"This is my Iberia, and I will never betray my ship!"
After saying that, Alfonso suddenly realized something was wrong.
"Wait! Who are you? Where did you come from!"
"A lost traveler from Iberia, helping an old man find his son."
Vane retrieved the black sword, and Alfonso, having caught the sensitive words, disregarded everything else.
"Iberia! Has Iberia returned!?"
"If you're referring to the Iberia of the past... she's already extinct."
Seeing Alfonso there dumbfounded, Vane shrugged.
"Most of the land has been destroyed, even the royal city has been submerged. Now, the Inquisition, evolved from the State Church, is ruling Iberia."
Alfonso was stunned by these words and stood there rooted to the spot, while Vane turned to look behind him.
"Oh, this must be First Mate Garcia. Why does he look a little different from the character art?"
"Gurgle..."
Jack's increasingly confused mind was unable to comprehend the current situation, and his human will was rapidly slipping away.
"Careful!"
Alfonso realized what was happening and immediately tried to push Vane, but found that he couldn't budge him at all.
"Hmm, what's wrong?"
In Alfonso's bloodshot eyes, Vane, oblivious to his own mortality, turned around, completely exposing his back.
"Get out of the way!"
Pfft--
A hand pierced through his chest, and deep blue blood splattered onto Alfonso's face.
Looking into those rapidly dimming pupils, Alfonso a complex mix of emotions.
Are you sad?
The child he swore to protect ultimately died before his eyes.
Are you glad?
He no longer had to swing that knife.
Liberation?
Still...
Guilt.
He ultimately failed to take him back.
And what left Alfonso with mixed feelings Vane...
He squeezed the hand inside his chest, letting the blood flow through Jack's body, changing his form.
The deep blue faded, revealing twisted flesh.
Rain washed away the bloodstains, and the boy from his memory stood before Alfonso once more.
"Becoming human again... not bad as a gift for our first meeting, right?"
Turning to look at the stunned captain, Vane grabbed the captain's mutated arm.
"Wait! What are you injecting into me!?"
Alfonso instinctively struggled, but was held down firmly.
"It's just some of my bodily fluids~"
With one hand, he subdued the increasingly fiercely resisting Alfonso until his arm recovered, and Vane's expression gradually became serious.
"Well then, the gift has been accepted; now it's time to get down to business..."
"Tell me! Is there anyone on your ship named Jack?"
Alfonso was still on high alert due to the immense power of Vane, suddenly looked strange, and Jack behind him spoke up weakly.
"I am Jack..."
"Huh? My mission is complete?"
Vane was somewhat taken aback. He had thought he would have to delve deeper into the We Many to assemble the personality fragments and then use Vera's abilities to be fully resurrected.
"Now that the mission is accomplished... it's time for me to do my thing!"
"What exactly have you been saying since just now?!"
Alfonso, who hadn't grasped the situation, couldn't help but interrupt. Vane's expression changed, and he snatched the captain's hat off Alfonso.
Under the astonished gazes of the two men, Vane put the two hats on his head together.
"Alright, sailors, this is your new captain, Vane! Ready to set sail!"
With a leap, Vane stepped onto the mast, grabbed a telescope he'd pulled out from somewhere, and scanned his surroundings.
"Let me see... the Reef District, the Reef District, and the Reef District again."
"You've been stuck here for 50 years, haven't you ever thought of trying to go west? There's a deep-water channel over there—"
"That's the Seaborn's nest!!"
Alfonso roared under the mast.
"Give me back my hat and binoculars! You thief!"
Completely disoriented Alfonso had no time to ask for information; all he wanted was to get back the hat that had been with him for 50 years.
"Only the captain is worthy of wearing this hat, Left Protector, do not be disrespectful!"
Having confirmed the direction, Vane nimbly flipped and leaped to the ground.
Jack, feeling a long-lost sense of clarity, saluted Vane in front of him.
"Hello, Captain! I'm Sailor Jack!"
Vane raised an eyebrow.
"You're getting the hang of it! From now on, you're the first mate!"
"I am the captain!"
Ignoring someone's impotent rage, Vane said seriously:
"First Mate, is our ship still able to sail?"
"Captain! As long as there's energy, we're fine!"
"I didn't ask..."
"But!"
Jack's sudden turn of events nearly left Vane breathless, prompting a serious explanation from the former.
"Even if you brought energy, we're trapped in the rocky area and can't leave without high tide."
"Very good! It would be even better if you could speak without panting!"
After glaring at the other party, Vane vanished from his spot in a flash, and when he reappeared, he slammed the Wandering Soul Core in his hand onto the deck.
"You've slept for 50 years... haven't you had enough sleep yet?!"
Black air currents spread rapidly along the gaps, causing the entire Stultifera Navis to tremble violently.
"What did you do to my ship!"
Alfonso were bloodshot with rage. If it weren't for the fact that the person in front of him was Jack's savior, he would have already slashed at him with his knife.
Rumble--
The ship trembled more violently, and Vane turned around and pulled up the brim of his hat.
Buzz--!
In Alfonso's suddenly widened pupils, the headlights behind Vane suddenly lit up—the searchlights of the Stultifera Navis...
It's possible that Yuan Mingming has already exhausted all his resources!
"As a former captain... why are you asking me what I want?"
Backlit by the glaring lights, Vane spread his arms wide.
"Of course, we're getting ready to set sail!"
A dazzling magic circle unfolded beneath Vane's feet, and the Wandering Soul Core responded to Vane's thoughts.
With Vane as the starting point, the deck of the Stultifera Navis was rapidly "renovated".
The metal deck warped up, and the stains underneath flew out automatically. The deck shone with a golden light, as if it were coated, before falling back down.
This magical scene unfolded throughout the entire ship.
This 600-meter-long giant warship was instantly restored to its most glorious era.
The broadsword in his hand fell to the ground. Alfonso crouched down in a daze, gently stroking the deck.
Jack watched this scene with excitement and shouted:
"Are you perhaps the legendary alchemy master?!"
"Um?"
Just as Vane began to doubt the other person's identity, he suddenly remembered that this was indeed a feature in the game, so he quickly accepted the new identity.
"That's right, I am the Alchemy Master!"
"Impossible! I've met the royal chief alchemist; this is something alchemy simply cannot do!"
Alfonso immediately objected, grabbing Jack and pulling him back a few steps.
This guy is so bizarre... so bizarre that he wondered if he had already lost himself in an assimilated dream.
"Impossible?"
Vane suddenly laughed.
"Nothing has an absolute probability of zero."
Behind him, the first searchlight of the Stultifera Navis suddenly lit up.
"It's just that people haven't discovered it yet."
The second lamp lit up.
The third lamp.
Navigation lights on both sides of the deck, cabin lights behind the portholes, instrument panel lights in the engine room, and tactical desk lights in the bridge command room—
The lights came on one after another.
The light was so intense that it easily dispelled the fog surrounding the Stultifera Navis.
The golden hull gleamed in the light.
This beautiful ship, which had been dormant for 50 years, has finally been redecorated.
Vane turned around, his back to the tattered Iberia flag overhead, still fluttering in the wind.
"Alright, my crew."
He pulled down the brim of his hat, the shadow of the layered hat obscuring his eyebrows and eyes.
"Ready to set sail?"
Ugh--!
Alfonso suddenly looked up; the tattered flag fluttered wildly in the hot wind, its edges gilded anew under the lamplight.
[Iberia]
The scorching steam dispelled the mist, and the steel Behemoth let out an excited roar.
She had waited far too long for this moment.
"Very good! Very energetic!"
Vane smiled and leaped to the bow of the ship, where the steps led straight ahead.
"Stultifera Navis-- "
The captain's voice drowned out the wind and rain.
"Go ahead!"
Ugh--!
The giant ship trembled violently, Alfonso clung tightly to the gunwale, awaiting the dull pain of being stuck between the rocks, unable to move forward or backward.
No?
The Stultifera Navis is moving forward!
He suddenly leaned forward, looking down at the sea beneath the ship's railing—
Deep blue.
An endless expanse of deep blue.
The hull of the Stultifera Navis of Seaborn, like barge haulers pulling a royal ship out of port.
They propelled the enemy ship, which they had fought for 50 years, almost solemnly, towards the deep sea.
"... Why?"
No one could answer Alfonso.
For 50 years, he believed that Seaborn was nothing more than an unintelligent beast, a scourge that devoured civilization, and an alien species that had to be exterminated.
But at this moment, these "beasts" are doing things that even humans have never done—
Lifting the enemy out of the abyss.
The Seaborn were naturally not going to answer, so Alfonso turned to Vane.
"Who are you?!"
"I have too many titles, so many that I can't even count them all."
Gale blew in his face, making his clothes flutter loudly, Vane had to hold his hat brim steady.
"But right now I only have one identity."
The bow of the Stultifera Navis is breaking through the last Reef District.
That rocky, desolate sea, now like a paper fence, was easily crushed by the giant golden ship.
The reef collapsed under the impact of the bow ram, the ship sank slightly, and the entire ship went completely into the sea.
In that instant of losing his balance, Vane fell backward.
It fell from the dome.
"I am about to conquer the sea--"
His voice pierced through the wind and rain, through Seaborn's low murmur, through all the silence and waiting.
"--captain!"
Boom--!
The Stultifera Navis plunged into the sea.
It's not an escape, it's an attack.
The steel Behemoth has finally returned to the mission it was given on the day it was born.
The rammed bow cleaved through the waves, creating white walls of water several meters high on either side.
Ahead.
It is that desolate sea that no one has crossed for 50 years.
That endless ocean called "Aegir" swallowed up the Iberia Golden Age.
Legend has it that...
The great ship, named Argo, carried heroes through perilous times, capturing the Golden Fleece amidst waves and lurking monsters, its name forever etched in mythology.
Now, in this similar otherworldly realm—
The waters of Aegir.
A completely different golden behemoth.
Overcoming countless sacrifices, crushing immeasurable despair, traversing upon the corpses of our enemies—
Final...
They broke through that impassable sea.
As if disdainful of mortals' attempt to resist Catastrophe, the raging storm became even more rampant.
The surging waves converged from all directions, like Behemoth closing its jaws.
They attempted to imprison this rebellious individual who dared to set sail again.
"Too small!"
Vane's voice pierced through the Gale, carrying a hint of discontent.
"How can such a small wave be worthy of a trip?"
He turned his head and looked at the stunned Alfonso and his companion.
Hold on tight.
"What?"
The two did not understand his meaning, even though they were gripping the gunwale tightly.
"Let the giant waves rise..."
Without offering any explanation, Vane took a deep breath and shouted it out.
"Leviathan--!"
The world fell silent for a moment; the wind and rain ceased.
Immediately afterwards, a violent tremor resounded throughout the entire world.
Alfonso suddenly turned around, and a mountain peak suddenly appeared in the distant mist.
Whether it was his imagination or not, the mountain peak seemed to be collapsing.
Alfonso: "..."
"[Iberia profanity!] What the hell is that!?"
Without explanation, Leviathan gently ripped the surface of the sea with the tip of its tail.
The tip of the tail enters the water, causing a depression in the sea surface.
The world cracked open in Alfonso's eyes.
That was a Catastrophe wave, the kind that only appears in mythology, powerful enough to engulf an entire royal city.
"That's more like it."
Vane burst into laughter and directed the ships to rush into the sea.
"Stultifera Navis--!"
He opened his arms as if to embrace the oncoming wall of water.
"Charge out!"
Alfonso finally regained his voice, his roar almost tearing his throat apart.
"Stop immediately! The ship will disintegrate!!"
No ship hull can withstand this level of impact.
No matter how sturdy a ship is, it's still just a ship.
Even the most spectacular tsunami is still the sea.
The ship will break apart.
People die.
They will be swallowed by the abyss and forgotten by history, just like all the ships that sank 50 years ago.
"Disintegration?"
Vane turned his head to the side; behind him was a tsunami about to engulf everything, and in front of him was Alfonso, roaring like a trapped beast.
"I have some confidence in this ship."
He turned around.
"I'm at full throttle—"
His voice trailed off, carrying a childlike exuberance.
"I'll bring you here once--"
He took a step.
"Epic surfing!"
Then he stopped moving.
Vane remained frozen in the middle of the deck, maintaining that stylish turn.
"... Where's the rudder?"
Alfonso paused for a moment, then roared.
"What do you take this place for? This is the pinnacle of Iberia's civilization, how could you find such outdated things here!?"
Vane waved his hand casually.
"Now we have it."
Black currents surged forth once more, and the mechanically styled ship rapidly transformed.
The mast was extended, and the sails were hoisted.
The deck opened, and a ship's wheel stretched out in front of Vane.
It was a ship's rudder that went against the times, was out of step with the times, and belonged to a "backward era".
Vane grasped it.
Under Afang's bloodshot gaze, he steered the boat to full throttle.
As the rotor spun rapidly, the entire ship cut sideways into the bottom of the waves.
Alfonso's curses were torn apart by the Gale, and Jack's screams were drowned out by the roar of the water wall.
"[Iberia profanity!]"
At the moment of contact, the Stultifera Navis tilted violently, almost level with the sea level.
Alfonso and his companion clung tightly to the gunwale, their faces almost touching the sea surface.
The next instant, several chains rose from the ship and pierced straight into the waves, as if they had grabbed something, and the ship's tilting motion paused for a moment.
Buzz--
A teeth-grinding cracking sound rang out as the Stultifera Navis and her passengers gritted their teeth in a struggle.
Like Miracle, the Stultifera Navis sailed into the tsunami like a surfer.
In this upside-down world, Alfonso remained calm.
So that's how it is... I've been assimilated by Seaborn to this extent.
This must be a hallucination.
Sunlight unseen for 50 years, Jack regaining his human body, a madman summoning Leviathan, the Stultifera Navis surfing the tsunami--
That's absurd.
It was so absurd that he even felt a little... good.
"Alas--!"
Vane's cheers came from above.
He hung upside down from the mainmast's crossbar and waved to Leviathan in the giant waves.
Then...
"You can do even more, right, Little Black!"
Spirals of black mist surged forth, their target not the ships, but the deep sea...
The tsunami carried the ships forward, and the churning waves formed whirlpools that kept the storm at bay.
As the water curtain gradually receded, Jack shouted.
"Captain! If this continues, we'll be submerged!"
"Don't be afraid of the first mate! Just charge out!"
"Break through? How...?"
"Of course!"
Vane opened his arms and let his body fall.
The Black Knight crossed his twin swords in front of his chest, ready to cleave the receding waves with a single strike.
The next moment...
"Kill the sea..."
A deep blue shadow looms from afar; it is a knight who has spent his life searching for the sea.
"Kill the sea!!"
The mutated warhorse rode forward on the waves, and the Last Knight leaped into the air.
Call--!
The tsunami pierced a huge channel, Vane stared in astonishment at the knight who had suddenly appeared.
The storm surged in again, and the madman burst into laughter.
The knight made no move to linger, following the receding tsunami as it departed.
As he watched the Last Knight depart, Vane shouted out.
"The Stultifera Navis... just charge out like that!"
Ugh--!
The steel behemoth broke through the tsunami, followed closely by countless pods of whales bursting forth from the waves.
The broken mast was rebuilt.
The broken sails are hoisted anew.
Black currents swept through the fleet, and the damaged hulls were continuously repaired.
Alfonso could hear his own heartbeat.
The heartbeat was so loud that it made his ears ring.
He recognized them.
He recognized every single one of them.
That was his fleet.
As the roar of the fleet crashing onto the sea subsided, the raging storm began to recede.
Something has spilled...
That was the Iberia sunshine.
"You're back..."
Alfonso and Jack helped each other up, trembling as they braced themselves against the gunwale.
The darkness of the sea recedes, and what shines now is the gold unique to Iberia.
The crew members, who were dizzy and disoriented, crawled out of the cabin and were all stunned by the scene before them.
"Alright, sailors."
Sunlight shone from behind Vane, casting a thin golden rim around him.
He looked at the 32 trembling Iberia survivors on the deck.
"It's time to go back to Iberia."
"Waaah--"
The whistle of the Stultifera Navis's Ship sounded once again at that moment.
The voice was no longer the spirited one it was when it went to war 50 years ago; it had become more composed.
The sea ripples.
The whales cried out in unison.
A hundred ships sailing together.
The golden fleet sailed across the golden sea, toward the gentle, setting Iberia sunset.
In the winter of 1090, Terra saw Iberia rediscover the remnants of its Golden Age.
Today.
The Lost Fleet...
Finally, we returned to port.