Chapter 655 – A Visit from the Shadows

Chapter 655 – A Visit from the Shadows
In the spacious and magnificent assembly hall with many reliefs and patterns related to the Profound Holy Lord on the roof and walls, the monstrous thing called “Saints” was standing silently on a high platform.

The “crown” made of black skeletons stood on the platform, and between the nerves and blood vessels entwined at the bottom of the crown were eyes that were half-open and half-closed, and the chilling brain was lying in the center of the crown of skeletons, occasionally emitting a low and indistinct sound as it slightly squirmed.

The lower clerics and ordinary worshippers in the hall kept quiet, standing cautiously and nervously in the corners, they kept their distance from the high platform in the center, and didn’t even dare to directly meet the eye stalks of the saints that were in a state of hibernation, and a low and depressing atmosphere enveloped the place, even the air seemed to be frozen.

Everyone knew that the Saints were in a bad mood – and this bad mood was obviously related to the sudden termination of the recent operation.

The order to terminate the operation was of course given by the Saint himself, but it was clear that this was not an outcome that this lord was happy to see – heading towards something that shouldn’t be like this.

This silence and depression lasted for an unknown period of time, when a voice suddenly appeared in the ears of every lower cleric and ordinary congregation member: “Get out.”

Everyone was like an amnesty – almost in the blink of an eye, the Annihilationists gathered in the hall left the assembly grounds through the various doors, leaving only the upper clerics by the high platform in the end.

“Saints,” one of the upper clerics, dressed in a black coat with meticulously combed white hair, turned to the high platform and broke the silence, “we have received word from Mokor and Siprod that the elves who had fallen into a state of lethargy and dissipation in the various city-states have one by one recovered. ”

“The entrance to the …… Dream Realm has disappeared, and the Dream Cranium is no longer reacting to the ‘Blood Eclipse’,” another Upper Divine Magus spoke immediately after, “From the existing situation, I’m afraid that the Dream of the Nameless One has completely disappeared – but until now, the followers of the Sun have not contacted us.”

“They won’t be contacting us anymore,” a response finally came from the crown of bones on the high platform, “The Sun’s son who led this operation has fallen, and this loss is enough to plunge those followers into a long-lasting chaos …… With the loss of the ‘heir’ that was at the center of it all, this branch working with us will die out before long.”

There was an instant commotion among the upper echelon Magi around the high platform, and after a brief moment of shock, the Magi with white hair finally couldn’t help but speak, “That Sun Heir fell? How did it die? It was something from the depths of the dream realm ……”

“I don’t know, I only saw its light suddenly extinguish at the end of its destiny, and a large shadow spread from the place of its extinguishment, and until now, that shadow is still spreading towards us.”

The upper level magi immediately looked at each other, and after a moment of silence, one of them hesitantly spoke, “Are you saying …… that after that sun child fell, the shadow that killed it is still chasing us?”

“A gloom hangs over our destiny,” the acolyte spoke slowly, “and it has yet to dissipate.”

“We are now far from all city-states and major shipping routes,” another upper cleric spoke hesitantly, “and have managed to avoid the patrol fleets of the four major churches at the borders as well ……”

Immediately, another Magus beside us spoke up, “Those Four Gods lackeys don’t know what they’ve been doing lately, concentrating a large number of fleets near the eastern borders, causing the patrols on the other border seas to weaken a lot, we passed through without any problems, and we should be able to return to the ‘Holy Land’ very soon! ……”

Another other Magus chimed in, “‘Holy Ground’ is shrouded by the border’s thick fog, and with the ‘Lord’s’ blessing there, even the Four God’s lackeys’ Patrol Ark can’t break through… …”

The upper echelons of the Magi spoke one after another, however, the “saint” on the high platform remained silent, and gradually, the voices around the high platform quieted down, and the Magi wisely kept their mouths shut.

“‘He’ is coming.”

After an unknown amount of time, the saint’s low voice suddenly reached everyone’s ears.

And along with these few short words, it was as if an invisible cold wind suddenly blew through the entire hall – the wind was wrapped in an almost contagious fear and terror, causing all those Annihilation Magi whose hearts had long been as cold and hard as black iron to suddenly and subconsciously shiver.

One of the upper echelon Magi understood the Saint’s meaning almost instantly, “You mean …… that ghost that returned from subspace ……”

“How is that possible? We haven’t had any dealings with ‘his’ followers at all since then ……,” another Divine Magus spoke out of breath, “We had a greater change in the Dream of the Nameless One before we were We withdrew from the Dream of the Nameless One before any greater changes occurred there, and should have severed our ties with ‘him’ long ago ……”

The acolyte, however, did not respond to the tense and fearful, cowardly, incompetent voices around him, he simply slowly raised one of the eye stalks at his side, and at the end of those writhing tentacles an eyeball looked around the hall, and as if through the walls of the hall, around the entire ship.

The gloom of fate was reflected in those monstrously swollen orbs of his, and as the pale green flames burned in the shadows and had faded to the surface of the sea in the not too distant future, he saw death and fear approaching – in the not too distant future, most of the people on this ship would be dead.

As for the other part, the fate was especially bleak as death.

He had smelled the blood boiling in the flames ahead of time, and heard those trumpets that would sound in the near future – yet even more despairing than those impending deaths was the fact that the shadows would continue to spread on this voyage, and this ship was not the end, but merely a transit for that spreading of the shadows.

The saint slowly withdrew his eye stalk.

He had carefully made many choices in the limited future he could see, choices that had succeeded in giving him increasing power and making this ship a symbol of the Lord’s will, but this time he found that no matter what he chose, the shadow would always follow him in his destiny.

Whether it was to end the operation in the Dream of the Nameless One early, change the course of the “holy ship”, or isolate the entire ship’s aura, there was no way to shake off that dreadful future. The shadow surrounded him, surrounded everyone, and even …… seemed to have been on this ship.

Already on this ship?
The swollen, writhing brain in the crown of bones on the high platform suddenly stood still for a moment, and then the biological tissue around it gradually stretched out.

With a momentary flash of clarity through his mind, the acolyte noticed that those ubiquitous shadows had begun to diminish, and not far out to sea, the ghostly green flames that had emerged from the darkness seemed to be gradually dissipating.

“…… I got you.” He grunted softly.

One of the upper echelon Magi instantly reacted, “What have you discovered?”

“…… Go and bring all those who have ever entered the Dream of the Nameless One into the hall,” the acolyte spoke slowly, while at the same time, a part of his eye observed that the haze that pervaded the ship as well as the aura of death from the future was continuing to diminish. “Especially Richard …… who was once in contact with the girl who traveled with the Phantom Hound, yes, bring him here …… don’t startle him, don’t alert him, and slowly guide him over. ”

The gloom in the hall had completely subsided, the aura of death coming from all parts of the ship was diminishing dramatically, and not long afterward on the surface of the sea the spectral green flames returned to the shadows.

The shadows were indeed on the ship, and once more he perceived that tiny “turning point” in fate – the right choice, the good result.

One of the upper clerics quickly left the assembly hall to carry out the orders of the saint.

The saint on the platform was silent for a few moments, and then commanded, “Also, stop the ship.”

The gloom in his destiny temporarily dissipated, yet a strange uneasiness still coiled in the bottom of his heart, it seems that things will not end so simply, and that ghost …… who returned from subspace may not be so easy to get rid of.

Driven by necessary caution, the Saint decided to remain on this sea for the time being, and not to allow the ship to continue to approach the Holy Land until he was sure that the danger had been completely cleared ……

A minute later Richard awoke from a brief and confused nightmare.

There was a cold wind blowing across his neck from nowhere, inaudible, tiny whispers came from the corners of the room, and the circumstances of the nightmare had dissipated from his mind; he couldn’t remember what all he had just dreamt about, only that a slowly dispersing, hangover-like palpitation was lingering in the back of his mind, gradually dissolving into a hazy impression as the hours went by.

“She’s coming to visit ……”

A voice that vaguely seemed to emerge from his own mind resounded.

Richard sat up straight from his bed.

Tiny vague whispers were coming from all corners of the room, and the light was swinging on the walls not far away, casting a number of mottled and strange, as if mycelium crisscrossed the void, and as if an invisible spider’s web was covering the whole cabin.

“It is time to greet the mistress …… lovely rag doll ……”

That tiny voice whispered again.

Richard blinked slowly, the paralysis and sluggishness in his mind seemed to fade away, he left the bed and slowly walked over to a locker on the side, after opening it and rummaging through it for a while, he finally found what he needed.

It was a large roll of paper, and a couple of pencils.

These were the materials used for practicing tracing runes on weekdays.

After quietly looking at these things for a few seconds, a smile finally appeared on Richard’s face, and holding the paper and pencils in his arms, he came to the bed, and without hesitation, he threw his own bedding towards the ground next to him, and directly spread the large roll of paper on the flat bed board.

“They are coming for you …… Don t delay.”

Richard softly repeated the whisper in his head, a smile on his lips as he bent down with pencil in hand and sketched skillfully.

The beautiful face of a lady came into his mind and gradually fell upon the paper.

(End of chapter)