After another 2 months, the outside of the North Sea was already much more 'hectic' than it had been weeks ago when the elves had first moved to the edge of the area.
Nearly a year after Minos and his crew had left Dry City and about six months after the great detonation of the Black Hole Bomb, powers from the farthest reaches of the Spiritual World had sent representatives to this area.
While a few had yet to arrive in this area, most of the groups were already studying and surveying the outskirts of the North Sea.
There were already groups from the three Divine Continent states, the Pantheon of Honor, Elves Island, at least five Central Continent states, as well as the Ancestral Sea and the East Sea.
The Sea Folk and some tribes from the southernmost part of the Continent of Beast were still on their way. The same was true for the Dragon Tribe and the Sky Whales, who had not yet reached the North Sea area but had sent representatives.
But even if there were still people to reach that region, which passed near the End area in the territory of the Black Plain Empire, tens of hundreds of kilometers of sea could already be observed. At least 30 different crews were at this very moment at the edge of that sea, as far as they could go without taking too many risks, observing the 'intensification' of the 'natural' phenomena in the area.
Among the groups was a crew from the Western Empire, where the First Princess of that state was together with some representatives of her family.
Amber Quinn, currently level 93, was with the mid- and high-level Demigods of her family, having come from her state to this place to investigate her father's doubts.
After decades of believing that there was something in the north, Emperor Quinn had finally found the space to send a really strong group to the North Sea after even the Spiritual Church had moved like this.
With the strongest powers in the world turning their eyes to the North Sea, the conflicts around the Spiritual World suddenly cooled down a few months ago, and everyone sent groups to observe that area to the north.
At first, the detonation of Minos' Black Hole Bomb might not have seemed all that relevant. After all, it was powerful enough to "only" affect Demigods at level 96 or lower.
The problem was that the explosion, something compelling and rarely seen in the world, had happened at an awful time when the world's seers were predicting bad times for their powers, but also just before the beginning of the ice age. At the same time, virtually all of Minos' allies, who were no longer few at this point in his journey, knew of his fears.
Knowing that he was going to the North Sea, various powers connected one point to another. They realized that there was a problem they needed to watch out for in that place.
If Minos' theories were correct, powerful enemies were hiding in this area!
His allies knew they had to check what was going on, so they moved.
But as several powers began to move north, other forces that had nothing to do with the situation began to move as well, worried about what these other powers might be doing.
As a result, more groups had moved into the North Sea than anyone had originally expected.
In addition to the Quinn family's boat, there were boats from the Evergreen Empire, the Eastern Empire, and, of course, the observers from the Black Plain Empire and the forces from outside the Central Continent.
Many groups were separated from each other, observing what was happening, while others were clustered together, trying to understand the situation.
That was the case with the powers of the Divine Continent, who had gathered not far from the elves.
The strongest of this group was Julian, level 97, who had been sent as a representative of the Pantheon of Honor to deal with this problem.
...
"Elder Julian, what do you think? What are our chances if we venture into the area ahead?" A level 96 Demigod asked as he looked out at the frightening storms of the sea a few hundred kilometers ahead of them.
Julian narrowed his eyes and said in a pessimistic tone. "Our chances would be small, minimal. I don't know what's going on, but this climatic and spatial instability in the vicinity could endanger the lives of even high-ranking Demigods."
"What?" The people in the nearby boats shouted together, feeling this was very difficult to be true.
But these were the last defenses of the aliens in the North Sea, something they had built with everything they had more than 500 years ago.
These were special formations that every group of special explorers of the Mechanic Empire would carry with them to ensure the security of their bases on distant and unknown worlds.
These defenses weren't very useful in battle, but they were instrumental in protecting occupied territories.
That's why even a group that couldn't deal with teams like Minos could leave such complicated things behind.
'It seems that Minos' fears were indeed true. There is an extraterritorial civilization in the North Sea.' Julian pondered with a terrible expression on his face.
He didn't need any proof other than what he saw. There couldn't be natural phenomena in the world that were so powerful that they would manifest themselves in how he and everyone else around him were seeing.
That is to say, the phenomena in front of them were not only capable of killing high-level Demigods, but they also seemed to be controlled by something or someone who wanted to drive them all out of the North Sea!
A natural phenomenon would never work like that, so the only possible explanation was Minos' theory!
'But if they're able to do that, we have to assume that they're stronger than us.' Julian swallowed his saliva in awe, having just arrived at this place but already understanding that the great problem of his generation was right in front of him.
Unlike the ice age everyone feared, the worst they would face was yet to show itself to the world!
He then ordered his group. "Send this message to the temple: Minos was right. There are alien forces in the Spiritual World. Prepare for war!"
