Deep Sea Embers

Lucretia very much approved of Duncan's idea of ​​"taking a long shot to catch the big fish" - rather, she did not support the simple and crude method that her father and Vanna came up with from the beginning.

It's not that she has any prejudice against sports students - the main reason is that she feels that with Agou's sensitive fear of "spiritual fire" and the speed of suicide of the deep demon, it would be a living thing to use such a simple and crude method. Can't even catch it...

"Those cultists will hold a gathering before nightfall, and I will ask the rabbi to find a way to get some information," Lucretia said while thinking, "The most troublesome thing now is that there is a so-called 'Saint' on that ship. Apostle'—which means that the rabbi can do nothing but 'observe,' and any initiative is likely to be detected by that saint."

"Saints?" Duncan was a little curious, "I know about the saints of the Four Gods, and I recognize Vanna's fighting ability, but what about the saints of the Annihilation Church?"

His doubts are very reasonable - the saints of the Four Gods are people favored by the gods. Their greatest feature is not actually their strong fighting power (although most of the saints are indeed good at fighting), but the ability to communicate with the gods. Ordinary priests It takes extremely complicated rituals and a certain price to hear the whispers of the gods, but saints require almost no preparation. Sometimes they can communicate with their gods just by praying in their hearts. In more extreme cases, if saints encounter When they feel in danger, their gods will even find ways to proactively contact them and issue warnings and reminders.

In short, it's like pampering one's own child.

However, the "saints" of the Annihilation Cult are definitely not like this - Duncan is aware of the state of the Holy Lord Netherworld, and his attitude towards his so-called "followers" is even more clear-cut. Just by "catching a few Annihilations" Duncan is sure that if there really is a saint among those cultists who can communicate with "divine will", he may be summoned by the Lord on the day of promotion - and then be summoned by their "lord" "Drag him into the deep sea and beat him repeatedly.

"The Cult of Annihilation regards the deep demons as the pure creatures closest to the 'original blueprint', so they will continue to use the power of demons to transform themselves to get themselves as close to this 'original blueprint' as possible. In the process, they will Gaining more powerful power," Lucretia explained, "I heard Vana mention that she once saw a high-level annihilation priest in the frost who had almost merged with the deep demon to coexist, and the so-called 'saint' '...will go further than that.

"They will not have many human characteristics left on them. They are more like demons than humans. They act like deep demons and can draw power directly from the deep sea. In addition to retaining human thinking ability, they have basically already They are a kind of 'deep creature' - these annihilation 'saints' can even freely enter the deep sea like demons, which is the so-called 'eternal paradise'. Perhaps only a little bit of human content remains in them. It also binds them to the real dimension.

"The Annihilation Cults do not have real divine blessings, but through contracts with demons, they can still gain powerful power, and the same is true for their 'saints' - those freaks are powerful, tough-minded, and know countless polluting ways. Forbidden knowledge, in a head-to-head confrontation...the rabbis are no match for those saints."

Duncan listened with great interest to these "unpopular facts" told by Lucretia, and suddenly asked: "Then how do they compare with Vanna?"

Lucretia was stunned for a moment, thinking subtly.

After a long time, she finally spoke: "...Miss Vanna's fighting ability is relatively...'special' even among the saints. I find it difficult to compare."

Duncan nodded understandingly: "Okay, I understand."

Lucretia thought for a moment and then spoke again: "There are also some other situations."

Duncan's voice came from the mirror: "Say."

Lucretia sorted out her words: "There is news from Tirian that three cases of 'sleeping sickness' have appeared in the Frost City-State. The patients are elves, and the symptoms are similar to..."

Just as she was mid-sentence, the voice from the mirror interrupted her: "The symptoms of drowsiness are similar to those of the elf girl named 'Flodie' from Pland before, and the condition of Taran El, right? But this time, the psychiatrist’s hypnosis and dream treatment were ineffective. Their dreams seemed to have turned into a void, and their consciousness was lost in the void.”

Lucretia looked at the mirror in surprise: "Why...the news from Plande?!"

She suddenly reacted.

"Just before contacting you," Duncan nodded in the mirror, "Heidi reported four cases of such patients, the same elves, the same comatose - and if the situation is as I expected, something goes wrong. I’m afraid it’s not just these two city-states, maybe tomorrow, maybe today, the news will spread to Qingfeng Port from other city-states.”

Lucretia frowned and listened, then blinked her eyes for a long time. She recalled the ancient legends that Taran El once told, and spoke softly as if talking to herself: "All elves... are Silan The fruits and seeds of this..."

"Legends are projections of reality, and some descriptions are true - the power of Sirandis holds the elves together, allowing them to form a swarm-like relationship. On a spiritual level, perhaps all elves are a whole. ," Duncan said slowly, "This trait has been dormant for a long time, but now it seems... the dream of the Nameless One has awakened the connection between them."

"Swarm...the spiritual whole..." Lucretia subconsciously repeated the words used in Duncan's description. These descriptions made her frown slightly, but she could not find a more precise expression than them, "Nameless The dream of the hunter is spreading among the elves, and Qingfeng Port is just the first place where it broke out..."

"I call it the 'ground zero', the initial explosion point," Duncan said lightly. "And the question now is - why did this become the ground zero? What was the reason for the explosion of the Dream of the Unknown?"

Why?

Lucretia was startled, and while she was stunned, Duncan's voice continued to come from the mirror:

"Before the Dream of the Nameless One broke out, two things happened. The first was the extinction of the sun, which plunged the entire Infinite Sea into darkness. Except for Purander, Frost and Breezeport, all other city-states had their time. They all disappeared for twelve hours, and the second thing... was that the Lost Home crossed the 'disappearing sea' and arrived near Qingfeng Port."

Lucretia instantly understood what her father meant.

She spoke subconsciously: "So, the extinction of the sun caused the dream of the Nameless One hidden among the elves to be 'activated', and the approach of the Homeless Ship... caused the Breeze Port to become the 'original explosion point'..."

"The first point is a guess I had from the beginning," Duncan nodded. "The second point is a possibility I only thought of now."

Lucretia thought for a while and suddenly came up with a guess: "Then if the Lost Home is far away from Breeze Harbor now, will it temporarily control the development of the Dream of the Nameless One?"

"The Lost Home is already moving away."

In the captain's room of the Lost Home, Duncan turned his head and glanced at the scene outside the window.

Chaotic and dark clouds cover the sky, the dark sea surface rises and falls silently in the distance, and the mist covers everything. The whole world is only black and white, and countless twisted, weird, realistic and illusory shadows appear and disappear in the mist. Keep your distance in the distance.

"The Lost Home is currently sailing at full speed in the depths of the spiritual world, heading north away from the Breeze Port. Next, I will conduct a series of tests, including moving the position of the Lost Home, sinking further in the spiritual world, and turning the entire ship into a spiritual body. Wait and see what effect these changes have on the Dream of the Nameless One."

As he spoke, Duncan withdrew his gaze from the window and looked at the mirror next to him.

"But I suspect that these actions will not prevent the nameless man's dream from continuing to grow - judging from the news coming from various city-states, this 'dream' will ignore the space barrier and directly affect every elf, regardless of whether it is the extinguishing of the sun. The activities of the Lost Home are just an initial 'incentive', not the 'power' to maintain the dream. What truly maintains the dream is the elves as a race themselves.

"But I will still try to do something on the 'Goat Head' to see if its influence can be exerted on the Dream of the Nameless One. After all, there are many clues pointing to this possibility now - who I am now' The First Mate' is the ancient creation god in elven legends."

Lucretia in the mirror was a little surprised: "But didn't you mean that the goat head on the Reflection Lost Home told you that Sasloka had been there a long time ago..."

"Are the 'life' and 'death' of gods really that simple?" Duncan shook his head gently, "I don't even consider the gods. Even on the Lost Home, I have no shortage of 'dead people' here. "

Lucretia opened her mouth, but found that she couldn't comment on her father's followers, so she could only change the subject a little stiffly: "As for Qingfeng Port..."

"My body will temporarily stay away from the city-state with the Lost Home," Duncan said, "This is also to satisfy some of my subsequent 'testing' plans, but Vanna and Morris will stay in the city, and they will continue to observe the Dream of the Nameless One. ——Although there is no way to come back for the time being, my power can still be transmitted to the city through the mirror. If you run into trouble, you can call me at any time."

Lucretia nodded, then she was silent for a few seconds, and then spoke hesitantly: "When the distance is far away, you must use your own 'incarnation' to establish a beacon before Ai can proceed." Teleport', huh?"

Duncan glanced at Lucretia in the mirror and nodded: "...Yes, is there any problem?"

"This... seems a little inconvenient," Lucretia considered her words, "It was fine when the Homeless Ship was near the Breeze Port. You and your followers could travel to and from the city-state and the ship at any time, but now you If you want to stay away from the city-state temporarily, you can only transmit power through mirrors. Have you ever considered...arranging an 'incarnation' in Qingfeng Port?"

Duncan was silent for two or three seconds and shook his head with a serious expression: "I don't have that idea for the time being - you should know what 'raw materials' my incarnation needs. Unless I happen to meet a suitable situation, I don't plan to add any more incarnations."

Although the suggestion was rejected, Lucretia in the mirror seemed to be relieved: "Okay, Dad."