CHAPTER 268: CHAPTER 267: CONCLUSION AND GAINS

No matter how difficult it is, feeling like each day drags on endlessly, there will always be moments when you grit your teeth and push through.

This season, sunset is around 6:30 in the evening, and sunrise is at approximately 5:50 in the morning.

Tick... Tock...

The second hand ticks.

Watching as that long-awaited time slowly approaches.

Milan, along with Aiven and the crew, whose medication effects had mostly worn off overnight, all craned their necks, eagerly awaiting the first rays of sunlight over the horizon.

However, the world outside, composed of countless black, white, and gray lines and color blocks, remained unchanged.

"What’s going on?"

Moreover, the trait of the "Ghost Cloak" is that it only works in darkness; if they return to sunlight, they would instantly be kicked out of this illusory "ghost" state.

So it wasn’t a problem with their vision, the sun truly hadn’t risen yet!

Until it was already six in the morning, surpassing the expected sunrise time by a full ten minutes, the anticipated sunlight still hadn’t arrived.

"Something’s not right!"

The human eye couldn’t discern what exactly was happening with the pure gray sky under the "Ghost Cloak."

Even Aiven’s reconnaissance network had already failed.

Because the moment the "Ghost Cloak" was activated, the inexplicable connection maintained by the seabirds’ "Extraordinary Sense of Direction" was interrupted by the Ocean Treasure’s absolute Extraordinary Power.

At this time, he couldn’t rely on the perspective of those scouts outside.

So, he directly leaped up.

Swoosh——

Jumping like a monkey onto the main mast’s sail boom, climbing higher with the rigging, he nimbly leaped from the top sail’s boom to the mast’s top.

Jumping again, five meters high, he was already over fifty meters above the sea level!

Pop——

His upper body broke through the barrier of the "Ghost Cloak," seeing with his own eyes the outside world returning to normal.

And he saw the truth he had guessed but was unwilling to believe: today... it’s cloudy!

The sky was covered with clouds forming a smooth cloud base, not allowing even the slightest sliver of light through, and it seemed likely the clouds might thicken further and slowly evolve into a downpour.

Whoosh——

His body fell back down under the force of gravity.

Penetrating the barrier formed by the "Ghost Cloak," even though his mind was elsewhere, relying on his body’s powerful instincts, he used the sail boom and rigging to safely return to the deck.

Thud!

First Mate Borg, lying across the deck, moved a bit. Whether it was an illusion or because he had been tied up too long, he felt his hands and feet were already somewhat numb.

Everyone looked at Aiven expectantly.

But noticing the expression on his face, everyone realized what had happened outside.

The hopeful gaze turned into disappointment; the current situation wasn’t good.

Outside.

Besides some escaping into the sea, barely any of the lizards involved in the "battle" on the island had survived.

Facing the brutal death of their kin without any means, the remaining ten giant beasts roared on in fury throughout the night.

The crew had no doubt that once the "Ghost Cloak" dispersed, the "Storm Horn" would be mercilessly torn apart by them.

Inside.

While the "Ghost Cloak" perfectly protected everyone, its unknown side effects were like a Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, keeping them on edge every second.

At this time, the bad news Aiven brought back made them realize this state would continue, with the duration being... unknown.

Their current situation was like being suspended by a rope smeared with slow-acting poison above a snake pit filled with venomous snakes; letting go meant death!

Aiven cast a suspicious glance at Milan; could this guy have secretly used "Deceitful Fate" again? Otherwise, how could all these misfortunes befall them today?!

However, when he was about to speak, Aiven opted for another question. Even if Milan were cursed with bad luck, it ought to affect him personally.

"Has the prophecy interpretation yielded any results?"

While waiting, they hadn’t been idle.

At least, Milan had finally completed the prophecy he initially set out to make.

But given the current predicament, with 284 crew members, a group of giant lizards led by two Tier 3 Giant Beasts, the Black Dam rooted in the Otherworld, and Milan himself deeply entangled in this situation.

Thus, the extremely vague result was almost as good as nothing.

"Siege, stranded messenger, distant star... the hope of resolving this predicament isn’t in this world!"

This outcome from the divination even left Milan frustrated, as he scratched his unkempt hair.

"Why don’t we just air-drop alchemy bombs with the ’Frigatebird’ and ’Great Albatross’ and focus fire on that Lizard King?"

Though saying this, Milan knew it was just words of frustration.

Even though they still had a pile of alchemy bombs, enough to deal with a sea monster of the same size, that was based on the assumption the lizard wouldn’t hide in shadows.

With everything outside being pitch black, if they blindly dropped alchemy bombs, it would only make a noise, achieving nothing.

The uneasy tension continued to spread. If it weren’t for the crew being tied up, Aiven would have worried that under such pressure, his ship might mutiny.

Suddenly.

"Listen!"