Deep Sea Embers

Boom, boom, boom.

A sudden knock on the door interrupted the sinister man's brief confusion when he saw the ball of cotton. He immediately retracted his gaze and turned to look in the direction where the knock on the door came from.

After briefly feeling the breath at the door, he stepped to the door and opened the padlock.

A man wearing a dark hooded robe, half of his face hidden in the shadow of the hood, stood at the door. He was a little dissatisfied with the door opening too slowly: "Why did it take so long to open the door?"

"I'm not your servant, Du Meng," the sinister man in the room frowned, obviously not in a good mood, "Don't take the saint's temporary preference too seriously."

"Whatever you think, Richard, I'm just giving you a reminder," the Annihilation cultist known as Dumont said calmly, "Don't let fear linger in your heart for too long. You came from the dream of the unknown two days ago. Something was wrong after the evacuation. Your cautious fear and slowness and suspicion have attracted the attention of the saint. He has not yet expressed his dissatisfaction, but if you continue to be like this, it will be harmful to our cause..."

Before Du Meng finished speaking, the Annihilation Cult known as Richard suddenly took a step forward, almost pressing his sinister face directly in front of the other party's hood: "You can go in and give it a try, and Don’t stay in the safe real world and say such sarcastic words!”

"I will go," Du Meng said calmly. Faced with the provocation and unkind attitude of the other party, he did not mind at all. He just calmly took a half step back. "Tonight, as the next batch of voters, I will talk to you. Enter the dream of the nameless one together.”

Richard finally put away the unkindness in his expression. He looked at the other party with some surprise: "The Saints have decided to send the next group of people? Has the plan been advanced?"

"Otherwise? What you reported has been taken seriously. Now the saints know that there is a dangerous force that is our enemy in the Dream of the Nameless One, and they know that another force is taking action - our 'ally' There is also news that they seem to have fought each other a long time ago." Du Meng spread his hands and shook his head, "Put away your complaints and suspicions. I know you encountered difficulties in your previous actions, but you are in a situation where Among our fellow citizens, the Holy Lord bless us.”

"...The Holy Lord bless us," Richard finally exhaled softly, his face completely softened, "I was a little excited just now."

"It's understandable. After all, you were injured in the last operation, and you encountered danger in the last operation. These traumas will cause a lot of mental burden," Du Meng said, looking up at Richard. Behind De - there was a faint smoke and dust floating in the air, and an illusory and transparent black chain floated in the air. The "death bird" at the end of the chain was landing on a nearby cabinet with some dejection. It was obviously not in a good condition, "So Are you sure you don't need to rest for two more days? In your current state, even if you miss an action, everyone will not have any objection."

"No need," Richard shook his head immediately, his eyes becoming alert again, "Piety to the Holy Lord is my most powerful strength, I will adjust my condition before tonight."

"...Since you are so determined, I will tell the saints," Du Meng nodded and said, "In addition, since you do not plan to miss tonight's action, then prepare yourself and go to the assembly hall before nightfall. The saints will announce Issues."

Richard looked into the eyes of the person outside the door and nodded after a moment: "Okay."

Du Meng didn't say anything else, but took another half step back, watching silently as the door in front of him was closed. Then a faint smile appeared on his face that had always maintained a calm and indifferent look, and he turned and walked towards the cabin corridor. deep.

Another hooded, stocky Annihilation cultist came out of the shadows in the corner of the corridor and walked side by side with Dumont.

After walking a certain distance, an Annihilation cultist named Du Meng suddenly broke the silence: "Richard's situation is not good. His demon is weakening and his spirit is losing balance. Soon, the symbiosis contract will kill him." Dragging him into death—fate is closing in on this guy.”

"This is the fate he chose. Yousui will remember his sacrifice," another believer whispered, "We will eventually return to the place of origin, but sooner or later... But I am really curious, he Why is the mental imbalance so serious? Other people who have entered the Dream of the Nameless One have also encountered various failures. Some have even been seriously injured by 'corrosion' and escaped from the dream in a near-death state, but their mental states are not that good. Oops..."

Du Meng stopped and looked back at the closed door in the distance.

After a moment, he withdrew his gaze and shook his head: "There is a difference between serious injury and serious injury."

He turned around and continued walking forward, while continuing unhurriedly: "I encountered erosion in the dream, fought hard and was on the verge of death. All I need to do when I come back is to recuperate with honor, but in the dream I was raped by an underage girl. Beaten half to death with a dog, screamed and fell off the bed - and still in the assembly hall, and had his memory retrieved by the saints on the spot, that requires more than just recuperation."

After finishing these words, the two Annihilation cultists were silent in unison and continued to walk forward slowly. After a while, the short and stocky cultist muttered thoughtfully: "This is really scary... …”

"...Yeah, that's really scary."

In the cabin, Richard sat on the bed with a gloomy expression, listening to the sounds in the corridor fading away, his expression becoming more ferocious every second.

His symbiotic demon, the Death Bird, was lying weakly on the low cabinet next to him. The light mist released from this bird-shaped demon floated in the air as if it had substance, and spread in all directions, enhancing the "master's" perception. .

But after a while, he still restrained the urge to continue to release his senses, and was driven by reason to take back the power of the death bird.

He must restore himself and the contracted demon as soon as possible, and must prove himself in the next actions - the end of the cycle is approaching, the dusk of this world will soon come, can the followers of Youshuo survive in the deep sea era? Gaining a place in the unknown era that follows, actions in that "dream" are crucial.

Proving yourself in that "dream" will be the best shortcut to eternal glory.

He breathed a long sigh of relief, but his hand inadvertently touched a soft thing on the bed.

It’s still that ball of cotton.

Richard picked up this thing with some doubts, raised his head and looked around the cabin, which was not spacious, as if looking for the source of this inexplicable cotton.

Ran out of the blanket?

He searched around the room but couldn't find the source of the cotton. Finally he came to the window and scratched his hair in confusion.

Why do you care so much about a ball of cotton?

The Annihilation cultist was confused for a moment, then shrugged - forget it, it's just a ball of cotton, there's no need to pay so much attention.

He opened the clothes on his chest, touched the skin, found a zipper, unzipped it, and stuffed the ball of cotton into the squirming flesh.

A soft laugh suddenly came from the corner of the room, as if it was a five or six-year-old little girl hiding in the closet looking at the clumsy adult and laughing softly.

The death bird on the low cabinet seemed to notice something, but it just raised its head and glanced suspiciously at the direction from which the sound came, and then lowered its head again.

…

"Rabbi found a stronghold of those cultists?"

In the captain's room of the Brilliant Star, Lucretia was sitting in front of the dressing table. Green flames danced on the edge of the dressing mirror in front of her. The candlestick was burning quietly in front of the mirror, and her father's voice came from the mirror.

"Yes," Lucretia nodded in front of the mirror, "The stronghold is actually on a ship, and judging from the current situation, they are not 'hiding' on the ship, but have complete control of the big ship, and that There are a large number of Annihilation cultists gathered on the ship... It should be an important stronghold."

"...That rabbit has made a great contribution," Duncan in the mirror nodded seriously, with emotion in his tone, "Those cultists are elusive and never operate with a high profile in the city-state. It is very difficult to catch them. We didn’t expect that we would be able to find a gathering point this time... hidden on the boat, which is indeed beyond our expectation."

"The ship was not small in size, and it seemed to be a place specially prepared for various dark and bloody rituals. The rabbi smelled a strong smell of blood on the ship, which was the residual smell of many sacrifices - this kind of ship There is definitely no way to dock in the city-state like an ordinary ship. The remaining aura of the dark ritual cannot be hidden from the church, so there must be a supply port behind it..."

Listening to Lucretia's analysis, Duncan in the mirror began to think. After a while, he suddenly asked: "The Rabbi is still hiding on the ship? Will it be discovered?"

"It is very good at hiding. Unless it takes the initiative to confront certain high-level believers on the ship, such as the 'Saint', it will not be exposed under normal circumstances," Lucretia said. "It comes from the spirit The shadow of the world can be hidden in people's emotions and perceptions. On that ship, the negative atmosphere itself is its best cover."

"Okay," Duncan nodded, "Then let the rabbi continue to hide, don't have contact with that 'saint', and collect as much intelligence as possible."

His original plan was to have the rabbi construct a mirror ceremony as soon as he found the hiding place of the cultists, allowing himself to "come" to the scene in person, and then teleport all his followers before the cultists were dead. Go over there and beat up the cultists, beating them until they are unconscious before their symbiotic demon kills itself, and see how many you can catch in the end.

The entire plan is very concise and efficient, and has been highly recognized by Fanna.

But now it seems...the "big fish" that Rabbi found is bigger than everyone imagined, so naturally the problem cannot be solved so simply and crudely.

As an expert fisherman, he had to make the line longer.