Chapter 299: Chapter 262: The Era of Spiral, Waiting for You in Dreams
Northern edge of the Celestial Orbital Belt.
Not far from Silvergold Island, on the native island where the Remit people had established a semi-permanent camp.
The Church trio who had narrowly escaped death on Silvergold Island and had been brought back here by the Golden Deer, lay sprawled on their respective benches.
A week’s worth of continuous adventure, relentless moral tests, and several near-death experiences had left them utterly exhausted in both body and soul.
Lying there, looking towards Silvergold Island in the distant night, they could no longer find any trace of it.
Once the window for landing on the island passed, the Secret Realm naturally concealed itself. Even if one reached its vicinity, it would be impossible to find the way onto the island.
Nearby personnel awaiting their return were anxious but to no avail; they could only wait for their own people to emerge.
"All the natives taller than a wagon wheel on the island have been cut down, according to Sister Teresa’s request—the wheels are definitely standing upright.
Your heart is as compassionate as the Holy Mother’s. Even the Creator would be moved by your mercy.
Mr. Herman, Father Brendan, would you like to have two girls, or two boys, arranged for each of you tonight to relieve some stress?
Don’t worry. Although it’s only been six days, you can trust our Slave-catcher Team’s training methods. They won’t be a disappointment to you.
Moreover, I have plans to transform this dwarf island into a comprehensive entertainment venue, providing the most intimate, high-quality services for the exploration teams in the Celestial Orbital Belt."
Remit Banker Black stood by their side, eagerly proposing a suite of services.
Although the Remit adventure team had all been wiped out, just as he had initially stated,
When others are greedy, I am fearful; when others are fearful, I am greedy.
As long as one knows how to hedge risks, as a Banker skilled in investment from the Gold Sequence, he would never make a loss.
Black had invested in multiple teams, including the Church, taking part in the adventure, sharing the risks among them.
Although only this strongest trio had returned alive, he had still not suffered a loss.
After all, not only had the trio brought back treasures and Antiques from the third layer, weighing as much as their own bodies, but they also returned with the most complete set of rules for the Secret Realm.
Black believed that when he personally led a team to the island next time, it would be the real Harvest time!
One must naturally remain friendly and pleasant towards these valuable heroes.
Hearing his words, Herman, who had adopted Byron’s soul shape as a Quasi-Sword Saint, lifted his eyelids and slanted a glance at him, and as usual, recited a piece of poetry:
"There are two things, the more I ponder upon them, the more profound and enduring they are, the more they fill my heart with an ever-increasing sense of wonder and reverence.
These are the stars above my head and the moral law within my heart."
Caught off guard, Remit Banker Black looked at the priest beside him for help, "What... what does Mr. Herman mean by that?"
Having spent enough time with his teammate, Father Brendan had gradually learned to understand the meaning behind Herman’s poetic words.
With a meaningful glance into the Banker’s eyes, he translated for Herman, "He says although he likes beautiful women, he’s not a pervert, and he doesn’t want them too young; one should have some bottom line in life.
He also advises you to be kind, for completely abandoning the Anchoring of Divinity and morality can easily lead to losing control.
Oh, and I’m advising you to be kind too."
Black received an unanticipated rebuff. But as a self-proclaimed descendant of the Creator, he also knew that he should not blatantly discuss things that violated doctrinal teaching in the presence of Clergy.
After all, both the Holy Armed Forces Cathedral and The Great Cathedral of the Holy Mother’s Mercy were considered peculiar within the Church and may not favor the mainstream aesthetic of young boys.
He blamed himself for not understanding the customer’s needs.
Glancing again at Sister Teresa, who was sipping tea beside him, he quickly changed his proposition, "Yes, yes, my mistake, noted.
How about a luxurious feast instead..."
He had not finished speaking when the Nun, as if she had discovered something, suddenly stood up and ran to the seashore, only to drag back a young man drenched in water.
Father Brendan and Herman rose and moved forward to check.
"A shipwrecked sailor? Praise the Lord, he looks to be still alive."
This was the northern edge of the Celestial Orbital Belt, where the sea water flowed gently from east to west, and as part of the current, it certainly had an upstream source.
A shipwrecked sailor, unknown where he had encountered a maritime disaster, had coincidentally clung to a broken plank and drifted to this island on the current.
"Strange, how long has this man been adrift at sea? Why does he have barnacles growing on him, just like the plank he’s holding?
I might not be a Naturalist from the Tower Sequence, but I know barnacles aren’t supposed to live on humans, right?"
Brendan looked at the sailor on the ground, with a deep frown forming on his brow.
His cheeks, his chest, all were covered with clusters of sharp barnacles, which would frighten anyone with trypophobia into fainting on the spot.
"Let me check."
Sister Teresa had the sailor lying on the ground tilt back his head, his mouth opened naturally, and she lifted the Whale Oil Lamp from the table to take a look inside. She found that his nasal passages and throat were also filled with many barnacles.
And as time passed, the number visible to the naked eye only grew and their size increased.
Even in front of their eyes, his cheeks sprouted a patch of coral-like, eerie calcareous substance.
"These don’t seem like ordinary barnacles."
As Mid-Sequences Transcendents, they at least knew that barnacles possess hermaphroditic traits and, in theory, could reproduce on their own.
However, they usually opt for cross-fertilization.
Moreover, newly born barnacles are not the same as their parents; they must undergo several metamorphoses before they can reach adult form.
The initial barnacle larva is planktonic, then develops into a nauplius larva, and eventually evolves into a cyprid larva that slowly swims and parasitizes large marine animals.
"This behavior is nothing like that of normal barnacles, yet my Spirit Vision has no reaction to them.
Could it be that these are derivatives expelled by a Bizarre of at least the Fourth Order, capable of shielding itself from the perception of Low Order Transcendents?
No, that’s impossible; the odds are smaller than stumbling upon gold while walking."
It was at this moment, perhaps because of the irritation from the light, that the sailor infested with barnacles suddenly opened his bloodshot, murky eyes.
To the shock of those present, they discovered barnacles growing inside his eyelids; it was feared that even the unseen brain had completely succumbed.
"ROAR—! With the arrival of the Spiral Annals, all land dwellers shall perish!"
With a roar from his mouth, he suddenly leaped from the ground, lunging toward Teresa, who was closest to him.
But a brilliant flash of sword light was quicker than his movements.
With a flash of white, the sailor’s head was sent soaring by the tremendous pressure of the blood in his neck, while his body continued forward for two steps before collapsing to the ground.
Moreover, his beheaded body, like that of a lower creature, seemed to have its own consciousness, thrashing about wildly before finally dying.
But before Sister Teresa could catch her breath, another flash of the sword appeared before her eyes.
It was Herman swinging his sword again.
HISS—!
The right arm that had just come into contact with the sailor was severed at the elbow, flying into the air.
All those present were Mid-Sequences Transcendents with extremely keen Spirituality, and they immediately saw tiny gray-white Material swarming out from the stump of the arm.
Those were barnacle larvae!
The Quasi-Sword Saint, nearing the second state of Flow State called Divine Sight, had a much sharper Perception than the other three.
Even before Teresa herself realized she had been infected, he preemptively cut off the Nun’s arm, preventing the sinister barnacles from parasitizing her entire body through her bloodstream.
"Ugh."
The Nun bore the pain and immediately activated the exquisite healing magic she had honed countless times on cattle, to stop her bleeding and repair the wound.
Unfortunately, the healing magic of the Ladder of Glory did not involve the highly complex effect of limb Rebirth.
The stump was smooth, with no new arm growing back, and according to the doctrine of the Creator’s Church, physical disability was equivalent to a flawed soul.
Sister Teresa, with her physical impairment, could not ascend to Heaven after death, unless she resorted to forbidden knowledge to repair the damage to her body.
This Nun of noble birth could hardly blame her comrade who had just saved her life, and for the first time, her face showed the panic of falling from grace.
She no longer possessed the impassive composure and universal compassion she once had, particularly when selling "Indulgence Certificates for those who died without their bodies intact" to the Knights of the Tribunal.
In truth, even she wasn’t sure how effective those Indulgence Certificates with one hundred percent satisfaction and no complaints or negative reviews really were.
At this time, triggered by the keyword "Spiral Annals," Byron, whose consciousness had awakened, looked through Herman’s eyes at the Nun he had always tried to tempt and thought:
Although severing her hand was an accident, if nothing unexpected happens, the first major client for the Faustian Pact will soon appear.
A pure Nun making a deal with the Devil, gradually stepping into the Abyss—somehow, this script feels strangely familiar.
Teresa, no longer concerned with what others thought, shakily touched her chest with her left hand four times.
"Oh Lord, forgive my selfishness. But I truly do not want to go to Hell."
The saying, "Do not preach goodness to others without understanding their suffering; for if you endure my suffering, you may not possess my virtue," was fully manifested in her.
Finally, Teresa no longer appeared like a refined mannequin floating high above but suddenly seemed to possess the human emotions such as happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy.
Meanwhile, her peripheral vision caught sight of the tea that had been knocked over during the recent upheaval, the scattered tea leaves forming a unique pattern on the ground.
Due to the extreme sensitivity of her Spirituality from the dramatic turn of events, a true, deep prophecy was triggered, and her eyes gleamed with silvery white.
In a vague vision, she saw a spread of blood between the Sky Sea rapidly moving northward from the south.
Blaze! Blood! Merchant ships and Warships burning fiercely...
Human-shaped monsters with bodies covered in barnacles and coral, even mutated into grotesque fish, were massacring in the cities of mankind...
In vast patches of milky white fog, countless humans slept never to awaken, and in their sleep, they quietly became breeding grounds for marine life...
Numerous shrill screams shook Teresa’s soul, causing her to shudder deep down and unintentionally utter a prophecy:
"The calamity of bloodlust, Parasitic Coral; Luanyan Epoch awaits, haunting your dreams."
And just as she had seen in the prophecy from the tea leaves.
Spreading across the Doldrums from south to north, a calamity of bloodlust and the bizarre coral disease was rapidly spreading. This plague, brought back by the adventurous ship May Wind, was moving along the entire oceanic exploration route.
Moreover, the vanguard of the May Wind was pointing straight toward the busiest and most bustling Bantaan Archipelago!