Chapter 714 – Shirley in a state of shock
Chapter 714 – The Frightened Shirley
“This island …… this island as a whole is part of the Ancient Gods, everything on the island …… the rocks, the dirt, the things that look like trees, are all the same… …
“Those Annihilationists who live on this island use the island’s resources to build houses, make boats, eat what grows in the dirt here, and spend their days and days performing rituals and summoning demons …… to connect themselves to the whole island… …
“It is true that there are no living people left on the island, everyone has been eaten by ‘it’, by this island …… those stupid X …… stupid religious people who touched this island What’s that thing in the depths that brought it to life ……”
Shirley hugged her knees, sitting on the ground at the edge of the square, intermittently recounting what she had just seen, she still had lingering fears, there was still fear and anxiety deeply imprinted in her mind, the shock of briefly glimpsing the “Truth” caused her mind to be subjected to a heavy pressure for a time, despite the fact that she was “yanked” by the captain of the ship at the last minute, but she was not able to see the truth. “Although she was dragged out by the captain at the last moment, she still felt as if something was buzzing in her head, and there were many vague “memories” drilling in and out of her consciousness.
Dog stood next to Shirley, rubbing his hideous skeleton against Shirley’s thighs, trying to soothe the other woman’s shocked state of mind – it was working, and Shirley was recovering little by little.
Duncan, for his part, sat next to Sherry, sheltering her mind from the tainted knowledge, while asking curiously, “Touched something deep within this island? What exactly did they do?”
Shirley hesitated for a moment, rummaging through her own jumbled memories – too much information had just flooded into her mind, information that remained in the “memories” of this “living island”. That was the information left in the “memory” of this “living island”, she didn’t have time to recognize or think about it, or even understand it – now, these chaotic memories gradually rolled out from the depths of her consciousness, and some of the useful fragments of them finally became clearer and clearer.
“They …… they dug too deep.”
“Dug too deep?” Maurice on the side immediately frowned, “What are they digging for?”
“In the center of the island, there’s a passageway to the underground ……,” Shirley frowned tightly, finally finding some more useful fragments of memory, “It was when the sun went out… …!”
“When the sun went out?” Maurice’s eyes changed slightly for an instant, subconsciously exchanging glances with Vanna and the Captain while repeating those words.
Shirley, on the other hand, was suddenly refreshed as she matched the voice she heard with the messy picture she saw, and immediately spoke quickly, “Yes, that’s when it happened! When the sun went out, there was still light on this holy island, and the cultists on the island all stayed ‘awake’…… Then, as if they were inspired by something, they started digging in the center of the island… …There was originally a cave there, all black rock in the depths, and they started digging down like crazy, and then they found a secret chamber, but it was blocked off ……”
Shirley paused and sounded a little less sure again, “They tried to get into the chamber, but it seems that they didn’t even have time to destroy it, or even touch that door, before something happened ……”
Amber walked over from the side, the young Deep Sea Goddess Officer was extremely interested in what Shirley was telling her, “So, the cultists on the island were all killed because they touched the defense mechanisms of this ‘living sea island’?”
Shirley blinked and was about to nod her head, but suddenly felt as if she had forgotten something else very crucial, and hesitantly shook her head again.
“……No, they weren’t killed by ‘defense mechanisms’……” she slowly recalled, little by little Understanding the ‘information’ that was hovering in her mind, after a few minutes of organizing and thinking, she finally understood the ‘truth’, “They were killed by a… …’knowledge’ that killed them ……”
As soon as her words left her mouth, before she could continue, Maurice next to her reacted instantly, “Don’t say it!”
And almost at the same time, Amber had already instantly pulled out the talisman of the Storm Goddess from her bosom and pierced her palm with its tip, and next to her, the Death Cleric Leader who had been silent all the way had also taken out the Blessing’s Ashes Casket, and more than twenty Marines had also used talismans and holy relics to provide themselves with emergency extra protection.
Morris instantly applied several layers of spiritual protection to himself, and wrapped Rahm’s talisman and the string of colored stones around his wrist, before he breathed a small sigh of relief and looked at Shirley and nodded, “You can talk now.”
Shirley was startled by the scene and subconsciously asked, “…… As for this?”
Vanna looked at Sherry with a serious face and nodded, “As far as it goes, because this is the ‘knowledge’ that instantly killed all the Annihilationists on the entire island, and although from your description it is related to the rituals that they themselves have been performing for a long time, this ‘knowledge ‘ still has the potential to be dangerous.”
Maurice also added from the sidelines, “Normally, if an investigator stumbles upon hidden knowledge while surviving himself, the safest and most professional course of action would be to transcribe the contents onto parchment in the ‘secret language’ blessed by the Four Gods, and in this way mitigate and filter out the information carrying the Pollution – do you understand the ‘secret language’?”
Shirley thought for a moment and honestly shook her head, “…… Well, no.”
Morris spread his hands, “Never mind, now you can speak.”
Shirley scratched her cheeks, so an interruption, her taut nerves were a little more relaxed than just now, so after a little bit of organizing her thoughts, she repeated the words she had just “heard” —
“Humans are a type of highly differentiated Profound Demon, and Profound Demons are primitive casts that are housed in the Profound Sea due to their inability to imbue humanity and intelligence.”
The square was quiet for a few seconds. Alice was the first to break the silence as she blinked and looked at Sherry, “…… and it’s gone?”
“It’s gone,” Shirley nodded, “That’s all there is to it …… but those cultists almost blinked after learning this ‘truth’ and they all turned into these …… disgusting and frightening states.”
Shirley spoke half-comprehensibly, Alice listened half-comprehensibly, but beside them, an expression of thought and realization gradually appeared on Duncan’s face.
He slowly stood up, muttering while thinking, “This is not just a sentence …… This sentence explains a lot of things.”
Amber lowered her head and traced Gemona’s holy emblem with her hand on her chest, “Goddess have mercy ……”
The corner of Maurice’s mouth also twitched, “…… The phrase that humans are a type of spectral demon seems a bit too extreme even for the Annihilation Cult’s theories.”
“It’s not the first time we’ve encountered this kind of ‘extreme’ intelligence, starting from when we first got that Book of Blasphemy.” Vanna shook her head with an odd expression, and immediately afterward looked up and around at the marines who had been sent down from the Tides and the No Rest in Peace.
Surprised, contemplative, confused – but no one seemed shaken.
This was a unit that specialized in border affairs – toughness and mental stability were essential qualities, and considering the realities of the border waters, “maintaining a mindset in the face of unimaginable information and knowledge” was probably engraved in their bones. I’m afraid it’s engraved in the bones of these men.
“No wonder those ‘humanoids’ floating in the sea give off the aura of a spectral demon ……,” Amber said suddenly and thoughtfully, “I I have heard the rumor that the ‘Profound Holy Lord created all things in the Third Long Night’ before, but I never thought that I could understand the connection between the ‘humans’ and the ‘Profound Demons’ from this perspective. But if that’s the case, it would explain the ‘summoning’ ability of those Annihilationists and the symbiosis between them and the Profound Demons. …… “
She said this, but her gaze couldn’t help but glance at Dog, who was lying by Sherry’s legs.
Dog instantly noticed Amber’s line of sight and immediately raised his head, “Don’t you look at me ah, I’m not in the same situation with Sherry as that gang of cultists – and I’m not the same as my gang of brainless relatives, I’ll tell you, I’m now at least at the level of high school graduation great success, maybe there is a half step City State University ……”
Sherry was flabbergasted by Dog’s last two sentences, “…… Dog what are you talking about?”
Dog muttered in a small voice, “I don’t know, the Captain taught me ……”
Amber opened her mouth with a subtle expression, “Even if I had heard about it before, I couldn’t believe that a Phantom Demon with a ‘heart’ really existed in this world until I saw it with my own eyes …… Sorry, I didn’t mean anything else. ”
Dog muttered, “You better not have, I hang out with the Captain ……”
Duncan, on the other hand, didn’t care about Dog’s little mumble, and after confirming that Shirley’s state had stabilized, he broke the silence, “Discussions about the connection between humans and demons can come later, right now it’s time for us to think about what to do next.”
While saying that, he turned his head back and looked towards a certain direction in the interior of the island that Yukari had casually pointed out just now.
“Shirley, do you remember the exact location of their ‘dig’?”
“Well,” Sherry immediately nodded her head back and forth, “I remember this part quite clearly, I even recognize the road.”
“Then our next target is the ‘chamber’ that the cultists dug up,” Duncan said, but his eyes quickly fell back on Amber and the other marines, “But now there’s a question — Are you guys going to follow further in? The next area may not be as mild as the harbor area.”
“Your Excellency Captain ……, we are not canaries in need of protection,” Amber’s expression turned serious, “We have been dealing with ‘strange things’ along the border ‘, which includes many beings as dangerous and bizarre as this island – we have our own experience and means.”
Looking at the other man’s earnest and serious expression, Duncan was silent for a few seconds before finally nodding slowly.
“Good, then let’s continue deeper.”
(Push book time, from Smoke and Fire into the City’s “Gatekeeper of All Realms”, sci-fi categorization + bizarre elements, although the word count is still low, but it’s a topic of interest, so if you’re also interested you can check it out!)
(End of this chapter)