[Clock Tower] Sixth layer, within a moderately sized secret realm.
In a place seemingly scarred by the baptism of war, nothing but ruins remain. Two mysterious figures, one in a gray robe and the other in black, casually walk along a foggy path.
Crackle... Crackle...
The sound of bones echoes.
On the battlefield, soldier corpses occasionally rise, ard with weapons from various eras: obsidian spears, leather catapults, blowguns, bows and arrows, bronze swords, crossbow arrows, iron swords, steel blades, matchlock guns, flintlock guns... they continually launch attacks on the two figures.
From modern tis back to ancient eras, as if battlefields from all ages of human history had converged here.
But these elite soldiers, possibly representing the pinnacle power of their respective eras, even enhanced to an extraordinary level, were clearly no match for the two figures, falling back into the dust under the dazzling flashes of blades.
They couldn't even slightly hinder their forward steps.
However, those insects ant to be the vanguard, hostile to outsiders, were nowhere to be seen.
Chitter-chitter...
Even though the battlefield was filled with urgent insect chirps in the gray mist, not a single insect or demon-like creature actually attacked.
The two figures thus smoothly reached the most central and ancient part of this secret realm battlefield, where the soldiers still wore animal skins and wielded the most primitive wooden and bone tools.
One of them wore a gray-white leather robe, revealing a head with a pale complexion yet fully restored to human appearance.
But the clover-shaped symtry of four green eyes made it clear at a glance that this was a "Desecrating Priest" under the Maze God Aihote's command.
Since using Bradley's body as a breeding ground in the "Maze Ga," a new descendant of Aihote was born.
The esoteric sect "Fog of Order" used the cities of Camside and Brichester, closest to the Mist Sea in the Chaotic Territory, as their base, gradually expanding their influence.
As of today, two years later, more and more powerful "Blasphemous Cultists" under the ancient gods' command have managed to leave the Mist Sea, and clearly, one has appeared here.
Though the power of the ancient gods left indelible marks on their bodies, much like the forr ancient god now King of Ghouls, Cold Monarch Mordician's followers, they gradually integrated into the new world.
And as the Maze God Aihote spread his faith, he established his formal new title— "Just Angel," which stirred the imagination.
The other was a Great Knight among the "Oathbreakers," with a vertical scar almost splitting his face, and eyes cold and devoid of humanity, inspiring fear upon sight.
Though it was unknown how long he had lain dormant under the protection of the "Black Wing Order," judging by its mbers' composition, this Great Knight was unlikely an obscure figure.
When they arrived here, the piece of insect shell the "Blasphemous Cultist" held seed to resonate with so unknown presence in the void, starting to flicker continuously.
Evidently, it was a unique "token."
Holding this shell, even though they had to follow the [Clock Tower]'s established rules like everyone else, the difficulty was set to the "easiest" level, akin to a ga's difficulty selection of "nightmare, hard, normal, easy."
The rewards they gained were correspondingly ager, but their purpose was never treasure hunting. They bore crucial missions, executing the will of their respective gods.
"'Cold Face' Mr. Balger, the resistance of the [Clock Tower] remains strong; even the great being cannot directly reverse it and must find loopholes to gradually erode the existing system.
But after countless years of slumber, everything is about to beco different."
"Ekquwa Priest, isn't that precisely why we've co here?"
Guided by the "token," utilizing this "space-ti battlefield" on the sixth layer with far less intense combat than the "Eye of the Giant," they aid to take a step no explorer had ever completed in countless years.
Swish...
Upon feeling their arrival, a large hole suddenly opened in the center of the battlefield, pouring out countless black beetles like a fountain, slowly assembling into a nearly six-ter-high giant archway.
Although composed of living beetles, even the intricate patterns on the gate were discernible.
Screech—
The gate leading to the seventh layer of the [Clock Tower] slowly opened.
The sepulchral yellow light seeped through the gate, an eerie atmosphere a hundred tis thicker than twilight enveloped them.
Subsequently, the bizarre, chaotic, and discordant aura with the world left the two Tier 3 Transcendents feeling on the edge of an abyss.
...
At the sa ti.
On the sixth layer of the [Clock Tower], the sea within the tower— Eye of the Giant.
This space's main feature is a vast ocean, roughly a perfect circle with a diater of 1,600 kiloters, encompassing an area of 2 million square kiloters.
Pioneers suspect this sea water is the common source of all water bodies within the [Clock Tower], with most seawater absorbed into the [Clock Tower] converging here, accumulating over the years to reach its current massive size.
With normal winds, rain, thunder, lightning, and polar-like ring currents.
Among them are hundreds of islands, large and small, continuously drifting across the sea, each possessing specific rules and treasures.
Aiven and his team arrived here neither too early nor too late, but like so of the outsiders before them, after being teleported to an outermost island with nothing on it, they were completely restricted in their movent.
They could only stare helplessly at the sea outside, with the constant sounds of killing and explosions filling the air.
Boom! Boom! Boom!...
"Kill!"
Indeed, even if all the outsiders couldn't leave, it didn't an the sea was peaceful.
Looking out, all kinds of at least thousands of warships from various eras and the heroic spirits residing within them are chasing and fighting across the vast sea.
Among them are ancient relics that have ruled coastal warfare for three thousand years in this world—rowing ships, oared sailboats.
They use sharp tal rams for striking, and then employ a device called the "Crow's Nest" for powerful boarding maneuvers.
This ancient bridge device is approximately 11 ters long, 1.2 ters wide, with railings on both sides, and a pulley at the bow and mast allows the bridge to move and descend.
At the front end of the bridge is a bird-beak-shaped heavy iron nail that can pierce the enemy's deck when the bridge falls, fixing the two ships together and providing a boarding passage for soldiers.
Finally, they rely on dense knives, guns, swords, and halberds for close-quarter lee to decide the outco of the war.
Slightly more advanced than these ancient relics are the cannon-equipped oared sailboats, the earliest "gunships", but the cannon numbers are few and inefficient, not fundantally changing the combat mode of the oared sailboats.
Continuing along the tiline of developnt.
The next to appear on a large scale were the "Clark Sailboats", featuring enormous curved sterns, towering fore and aft decks, and massive diagonal masts at the bow. The foremast was fitted with several square sails for downwind sailing, while the aft mast had a triangular sail for sailing against the wind.
This type of sailboat was equipped with multi-layer decks, allowing heavy cannons to be moved from the main deck to the lower gun decks, and the cannons in the fore and aft decks were mostly small cannons for personnel damage.
However, due to the undeveloped casting technology at the ti, they posed little threat to Extraordinary individuals, boarding wars still determined the key to victory in wars.
Then there was the type very close to modern warships—"Galleons."
These possessed greater stability during water navigation, with lowered foredecks, a more elongated narrow hull, yet retained only the tall stern. The square fore and aft decks and sturdy hull also made these sailboats more suitable for ocean expeditions, trade, and naval battles.
The Galleon model took the tactics of "sea assault" to the extre, becoming the greatest reliance and the earliest prototype of battleships for the Hilus Empire to dominate the seas today.
In front of Aiven, all sorts of contemporary, outdated, advanced, flawed warships and combat techniques simultaneously present here—the living, breathing historical museum.
Also a certain epito of the current Age of Navigation.
Of course, possibly due to the delayed update of the [Clock Tower], the modified battleships represented by the Tulip Alliance, with gradually lowered fore and aft decks, more conducive to unleashing the firepower advantage brought by industrial predominance, hadn't appeared on a large scale.
These had longer ranges, were more flexible, and had shone brightly during the Battle of Benin against the Invincible Fleet.
Since the modified battleships hadn't appeared, let's not ntion Aiven's invention that represents the pinnacle of the Age of Sails, the Heavy Cruiser.
Instead, a few fast sailboats occasionally drifted past, and even the brilliant Quasi-Legendary Battleships seed to appear. These served as the transport for outsiders for this journey, and it was evident not everyone was a Great Wizard or possessed a powerful storage device large enough to fit a ship.
Due to the unique nature, all ships entering the [Clock Tower] arrived in this sea.
However, regardless of the era to which the warship belonged, they all received certain enhancents in this space.
In the extraordinary world, just like the Galley owned by Jelos that's only a step away from legendary—what extraordinarily well-equipped battleship would dare claim it could defeat it?
Boom——
At this mont, a large Clark Ship was sunk by a Galleon near the sea surface not far from where Aiven's team was located.
After just a few tens of minutes, it was as if ti had reversed, the sailboat had already completed self-repair, and the heroic spirits in ancient military apparel had been revived.
Apparently.
They didn't know how long they had been fighting here, but they were still going to fight on tirelessly...
Ti quietly passed.
During this ti, new outsiders continued to arrive.
And then three and a half days later.
While Aiven and Angie, bored, began researching the "Transcending Race and Life and Death: Life Artist's Pink Book" and the [Blood Chalice] they had obtained earlier.
The teammates they had arranged ahead of ti—Jelos, Stephanie, and Parrot Ram's team, finally arrived on this island under the combined influence of the "Adventurer's Blood" and the [beacon talisman].
With this, the team was finally assembled.
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