The cotton was ignited and turned into a grand flame in an instant, turning into ashes along with the scattered spores. Then the flame quickly extinguished, and it was only then that the believers gathered in the hall finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The weird and horrifying scene just now and the spores that clearly looked like they were about to spread outward and infect others made every sane person feel the huge danger.
However, while the ordinary believers relaxed slightly, the gloomy coercion coming from the high platform did not diminish at all - the saints gently clicked against their "crowns" of bones, and the eye stalks were still glancing uneasily.
Looking inside and outside the hall, he knew that the haze that shrouded the ship was still there. What he had eliminated was just a shadow that had penetrated into the ship many days ago, and now the body of this shadow had already completed the invasion...his own
The movement is slow.
"Don't relax too early, uninvited guests have already arrived on the ship," his voice reached everyone's heart, "Now, the whole ship will enter a state of pagan invasion... Lundim, lead people to search the whole ship and find the intruders."
——If anyone refuses to be searched or behaves suspiciously, he will be shot without mercy.
"Gemolo, you take people to the mechanical room and take over the steam core and hub valve. The invaders may try to seize the core of the entire ship... You bring nitroglycerin.
"Persa, you take your followers to the weapons depot and arm all the ordinary believers...let the mortal sailors also arm themselves.
"Bas Morton brought people to control the deck guns. The enemy may also attack from the sea."
The series of orders suddenly issued by the saint caused the Annihilation cultists in the hall who had just relaxed for less than a few seconds to wake up instantly. Everyone realized the seriousness of the matter. The priests who received the order quickly brought their subordinates with them.
, left the hall one after another.
The number of people in the hall was suddenly reduced by half, but there were still many priests staying in the assembly hall to guard the high platform where the saints were.
After thinking quickly for a while, the saint once again raised his eyestalk and looked at the high-ranking priest closest to him: "Eric, take people to execute all the sacrifices in the cage."
The high-ranking priest named Eric was stunned when he heard this: "Now?"
"I need blood to enhance my strength - the invaders are extraordinary, it is not time to worry about maximizing value," the saint said lightly. The execution order seemed as natural to him as breathing. "The sacrifice can be turned back."
Catch new ones, and now execute those on the ship first - drain their blood and soak the stone slabs in the deepest part of the cage. I will gather strength to prepare for a decisive battle."
"Yes, Your Majesty the Saint."
The high-ranking priest named Eric immediately lowered his head, accepted the order, took several of his followers, and quickly left the assembly hall.
He hurriedly stepped onto the corridor leading deeper into the ship, quickly passed by the flashing closed door, walked through the connecting stairs, and walked towards the deeper and quieter cabin.
Thin and cool smoke seeped into the cabin from somewhere, making the corridor look a bit blurry.
"High Priest," a follower suddenly broke the silence a little uneasily, "there's something not right about these smokes..."
"There's something really wrong. How can there be so much smoke on the ship under normal circumstances?" Eric said with a frown. There were uncertain phantoms floating in the air behind him, and dark chains extended from his spine, like a ghost.
A dark creature like a fixed piece of meat floated at the end of the chain, with many eyes opened from the surface of the piece of meat, as if it was carefully observing the movement around it, "...it's too quiet."
It was so quiet, the entire corridor was silent, and there was no sound from the nearby rooms. You could only hear the faint sounds coming from some machines in the distance - distant and misty, as if you were in another world.
Where are the people who were sent out to perform various tasks before? Isn't the entire ship undergoing a large-scale search?
Thin smoke drifted from the front, and Eric suddenly shrugged his nose - in the smoke, he smelled a familiar smell, which was gunpowder.
Some small voices suddenly came from a certain direction, and then, someone deep in the smoke gave orders——
"Get into position! Line up, load, aim—"
It sounded like an army commander giving orders to the soldiers.
Eric turned his head in astonishment and looked in the direction of the sound. With the help of the symbiotic "flesh and blood aberration" demon, he immediately discovered the source of the sound - a group of funny people who seemed to be carved out of wood.
toy soldiers are lining up on the floor at the end of the corridor.
The soldiers were only about the size of a palm, covered in colorful paint, and wearing uniforms that looked like musketeers and artillerymen from the previous era. They were running around on the floor, and there were soldiers running among the ranks waving small flags.
, or standing on a high place while blowing a trumpet. A commander stands on a block dragged from nowhere, holding a command knife high and giving orders.
The musketeer is loading the matchstick-like "rifle".
Other Annihilation Priests also noticed the toy soldiers gathered on the floor, looking as if they were about to launch an "attack". This scene seemed so bizarre that they failed to react immediately, and even thought it looked ridiculous.
But this ridiculous feeling only lasted for less than a second. In the next moment, everyone was suddenly alerted - in this boundless sea full of strange and weird shapes, anything that looked wrong meant danger, even if they looked
Up there are a bunch of funny toy soldiers!
Eric suddenly thought of something. He recalled the legends related to these toy soldiers, and immediately jumped forward: "Lie down!"
However, his reminder was a step too late. From the end of the smoke came the commander's order: "Let go!"
"Bang bang bang, bang bang bang!"
Continuous gunshots rang out in the corridor, the fire tore through the smoke, and the bullets roared. Each and every Annihilation cultist had no time to summon their respective symbiotic demons, and was beaten into sieves by the random gunfire and fell to the ground one after another.
It is said that a long time ago, an overestimating city-state tried to provoke the sea witch in order to "kill the curse spreading in the boundless sea."
An arrogant commander led his battle-hardened marines to surround the place where the witch temporarily settled, and launched an attack in the night.
Fog fell in the night, and the attacking soldiers disappeared into the fog one after another. When the sun rose again, the witch turned them into one hundred and sixty-six toy soldiers.
To this day, this toy army is still imprisoned in the shadow of the witch. When the witch needs it, they will be briefly liberated and exert an army-like power...
The blood was draining from the body, and the severe pain was gradually turning into numbness in the cold. Eric fell to the ground, uncontrollably recalling the stories he had heard one day in the past in his mind, and in the corner of his eye,
, he finally saw some strange things next to the corridor, some strange things that he should have noticed but somehow ignored.
There are many oil paintings hanging on both sides of the dimly lit corridor.
Previously, these oil paintings had depicted many incarnations of the Holy Lord of the Deep, as well as images of demons and many scenes in the Deep Sea.
But now the content of the oil painting has changed.
Many familiar faces looked sadly and painfully at this smoke-filled corridor in the oil painting. Some of them... seemed to be blinking slowly until a minute ago.
There was no response from the people sent out.
The haze lingering on the ship is getting thicker and thicker, showing no signs of dissipating.
On the high platform in the center of the assembly hall, the saints were thinking for a long time - anger and despair were slowly brewing in this calmness.
He realized that he might have made a series of wrong decisions.
Many previous arrangements did not prevent the shadow from spreading. On the contrary, he now lost his "sense" to more and more parts of the ship.
A tense and uneasy atmosphere is spreading in the hall.
The ordinary priests who stayed here also began to notice that the situation was strange.
The people who left the hall never came back, and no news was reported. One after another, the internal calls could not be dialed, and the "compatriots" in other areas could not be contacted using the deep demon to sense. First, the warehouse and the water warehouse were lost.
Contact, followed by the cabin where the crew lives, and then the nearby corridor...
Each cabin seemed to be gradually disappearing into the spreading darkness. Except for this hall, the entire ship was being swallowed by something invisible.
Invisible things are attacking here.
Then, something more dangerous touched the ship - a huge sense of fear enveloped everyone's minds for no reason.
There seemed to be some movement in the corridor.
A cultist closest to the door heard a slight crackling sound coming from the corridor outside. He looked around, hesitated for a while, and boldly looked out the door.
Someone nearby noticed his move and immediately came over to grab the arm of this reckless man, trying to stop his rash move.
But it's a step too late.
The body of the cultist who poked his head out suddenly stiffened, and then he swayed slightly on the spot twice. Then he "walked" back in a posture as stiff as a doll. After a moment of stillness, he fell backwards on his back.
Down.
His limbs were shattered like fragile ceramics, and his body had turned into a lifeless inorganic substance at some point. His head fell off the neck joints when he fell, and rolled to the feet of other cultists.
It was a crude doll head.
Screams of exclamation sounded instantly, followed by the sound of swords being unsheathed, weapons being loaded, and a large number of deep demons being summoned. The cultists in the hall were preparing to face the enemy in a moment of fear and panic - their footsteps
The sound rang from the corridor and got closer and closer to the door.
A silver-haired lady wearing a deep purple luxurious palace dress walked in first - she had a flawless appearance like a doll, and her posture was elegant and light. She just walked into the assembly hall openly, surrounded by people gathered around her.
The Annihilation Cult, the Deep Demon, and those swords and guns were nothing to her. She just looked around curiously. Her deep purple eyes were clear and bright, and many invisible lines seemed to be reflected in their depths.
Then walking in was another extraordinarily tall figure.
This figure was branded in everyone's eyes like a nightmare seeping into reality - when he walked in, he had already begun to burn the minds and nerves of more than half of the Annihilation cultists in the hall.
Duncan raised his head and stared at the "saint" on the high platform amid the slowly burning and spreading green flames.