The three heads of King Ghidorah are at the forefront of the formation, like an old guide who has memorized the details of the route and only needs to maintain speed and direction.
Ehm follows King Ghidorah slightly behind the right wing. The frequency of its wings flapping is slightly slower than that of the sub-adult dragons behind, but it just connects with the airflow between them to form a stable distance.
The sea was calm and the wind blew continuously from the southeast, pushing the fleet forward at a constant speed.
No one spoke on the deck, only the continuous gurgling sound of the hull breaking the water and the occasional vibration of airflow above the head.
The sky has regained the brightness of morning light. After the shadows caused by Demon Dragon moving in the direction of the fleet dissipated, the sky above the port lit up again, and the flagpole, towers and city walls were once again clearly reflected in the sunlight.
At the bow of the ship, Redd stood at the bow for a while. Douglas stood slightly behind him, still holding the wax-sealed list in his hand.
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, glanced at Redd's profile, and closed it again.
The canvases of the twenty battleships have all been fully bulged, and they are moving at a constant speed along the course in the steady southeasterly wind.
Behind, the rebuilt city is slowly sliding towards the sea level. The outlines of the city walls and towers change from clear to blurry, and are finally covered by the reflection of the sea and the mist of the air, sinking below the horizon.
In the air, the Demon Dragon group followed behind in a loose formation. The three heads of King Ghidorah occasionally turned in the sunlight, and their golden eyes scanned the sea to confirm that the fleet's course had not deviated.
The sea and sky ahead were the same color, with no clouds or reefs, like a slowly unfolded gray-blue satin, endlessly spread out in front of them, waiting to be completely measured for the first time.
The fleet sailed for two days before sailing from the deep blue sea outside Volantis to the edge of the Smoking Sea.
The transition of boundaries does not happen suddenly, like someone slowly blurring out a transition zone between dark and light colors with their fingers.
The water changed from dark blue to gray-blue, from gray-blue to iron gray, and from iron gray to a turbid green-gray, as if something had stirred it from the bottom.
Scattered steam began to appear on the sea surface. After rising from the water, it was quickly blown away by the wind, like some kind of breath being exhaled slowly.
The smell of the air is also changing.
The original sea breeze that smelled of salt and tar was gradually replaced by a more complex smell that mixed sulfur and burning minerals, as if someone had lit an invisible furnace underground not far away.
The formation of the Smoking Sea is not a long time ago.
Before the emergence of this sea area, it was an alternating zone of shallow sea and plains that was not much different from other coastal areas.
On the day Doom of Valyria happened, all the volcanoes erupted at the same time, spreading from the center of the peninsula to the periphery, like a ignited spider web spreading from the center to the edge.
The earthquake tore apart the earth's crust. The huge the Rift quickly extended along the ancient geological fault lines, cutting the entire land into pieces. A large amount of seawater poured into the sinking depressions and rift valleys, and came into contact with the magma gushing from the ground, causing violent explosions. The steam column rose to thousands of meters high, blocking the sky and covering the sea surface for hundreds of miles.
The gases rising from the seabed contain sulfur and various compounds, which combine with water vapor in the air to form a gray-white mist layer. Even on a clear day, the mist will not completely dissipate.
This sea area is named after its fog. The water vapor is so diffuse that the sea surface is shrouded in gray-white gauze all year round. From a distance, it looks like a giant blanket that is slowly steaming.
Hundreds of years have passed, and volcanic activity has still not completely stopped.
Some volcanoes have entered a dormant state, with their craters blocked and cracks filled with cooling lava. Only occasional bubbles rising from the bottom emerge from deep water areas, explode into a small ball of white steam on the water surface, and then quickly dissipate.
Others are still active, and heat and gas continue to seep from invisible gaps under the sea surface, making the surrounding seawater temperature significantly higher than normal.
After the fleet entered the range of the Smoking Sea, Douglas increased its vigilance, and the distance between all warships was widened.
Observers were assigned to the observation decks at the front of the ship and on both wings, keeping an eye on possible changes and color differences on the sea.
The route is not a straight line.
The surface of the Smoking Sea only seems to have an extra layer of gray water vapor than the ordinary sea, but the terrain underneath is already complex and changeable, with reefs and shoals scattered all over. The seabed in some places was once part of the land, and became rugged after being submerged.
Douglas chooses to avoid those boiling areas for several very practical reasons.
First of all, the seawater temperature in those areas is extremely high, and the heat conducted from below can even be felt a few feet away from the water.
If the hull stays or drives into it for a long time, the wooden structure of the bottom of the ship may be deformed or brittle due to heat, affecting the overall strength and durability of the ship.
Secondly, the visibility in those areas is very low, and the thick steam column will block the line of sight, making it impossible for the lookout to see clearly the water conditions ahead, increasing the risk of running aground on the rocks.
In addition, the bubbles that emerge from the sea surface are usually not just water vapor, but sometimes contain some toxic gases escaping from cracks in the seafloor. Experienced captains will stay away from all areas where bubbles are emerging, because they are not sure what those bubbles contain besides air and water vapor.
So they keep going around.
Sometimes it turned to the right to avoid an area of visible steam, and sometimes it turned left for a short distance to avoid those unusually colored waters on the sea.
As they walked through it, they could occasionally see some ancient towers emerging from the water.
It was built during the Valyria fortress period. Before the doomsday catastrophe, those towers were likely to be part of an outpost or coastal stronghold. At that time, they stood on solid land and were built with black volcanic rocks. They were strong enough to withstand the erosion of sea wind and time.
Now the sea water has submerged most of their lower structures, leaving only a few broken spiers protruding from the water, like tombstones in a submerged city that can still be identified.
Redd stood at the bow of the ship and glanced at the broken towers that were slowly passing by the side of the ship.
Dark moss grows in the stone cracks on the surface of those buildings, and several iron decorations have been rusted into dark brown outlines of varying shades. Some eaves and corners at the top of the towers have broken off, exposing the weathered rock surface.
He felt that those towers were like some kind of deliberate marks, suggesting that this once prosperous land still preserved some of its skeletons under the sea.
The wreckage gradually approached in the morning light and mist, and then gradually retreated towards the stern of the ship, like a series of turned pages, each page recording fragmentary information but not providing complete clues for interpretation.