# Chapter 70: Charge In
The summer winds of the Far Sea always carried torrential rain, and the Abyss of Anos was no exception. Although the downpour had gradually subsided, and even the surging waves had grown docile, a fine drizzle still lingered, swirling above the waves with the slightly icy sea breeze.
Perhaps it was the aftermath of Joshua and the church members going all out, or perhaps it was the influence of the bizarre ritual within the great maelstrom—when the third Chaos rune appeared in the sky, cracks split the thick rain clouds. The silver light of the twin moons poured down like water, cascading toward the sea like a staircase.
The eerie calm, the suddenly placid waves, and the gentle moonlight were all utterly incongruous with this violent and raging sea, stirring doubt and unease in the heart.
But the Black Dragon girl liked it.
The white ark raced across the relatively calm sea. With the help of the warrior's black-red battle qi, the Time Vessel's speed increased with each passing moment, even surpassing the swordfish known for their speed in the ocean.
Black stood at the bow, right behind Joshua. She wrapped her arms around her master's waist, tilting her head slightly to gaze with the warrior at the dark line where sea met sky. In her ears came the distant rumbling of the great maelstrom.
The urgent sea breeze swept past the girl's side, and her flying strands of hair whipped back into Black's face, making her nose itch. Just then, Joshua reached out and helped the girl tuck the stray hair behind her ear. At the same time, a gentle instruction came.
"Black, move your head back a little. Your horn is poking me."
Hearing this, the Black Dragon girl obediently shrank back, moving the hard dragon horn on the side of her head away so as not to hinder the warrior's control of his battle qi.
But even so, she did not let go of her hands.
Because her master's body was very warm.
It was different from the heat of magma, different from the licking of flames. It was a strange feeling. Sir Loranda, Sir Robzek, and Miss Saya's holy light was also warm, but it was not the same as the temperature on her master's body.
It was a peculiar sense of reassurance that made her unable to resist drawing close.
—Black had once been a warhorse.
An ordinary dragon-blood warhorse.
There were many such warhorses. On the battlefields of the Western Great Plains against the orcs, these horses with a trace of dragon beast blood were the standard mounts for vanguard knights. They had the stamina of dragon beasts and the loyalty of horses—the best cost-effective mounts in the Imperial army.
But precisely because they were warhorses, they would follow their masters onto the battlefield, facing the ferocious orc hordes and the stone rhino heavy cavalry that could crush everything. Like humans, they could die at any moment, or be crippled and lame in battle. Because they were mounts, their lives were insignificant. Few truly cared.
Black was lucky. It had participated in several major battles and returned unscathed. It was also unlucky, because war was endless—one battle ended, another began. This time it was intact, but next time it might be chopped into pieces.
During its time as a warhorse, Black thought of nothing. It lacked the intelligence, and it didn't understand the war's situation. It could only grasp one thing: its life was like a candle flame, like summer flowers—it could be extinguished at any moment, wither at any time.
—Until that day.
A tall, black-haired warrior came hurriedly to the stable. He swept his gaze over all the horses eating, then casually pointed.
The warhorse's fate changed from that moment.
This warrior was not a good rider.
On the journey to the Northern lands, although he took care of the warhorse's stamina, his riding skill was far from masterful. Sometimes he pulled too hard on the reins, even leaving blood marks on the horse's neck... Of course, this was nothing. Such things happened often on the battlefield. And the warrior was only traveling, not fighting to the death. The warhorse was tired, but still managing.
As time passed, the warrior's riding skill improved rapidly, and he reached his destination—a great city covered in frost and snow.
"Alright, horse, you're free."
Amid the swirling snow, the warrior untied the reins, removed the saddle and other restraints from the warhorse. He stroked the mane on the horse's neck and spoke softly to it. "You have dragon blood. You should be able to live well in this wilderness. From now on, no one can bind you."
Watching the warrior turn decisively and walk step by step toward that black city, the warhorse felt confused. Born as a war mount, it had never understood what freedom meant. The absence of human control only made the warhorse uneasy.
Just as water flows to low places, and clouds rise into the sky, how should a warhorse without a master live?
It didn't know. The warhorse tried to linger outside the city for a few days, but still didn't know what it should do. After brief thought, it simply followed the warrior's scent to the mansion where he lived.
Black still remembered to this day: when the warrior saw it again, a gentle smile appeared on his slightly surprised face.
"Very well, then. From now on, you are my mount."
It didn't understand what he meant.
Because the warhorse was the warrior's mount. It always had been, and it had never changed.
So it was willing to accompany this man charging at the enemy, willing to accompany this warrior against the Black Tide. No matter how dangerous, it could not frighten the warhorse, because it knew that no difficulty could stop the black-haired warrior on its back. He seemed born to overcome everything.
Then came victory, victory after victory. The warrior's strength grew so quickly that the warhorse could not keep up.
Perhaps this was the time to leave. It had a vague premonition. A mount that couldn't keep up with its master's strength would naturally be abandoned.
But this black-haired man was incredibly generous. For this ordinary dragon-blood warhorse, he was willing to spend astonishing sums of money to buy ancient dragon blood, to purchase rare awakening potions, to go to the trouble of preparing all materials that could enhance its strength.
He personally gave the warhorse power, gave the half-dragon wisdom, gave the Black Dragon girl dignity, gave her the present and the future, gave Black hope in the truest sense.
Around the warrior swirled black currents—countless screaming, hateful soul fragments. The resentment of countless monsters gathered in the killing intent waves, forming his power. Among them were the laments of dragons. Black felt genuine fear toward this power, but it could not stop her instinct to draw close to Joshua.
Because that warm feeling would not turn cold due to these superficial factors. The seemingly cold warrior had a heart so hot it seemed to burn.
Perhaps this feeling was what they called loyalty.
—The runes in the sky slowly appeared again.
With the fourth twisted rune emerging, the atmosphere grew more oppressive. A trace of Abyss power began to form a thin black mist, sticking to the ark's holy light barrier. A grating corrosion sound rang out, and the originally sturdy barrier began to be eroded and twisted.
But a ring of white holy light rose, blocking all the Abyss mist outside.
"Light of the Shining Sun, protect this place."
Saya now held a scepter sacred artifact, standing in the center of the Time Vessel's deck. The High Sister stood in place, softly chanting devout prayers. Rings of healing holy light transformed into powerful blessing power, enveloping all the crew on the ark and the ark itself.
Last time, when they approached the great maelstrom, they had encountered a similar situation. Dealing with the erosion of Abyss power was something Saya handled with ease. The Church of the Seven Gods had long prepared for this.
Interestingly, the three church members present had each awakened different holy lights. Saya had naturally awakened healing holy light, Robzek had the most lethal Heavenly Blazing Holy Light, and Loranda, like successive Popes, had awakened Judgment Holy Light.
According to Joshua, these three different holy light powers could merge, temporarily simulating power close to that of a deity. This was a secret within the church's upper echelons, the highest level of secret arts. It seemed all three knew this secret art, otherwise they wouldn't have been deliberately sent together to complete the mission.
As for whether this secret art was called "Ya X Na's Wonder" or something else, the warrior did not know.
"Those monsters can't catch up."
Robzek was now watching with Loranda, Hill, and Fina the three Chaos monsters close to Ultimate-rank that were following behind the ark. He couldn't help but show a relieved smile. "Last time, they took advantage of the ark's lack of preparation and attacked from the side. Trying the same trick again? Hah."
The blonde Paladin's face was cold. "After all, monsters have no intelligence. They might not even have memory. Who knows."
The Sea Dragon lady also recalled the dangerous battle last time. Watching the Chaos monsters fall further behind, she sneered. "What use is a hard shell? So slow, they deserve to eat dust!"
When fighting those Wild Gods last time, Fina had recklessly engaged because she didn't know their physical strength, and was almost cut in half at the waist by a giant lobster-like crystal shell monster's huge claw. Even now, she still felt some fear and indignation.
Hill, however, was silently calculating the ark's speed in his mind. After a while, he frowned and said, "We're going too fast. At this rate, we'll reach the central maelstrom in less than an hour... Charging in like this? Is this speed okay?"
No one answered the elf youth's question. This could be considered tacit agreement. Seeing this, Hill couldn't help but shrug. "Fine, you trust the Time Vessel's durability. But I have to say, the vortex force of a maelstrom at this level is enormous. The ark might not hold..."
At the bow, no one disturbed Joshua and Black. The warrior controlled his battle qi, making the ark continue speeding toward the great maelstrom.
As the Time Vessel gradually approached the great maelstrom, the Abyss aura grew thicker. Under the influence of a strange power, the clouds in the sky closed their gaps. The silver moonlight no longer fell, and the drizzling rain gradually turned into a downpour.
The world was vast and indistinct, but the twisted Chaos runes on the clouds were strikingly clear. Now, the number of runes had increased to six. Judging by the number and shape, the unknown ritual might have already completed more than a quarter. This immediately pulled everyone's mood away from the relief of having killed a large group of sea beasts and shaken off three powerful monsters, growing increasingly serious.
"What exactly is that ritual?"
Loranda stared intently at those Chaos runes. He had a very bad feeling. "I feel the surrounding environment growing stranger. The Abyss of Anos is beginning to undergo mutation."
"The seawater around us has been corrupted. The holy light runes at the bottom of the Time Vessel are being eroded by Abyss power." Robzek received information from the captain. His face was also full of seriousness. "Although the ark was prepared for this, the erosion speed this time is several times faster than last time. The energy in the Fusion Core Star is already struggling to keep up."
Fina's words were very direct. "In that case, I'll add some force."
Before she finished speaking, the Dragon girl simply bent down and pressed one hand on the ark's deck.
A surge of cyan lightning power mixed with a large amount of arcane power formed a peculiar magnetic force. It repelled the magnetic field coming from the deep sea, reducing the Time Vessel's weight considerably. Joshua turned his head with interest to glance at Fina, then controlled the distribution of his battle qi so as not to interfere with the Dragon girl's output.
This ability was a further application of lightning arcane power. He had originally thought Fina was just an ordinary thunder-type Sea Dragon, but never expected she had reached this level. It was pleasantly surprising.
The ark's speed increased further. Now, it was almost flying across the sea surface. The hull barely touched the water. Two different forces simultaneously repelled the seawater, dragging it forward at extreme speed.
Wind and rain were left behind by this giant vessel. The surrounding scenery turned into fleeting shadows that vanished one after another. A countercurrent storm appeared on the surface of the Abyss of Anos, and the center of this storm was the Time Vessel.
Ignoring towering waves, ignoring pouring rain, ignoring the raging wind and surging currents—all obstacles before the ark were like illusions. This white giant ship charged straight toward the great maelstrom in a straight line.
In the captain's cabin, the red-haired old man staring intently at the ark's instruments was so shocked that his agate pipe fell to the floor. The speed displayed on the densely packed magical instruments made him rub his eyes three times and still not believe it. He muttered to himself more than once, expressing his astonishment.
"Is this really a giant ship sailing on the sea? Am I riding a dragon flying through the sky?!"
Regardless, the facts were what they were.
Half an hour flew by. Everyone could clearly hear the rumbling of the central great maelstrom not far away.
And at the bow, looking down from a height at the distance, Joshua could already see the scenery ahead.
In the sky, countless dark clouds gathered into masses. Purple lightning crisscrossed within them, releasing eerie electric light that irritated the mind. Eight twisted Chaos runes hung upon them, already forming a quarter of a great formation.
And a pitch-black, colossal maelstrom emitted a rolling roar far surpassing thunder. At a glance, it seemed to have no end. Its diameter was roughly estimated to be over ten kilometers. The surging waves formed by the terrifying vortex swept along the inner wall of the funnel-like maelstrom, as if it could shatter any foreign object.
Just one look at this scene was enough to shake the soul. Even though everyone present had seen this sight before, their movements couldn't help but pause slightly. The enormous Time Vessel ark was like a speck of dust beside this maelstrom, insignificant, at any moment it could be swallowed by it.
Boom boom boom——————
An extremely dense Abyss aura emanated from this great maelstrom. Pitch black, with not a trace of light visible. The center of the maelstrom, which even lightning could not illuminate, seemed like an entrance leading to another world. Countless seawater poured down into it.
"What do we do?"
Someone asked this. Their voice seemed hesitant, as if not yet prepared.
"Charge through."
The warrior answered simply. "We charge straight into the center of the maelstrom."
At the same time.
In the cabin, a gray-haired girl was secretly watching the people on the deck.
Her gaze focused on the warrior standing at the very front. Indescribable emotions turned in her eyes. After a moment, her gaze settled into determination.