Deep Sea Embers

That piece of bright starlight was opening to himself and walking towards him—he was sitting on the sofa before, but when he took steps towards this side, Agatha felt as if she was watching a person who could not speak words. The giant described, in a short moment, she even lost the ability to judge the size and proportion, and her confused perception made her unable to understand the size of the house, and the giant formed by the starlight...almost made her The soul feels suffocated.

But this was only a short illusion. The next moment, Agatha woke up from the astonishment. She realized that her sanity was not affected by any existence in this room, as if... she had naturally integrated into it. here.

"I..." She gathered herself together and stared at the giant made of starlight in front of her. She knew that she was continuously watching the "reality" of this indescribable person. Under normal circumstances, this behavior was no different from suicide, but after confirming After she was really not affected by it now, she became more courageous, "I didn't expect that you were really still here, you just came to try your luck..."

"Where do you think I will go? Just walk away when there is a lot of mess here? Like the protagonists in the picture books who complete the task?" Duncan laughed, turning his body to signal Agatha to enter the room. Said, and then he paused, then glanced at Alice next to him calmly, and added, "I mean those picture books with normal content."

Agatha was a little dazed, she felt that she couldn't keep up with the thinking of this great being, but soon she convinced herself with the reason that "it's normal for mortals not to understand the thoughts of the ancient gods", and walked into the house go.

Duncan stopped suddenly and glanced at Agatha's hand.

"...Can you put Shirley down first?" He said in a strange tone, "You, Shirley, too—how can you enjoy it instead?"

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Agatha reacted suddenly, and quickly put the thin girl she was carrying on the ground, but the moment she put it down, her expression suddenly changed.

The situation was chaotic at the door just now, and she didn't pay attention to Xue Li. Only then did she suddenly notice the abnormality on the latter—the limbs mutated by the symbiosis of the deep demon, the hidden body extending from the body. The chain, as well as the dark hound who was hiding in the shadows, secretly looking outside.

"Youxu..." Agatha subconsciously opened her mouth, her muscles tensed instantly.

But before she could take any action, Duncan's voice sounded from the side: "Relax, it's just a harmless hound. I sometimes need a hound to help me find things."

"Harmless... a hound?" Agatha said with a strange expression, but her eyes subconsciously glanced around.

Those figures came into view again—those who looked like chosen by the gods, those who seemed to be blessed by the subspace, those who seemed to host the power of the sun, and those who could not even see through the shell of their souls...

Her eyes fell on the girl named Shirley again.

The deep hound realized that he had been spotted, and was crouching in the shadows with his neck curled up, looking pitiful.

Agatha fell silent.

The ancient god and his followers gathered here—indeed, any deep demon could be regarded as harmless to humans and animals here.

"Don't worry, Shirley is not an Annihilation Cultist," Duncan explained patiently when Agatha fell silent, "She and Agou got acquainted for other reasons, and they are all acting according to my orders now. Dangerous to the city-state."

Then, he pointed to the chair not far away: "Sit down, you should have a lot to say."

Agatha walked over slowly, while Duncan watched her actions—she found the position of the chair very accurately, but obviously hesitated and groped a little when she sat down.

"You seem to need some time to adapt to your current state," Duncan said, "Is there no problem?"

This mysterious existence seemed to be so kind and peaceful forever, but Agatha moved her body uncomfortably: "...I'm really not used to the way I perceive the world now, but there is nothing to worry about with this body. In fact, what happened The change in me has had a lot of benefits, I can now see a lot of things that I couldn't see before, it's just... getting used to."

"Sorry," Duncan said in a serious tone, "I didn't expect such a change—in fact, you didn't have to take such an extreme method of self-sacrifice."

"But this is the most efficient way." Agatha shook her head lightly, "There is nothing more suitable as a carrier of your powerful power than a gatekeeper."

Duncan didn't say anything more, and then he focused on the other party's special attire at the moment.

"You are very different from the last time we met," he said casually, "It seems...you are more like a priest now than before."

"I'm acting as the archbishop temporarily," Agatha nodded lightly, "Bishop Ivan is gone, and now the battle in the city is over, it is more necessary for someone to lead the church than a heavily armed gatekeeper." Calm the souls of the dead and the minds of the living."

"Bishop Ivan..." Duncan's tone was a little solemn, and after a short silence, he sighed softly, "I haven't seen him, but at that time, I sensed the protection that descended on the city-state... Briefly, but his efforts did weaken the connection between the mirror image and reality for a short period of time, and many more people would have died without him."

"May he enjoy peace in Bartok's kingdom," Agatha said softly, "He...has sustained himself for many years, and now he can finally rest for a long time."

"He will—although I don't know what's going on in Bartok's domain, but as a righteous god, he must treat those noble souls fairly," Duncan said casually, and then changed the subject, "Now, tell me about the situation in the city-state."

Agatha nodded slightly.

She knew that, as the gatekeeper of the Church of Death and one of the only remaining people in the city-state who could preside over the situation, she should not casually reveal Frost's current embarrassment to others, and she should not casually report to the unknown, suspected ancient The existence of God established more exchanges, but after witnessing the huge figure standing in the sea outside the city-state and performing the "self-sacrifice", she knew that whether it was Frost or herself, it was inevitable An inseparable connection has been established with this mysterious existence.

Now this existence is obviously still interested in continuing to pay attention to this battered city-state, so she has no way to avoid this matter.

If you have committed a sin with your choices today, let the church and the Lord judge you.

"The current situation of Frost... is very bad," she said, with a low voice, "As you know, we just lost Archbishop Ivan, and the priests and defenders of the church also lost a lot in the process of defending the city-state. Now the city is full of fear and tension, as well as various negative effects brought about by casualties-if these cannot be dealt with in time, then secondary disasters are likely to appear, and terrible things will emerge from people's hearts. Breeding out of the church, with the Church understaffed, 'fear' itself would snowball across the city-state.

"In fact, the sunset a few hours later is likely to be the beginning of the test - in the previous mirror image invasion, the frost had not been illuminated by the sun for a long time, which greatly weakened the city-state's protection against extraordinary power, The first night that followed, no one knew what to expect.

"On the other hand, the situation of the city hall is actually worse than that of the church—except for the battle damage suffered by the city guard and the sheriff's troops, the most serious thing is..."

Agatha obviously hesitated when she said this, but after a few seconds of tangling, she still told the situation - after all, it is impossible to hide the disappearance of the Consul from anyone.

"The most serious thing is that the consul is missing."

Duncan raised his eyebrows: "Missing?"

"He disappeared in the Boiling Gold Mine, and I..." Agatha was a little stuck, as if trying to organize her words, and continued after a few seconds with a complicated expression, "The other me, who led a team to investigate the disappearance of the Consul According to the report of the exploration team that returned to the cathedral, both 'I' and Consul Winston entered an abnormal area blocked by a stone wall, and did not return to that mine tunnel..."

Her tone was low with hesitation, obviously when mentioning "another self", her mood was not as calm as she showed.

And Duncan can almost imagine how tangled, chaotic and contradictory it was when Agatha returned to the cathedral to understand the actions of the "other self" with the other priests in the past few days.

He stared at Agatha calmly: "You can put it bluntly—the consul of the Frost City-State is dead, and you have already judged that, right?"

"Yes," Agatha finally stopped hesitating and said frankly, "Although there is no evidence, I do 'know' that he is dead, died in a strange and dark space, and probably can't even find the body came back."

"You 'know'," Duncan emphasized the word "know", and then adjusted his sitting posture on the chair. "It seems that you will go to the Boiling Gold Mine again later."

"There...is the place where 'she' disappeared for the last time," Agatha nodded lightly, "When she disappeared for the last time, I felt something indescribable, as if I could sense her thoughts , I feel...she seems to have a lot to tell me, but she has no time..."

Agatha stopped, and then continued: "And... the members of the exploration team who returned from the mine also mentioned something to me, which was told to them by the 'other me' when leading the team to explore the mine. It's something that bothers me even more..."