He had already roughly guessed where the problem with the Misty Ocean lay.
Elliot had actually known his bearings from the very beginning. He had a guide-Holly's location.
Holly's location had been marked by the Difference Engine, and the Dawn had set out to sea intending to rely on it to find her.
Although this guidance contradicted the instruments and the Dawn's perceptions, all the information was contradictory.
But with none of the information trustworthy, Elliot actually found it easier to grasp the underlying pattern.
He trusted only the Difference Engine.
Holly was in the sea, so as long as they sailed in the opposite direction, they would definitely reach the surface.
And now that they had finally surfaced, the truth gradually became clear.
The crux of it all actually lay in Elsa's words: "Apparently, not a single person who fell into the Misty Sea has ever been recovered. They even swim toward the deep sea themselves."
When Elliot heard "they swim toward the deep sea themselves," he had vaguely picked up on some clues.
He looked back at the Difference Engine and directed the Elsa corpses that should have been "near the Dawn" to swim toward the surface.
Time ticked by. Not a single Elsa emerged from the water; instead, he lost contact with them one after another.
One of them had even seen the surface within arm's reach, yet simply could not swim up to it.
"As I thought, the seawater in the Misty Ocean alters your sense of direction and cognition!"
Those who fell overboard had not swum deeper because the deep sea had bewitched them.
Rather, their cognition had become confused. They believed the surface was below them, and that they were actually still in the sea.
This cognitive confusion was almost all-encompassing. Even the Dawn