DOTM: Chapter 187/188

Chapter 187: The Wind of Darkness

The absence of wind is not unusual, even on Earth.

Naturally, in this strange sea region, there are times when the wind disappears, and it's not restricted to a specific area.

However, the timing of the wind stopping this time was far too coincidental. Ethan didn't believe it was just happenstance. When the enemy wanted to fight, the wind was strong. But when they wanted to flee, there was no wind at all and the enemy just so happened to have a propeller. Ethan had already noticed that their ship had folded its sails and was using propulsion to escape the range of the Goddess of Dawn and the Eternal.

The Eternal was still firing. When the enemy ship began to flee, the Eternal was positioned to one side and unleashed the firepower of its entire battery of cannons. But just as it was about to turn, it lost power and came to a stop, unable to continue pursuit, so it could only keep firing at the retreating enemy from a distance.

The Goddess of Dawn was preparing to accelerate and give chase. Now directly facing the enemy ship, they could only watch as it gradually moved farther away.

"You're just going to watch them get away?"

Diana glanced at Ethan and immediately understood his answer when she saw him signal for Logan to take over the helm.

"How could I? They think they can pick a fight and leave whenever they want? Since they provoked me, when I retaliate isn't up to them."

Donning his gear and spreading his flame wings, Ethan launched into the air and went after the fleeing ship.

Diana didn't just sit back and watch either. She followed Ethan into the sky. The Eternal also noticed Ethan had taken flight and ceased fire to avoid friendly fire.

Compared to this side, Ethan noticed some panic aboard the enemy vessel after he took off.

These guys never expected Ethan could actually fly!

"Archers! Bows and arrows!"

The enemy captain had some presence of mind. After a brief moment of panic, he quickly steadied himself and ordered his crew to pull out bows and similar weapons, launching an aerial attack on Ethan and Diana.

But it was useless. Ethan's speed was far too fast. They couldn't aim at him at all. Even the few arrows that did strike him were blocked by the magic shield he casually cast. They couldn't even scratch him.

Boom!

Ethan didn't slow down as he landed, crashing directly into the stern of the ship. If the distance between the two ships hadn't been so far—and if Ethan had gone full speed—the wooden hull might've been shattered entirely by the impact.

But even with Ethan holding back, he still smashed through half of the poop deck and burst onto the main deck through the hatch at the front.

Diana's landing wasn't as destructive as Ethan's, but she nearly demolished the captain's cabin, almost wrecking the helm and control panel. As she landed, a few enemies rushed her. She took advantage of the momentum, delivering a kick that sent one of them flying dozens of meters before splashing into the sea.

There was no need to check, he wasn't going to survive. Being kicked that far, how much force had his body endured? That kind of power would kill someone instantly. Few parts of his body were likely intact. He'd drawn his last breath before hitting the water.

With both of them aboard, the outcome was no longer in doubt. The few who tried to resist were taken out by Ethan and Diana within minutes.

Diana wasn't one to go soft. Even in the original story, she had never been merciful when facing enemies.

Unlike Batman, Superman, or the Flash, who follow a no-kill rule, Diana—raised among the Amazons saw using full strength and killing the enemy as completely normal in battle.

As for Ethan, he never even understood the meaning of mercy. In the blink of an eye, he'd killed over half the sailors on the ship. The rest quickly lost the will to fight. Once they raised their hands in surrender and weren't immediately killed by Diana, everyone else followed suit, desperate to survive.

They already understood that continuing to resist meant certain death. The gap in strength between the two sides was so vast that they couldn't even see a sliver of hope.

Among them was the captain, an adventurer named Salva.

Looking at the people kneeling on the deck, Ethan activated the bio-detection on his glasses to confirm that no one was hiding. Then, he began interrogating them. He wanted to know why they had suddenly attacked.

The answer he got was not what he expected and it made Diana furious. This group had simply acted on a whim, deciding to "score a haul" after spotting Ethan's ship.

By "score a haul," they meant a typical act of sea robbery. The targets included ships, food, various supplies, and even people.

Anything in sight was fair game. It wasn't Salva's first time doing this. In fact, he often relied on the magic stone he held to escape tough situations later on.

"You used this to completely stop the wind in the area?"

A magic stone emitting faint energy fluctuations was now in Ethan's hand. As Salva handed it over, the windless zone suddenly changed, and a cool sea breeze brushed across Ethan's face. The wind that had vanished before had returned.

"This thing doesn't seem to hold that much energy?"

Ethan inspected the magic stone. Its energy fluctuations weren't particularly strong, and he didn't believe it could affect natural weather on its own.

Salva's explanation cleared things up. Although the stone could influence the wind to a degree, creating a windless zone required favorable conditions.

First, the weather had to be right. If there were storms or even mildly strong winds, the magic stone wouldn't be enough to halt them entirely.

Second, the affected area had to be small. For Salva, the stone's limit was just enough to allow the Wind of Darkness to escape pursuit. But that was all he needed. Thanks to this magic stone, he'd dodged stronger enemies many times.

In addition, he had a good eye for choosing his targets. With this magic stone, Salva really could fight when he wanted to and flee when things went south. He'd done well in these waters and had never run into any real trouble.

Until today, when he met Ethan.

In Salva's eyes, the Goddess of Dawn wasn't anything special. On this route, better ships weren't uncommon. Its hull was relatively new, making it look like a newbie's vessel that had just entered the region. As usual, Salva planned to "educate" this rookie in his own way.

But to his surprise, this so-called rookie had installed powerful defensive gear on the ship (he didn't realize the magic shield was cast by Ethan using the Book of Inheritance). Although Ethan had used a similar energy shield to block arrows, Salva hadn't made the connection.

Unable to harm the Goddess of Dawn, Salva found himself outmatched two-to-one. As usual, he used the magic stone to create a windless zone and activated the Wind of Darkness's propulsion system to escape.

He didn't expect the enemy could fly—or that they'd be so powerful. What kind of monster sailed such an ordinary-looking ship?

His greatest asset was rendered useless, and Salva himself wasn't particularly strong, nor did he have any backbone. Once he lost his advantage, he crumbled faster than his crew.

Even though he could see the contempt in the beautiful woman's eyes, he didn't care. As long as they spared his life, he'd take the humiliation.

"What now?"

Looking at Salva's groveling face, Diana felt a little overwhelmed. She'd never dealt with something like this before, so she turned to Ethan for guidance.

Ethan was standing at the console, stopping the ship. Now that the wind had returned, both the Goddess of Dawn and the Eternal would regain power. He was waiting for the ships to catch up and share in the spoils of victory.

That's right, he planned to loot the enemy ship. He didn't see anything wrong with it. If they'd tried to rob him, they had to be ready to be stripped clean in return. Ethan had no sympathy for these kinds of people.

When he noticed Diana looking at him, and Salva plastering on that fawning smile again, Ethan cheerfully pulled out a pistol and ended Salva's life with a single bullet.

"There's no need to show mercy to someone like this. If there really is a god in this world, let him go meet that god and beg for forgiveness in person. That's all we need to do."

Diana pouted. Did he really need to make it sound so cheesy? It was just killing a guy. Then she turned to the remaining sailors. Salva's sudden death made them panic. Maybe they feared Ethan would kill them too. But if they tried to resist, they knew they didn't stand a chance. Caught between terror and confusion, they froze.

"Fight? Or wait to be killed? That's the question!"

Just as they were hesitating, Ethan left the console. His actions made it clear—so long as they didn't act rashly, he wouldn't kill them. The rebellious sparks that had just begun to surface were extinguished instantly.

In reality, even if they had resisted with everything they had, they wouldn't be able to lay a finger on Diana. Ethan was willing to spare their lives because he found a message on the console he wanted to ask them about.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 188: Brent's Information

Ethan cared about this message because it was from Brent. The message wasn't addressed to one specific person, but to many.

Unfortunately, Ethan couldn't check the full content of the message. It wasn't that he couldn't operate the ship's console or that he lacked the authority to access it. The information had simply been cleared, leaving behind only a record: a brief note informing Ethan that there had been a message from Brent, along with a small portion of its content.

All the details were gone. Ethan was surprised there was even a communication device on this ship and was curious about what the message had said.

"What message did Brent send?"

The crew of the ship knew a bit about it. Although Captain Salva was weak, he was sharp and quick-witted. He wasn't stingy when it came to sharing benefits with his subordinates. The message from Brent had also been shared with many of them, so Ethan quickly learned what had happened.

In fact, this ship was headed for the central island, and their attempt to loot Ethan along the way was also related to the message Brent had sent.

Salva had planned to respond to Brent's call and head for the central island.

Although the so-called "important matter" was unclear, Ethan had learned that Brent had invited many adventurers this time. And it wasn't just any adventurer who received the invitation—only those of a certain strength level would hear from Brent.

Only adventurers with a communication device installed on their ship could receive the message. This naturally excluded ordinary adventurers, since only those with a certain amount of strength and wealth would equip their ships with such devices.

Adventurers of this level typically operated far from the central island, heading deeper along the route. Their voyages were long, and without a communication device, they would be at a disadvantage in an emergency. So most adventurers operating in the middle or rear routes would have one installed.

Brent used this method to disseminate the message as a way to filter adventurers. Only those strong enough would receive his invitation.

The reason for doing so was that he had discovered a serious problem along the route and wanted to recruit enough powerful adventurers to resolve it.

"That's it?"

By this time, the Eternal and the Goddess of Dawn had pulled up alongside the Wind of Darkness, sandwiching it between them. Cleo and Logan stood beside Ethan, listening to him explain the situation.

Logan wasn't familiar with Brent. Cleo knew more about the name, but admitted that he had never seen Brent in person. Most of what he knew was secondhand.

"The message is still too vague. We don't even know what the so-called big trouble is."

Logan didn't care much about the big trouble. He was more interested in what on this ship could be looted than Cleo was.

After glancing around, he did find something useful. "There are a lot of cannons on this ship. We still don't have enough on board. We could add more."

"..."

Ethan hadn't had enough funds initially, so he had only equipped a dozen cannons. Aside from the two at the front, there were only a few on each side. The previous naval battle had clearly revealed the problem of insufficient firepower.

By contrast, although the Eternal had only one layer of cannons, the positions were fully outfitted, making it much more formidable than Ethan's ship.

"We'll talk about that later..."

Ethan waved his hand, signaling Logan not to worry about it for now. Unexpectedly, Diana was quite interested in Logan's proposal and said, "I've got nothing else to do!" Then she ran off and began moving intact cannons from the Wind of Darkness to the Goddess of Dawn.

With her strength, moving a cannon wasn't hard at all. She could even carry two at a time, one in each hand. She did so without saying a word. Only Cleo, who understood her strength, wasn't surprised, and continued discussing Brent's message with Ethan.

"Are you interested in this recruitment?"

"I wasn't before, but now I'm a little curious."

Ethan was indeed a bit interested. Another reason was that he didn't currently have anything else to do, so he might as well go and see what Brent was up to.

"I'm also planning to turn back." Cleo simply stated his intention to return to the central island and take a look. He was curious about this so-called big trouble. Besides, it was rare for powerful adventurers to be recruited like this. If he hadn't known about it, fine. But now that he did, he felt like he'd miss out on something if he didn't go.

Since everyone was planning to return to the central island, the next thing to discuss was how to divide the spoils of this victory.

The stern of the Wind of Darkness had been damaged by Ethan, but even if that section were completely destroyed, it wouldn't be too difficult to repair. As long as the keel and hull remained intact, a little repair work would restore it to a good ship.

Considering the ship's overall configuration, its value was definitely high. The two sides agreed to transport it back to the central island and sell it. The materials gained from the sale would be distributed proportionally.

Ethan, having contributed the most, would naturally receive the largest share. Although the Eternal had only provided some assistance during the battle, it would also receive a portion. Combined with the Spring of Life Ethan had gifted earlier, Cleo had made quite a profit on this voyage.

Aside from the ship itself, the materials onboard were also divided. Diana had already removed several cannons. The magic stones and food stored on the ship were counted. After taking what belonged to him, Ethan temporarily handed the ship over to part of Mizzi's crew, who were responsible for piloting it back.

The remaining crew of the Wind of Darkness were taken into custody by the Eternal. There weren't many left, and the Goddess of Dawn didn't have enough people to manage them, so the Eternal handled that too.

None of these jobs came for free. Piloting the ship back to the central island and guarding the prisoners would all be compensated, and the accounts would be settled once they arrived.

With everything negotiated, Ethan returned to the Goddess of Dawn.

The three ships formed a temporary fleet: the Eternal at the front, the Wind of Darkness in the middle, and the Goddess of Dawn at the rear, advancing in a single line toward the route's exit.

The Goddess of Dawn took the rear position because it had the highest speed and greatest maneuverability. If something went wrong, it could reposition itself quickly.

From the back, it was also easier to monitor the other two ships. If anything happened, it could respond immediately. After all, both the Eternal and the Wind of Darkness were holding prisoners. If trouble broke out on either ship, the Goddess of Dawn at the rear would be the first to detect it. With Ethan or Diana aboard, they had more than enough strength to deal with any threats.

Standing back at the helm, Ethan played with the magic stone obtained in this battle.

In terms of energy intensity, this magic stone wasn't particularly powerful. But its function was interesting. Considering how Salva used it, it seemed quite handy.

Creating a windless area to aid in escape. The Wind of Darkness had initially gained an advantage with the wind, and this stone had contributed to that.

"Working on something weird again?"

Diana and Logan had just finished placing the cannons they'd salvaged onto the appropriate gunports on the second deck. They returned to the upper deck, neither winded nor flushed.

As soon as they came up, they saw Ethan staring intently at the stone in his hand. Diana had seen this kind of scene too many times. She used to be careful not to disturb him in this state. Now, there was no need for such caution. The two of them were too familiar.

"No research. Just looking."

After examining it for a while, Ethan considered several potential uses, but ultimately found it rather underwhelming.

Maybe this magic stone would be useful in the early or even middle parts of the route, but it would be nearly useless in the later sections.

By that stage, even sailing warships would be equipped with propulsion systems. A windless zone wouldn't hinder such ships, and the advantage of adjusting wind direction would also be neutralized.

"No wonder Salva had to carefully choose his targets each time. This thing is useless against adventurers with a certain level of power. If it had more energy, maybe it could be used to generate strong winds."

For now, the main benefit this stone offered Ethan was to help his ship accelerate and maintain a more favorable wind direction.

But even then, he had just tested it and found that its effectiveness depended on the current environment. If the wind was blowing from the north, and you wanted to change it to the south, that was impossible. At best, it could adjust the northwest wind slightly toward the west or north.

"Can't it just follow the trend and strengthen the wind a bit?"

This discovery made him lose interest in the stone. He began to consider how much material it could be exchanged for, or if it had other value.

Ultimately, the magic stone's power was too weak to meet Ethan's needs. It was more like an interesting toy, or maybe a bargaining chip for urgently needed supplies.

Since he had already asked Tony Stark to build an "ultra-modern warship," perhaps he should gather some magic stone equipment unique to this world to see if their technology could be integrated into his new vessel.

"Seems like a viable idea."

Putting away the magic stone, Ethan realized he should head to the Marvel world soon. He needed to touch base with Tony. After all, designing the ship he wanted had already taken a lot of time, let alone building it.

(To be continued.)