A sharp glint of blade flashed, swiftly bisecting the "Fear Demon," a mass resembling an irregular chunk of flesh muttering eerie whispers. It quickly transford into rising dust and still squirming residue.
However, more ominous presences continued to gather in the cave, bringing whispers potent enough to corrupt the minds of ordinary people and overlapped howling erging from the depths of the ominous black gate—
More and more Profound Demons sensed the crack leading to the real world and were continuously invading through the gate—their invasion began triggering chain reactions across Holy Land Island and started altering the "environnt" of the island.
Lucresia casually flicked off the dark remnants from her scythe and looked up with a solemn expression at the undulating "black gate," she intoned, "...I feel the ’atmosphere’ of the island is changing."
"Fenna just sent a ssage; figures of Profound Demons are appearing in the valley," Morris said, while holding a complex brass chanical device inscribed with nurous holy runes, and swiftly added as he cautiously watched the gate, "They are erging in the fog; so are already beginning to materialize."
Lucresia frowned, "We had already dealt with all the demons that erged from the black gate... Could there be another ’entrance’ on the island?"
"It’s the ’aura’ of the Profound," Morris shook his head, "This island lies on the frontier; it was never stably situated within the real dinsion from the start. Now, this black gate is gradually pulling the entire Holy Land Island into another side, and the aura leaking from the gate is altering the ’depth’ of the entire area... The deeper it gets, the more Profound Demons will spontaneously erge."
With a face as immovable as water, Lucresia turned to look at the pile of still quietly burning eerie green flas in front of the black gate, and calmly picked up her scythe, "No big deal, there is still a fleet outside and a large group of professional church warriors; these demons are not difficult to handle—just watch from the side; I’ll deal with anything coming out of the gate. Father should be back soon."
Morris non-committally watched as new contours gradually began to surface on the writhing black gate.
More demons were entering the real world—the first to erge from the gate were a few oddly shaped creatures, lacking arms and legs, which were easy to deal with; but soon after, the ones erging were the "intact Profound Demons" that Morris was familiar with.
Savage, powerful, with uncontrollable fury, any one of them reaching the City-State would an a terrible slaughter.
And worse, these chaotic dim-witted demons were nearly immune to all spell effects based on "wisdom" and "knowledge."
But this was not a big problem.
Morris casually adjusted the "chanical device" on his shoulder—what looked like a brass contraption seamlessly rged into his body, followed by the sounds of gears turning, pistons operating, and air valves hissing from within him.
With a low prayer to the God of Wisdom Rahm, the elderly scholar’s body, seemingly frail and bent, appeared montarily infused with the vitality of steel and oil—his spine slowly straightened with the clicks of steel components, a tallic sheen gradually spread over his skin shining with the unique luster of brass, his eyeballs dissolved, and two exquisitely cut rubies from his differential brain rolled out and were chanically pushed into his eye sockets.
Morris flexed his arms, the hissing of steam release and a faint vapor erged from his joints, he looked up at the figure erging from the black gate—a huge, hovering skull studded with fierce bone spurs—and strode forward.
He passed Lucresia, and his fist smashed into the horrifying Skull Demon. With the fierce hiss and whistle of the steam valve and a series of sharp sounds of crumbling bones, that demon was blasted back into the Profound Deep Sea in less than half a second.
Lucresia lifted her head, sowhat dazed, watching this normally polite and amiable old scholar: "...?"
"Back when I was young, I often ventured into dangerous secret realms and anomaly zones in pursuit of knowledge—In those places far from civilized world, I frequently encountered rude foes lacking sufficient intelligence," Morris turned back, his face crafted of brass showed a slight smile while the intricate gears and shining spring pieces vibrated and spun in his jaw gap, "I then learned one principle—idiocy, immune to the blessing of wisdom."
He turned again, punching another Abyssal Hound that was sticking its head from the black gate, directly smashing its head into its chest!
"The knowledge blessed by Rahm couldn’t leave a mark on their smooth brains," Morris flicked his wrist, letting the steam pressure pipes in his joints readjust, "but a steam-powered iron fist blessed by Rahm certainly can."
Lucresia continued with a blank expression: "..."
She had thought this respectful and amiable old gentleman was the most normal person on Holoss... Turns out there’s not a single normal person on her dad’s ship?!
...
When that Profound Demon which suddenly appeared from the dense fog was flattened in an instant, Amber hadn’t even grasped what had happened.
She didn’t even know how Fenna managed to rush from the other side of the valley to this side in a blink.
After killing a demon nonchalantly, Fenna walked over, holding her massive sword in one hand, and approached Amber: "The demons are gaining corporal form; this ’Holy Land Island’ has already sunk deeper into the Profound depths—notify the battleships staying near the coastline, be on alert for any large entities erging from the nearby sea, no matter what they look like, sink anything that dares to approach."
Amber was montarily stunned, then recovered from her brief shock and hurriedly nodded: "Okay... alright!"
Fenna furrowed her brow upon seeing this, her years as a Judge having instilled a habit that compelled her to reprimand, "Focus, nun, we’re on demon territory."
"Yes!" Amber straightened her back subconsciously, responding loudly.
Fenna waved her hand, not saying anything more, but her expression was serious as she looked around, observing the thick fog that flowed slowly through the valley.
From half an hour ago, eerie and bizarre shadows had intermittently begun to erge from the mist, those shadows shifting and shaping into nurous unsettling demon silhouettes.
On the nearby rock walls, clusters of stone that resembled grueso skeletons were also emitting slight vibrations, seemingly becoming more active.
Moreover, a few seconds prior, demons had begun to materialize from the shadows in the mist, directly "born" into the "real world."
All signs indicated that this "Holy Land Island" was quickly deviating from the real dinsion and sinking towards the deeper, more profound side, and this change was evidently related to the captain’s actions.
She did not feel uneasy because she believed in the captain—though the others present clearly lacked sufficient understanding of the Exiled Fleet.
"Is everything okay with Holoss?" Amber approached, asking sowhat anxiously in a low voice.
Fenna frowned, a puzzled expression on her face, "...What are you talking about?"
"I know that ship is creepy and powerful, but Captain Duncan has left, hasn’t he?" Amber quickly added, "If a real demon approaches... does Tidewatcher need to help keep an eye on it?"
Fenna understood Amber’s concerns but her expression beca even more subtle, and after a mont of silence, she shook her head, "It’s okay, there are people left on board."
Amber was stunned, seemingly wanting to say more, but just then, a bright light suddenly soared up from the coast, interrupting all her actions.
The marines and clergy stationed in the valley were instantly startled, turning towards the direction of the rising light—they almost thought it was a fierce sunrise.
A dazzling fireball was slowly rising into the sky, within its intense and terrifying light, it seed that many small things were burning in the flas, turning into wisps of smoke.
After being dazed for a long ti, Amber finally hesitated and broke the silence, "...What is that?"
"That was ’Nina’s shock’," Fenna pursed her lips, squinting at the fireball, her tone rather nonchalant, "she really jumped high this ti... Looks like the Profound Demons appearing in the nearby sea area are ’in for a treat’ today..."
...
In the sudden onslaught of dark chaos, Duncan, Sherry, and A’Dog felt as if they had passed through an endlessly long tunnel—ti seed to have only passed montarily, yet their senses were overwheld with the illusion of an endless journey.
And at the end of that "tunnel," as the darkness began to fade, countless bizarre phantasms rushed at them, their twisted starlight pouring into sight like a waterfall, rendering Sherry and A’Dog slightly stupefied by the grand yet eerie scenery; Duncan, however, hazily ca up with a strange thought—
The leap had ended.
And at the very mont this thought arose, he once again felt the sensation of solid ground beneath his feet—the long tunnel and twinkling starlight abruptly disappeared, and the twilight depths of the Mysterious Deep Sea, along with that imnse mountain-like "ancient god," gradually ca into view as his vision cleared.
He had arrived before the Saint.
He could only see a small part of this "ancient god."
A series of small, undulating "mountain ranges" stretched across his field of vision, which was actually a darkly colored tentacle covered with dark blue luminescence and interspersed with irregular lights, slowly fading in and out like a breath.
This gigantic tentacle extended into the darkness, branching out into many offshoots connected to many floating islands nearby, entwining and piercing deep into those floating lands, and on the other end of the tentacle was a structure resembling a majestic tower, the intersection of many similar tentacles—this entire structure resembled a bizarre form of "starfish," with its core part elevated, countless lights scattered across it, blinking slowly in the darkness, watching the unexpected visitors.
Duncan looked up, quietly observing this ancient god lurking in the darkness. After a long while, he softly spoke, "I’ve co to find you."
A wave rippled across the dark "mountain’s" surface, responding with a low murmur that echoed Duncan’s words, and within that murmuring, Duncan heard a voice—
"We finally et, ’Usurper of Fla,’ and... it’s been a long ti, LH-03."
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