First Light of a New Age

Chapter 27: Ruins of a Once-Thriving City.

Austronesian Empire, Somewhere In The Ocean, Inside The Storm, Exclusive Economic Zone Of The Austronesian Empire

First Year Of God, First Day, First Five Days, First Month

The raindrops were rustling from against the deck to the hull of the ship. Virulent winds were bashing the windows as the dark sky looked upon the ship. Violent waves crashed against the hull, making the travel an immensely tough one. Inside the ship, a bitter chilly atmosphere transpires that could almost make one numb. Additionally, a heavy oppressive atmosphere spreads throughout everybody else. This, however, was noticed by the captives on the ship.

On the far side of the ship's compartments was where Melian was, for the past few minutes, she had been watching outside. Beyond the glass panel was a silhouette of a humongous ship, that she had seen nothing like before. Its cannons, more massive than any she could imagine, she even wondered if they could even be called a cannon as she could see it. It probably spanned several dozen meters and seemed it could even possibly shoot an entire tree on it. That's just how big and intimidating the metal ship she was staring at. The sight of the imposing metal vessel made her also wonder how many mana crystals it requires for it to be able to move.

For the past few minutes, Melian had puzzled over the sudden heaviness in the ship's atmosphere. It felt as though something terrible had occurred to them. She couldn't understand what kind of problem could have cast such a pall over these humans that they turn the atmosphere so heavy that it was almost suffocating.

She walked around her bed and observed her surroundings. It seemed like the other Elves had also sensed the heavy atmosphere and oppressive mood too, and they were growing fearful of what's going to happen to them. After all, they knew that if the crew were in a foul mood, they would lash out at their captives. Melian fervently hoped that wouldn't be the case.

When she saw that there really was nothing she could do, she immediately headed back into her bed and sat down on it. It was immensely comfortable, smoother than anything she had ever touched at the same time. She then looked back into the glass panel and stared in awe at the numerous metal ships that she could see in the distance. Even though it was just entirely a silhouette, she could still make out the ship as there were some lights on it, though the majority of it was covered by the darkness.

The size of the metal ships were already out of this world. She doubted that any attempt to replicate them, it might not even hold up or be seafaring worthy. They must have some sophisticated designs that let them be able to support their massive structures. That's not all, there's also the speed of the ship. It travels at a blistering speed as it slices through the waves like an arrow that was being pulled from the bow and was shot to the sky.

There is also that one question bugging her mind for a while. How were humans able to harness the power of magic crystals without having nor possessing any mana at all? Furthermore, she could sense no mana at all from the humans, yet they had been beaten without having put up much of a fight. If other nations heard of this from anyone, they would become the laughingstock of the world. Still, she's willing to endure the humiliation, after all, humans are known to be the most sociable and have the strongest sense of solidarity among the races in this world.

Being able to observe up close the solidarity of the humans and their hospitality, she thought that they must have a good leader, and most of all a good government system, and it's probably politically stable too, for it to be able to produce such powerful warships which would require immense resources and coordination to be able to manufacture. In her conclusion, the political stability necessary to build such vessels from this nation spoke volumes about their society's strength.

A few hours quite possibly had passed, and Melian was still staring at the glass panels. However she noticed something peculiar, a shining bright light was moving around and yet she could not find the source of the light. It seemed like it came from the other side or on the front, but she couldn't see anymore as it was the limit of the glass panel.

After a few moments of fixing her posture, the ship suddenly turned to its starboard, almost knocking her off balance due to the event that transpired. But thanks to the maneuver, she could see the source of the light and she was utterly baffled by the sight. It was a gigantic tower emitting a beam of light that is somehow directed in a single direction and what's more suprising about it is the fact that it was rotating. It was as if it was some kind of guidance or signal.

A few moments later after the metal ship turned to its starboard, it came to a halt and what stumbled upon Melian was something so indescribable that it is better left unsaid. It was some kind of city, but the city was tattered and destroyed with many smoke of different shades rising and flames lighting up the sky. It was as if the city went through some sort of warzone of inexplicable capacity of warfare.

Soon after, humans descended down into the space where the captive elves were held, to which they were escorted outside of the ship and brought down into the port. The only thing that surrounded the elves and Melian was chaos and death. Now she understands why the humans on the metal ship had such a heavy atmosphere.

One should be able to imagine what happened to the city just by looking around. If the demons came from the storm then that must have meant that the humans were battling the demons since it appeared. But Melian was also confused as to how were they not able to notice this human settlement and one with such powerful military might at that so close to their sea borders.

She looked at the surroundings and the only things she was seeing were bodies, hundreds, if not thousands of dead bodies of humans that were piled higher. It was as if they had arrived in the ruins of a once-thriving city.

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A/n: Sorry for the short chapters, but I promise you that the next chapter will go back to monster fighting, a bit more longer.

...And a little surprise and unexpected turn of event will come.