"You've got to be kidding me…" Looking at the seemingly endless horde of monsters in the distance, Daniel finally understood why Kelsey had urgently called for his help.
"Apologies. The situation is critical right now." Kelsey was directing her summoned creature, Mon3tr, in battle while giving Daniel a swift rundown of what was happening.
"So, you want me to find that so-called lighthouse and the long-lost Stultifera Navis?" Daniel quickly grasped what Kelsey wanted.
"Exactly. For the sea creatures to act on this scale, something major must have happened."
Kelsey's expression was more serious than ever. As someone who had always been deeply invested in threats to humanity, the Seaborn were at the top of her list. That's why she had rushed here the moment Skadi's situation changed.
"I get it. But… you don't need help here?"
Even though Kelsey's forces numbered in the thousands, it was clearly nothing compared to the tide of Seaborn monsters surging forward. The defensive line was slowly retreating.
However, the retreat wasn't just due to the sheer number of Seaborn. Iberia had fought these creatures for years and had developed countermeasures. The real problem lay in the strange spreading trails on the ground. Watching soldiers avoid them while Kelsey and others attacked the trails directly made it clear how dangerous they were.
"So Mon3tr can fly and breathe fire now? That wasn't in the game…"
Daniel had seen Mon3tr before, but this? It blew his expectations out of the water. If the in-game version had been this strong, Kelsey would've been a seven-star operator.
"That's Corrosion Marks." Seeing Daniel's gaze linger on the spreading black trails, Kelsey explained. These were a type of Seaborn corruption that eroded everything they touched. Humans who stood on them risked not just physical harm, but mental degradation—eventually turning into Seaborn themselves.
In other words, this was even more dangerous than the creatures themselves.
"So, they have consciousness too? Kind of like Originium… Actually, that's perfect."
Daniel floated into the air above the town, his hands glowing with golden energy. A brilliant beam shot through the sky, landing amid the Seaborn and their creeping corruption. Hundreds of meters of monsters and Corrosion Marks were obliterated instantly.
It was the Taixu Sword Qi. Since Corrosion Marks resembled Originium in having a form of consciousness, the Sword Qi was the perfect counter.
Though new Seaborn quickly filled the space, the Marks didn't spread any further. The lingering Sword Qi was holding them back.
"That works." With confirmation that Taixu Sword Qi could neutralize the corruption, Daniel began helping Kelsey clean up the areas already affected.
"This is a lot of pressure. Should I call for reinforcements?"
Though Kelsey had said the lighthouse and the Stultifera Navis were urgent, Daniel couldn't help but consider bolstering their forces.
Kelsey immediately understood and turned to a nearby elderly man. "Carmen, you heard him. What's your decision? Iberia still wants to face this alone?"
Unlike the Abyssal creatures, Seaborn didn't grow stronger just because more people knew about them. Any country, once informed, would likely help—even if only through supplies. No one wanted to face an extinction-level threat.
Yet Iberia had never sought help. This isolation made others wary of setting foot in its lands. Politics, pride, and sovereignty made international cooperation complicated. That was why organizations like Rhodes Island, free from national ties, had certain advantages.
Kelsey had long tried to bridge the gap between Iberia and other powers.
"…Only for this time." The elder, Carmen, looked toward the embattled soldiers ahead. After a long silence, he finally spoke.
Every fighter here was one of Iberia's elite. Each death hit him hard. If things kept going like this, who knew how many would survive?
"Bring them in." With Carmen's approval, Kelsey nodded to Daniel.
"I was just in Lungmen. Talulah and Chen are there. Can Wei Yenwu come too?"
"He can."
"Talulah, Chen Hui-jie—let's go. Big trouble's brewing. Time to fight."
Daniel returned to Lungmen's Chaoyang Restaurant. They hadn't finished dinner yet, but at his words, the two women immediately stood.
His goal in calling them was clear: let Talulah and Chen witness the Seaborn threat firsthand. They were the future of Terra—they needed to understand the scale of what they were facing.
"How big is this 'big trouble'?" Swire asked, curious.
"Big enough to wipe out humanity."
If Iberia fell and the Seaborn made landfall, their rapid evolution would spell the end of mankind. Previously, their one weakness was limited time on land—but Corrosion Marks had erased that flaw.
"What's going on?" Wei Yenwu and Lin Mo-rui approached.
"Seaborn," Daniel said quietly.
"…Iberia?"
"That's right."
"I'm going. Wenyue, hold down Lungmen while I'm gone."
"Got it."
"What the hell is that…?" Swire froze upon seeing the Seaborn for the first time. She'd never witnessed anything like it.
"Old Wei, you explain. I need to go pick up more people." Daniel opened another portal.
"Nearl, Shining—get ready for combat."
In the grand knightly city of Kazimierz, at Zofia's villa, Daniel found Nearl and her team. The championship had ended, and the Four-City Alliance had disbanded, but Nearl and Shining remained for now, establishing a comprehensive treatment plan for the Infected.
"Patriot, FrostNova—time to fight."
"Amiya, Iberia's in trouble. We need elite operators."
By the time Daniel returned to Iberia, he had brought nearly all of Rhodes Island's elite fighters: Patriot, FrostNova, Theresa, Amiya, Ascalon, Blaze, Warfarin, and many more. Warfarin came as a medical specialist.
Only Daniel, with his teleportation, could gather them all so quickly.
"They're yours. I'm heading out." He handed Kelsey a rough map and flew off.
Luckily, Seaborn couldn't fly—yet. That would've been a nightmare.
"Iberia's lighthouses… strange that the Seaborn would focus here. Is it because of Argo?"
Seaborn weren't limited to Iberia—Yan, Sargon, and Leithanien all faced them to some extent. But Iberia, especially after the Silence, bore the brunt. The First Silence had happened here.
"It's not far, but for Iberia, even this short distance is a chasm."
With aerial advantage, Daniel soon spotted a solitary light in the sea. As he approached, he saw it was indeed a lighthouse—identical in shape to the monument he had seen in the town square, but ten times larger.
Thankfully it was lit, or he might have missed it entirely.
Since the Silence, Iberia had searched desperately for an intact lighthouse. After confirming all others were destroyed, only this one remained. But it lay offshore—just 56 km from the coast. Iberia had sent teams to locate it multiple times. None returned.
With current maritime tech, Iberia couldn't survive Seaborn attacks at sea. Even a single ship disabled spelled doom.
"Incredible. He held the line alone. Taixu Sword Qi!"
Approaching the lighthouse, Daniel found it surrounded by Seaborn, all clawing toward the entrance. A lone Liberi elder—likely Dario, the High Inquisitor Kelsey had mentioned—stood defending it, wielding a lantern in one hand and a sword in the other. The ground was littered with Seaborn corpses.
The Inquisitors' lanterns weren't ordinary—they used Originium Arts specifically tuned to repel Seaborn. Daniel, unaffected by its light, confirmed it didn't harm humans.
Their hand cannons also used Originium Arts—immensely powerful, capable of destroying buildings in a single shot. In firearms, only Laterano surpassed Iberia.
That made sense. Historically, Iberia and Laterano had been closely linked. The Tribunal was once a church, much like the Landen Monastery.
Back then, many Sankta lived in Iberia. Wayfarer Andoen, for example, had grown up here.
The great rift came with the Silence. As the catastrophe ravaged Iberia and no divine help came, faith turned to judgment, and the church became the Tribunal.
Why Laterano didn't send aid after the Silence remained a mystery.
"Who are you?"
Though gravely wounded, Dario remained alert, suspicious even of Daniel—despite the help he'd just given.
"Someone will explain it to you." Daniel opened a golden portal. Carmen was first through, followed by several Inquisitors. One rushed to support the injured Dario.
"Lord Carmen…" Seeing him, Dario relaxed. He quickly gave a report.
They had found the lighthouse and were waiting for technicians to arrive for repairs—only to discover that someone had already restored it alone.
"Rest now."
"I can still fight."
"There's no need. The Tribunal still needs you."
Thanks to Daniel's reinforcements, the pressure on Iberia eased. Carmen personally took charge of defending the lighthouse—the last functioning one, the key to Iberia's revival.
Iberia's technology was once cutting-edge, but the Silence had caused a catastrophic break in knowledge. Now, with one working lighthouse, perhaps they could reverse-engineer others. If restored, these towers could lead Iberia back to its golden age.
These weren't ordinary lighthouses—they held power capable of repelling Seaborn. In the past, they had enabled Iberia to build a Golden Armada under constant siege.
"A golden ship… and it's literally golden."
On the sea, Daniel spotted a brilliantly lit golden vessel—the long-lost Stultifera Navis.
Finding it had been easier than the lighthouse, thanks to the constant signal it had sent toward the tower for decades.
The lighthouse had received the signal but couldn't respond. The keeper, having survived the Silence, was trapped in isolation.
Oddly, the Stultifera Navis had floated for decades without being destroyed. Surely the Seaborn could have—it meant something had stopped them.
"Four Deep Sea Hunters… no, five—and what the hell is that thing?! It's holding them all off!"
Approaching the deck, Daniel was shocked by the battle unfolding. Six warriors—including four Deep Sea Hunters—were struggling against a monstrous foe.
He was stunned. With four of Terra's strongest fighters, one additional powerhouse, and a seasoned Inquisitor—all unable to bring it down? Even the likes of Patriot or even Ling might not be able to withstand such a foe.
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