The swaying ship's cabin and the continuous screams from above interrupted the conversation between Lynn and Jenny. They exchanged glances and rushed upstairs in unison.
Opening the door, a frigid gale howled, and icy raindrops poured down on the deck like a dense hailstorm. It was the prelude to a tempest.
The once calm sea had become tumultuous, with the waves continuously crashing against the ship's hull, causing the sail warship to sway incessantly.
Due to the relentless gale, the previously thick fog had dissipated significantly, doubling the visible range. However, the fog was no longer pure white but had turned into an eerie gray.
"Hurry, tighten the sails, everyone, get moving. We must escape this area as quickly as possible." Lynn shouted.
The deck was in chaos, with hundreds of crewmen from the Ship's Gang in disarray. Lame Laut's face turned extremely grim as he shouted loudly, but many people were kneeling on the ground, looking hopeless, and shouting something.
"Laut, did we run aground? Or is it the effect of the storm?" Lynn hurriedly approached, inquiring.
"No, it's the Great Whirlpool, the Eye of Death." Laut exclaimed, terror evident in his voice.
The Great Whirlpool?
Lynn immediately recalled the information he had gathered in the harbour town. He gazed once more at the turbulent sea, realizing what he had overlooked. The surging sea was flowing consistently in one direction, drawing the ship towards the center of the vortex.
The diameter of this vortex was simply massive. Moreover, the sea was shrouded in fog, making it nearly impossible to find any reference point. It gave him the illusion that the ship was sailing normally.
Just how enormous was this thing?
Lynn couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. Laut, on the other hand, seemed to have had a sudden revelation and looked at Lynn with an intense, hopeful look, asking, "Master Wizard, can you freeze the entire whirlpool?"
"What are you joking?" Lynn furrowed his brow. The diameter of this whirlpool had to be several kilometres to create such a visual deception. What kind of power could freeze an ocean of this magnitude?
"Then we're doomed. It's too late to escape now," Laut said, his eyes losing the glimmer of hope. He slumped to the ground, muttering to himself.
The Sea of Mist was terrifying for a reason. Besides the thick fog that covered the entire area, making it easy to lose direction, the most crucial element was the Great Whirlpool, known as the Eye of Death.
It was an existence that struck fear into the hearts of countless seafarers, akin to a grim reaper roaming the vast Sea of Mist. It could appear in any corner of this region without warning or any discernible pattern. Once encountered, the crew and their ship were condemned to death.
The terrifying pull of the Great Whirlpool far exceeded the speed of any sailing ship. Rumour had it that those who were eventually sucked into the vortex not only faced certain death but their souls would plunge into the abyss, hence the name "Eye of Death."
The only way to pass through the Sea of Mist was to wait until Moonrise when the Eye of Death temporarily calmed down. During this brief period, ships tried to distance themselves as much as possible from the frequent appearance of the Eye of Death. The rest was left to luck.
In previous years, when they transported goods, they would try to set sail on the first few days of Moonrise, ensuring they didn't collide directly with the Great Whirlpool.
But this year was different; the Church had blocked the harbour town, delaying their departure.
Lynn paid no attention to the lamentations and swiftly walked over to the cargo piled on the deck. He picked up a few wooden barrels, gauged their weight, and then tossed them in different directions and angles. He extended his right hand, measuring the relative distances of these objects.
For an individual, trying to calculate the diameter and flow speed of the Great Whirlpool with just a few drifting barrels as reference points seemed like an impossible task.
But for Lynn who has an AI, it was child's play.
"The diameter of the Great Whirlpool is seven kilometres, and the escape speed is... twenty knots. To avoid being sucked into the vortex, we need at least twenty knots." Lynn received the analysis from the AI, and his brows furrowed.
In his previous life, achieving a speed of twenty knots was easily attainable with even a small boat, but in this wicked otherworld, the Celestial warship beneath their feet appeared to have a maximum speed of... seven knots?
"This is impossible. Even the finest alchemical ships in the land of the wizards can't reach twenty knots." Laut heard Lynn's words and shouted in despair.
Although he didn't understand what the escape speed meant, he knew what twenty knots signified.
"No, it's possible." Lynn said seriously, pushing the helmsman who had slumped to the ground aside. He looked at everyone present. "I'll take the helm. Everyone, get back to your posts, listen to my orders, and raise all the sails for me."
"Do you even know anything about ships? With these massive waves, if we raise all the sails, this ship won't last long, and we'll all die." The helmsman whom Lynn had pushed away immediately jumped up and shouted at the top of his lungs. In this situation, he didn't care about wizards or non-wizards anymore.
But the next moment, the words at the edge of his mouth were swallowed back because a massive fireball was forming in Lynn's palm.
"Do as he says, or you'll die right now," Lynn's tone was icy.
The yellowish-white phosphorus flames made the sailors on the deck shiver involuntarily, and the helmsman even sat down on the ground in fear.
However, in this hopeless situation, not many people obeyed the command. Some even believed that dying by sorcery was better than having their souls devoured by the Great Whirlpool.
Just then, the sound of a winch turning vigorously reached their ears, and Lynn and the others turned to look. The person working the winch was Jenny.
The young girl was tightly gripping a sail rope, threading it through the winch. Raindrops flowed from her head, streaming over her delicate profile and soaking her robe, but Jenny didn't mind. She pulled harder and harder, securing the last loop of the rope firmly on the winch.
"If you have no other way, sitting here waiting for death is the only option." Jenny's sapphire-like eyes gazed at everyone present, and she spoke resolutely.
Laut quickly rallied as well, drawing a whip from his waist and fiercely lashing a praying sailor on the ground. He shouted in anger.
"Do it, all of you, do as he says, hoist all the sails."