Start praying—to your Lord.
The brain in the crown of bones suddenly twitched, and the "Saint" suddenly sensed great danger and terror from these words - it did not know the nature of this fear, but the warning from the dark fate was like a mountain pressing on its subconscious!
It struggled violently in an instant, and its strong will even briefly broke through the layers of restrictions set by the witch in its body. The bone spurs on the edge of the skeleton cage began to make crackling sounds, and with the brief loosening of the restrictions, its perception finally recovered further, and it finally became aware of the surrounding environment - it sensed the familiar breath of the Holy Island.
It realized where it was taken, and at that moment, heavy despair enveloped its already crazy and mutated mind like the night!
“Holy Land!” The terrifying brain swelled and shrank violently, and the air around it trembled, and it let out layers of frantic roars, “Holy Land! You have defiled the Holy Land! You pagans… God will punish you, and none of you will be able to escape!”
Duncan and Lucrecia just looked at the furious "saint" expressionlessly. After a moment, Duncan raised his right hand, and his palm held a ball of fire. The edge of the fire jumped, and wisps of flames fell to the ground. Part of it spread towards the dark stone door, and the other part spread silently to the feet of the saint and began to burn slowly.
It was not until the flames began to spread that Duncan broke his silence: "Two things. First, your 'holy land' does not need to be defiled by others. Your foolish compatriots dug through the surface and awakened the flesh and blood of the ancient gods. Now they have achieved their wish and 'returned to the Holy Lord', in every sense of the word.
"Second, I don't care what your Lord thinks about this matter, but I do have something to discuss with your Lord - so start praying. This is probably the only time in your life that you can truly share the worries of the 'Saint Lord of the Deep', and from a personal perspective... this will at least make you feel better about what happens next."
The flames spread, and the dark green spiritual fire gradually climbed up the huge dark stone door. The flames seeped into the grooves on the stone door like water and burned on its surface, making the whole door appear to be shaking and swaying as if it were alive. Another flame ignited the skeleton limbs of the "saint" and began to burn to its entire body!
A fear that burned away its soul swept through the monster's mind. It struggled hard, but the witch's prohibition suppressed all its resistance in the blink of an eye. It could only watch the flames spread. Compared with the pain its body felt, another more terrifying and darker "touch" made it extremely desperate.
It felt that it was establishing a connection with the dark stone door. A "connection" that was deeper and more difficult to understand than physical contact was taking shape. It felt that it was gradually becoming a part of the door, a part of the world behind the door. Its consciousness, its memory, all its rationality and everything that could be used to maintain its "self" were turning into the door's... data...
In a trance, there was an empty sound echoing, a strange low hum. On the edge of crumbling consciousness, the saint felt part of his personality standing up again from this deformed and twisted body. He felt his hands and feet again, felt the texture of his breathing, and felt a sound vibrating his eardrum - those parts of him as a human being that he had voluntarily given up seemed to have returned to this world in a fantasy.
"Pray to your Lord..."
A voice reverberated in his consciousness, causing him to raise his head in a trance and confusion. However, the resistance in his subconscious mind was still there, causing him to clench his teeth and try hard to get rid of the influence of that voice. But the voice continued to come, vibrating in all directions, even vibrating in his own subconscious mind.
"Pray to your Lord..."
He raised his eyes in the darkness and saw a magnificent black door standing in front of him, like the beginning and end of all things. The surface of the door began to wriggle and ripple, like the wrinkles on a pool of water, and in the rippling light, he saw countless blurred and broken images -
He had studied in the city-state, and had also walked through the streets like an ordinary person. He had longed for many things, but the moment he obtained them, he was swallowed by greater emptiness. In his wanton indulgence, he realized the falseness of his body, and gained a brief enlightenment in the baptism of blood - he saw his first victim, a young body lying quietly in the blood draining trough, twitching for the last time. He also saw his last victim, a group of wreckage that no longer looked like a human, with only a pair of eyes filled with fear and despair, and the eyes reflected a powerful body that had transcended the mortal body...
And all of this was gradually being swallowed up by the black door—everything about him as a human, everything about him that was not human, everything he had experienced, everything he had escaped from... was gradually being uploaded to the source...
"Pray to your Lord."
Next to the black door, a giant filled with starlight looked down. The giant had no facial features, and countless brilliant galaxies flowed in his body. Dazzling star clusters and dim cloud bands outlined his indescribable face. He bent down slightly, and a galaxy like a tentacle extended and flowed in front of the saint's eyes. The front end of the tentacle with glittering starlight opened silently, and countless eyes flickered and blinked in the starlight, examining the saint's soul.
Next to the Star Giant, the black door slowly opened, and a being with a majestic body like a tower and surrounded by countless huge tentacles was glancing at the mortal world.
Why refuse to pray? The Lord is there... He is casting a million merciful glances at us.
The great emotion opened the saint's heart - he finally forgot where he came from and what he was going to do. He bent down in front of the majestic existence, then prostrated himself on the ground, whispering softly: "Lord..."
Pale green flames rose into the sky, and the dark stone door instantly transformed into a slightly rippling black mirror - in the undulations of the mirror, one could vaguely see a vast world deep within.
Duncan turned his head and saw the shrunken black wreckage burning quietly in the open space in front of the black door. Its vitality had faded, but the remaining parts of the wreckage... looked like they could burn for a long time.
"Saints are indeed more resistant to burning."
He sighed casually, and his gaze turned to the "black door" that was rippling like a mirror - on the other side of the door, Shirley and Agou's breath was still moving, and it was becoming clearer and clearer.
He took a step forward and touched the dark mirror with his fingers. Ripples appeared on the mirror, but he did not feel anything from his fingertips.
It's like a phantom.
"Is this the gate to the Deep Sea?" Morris couldn't help but move closer, carefully observing the black door while frowning and saying, "It looks... somewhat similar to the 'crack' opened by the Deep Demon, but obviously more stable..."
"Essentially, this is a crack opened by the Deep Demon. That saint is already a Deep Demon, so of course he has the ability to open a passage to the Deep Sea," Duncan said casually. "All I did was to forcibly fix the crack after it opened the door, and with the help of the properties of the 'connection point' in this cave, I positioned the door as close to Shirley and Agou as possible. Now I can feel that the two of them are somewhere opposite."
As he spoke, he looked at Alice beside him, and Maurice and Lucrecia opposite him, and had already made a plan in mind.
"Alice, you come with me through the gate, Maurice and Lucy, you stay outside the door."
"Don't you want me to go in with you?" Lucrecia immediately said with some concern.
"No," Duncan shook his head. "I'm not going there to fight. I'm just going to look for someone and talk to the Deep Lord. It won't make a big difference if I bring one more or one less person - but someone needs to be left to guard this side of the gate."
He paused, thinking and adding, "This crack will be open for a long time. Before we return, a Deep Demon will definitely notice this passage, and then something will run out of the gate - so you and Morris will be needed to guard here. And not only this gate, but the entire Holy Land Island may also undergo some changes due to this crack, so you have to inform Vanna and the people from the Deep Sea and the Church of Death. From now on, until the gate is closed, many 'guests' may appear around here."
Listening to her father's arrangements, Lucrecia's expression gradually became serious, and she nodded slightly:
"I see—Mr. Morris and I will hold this place."
Duncan nodded and said nothing more. He just turned around and waved to Alice.
"Hold on to me, don't let go." He whispered to the puppet that followed him.
Alice nodded immediately, stretched out her hand and tightly grasped Duncan's arm, with a smile on her face - there was no tension in that smile, but instead she looked very happy, as if... she was not going to a place that was terrifying to ordinary people, but was going on an outing with the captain.
"Aren't you afraid?" In front of the undulating and squirming black mirror, Duncan noticed the smile on Alice's face and couldn't help but ask softly.
Alice smiled happily: "Don't be afraid!"
"good."
Duncan nodded and led the puppet through the black door without hesitation.
A wonderful feeling came over me.
It was as if I had crossed a layer of illusory fog. There was no obstruction, no discomfort, only a slightly cool breath that quickly emerged and then disappeared in an instant. It was only a brief moment, but it was as if I had crossed an infinitely long tunnel in the blink of an eye.
Alice opened her eyes wide in surprise. She held the captain's arm tightly and saw many flashes of light in front of her eyes. But what surprised her more than those wonderful lights was that she seemed to "hear" some sound.
When she was passing through the "tunnel" and heading to the other side, a voice came directly into her mind -
“Identity verification, ￥#@￥&%&… passed;
"Identity verification, LH-03, Pilot Three, cleared."