Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 77 “Thoughts On The Fire”

A pop exploded in the basement, followed by a blazing fireball suddenly flying over from the side. The sneak attack would’ve been fatal if not for Duncan being aware of this ahead of time – he had already raised his hand without thinking.

A little burning sensation came from the fingertips. Then, in the next second, the ghost fire that spewed out flew into the fireball with a recoiling and deflagrating momentum. Once infected, the attack was no longer threatening but had transformed into a ball of pulsating green.

This opening didn’t escape a certain Dark Hound there. Immediately without hesitation, Dog jumped backward and ripped open a grizzly crack of darkness and fog in the rear. Using this escape tunnel, he directly jumped in and dragged Shirley in using the black chain’s momentum. Meanwhile, the girl herself hadn’t forgotten to spit out the bullets she ate from the fighting. And just like that, the child and her dog had disappeared from the room and into the weird rift were now closed.

Duncan was naturally taken by surprise at how quickly the pair made their escape. It’s definitely practiced and well-performed. He had to give them that.

I still have a lot of questions that I haven’t asked yet! And this is all because of a sneak attack from a cultist….

Duncan’s mood fell into a subtle gloom as he shifted his gaze in the assailant’s direction. The masked priest was leaning crookedly against the corner pillar, barely breathing with a raised arm in the air. Apparently, that was the last draw of power from that vessel.

“I better get into the habit of finishing off my foes. It won’t do if stuff like this happens during my fights….”

Duncan gloomily approached the priest, who didn’t die properly with the green fireball silently floating above his palm. With every step he took, the torches closest to him would flare up into a pyre of ghostly green, the sign that they’d been overtaken by the power emanating from the ghost captain.

For this, a glint of fear finally struck the priest’s eyes. Like everything else in the basement hall, his own connection to that black sun had begun to wane.

“You… You are no ordinary heretic. What the hell are you…” The masked priest asks with shock and fear.

Following the last usurpation of the torches, the ghost captain stopped only a foot away from the survivor and stared down: “I didn’t get to finish when you interrupted me. That is very rude of you. Did your mother not teach you manners?”

As he spoke, the ghost captain finally noticed the state of the sun priest and how wrong he was to blame Shirley for not doing a proper job. Half of the guy’s chest had caved in, with various rib cages smashed and likely pierced a lung or two.

Without question, if left untreated, the individual would die in no time and doesn’t need an extra stab to kill.

Why the priest didn’t die yet was likely the effect of whatever mystique entity hiding behind him. But even so, that power holding the person above the death line had reached its limit. Duncan could clearly see the life force rapidly leaving the priest’s body as they spoke.

“It seems that the blessings of the sun god are not very reliable,” Duncan shook his head and sighed with a lamenting face, “Your Lord has left you.”

The ghost captain may have sighed casually like he was merely stating the facts. Still, the careless remark had the unintended effect of stimulating the dying priest into a frenzied rage.

“I offer myself to the Lord! May the holy cloth purify the heresy before you!” The priest shouted and raised a filthy blood-stained fabric he pulled from the pocket. This was the guy’s last-ditch effort to drag Duncan down with him, a double suicide of only the most insane and corrupt.

Duncan, however, only watched this final crazed act with indifference. Although the priest did startle him with that sudden gesture, but after getting a closer look at the item, his whole body instantly relaxed.

Why? Because the strange cloth strip that got raised high was none other than the very thing they used to verify Duncan’s identity after coming inside. Whatever sacred power the cloth had belonged to the ghost captain now.

Just as predicted, the holy relic remained quiet and unresponsive, causing the cult priest’s maddening face to slowly crumble.

After a few more seconds of dazedness in those eyes, the dying man abruptly flew into an incessant coughing fit of blood, “I offer this body to the Lord….”

“Let me guess, this is what you wanted to do, right?” Duncan couldn’t stand this sight anymore and pointed at the blood-stained fabric.

In the next second, a cluster of dark green flames exploded and ignited the holy relic and spread across the crazed man’s body.

“No, no, no… It shouldn’t be like this… The Lord will not turn his back on me, the Lord… the Lord will punish you hereti… WHO ARE YOU?!”

In the raging fire, the voice of the cult priest gradually died down until its completely mute. Whatever supernatural power that supported the guy’s life was now extinguished, as well as the body that burned to ash in the raging green pyre.

This brought another unexpected frown to Duncan.

Honestly, this was not the first time the ghost captain had seen a corpse. The sacrifices he found in the underground cave before had already hardened his nerves. What he didn’t like about this was that his flames also burned the cultist to ash. He only wanted to destroy the blood-stained cloth out of prudence of caution, so he made sure to not overdo it. The surviving clothes and golden mask were evident he didn’t misjudge his own strength.

This…. why did this cultist get burned by my ghost fire too when I didn’t order it to?

Duncan crouched down and examined the residue in confusion.

According to what he could see, the greyish pile of soot looked no different from the usual stuff. At least not distinct enough where he could see a difference.

Slowly, a bold idea popped into the ghost captain’s mind.

Can it be…. Mortals blessed by a specific god will also be considered a supernatural object?