Chapter 400 Towards the Mountaintop
Klein quickly used the divining rod to confirm this. Compared to the previous time when it pointed directly at the dock, the direction of the divining rod was now tilted at a larger angle.
Unless the White Agate left the port prematurely without waiting for its captain, it could only mean one thing - Donna was captured by those cultists and taken as a human sacrifice.
"They didn't say anything more, just told us to wait inside the church. They didn't even have time to clean up the body of the deceased priest Jace before leaving with the seal."
Angel, Klein, and Ireland were talking in a corner of the church. The latter looked at the ordinary passengers resting on the benches and spoke in a low voice.
There is no doubt that all the strange phenomena in Bansy Harbor, such as thick fog, strong winds, flying heads and headless zombies, are the result of this kind of "living sacrifice", and such large-scale changes have also alarmed the local "Manufactured Punishers".
A team of three, carrying a Sealed Artifact, including a captain of Sequence 7 or higher, would be more than enough to deal with the locals who uphold the ancient tradition of human sacrifice. While there would be a lot of flying heads along the way, they wouldn't be difficult to deal with. Donna and Cecil should also be able to be rescued safely...
Angel pondered.
She knew that the best option now was to return to the White Agate and wait for good news, but the worry in her heart kept lingering. Klein beside her was also silent, playing with a copper penny in his hand. Suddenly, it bounced up with a "ding" sound, and he reached out to catch it.
Spread your fingers and place the coin number facing up in your palm.
"They will not be rescued successfully."
Klein spoke calmly, but his hand clenched the coin tightly.
This means that either Donna, Cecil, and even more sacrifices were killed before the Punisher arrived at the sacrifice site, or the Punisher arrived in time but failed to win the battle.
Could this be the result of Klein's divination on the White Agate, "the danger hidden in the port"?
"Send them back to the White Onyx immediately, and then go to the mountain."
Seeing Angel's anxiety, Klein spoke softly. Without waiting for the third person, Ellan's opinion, he walked to the center of the church prayer hall, stood beside the headless body of the priest, and shouted:
"Get ready in one minute, then return to the White Agate.
At this time, a small argument arose among the passengers. The Dimodo couple and Kate's family of three were unwilling to continue their journey. They felt that the Storm Church was safe enough, even though the dark red blood of the church pastor was flowing under their feet. The Blanche family thought that this place was extremely weird and did not want to stay there for even a minute longer.
Fortunately, the former adventurer, Cleves, who had gradually adjusted his mindset, quickly persuaded those who wanted to stay. They soon realized that instead of waiting out the sudden change in the weather in the deserted church, it would be better to follow a few "experts" who could easily deal with monsters back to the ship protected by cannons and armed sailors.
After reaching a consensus, they joined Ireland and the first mate's team and set off again. When leaving the church, Ireland closed the church door, sealing off the dead silent church.
Perhaps the other priests and servants weren't dead or transformed into zombies, but simply hid in the Chanis Gate beneath the church... Hmm, the corresponding facility in the Church of the Storm should be called something else, but it functions similarly. There should be more Mandated Punishers guarding the Seal, and they won't be deployed en masse...
Countless thoughts flashed through Angel's mind. She looked at the high mountain beside the dock in the distance, trying to identify the location and current status of the mountain top in the thick fog. However, her dark vision could not help her penetrate the mist and look straight into the distance. Even the crimson moon above her head turned a light red under the scattering of fog.
On the way back, there were fewer flying heads and zombies. Perhaps it was because of their previous cleanup, or perhaps some of them were attracted away by the Punishers who rushed to the top of the mountain. After clearing out two waves of monsters, everyone came to a three-way intersection.
"The road back to the dock is on the right, we'll be there soon."
"Flame" Danitz breathed a sigh of relief and pointed in the direction of the White Agate. The thick fog on the seashore had thinned slightly, and a faint yellow light could be vaguely seen through the passenger ship's portholes. The passengers, whose "sun halo" effect was gradually fading, felt a warm feeling in their hearts. They wanted only to climb up the gangway with their hands and feet, retreat to their warm rooms, and isolate themselves from the strong wind, fog, and monsters outside the ship.
He himself had a similar feeling. Although those flying heads could hardly hurt him as a Sequence 7, holding the strange copper whistle as bait to attract wave after wave of monsters still made him feel exhausted and miserable.
"Then the left side is the way up the mountain?"
Angel said calmly, but his tone wasn't one of questioning, but rather a statement to Klein.
"No, let's send them back first, then we can go up the mountain together."
The latter's tone was warm, but his expression was tense and his eyes were fixed on Angel.
"It's too slow, maybe just ten minutes."
She didn't say "too slow" because Donna's parents still thought their daughter was on a boat, not on the cult's living sacrifice altar.
Danitz looked at the two of them in surprise. This was the first time he had seen a disagreement between them.
But soon, the brief argument ended under Angel's firm gaze. Klein nodded slowly, took out a sunbird-shaped "sun brooch" from his pocket and handed it to Angel.
"I'll be right over, remember your promise."
After saying this, Klein's eyes returned to their coldness as he looked at Danitz standing beside him.
The sensitive pirate immediately understood the situation and hurried to the front of the team. As if afraid that others might not know, he held up the copper whistle in his hand and led the way towards the White Agate.
After taking a final look at Klein, Angel hung the "Sun Brooch" on her chest, holding the gun in one hand and extending the other hand forward. An invisible silk thread, like a gentle giant hand, embraced her waist and back and pulled hard.
The figure of the "Pain" Witch shot into the thick fog and darkness like a sharp arrow.
————
"My promise..."
Angel recalled what he had promised Klein after the Backlund smog, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
This caused her to make a small mistake in controlling the silk thread, and she crashed straight into a tree that was shaking in the wind.
At the critical moment, a bunch of horizontal silk threads pulled her body away from the tree trunk and continued to "fly" forward.
After being promoted to Sequence 5, Angel's various extraordinary abilities from previous sequences have been greatly improved. The distance of the mirror substitute and the wand substitute has become farther, and the summoning of frost and black flame is not limited to his surroundings. Even the invisible thread can catapult him out like a slingshot, staying in the air for a considerable period of time.
This made her even more certain of the gap between herself and Sequence 4 "Lady Despair" Panatia. At that time, the other party did not use these extraordinary abilities at all, and her "disease" alone almost killed her. If this witch of despair had attacked with all her strength from the beginning, Angel might not have lasted more than twenty seconds.
Repeatedly using the silk thread to pull her body, coupled with the lightness of the "Assassin," she barely touched the ground, quickly reaching the foot of the mountain range near Bansi Harbor. Where she needed to take a detour or where the drop was too great, she simply used the silk thread to scale the cliffs. Soon, a relatively small mountain emerged from the mist, its main peak shrouded in even thicker mist, like a giant's wide-brimmed hat, obscuring its summit.
As she watched, a ball of pale white light burst out from the mist on the top of the mountain. The light flashed several times in succession, and then a low roar reached Angel's ears.
"Three seconds... about a kilometer to go."
She estimated the distance and looked back at the White Agate in the distance. The deck was lit up with clusters of warm yellow light, which was in sharp contrast to the cold light emitted by the lightning here.
The Punishers above should have started their attack. We can't wait any longer... Angel made a quick decision and continued to use the silk thread to climb the steep mountains and approach the location of the thunderstorm.
The closer they got to the top, the thicker the fog became, making Angel feel that the air he breathed became humid. The thick fog that spread throughout Bansy Harbor tonight might have come from this mountain, so the Punishers made it their first target.
“Boom boom—”
A few more flashes of lightning flashed by, and this time the distance was closer. The lightning striking the sky could be clearly seen through the fog. At that moment, it seemed as if the fog was dispersed by the violent electric current.
In the light, three strong and tall figures stood back to back. All around them, countless headless zombies were almost shoulder to shoulder pressing towards them.
It's the Mandated Punishers!
Angel quickly adjusted his direction and ran towards them.
"boom--"
Another bolt of lightning struck down, and this time Angel saw the source of the lightning clearly. It gathered and released from the bent wooden staff in the hand of a Punisher. The tiny lightning shot towards the sky. A second later, pale white lightning that was a hundred times thicker than the previous one fell swoop from the sky and struck the piles of zombies. The spreading electric current crawled on the headless corpses like spiders, burning them black and causing them to fall down shaking.
“Bang, bang—”
The other two Mandated Punishers were not idle either. They fired their revolvers one after another. Bright golden rays lit up on the approaching zombies, purifying the evil power in them.
It’s a very powerful seal, and the three of them work together very well. But the living sacrifice ritual can’t just be about these zombies and flying heads. What about those cultists?
Seeing another bolt of lightning falling and knocking down several zombies, Angel no longer hesitated. She approached the Punisher team from the other side, waving her hand and summoning black flames, which sprinkled on the remaining zombies like water, using the curse to "purify" these guys who were still moving without heads.
Swish!
The Mandated Punisher holding the lightning-summoning seal suddenly turned around, pointing his staff directly in Angel's direction.
"Who is it?"
"An adventurer aboard the White Onyx, hired to rescue people."
Before the lightning struck his head, Angel quickly attributed his action of going up the mountain to money. Compared with other reasons, this simple and clear interest relationship was more convincing.
Sure enough, the wooden staff that was used to seal her dropped down, and the other two Mandated Punishers quickly dealt with the remaining zombies and came over together.
They all wore long black windbreakers and had no hats. Their hair was messy from the strong wind on the top of the mountain and stood up due to static electricity. The leader was a brown-haired man in his forties with small eyes, which was more obvious when he squinted his eyes and looked at Angel.
Perhaps because Angel's lowered gun muzzle expressed goodwill, or perhaps because the more than ten corpses on the ground still emitting black flames proved her purpose, the Punisher team did not continue to inquire about Angel's identity. After a brief exchange, she learned the real reason why Bansy Port was shrouded in thick fog and monsters were rampant tonight.
Miller, the bishop sent by the Church of the Storm, is actually the leader of a cult that believes in the "God of Weather". The team of Punishers rushes to the top of the mountain with the seal in order to clean up the mess and get rid of this "Wind-loving One" who uses local residents and tourists as living sacrifices.
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