Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 506 - Chapter 506 Chapter 507 The Pontiffs of the Four Gods

Chapter 506: Chapter 507: The Pontiffs of the Four Gods Chapter 506: Chapter 507: The Pontiffs of the Four Gods When the storm came, mortals scattered in panic at the roar of thunder–yet the thunder itself paid no heed to mortal reactions; its roar merely arose from its very existence, just as the existence of Homeloss was enough to interfere with the order of the Endless Sea.

Under this premise, considering whether “Captain Duncan” cared about being deemed a heretic by the mortal church seemed meaningless, overestimating the influence of worldly beings on the Subspace Shadow–besides, from another perspective, the image of Homeloss in the eyes of the civilized world was not much better than that of a “heretic”…

“I will discuss this matter with Helena, Banster, and Frem, the three pontiffs,” Rune told Morris, “there will certainly be voices of doubt and panic among the bishops, but our attitude should soon be unified–regardless of the source of the news, at least the ‘warning’ itself needs to be taken seriously.”

“I knew you would look at this matter rationally,” Morris’s voice carried a hint of relief, “You are still the same as before.”

“You, however, have changed a lot since then, Morris,” Rune said thoughtfully, “I heard you had fallen into a profound abyss, and many lamented over it. I never expected you to bounce back so quickly, nor did I expect your recovery… to involve becoming a member of Homeloss. Honestly, of all the shocking things over these centuries, this is perhaps the most shocking.”

“Life aboard the ship is actually not bad–it might even be said to be better than in the City-State. Although life at sea brings some troubles, here, I encounter new things almost every day, dealing with various previously unheard-of matters…”

“You already sound entirely like a ‘crew member’ proud of his ship,” Rune couldn’t help saying, “I am really curious what exactly you are doing on that ship.”

Morris fell silent for half a minute.

Many things flashed through his mind–he taught classes to Profound Demons, Curse Dolls, and Demon Contractors, raced boats in the Spirit Realm, at the offspring of the deep sea, spent time with the Sun Shard reading books, and watched as it seared a variety of heretical abominations that emerged from those books…

“…Active and healthy academic research,” Morris said earnestly.

“Oh, that sounds quite good,” Rune nodded, then couldn’t help but add a word of caution, “But I still want to say, you should be vigilant. Perhaps as you say, that ‘Captain Duncan’ has really regained his humanity, but as a mortal, living on Homeloss and being constantly around a Subspace Shadow is a dangerous thing itself. You should be cautious in dealing with all unknown entities to avoid any impact on your mind and cognition…”

“Thank you for the reminder, teacher, but please rest assured, as you know, I have always been a cautious student–even when conducting the most dangerous research in the Academy, I always prepared thoroughly and never had an accident.”

Having returned to his desk, Rune fell silent upon hearing this.

The elven elder’s mind couldn’t help but recall the days when Morris was a student at the Academy of Truth.

Cautious… There indeed were many cautious students in the academy, but everyone’s understanding of the word was not quite the same.

Some students, upon encountering dangerous books, would immediately try to isolate and seal the books, avoiding all contact–that was called caution.

Others, upon dealing with forbidden knowledge, would first drink half a pound of Magic Potion, hang all sorts of amulets around their necks, and then prepare the three largest caliber handguns–they also called this caution.

The second type of student had a high chance of dying, but those who survived often achieved great things, and the most legendary scholars of the Academy of Truth were often of this kind.

However, even the most legendary among them had not reached the heights of running off to Homeloss to converse casually with a Subspace Evil God.

Quiet for a long time, the elven elder sitting behind the desk finally broke the silence in a soft voice, “Morris…”

“Go ahead, teacher.”

“…You are meant for great things.”

“Thank you for your expectations.”

“No, what I mean is, if one day you cause too big a mess, please give me a heads up in advance–I’ll help if I can, and if I can’t help, it’d be good to know in advance to make a run for it.”

“…”

The connection of spiritual energy communication cut off, and the resonance at the level of thought and perception receded like a tide, Rune slightly narrowed his eyes, feeling the departure of his former apprentice, until he confirmed that Morris’s consciousness had safely exited the spiritual channel before completely relaxing.

Yet a faint, weird noise as if many people were whispering softly still lingered in his mind, taking a long time to gradually fade away.

Feeling the impact of that noise on his own mind, Rune couldn’t help but exhale softly.

“…Permanent Madness Threshold but still maintaining a clear mind… This is truly an incredible situation. Is this also an influence imposed by that ‘captain’?”

Muttering softly to himself, the possibly most learned elder elf among mortals shook his head and then quietly seated himself at the desk, as if awaiting someone’s visit.

He did not have to wait long.

Suddenly, illusory and blurred sounds of waves emerged in his mind and gradually coalesced into clear, continuous waves, followed by calls of fire and death. Rune sighed amidst these calls, glanced at the still-reacting alchemy container on the table beside him, confirmed there was enough of the residual substances, and gradually calmed his mind–

This study was his “ritual site” for spiritual energy communication, where all the ancient and solemn bookshelves, books, and the alchemy device on the desk were items needed for the ritual.

Darkness surged, then dissipated like mist, and at the end of the profoundly dim passage appeared the figures of the three pontiffs of the deep sea, death, and the flame transmitter.

Rune walked through the passage to meet his three old friends, nodded slightly in greeting, and without waiting for them to speak, took the initiative and said, “It seems you’ve all received the message as well.”

“I and Banster each received a message from our respective saints,” Pontiff Helena of the deep sea spoke, pointing to the silent and towering figure opposite her, “Frem has just arrived, and we’ve barely had time to explain the situation to him.”

The figure known as Frem nodded slightly.

As the leader of the flame transmitters, his eternal torch “Tarrikin” served as the spokesperson in the mortal world. From his outward appearance, he was perhaps the most striking among the four pontiffs–exceptionally tall, with rock-like grey-white robust skin and metallic textured lines on his skin revealing his lineage.

He was a powerful Senkin, clad in the dark gold robe signifying his status as Pontiff of the Flame Transmitter, with short gray-white hair, a sharply defined face, and an appearance that was silent and especially stern.

In recent times, this Pontiff of the Flame Transmitter had been patrolling the borders of the civilized world with his fleet, rarely attending gatherings of the four, and this was his first appearance in a while.

“I still haven’t fully grasped the situation,” Frem spoke, his voice deep like it was emanating from stones, “None of my saints have been abducted to that ship yet.”

Upon hearing this, Helena immediately frowned with a strange expression and whispered, “Our saints weren’t abducted onto it either…”

“They contacted Captain Duncan, they were wary of Captain Duncan, they aligned with Captain Duncan, they joined Captain Duncan,” Frem looked at Helena, his face still as stony as ever, “I believe that is being abducted.”

Helena: “…”

Seeing this, the tall, gaunt, and elderly Banster, Pontiff of death, coughed lightly and said, “You’ve known Frem for a long time; he’s always been like this.”

“…Alright,” Helena spoke after a moment of silence, slowly nodding, “We aren’t here to discuss ‘saints being abducted onto the ship,’ we are here to discuss the warning from Homeloss.”

Rune looked up, “Do you have any questions?”

“Yes,” Helena immediately said, her gaze landing on Rune, “I want to know what exactly are those enormous organisms beneath the city-state? From the descriptions, that thing greatly resembles the ‘Leviathan’ that supports the Church Ark… Are they the same thing?”

“All four Church Arks were crafted by the Academy of Truth, including the technology to ‘resurrect’ and control the Leviathan, that was also your doing,” Banster also looked at Rune and spoke, “but you have never revealed where you found those ‘Leviathan’ ‘cadavers,’ nor have you revealed the connection between the Leviathan beasts and the structure beneath the city-state… We have reason to believe the Academy of Truth holds some special ‘truth.'”

Frem remained silent, his expression as impassive as a sculpture, calmly staring into Rune’s eyes.

Yet faced with these three pressure-filled gazes, Rune simply spread his hands open calmly.

“I don’t know what exactly is beneath the city-state.”

“You don’t know?” Helena’s eyes widened slightly, “The Academy of Truth resurrected four Leviathans, and yet you say you don’t know what the ‘Leviathan’ beneath the city-state is?”

Rune simply countered calmly, “The Storm Goddess Gomona is the Leviathan queen–you, as a follower of the Storm Goddess, do you know more than I do?”

Helena furrowed her brows and did not speak.

“I believe you must have tried asking the Leviathan beast that carries the Storm Cathedral, and it surely could not give you any answer–because even they themselves are unclear about their own species’ matters.”

Rune sighed and shook his head gently.

“Our world’s history has been shattered, even the ancient beasts cannot clearly recall the events before the great annihilation. Do you know, that ‘Captain Duncan’ even named this phenomenon…

“He calls it–the ‘sight limit’ on the temporal dimension.”