The dark green flame suddenly surged like a wave, rushing into the huge assembly hall in an instant, and began to spread to all the Yousui believers present - it was as if the flame had been brewing and accumulating on the ship for who knows how long, and as it rose, it actually made a roar like wind and thunder!
Screams and roars were heard from all directions in an instant. Almost all the Abyss Demons reacted the moment the dark green flame appeared. The weaker demons began to lose control on the spot, and even the stronger demons refused to obey the orders of the symbiotes out of great fear and instinct. Pitch-black Abyss rifts began to appear above the assembly hall, and the believers and priests who were dragged away by the demons disappeared in the out-of-control rifts with wailing. The very few "lucky" ones who were left had to hastily fight against the enemies who suddenly broke in here.
Chaotic gunshots rang out, and some insignificant spells fell on the place where Duncan and Alice were standing.
But the flames were like a wall. These weak attacks were exhausted before they could even get close to the flames. The bullets were stained with dark green in the flames and fell harmlessly to the ground. The missiles and acid summoned by the devil's power turned into new flames in mid-air and turned around to fly in the direction they came from.
Alice opened her eyes wide and watched this thrilling scene in amazement. She was surrounded by strange-looking demons and cultists who had gone mad in fear, but she did not feel scared—she followed the captain here to "watch the fun", and it was indeed very lively here.
But soon, she felt that it was a bit too noisy.
She looked in the direction of the noisiest noise, frowned, raised her hand and waved, and invisible silk threads floated into her hands - before setting off, the captain told her that the people in this hall were all cultists, and cultists could not be counted as human beings.
Then, with this doll lady as the center, countless Annihilation Cultists suddenly became stiff and still, and then began to be transformed into dolls one after another.
But at this moment, a low, drum-like sound suddenly came from the center of the hall. A huge force exploded in an instant, even temporarily suppressing the spiritual fire that was spreading throughout the hall, and ending Alice's control of the puppet.
The saint on the high platform finally moved—his eyestalks were raised high, and countless criss-crossing black bones clicked around the brain like some kind of folded limbs, and stretched, extended, and supported outward. The "body" that was originally like a skeleton cage quickly changed into a spider-like shape, and the horrifying brain was carried in the center of this skeleton spider. It swayed, and from the expanding and shrinking and wriggling blood vessels came a constant "thump thump" sound that sounded like drumbeats and heartbeats.
Duncan looked at the saint who suddenly stood up from the platform with some astonishment, and watched the skeleton spider clinging to the edge of the platform and sending a series of chaotic hissing noises towards this side.
His expression was one of surprise—because he didn't expect the thing on the table could be uglier.
But before they could even sigh, Duncan and Alice heard the terrified and desperate cries of the dying Annihilation Priests from all over the hall.
They were the cultists who had survived the first round of demons going out of control, luckily avoided the first wave of flames, and managed to save their lives during Alice's puppet transformation. As they howled, their bodies suddenly began to swell, and their original human bodies were twisted into all kinds of terrifying postures in the blink of an eye. Countless signs of expansion, contraction, and squirming appeared under their skin, as if another uncontrollable body had appeared in their bodies and was about to break out of their skin.
In the blink of an eye, the bodies of the cultists tore themselves apart and turned into pools of flesh and blood scattered on the ground. As they died suddenly, the symbiotic demons linked to them began to collapse and disintegrate one after another.
But the collapsed demons did not simply dissipate.
They turned into drifting black smoke and began to flow towards the sky above the platform in the center of the hall.
The "Saint" raised his dark skeleton limbs on the platform, and the black smoke released by the Deep Demon when he died was madly absorbed by the expanding and shrinking brain. His body size almost doubled in the blink of an eye, and an even more powerful aura emanated from the brain, even forming a barrier around the platform that seemed like a space distortion.
"... You killed your last follower right away," Duncan said, looking at the platform with some surprise, "This is beyond my expectation."
"Weak people are of no use here... They will only become fuel for your flames, or become victims of Abnormal 099," the saint on the platform said in a hoarse and low voice, his skeleton limbs creaked, and he slowly crawled from the platform to the ground, "It is better to become my strength... I will fight you to the death on their behalf..."
Duncan was too lazy to listen to the other party's nonsense. He raised his hand halfway through listening. The spiritual fire that was once suppressed in the hall rose again in the blink of an eye and spread towards the platform.
"You have found a lot of information," he said casually, "but I still advise you to cooperate. My request is simple - I just want to talk to your 'master'... By the way, if possible, I want to know where this ship is going."
"I see... You are indeed dangerous to us, Captain Duncan," the saint said, moving his long limbs, resisting the erosion of the flames while moving forward, "Then we can't let you get what you want... Holy Lord, bless me!"
The terrifying skeleton spider let out a low growl, and then the space around him seemed to be briefly distorted - the spiritual flames that had almost ignited him were briefly forced back again, and then, he jumped high up, and pounced on Duncan, who was dominating the sea of fire, as if he was going to die together with him.
“It’s time for martyrdom!!”
This deformed and horrifying monster screamed fanatically, and with its astonishing power it repelled all the flames that were spreading into the air. Like a dark meteor, he fearlessly smashed into the "subspace shadow" that terrified the world!
Duncan opened his palms towards the monster, and the spiritual fire that had been forced back gathered in the air, facing the direction where the opponent was falling, and it seemed that it would completely cover the skeleton spider in the next second.
But the Saint suddenly turned in mid-air.
At an almost incredible angle, the monster fell suddenly - with a deafening roar, he smashed directly through the floor of the hall, creating an astonishingly large hole. He fell straight into it, digging frantically at the layers of decks below, and disappeared from Duncan and Alice's sight in the blink of an eye.
Duncan: “… ?”
Alice: “… ?”
It happened so fast that not only Alice's stupid head but even Duncan couldn't react.
After all, he had seen martyrs and fanatical cultists, but this was the first time he had seen someone suddenly stop being martyred - in this world where gods really existed, how could there be saint-level fanatics who would stand up the "Lord"
Alice turned her head to look at Duncan in confusion, then turned her head to look at the big hole in the middle of the hall, whose edge was still emitting faint flames, and finally asked, "Did it escape?"
Escape? In this vast sea, on a ship that had been completely corroded and burned by spiritual fire, where could that "saint" run to
Duncan frowned. The loud noises of digging into the decks and walls and breaking some supporting structures continued to come from below - suddenly, he understood.
"No, that guy isn't running away—he's destroying the ship!"
…
Dig, dig, and keep digging down, the machinery compartment is right ahead.
The faster the better, the faster the better, before the ghost captain reacts, before the blazing spiritual flame catches up with him.
The bottom of the ship is almost there, after the last few floors and walls, after passing through the pipe area... there is a pile of nitroglycerin that I had sent someone to deliver before.
As long as the nitroglycerin is detonated in the steam core, the chain reaction caused by the out-of-control reactor will be enough to destroy the entire ship. At that time... the "holy land" will be safe.
The huge and terrifying skeleton spider was digging rapidly in the huge ship. According to his memory, he cut open the steel plates, pipes, and all the partitions along the way. This ship, which had cost a huge amount of money to build and was once regarded as a symbol of pride by the cult, was being quickly destroyed during his excavation and turned into a pile of irreparable scrap metal.
But the "Saint" did not hesitate at all - he was still speeding up, cutting a passage through the belly of the steel behemoth at an even faster speed.
In his glimpse into fate, he had already glimpsed his own death and the death of everyone.
Those weak believers would die in wailing, their flesh and blood would burn in the flames, and he himself would not be able to survive, because the haze had already completely covered all possible directions - when on the edge of the shadow, changing course might be useful, but if the entire ship was already plunged into endless darkness, choosing another direction would be meaningless.
It would be unwise to confront the ghost captain, for in the clearest glimpse of fate, the "Saint" had seen his own swift and meaningless demise.
Since the ending is certain, we might as well do something bolder.
At the very least, this ship must not fall into the hands of that "captain", and the secret of the "holy land" must not be known to anyone - otherwise, one's sin would be unforgivable.
The last wall collapsed before my eyes.
The deep hold housing the steam core finally came into view.
The skeleton spider almost stumbled into the place and landed on a platform surrounded by many pipes, valves and control platforms.
He raised the many eyestalks on the edges of his body and looked around the cabin.
As expected, there were no living believers here - only a few corpses lying on the open ground not far away, and near the control consoles and valves, one could see some distorted human-like shadows "printed" on the surface of the mechanical devices.
The “saints” did not “mourn” for their fellow men who had died.
He had found what he was looking for—explosives piled at the end of the platform.
(End of this chapter)