Chapter 545 - 541 – ANCHORS RAISED: LEAVING THE CHIMERA CONTINENT

Several days had passed since the slaughter at the forest border, where packs of hungry savage monsters had instead ended up as valuable material and logistics supplies for the Nocture fleet. On the coast of the Chimera Continent, the scenery had changed drastically from a barren beach into a sturdy and intimidating military base. Construction of this coastal base had been carried out without rest, day and night, by the undead, Dwarves, Elves, and Beastkin. Because the undead never knew fatigue, the main defensive structures already stood tall, cutting across the shoreline.

Inside the main command pavilion erected at the highest point of the base, the fragrant aroma of spices and roasted meat overpowered the fishy smell of the sea and the poisonous miasma. Sylvia, the Queen of Death who stood at the peak of the hierarchy as a Rank 7 Demigod, sat leaning back in her velvet chair with her characteristic lazy gaze. Before her was served a large portion of steak and rib soup perfectly cooked from the remaining meat of the house-sized Rank 5 Mutated Bull she had hunted several days earlier with only one index finger.

Sofia, who continuously managed the bureaucracy and was an expert at purifying giant-sized mutated food ingredients, was not present because she had to remain in the City of Nocture to protect the center of civilization. In her place, Stacia Sylvia’s sister who wore glasses and possessed ten black angel wings sat across the table. Beside her dinner plate lay an open magic grimoire. Stacia, who served as ecology expert and alchemy scientist, was busy recording the anomalies of flora and fauna in the region.

"This continent is truly a fascinating ecological anomaly," Stacia muttered while adjusting her glasses, her eyes never leaving the notes in her grimoire. "Post-apocalypse Earth has expanded tens to hundreds of times its original size. From the soil samples and geological structures I analyzed, this Chimera Continent is a massive landmass resulting from the collision and fusion of several pre-apocalypse continental plates, specifically a combination of fragments from the J, Au, and Sa archipelagos."

Sylvia cut a large piece of the extremely tender mutant bull meat and chewed it with an expression full of happiness. "Hmm... and that’s why the monster meat here tastes so extraordinary. The insane genetic combination produces perfect texture."

"Not only that, Sylvia," Stacia continued, ignoring her sister’s food obsession. "The flora and fauna here have grown into giants due to the consumption of wild mana energy three times denser, as well as the extremely rich oxygen in the air. But, regardless of its biological richness, I feel we have already extracted enough information and resources from this coast."

Sylvia swallowed her food and slowly set down her silver fork. Her heterochromia eyes gazed out the pavilion window toward the giant Death Storm Wall in the distance, composed of hurricane winds, dense miasma, and red-black magical lightning. Beyond that wall stretched the Outer Ocean of blue bioluminescence filled with pure divine pressure, waiting to be explored.

"You’re right, Stacia," Sylvia said while giving a small yawn, allowing her aura of laziness to seep out. "After several days here, I feel it’s enough. This giant forest atmosphere is starting to get boring, and the mutant mosquitoes outside are really disturbing my afternoon naps. It’s time we move somewhere else."

Exactly as Sylvia finished that sentence, the pavilion curtains parted. Celes, the frontline fighter who now served as Supreme Commander of the Combat Forces, stepped inside. She wore her sacred sword at her waist, yet the dark circles under her eyes were slightly visible. Celes was extremely exhausted from having to manage operations, supply routes, camp construction, and field military logistics.

"Your Majesty," Celes greeted, kneeling on one knee to offer a knight’s salute. "I have come to deliver the daily report regarding the expansion of the logging camp."

"Just stand, my poor Celes," Sylvia said in a deliberately sympathetic tone. "Bring good news for your aching muscles. Halt all expansion projects. We will raise anchors today. We’re moving."

Celes fell silent for a moment, processing the sudden order. On one hand, she felt relieved that she no longer needed to think about fortress construction management. Yet on the other hand, her logistics brain immediately went into overdrive. "Moving, Your Majesty? But what about this coastal base? We have invested a great deal of resources into building infrastructure here. Will we dismantle it and transfer everything to the ships?"

"Of course not, that would be far too troublesome," Sylvia answered while leaning her back, allowing transparent black rose petals to swirl briefly around her as she used a bit of her astral power to stretch her body. "We will station troops here as a permanent garrison. This base will remain our primary foothold on the Chimera Continent."

"A garrison?" Celes furrowed her brow. "But Your Majesty, if we leave too many living troops such as Elves, Dwarves, or Beastkin here, it will reduce the main combat strength of our fleet in the Outer Ocean."

"Who said I would leave living beings that need food and sleep?" Sylvia smiled mysteriously. "Of course we will station troops here, but clearly only the zombies and other undead. Besides, there are plenty of them."

Sylvia was not exaggerating. Zark, the loyal undead Shadow General, commanded tens of millions of zombie troops incorporated into the Death Legion. Leaving one or two million elite undead troops at this coastal base would not even feel like a loss to Nocture’s total military strength.

"The Elite Zombie Knights and ranks of skeleton workers are more than enough to guard the defensive walls," Sylvia continued. "Elite Zombie Knights possess physiques almost indistinguishable from living humans; their skin does not decay, their bodies are warm, and their eyes glow red. They have sufficient tactical intelligence to defend this base against any high-level monster attack."

Celes exhaled in relief. "Understood, Your Majesty. That makes perfect sense. I will order the Nocture Death Knights to take over the main guard posts from the living soldiers. Then, what about the sea defenses? This base is on the coast, and monsters from the Outer Ocean could attack the harbor once our main fleet leaves."

Stacia, the primary designer of the Nocture fleet, closed her grimoire and joined the conversation. "We can leave a small portion of our fleet to patrol the coastline of the Chimera Continent."

"Exactly," Sylvia flicked her fingers. "On this island and coast, only five small cruiser ships will be left behind. Those five Hunter-Class Cruiser Ships, each 150 meters long, are already adequately armed to repel medium-scale sea threats. The rest of the fleet, including all the main dreadnoughts, will sail with me."

"Only five small cruiser ships?" Celes confirmed, noting the details on a parchment. Considering that the total Nocture fleet at departure consisted of 20 Hunter-Class Cruiser Ships, leaving five still meant they retained extremely massive naval firepower for exploration.

"That’s more than enough," Sylvia answered indifferently. "Five Hunter-Class Cruiser Ships and thousands of undead. If any giant sea monster or other stupid Sea God tries to cause trouble at this base, they will only be wasting their time."

Remembering how Sylvia had previously turned the Storm Sea King, a three-eyed entity that had swallowed a spark of Poseidon’s divinity into a statue of ash with a single finger flick, Celes knew her queen’s confidence was well-founded.

"What about the human civilization you discovered the other day, Your Majesty?" Celes asked, recalling the report of the small community of around two hundred souls hiding in the belly of the black rocky mountains.

Sylvia remembered the physical forms of those hunter humans who stood over 180 centimeters tall, with dense muscles, skin as hard as copper, and unique monster-hunter style weaponry such as Gunlance and Heavy Bowgun.

"Let those underground fortress hunter humans handle their own affairs," Sylvia ordered casually. "They are tough, utilizing geothermal energy, steam, underground mushrooms, and monster-hunting tactics. Our Shadow Zombies, tasked with espionage and shadow telepathy transmission, will continue monitoring them from a distance. As long as those humans do not disturb the borders of our undead base, let them evolve in their own world."

"Orders received, Your Majesty," Celes bowed. "I will immediately arrange the transfer of living personnel back to the ships and ensure the mana reactors are heated. The fleet will be ready to sail within two hours."

Two hours later, the artificial deep-sea harbor built on the coast of the Chimera Continent was filled with highly orderly activity. There was no panic or shouting common in human military departures; there was only the cold efficiency of logistics movements assisted by the lifeless.

Five Hunter-Class Cruiser Ships had been moored along the outermost sea defense line of the harbor, their anchors lowered deep, serving as floating cannon fortresses that would guard the coastal base. On land, millions of worker Skeleton Knights stood in neat ranks, forming a terrifying defensive wall, while Elite Zombie Knights stood atop the watchtowers with their glowing red eyes continuously scanning the forest.

In the center of the harbor, the remaining main fleet prepared to split the ocean. The primary focus of this fleet was the five main Eclipse-Class Dreadnought Ships. Each vessel was massive, 500 meters long and more than 80 meters wide. From the outside, the giant ships looked completely indestructible, wrapped in two-meter-thick Black Star Steel, a metal alloy created by the Dwarves and Stacia that could withstand miasma, magic, and kinetic impacts from sea monsters.

A low humming sound began to vibrate the air around the harbor. It was the sound of the five compressed Mana Crystal reactor towers made from Rank 6 Monster Cores, the heart of power that provided unlimited energy to those steel giants. On the decks, the hydraulic deck shells began sliding inward, preparing to activate the Storm-Repelling Shield Formations to protect the ships from the extreme weather of the Outer Ocean. The giant muzzles of the "Mana Cannon" engraved with ancient runes slowly rose, ready to fire pure energy projectiles at any monster that dared to block their path.

Sylvia had put her formal gown back on and stood on the main bridge of her flagship Dreadnought. The air in the stratosphere was highly turbulent, yet she could freely fly there if she wished. However, enjoying a voyage while relaxing on a steel deck was a form of recreation she valued more at the moment.

At her side, Sol the ancient giant Golden Dragon that had now shrunk into a spoiled golden cat form and Noir the Rank 7 Zombie Dragon sheathed in necrotic flames that had also shrunk into a small black cat were leisurely rolling around on the silk cushions specially prepared for them.

"All non-undead soldiers have boarded the ships, Your Majesty," Celes reported through the magical communication channel from the control room. "Reactors at one hundred percent. The Eclipse-Class Fleet is ready to depart."

"Good," Sylvia said, a thin smile adorning her beautiful face. "Leave the Chimera Continent. We head for deeper waters. Sail forward!"

Then the warships began sailing once more across the ocean. The dense blackish-red seawater around the coast was parted by the massive Black Star Steel bows. The small cruiser ships and five main dreadnoughts moved in arrow formation, leaving the undead base that now stood silent and deadly behind them.

The farther they sailed from the Chimera Continent’s landmass, the color of the seawater gradually changed. They had truly penetrated deep into the region beyond the storm wall. The poisonous red ocean shifted into the Outer Ocean of blue bioluminescence that glowed beautifully beneath a sunless sky.

Along with the change in water color, the pressure in the air became extremely heavy. The pure divine pressure radiating from the ocean floor made several human and Elf soldiers on the lower decks feel short of breath. Yet for a transcendent entity like Sylvia whose soul and Absolute Death authority stood at the conceptual boundary of Rank 7 Demigod that divine pressure felt no more than a cool spring breeze.

Sylvia walked to the edge of the deck, her hair fluttering in the cosmic sea wind. In her hand she gripped her Mythril Fishing Rod, a fishing artifact equivalent to a god-level defensive artifact.

"Somewhere out there," Sylvia murmured, her eyes sparkling with anticipation for the next legendary seafood dish. "Poseidon may still be hiding in fear inside his dimensional marble temple because of Persephone. But it’s not that cowardly god I’m searching for."

Her gaze pierced through the depths of the glowing blue water. She knew colossal entities rested at the bottom of these oceanic trenches. Jormungandr, the World Serpent of Nordic mythology, might be sleeping in the northern sea trench. Or perhaps Envy the Leviathan Serpent, the manifestation of the Great Sin of Envy that was trying to seize the title of World Serpent.

Whatever cosmic monsters would block her fleet ahead, Sylvia did not care about the threats they carried. The only thing on her mind was how to cut, season, and roast those giant monsters into a spectacular dinner dish.

"Let’s see," the Queen of Death said while casting the hook of her Mythril fishing rod into those deadly blue waters. "Which sea monster will become my next dinner menu."