ALL NOVEL Chapter 35
Chapter 35: What Lies Beyond the Sea?
The 【Noah’s Ark】 was nothing more than a scaled-up version of that previous little boat model.
Its outer shell was made of special steel, coated with a brownish paint to disguise it as a wooden structure. Although it had a sail supposedly hoisted at the top, the vessel was actually driven by an internal magic furnace.
The reason for this design was simple: the 【Noah’s Ark】 was originally described in legends as a wooden sailing ship. Since it was given that name, it had to be perfectly replicated, according to someone’s words.
“My goddess…”
“Praise the ancients!”
“W-where on earth did this thing come from!?”
A series of gasps came from nearby, and the surrounding troops gradually gathered due to the commotion. Vilyric, uninterested, snapped her fingers, and a delicate metal ramp was immediately lowered from the ship.
The Priestess was the first to step aboard.
Liliya could handle the troop matters, so Vilyric went alone to the central control room and quickly adjusted the ship’s AI system.
It seemed the AI of the 【Noah’s Ark】 only had basic intelligence; unlike Little Dragon Daughter, it hadn’t evolved into a true sentient being and was still only able to follow Vilyric’s commands monotonously, which made her somewhat regretful but also relieved.
After all, the Priestess had a lot of good stuff in her backpack. If the AI had its own thoughts, wouldn’t everything go haywire?
In the game, most items became intelligently active once they reached the sacred artifact level, just like this ship.
After idly waiting in the control room for a while, until all the troops led by Liliya boarded the 【Noah’s Ark】, she finally began issuing orders to the AI.
“01, raise the anchor. Our target is the opposite bank of this river, in the 50-degree section, there’s a large slope over there, let’s dock there.”
“Yes, Lady Vilyric. The autonomous travel time has been calculated to be 27 minutes and 31 seconds. Would you like assistance from the automatic navigation system?”
A clear female voice rang out in all directions of the control room, pleasant to hear but cold and mechanical—a true signature of a proper AI.
By the way, since naming was a hassle, Vilyric usually just referred to her as “01.”
“Start the autopilot.”
“Understood, Lady Vilyric. The Noah’s Ark has been activated, and the power furnace is charging. Movement will commence in 12 seconds. Please prepare yourself.”
“Just handle the minor details, and if there’s a critical decision, inform me via broadcast.”
“Understood, Lady Vilyric.”
With the AI operating the travel course autonomously, Vilyric left the control room to join Liliya and the others on the deck.
“Hey, Liliya.”
Vilyric waved cheerfully at the princess.
The several generals had gone to command the troops, and witnessing such a magical scene, they didn’t dare complain anymore; naturally, they worked hard. Now, only Liliya, Hua, and a few loyal shadow guards remained on the deck.
Speaking of which, Vilyric had recently just noticed that the shadow guards, Liliya’s private troop, were all girls…?
According to Liliya, the shadow guards were personally selected from orphans, persecuted individuals, or poor commoners—requiring absolutely clean and reliable backgrounds.
Among these people, there naturally were both males and females, but since shadow guards usually traveled with the princess for personal protection, there were many inconveniences with males. Liliya simply assigned them all to the Imperial Guards Knight Order, those silver-armored warriors she carried with her.
Although the shadow guard girls on the deck all wore tight black outfits that concealed their faces, Vilyric could vaguely tell that they were all quite beautiful, hmm… it felt like the princess might have considered looks while choosing her recruits.
“Sister Vilyric, you’re here!”
Upon seeing the black-haired girl emerge from below, Liliya’s eyes lit up, and without hesitation, she rushed over to grasp her hand, leaning against the railing, enjoying the breeze from the river, her expression joyful and happy.
“Honestly, this is my first time on such a large ship. I’ve heard that the easternmost part of the world, called the sea, is countless times larger than this black river. Sometimes people return from the far eastern countries and write about their experiences on the sea; it sounds really fascinating.”
“Sister Vilyric, do you think they sail on such massive ships too? What lies beyond the sea?”
Uh… even if you ask me, I wouldn’t know…
Regarding the first question from the princess, technically, this world should be able to build ships larger than the Noah’s Ark.
While other countries were not clear, based on the United Kingdom’s situation, although the overall culture resembled a medieval setting, the existence of magic and various extraordinary powers meant it couldn’t simply be compared to Blue Star.
As for what lies beyond the sea… if we were to explain using Blue Star’s circumstances, it should ultimately lead back to the coastal area of the western continent.
However, to the west of this world, it was said to be an endless wasteland, so Vilyric couldn’t confirm where one would end up after sailing eastward across the sea; it seemed that those who had tried this in the past never returned, thus she couldn’t confidently answer Liliya.
Fortunately, it appeared that the princess was merely in a chatty mood and soon collected herself, returning to a demeanor of authority and calm, her expression serious as she gazed at the increasingly turbulent waters of the river.
“We should be… ready now.”
The blue-haired girl murmured, and as if to respond to her words, the river suddenly swirled into a massive vortex, pulling at the 【Noah’s Ark】 with an intense force.
But if it could be shaken just by this degree, Vilyric and her companions wouldn’t have taken this item to cross the sea. The surging waters didn’t deviate the ship’s direction even an inch; the 【Noah’s Ark】 was still sailing steadily toward the opposite bank.
The vortex visually paused for an instant, and across the river, Vilyric could feel the awkwardness of the entity behind it—perhaps they had never encountered such a situation before.
But right after that, the awkwardness quickly transformed into furious rage!
With a sound like thunder, massive amounts of river water surged into the air, turning into sharp rain droplets that violently struck the ship’s body, and at the same time, a continuous dull thud echoed from the bottom of the 【Noah’s Ark】.
“What the heck? If you can’t win, just splash water… I really don’t want to get all wet in broad daylight.”
With a headache, she let out a light sigh, ignoring the shadow guard girls drawing weapons to intercept the water droplet projectiles and Hua, who was aiming with her short bow at a spot on the river, Vilyric snapped her fingers again.
Buzz ~
A magnificent golden curtain spanning kilometers instantly enveloped the entire ship, forming a semi-circular shield that completely protected the 【Noah’s Ark】.
Although, for the sake of navigation, the barrier of 【Divine Protection】 couldn’t shield the section beneath the river, Vilyric merely wanted to avoid getting inexplicably soaked.
She had already noticed the things lurking in the river. Given their attacking power, they wouldn’t be able to shake the sacred artifact level 【Noah’s Ark】, which was specifically reinforced for defense.
If they just stayed hidden inside without showing themselves, Vilyric wouldn’t have cared, but they were still foolish enough to make a move…