Captain – Chapter 309 – The Crystal Coffin

The ice door opened silently at her arrival. This sight was quite remarkable, but in the pouring rain of the dark night, against this ice tower filled with bizarre colors and cruel undertones, it appeared terrifying and eerie.

Roy wasn’t afraid of ghosts.

She had seen similar entities before and knew they were merely poor souls under curses, possessing none of the magical powers from folk tales, and wouldn’t disturb others without reason.

As for the bloodshed Bivis had described, for her, it evoked more sighs than shock.

After all, since becoming a pirate and achieving legend status, she had grown accustomed to gunpowder and slaughter, her hands stained with the blood of countless enemies. How could she truly care about the extinction of another race?

So after only a brief pause, the captain stepped into the ice tower, surveying the scene within, as naturally as if returning home.

After observation, Roy confirmed the scholar hadn’t been wrong.

The Acherousian Lighthouse, apart from being built with strange ice material, taller than ordinary lighthouses, and having more spacious interiors, had no structural differences. The ground floor was completely enclosed, with a spiral staircase connecting to the upper levels, presumably running through the entire ice tower.

Quite strangely, the lighthouse had no torches for illumination, nor the brilliantly shining orbs the captain had imagined, yet it wasn’t particularly dark.

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Deep blue points of light floated within, resembling dust in sunlight, illuminating every corner of the lighthouse with precision. It felt like daylight, yet without any harshness or artificial quality.

If one had to describe it, it was like being immersed in shallow sea waters where sunlight could reach.

After walking a few steps and feeling that the ice floor was no different from ordinary ground with no risk of slipping, Roy relaxed completely. Without further hesitation, she followed the spiral staircase upward.

Each floor of the lighthouse was similar—empty, desolate rooms.

Each level became slightly smaller, and from the second floor up, there were hollow windows occasionally letting in gentle breezes and warm rain.

But the carvings on those windows were truly difficult to look at, inferior even to the craftsmanship of ordinary country carpenters, let alone the works of master builders.

This didn’t particularly surprise Roy.

The lighthouse interior was empty and simple, without any furnishings, because it didn’t welcome guests or need permanent watchmen.

And apart from those crude carvings, the lighthouse had no other decorations, because it wasn’t crafted by an artist or even built by proper workers, but by a group of brutal, vicious pirates who only knew destruction and plunder.

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Thinking about her crew members and herself, Roy suddenly felt that for this lighthouse to stand so stably, rather than being visibly flawed and at risk of collapse, was already quite remarkable.

She even developed some admiration for those pirates, feeling they deserved the title “Craftsmen Among Pirates.”

Of course, while all these circumstances could be explained with reasons, the captain knew the true reason was simple: the Acherousian Lighthouse, besides being a beacon pointing to Satin Island, was merely a prison cage for the siren.

Given that, what need was there for unnecessary embellishment?

After climbing for some time, Roy overturned some of her previous opinions and even developed some resentment toward the scholar on the Mermaid. She discovered that while the lighthouse’s internal structure was indeed unremarkable, it was extremely tall.

So tall that even with her physical condition, she was beginning to breathe heavily, yet still hadn’t reached the end of the spiral staircase.

Lightly tapping the raven’s small head to stop its distracting cheers, the young woman silently complained a few times before quickening her pace again.

During her ascent, Roy discovered another strange thing: those floating motes of light illuminating the path weren’t physical entities. Whether you gently touched them or directly passed through them, they remained unaffected.

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They would simply pass through your hands or body, bringing a brief coolness. They also seemed to be preventing the warm rain from melting the ice tower, allowing it to exist for hundreds of years or even longer.

After countless steps and numerous floors, just as Roy reached a state of mental calm, like a “tower-climbing machine,” and was about to continue upward after crossing another level, she suddenly found that the seemingly endless stairs…

Had disappeared.

After taking one step into emptiness and advancing a short distance, the captain halted. After a brief moment of confusion, her gaze concentrated as she came to her senses and began observing her surroundings.

Having reached the top floor, the Acherousian Lighthouse finally began to reveal its uniqueness. Even at the relatively narrow summit, its space was far more open than ordinary lighthouses, comparable to the size of the Mermaid’s meeting room.

Additionally, its top floor wasn’t a four-sided open structure. The three sides facing the ice plains remained smooth walls without visible seams. Only the side facing the sea had an arched window that occupied almost the entire wall, with edges extending slightly to the left and right.

Below the arched window was an ice-forged railing with carvings far superior to the crude works on the lower levels. Those waves, ships, and portraits of beautiful female demons seemed to move slightly under the illumination of the blue light particles, like real scenes.

Besides the railing, the three inner walls weren’t bare either, but featured breathtaking reliefs and murals encompassing countless scenes from the sea, sky, and land. All living beings were vividly portrayed, as if telling their own stories.

Among those murals and reliefs, Roy saw many things she had never witnessed before, like terrifying giant octopuses, mountain-sized dragons roaring to the sky, and more extinct beings or creatures existing only in legends.

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Those miraculous scenes were beyond human capability to create. Even the most outstanding creators throughout history couldn’t have achieved this.

It could only be the devil’s work.

Forcing herself to remain calm, the captain took a deep breath and looked at the exquisite, magnificent ice basin in the center of the top floor, along with the cicada-wing-thin lens fixed behind it. She thought this must be the source of the Acherousian Lighthouse’s light.

The ice basin and lens were obviously extraordinary. Not to mention the ancient patterns carved on their edges, even the thick, deep blue liquid in the basin should have attracted more of the captain’s attention, but the young woman merely glanced at them before looking away.

She gazed at what lay beneath those reliefs and murals—a slightly elevated slanted platform. Upon it rested a crystal coffin shrouded in white mist and cold air.

Despite having experienced many significant events, Roy still felt nervous facing this crystal coffin. Her fingers couldn’t help but twitch slightly.

For sleeping within the crystal coffin was, as described in Bivis’s story, the last remaining siren in the world—the key to revealing Satin Island, and simultaneously, the one who could tell her the truths hidden in past events, unveiling the devil’s true face…

The only evidence.