Ashes Of Deep Sea Chapter 627

Chapter 627: Chapter 626: Call Chapter 627: Chapter 626: Call Admittedly, Fenna thought that old Maurice was right.

Fire, holy oil, and spices, the three vital elements for conducting a sacred ritual–although in special circumstances one could make do, substituting entirely with ingredients found in the kitchen was a bit far-fetched.

But she decided to give it a try.

After all, first, she had tried it more than once on the Homeloss, and second, she couldn't find more suitable materials in this “witch's mansion.”

“I shouldn't have expected to find things like holy oil in a 'witch's' house,” Fenna sighed, helplessly telling Maurice, “It seems I'm always underprepared on a daily basis.”

Maurice mumbled subconsciously, “I've felt that ever since you successfully performed a ritual with inferior materials on the ship, you haven't thought about seriously preparing for a ritual again…”
Fenna shrugged, pointing outside the window, “Why don't you try to buy some from the street?”

Maurice glanced at the street outside the window, swaying with shadows of trees, and thought about the chaotic situation in Light Breeze Harbor, deciding it's better not to say anything.

Sherry, who had come to see the commotion, tugged at her dog curiously watching Fenna's actions and suddenly chimed in, “Why don't you add some ginger and garlic?”

Confused by the suggestion, Fenna asked, “Why?”

Sherry replied, “After your ritual ends, you could ask Niru to cook a couple of dishes–I'm hungry.”

“…Don't make fun of this!” Fenna's expression finally showed she was losing patience as she glared at Sherry, trying to look as dignified and serious as possible, “This is a serious ritual, I'm only improvising due to limited resources…”
Sherry didn't respond, only pulling her dog back a bit towards the door.

Fenna, bewildered, asked, “…why are you standing so far away?”

“I don't understand all this fancy stuff you 'clerics' do, but common sense tells me to keep my distance,” Sherry gestured, “Just in case lightning strikes you, I don't want your blood on me.”

Fenna sighed.

Miss Judge tried to calm herself, deciding to no longer pay attention to the figures at the door. She took a deep breath and focused on constructing the Spiritual Energy channel in the ritual.

The flame ignited, and the fats boiled.

Regardless, fire is fire–at any time, the lighting of fire symbolizes a step forward for civilization. It is a symbol presented by mortals to the deities, with a singular meaning–“I am here.”

Ever since she graduated from seminary, Fenna had always believed that the form of the fire wasn't important; the act of igniting it was what held meaning.

As one of the youngest and most distinguished clerics of the Deep Sea Church, this was the only idea she had that was considered “somewhat unorthodox”–of course, that was only in the past years.

Now, her heretical ideas and actions were far too numerous.

The gentle sound of the waves started to rise beside this increasingly “heretical” Judge.

She sensed a gaze, a tender look fell upon her, then shifted away. Shortly, the “channel” opened before her–at the end of the “channel,” came the voice of Archbishop Valentin.

“Fenna?” The old Archbishop sounded surprised, “I didn't expect to suddenly receive your call… Wait, what's that smell?”

“It doesn't matter, Archbishop,” Fenna steadied herself, speaking seriously, “I have something to tell you, and you mustn't panic…”
“What is it?”

“The Captain will go to the cathedral to see you soon, he wants all the construction records of the Homeloss.”

…
Duncan frowned slightly, standing in the hospital room with Heidi, watching a young Elf lying on the hospital bed.

“This patient was just admitted this morning, and there are dozens more like him–several Elf communities have already started to panic, as no one knows who will be the next to fall or vanish,” Heidi whispered, “The situation has escalated to a level of Transcendent contamination, and the Church has already sent guard squads to take over those communities, but besides continuously bringing in Elves showing symptoms here, they don't have many options.”

Duncan nodded gravely and stepped forward, bending down to observe the state of the young Elf on the bed.

The latter's entire body exhibited a vague, ghostly texture, as if a phantom ready to dissipate at any moment, barely “lingering” in a human outline on the bed.

This was clearly beyond the previous “sleep sickness” cases, and no longer something that traditional “medical methods” could address.

“He's disappearing, leaving our reality in an incomprehensible way–this is no longer a situation that a 'psychiatrist' can handle. I've used some transcendent methods, but they can only barely keep their minds here,' to slow down the process of 'disappearance',” Heidi continued behind Duncan, “in a patient with milder 'symptoms,' I tried mind-reading, only to find their thoughts being gradually 'sucked away' by something… bigger, like a vortex, dragging these elves from spirit to body away from the real world.”

Duncan listened intently with a furrowed brow for a long time before speaking to himself, “Silantis is taking them away.”

Heidi paused, “Silantis?”

“That's the 'vortex' you're feeling. I suggest you stop trying in this regard,” Duncan said seriously, “because it's very likely that this vortex will treat you as an 'elf' too.”

Heidi's expression changed slightly in an instant.

Meanwhile, Duncan diverted some attention to check the situation in the distance–
Homeloss was gradually approaching the waters near Light Breeze Harbor, now getting ready to surface from the Spirit Realm.

Fenna had just sent a message, having successfully contacted Valentin at the Storm Cathedral in Prand, who would soon have everything ready and await the “Captain's” visit.

The situation inside Light Breeze Harbor remained chaotic, the lush forests were like an endless green hell for the residents of the City-State; even the well-trained City-State Guards and guardian troops struggled with this situation beyond imagination–Lucresia was taking action within the City-State to provide as much help as possible.

And in the distant northern City-State of Frost, the “comatose illness” was spreading like it was in Prand.

One could imagine that the spread of the “comatose illness” was not limited to Prand and Frost; as the situation in Light Breeze Harbor worsened, it seemed that elves all over the world were facing the same dreadful situation–Silantis was devouring them.

But why? Why would the World Tree, rooted in the collective memory of the elven race, suddenly undergo these drastic changes?

Just then, a faint noise suddenly came from the hospital bed, interrupting Duncan's thoughts.

The elf lying on the hospital bed, in a deep coma with his body gradually becoming transparent and diminishing, suddenly made a movement–his body twitched slightly, and a low, muffled groan came from his throat.

It was as if he was suddenly going to wake up.

Heidi immediately noticed this and quickly ran to the bedside, seemingly to confirm whether this elf was really regaining consciousness. However, at this moment, the other hospital beds in the room also suddenly exhibited the same occurrences.

Those in deep sleep began to twitch one after another, uttering the same muffled groans!

This eerie situation momentarily sent shivers up Heidi's spine, she abruptly stood up and instinctively looked towards Duncan, but just then, the muffled groans from the elves' throats suddenly stopped at the same instant.

The next second, these sleeping elves all opened their mouths simultaneously, as if a consciousness had finally at the same time connected with these bodies in the real world, and they let out a clear sound–
“I am Ted Riel, I am now in the deepest part of The Dream of the Nameless.

“I am sending this message to the real world through every means I can find, whoever receives this message should spread it as widely as they can–
“Silantis has gone mad.

“She is attempting to devour all elves and thereby enter the real world to re-root and grow.

“She is not our protector, she does not protect us.

“We are fighting against the main consciousness of Silantis and doing our best to slow her spread into the real world–but we are losing.

“We need help–do everything possible to prevent the elves in the real world from being devoured by Silantis, prevent them from disappearing or dying in their sleep, which can delay Silantis's awakening, repeat, we need help…”

The voice in the hospital room abruptly stopped.

All the elven patients returned to their “sleep,” as if what had just happened was merely an illusion–Ted Riel's connection with the real world was severed.

“Ted Riel…” Heidi paused for a few seconds before reacting, “Is he the Truth Confidant from Light Breeze Harbor?!”

Panic and horror appeared in her eyes, the brief event had made her realize the severity and bad turn of the situation.

She looked towards Duncan, seeking help from this “Captain.”

Duncan's brow was furrowed, the sudden change of events and the message from Ted Riel were beyond his expectations, but after quick thinking, he vaguely grasped some ideas from these “messages.”

“It looks like I need to leave,” he turned and said seriously to Ms. Psychiatrist, “Someone needs to solve this issue from the root.”

Heidi instinctively spoke out, “What about here…”

“Continue what you're doing, delay the 'devouring' of these elves as long as possible,” Duncan said quickly, “keep their spirits in the real world for as long as possible–the rest, leave to us.”

Chapter end

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