Chapter 399 Storm Church
Bang!
The head arced and landed in front of Cleves, who was leading the team. He quickly lowered his gun-holding hand and took aim in the dim moonlight. Only then did he take a closer look and discovered that it was actually a rotten head.
The pair of bulging white eyes were directed towards this side, causing the ladies in the team to let out terrified but suppressed cries.
A ray of light descended from the sky, pierced through the shriveled head, and burned it to ashes.
The light seemed to have endless warmth, dispelling the coldness in the fog and bringing a glimmer of hope to everyone's hearts.
They all looked in the direction where the head came from. A ball of dim light was gradually approaching and emerging from the fog. First, there was a lantern, then a cane, and finally, a figure wearing a half-top hat and a long trench coat appeared. Under the brim of the hat was a familiar face.
"German Sparrow?"
Cleves said in surprise. He subconsciously looked behind the other person. Sure enough, another figure soon appeared. It was Angelica Sage, who was inseparable from him.
There was also a man with short black hair and bright blue eyes. His somewhat flat features reminded him of a pirate on the wanted poster. However, the situation was urgent, so he didn't think about it and immediately said:
"Cecil and Donna are missing. We just escaped from the restaurant. There's something wrong with everyone inside..."
As he spoke, Cleves turned around and looked. In the window next to the closed restaurant door, a local was still looking at them quietly, with a calm expression and cold eyes.
"I didn't see them on the road. Any clues?"
Angel took two steps forward, looked around the strange restaurant, and asked casually.
After getting off the boat, the three of them took the shortest route to get here. They didn't see Donna and Cecil on the way, so they must still be in Bansy Harbor.
"Tiger and I looked around the restaurant but didn't find them. The boss said they left half an hour ago. Maybe someone else..."
Cleves was also a little anxious. His employer’s daughter had disappeared right under his nose, and even one of his partners had disappeared with her. If he couldn’t find her in time, his reputation would be ruined.
Moreover, after seeing the strange head and the powerful light, his mind was filled with all the folk legends he had heard at sea, as well as the vivid monsters described in them. Frankly speaking, it was a little difficult to think.
Seeing that Cleves looked a little strange, Angel stopped asking questions. She turned back to look at Klein and was surprised to find that he had already asked for a bright yellow shawl from Donna's father, Mr. Blanche, and threw it on the ground. He used his cane to hold it before it was blown away, and then let go after a moment.
Using a divining rod to look for people... Angel felt relieved. It was great to have a professional fortune teller in the team at this time.
Snap——
The cane fell against the wind, pointing in the direction the three men had come from.
That is also the pier where the White Agate is docked.
Back? They missed me and returned to the boat?
After interpreting the same result as Klein, the two looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mr. Blanche, your daughters are fine. They should have returned to the White Onyx when the wind picked up."
Angel tried to comfort the still frightened father, who glanced at her with uneasy eyes full of distrust.
"Didn't you say you didn't see them on the road? How can you be sure? With that cane?"
He bombarded me with questions, his voice rising as if he was releasing all the emotions he had been suppressing.
Angel, understanding the father's panic after his daughter's disappearance, did not get angry at the other party's tone, but simply replied calmly:
"Please trust our professionalism. You just saw that monster."
Everyone, including Blanche, felt a chill in their hearts as they thought of the shriveled and strange head and the light that fell from the sky.
"Where's Captain Ireland?"
Klein took two steps forward and asked in a cold tone.
This successfully ended Blanche's wasted questioning. He looked into the darkness around him, as if searching for direction:
"He separated from us at the restaurant entrance and said he was going to the nearby telegraph office."
"Telegraph Office."
Klein repeated, and it took Branch a few seconds to realize that this sentence was not directed at him, but at Danitz beside him. The latter nodded silently and pointed to a place in the fog.
"First, go to the telegraph office to find the captain, then return to the White Agate together. Everyone should stay together. If you get separated, you'll be on your own."
As Angel shouted loudly, Blanche's family and their servants, Dimerdo and Kate's family stood together in an orderly manner, with the men on the outside and the women and children in the middle, leaving only a small space between them. Two armed bodyguards stood beside the team consciously, holding lanterns and keeping watch, and gave the task of leading the team to Angel and his three companions.
Klein nodded silently. He stroked the "Sun Brooch" in his pocket and activated the "Sun Aura" ability that came with this magical item. An invisible force quickly spread out from him, flowing through everyone.
At this moment, they seemed to be bathed in the summer sunshine, and the coldness in their bodies and the panic in their hearts were swept away.
The same was true for Uldi Blanche. His renewed courage made him feel extremely guilty for yelling at a woman earlier. Seeing Angel walking past him and rushing to the front of the team, he quickly whispered:
"I'm sorry for my attitude just now..."
"I understand."
Angel didn't dwell on such trivial matters. The number of people who needed protection increased dramatically, which made her feel a little pressured. She stretched out her hand from the pocket of her windbreaker, grasped the "Good Luck" revolver, and came to Klein's side.
The latter was handing Danitz a brass whistle covered with exquisite patterns, instructing him to walk at the front of the team.
"What is this?"
Danitz asked doubtfully, but still took the whistle obediently. He immediately felt a cold, unnatural touch spread through his fingers and throughout his body, and he couldn't help but shudder.
"Something that makes you more useful."
Klein didn't explain. Instead, he picked up the cane on the ground and held it in his left hand, then pulled out a revolver with his right hand.
"To the telegraph office."
His order made the huge team start to move. Behind them, in the windows of the Green Lemon Restaurant, several pairs of eyes were quietly watching the crowd in the wind and fog.
————
“Shit!”
Danitz lunged forward, avoiding the path of a flying head. However, before the head could get close to him, a black flame fell on it and exploded, instantly depriving it of all life.
He got up from the ground, holding the cold copper whistle tightly in his hand, cursing angrily, and feeling extremely excited.
It turned out that this copper whistle would make him the first target of all monsters. As soon as they emerged from the fog, they pounced on him with their mouths full of sharp teeth like mad dogs seeing raw meat, completely ignoring the more than ten targets behind them that were easier to bully.
I knew that Gehrman Sparrow had bad intentions! What do you mean by "making me more useful"? Wasn't I useless before?
Danitz looked back angrily, suddenly remembering how he had dodged on the ground in a panic when facing the flying heads before, and even had to use a condensed fireball to deal with one of them.
On the short journey to the telegraph office, he had already encountered nearly ten of these monsters. They were all easily dealt with by the two men behind him as they rushed towards him without paying any attention to anything else...
It seems that I am really useless...
He glanced at the crowd and was surprised to find that those ordinary people were looking at him with surprise and gratitude.
Humph, if I, Lord "Flame" Danitz, hadn't been there to attract the monsters' attention, you would have been bitten to death long ago.
Danitz involuntarily straightened his back, gripped the copper whistle tightly, and continued to lead the way. This time, he complained much less.
…
After burning dozens of heads along the way, as well as two zombies that were still able to move without their heads, as if they were "matched" to those flying monsters, Angel and his group finally arrived at the telegraph office.
This is a two-story building with a closed door and darkness behind the windows. On the second floor, there are several thick electric wires leading towards the dock. They will meander along the seabed and send telegrams to all parts of the world in a timely manner.
Angel knocked on the door, and a moment later a female voice came from inside. It was the same flat and emotionless voice as the locals in the restaurant that Cleves had described on the way.
"Yes, who?"
"We're looking for Captain Ireland of the White Onyx, and his first mate."
"They left and went to the church next door."
church?
Angel turned his head to look to the side and was surprised to find that the only church in Bansy Harbor was not far from the telegraph office. It was so close that he could see its somewhat old buttresses and outer walls covered with moss even in the thick fog. Candles were lit in the tall tower, and faint light shone through the narrow windows.
"Thanks."
She responded, leaving the gate and returning to the group.
Klein, who also heard the female voice's response, said nothing as he instructed the others to turn around and head towards the church that the Church of Storms had founded over two hundred years ago.
Danitz, who was at the front of the team, hesitated at this moment, and his pace gradually slowed down. However, considering his reputation worth 3,000 pounds, this was not surprising.
Feeling a little amused, Angel simply walked past him and went ahead, relying on his dark vision to lead the way.
But perhaps because they were close to the church, they did not encounter those monsters again.
Angel walked around the side wall of the church and came to the church door. He tried to push the tightly closed double wooden doors, but the doors did not move at all.
“Knock, knock.”
She knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
Angel recognized the warning voice coming from Captain Ireland, so he answered directly:
"Angelica, Hermann, and the three families dining at the Green Lemon Restaurant."
"How do you prove it?"
Ellan still hadn't opened the door, and his voice was filled with even more vigilance.
"You gave White Shark two pounds at Damir Harbor and saved his life."
The captain behind the door was stunned at first, but then he understood the other party's meaning. He chuckled and opened the small window on the door. With the help of the moonlight and the light of the lantern in Cleves' hand, he saw that they were all people he knew. Then he carefully unlocked the door and opened it.
Behind the door was a long and narrow corridor. The stone carvings on the walls on both sides depicted the great achievements of the Storm Followers in conquering the sea. Captain Ireland and the first mate were holding muskets and swords, and were watching the people outside the door vigilantly in the dim candlelight.
Behind them, in the middle of the church prayer room, lay a headless corpse. Just when Angel was guessing that his head was the one that was burnt outside, he found another head in a pool of blood next to a bench. Fortunately, there was no esophagus attached to it.
"That was the church's pastor. When we arrived, he was already dead inside, his head and body separated. Bishop Miller of Bansi is nowhere to be found, and the other priests and servants are also missing."
Ireland counted the passengers one by one, then put away his sword and gun, followed Angel's gaze and looked at the headless corpse and said.
Afterwards, he lowered his voice, keeping the conversation between the two of them.
"The Mandated Punishers have been dispatched. There are cultists gathering on the hills near the docks, performing human sacrifices. They're heading there to deal with them."
He was certain that the woman in front of him who could kill a fishman with one blow must be a Beyonder, so he did not hide these facts.
Angel's eyes widened in an instant, and she thought of something.
When Klein divined Donna's location earlier, the divination rod pointed at the dock, and they all thought it was pointing at the White Agate.
But that direction is also where the highest mountain on Bansi Island is located!
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