In the waters of Central Sonia, on the shipping route from the Rothsted Archipelago to Oravi Island.
"Creak..."
A translucent door materialized in the void, slowly opening.
Silas stepped through from the other side, his feet coming to rest on the surface of the sea.
He glanced around, confirming he had distanced himself from Blue Mountain Island and that there were no ships in the vicinity.
"Whoosh!"
He raised his hand and waved it.
The shadow beneath him rapidly expanded, spreading across the ocean. The surface of the shadow rippled, and then objects began to rise swiftly.
Masts, sails, ship hulls, and the sailors aboard them. Four pirate sailing ships and one steam-powered warship returned to reality just like that.
"Finally out of there..."
Anderson gasped heavily, feeling the fresh sea breeze, still shaken from the experience.
Inside the captain's shadow, it had been too dark, too bizarre. And there seemed to be countless whispers of the dead.
After staying in there for just a short while, his mental state had deteriorated considerably.
As he thought about this and straightened up to call out to his sailors, he unexpectedly noticed two unfamiliar faces.
"Who are you?"
He frowned as he addressed Roy King, who wore framed glasses, and Sophia Einhorn, with her head of red hair.
Two people who hadn't been on the ship before had suddenly appeared. If they hadn't looked so weak, he would have already moved to restrain them.
"We, we were brought by Blood Reverend..."
Sophia said with a pale face, speaking haltingly.
She and Roy King had spent even longer in Silas's shadow and were more severely affected mentally.
Roy King was in slightly better condition but was still holding onto the ship's rail, unable to stand steadily.
"I pulled them up," Silas said as he descended onto the ship.
"Hey, old man!"
From within the crowd, the portly pharmacist Darkwill spotted his teacher and shouted happily, rushing over. "You're alright now!"
Seeing his student care so much about him, Roy King felt a warm current flow through his heart. He smiled weakly and said, "Yes, I'm fine..."
"Thud!"
Before he could finish speaking, Darkwill, charging forward, tripped over a rope on the deck.
His massive body shot out like a heavy cannonball, ramming straight into Roy King's stomach.
"Ahhh..."
The expression on Roy King's face changed three times in an instant, from a smile to blank stupor to shock.
This man, who could truly be called frail, was directly knocked flying by his disciple, tumbling over the railing and falling into the sea!
"Someone save him, save him!"
Darkwill scrambled to his feet, stood there stunned for a moment, then began shouting.
The deck immediately descended into chaos.
"Whoosh!"
Just as Anderson was about to call for crew members who were good swimmers to dive in, Silas pointed at the ship's rail.
A fierce tornado rose up beside the ship and quickly lifted the waterlogged Roy King back onto the deck.
His body was soaked through, and he was coughing up water miserably.
"Cough, cough... That thing is still in the water!"
Gasping for breath and unable to spare time to curse his disciple, he shouted anxiously at Silas.
That thing... Oh, the dice, I suppose.
Silas quickly understood what he meant.
Standing by the ship's edge and looking down, he saw the small ring box gradually sinking into the depths.
Because it had been slapped by the waves, the lid of the box had come open, revealing the milky-white dice inside.
So he activated his Sailor pathway ability again, creating a waterspout.
"Splash!"
Wind wrapped around seawater and surged upward, throwing the box up. Silas reached out and caught it precisely.
"Snap!"
The impact between his hand and the ring box finally caused the dice to slip free from the box and fall into his palm.
With a "roll," the milky-white dice tumbled lazily in his palm before finally coming to rest.
The face pointing upward had only a single red dot.
A 1.
"This is bad!"
Seeing this scene, Roy King immediately became extremely alarmed. "It's awakened!"
What does "awakened" mean? Does this Beyonder item have life?
Silas's mind stirred.
"So then, is there a problem?" he asked calmly.
"Be careful!" Roy King said urgently. "It will bring you extreme misfortune!"
Misfortune?
In that instant, Silas suddenly subconsciously thought that his "Revolver of Luck" also had the negative effect of bringing misfortune...
"Thud, thud, thud!"
"Captain, behind you!"
In the next moment, hurried footsteps and the sailors' alarmed cries came from behind him simultaneously.
Silas quickly turned around to see a deformed and twisted figure rapidly running toward him.
He wore what had once been a sailor's uniform, now torn apart by his body.
He was covered in brown or dark green tumor-like growths resembling tree burls, appearing ugly and bizarre!
Yet his face showed joy and fanaticism. Looking closely, it turned out to be the sailor who had been taken by the "Celestial Sect" that night: Uruk.
It seemed he might have been corrupted long ago.
"I heard the call!" Uruk shouted, running at full speed toward Silas. "I heard the call, He is..."
His spirituality was rapidly proliferating and blooming, emanating a certain terrible aura.
Everyone who saw him suffered an impact, and the most insane desires hidden in the depths of their hearts seemed on the verge of erupting!
"Boom!"
A pitch-black greatsword traced a sharp arc, and the mutated Uruk suddenly froze.
A red line slowly split open across his face, with blood flowing out. His body gradually separated, and he opened his mouth in confusion:
"...He is, a Spawn of Evil God..."
"Bang!"
Suddenly, his body exploded without warning, bursting into a cloud of blood mist.
This blood mist seemed to have a consciousness of its own, transforming in mid-air and forming an extremely bizarre pattern.
A symbolized tree, entwined with twisted limbs, with countless flourishing branches extending from its outer edges...
The pattern formed by blood was faintly glowing.
"Boom!"
The instant he saw this pattern, Silas seemed to hear a thunderous roar, and then that red color expanded infinitely before his eyes!
Silas saw a hallucination.
He saw a humanoid giant tree with chaotic scales.
The surface of the giant tree was covered with crystalline, tempting fruits, wet and alluring flowers, various metal badges, black hearts, naked tumors, and metal coins from different civilizations.
At the top of the giant tree were two heads: one below, a male with closed eyes filled with peculiar desires; one above, female, with blue-green hair, extraordinarily beautiful, with a charm that pointed directly to carnal love.
Terrifying, profound, flourishing, sinful!
And beneath the great tree crouched an existence whose form defied description.
His body was grotesquely twisted, as if it were a nightmare of despair created in the bizarre and frenzied ravings of the most deranged lunatic's mind, as if it were a collection of the most evil things in the universe.
Just a slight glance could plunge anyone who saw Him into utter madness!
He devoured sin and guided insanity. He, He was looking at Silas!
Finally, He extended two arms toward Silas.
These two arms were over ten meters long, their surfaces pitch black, flowing with viscous, foul-smelling liquid, covered with countless protrusions.
Some were protruding tongues, some were withered skulls, and others were bulging eyes...
"Boom!"
Silas heard the sound of blood spraying simultaneously from his eyes and ears.