,” Tyr said, flicking her tail and splashing against the rocks by the shore. “It’s perfectly normal to feel overwhelmed in a situation like this. After all, the greatest crisis you’ve ever imagined was the magical storm. Now that you know there’s more than just the storm to worry about, who wouldn’t feel unsettled?”

“You’re right—I do feel the pressure,” Gawain admitted, exhaling deeply as his expression softened slightly. “But I haven’t lost my composure, let alone fallen into despair. This ‘Black Trap’ you mentioned… maybe it really exists. But for me, the magical storm is still the number one threat. If we can’t even survive the storm, worrying about some vague, unknown disaster is pointless. I won’t lose my fighting spirit over something so intangible.”

Tyr studied him for a moment, then burst into exaggerated laughter. “You… you’re really something… Haha! How did I never notice this before? No wonder you get along so well with us sea witches. You’d be quite popular in our society.”

Gawain watched her laughter, which seemed almost ready to toss him into the river, and felt a bit awkward. “Is it really that much?”

“You’ve got a strong mindset,” Tyr said, stifling her laughter and bouncing her tail excitedly beside him. “But seriously, aren’t you afraid? Even if you find a way to survive the magical storm, there are still challenges ahead. Aren’t you scared?”

“Humans fear death, yes,” Gawain said calmly, “but very few give up on life because of that fear. Instead, fear drives us to fight harder to survive. For us, whether it’s the magical storm or the Black Trap, it’s basically the same—unknown, deadly, seemingly unsolvable. But we’ve made up our minds to survive the storm when it comes, so we’ll see this through to the end.”

He looked up, gazing thoughtfully at the star-studded night sky.

“When I calm down and think about it, even if the Black Trap exists, it just means we have two problems to solve instead of one. What’s so scary about that?”

Tyr listened and sighed again. “If you lived among sea witches, you’d definitely be popular.”

“Why do you say that?”

“We’re a species that’s good at comforting ourselves. We’re optimistic and persistent, just like you,” Tyr said seriously. “Honestly, most sea witches don’t really like land-dwellers. To us, you’re a species that develops rapidly but always seems to rush toward self-destruction. You lack foresight, chase short-term gains, and don’t value promises. But I have to admit… your passionate, hopeful society is fascinating.”

Gawain wasn’t sure how to respond, so he just smiled, accepting the compliment.

After a moment of silence, Tyr continued, “Actually, we haven’t been completely in the dark about the Black Trap. Although we don’t understand how it happens or have observed its exact form, we do have a theory…”

Gawain blinked. “A theory?”

“Civilizations that fall victim to the Black Trap share one thing: they’ve all reached a high level of development, at least enough to survive the magical storm. Even those that were destroyed suddenly before the storm arrived had already gained the ability to protect themselves during the next storm. Our observers have confirmed this,” Tyr explained seriously. “We think the Black Trap might be a kind of filter. Once a civilization reaches a certain threshold, a destructive force is triggered to wipe out that generation of civilization. You understand what I mean, right?”

Tyr seemed to have opened a floodgate, talking more and more, until she suddenly remembered Gawain was a “backward land-dweller” and added, “Of course you can understand. The level of civilization during the Gondor era wasn’t low.”

Gawain frowned deeply. “But if this filter theory is true, then things are really bad…”

Could it be that any civilization that develops beyond a certain point is doomed to be destroyed by some external force?

Could such a thing really exist in this world?

“It’s just a guess,” Tyr said. “Because from what we’ve observed, every civilization that reached a certain height was destroyed. There’s an invisible threshold blocking the way, and none have ever surpassed it. So we can only conclude the Black Trap is a filter.”

“Have you pinpointed this ‘threshold’?” Gawain asked, locking eyes with Tyr, his tone serious. “Is there a defining ‘point’? Like a breakthrough in a key technology, or humans stepping into a critical domain?”

“Unfortunately, no. On one hand, we always miss the Black Trap itself and only see the aftermath, so we can’t tell what the land civilizations were doing before it struck. On the other hand, each magical storm resets the magical environment, so every generation of civilization follows a different technological path with no real comparison,” Tyr shook her head. “Right now, the only rough standard we have is that only civilizations capable of surviving the magical storm are ‘eligible’ to be destroyed by the Black Trap.”

Gawain frowned, deep in thought, then suddenly asked a crucial question: “…Did any of the destroyed civilizations surpass you?”

“No,” Tyr answered frankly, understanding what Gawain meant. “We sea witches nearly faced extinction once, but our remaining technological strength still exceeded that of those land civilizations. And we… never encountered the Black Trap.”

Their technology was more advanced than the land civilizations, their existence longer, and they had survived more than one magical storm cycle. Yet the sea witches had never faced the Black Trap.

This was exactly what Gawain had expected, and it was why he doubted the Black Trap filter theory.

Perhaps the trigger wasn’t technological progress. Maybe the land civilizations accidentally triggered it in some other way—or maybe it was something else entirely. For example, the sea witches’ unique lifeforms might protect them from the Black Trap, or… maybe the Black Trap only occurs on land?

Gawain shared his thoughts, but Tyr immediately shook her head. “Not just on land. There was a civilization that developed strong oceanic navigation technology. Their offshore platforms and seawater extraction factories even operated near our territorial waters, and they built semi-permanent domes underwater. But they all suddenly died. Just a month before, they were negotiating with us about developing underwater thermal energy. A month later, when we sent representatives, the dome was abandoned, filled with corpses…”

Gawain frowned. “No explanation for what happened?”

“No. When the delegation arrived, the dome had been deserted for half a month, and much evidence was gone. But we found the dome’s shield had been shut down from the inside. They must have turned off their own defenses and drowned.”

Gawain was speechless for a long moment before finally muttering, “Bizarre…”

“Very bizarre,” Tyr agreed slowly. Then, as if remembering something, she added, “Oh, and there was one civilization’s destruction that seemed different from the rest… It was connected to an ancient race.”

“An ancient race?”

“Dragons,” Tyr said, surprising Gawain. “That civilization was destroyed in a war involving dragons. It happened a very long time ago. At that time, a land empire suddenly rose—developing rapidly and quickly ruling the entire continent. They even had some contact with us, but before we could learn more, war broke out.

“One side was that land empire; the other was the dragons. Dragons are now rare on the continent, and you all consider them legendary creatures. But back then, they swarmed down from the north like a storm. They weren’t a hidden race—they actively fought in that war…

“We still don’t know who started the war, but it seems to have been about faith. Early in the war, the dragons destroyed many of the empire’s temples in targeted attacks.

“The war was fierce, with both sides evenly matched. Many dragons died. Our observers couldn’t get too close because the dragons were bloodthirsty and attacked anyone not their own.

“The war lasted ten years—that’s another difference from typical Black Trap events, where civilizations vanish quickly. In the end, the dragons won a costly victory, and the once-mighty land empire was utterly destroyed.

“From the scattered information our observers brought back, that empire called the year the war broke out the ‘Year of the Rising Tide,’ and so the war itself became known as the ‘Battle of the Rising Tide.’”

“Battle of the Rising Tide…” Gawain listened to this ancient, sweeping tale with a sense of disbelief. The story felt so distant from the present age, and yet Tyr told it so plainly that it felt oddly out of place. Still, he trusted she wasn’t making it up. “Indeed, it’s very different from the Black Trap you described earlier.”

“Exactly. It lasted a long time, the cause was clear, and we observed it directly. So we’ve never been sure if the Battle of the Rising Tide was a Black Trap event. But one thing’s certain—if there’s any connection, the dragons must know something.”

Gawain couldn’t help but smile wryly. “So you want me to go ask the dragons for information?”

“Why not, if there’s a chance?” Tyr flicked her tail. “Besides, I’m just giving you an idea. It’s not like I have to do it.”

Gawain: “…”

At that moment, he really felt like slapping this fish onto the shore and ending it all…

(End of chapter)