Goddess Kaleidoscope

Just then, a loud bang came from the port side of the Nesbott, as if some huge object had struck the hull from underwater. The force wasn't great, just enough to make the sailboat shake, but this sudden attack immediately drew the attention of everyone, who were already on edge, to the port side.

In that brief instant, a huge tentacle suddenly burst out of the thick fog on the starboard side with lightning speed, attacked one of the ballistae, and forcibly ripped it off the deck.

The archer operating the ballista was "fortunate" enough to face the monster's face up close, a sight so shocking it would stay with him for life. The monster wasn't a Kraken at all, but a gigantic serpent comparable in size to a dragon!

The moment their eyes met, the archer almost instinctively pulled the trigger of the crossbow, then leaned back with a scream. But the thick steel-tipped bolt struck the giant snake's face with a metallic clang, failing to penetrate its skin.

The ballista was destroyed by the monster, but what worried and terrified the captain even more than the fact that the regular crossbow bolts failed to penetrate the monster's skin was the intelligence the monster displayed when it used a feint.

This thing is playing a trick on us; it's just playing around!

"We must leave here immediately; we can't fight it in the fog..."

The experienced captain quickly grasped the crux of the problem, then noticed Evanrus beside him, who looked utterly shaken. While the Nesbott didn't have any mages on board, it did have a high-ranking priest of bishop rank like him.

They were given precious time to prepare after being attacked, thanks to the Holy Light Iron Wall cast by this lord.

The captain lacked understanding of the application of divine magic, but he knew that it was a higher form of power than magic. Divine magic could easily achieve the effects that magic could, but magic could not imitate certain things that only divine magic could do.

The main disadvantages currently troubling them are, firstly, the dense fog severely impairs the vision of the ballista gunners, and secondly, the inability to increase their speed makes it difficult to escape the scene.

The key issue is that there's no wind!

"Your Excellency, do you possess any divine magic capable of creating wind?"

"Wind? What... what are you going to do?"

"My lord, as you can see, this thick fog is very disadvantageous to us. My sailors can't even see where that monster is, let alone hit it. If you can dispel the fog, we'll have a way to retaliate. Even if you can't blow the fog away, it doesn't matter; you can blow it towards the mainsail, and we can still escape!"

"This... I'll give it a try."

As a bishop, Evanrus could theoretically use all divine spells except for the most advanced ones like the Great Resurrection, so conjuring a strong wind would be a piece of cake. However, the problem was that while divine spells were borrowed power, and their strength didn't require the priest to cultivate, proficiency in their use still depended on the individual.

Since becoming a bishop, Evanrus has seen his status rise, and he has used divine magic less often. Now, suddenly being asked to use it in actual combat, he is completely flustered.

Evanrus searched his mind carefully for a long time and quickly remembered a mid-level divine spell that met the requirements—"Dispel Breath".

The effect is similar to a wind-based magical barrier, forming a tornado that moves with the caster. It is usually used to dispel poisonous miasma and has the same effect on water mist.

So Evanrus began to recite a prayer aloud, and the divine power from the goddesses of the seasons responded to his call, coalescing around his body.

It's worth mentioning that one of Evanrus's privileges as a bishop is that he has one opportunity to cast an instant divine spell each day, without having to recite complicated and largely useless incantations. However, he had already subconsciously used up this one-time opportunity when he cast Holy Light Iron Wall earlier.

As Evanrus recited his prayer, eight fully armed knights stood in a protective array around him, shields raised high. The monster in the fog seemed to have sensed the unusual energy fluctuations and launched two attacks on the sailing ship, destroying two ballistae and tearing a large hole in the hull on the port stern.

Fortunately, the divine spell was successfully activated. A sudden gust of wind, centered on the Nesbott, instantly dispelled the thick fog within a radius of tens of meters. The greatly improved visibility allowed the sailors to finally catch a glimpse of the monster—an enormous creature with many snake heads.

The main body of the snake was hidden below the water surface, with only a few snake heads of different shapes moving above the water. The exposed neck of each snake head was more than ten meters long and about two meters in diameter.

Filled with anger and fear, the ballistae fired at the monster. The captain himself took charge and fired an enchanted crossbow bolt with multiple magical enhancements, successfully hitting the monster's main trunk underwater and breaking through its defenses.

The monster cried out in pain and quickly retreated back into the fog.

As the distance between them and the giant serpent increased once more, the captain shouted urgently to Evanrus.

"Quick! Blow up the mainsail, let's get out of here!"

Ignoring the captain's overbearing behavior of yelling at him, Evanlus did as he was told without hesitation, becoming a human wind machine to blow a full sail for the divine spell. The originally slow-moving Nesbott instantly gained a lot of speed and surged forward.

However, just when everyone on board thought they were about to escape danger, the sailboat suddenly shook violently, and its forward speed came to an abrupt halt.

Several sailors peered over the ship's railing and could vaguely see a huge, dark shadow writhing beneath the surface. The giant serpent had unknowingly moved directly beneath them and coiled itself around the Nesbert with terrifying force.

"It...it's right below us!"

The sailboat, entangled by the giant serpent, was temporarily immobilized, and the ballistae could not attack directly beneath it. Evanlus, seeing this, prepared to use Holy Light Iron Wall again, but just as he was about to begin chanting, the sailboat suddenly began to rock violently from side to side. Those on deck lost their footing, and Evanlus accidentally bit his tongue, screaming in pain and unable to continue chanting the prayer.

"Hmph, hmph, hmph ahhh..."

Perhaps because it had just been injured by the enchanted crossbow bolt, the multi-headed serpent was completely enraged. It abandoned its playful attitude and launched a full-scale attack. With its terrifying strength alone, it shook the Nesbott so badly that it almost fell apart. The people on board could barely stand, let alone fight back.

As the sailboat rocked violently, the giant serpent's multiple heads scrambled up the ship's side, first destroying all the remaining ballistae, then ignoring the sword attacks of several knights, and used one of its heads with sharp horns to smash through the deck and reach inside to search for something.

Upon witnessing this scene, the captain suddenly realized that this giant serpent was undoubtedly a demon, and a top-tier demon lord at that.

Monsters of this level are not only as powerful as dragons, but some have also evolved advanced intelligence and can even speak human language to communicate with humans.

However, the enormous monster lords often have a size far exceeding that of ordinary wild beasts. Ordinary prey is no longer enough to satisfy their appetites, and they need to eat food with higher energy, such as other monsters or high-purity magic gems. And there just happened to be several large boxes of such food in the cargo hold of the Nesbot!

Therefore, the captain deduced that the monster must have sensed the fluctuations from the large number of magic gems, which was why it attacked their sailboat. The monster rushed straight to the cabin, ignoring the sailors nearby, as if it were being disliked.

The vast difference in strength had already caused the captain to give up resistance. He now only hoped that the monster would leave on its own after getting what it wanted, so that at least the people on the ship would have a chance to save their lives.

At that moment, a snake-like head with multiple compound eyes, resembling a spider, noticed the captain's direction, or more accurately, it noticed Evanlus beside the captain. Ever since biting his tongue, the fat man had completely lost his fighting ability and was now covering his mouth, trembling under the crooked helm.

After the giant snake slithered over, it sniffed around like a dog, and all of its dozen or so eyes immediately locked onto Evanrus. The enormous, ferocious snake face even revealed a rather human-like "smile".

With a flick of its head, the giant serpent sent the rudder flying, revealing Evanlus beneath. The few knights around were loyal enough to rise and try to rescue him, but their limited strength meant they were easily knocked away by the serpent, like toy figures in the hands of a mischievous child.

Evanrus, who was paralyzed with fear, lay on his back on the ground. The multi-eyed giant snake above his head stared down at him for a moment, as if to confirm something, before suddenly opening its blood-red maw and swallowing Evanrus whole.

This over 300-pound fat man was like a meat dumpling to the giant snake. But what happened next left the onlookers bewildered. The giant snake suddenly froze halfway through swallowing him, its expression becoming slightly strange. Then, the protrusion on the man's neck, which had been moving downwards, slowly moved upwards again.

The giant serpent opened its massive jaws again, revealing Evanrus, covered in slime but still alive. The fat bishop was clearly on the verge of a mental breakdown, and with a sob in his voice, he reached out to the crowd below for help.

But faced with a colossal beast that occupies the top tier of nature, no one present dared to commit such a daring act as "snatching food from a snake's mouth."

So, under everyone's watchful eyes, the giant snake, with Evanrus in its mouth, spit the fat man directly into the sky, as if it were spitting phlegm.

"Heh~tui!"

End of this chapter

News of Evanrus's death didn't reach Oyster Harbor until a week later.

The captain of the Nesbott announced that they had encountered a high-level monster on their way to the capital, and the ship was badly damaged in the attack.

This serpentine monster must have sensed that there were several boxes of high-quality magic gems and many magical items on the ship, so it "robbed" the Nesbot and then sped away after succeeding.

Fortunately, although the attack caused great damage to the Nesbott, not many people died; only about twenty were injured. The giant snake seemed uninterested in humans, who were "too low in nutritional value," and only stole magical items from the ship.

The only victim in the entire attack was Bishop Evanrus, who should have been under special protection.

It seemed to be related to his being a priest, because the monster only showed some interest in Evanrus. It first swallowed him whole, and then immediately spat out the 300-pound fat man. Like a stone launched by a slingshot, he pierced the sky at an unimaginable speed. The captain would never forget that scene!

After the giant snake left, the shaken crew inspected the sailboat and found that the Nesbott was severely damaged. The hold was flooding rapidly and could not be repaired in a short time. Therefore, they only had time to rescue the crew members who had fallen into the water nearby before hurriedly moving towards the shore. They had no time to search for the bishop who had flown away and whose whereabouts were unknown.

Based on his common sense, the captain judged that Evanlus was definitely not going to survive in that situation. He was unwilling to risk his own life to sail a leaky, dilapidated ship to the vast ocean to retrieve a mangled corpse.

Of course! In order to absolve himself of responsibility, the captain did not tell the whole truth when reporting to the higher-ups of the Four Seasons Goddess Cult. Instead, he lied and said that the giant snake had not swum too far and that they were worried that the thing would come back to kill them, so they hurriedly fled ashore.

After learning about the situation, the sect's higher-ups vaguely sensed something was amiss—Evanrus's death happened at a rather coincidental time. However, being attacked by a monster was not uncommon.

You have to understand that within the Church of the Four Seasons alone, thousands of missionaries die each year from various unexpected events. Anything can happen in the wilderness; deadly things could spring out from any patch of grass. If every single incident had to be thoroughly investigated, they wouldn't have anything else to do.

Some senior parish officials even believe that this incident can be used to turn a bad thing into a good thing.

The reason Evanrus was recalled to the capital in such a disgraceful manner was because he messed up in the northern branch, exposing certain shady dealings. As a result, he was disgraced, and the reputation of the Church of the Four Seasons was also damaged in the area, resulting in the loss of a considerable number of believers.

But now that Evanrus is dead, and in the mouth of a terrible monster no less, why not package his death nicely, saying he sacrificed himself to save others? This might offset some of the previous negative impact.

The person is already dead, what more do you want?

Thus, the tone of the matter was set: the royal capital held a religious funeral for Evanrus, taking advantage of the information gap between the two places. In the capital, they publicized Evanrus's selflessness and earned the tears of believers, while in the northern diocese of the kingdom, they simply announced the news of Evanrus's death to quell public resentment and downplay the whole matter as much as possible.

It must be said that the higher-ups of the Kingdom of the Four Seasons Goddess handled this matter admirably, making the most of Evanrus's limited resources. They didn't vehemently deny the death of a bishop.

Because some high-ranking members knew that the Four Seasons Goddess Cult was currently in a special period. They needed to seize as many followers as possible, but they couldn't actually cause conflict with other sects. Any grudges or grievances were noted down and dealt with later.

And so, the situation was calmed down through the tacit understanding of all parties involved. The death of Evanlus was more of a cause for celebration than sadness, though on the surface, everyone had to put on a show and squeeze out a few tears to express their feelings.

In Oyster Harbor, the news of Evanrus's death caused no ripples whatsoever; the entire city, from top to bottom, chose to ignore it, as if nothing had happened.

However, privately, more than one group of people approached Lud to sound him out and ask if he had any clues about Evan Ruth's death.

After all, the rumors of Rud's friendly relations with the dragons had already spread quite widely in the northern part of the kingdom. The tens of thousands of audience members who watched the play with the dragons at the open-air opera house all became voluntary promoters afterward, making the story spread even further.

So everyone thought, since you, Master Lu, know two giant dragons, it's not impossible that you also know a top-level magical beast of the lord level, right?

All Ludwig could say about this was...

"How the hell should I know!?"

In short, Lude repeatedly stated publicly that this matter had nothing to do with him. Although he didn't agree with some of Evanrus's actions, he wasn't so angry as to want to kill him. However, he seemed to recall seeing the multi-headed serpent monster in the Void Forest before, based on its description.

Around this time last year, a missionary team from the Cult of War arrived in Pine Village, which had not yet been upgraded to a town. They learned that a group of lizardmen had occupied an ancient dwarven city in the forest and worshipped a terrible outer demon. So they gathered a hastily assembled rebel army to go and fight them.

The rebels launched a surprise attack on the lizardmen's stronghold in the ancient city. The battle was progressing smoothly until the lizardmen summoned a lord-level multi-headed serpent to aid them, which reversed the tide of the battle and led to the death of Narad, a high-ranking priest of the Cult of War.

If Lud hadn't contacted his dragon friends beforehand, and they hadn't come to his aid at the crucial moment, the rebel army might have been completely wiped out.

Although the human rebels won this battle, the lizardman cultists were not completely wiped out. Some of them escaped along with the giant snake that resembled a summoned creature, and their whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

In light of this, Ludger "suspected" that the incident was the work of the remnants of the lizardmen, who harbored hatred and hostility toward humans and worshipped an evil god, and were capable of any heinous acts!

So, under Lud's guidance, everyone focused their suspicions on the "lizardman cultists" that Lud had mentioned. This type of demi-human race already had a bad reputation in the northern region of the kingdom, frequently attacking human villages and travelers between various places, so it was perfectly fitting for them to be blamed.

End of this chapter

On this day, Oyster Harbor was hit by a long-awaited storm, which intensified after nightfall. Locals all rushed home early, closing their doors and windows to avoid the rain. Apart from the occasional guard passing by, there were hardly any other people to be seen on the streets.

In the midst of a fierce storm, a bolt of lightning ripped through the darkness, its pale flash briefly illuminating the harbor. A clump of indescribable creature, a combination of seaweed and barnacles, climbed onto the dock, followed the open channel to the outside of the isolation zone wall on East Street, and scaled the wall to enter the interior.

At this time, the number of patients in the quarantine zone has dropped significantly from the peak of 35,000 a month ago to less than 10,000. Hundreds of people are recovering every day, while the number of new cases in the entire Viscount territory is only in the single digits.

Anyone could see that the terrible plague that nearly wiped out the entire Oyster Harbor was nearing its end, and everyone was sincerely hoping for the day when the number of cases would be completely reduced to zero, longing to return to their normal lives.

In the office of the isolation ward hospital, Lude was flipping through documents. Romian had just come by a few minutes earlier, bringing him hot drinks and a shawl to keep warm. Lude was currently working despite being "sick," and Romian felt more heartache than admiration from others.

News of Rudd's condition had spread throughout Oyster Harbor. Anyone with even a basic understanding of divine magic knew what it meant when Healing Touch had failed. Humans were not a long-lived race; living to seventy was already above average.

Many people sighed with sorrow, lamenting that Ludd saved Oyster Harbor and tens of thousands of innocent lives; a hero should not have met such an end. Stonemasons in the city had even begun preparations to create a statue of Ludd to commemorate everything he had done for the city.

Lude maintained a detached and unflappable demeanor in the face of external reactions, as if it were just some trivial matter.

After taking a sip of warm milk tea, Lu De put down the documents, closed his eyes and did some eye exercises. Just as he was rubbing his eye sockets, a damp, cold breeze carrying the smell of the sea suddenly blew into the warm study.

Lude quickly turned around and looked towards the window, where he saw a large clump of seaweed crawl in from outside. Then, it stretched out four pale human hands and feet and stood up unsteadily.

The two stared at each other silently for a few seconds. Lu De took another sip of milk tea before calmly asking the "seaweed spirit" a question.