Ashes Of Deep Sea -
Chapter 660 - Chapter 660 Chapter 657 Boarding the Ship
Chapter 660: Chapter 657: Boarding the Ship Chapter 660: Chapter 657: Boarding the Ship The cotton was ignited, and in an instant, it turned into a magnificent flame, turning the spores that had scattered in all directions to ash before the fire quickly died out. It was then, and only then, that the gathered heretics in the hall finally exhaled in relief.
The bizarre and horrifying scene, along with the spores that were clearly meant to spread and infect, made everyone with a sense of reason feel a great danger.
However, as the ordinary believers began to relax a bit, the oppressive gloom emanating from the high platform did not lessen in the slightest–The Saint gently clicked his skeletal “crown,” and his eye-stalks continued to uneasily scan the hall inside and out. He knew that the shadow enveloping the ship lingered, and what he had just destroyed was merely a tendril of that shadow which had infiltrated many days ago. Now, the shadow’s true form had long since completed its invasion… he was too slow.
“Do not relax too early, the unwanted guests have already boarded the ship,” his voice reached into the very soul of everyone present, “Starting now, the entire ship will enter a state of heretic invasion… Lentim, take your men to search the whole vessel, find the invaders–if there are those who refuse the search or act suspiciously, kill on sight.
“Gemoro, you lead a team to the engine room, take control of the steam core and the main valves; the invaders might try to seize control of the ship’s core… take the nitroglycerin with you.
“Perlshea, you take your followers to the armory and arm all of the ordinary believers… and let the mortal sailors take up arms as well.
“Basmorton, lead a team to man the deck guns, for the enemy may also attack from the sea.”
The series of commands issued by The Saint startled the Annihilating heretics, who had relaxed for barely a few seconds, instantly bringing them back to full alert. Everyone realized the gravity of the situation, and the priests entrusted with orders rapidly took their subordinates and departed from the hall.
The hall’s population had halved in a moment, yet many priests remained, forming a protective ring around the high platform where The Saint stood.
After pondering for a brief moment, The Saint once again raised his eye-stalks and looked towards the closest high-ranking priest: “Eric, take your men to execute all the sacrifices in the cages.”
The high-ranking priest named Eric was taken aback, “Now?”
“I need blood to enhance my own power–the invader is extraordinary, this is not the time to maximize value,” The Saint said indifferently, as issuing the execution order seemed as natural as breathing to him, “We can capture new sacrifices later, execute those on the ship for now–drain their blood, let it soak into the stones at the deepest part of the cages, I need to accumulate strength for the final battle.”
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
The high-ranking priest called Eric immediately bowed his head, accepting the command before swiftly leaving the assembly hall with several followers in tow.
His steps hurried along the corridor leading to the deeper parts of the ship, swiftly passing by shut doors that glinted, traversing connected stairways, descending towards the deeper and quieter ship cabins.
Thin, cool smoke had seeped into the ship from somewhere, casting a hazy blur through the corridors.
“Great Priest,” one of the followers suddenly broke the silence with a hint of unease, “there’s something off about this smoke…”
“Indeed, something is off, there shouldn’t be so much smoke on the ship under normal circumstances,” Eric frowned as he spoke, illusory phantoms floating uncertainly in the air behind him. Black chains extended from his spine, and at the end of the chains, a black, amorphous, flesh-like creature floated, with many eyes opening on its surface as if cautiously observing the surroundings, “…It’s too quiet.”
Too quiet, the entire corridor was silent, and no sound came from the nearby rooms, just the faint noises of distant machinery–ethereal and elusive, as though they were from another world.
What about the people sent out to carry out various tasks? Wasn’t the whole ship undergoing a thorough search?
The thin smoke drifted from the front, and Eric suddenly shrugged his nose–in the smoke, he smelled a familiar scent, gunpowder.
Suddenly, subtle sounds came from a certain direction, followed by someone in the depths of the smoke issuing orders–
“Take your positions! Line up, load, and aim–”
It sounded like a military commander giving orders to his soldiers.
Eric, taken aback, turned towards the direction of the voice. With the help of his Symbiotic “Flesh Aberration” Demon, he instantly spotted the source of the voice–a troop of comical toy soldiers that looked as if they were carved from wood, were arranging themselves at the end of the corridor.
The soldiers were only the size of a palm, painted with colorful, green paints, dressed in uniforms that seemed to be from an old era, consisting of gunmen and cannoneers. They scurried across the floor, some waving small flags as they ran through the ranks, or blowing bugles from higher ground, while a commander stood on a block of wood delivered from someplace unknown, raising a baton and issuing orders.
The gunmen were loading their “rifles,” which were like matchsticks, with ammunition.
Other Annihilating Priests also noticed those toy soldiers gathering on the floor, preparing to make a seemly “assault.” The sight was so bizarre that they initially couldn’t react and even found it comically absurd.
But the feeling of absurdity lasted less than a second; the next moment, everyone’s mind sharply alerted–for in the mysterious Endless Sea, anything that seems out of place means danger, even if it appeared to be a bunch of comical toy soldiers!
Eric suddenly remembered something, recalling a legend associated with these toy soldiers. He immediately plunged forward, “Get down!”
His warning, however, came a moment too late. The command came from the end of the smoke, “Fire!”
“Bang bang bang, bang bang bang!”
Continuous gunfire rang out in the corridor; flashes of gunfire cut through the smoke, and bullets whistled in their direction, Annihilating heretics fell to the ground riddled with bullets before they could even summon their Symbiotic Demons, one after another.
It is said that long ago there was a City-State that foolishly challenged the sea witch, in an effort to “kill the Curse spreading over the Endless Sea.”
A conceited commander led his battle-hardened marines to surround the witch’s temporary refuge and launched an attack under the cover of night.
Fog descended with the darkness, and one by one, the attacking soldiers disappeared into it–by the time the sun rose again, the witch had turned them into one hundred and sixty-six toy soldiers.
To this day, this toy brigade remains imprisoned within the witch’s shadow, to be briefly liberated when the witch needs them, and to exhibit the power of an army…
Blood was draining from his body, the sharp pain slowly turned into a numbing cold. Eric lay on the ground, uncontrollably recalling the stories he had heard on a past day, while in the corner of his eye, he finally noticed some abnormalities next to the corridor–abnormalities he should have been aware of but had somehow overlooked for some reason.
On both sides of the dimly lit corridor, many oil paintings hung.
Before, these paintings all depicted the many avatars of The Saint, as well as images regarding Profound Demons and various scenes of the Mysterious Deep Sea.
But now, the content of the paintings had changed.
Many familiar faces in the paintings gazed sadly and painfully upon this smoky corridor, some of them… seemed to have been slowly blinking their eyes until a minute ago.
No response came from those sent out.
The gloom that had taken residence on the ship was becoming increasingly dense, and showed no signs of dissipating.
On the elevated platform in the center of the assembly hall, the Saint was deep in thought– anger and despair were slowly brewing within the calm.
He realized he might have made a series of wrong decisions.
His earlier arrangements had not stopped the spread of the shadow; on the contrary, he was now losing “sensation” of more and more parts of the ship.
A tense and uneasy atmosphere was spreading throughout the hall.
The ordinary priests remaining here also began to sense that something was unusual.
Those who left the hall did not return, nor did any message come back; one by one, internal telephones could no longer get through, neither could connections be established with other “compatriots” in different areas using the perception of Profound Demons. First, contact with the cargo and water store was lost, followed by the crew’s cabins, and then the nearby corridors…
It was as if the compartments were gradually disappearing into a spreading darkness, with this hall being the exception, the entire ship was being devoured by something invisible.
Something intangible was launching an attack here.
Then, something even more dangerous touched the ship–a profound sense of terror enveloped the minds of all present without warning.
There seemed to be movement in the corridor.
A heretic closest to the door heard a faint crackling from the corridor outside, glanced left and right, hesitated, then braved a look outside the door.
Someone nearby noticed his action and immediately came over to grab the rash man’s arm, trying to stop this reckless behavior.
But it was one step too late.
The heretic who had peeked out suddenly stiffened, then swayed slightly on the spot, before retreating back with the rigid posture of a puppet, after a brief stillness, he fell backward, face up.
His limbs shattered like fragile ceramics; his body had somehow turned into lifeless inanimate matter, and his head dislodged from the neck joint and rolled to the feet of the other heretics with a gurgle.
It was a crudely made puppet head.
Exclamations arose instantly followed by the sounds of swords being drawn, weapons being loaded, and a multitude of Profound Demons being summoned. The heretics in the hall prepared for the enemy amidst moments of fright and confusion–the footsteps then started in the corridor and grew closer to the door.
The first to enter was a silver-haired lady in a deep purple luxurious court gown–she possessed a doll-like flawless visage, her demeanour graceful and light. She boldly walked into the assembly hall, the gathered Annihilating Priests, Profound Demons, swords, and firearms seemed irrelevant to her as she curiously surveyed her surroundings, her deep purple eyes clear and bright, as if reflecting many intangible threads within their depths.
Following her, another exceptionally tall figure entered.
This presence was like a nightmare seeping into reality, imprinting itself on the eyes of everyone present–he entered, and already, the minds and nerves of more than half of the Annihilating Priests in the hall began to burn.
Duncan raised his head, his gaze fixed upon the “Saint” on the platform amidst the gradually spreading green flames.
“You and your ship are of use to me.”
If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report