"Sure enough, the other party is nearby and can observe the increase in the speed of the ship."

"He asked me to find a way to slow down the ship, which means they can't catch up here."

"He's afraid of being exposed because he's not capable of direct combat?"

Lu Ban briefly summarized a few points and imitated what he did yesterday to fool the guard and let him leave.

According to the current situation, Lu Ban felt that he could just accelerate infinitely and be done with it.

The enemy's ships cannot keep up with their speed. Even if there is an obstruction ahead, the fleet can rely on its high speed to quickly break free and reach its destination.

Of course, one of Lu Ban’s tasks is to eliminate other chosen ones who invaded this world. If he does this, he may have to wait until he gets ashore before waiting for an opportunity.

It's not a big problem.

Lu Ban is in awe of the ocean of this world.

The sea that can produce such delicious fish must not be underestimated.

If you encounter extremely bad weather conditions and the ship cannot determine its course or cannot be controlled, your acceleration will be like a headless fly. After all, acceleration has no navigation function and cannot always point to the destination.

However, just as the plan of the other chosen one could not keep up with the changes, Lu Ban's plan also could not keep up with the changes.

The storm came unexpectedly.

Starting from the evening of the fourth day after leaving Narcissus Island, the sea became turbulent.

The starry sky could no longer be seen, replaced by thick dark clouds. Bursts of thunder were heard, causing the ship to resonate.

Lu Ban saw that the sea in front of him was rolling like boiling water. The dark water was full of malice, which made people feel disgusted.

Deep purple lightning was faintly visible in the clouds, and the waves gradually rose. Soon, one could see the small boat in front was tossed in the waves, struggling to move forward.

Although Lu Ban can make it move forward at high speed, it is difficult to control the direction under the surge. Sometimes going too fast is not a good thing.

“Is the weather here always this bad?”

In the captain's room, looking at the heavy rain and raging waves outside, Lu Ban asked.

"Although there are many storms in the open sea, it is rare for one to appear so suddenly."

The captain was a middle-aged man in his forties with scars on his face, and he had obviously experienced many battles.

"Our route is like this. Logically, we will be closest to the Ash Sea by tomorrow evening. Before that, we shouldn't encounter such a big storm. The weather is abnormal. We didn't detect this during yesterday's and today's observations."

He pointed to the nautical chart. Ahead of the route, there was an area covered in bold text: Sea of ​​Ashes.

It is said that it is a forbidden area, where the "pure fire that once burned" has been extinguished. Although Lu Ban does not know why the pure fire has been extinguished, according to the captain, it is far more dangerous and terrifying than the border, and it is an area that all ships must try their best to avoid entering.

This is the end of the Narcissus Channel. Ahead, the ocean current will surge into the Ash Sea. Ships need to avoid the ocean current and drive carefully to enter the second half of the Akiyama Channel. The second half is an area infested by pirates, with more man-made disasters than natural disasters.

Thinking in the opposite direction of Acorus's idea, the rulers of the Waseda Taisha should deploy the encirclement fleet in the second half, so that they can obtain intelligence and supplies, and also pay off those greedy pirates to launch attacks on the fleet through them.

Of course, it is more likely that both sides will attack the fleet at the intersection of the two waterways, forcing the fleet to enter the Sea of ​​Ashes. In that sea area, the power of nature is enough to make everything go smoothly.

"You mean, this storm appeared suddenly, as a result of a ritual?"

Calamus is alert.

"Impossible, impossible. How could someone who can accomplish this level of weather manipulation not be noticed by the authorities?"

The captain immediately refuted, but in the end, he became speechless.

Official, yes, aren’t they being hunted by the official now?

This is something that everyone, including the Wadashima Taisha Shrine, the dignitaries in charge, and Sakurajima and Kohaku's families, are well aware of.

The pursuit of Amber is not a conspiracy, but an open conspiracy.

If Amber cannot make this journey, then she will naturally not be qualified to inherit the position of the high priestess.

The rest is just a matter of whether the project looks good on the surface.

On this unsupervised sea, the distinction between justice and evil is not so clear.

In fact, even this captain was just gambling like Acorus.

Should I continue to drift on this sea and die at the hands of monsters, pirates, or traitors one day, or take a gamble, gain territory and fiefdom, and live forever on solid earth.

In the midst of the wind and rain, deep purple lightning struck.

Boom——

An extremely thick bolt of lightning fell from the sky into the sea, like a straight pillar, and even after falling into the sea, it spread out into countless silver branches because of its conductivity, but it still did not disappear.

Boom——

Another bolt of lightning struck, this time from a closer location. When the lightning dimmed, Lu Ban could even smell the burnt stench of sea creatures being burned.

"It will definitely be delicious if you use it to grill fish."

Lu Ban sighed, attracting the attention of Acorus and the Captain.

"It's a word spirit. I don't know what level of priest or miko they activated, but it's definitely not easy to deal with."

Acorus looked at the lightning that kept falling and muttered to himself.

At this moment, a whistle sounded from the deck.

The three of them came to the window and looked at the mast whose sails had already been furled.

On the lookout tower in the middle of the mast, the sailor was waving his flag and blowing his whistle.

Lu Ban learned a little bit of flag language these days. Based on his limited knowledge, the meaning of the flag language was very simple.

"Enemy attack!"

The captain put on his hat, hung up his sword and musket, and walked out of the captain's room.

Lu Ban and Chang Pu followed behind. As soon as they walked out of the cabin, they were hit by a dense curtain of rain formed by heavy downpour, covering everything and making it impossible to see far away.

At this moment, a bolt of lightning happened to fall, illuminating the whole world.

Lu Ban saw in the distance, at the end of the sea level, the sails of three ships were slowly rising under the cover of thunder.

Any ship that appears at this time is 100% an enemy.

"Leica, go!"

At Lu Ban's command, Laika on the deck dived into the sea. In a place where people could not see, its well-behaved corgi appearance was long gone, replaced by the form of a flesh-and-blood hound covered with tentacles and eyeballs. In the sea, it swam towards the direction of the three ships, forming the first line of defense.

At this time, accompanied by the second thunder, the three saw four warships appearing in front of the ship.

They were surrounded.

On the mast of the warship, the flashing light was also transmitting a signal, and this time Lu Ban didn't even need to interpret it.

This must be a signal for war.

"Raise the Sakurajima flag. Everyone, prepare for battle. Move the shells out of the warehouse. Girls, it's time to prove you're a man."

The captain shouted, causing the sailors who were still reinforcing the deck to immediately become busier.

After he finished speaking, he looked at Lu Ban and Acorus.

"Please both of you accompany the miko. I hope she can help us."

“It’s also helping herself.”