The skeleton spider let out a series of chaotic and harsh noises - it was a cry mixed with strong mental pollution, the roar of a monster on the verge of losing control at the point of mental balance, the anger in it was almost condensed into substance, but this tangible anger could not affect the ship that had just come back to life and set out on the journey home.
Even though he was seriously injured and his senses were confused, the "Saint" could feel that the ship under his feet was accelerating in a certain direction, and could feel the abnormal vibration coming from the hull - the steam core had been completely destroyed, but the propeller of the ship was gradually accelerating, the navigation and linkage equipment had disappeared, but the ship knew its way home.
The torn hull was still floating not far away. Between the shattered structure, dark green flames burned quietly like a curtain, isolating the cold sea water and all hope.
The steel behemoth that he had blown to pieces with his own hands was now sailing towards the holy land in the form of a shattered corpse.
Behind the skeleton spider, an eerie "boom, boom, boom" sound came from its swollen and terrifying giant brain. Its blood vessels expanded and contracted and squirmed rapidly, as if something glowing was brewing inside. A crazy destructive aura suddenly began to rise.
But just when the Priest of Annihilation was about to use himself as "raw material" to create an earth-shattering self-explosion, 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 eyestalks had instantly turned into something hard like stone or ceramic. Then, it seemed as if some irresistible force had descended upon those stiff limbs, pulling them to fix themselves in the four directions.
Terror emanated from the depths of his mind, and the "Saint" used all his strength to rotate his one remaining intact eye stalk and turned his eyeball in the other direction.
The beautiful doll with silver hair and a dark purple court dress was standing quietly in the flames, her hands slightly raised, as if she was controlling invisible threads. In the slight truth reflected by fate, the saint saw the transparent lines entwined between the other's fingers.
"Abnormal... 099..." An angry and frightened voice came out of his body.
"You need to calm down." Alice tilted her head slightly and looked at the ugly skeleton spider seriously. "Your thread is tangled. Let me help you straighten it out."
The skeleton spider's body trembled, and then finally lost consciousness - and at the last second when his body was completely transformed into a 'puppet', Alice let go of the invisible silk thread in her hand.
She also remembered that the captain needed this "living person".
Duncan looked at Alice in surprise, then at the completely unconscious skeleton spider, and asked curiously, "Does it have wires, too?"
"Yes," Alice nodded, "It's just a little more chaotic than ordinary people, but I can still sort it out..."
Duncan frowned slightly, a thoughtful expression on his face.
At this moment, a gust of wind blew into the engine room, carrying with it colorful pieces of paper. The pieces of paper condensed into the figure of Lucrecia at the end of the platform about ten meters away from Duncan.
At first glance, Lucrecia saw the motionless skeleton spider on the platform, and then she noticed the completely destroyed steam core and differential engine pillars not far away, as well as the countless flames and fragments floating in the air as if time and space were frozen.
Duncan stood in the center of it all and nodded to Lucrecia: "It's all done here."
"... I heard a huge explosion in the lower area, and saw huge flames and torn metal flying out from the stern..." Lucrecia looked a little confused. She stared blankly at the incredible scene in the engine room, and then continued to speak for a long time, "... You restored its power?"
"It will return to its home port on its own, although it may take some time." Duncan waved his hand, looking at the mess here with regret. "What a pity, I was quite interested in the Difference Engine, but it was blown into this state..."
As he spoke, he shook his head and pointed at the "saint" on the platform.
"Take it away. This guy has been badly injured. I need it to recover in the shortest possible time. It doesn't have to be fully recovered, as long as its mental state and vital signs are stable. I need it to open the door to the deep sea."
"... Oh, okay, Dad." Lucrecia was awakened from her daze, and hurriedly took a few steps forward, raised the "baton" in her hand, and with a hint of disgust on her face, she gently touched one of the skeleton spider's limbs with the front end of the baton.
A shadow suddenly emerged from the front end of the baton - it seemed like something was sealed inside the baton. Duncan only saw its vague and hideous outline flashing in the air, and then he saw the shadow expand and solidify into an abstract, terrifying giant mouth like a stick drawing. It swallowed the skeleton spider in one gulp, made a difficult swallowing motion in the air, and then quickly drilled back into the baton.
Lucrecia put away the baton in disgust.
"... Your spells are all very useful," Duncan said with a hint of emotion as he watched Lucrecia's actions with a subtle expression, "The... 'method' you used to 'summon' me this time was also quite good."
"I hope you're satisfied." Lucrecia smiled. "Last time I heard you talk about the 'avatars' you used and the rules of the 'beacon' you used to transmit between avatars, I've been thinking about this. I'm glad it can come in handy now."
Duncan nodded slightly.
He came to the ship in his original form - although he initially considered projecting only part of his power here, after learning about the situation on the ship, it was obviously a safer option to teleport his powerful original form directly here.
But this kind of "teleportation" requires the establishment of a beacon, a beacon that can provide Ai with navigation - the usual mirror ritual is certainly not enough, and the bodies of the Annihilation Cultists who temporarily occupied it cannot bear it. There are other "things" on the ship that can be used as beacons - but that would only leave the innocent "sacrifices" imprisoned in cages by the cultists.
After all, outside of the Lost Homeland, the so-called "beacon" is an occupied body.
Using the innocent victims on the ship as beacons was clearly against Duncan's principles.
Fortunately, Lucrecia 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, relying on the rabbi to control the cultists to perform a summoning ritual, was first teleported to the ship, and then used the power of the artificial beacon to summon Duncan's body here - so far, it seems that this "chain summoning" process is very effective.
Duncan lowered his head and looked at his hands.
His current body is "attached" to the artificial beacon created by Lucrecia - that beacon is now in his body and is in very good working condition.
"The beacon test went smoothly this time," Duncan looked up and said to Lucrecia, "If it can run stably for a long time, you can carry one with you in the future. In this way, if you encounter danger, I can rush to your side immediately. It is more useful than the mirror ritual."
Lucrecia was slightly startled, as if a little surprised, but slowly, a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"Then I'll send one to my brother later..."
"Frost already has an avatar of mine over there," Duncan glanced at her, "and he visited me in the cemetery this morning. He doesn't need your 'artificial beacon'."
Lucrecia looked a little disappointed: "...Oh."
“… Stop trying to mess with your brother all the time.”
"oh."
Duncan shook his head helplessly.
"How are the 'sacrifices' on the ship?"
"The rabbi and I have found them," Lucrecia quickly adjusted her expression when talking about business. "The good news is that the place where the sacrifices are imprisoned is in the bottom cabin of the front half of the entire ship. The explosion in the engine room was suppressed by you before it spread there, so no one died in the explosion and fire. The bad news... their condition is very bad, very, very bad. Some people died in the cell before we arrived. The sea voyage is boring. Those cultists will torture the sacrifices to pass the time in their spare time, and even kill people for fun with the sacrifices that have lost their 'blood food' value..."
She paused and carefully observed Duncan's extremely gloomy expression.
"… But don't worry, I will do my best to treat those who survive. Even if they are dying, I can save them. But their mental state is hard to say. This requires a more professional psychiatrist."
"Well," Duncan nodded slightly, and the gloomy expression on his face relaxed a little. He exhaled, thought for a moment, and then asked, "Have you found the 'Dream Skull'?"
"Still looking," Lucrecia replied, "It's a valuable but dangerous 'Seal'. It should be hidden in the most heavily guarded and hidden place on the entire ship. I have sent out my toy soldiers and shadow servants. They are searching every cabin of the ship from top to bottom. They should be able to find it soon."
Alice stood nearby and listened curiously for a long time. At this moment, she seemed to have finally caught up with the rhythm. Suddenly, she said with a bit of worry: "Could it have been blown up..."
“I don’t think so,” Lucrecia shook her head. “The Dream Skull is a sealed object with a tendency to activate and contaminate. This kind of thing cannot be placed too close to the steam core, otherwise the machine may be possessed by evil spirits. Those cultists should have some common sense.”
"Hmm..." Duncan nodded slightly after listening to Lucrecia's analysis, and said in a subtle tone, "But to be honest, what to do with it after we find it is also a problem... I don't know if it can adapt to being placed next to the goat's head."
Lucrecia thought for a moment and said, "… The first mate is very generous. I think it's okay."
"Forget it, let's talk about it after we find them," Duncan waved his hand, "Take me to see the situation of those 'sacrifices' first."
(End of this chapter)