A shadow shrouded in darkness, a battleship that seemed to be made up of smoke, thick fog and various wreckage, was traveling with the White Oak, charging towards the approaching Petrel in the distance - that thick fog
In the silhouette of the shrouded ship, you can still vaguely see the similarities between it and the White Oak series.
It was different from what he remembered, but Lawrence still recognized it immediately - even though it looked broken, twisted and weird now, it still touched his memory like every time he saw it in a dream.
.
That was the Black Oak, and there it was, just as I remembered the last time we left port together, sailing alongside the White Oak.
A loud whistle suddenly sounded, interrupting the old captain's confusion and random thoughts at the moment. The whistle came from the phantom-like ship, as if to remind Lawrence that this was not the time to be in a daze.
Howling shells fell from the sky, and the shelling from the Petrel continued for a moment. Lawrence suddenly turned around and saw a ball of fire hitting the bow of the White Oak.
The flames soared into the sky, and were instantly assimilated and absorbed by the blazing green flames on the ship. Part of the ship's bow was torn into pieces, and the hot metal shattered - but the next second, those broken structures were like
It usually starts to recover when time goes back, and it returns to the original state in the rising green flames.
Lawrence felt something "lost", as if his physical strength and life were being reduced from his "perception", but the lost part was quickly replenished by the spiritual flames burning from all directions, and then
, the self-defense artillery on the bow and sides of the White Oak roared, and the shells were like angry ghosts. When they rushed out of the gun barrel, they made a chilling scream, streaking through the air with green streaks.
Light flow. Almost at the same moment, the "Black Oak" next to it also began to attack - with the roar of artillery, flashes of light burst out one after another in the rising black fog, and illusory cannonballs emerged from the thick fog one after another.
It rushed out and crashed towards the enemy ship in the distance.
Lawrence held the steering wheel tightly with both hands, feeling the powerful tremors of the ship under his feet from the roar of artillery. He felt that his perception was spreading further, even following the flying cannonballs and the surging seawater around him.
It spread over the entire sea area, and at the edge of his perception, the "Petrel" was like a bonfire in the night, exuding a strong and somewhat dazzling... presence.
Not long ago, it was a desperate opponent for the White Oak, but at this moment, Lawrence only felt that the prey was so delicious... delicious.
A moment later, the counterattack fire from the White Oak finally landed on the Petrel for the first time. With the huge explosion and flames, the strange warship seemed to be bitten hard by some invisible giant mouth.
A piece was "gouged out" out of thin air, and among the huge scars that were devoured, the strange and twisted structure inside the ship was clearly visible.
The attack was effective, but it was far from enough.
"Full speed," Lawrence held the steering wheel tightly, his eyes fixed on the enemy ship that was still approaching. He already knew what he should do - or in other words, what the White Oak needed at this moment, "We need to replenish."
First Mate Gus's voice sounded on the bridge: "Yes, full speed!"
The steam core roared further, and the already high-speed White Oak further increased its speed to the limit, and began to swoop towards the distant Petrel like a swift falcon - the Black Oak was still accompanying it like a reflection, always
Maintaining the same speed and heading.
The Petrel in the distance showed no sign of changing course or slowing down to evade. The ship that launched a blind attack from the moment it appeared was like an irrational, out-of-control beast. Even if a huge change occurred in the White Oak, its own battle situation shifted.
Even after being unlucky, it still faithfully carried out its original goal: to attack the enemy.
Two ships, one shrouded in green flames, the other filled with strange structures of twisted darkness, simultaneously launched a full-speed charge towards each other - the harsh and terrifying whistle almost tore the sky apart, and the two ships became increasingly dense.
The roar of artillery fire shook the entire ocean. The distance between them was getting closer and closer. Almost all the shells fired at each other fell on each other's hull. The big explosion tore the hull apart, and the hot and burning debris poured into the sea and sky.
!
On the bridge of the White Oak, Lawrence just stared ahead. Everyone was staring in the same direction as him. The minds of all the sailors seemed to be tightly grasped by something. Everyone on this ship
All creatures suddenly lost their fear and hesitation, leaving only the feverish anticipation of the coming and destined collision - and then, the two ships finally touched each other.
Like a loose snowball pressed hard against the outer wall of a blazing furnace, the bow of the Petrel sank directly into the blazing spiritual flames surrounding the White Oak, accompanied by a harsh noise and what sounded like thousands of people shouting in unison.
With a loud noise, the seemingly solid steel hull melted inch by inch in the green flames. As the "impact" continued, the Haiyan began to disappear deep into the wall of fire from beginning to end. This scene looked...
It was as if it had been swallowed whole.
And until the last turret at the stern of the Petrel was swallowed up by the spiritual flames, the fierce exchange of fire between the two ships never stopped for a moment.
Then, it was finally over.
The self-defense artillery throughout the White Oak finally stopped roaring. After the enemy disappeared, the roar of the steam core gradually became lower, and the rising spiritual flames throughout the ship also slowly converged. The aggressive attitude at the beginning became gentler.
It began to burn quietly against the hull.
Lawrence was a little confused for a moment, his hands had left the steering wheel at some point. He raised his head and looked around at the scene on the bridge.
The sailors turned their heads and stared at him one by one. Each one of them showed a ghost-like posture in the spirit body. In their empty eyes, it seemed that there was no reason and humanity belonging to human beings.
Lawrence blinked, but just a second before the confusion in his mind was about to swallow him completely, a figure suddenly appeared in the corner of his eye.
It was a young man who appeared out of thin air and stepped across the rising spiritual flames around him. He was wearing the dark blue robe of a priest of the Deep Sea Church, and the holy symbol on his chest was burning like a blazing fire.
Bu walked over, grabbed the burning holy symbol on his chest with one hand, and suddenly pressed it firmly against Lawrence's chest.
A burning heat spread from his chest, and Lawrence felt that his shaky mind suddenly stabilized, and humanity and reason returned to his soul at the same time.
As the captain woke up, the sailors on the ship also woke up one by one. People looked at each other, as if it was only then that they recalled the end of the battle, the final confrontation and "collision" between the White Oak and the Petrel.
At that scene, some people exclaimed in fear, some were checking their bodies subconsciously, and some even raised their heads and set their eyes on the young priest who suddenly appeared on the bridge.
Lawrence frowned, and after looking at the young man in front of him for a long time, he finally said hesitantly: "Pastor...Jensen?"
"It's me, thank God, you can finally see me," the young ship's chaplain gasped, as if he had just climbed out of the sea, his robes were soaked, and there was still a trace of blood as he spoke.
Streams of water flowed down his hair and neck, "Thank you Storm Lord for your protection - I have been yelling around you for days."
However, Lawrence still felt that his mind seemed a little unclear. It took him several seconds to gradually recall another violation in the past few days——
There should be a chaplain on board the ship, just like there should be a sun in the sky. However, in the past period of time, he had never seen the young pastor.
Chaplain Johnson disappeared from everyone's sight, and even disappeared from everyone's memory - so much so that people even forgot the common sense that "there should be a chaplain on board the ship".
Lawrence noticed the strange disappearance of the sun, but only now did he realize that Pastor Jason was also missing.
"……what happened?"
The old captain, who had just woken up from a dream, slowly turned his head and asked in a low voice.
"I don't know. In the past few days, I seem to have been separated from you in two dimensions." The wet young pastor smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I can see you, but no one can see you."
I, it was as if I had become an outsider on the ship. It was not until just now... that the whole ship changed in the flames, and I felt that this barrier had become looser. At the same time, I became aware of your mental state.
No, I was thinking of using the Holy Emblem to stabilize your sanity - fortunately, I finally caught up with this last step..."
Lawrence listened to the pastor's story, with messy thoughts and conjectures in his mind one after another. When he heard the other party mention the words "wrong mental state", a belated fear finally appeared in his heart.
He recalled the strange state that he and the other crew members were in when the battle with the Haiyan went to the last few minutes, and a cold sweat seemed to be oozing out from his back.
However, he didn't break into a cold sweat - he was still wrapped in the flames of the spirit body, and this ghostly body showed no signs of recovery at all.
Lawrence lowered his head and looked at his arm, which was still in an illusory spirit state, and already had a lot of guesses in his mind.
"The favor from the Lost Home, huh..." The old captain shook his head bitterly, not knowing whether to call this a blessing or a curse.
It is indeed not an easy thing, but at least we survived... If this is really the state of living people...
As he spoke, he slowly raised his head and looked through the porthole not far away to the sea next to him.
The ship, shrouded in fog and shadow, still stood there like the White Oak's shadow.