Chapter 583

Chapter 583: The Need for a Capture Operation

In any case, Shirley’s thoughtless interruption did succeed in easing the tense, heavy atmosphere in the sitting room—though the mood had nearly been dragged off in another direction.

Duncan had a hard time forcing his expression back under control. Then he ignored Shirley, who had realized what she said and almost curled herself into a ball to squeeze into the gap in the sofa, and cleared his throat twice as he said: “Anyway, for now this is all the intelligence we have. The fog is still thick, but it is very clear that the Vanished has already become part of this vortex. That is different from what happened before in Pland and Frostholm.

“No matter how things develop next, I have to figure out what exactly this so?called Nameless One’s Dream is, and what those cultists’ goals really are—especially the second point.

“Annihilators, Suntists, and the Enders hiding behind them—no matter which kind, if we can take them alive, we take them alive. If we cannot, we still have to find ways to gather as much intelligence as possible when we engage them… The Nameless One’s Dream will not simply fade away. It will definitely appear again, and as long as this vortex continues, we cannot avoid further dealings with those cultists.”

At this point Duncan suddenly stopped. He glanced thoughtfully at Shirley, who sat on the sofa with her head lowered, trying her best to reduce her presence, and at Dog, lying beside her.

Shirley instantly felt the gaze fall on her. She jolted and jerked her head up: “I’m sorry, Captain, I shouldn’t have said you have human nature just now…”

“Did you and Dog sense the aura of that fleeing Annihilator today?” Duncan waved his hand, cutting off her reflexive rambling. “I remember you said that when you encountered him before in the Nameless One’s Dream, Dog left a ‘mark’ on that cultist.”

“No.” Before Shirley could answer, Dog was already shaking his head. “I’ve been paying attention to that all day, but as far as I can tell, that cultist does not seem to be in Lightwind Harbor.”

“This time these aberrant cultists are hiding in lairs scattered across the city?states, relying only on entering the Nameless One’s Dream to ‘coordinate their actions’. That indeed makes it very hard for us to catch them in the Mortal Realm,” Vanna added. “Even worse, they clearly have already grasped some of the ‘rules’ of the Nameless One’s Dream. That allows them to move in and out of that ‘dream’ freely, which makes them even harder to deal with.”

Vanna’s words made Duncan frown as well. It was indeed vexing to know that the cultists were moving everywhere, yet, because of a lack of intelligence and an overly cunning enemy, have no easy way to act. And for Duncan, his troubles at this moment did not stop there—

He had once actually managed to “capture” an Annihilator who had entered a Dreamwalking state, and had even used that cultist’s eyes to locate a hideout where a cult gathering was taking place. But he had been unable to expand on that success. The keen senses of the Abyssal demons and the fragile ecology of the symbiotic pacts of the Annihilators meant those cultists simply could not withstand his power. Before he could extract much information, those people died, clean and swift.

Every time he recalled it, he felt regret.

He let himself feel that regret for a moment, then his gaze finally fell on Dog.

“Is my power very conspicuous to you?” he asked.

Dog was startled by the captain’s sudden question, and his head drooped at once: “When you put it like that… is it supposed to be conspicuous… or not conspicuous…”

“I want to know how to keep other Abyssal demons from sensing my power,” Duncan ignored Dog’s hopelessly cowardly reaction and went on seriously. “Sometimes I can successfully leave my mark on an Annihilator, but the Abyssal demons bound to them in symbiotic pacts quickly detect my power. That has already caused me more than one problem.”

“Well…” Dog’s tone instantly turned a bit odd. “That’s rather hard. The senses of Abyssal demons are extremely keen by nature, and except for me, Abyssal demons lack reason and act only on instinct. Seeking benefit and avoiding harm, that’s their greatest instinct. Faced with tremendous danger, abandoning their symbiotic pact partners and fleeing back to the Abyssal Deep Sea, is the choice they will inevitably make, unless…”

Duncan raised his eyebrows: “Unless?”

“Unless their symbiotic pact is cut off completely, or the demons are brought under control ahead of time, before they can react,” Dog said, thinking as he spoke. “The first method is almost impossible, because this kind of symbiotic pact is irreversible. It gradually reshapes the symbiotic pact partner’s physiology. Once the initial phase is over, breaking that chain is enough in itself to kill the symbiotic pact partner.

“As for the second method… it is somewhat feasible, but not easy to carry out. It mainly requires prior preparation, yet different Abyssal demons have different traits, so it is very hard to prepare in advance a truly thorough, ‘targeted’ plan for seizing control in an instant…”

Dog rambled on for quite a while, then paused as if something had occurred to him. He raised his head to look at Duncan: “But we don’t necessarily have to catch Annihilators. Aren’t there other cultists active as well? The Enders are hard to catch. The Suntists are much easier…”

Without realizing it, Dog had already started subconsciously treating those elusive cultists as prey that could be “ordered and caught on demand”, as if, so long as the captain wanted to take them, no matter how well the cultists hid, they would sooner or later fall into his hands.

However, Duncan shook his head: “It would be best if we can still capture some Annihilators.”

“Huh?” Shirley froze for a moment beside him. “Why?”

Duncan thought for a moment, his face serious: “I have a use for them.”

Everyone looked blank.

Seeing this, Duncan hesitated slightly, then raised his hand and lightly drew it through the air.

Water?like spirit form flames rippled out at his side and, in the blink of an eye, spread through the entire sitting room. As the flame burned, an invisible power seeped into the Mortal Realm, blurring the boundary between the Mortal Realm and the Spirit Realm. Duncan’s body rapidly shifted toward a spirit form state.

“Praise be to the name of Rahm—” As soon as he saw this, Morris said a quick benediction, then layered a whole stack of miscellaneous mental protections onto himself.

Vanna, beside him, also moved with practiced ease, taking a storm amulet and a pocket rosary from her bosom. As she recited Gamona’s name, she blessed herself.

A faint radiance of the Sun appeared in Nina’s eyes as she looked at her Uncle Duncan with an eager expression. Dog let out an “Oh crap!” and his figure vanished in an instant into the depths of the Shadows. Shirley reacted half a beat slower and only had time to raise her hands to cover her ears: “In a moment, can I maybe not listen to this…”

“I intend to establish a connection with the Abyssal Lord—by using the power of those Annihilators.”

Duncan’s voice came with the crackling of the flame as he spoke calmly. Then he glanced at the people around him with a bit of helplessness: “Do you really have to go this far?”

Shirley lowered the hands covering her ears: “…My head is buzzing.”

“You’re just nervous,” Duncan glanced at her. “I’ve already put proper protections in place. There is no need for you to be so tense.”

“Caution never hurts,” Morris said calmly from the opposite sofa. “Of course we trust your power, but we are all fragile mortals in the end. Please understand…”

Vanna nodded as well to show she agreed with Morris. But then a trace of puzzlement appeared as she looked at Duncan: “But if it’s just that, you could have just told us. That reason itself isn’t dangerous. For us, mentioning the words ‘Abyssal Lord’ from time to time isn’t such a big deal…”

“Because this suggestion was given to me personally by the Abyssal Lord,” Duncan said casually. “He established contact with me deep inside Alice’s manor, and the suggestion itself is the power He is sending to the Mortal Realm…”

He had barely gotten the first part out when Shirley quickly clapped her hands over her ears. After a sharp smack, she lowered her arms with a mournful look: “I let my guard down… My head really is buzzing.”

Duncan gave her a blank look and did not bother to reply.

Meanwhile, Lucretia, sitting not far away, had not caught up at all since just now. The young witch stared, dumbfounded, at the rapidly unfolding scene before her. Her eyes had followed every step, but her mind had not kept up with a single one.

After a few seconds she finally reacted belatedly, staring dumbly at Vanna and Morris: “You two… look very practiced at this…”

“The captain often discusses profound Truths with us,” Morris said with a dignified nod. “We have our own standard procedure for talking about such matters.”

Lucretia’s expression was a little blank. Her gaze swept over the sitting room, which looked eerie and shadowy under the reflection of the spirit flame. Then she finally realized what her father had just said. She immediately looked to Duncan, her eyes opening slightly wider: “Wait, you just said… the Abyssal Lord made contact with you, and He suggested… suggested that you go and capture His believers?”

Duncan nodded: “I was very surprised as well, but that’s how it is.”

Lucretia thought it over and still could not make sense of it.

The “Sea Witch” was well?traveled and knowledgeable—but she truly had never seen anything like this.

Still, there was someone present who was calmly thinking the matter through. After his initial shock, Morris quickly realized the astonishing amount of information hidden behind this “suggestion”.

He quickly checked the divine blessings and wards on himself, then asked Duncan to confirm more details behind this “suggestion”, verifying all kinds of particulars the Abyssal Lord had revealed while communicating with the captain.

Duncan, for his part, finally had a chance to share this incredible event with his followers. He had long wanted to speak of it, but the sudden coming of the Nameless One’s Dream had delayed his plan.

After a long time, Duncan finally finished recounting his experiences deep within Alice’s manor. Morris, sitting opposite him, had fallen into deep thought.

“…Unbelievable. One of the most dangerous Elder Gods in this world actually still retains sanity, and even made such an astonishing ‘suggestion’ to you…” the old mister muttered in his thoughts. “If we really can establish a stable and safe connection with this Elder God, then we might truly be able to understand several of the greatest mysteries in this world, even… truly understand the birth of the Age of the Deep Sea…”

Shirley scratched her hair: “So?”

Morris suddenly turned his head and looked into Shirley’s eyes. The old scholar, who usually appeared so refined and gentle, now had a blazing intensity in his gaze that inspired awe—

“We follow the captain’s words and capture a few Annihilators to try it,” he said, his eyes shining with the scholar’s eagerness to peer into the Truth. “At this point, this matter has risen to the level of academic research!”