Deep Sea Embers

The skeleton spider made a series of chaotic and harsh noises - it was a cry mixed with strong mental pollution. It was the roar of a monster on the verge of losing control at the point of mental balance. The anger in it almost condensed into substance, but this anger that was like substance was Nothing could stop the newly revived ship from embarking on its journey home.

Even if he is severely injured, even if his perception is confused, the "Saint" can feel that the ship under his feet is accelerating in a certain direction, and can feel the abnormal tremors coming from the ship's hull - the steam core has been completely destroyed. , the ship's propeller is gradually accelerating, the navigation and linkage equipment have disappeared, but the ship knows the way home.

The torn hull was still floating not far away. Between the torn structures, green flames burned quietly like a curtain, cutting off the cold water and all hope.

The steel behemoth that was blown to pieces by his own hands is now sailing towards the Holy Land in the shape of a broken corpse.

Behind the skeletal spider, a strange pulsating sound of "dong dong dong" came from the horrifyingly swollen giant brain. Its blood vessels expanded and contracted rapidly, and something luminous seemed to be brewing inside it, a wave of energy. The destructive aura of madness suddenly began to rise.

But just when the Annihilation Priest was about to use himself as the "raw material" to create an earth-shattering self-destruction, he suddenly found that he had lost control of his body.

A strange feeling of stiffness suddenly came over him, and he felt as if each of his limbs and eye stalks had instantly turned into some kind of hard whole like stone or ceramics, and then, there seemed to be some irresistible force coming. On those stiff limbs, pull them to fix them in all directions.

Panic spread from the depths of his mind, and the "Saint" used all his strength to turn one of his still intact eye stalks and turned his eyeballs in another direction.

The beautiful doll with silver hair and wearing a dark purple palace dress was standing quietly in the flames, raising her hands slightly, as if she was manipulating invisible threads - in the reality reflected by fate, the saint saw each other. There are vaguely transparent lines entwined between the fingers.

"Abnormal...099..." An angry and frightened voice came from his body.

"You need to calm down." Alice tilted her head slightly and looked at the ugly skeletal spider seriously. "Your thread is messed up. I'll help you straighten it out."

The skeleton spider's body trembled, and then finally lost consciousness - and at the last second when his body completely transformed into a 'doll', Alice let go of the invisible thread in her hand.

She still remembered that the captain needed this "living mouth".

Duncan looked at Alice in surprise, then at the completely unconscious skeleton spider, and asked curiously: "It also has wires?"

"Yes," Alice nodded, "It's just a little messier than ordinary people, but I can still sort it out..."

Duncan frowned slightly, with a thoughtful expression on his face.

A gust of wind blew into the mechanical cabin at this time, carrying brilliantly colored pieces of paper - the pieces of paper condensed into Lucretia's figure at the end of the platform more than ten meters away from Duncan.

At first glance, Lucretia saw the motionless skeletal spider on the platform, and then she noticed the completely destroyed steam core and differential engine pillars not far away, as well as those floating in the air. Countless flames and fragments seemed to be frozen in time and space.

Duncan stood in the center of all this and nodded to Lucretia: "It's all done here."

"...I heard a big explosion in the lower area, and saw huge flames and torn metal flying out from the stern of the ship..." Lucretia looked a little confused, and she stared blankly at the mechanical cabin. After seeing this incredible sight for a long time, he continued, "...you restored its power?"

"It will return to its home port on its own, although it may take a while." Duncan waved his hand and looked at the mess here with regret. "It's a pity. I'm still quite interested in the difference engine. As a result, Being blown up like this..."

As he spoke, he shook his head and pointed at the "saint" on the platform.

"Take it away. This guy was seriously injured. I want it to recover in the shortest possible time - it doesn't have to be completely recovered, as long as its mental state and vital signs stabilize. I need it to open the door to the deep sea."

"...Oh, okay dad." Lucrecia woke up from her daze, quickly took a few steps forward, raised the "baton" in her hand, and used the tip of the baton with a look of disgust on her face. He gently touched one of the skeleton spider's limbs.

A shadow suddenly appeared on the front end of the baton - it seemed to be something sealed inside the baton. Duncan only saw its vague and ferocious outline flashing in the air, and then he saw the shadow expand and solidify into a It opened an abstract, terrifying mouth that looked like a stick figure. It swallowed the skeletal spider in one gulp, then made a difficult swallowing movement in the air, and then quickly got back into the baton.

Lucretia put away the baton in disgust.

"...Your spells are all very useful," Duncan looked at Lucretia's actions with a subtle expression, and said with a hint of emotion, "The method you used to 'summon' me here this time... It’s pretty good too.”

"I hope you are satisfied," a smile suddenly appeared on Lucretia's face, "Since the last time I heard you talk about the 'incarnation' you use and the 'beacon' rules you transmit between avatars, I have been I was thinking about it, and it would be nice if it could come in handy now.”

Duncan nodded slightly.

He came to this ship in his true form - although at first he considered projecting only part of his power here, after learning about the situation on the ship, it was obvious that it would be safer to send his powerful true form directly here. plan.

But this kind of "transmission" requires the establishment of a beacon, a beacon that can be used for navigation by Ai - the usual mirror ritual is certainly not enough, and the body of the Annihilation Cult temporarily occupied is even more unbearable. On this ship, it is There are other "things" that can be made into beacons - but that leaves only the innocent "sacrifice" locked up in a cage by the cultists.

After all, outside of the Lost Home, so-called "beacons" are occupied bodies.

Turning the innocent sacrifices on board into beacons obviously goes against Duncan's principles.

Fortunately, Lucretia used her ingenuity to solve this problem-she made an "artificial beacon" in advance that could accommodate the arrival of Duncan's power.

She carried the beacon and relied on the rabbi to control the summoning ritual performed by the cultists to first teleport to the ship, and then used the power of the artificial beacon to summon Duncan's body here. From the current point of view, this "chain summoning" process very effective.

Duncan lowered his head and looked at his hands.

His current body is "attached" to the artificial beacon made by Lucretia - that beacon is now inside his body and is operating in very good condition.

"This beacon test went well," Duncan raised his head and said to Lucretia, "If it can run stably for a long time, you can carry one with you in the future, so that if there is danger, I can rush to it immediately. Come to your side—better than the mirror ritual.”

Lucretia was slightly startled, as if she was a little surprised, but slowly, a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"Then I will send one to my brother later..."

"There is an incarnation of me over there in the frost," Duncan glanced at her. "He visited me in the cemetery this morning. He doesn't need your 'artificial beacon'."

Lucretia suddenly looked a little disappointed: "...Oh."

"...Don't always think about teasing your brother."

"oh."

Duncan shook his head helplessly.

"How are the 'sacrifice' on the ship doing?"

"Rabbi and I have found them." When talking about business, Lucretia quickly adjusted her expression. "The good news is that the place where the sacrifices are kept is located in the bottom cabin of the front half of the ship. There was a big explosion in the mechanical cabin. They were suppressed by you before it got there, so no one died in the explosion or fire. Bad news... They were in bad shape, very, very bad. Some people died in their cells before we got there - sea voyage It’s boring. In their free time, those cultists will torture sacrifices to relieve their boredom, and even kill people for fun with sacrifices that have lost their value as ‘blood food’...”

She stopped and carefully observed Duncan's extremely gloomy face.

"...But don't worry, I will do my best to treat those who survive. Even those who are on the verge of death can be saved - but their mental state is hard to tell. This requires more professional psychiatrists."

"Well," Duncan nodded slightly, and the gloomy expression on his face relaxed a little. He breathed out, thought for a while and then asked, "Have you found the 'Dream Skull'?"

"Still looking for it," Lucretia replied, "That's a valuable but dangerous 'sealed object'. It should be hidden in the most heavily guarded and secluded place on the entire ship. I've already sent my Toy soldiers and shadow servants, they are searching every cabin of the entire ship from top to bottom, and they should be found soon."

Alice stood aside and listened curiously for a long time. At this time, she seemed to have finally caught up with the rhythm, and suddenly said a little worriedly: "Isn't it already damaged by the bomb..."

"Probably not," Lucretia shook her head, "The Dream Skull is a sealed object with the tendency to activate and contaminate. This kind of thing cannot be placed too close to the steam core, otherwise it will cause the machine to be infected. The possibility of evil—those cultists should still have this common sense.”

"Well..." Listening to Lucretia's analysis, Duncan nodded slightly and said in a subtle tone, "But to be honest, what to do with it after you get it back is also a problem... put it on the goat's head. I don’t know if it can adapt to it.”

Lucretia thought for a while: "...The first officer is very generous, I think it's okay."

"Forget it, let's talk about it after we find it," Duncan waved his hand, "Take me to see the condition of the 'sacrifice' first."