DOTM: Chapter 448/449

Chapter 448: Whirlpool Drifting

Unless we turn back? That meant there was no way around it. Ethan ordered the Prinz Eugen to display the sea conditions ahead.

The holographic image perfectly displayed everything around the Prinz Eugen, allowing the people on board to intuitively understand their surroundings.

It could even simulate the environmental changes that would occur next based on computer calculations, though this was just a prediction based on the data currently available and could not account for unexpected situations.

For example, after the temperature dropped to tens of degrees below zero, under normal circumstances, this temperature should last for a period of time, and even if it rose, it would do so at a relatively gentle pace.

However, in this sea area, the temperature might rise to tens of degrees above zero in just half a day without any warning. Therefore, it was impossible to predict it in advance, and calculations could only be made based on the data that had already appeared.

"Based on the data collected so far, calculate the future environment and the number of whirlpools in the sea area ahead."

The holographic image began to change rapidly. In the blink of an eye, the image was filled with goose feather-like snowflakes swirling everywhere in the chaotic gale. Visibility became very low, and the sea surface and the Prinz Eugen were almost invisible, only the sky full of snowflakes could be seen.

After shielding the snowflake image, the condition of the sea surface was revealed: dense, massive whirlpools appeared not far from the Prinz Eugen. These whirlpools spread across the entire sea area, with whirlpools practically touching each other. Although there were relatively wide "channels" between some whirlpools, this area was not a safe passage. The complex currents created by the large number of whirlpools made these seemingly calm "channels" full of danger.

Ethan was very glad he had switched to the Prinz Eugen. If it had been the Goddess of Dawn, with its wooden hull structure, it would probably have been torn apart by the seemingly calm but actually chaotic currents as soon as it approached this area.

"Visibility is almost zero, the currents are chaotic, and there are dense whirlpools. In this situation, I recommend the Prinz Eugen stop advancing and wait for the blizzard to stop."

When Hill joined Ethan's team, she only thought she had come to a world full of seawater. Although there was less land, everything from the climate, gravity, and air composition was extremely similar to Earth. In this situation, she did not feel like she had come to another world at all.

It was not until she started helping Ethan test the Prinz Eugen that the various magical weather changes on the route finally opened her eyes and made her understand the wonder of this world.

So she was already able to adapt to this bizarre climate change and immediately offered her suggestion.

"Let's stop advancing."

Hill's suggestion was very correct. There was no need to force their way through in this situation.

Although Ethan had enough life-saving methods to ensure that even if something unexpected happened, the people on this ship would not be truly harmed, he did not want the Prinz Eugen, which he had just acquired, to be damaged here. Although Tony had set up "damage control devices" in various areas of the Prinz Eugen, once damage occurred, these settings would activate and send out specialized repair robots to carry out repairs.

However, these robots repaired the ship using nanodevices, which were consumables and not inexhaustible to be wasted at will.

The Prinz Eugen immediately shut down its propulsion system, but the intelligent system Eugen immediately gave a prompt: "This sea area has been affected by the whirlpool area ahead. Currently, this vessel is being carried towards the whirlpool area by the current."

This was more troublesome. If being tossed up and down by the surging waves in the blizzard was bearable, then being uncontrollably rushed towards the whirlpools was definitely unacceptable.

"Start the engines, turn the course!"

The Prinz Eugen immediately carried out Ethan's order. Hill did not express any opinion during this time. She was indeed the commander appointed by Ethan and had extremely high command authority on the ship, but at this time, she was not needed to command. Ethan, as the captain, was the one who could give orders.

Following Ethan's order, the Prinz Eugen began to move again. The biggest advantage of the jet propulsion system installed on this ship was its rapid start-up, which could take this steel warship with a displacement of over 20,000 tons from a standstill to full speed in a very short time.

After starting to move again, the Prinz Eugen gave another prompt: the sea current was getting stronger, and it was difficult for the Prinz Eugen to turn.

Eugen concluded through calculation that to complete the turn, they had to go at full speed, but this would also accelerate the Prinz Eugen's entry into the whirlpool area.

It was even difficult for the Prinz Eugen to complete the turn before being "sucked into" the whirlpool. Judging from the current rate of change of the sea current, the Prinz Eugen was likely to be sucked into a huge whirlpool sideways while only halfway through the turn.

"Does that mean we can't escape?"

"Yes."

As the distance got closer, the "suction" on the sea surface would become stronger, and the speed at which the Prinz Eugen was sucked into the whirlpool would also become faster.

"Why does it sound like a black hole?"

Everyone was originally there to watch the fun, but they did not expect to actually encounter trouble.

Fortunately, everyone was well aware of Ethan's abilities, so no one was panicked by this. They even had the mood to discuss whether it was scientific for a group of whirlpools to form a "suction" similar to a black hole on the sea surface.

Speaking of which, too many strange things had happened in this sea area. No one cared whether it was scientific or not. Since it had happened, all they cared about was how to solve this problem.

The temperature outside had already dropped to minus tens of degrees. When Ethan and Ada were chatting outside earlier, it was still a cool and pleasant twenty-something degrees, and Ada was wearing a pair of slippers with her long legs exposed, enjoying the breeze on the deck. At the current temperature, even those who had been enhanced were unwilling to go outside and freeze.

"The temperature is still dropping, but the rate of decrease has slowed down slightly."

Hill had been keeping an eye on various monitoring data. Based on her experience during this time, the slowing down of the temperature decrease meant that the temperature change had entered the later stage. Considering that it was currently only minus seventeen degrees, it should not drop to a terrifying level.

No matter how much black technology was installed on the Prinz Eugen, it was ultimately just a surface vessel. Although it accounted for huge temperature changes, it was not built like a spaceship that could withstand even more terrifying extreme temperatures.

If the temperature dropped to minus one hundred degrees, all Ethan could do was take everyone to another world.

However, considering that the adventurers in this world, driving ships far inferior to the Prinz Eugen, could cross this route, the temperature should not drop to that level.

Just as the temperature dropped to minus thirty degrees, the rate of decrease became even slower. Based on previous experiences, Hill estimated that the temperature would stop dropping soon and would finally stay around minus forty degrees, not reaching minus fifty degrees.

But the temperature was no longer the biggest problem. Snowflakes had already started falling outside, and everyone could already see the whirlpools in the distance.

Ethan had not spoken before. Seeing that the whirlpools predicted by calculation had actually appeared, he immediately had Eugen display the situation of all the whirlpools. At the same time, he also asked Eugen to mark the direction of rotation of each whirlpool and which whirlpools were almost touching each other.

"Captain?"

"Since they won't let us escape, we can only continue forward."

Considering that these whirlpools affected each other, the seemingly calm channels between two whirlpools were actually the real death zones. Ethan directly ruled out the option of passing through the area between the whirlpools.

If they could not pass through this area, then there was only one option left, which was to enter the whirlpool, then move along the direction of the whirlpool's rotation, and then use the power of the whirlpool to accelerate their departure when they needed to leave.

"Using centrifugal force?"

"That's the idea."

Eugen's calculation speed was very fast. At the same time as Ethan gave the order, it had already marked the data Ethan wanted on the holographic image, and then at Ethan's request, marked a "should be feasible" route of advancement.

This route started from the whirlpool that the Prinz Eugen was currently facing, then went from one whirlpool to another, and from this whirlpool to the next.

Because factors such as the direction of rotation of the whirlpools and the distance between them had to be considered, this route, when viewed from a bird's-eye perspective, was simply winding back and forth in circles.

According to the observation data, the "length" of the whirlpool area ahead was astonishing, making it impossible for Ethan to go around, but the "thickness" was average. If these whirlpools were arranged in a line, they would only need to pass through ten whirlpools to pass through this densely populated whirlpool area.

However, the route given by Eugen according to Ethan's request required the Prinz Eugen to pass through at least seventy whirlpools, basically requiring them to travel back and forth in the whirlpool area for a long time before passing through.

"It feels like some kind of amusement ride at a water park."

Everyone still had the mood to comment on this route of advancement, and no one felt that this was a suicide mission.

"Alright, gentlemen, find a seat and buckle up, we're going for a long-distance 'rapid drift'!"

There were many seats in the bridge, including dedicated operating positions for the driver, fire control, navigation, and other equipment, but most of the time only Hill was here, and everyone did not have fixed positions.

At this time, they all found a seat nearby and fastened their "seat belts" to avoid being thrown out and injured during this exciting drift.

Just at this moment, the sky outside was filled with goose feather-like heavy snow, and visibility had become zero. If it were not for a black technology warship like the Prinz Eugen with super-strong detection equipment, they would probably just have to wait for death.

However, for the people on this ship, this was just a slightly more exciting recreational activity.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 449: Dangerous Island?

Amidst the vast, falling snow, the Prinz Eugen plunged headfirst into an immense vortex.

Before entering the vortex, the Prinz Eugen controlled its speed and adjusted its angle to continue sailing along the vortex's rotation, preventing it from losing control or even being torn to pieces by the vortex's power.

"Activate the energy defense layer!"

The Prinz Eugen's three layers of defense included a magic shield as the outermost layer, which was typically only activated during combat because it affected the Prinz Eugen's maneuverability and was not suitable for the current situation.

The second layer was the energy defense layer, a layer of energy clinging to the hull, which better protected the Prinz Eugen from any damage without affecting the ship's normal navigation.

Powerful currents constantly buffeted the Prinz Eugen, but not even a ripple appeared on the outermost energy layer, proving its stability. As long as Ethan did not steer the Prinz Eugen towards the center of the vortex, there was no need to worry about the ship being damaged while drifting among the countless vortices.

"Everyone, hold on tight. We might be in these vortices for a while."

The ship surged from one vortex to the next. Each time it exited, it had to perform a strong acceleration, then decelerate appropriately upon entering the next vortex to maintain a speed comparable to the vortex, and finally seize the opportunity to suddenly accelerate and escape the current vortex.

Moving from one vortex to the next like this, with the Prinz Eugen's stabilization system active, the crew on board only felt slight bumps and had no sense of being in danger.

At first, everyone sat cautiously in their chairs, but after a while, they realized that apart from a bit of bumping, it was not a big deal and was less exciting than encountering a storm back then.

"We've entered the vortices, haven't we?"

Because heavy snow was falling outside, they could not see the situation through the windows and could only stare at the holographic image in the center of the bridge.

The Prinz Eugen advanced rapidly through the heavy snow, staying along the edge of the vortex, moving with its rotation, and looking for an opportunity to leave this vortex and proceed to the next.

While navigating, they constantly needed to find the right angle so they could smoothly enter the next vortex without conflicting with the water current direction.

"The Prinz Eugen's intelligent system is too powerful. It has calculated the most perfect route forward. On this route, we can not only smoothly pass through this sea area but also avoid damaging the hull and... avoid too uncomfortable situations."

Although Prinz Eugen was purely a support AI without true self-awareness, things made by Tony Stark always had a touch of mischief.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are currently traveling through a cluster of giant vortices with an average diameter of one hundred sixty-seven meters. If you look through the windows on the left, you can see the center of the vortex... The ship is very stable, and passengers may unbuckle their seatbelts and move around freely..."

Ethan had already stood up and was standing in front of the holographic image, observing the various changes in this sea area.

In addition to the image, the top of the holographic display showed various data detected by the ship, allowing for a more intuitive understanding of the environmental changes outside.

Hill had also left her command station and was watching the data with him, asking the captain what they should do next.

"There's nothing much to do for now. According to Prinz Eugen's calculations, we need to sail for seven hours and forty-four minutes to leave this vortex-filled sea area. If the environment changes during that time, this duration will also change, so making plans now is pointless."

At this moment, Ethan noticed something on the edge of the detection range. He suddenly focused his attention, wanting to see what it was.

As the Prinz Eugen performed various serpentine maneuvers in the vortex-filled sea, a shadow occasionally appeared on the edge of the detection range. At first, it was not very clear, but finally, there was a relatively larger image. Ethan immediately had Prinz Eugen isolate and enlarge this area, and this time everyone on board saw clearly what it was.

"An island?"

"Yes, it should be an island."

Islands were not strange, but when Ethan saw this island, he had a strange feeling. He felt that what awaited them ahead was no ordinary floating island, and even this area of vortices had not appeared out of nowhere.

"The snow outside has lessened."

Although snowflakes were still falling, it no longer made the entire world a white expanse like before. Everyone could now see the situation outside through the windows.

Before, they could only sit indoors and view the ship's status and the external environment through the holographic image.

Looking at the holographic image always felt somewhat unreal, and coupled with the Prinz Eugen's extreme stability, no one felt like they were actually in a vortex.

Now that they could clearly see the environment near the ship, the rapid currents, and the huge and clearly sunken center of the vortex, everyone finally felt a bit more grounded.

"The Prinz Eugen's control over the course is perfect. We've been sailing right along the edge of the vortex, and the hull hasn't tilted severely in this position. If we were to go a little deeper, we wouldn't be able to move around freely."

Hill looked around, then came back to check the various data. She was increasingly fond of this ship and wished she could have one like it to command after returning.

The remaining time was rather boring. Everyone stood there, continuously looking outside. Although the scene was amazing, it remained unchanged, and watching it for a long time felt tedious.

Just when everyone thought they would spend the next few hours chatting like this, the speed of the vortices began to decrease, and their number was also slowly diminishing.

"The situation on the sea surface is no longer as dangerous as before. The areas between the vortices are no longer death zones filled with various currents. Do we still need to proceed according to the original route?"

Prinz Eugen quickly provided new data. Upon hearing it, Ethan ordered Prinz Eugen to leave the vortices and sail on the normal sea surface.

Since the sea surface was no longer dangerous, there was no need to continue struggling in the vortices. Moreover, the vortices were becoming fewer and fewer, and there were not as many giant ones close together anymore, making it impossible to continue following the previous route.

Having returned to the normal sea surface, the Prinz Eugen began to quickly leave the area. At the same time they were about to leave the sea area previously densely packed with vortices, the last vortex on the surface also disappeared.

Everyone fell silent, except for Mordred, who was enthusiastically watching outside, completely unaware of the situation, and Galahad, who was quiet and rarely voiced opinions. The rest had lived in this sea area for a while and knew that this situation could absolutely not be a coincidence.

"How could there be such a coincidence? A blizzard and vortices appeared as soon as we arrived. After the vortices couldn't threaten us, they slowly began to disappear, and as soon as we left the area, they vanished instantly."

There were too many strange things in this sea area, but situations like today, where a small area of the sea seemed to deliberately target a single adventurer, were still rare.

Ethan had only encountered a similar situation with one island before, because there was a special creature (plant) beneath that grass-covered island. What would they encounter this time?

"The island ahead... I don't think it's a good place."

Ada squinted, crossing her arms, and looked towards the island ahead.

From a distance, the island looked large, and there was a mountain peak of considerable altitude on it, which appeared to be a volcano.

However, there was no towering black smoke or red glow visible, so perhaps it was an extinct volcano?

Besides that, the island had a lot of vegetation. Facing the Prinz Eugen's direction was a plain with scattered trees.

From where Ethan and the others stood, the area to the right of the island seemed to be a dense forest, but the specific situation could not be seen yet.

"Prinz Eugen, display the island's situation."

As the Prinz Eugen gradually approached the island, it was brought within the detection range, and the holographic image could now display the island's full view.

Not only that, but it could even display the underwater situation. Prinz Eugen quickly reminded Ethan that the warship could not proceed further because the water depth around the island suddenly became shallow, and there were many hidden reefs.

More importantly, Prinz Eugen detected many "foreign objects" underwater.

"Foreign objects?"

As the holographic image specifically enlarged and displayed the underwater section, everyone understood what the so-called foreign objects were.

They were not giant underwater creatures, but countless shipwreck remnants.

"I feel like this island is full of danger."

Jonathan's words made everyone roll their eyes. Did he even need to say that? Anyone could see there was danger ahead.

Ethan did not speak, stroking his chin and thinking for a moment. In that instant just now, he suddenly had a strange feeling.

But before he could figure out what was going on, Hill reported something else first.

"The temperature outside suddenly changed to twenty-five degrees Celsius."

Just a moment ago, while navigating through the vortices, there was still heavy snow falling, and there was actually some accumulated snow on the Prinz Eugen's deck. Yet, in just an instant, the temperature had changed from minus forty degrees Celsius to plus twenty-five degrees Celsius, going from extreme cold to midsummer in a flash.

"In an instant?"

Mordred opened her mouth, thinking this world was truly terrifying. Could normal people survive in such rapidly fluctuating environments? Had her father thrown her here because he did not want her anymore?

Galahad also felt that the climate changes in this world were too bizarre. If it were the navy of the Kingdom of Britain (yes, Arthur had already developed a navy, as ships were the most convenient mode of transportation in that era), could they survive in this world?

The answer was obvious. That area of vortices just now could wipe out the entire Kingdom's naval fleet.

The others, however, were concerned about the instantaneous temperature change, a situation they had never encountered before.

(To be continued.)