Chapter 1 Memories and Reality

This ship was filled with memories – but the longer Tirian stayed on board, the more he realized that many things were different from what he remembered.

Like those objects that seemed alive, scurrying around the ship.

Like the ethereal sails, like gauze and mist, floating on the masts.

Like the unfamiliar first mate in the captain's cabin – the bizarre sculpture his father called "Goat Head."

He sat across the nautical table, looking at the surreal objects in the room. He could still find many of them in his memory, but they bore traces of wear and tear. His father sat across from him, telling him about the events between the Deep Sea Church and the *Sea of the Lost*, while the inquisitor from Prand sat beside his father, adding details from time to time.

The turn of events was completely beyond his expectations.

"A... secret envoy,"

The old sea pirate repeated Vanna's words in a strange tone, a subtle expression on his face. "The church's actions... are bolder than I thought."

"To be honest, it surprised me at first too," Duncan said with a smile. "The Pope is... an inscrutable person. I don't know how much of what she says is sincere, and how much is out of the church's interests and the instruction of the Storm Goddess Gamora, but in any case, the development of this matter suits my idea – I do need a bridge to communicate with the Four Gods Church, and a helper who is good at dealing with cultists."

"Dealing with cultists..." Tirian said thoughtfully, "I remember you mentioned these Annihilation cultists, and the clues found on the *Obsidian*, too..."

"That's why I brought you here," Duncan nodded gently, then casually took out his tobacco box, opened the lid, and presented the contents to Tirian. "This is the clue I found deep inside the *Obsidian* – the flesh of the Abyssal Saint."

"Boom!"

Tirian was startled and subconsciously said, "Did I react that strongly?"

Tirian didn't speak for a moment, recalling and pondering for a few seconds before looking up. "Can you confirm that the *Obsidian* really went to the Frosty Deep Sea?"

But this time, he resisted his instinct, neither looking away nor actively interrupting or fighting against the will that emerged in his mind.

Tirian didn't speak for a moment, just staring at the small, black iron box on the table, seemingly weighing and steeling himself. After who knew how long, he suddenly said, "Can I take another look?"

There was a rustling sound behind him, and something huge was moving. A slightly cold breath approached the back of his neck.

And it was during this brief period of perseverance that he finally confirmed what he had vaguely felt earlier –

Almost in the blink of an eye, this sense of resistance resurfaced, and the feeling of being watched from afar by a great being crashed into his senses. The connection established by transcendent power washed over his mind like a raging wave, and Tirian almost instinctively closed his eyes.

Tirian held his breath, knowing that with his father present, there shouldn't be any danger. But the moment the box was opened, he couldn't help but feel nervous. And then, he saw the "piece of flesh" that was only the size of a thumb.

Flames came roaring, engulfing him.

"Could it be because you participated in the Submersion Project back then?" Duncan mused, voicing his guess – the Submersion Project, the most prominent aspect of Tirian's involvement in this matter that he could think of.

This limb was shaped like a tentacle, but it had an astonishing length of hundreds of meters. It rose like a soft pillar in the darkness, the amorphous bulge at the end of the tentacle coming to within a meter of Tirian. In the direction the tentacle extended, an even larger, more indescribable structure was gradually emerging from the darkness!

Tirian candidly told him about his momentary feeling, then frowned and looked at the flesh, lost in thought.

In this brief moment, Tirian's

eyes almost bulged to their limits. A surge of mental turbulence thundered in his mind. He didn't know if he was feeling fear at the moment, and even temporarily lost the ability to judge his own emotions. He just watched as the tentacle extending towards him swayed slightly, as if trying to communicate with him, to convey some information, but he couldn't understand the various roars mixed in with this overwhelming information.

It was like a mountain, a city, a chaotic thing that could drive mortals mad in an instant. It almost shouldn't have been shaped by the real world, nor could it have been a creation of any god in a rational state. It was like some kind of deep-sea mollusk, a hybrid structure of starfish and squid, but in the next second, its misty surface surged, and countless tentacles, limbs, eyes, and throats grew out, all constantly changing.

Tirian stood somewhat blankly in this darkness. Suddenly, he seemed to hear something.

Tirian's heart stirred. He raised his head, ready to tell his father what he had discovered.

"...Run."

But in the next second, he found himself in a chaotic darkness – the familiar cabin and figures in the room had disappeared from sight.

An unspeakable sense of fear and repulsion surged almost instantly, like the instinctive hair-raising when a person suddenly meets a beast with no weapon in hand. The flesh was just lying lifelessly in the iron box, yet he still felt as if he was being stared at by some living being with great power and a majestic will!

Vanna immediately exchanged a glance with Duncan.

Tirian's heart tightened instantly, and he turned his head sharply.

Tirian was silent for two seconds, then a slight smile suddenly appeared on his face. "...On your ship, things shouldn't get to the worst possible situation, right?"

Bringing Tirian here was indeed the right thing to do – without actual contact, some subtle clues would definitely be difficult to bring to light.

"I can't, because there's no direct evidence, but my intuition tells me that it returned from there," Vanna said frankly. "The characteristics presented on the ship are too much like the 'replicas' you described."

"I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I always felt like this thing... was staring at me for a moment just now," he said. "It's like it's still alive... or something 'behind' it is casting its gaze."

The flesh, suspected to be a fragment of the Saint, didn't react to Tirian's approach and gaze!

"...If anything really runs out, I'll take care of it," Duncan nodded slightly, pushing the small iron box that he had just taken back to Tirian. "Proceed with caution, and give a warning immediately if anything happens."

"Are you sure?" Vanna looked into Tirian's eyes. "This might be a little dangerous – if the Submersion Project really did cause you to establish a connection with this thing, then every contact it has with you is strengthening that connection."

The will and power coming from this "Saint's Flesh"... was unexpectedly not malicious.

All terrifying images were dispelled in the flames.

Tirian retracted his gaze almost instantly, and when he came to his senses, he realized that cold sweat was flowing down his forehead.

All the fear and repulsion he felt stemmed only from the natural deterrence caused by great power. The gaze hidden on the other side of the flesh... was actually just a pale stare.

"We feel resistance and danger, but not with such a violent... manifestation," Vanna said immediately. "What did you feel just now?"

He staggered to his feet in astonishment, instinctively wanting to grab a weapon, but then realized that he was unarmed. He cautiously looked around, wanting to see things clearly in this chaotic darkness, but found that his vision seemed to be covered by a layer of darkness. Even if he put his hands in front of his eyes, he could only see a hazy outline.

A weak mental disturbance, his consciousness was being guided and disturbed by something.

Before he could react, those terrifying "illusions" and sounds dissipated like a dream – he was back in the captain's cabin of the *Sea of the Lost*.

A huge, bizarre limb with light blue patterns mixed in with dark brown extended towards him in the darkness.

A terrifying roar suddenly erupted in his mind, as if a huge repulsive force was forcibly tearing his spirit apart and throwing it back into the real world. Tirian almost lost consciousness in an instant, but just when he thought his soul was about to be torn apart in this boundless chaotic darkness, a glimmer of ghostly green fire suddenly appeared in his vision.

Tirian nodded, took a light breath, and once again turned his gaze to the flesh from the Abyssal Saint.

"Are you alright?" Duncan noticed his condition and frowned slightly. "Why is your reaction stronger than Maurice and Vanna's?"

Eyes opened on the surface of the tentacle, many, many eyes. Tirian met these eyes, and suddenly, he seemed to finally "hear" some understandable information from these eyes, and from the huge, mountain-like "body" in the distance.