Darkness, fog, and the ceaseless roll of the sea.
A creaking, rotten wooden bridge. An ominous keel piercing the sky of the Eternal Night. A vile, eerie aura churning in the depths of the sea.
The ship under construction was everything to the fugitive cultists; for its sake, they had nearly turned Port Roadster into their lair. So when that vile, eerie aura from the Eternal Night entered the bay, they quickly detected it and recognized what it was... a ship shrouded in defilent.
When the heretic leader returned with the blueprints from the camp of the Church of Twisted Vines, preparing to deal with the anomalous ship of unknown origin in the bay, he received a letter from the very sa vessel.
It was an ordinary letter, devoid of any corrupting power and utterly mundane. It spoke of Lu Li's contact with Mayor Matteus and ntioned a large ship nad Andrea.
"Help in finding Katerina and Andrea" was also part of the deal.
Through the harsh wind and snow, Lu Li and his companions boarded a small boat. Led by the heretic leader, they set out into the dark sea, heading for the spot where Andrea had run aground.
Lu Li, Ophelia, Prusius, the rchant, and Bishop John rode in one wooden boat. The tentacled cultist and his subordinates followed in another, while farther out, the faithful of the Church of Shadows surrounded and protected them.
Though even the waves threatened to capsize them.
They gradually approached the contaminated patch of sea. A faint, foul stench, like the one in Himmfast, reappeared, and the lead-gray water was as dark as an abyss.
Woooooo—
From the depths of the fog ca a distant horn blast.
Every creature present could sense the warning and the weakness in its call.
Ophelia's charred body began to glow a deep red; she could feel Andrea's anger.
"Andrea! It's us!"
Elder Sister peeked out from the hood, waving her hand and shouting.
Her cry carried into the fog, and soon a second horn blast sounded, this one joyful.
The heretic leader up ahead had already stopped. Over the rapid clicking of his Sanity Counter, he said:
"Any closer, and you humans will be affected."
Ophelia stopped rowing.
Andrea was still a hundred ters away.
Lu Li stood up in the rocking wooden boat, took out the shard of the ancient statue he had obtained from the shelter, and raised it high in his palm.
A warm light blood from his palm, scattering the Eternal Night, the fog, and even the harsh winter, bathing everything within a hundred ters in its glow.
The cultists in their boat couldn't help but look, then quickly averted their eyes, unable to withstand the searing, mind-scorching light. Yet, they were also drawn to its brightness and warmth.
Lu Li peered into the depths of the dark sea.
A large ship, black as silt and consud by corruption, rested silently in the water.
The subrged part of its hull was pierced by dozens of harpoons that trailed behind it like thin tentacles.
As the light displaced the darkness, the shadowy silhouettes surrounding Andrea seed to sink into the depths of the sea and vanish.
The mont Lu Li laid eyes on Andrea, a part of his mind was irrevocably eroded by the sight, and madness awaited him not far behind.
Taking a deep look at the elegant silhouette standing on the forecastle, a figure only he could see, Lu Li asked the tentacled cultist in the other boat:
"Do you have a way to remove the defilent?"
"It's rely a minor defilent..." the tentacled cultist replied.
The heretics who had attacked Andrea had not pursued them, and the lingering defilent posed no problem.
The tentacled cultist rowed closer to Andrea.
"I... will also... go... help."
Ophelia could vaporize the water collecting in the hold. She instructed Bishop John and Prusius:
"You... go back. Protect... Lu Li!"
The light between his fingers began to fade. Lu Li was of no more use here.
"Not even death can stop our loyalty to Lord Lu Li," Bishop John declared, placing a hand on his chest.
The wooden boat, surrounded by the faithful of the Church of Shadows, turned back the way it ca.
The shard of the ancient statue in Lu Li's hand was no longer held high, but it still illuminated the surroundings for dozens of ters, including what lay beneath the surface of the sea—
A massive, deep shadow passed beneath the small fleet of wooden boats, and the resulting waves made them rock violently.
Sothing had targeted them.
"Servants of the Lord, release—"
"Wait."
Lu Li stopped the shouting bishop, peering at the enormous shadow circling beneath the water.
A flicker of intuition, long dormant, allowed Lu Li to sense its thirst.
It wasn't thirsting for Lu Li, or for any of them, but for the shard of the ancient statue he held in his hand.
His right hand, holding the shard, extended over the side of the boat, and Lu Li carefully lowered it into the piercingly cold water.
The glowing shard sank slowly into the bottomless sea, and a mont later, the wandering shadow-silhouette swam up and swallowed the descending artifact.
In the instant before the light vanished, it seed one could see the gigantic shadow flip over, revealing a white patch on its belly.
Lu Li steadied the wooden boat. The waves stirred by the departing sea monster gradually cald. Having gotten what it wanted, it was gone.
After that, they returned to the port without incident.
The curse and defilent on Andrea would take so ti to cleanse.
Near dawn, one of the heretics returned by boat and then took their only ship out into the bay to tow Andrea back.
A long while later, the two ships docked silently in the dark fog.
Seeing Andrea again, Lu Li's mind was no longer eroded; her curse and defilent had been completely eliminated.
However, Andrea was still severely damaged. The harpoons, which seed to have been thrown with incredible force, had pierced the ship's bottom and remained lodged there. Pulling them out would only hasten her sinking—unless the holes could be patched.
In Vinnelag, repairs could have been done at any ti, but in Port Roadster, there was only a group of cultists with disparate beliefs.
Still, the fugitive cultists who had built a keel and obtained the blueprints should be able to handle the repair work.
Once the damage to Andrea was docunted and a report transmitted to Vinnelag, the rchant produced several stacks of docunts on ship repair thods just three hours later.
Lu Li handed them over to the fugitive cultists, and this served as their paynt for repairing Andrea.
Due to her severe injuries, Andrea soon fell into a dormant state, but not for long.
anwhile, the Church of Twisted Vines sent another contingent to protect Lu Li and also expressed a desire to form an alliance with the fugitive cultists—an alliance between the Church of Twisted Vines, the Church of the Vine, the Church of Shadows, and the "Church of Fugitives."
The heretic leader regretfully refused Her offer. The reason was simpler than expected—after their ship was built, they planned to sail into unknown seas in search of a truly safe continent.
However, until their departure, this cooperative and friendly relationship could be maintained.
On the third day of waiting for Andrea to awaken.
Everything was not as the newspapers had reported: the tide of fog and the Eternal Night did not recede today. Noon was no different from midnight, the temperature dropped even further, and frost even ford on the port's waterline.
Everyone except Lu Li was growing impatient and anxious. They had wasted too much ti.
With each passing day, the chances of saving Katerina grew ever more remote.
Finally, that afternoon, Andrea awoke from her slumber.
Lu Li and his companions boarded the great ship and asked Elder Sister to translate what had happened to her.
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