“I was just saying,” Elias replied, his hands not slowing down in the slightest.
His Rational Circuit lit up instantly, and spirituality surged along The Roaring Cane.
The moment the tip of the cane struck the deck, a ring of pale 【Moonfire】 ignited along the wooden planks, shielding him and Theolan in the center.
The flames possessed no heat. Yet, that layer of cold light forced the phantom projections of the deceased to retreat in unison.
They stood outside the ring of fire, their faces devoid of expression. Hundreds of pale arms remained stretched toward the two men, as if still trying to recall how they were supposed to embrace the living.
In the next instant, the pitch-black sea outside the ship suddenly swelled. A massive wave of dark water crashed over the gunwale, slamming heavily onto the deck.
The hull did not sink, nor did the water leave even a single trace of moisture on the deck.
However, the biting chill crashed directly into Elias's spiritual body, feeling as if someone had struck his brain with a freezing, blunt instrument through his flesh.
It was just that his spiritual body was a bit too tough. He didn't feel much of anything.
“Does this water specifically target the soul?”
“It is the tide of the shared dream,” Theolan said. “Do not let it touch your head.”
“Your warning is a bit late.”
Theolan had no time to pay attention to him.
He pressed the Waxing Moon holy emblem tightly to his chest. The black-silver threads that had bound the one hundred and thirty-six dream projections quickly interlaced, weaving an arched net in front of them in the blink of an eye.
When the dark tide crashed against it, the entire net suddenly buckled inward. Theolan's shoulders sank, and the soles of his shoes skidded half a foot across the deck.
His expression remained calm, but a thin layer of sweat broke out on his brow.
One end of those threads was connected to the dream shadows on the ship, while the other crossed the pitch-black sea, stretching all the way back to the Third Relief Shelter.
If even a single thread snapped, someone asleep in the shelter might lose a portion of their memories. He could only grit his teeth and hold on.
Elias raised his hand and waved The Roaring Cane, pushing the 【Moonfire】 forward a bit.
As the pale flames pressed against the dark tide, dense murmurs immediately echoed from within the water, sounding like countless people talking in their sleep beneath the surface.
The voices were unintelligible, but they left a stifling sensation in one's chest.
“The holy emblem of an active ascetic is not merely proof of identity,” Theolan said while maintaining the spiritual network. “It is, in itself, the departure clearance for the Moon-Returning Ritual.”
“So this thing baited you aboard just to borrow your credentials to set sail?”
“You could understand it that way.”
“Isn't this loophole of yours a bit too easy to exploit?”
Theolan fell silent for a moment.
“After we return, I will submit an application for a revision.”
To make this master of awkward silences say such a thing, it seemed he also felt this procedure was somewhat of a disservice to the Moon Lord.
Just as Elias was about to speak again, a dull thud suddenly echoed from deep within the cabin.
Dong—
The 【Return Bell】, whose rope Elias had just severed with a gunshot, actually vibrated on its own without anyone touching it.
A cold wave of spirituality swept across the deck, radiating from the cabin.
Elias's thoughts suddenly grew heavy.
A 【Sleep Spell】?
With a flick of his wrist, he slammed The Roaring Cane heavily against the deck.
The 【Moonlight Barrier】 expanded in front of him. The cold ripples clashed with the barrier, pushing the layer of moonlight inward.
The drowsiness that managed to seep through almost made Elias collapse asleep on the spot.
However, once the weakened sleepiness clashed with his powerful soul barrier, it quickly dissolved.
Previously, the dream demon curse had dragged his consciousness into illusions every other day.
Compared to those complete dreamscapes that could forge memories, tactile sensations, and even loved ones, this crude wave of drowsiness seemed rather amateurish.
The sleepiness came quickly and receded just as fast.
By the time Elias looked up again, Theolan had already thrown a knuckle-sized, grayish-white stone toward the stern.
The moment the stone hit the deck, his figure vanished from his original spot.
The black-silver threads were instantly stretched taut before tightening again in midair.
Theolan swapped places with the stone, perfectly avoiding the area where the 【Sleep Spell】 was strongest.
A few breaths later, he used the same method to return to his original position.
Out of the one hundred and thirty-six connections, not a single one was broken.
“【Displacement Passage】?” Elias's eyes lit up.
“Yes.”
“You can swap places just by throwing something?”
“It requires leaving a spiritual mark in advance.”
“Holy shit, it's the Flying Thunder God!”
Theolan glanced at him. “What god?”
“A great ninja.”
Elias stared at the stone in his hand with envy.
An ascetic's Scale Three spells were truly convenient.
Unfortunately, his Scale Three promotion was still bottlenecked by materials. Otherwise, he would have definitely secured a nifty trick like this that let him reposition when a fight got tough.
It was just so damn cool!
Inside the cabin, the Return Bell was still gently vibrating.
Perhaps realizing the 【Sleep Spell】 had failed to incapacitate them, the 【Dream-Mourning Sealing Wax】 in the gaps of the deck planks suddenly bulged upward.
The black-silver sealing wax coalesced, stretching into a long snake as thick as an arm in the blink of an eye.
The surface of the snake's body was crowded with fragmented names.
It coiled up the mast, then opened its toothless mouth and lunged toward the back of Theolan's head.
“Pardon me.”
Elias flicked the cylinder with his thumb, aligning a fire bullet behind the barrel.
“What exactly are we fighting against?”
The gun roared.
Flames erupted, melting the sealing wax snake midair.
A few drops of black-silver liquid splashed against the 【Moonlight Barrier】, causing fine ripples, while the rest splattered onto the deck, seeping back into the gaps of the wooden planks.
“That old man?”
He spun the cylinder again.
A frost bullet zipped across half the deck and flew into the open cabin door, accurately striking the gears on the side of the 【Return Bell】.
Frost rapidly crawled over them, freezing several still-turning gears solid.
The Return Bell's vibration stopped abruptly, and even the rise and fall of the surrounding dark tide slowed down by half a beat.
“Or is it this ship?”
Elias narrowed his eyes slightly.
The power of these two bullets was significantly stronger than before the elemental revolver had been damaged.
The speed at which the fire bullet melted the sealing wax and the range of the frost's spread didn't match his memories at all.
He didn't know if the gun had been nurtured too well inside the 【Gluttonous Stomach】, or if the previous damage had caused some kind of mutation.
However, now was clearly not the time to disassemble the gun for research.
“Neither,” Theolan said.
He did not turn around, his gaze locked onto the one hundred and thirty-six constantly vibrating spiritual connections.
“The old man is merely a ritual projection, and the ship is just a vessel.”
“Someone is controlling the return ritual from elsewhere.”
“So our opponent doesn't even need to board the ship? They just want us to waste our time fighting a bunch of dead people here?”
“These are not dead people either.”
“I know, just fakes stitched together from the memories of the deceased.”
“There's no need to be so precise,” Elias grumbled.
A sticky, pulling sensation suddenly came from beneath his feet.
Elias looked down.
The sealing wax that had been melted by the fire bullet had not lost its activity.
At some point, the black-silver liquid had bypassed the 【Moonfire】 and gathered along his shadow cast on the deck.
They didn't touch his boots, only crawling slowly along the edges of his shadow.
In the blink of an eye, a fragmented crescent moon appeared beneath his feet.
Several thin lines extended from the inner curve of the crescent, tracing his outline stroke by stroke.
“Don't move!” For the first time, Theolan's tone noticeably changed.
Elias, who had just lifted his foot, placed it back down.
“You'd better explain quickly.”
“This is a reversed 【Dream-Mourning Seal】,” Theolan said, staring at the crescent mark.
“A normal sealing is used to record the spiritual imprints of the deceased, preventing their lingering obsessions from returning from the Moon-Returning Boat.”
“The sealing wax from earlier touched your 【Moonlight Barrier】.”
“It has already memorized your spiritual aura.”
Elias looked down at his shadow, which had become slightly blurred.
“And now?”
“It is writing you into this ship's manifest of the dead.”
A grating cracking sound echoed from the cabin.
Crack.
The ice freezing the Return Bell split open with a fissure.
Immediately after, the entire bell vibrated once more.
Dong—
This toll was even heavier than the last.
The crescent moon beneath Elias's feet suddenly completed another section.
His shadow shook in response, its edges lifting slightly off the deck as if being gently peeled away by something.
A sudden sensation of weightlessness swept through his spiritual body.
Even though his right hand was clearly still gripping the revolver, his fingers lost all sensation in that instant, as if his hand no longer belonged to the living.
The playful look on Elias's face faded slightly.
“Give it to me straight.”
“The first toll records your spirituality, and the second solidifies your identity as the deceased,” Theolan explained rapidly. “By the third toll, the ritual will finalize the funeral judgment.”
“When that happens, this ship will treat you as a dead person.”
“Trying to force your way out won't work either.”
“Your spiritual aura has already been written into the sealing wax. Your shadow will be left behind here.”
Elias frowned.
“So does this count as a ritual, or a spell?”
“Neither,” Theolan looked at him, his voice carrying a rare hint of urgency. “This is a curse that uses the sealing wax as a medium, with its resolution delayed until the third toll of the bell.”
“A curse?” Elias was taken aback.
Then, the slight solemnity in his eyes suddenly vanished.
Since when did I get this lucky?
“Why didn't you just say so from the start?”
He lowered his head.
On the handle of the elemental revolver, the owl's eyes had lit up on their own at some point. One glowed with a dull red, while the other flowed with a deep blue luster.
A faint mechanical clicking sounded from inside the gun.
It, too, had sensed the curse taking shape beneath his feet.
Elias had originally planned to wait until he was fully prepared before slowly testing the gun's ability to absorb curses.
Now, it seemed his opponent had no intention of giving him time to schedule an experiment.
The solid ice inside the cabin was still cracking.
The third toll of the bell could sound at any moment.
Elias spun the cylinder, rotating an empty chamber behind the barrel. He then bent down, pressing the cold muzzle directly against the black-silver crescent moon.
The owl's eyes lit up simultaneously.
The sealing wax beneath his feet trembled slightly.
“Hey, hey, hey?!” Theolan finally failed to maintain his aloof expression. “What are you doing?!”
Elias gripped the gun handle tightly and grinned.
“If it's a curse, then it's my department.”
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