Chapter 104: The Golden Dreadnought

"Go Mudrock, I choose you!" Ash pointed at the large knight and the Sarkaz charged.

The knight swung his sword, but Mudrock just ignored it and blocked it with her arts shield.

"Fly." Mudrock uttered and everyone could hear the air whistle as her hammer cut the air.

The seaborne corrupted knight managed to block it with his sword, but he was sent flying through the wall of the control room.

"Be a little gentler, this place is breaking apart you know?" Ash reminded her and Mudrock scratched her head sheepishly.

"Sorry, I forgot. He seems strong, so I hit him a bit harder than I intended." Mudrock apologized.

"That's her hitting the legendary last knight softer?" Jordi blinked dumbly and his mouth was agape.

"Weren't you watching earlier boy? That guy can snap any one of us like a twig." Dario remembered Mudrock fighting the horde earlier.

"I'm a girl you know?" Mudrock craned her neck towards Dario and he was shocked to the core.

"Is she for real?" Irene raised a brow. Mudrock's helmet didn't really help with identifying her gender. Because it makes her voice neutral.

"Yeah, she's actually not that tall. Maria is taller than her." Ash revealed and Mudrock nodded. She was cute with a blank face after all.

"A-ahem, sorry about that miss." Dario bowed quickly. As a Spanish, ahem. An Iberian, it was a crime to misidentify a lady.

Mudrock then took off her helmet, surprising everyone once again.

"Damn, she's cute and beautiful. How is that possible when she can hit like a leviathan?" Irene was flabbergasted.

"Okay, enough talk." Zofia pointed at the broken door of the control room. And the last knight recovered.

"Strong, earth-like." His eerie voice resounded. "Oh? Is he really corrupted by the seaborne?" Ash squinted his eyes.

'Maybe his strong will didn't completely destroy his ego. I wish Skadi could do that too, or this trip will be much more troublesome than expected.' Ash sighed.

"I'll handle this salty tin can!" Lappland shouted and she swooped in like a predator.

Having more compatibility with Lappland, the knight blocked her arts. Poised for a sword battle.

"Bring it fish food!" Lappland charged again and she fought with the knight through pure swordsmanship.

"Is she a grand swordmaster? Her swings look like they're chaotic to the naked eye. But she has impeccable control and immeasurable ferocity." Dario watched intently so he could learn a thing or two.

"Well, there's three of them in our alliance. Degenbrecher, Margaret, and Shining. So our elites know how to fight against one." Ash shrugged.

Irene then looked at him intently, they could see the words in her eyes. She was definitely saying can you teach me in her head.

"Irene, you'll be Iberia's diplomat after this. Dario is a high inquisitor, so he'll be busy." Ash announced and she didn't expect that.

But the Liberi hummed while nodding, trying to hide her delight.

"Come on! All that protection, but you can't even try and pierce me with your limp sword!" Lappland taunted the knight who didn't really react to her.

"Ugh, does she really have to say it like that?" Zofia groaned and Ash patted her on the back. "It's Lappland, she has to say it like that. Or I would be worried that she's a clone or something." Ash assured her.

"It definitely is Lappland-like to throw innuendos while fighting." Maria shrugged and Zofia gave her a weird look.

"And why do you just accept it like that?" Zofia questioned her niece's sanity.

"Because it always has been like that?" Platinum chimed in, lazily cleaning her rifle with a cloth.

"Damn, it looks like I'm the crazy one now." Zofia grumbled as nobody agreed with her.

"Kuahahaha! Come on! Did all that salt give you high blood pressure? Is that why your stick is so limp!?" Lappland continued to pressure the knight.

Its rock hard armor was full of cuts and he was in the defensive for the majority of the fight.

"Can we just end this now?" Platinum yawned and she pointed her rifle at the Knight's head.

"Honestly, yeah. Give him some lead." Ash waved nonchalantly and a deafening sound made the others wince.

The knight's helmet exploded, revealing a nasty surprise. His head was jellyfish like. And not the pretty kind too. It's black and gooey.

"Ewww, that's a face that I doubt your own mother could love." Lappland frowned, but instead of being repulsed. She wants to see it explode.

Maria blinded the knight with light and he or it was sent reeling back.

What surprised them though is that it broke through a wall and it jumped outside.

They watched his trajectory and the legendary last knight dived towards the sea. Ash could've stopped him. But the knight definitely has a purpose.

And it's against the seaborne too. 'Maybe his consciousness is just corroded? That's why he can't help but fight us?' He wondered and he decided to just let him go.

"Hey, I saw a guy drop to the ocean, is that fine?" Nian sent them a message through their earpiece.

"It's fine, the guy's corrupted by seaborne. Hostile at first, but most likely someone that still has a bit of ego intact. He definitely wasn't a fan of the seaborne." Ash replied.

'Or not until the hivemind orders him to attack us and truly rob him of his mind.' Ash sighed and thought that this would be a good place for them to limit test Skadi.

It's in the middle of the ocean and he was right there too. If she loses control, he can unleash his powers without worry and make her go to sleep again.

After the little debacle with the last knight, they went to the control room. "Okay, let's get to work!" Maria rolled her shoulders and Jordi nodded.

They began to check out the functionality of the tower. Maria asked Ash for her equipment that she developed with Closure.

"Wow, you have a lot of things there." Jordi who knows a thing or two about electronics due to reading about the eye of Iberia watched her sift through her bag.

"Hehe, made some of it myself!" Maria was proud of them. She then put on a set of gloves with circuit-like patterns.

Jordi tilted his head in confusion on how it would work, but Maria suddenly touched the control panel and something appeared from her finger.

It entered a port of the controls and she raised her other palm. A hologram appeared, giving her information about the situation of the tower's electronic components.

"It seems that the nethersea brand didn't damage this place's important parts much. It is surely a wonderful work that will go down in history." Maria nodded at Breogan's genius.

"I'm not that good in electronics Maria, status report." Ash wanted to know if they could fire it up.

"Wait, I'm checking the panel." Maria concentrated her arts and her all purpose engineering gloves scanned deeper.

Nodding in satisfaction she clapped. "We just need to repair it a bit, guide me Jordi. You know the system better. Then this baby will be up and running."

Jordi and the inquisitors were happy about that. So they went to work and Ash decided that he had better things to do right now than just watch.

"Lappland, Mudrock. Go to the entrance and kill as many things as you can. I'll ferry the hunters here because Maria is quite skilled. They won't take too long." Ash ordered and the two nodded.

Lappland immediately ran towards the hole that the last knight created and she maneuvered her body so that she would land at the front of the tower.

"Hah, she's even sky diving now." Ash thought that it was very like her to just jump out of a tower so she could enjoy the ride down.

"I'll take the stairs, it's not good for your knees to jump that high while I'm using my heaviest set of armor." Mudrock shrugged and she started walking mundanely.

"A very Mudrock answer." Ash nodded, she is pragmatic after all.

He also jumped out of the hole and decided to intercept the chopper that is carrying the abyssal hunters.

Giving time to Skadi in order to get her bearings while nearby the sea is crucial.

Flying through the air while feeling for other things in the sky, Ash found his mark and they were already halfway towards Iberia.

He waved at the chopper and it hovered in mid air. Ash then entered and Gladiia raised a brow at him.

"Isn't that dangerous?" They won't get damaged by that much force if they fell from that height. But entering the chopper made it tilt a bit and Azureus got worried.

"Nah, I can manipulate this thing easily you know? Skadi, are you ready?" Ash looked at her and now, she is wearing a red dress. Not opting to use her abyssal hunter uniform.

She didn't forget the hat though, the hat is too stylish.

"Un, I'm ready Ash." Skadi held his hand and he tightened his hold on her.

'It must be terrifying for her.' He smiled softly at her and injected some energy so she could feel his presence much more.

"My lord, will be culling sinners?" Specter asked with glee in her voice.

"In a way, we will." Ash chuckled and they got out of the chopper. With Azureus getting extremely nervous. She doesn't have a strong body like the hunters after all.

'I'm sure I'll die falling from this height.' She gulped and Ash patted her head as her hood went down due to the wind.

"Don't worry, you're fine when you're with me. Enjoy the wind, you won't have another experience like this again.

She blushed and Azureus hid using her hood. 'He eats my pastries without any fear and he... He even touches me even if I'm really poisonous.' She took glances at him.

Azureus might look and sound really unemotional. But she is actually a lonely individual. Especially because majority of the people treat her as a very toxic hazard.

They then flew towards Iberia and everybody saw two people fight hordes of seaborne.

"Should we join in? We specialize in dealing with them." Gladiia squinted her eyes. She was impressed with Lappland and Mudrock's prowess.

She knew that Ash's elite operators were exactly that, elite. But the seaborne are a different kind of beast.

They were ferocious, have unmatched savagery, and don't go down until they're eviscerated. They are kind of like zombies with how tenacious those things are.

Skadi started fidgeting around though. And Specter began to space out, making Ash nervous.

'As expected, they're more affected by their seaborne blood if we're nearby the oceans.' Ash furrowed his brows.

Gladiia didn't really look bothered, but he could feel her flinch a bit. In a way, she's the most scared to succumb in being a seaborne.

The captain saw all of her allies die a gruesome death. Torn apart by the seaborne menace.

Skadi was starting to assimilate Ishar-mla's blood and Laurentina was nowhere to be seen. Just popping out from time to time.

Ash patted her on the back and she looked at him while blinking.

"You're nervous too, you're worried that Skadi and Laurentina will become like them. And that you'll become like them. Don't worry, our project to sequence seaborne DNA is practically complete already." Ash assured her.

She nodded slowly and Gladiia felt a bit better. She might not show it, but she trusts him a little.

Gladiia is a hardcore realist, she doesn't get moved by words alone. What made her trust him is how far he got with surface technology. Which in her mind, was impossible.

Aegir made the abyssal hunters by giving them seaborne blood. They refined it, yes. Weakening the blood a bit. But Ash is a mad genius in her eyes.

He sequenced seaborne DNA and will make a stabilizer very soon. Something that Aegir cannot make. Which made her respect him very much.

And Gladiia's respect is very, very rare to earn. It's like finding naturally enriched uranium that turned into plutonium.

She nodded at him and Ash made them land on the tower. Maria and Jordi were still trying to repair everything that was broken.

The pegasus was welding and using different kinds of tools by manipulating ferrofluid through arts. Her gloves is something that would make engineers and workers salivate.

Irene and Dario were the look out. But they didn't really find any more hostiles due to Lappland and Mudrock acting as a wall in the front.

"The last eye of Iberia... With this, we might be able to find the Stultifera Navis and find a way back to Aegir." Gladiia was actually excited.

But she was also having trepidation. Doubting if they should even go back there. They are like walking time bombs that can go haywire at any minute.

"Well, do you really want to go back to Aegir?" Ash asked them.

Specter of course immediately kneeled to him and took his hand. "My lord? Are you perhaps dissatisfied with me? You will send away this pious one?" She looked at him with a grave expression.

"Okay, that's a no." Ash felt a bit complicated about Specter's worship of him.

"I want to stay in Paradiso. You're there after all, my friends are too." Skadi grabbed his arm and he blinked a bit.

"You know that's a confession, right?" Ash chuckled at Skadi's noticeable blush. Their pale skin shows it extremely well.

'I guess her wanting to be in Paradiso is much better than desiring to go to Aegir.' Ash sighed in relief inside of his head.

He didn't want to use her loneliness like that. But it was necessary, especially because her being out there without his supervision is scary as fuck.

She'd start razing Iberia to the ground in just a day if she loses control.

After patiently waiting for Maria to finish with her repairs. Jordi powered up the terminal and the eye's systems whirred to life for the first time in decades.

"Huh? I... I've got a visual on something massive. It's the Stultifera Navis!" Jordi exclaimed as the screens of the terminal showed that she has been sending out SOS for years.

"Then it seems that activating this bad boy is much more worth than we thought." Ash smirked and he wanted to reclaim the golden ship of Iberia.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.