On the coastal edge of Shilang Bay, deep within a cavernous grotto.
Water droplets gathered on the stalactites drip down with a steady tick-tock, their sounds echoing through the humid air that fills the entire space.
The orange halo of lantern light covers the faces of those seated in a circle, casting an air of solemnity over the gathering.
“So, what you’re saying is,” Lin Nuo broke the silence, “we still can’t find any way to counter Ankalamuheng.”
“We have to abandon magic, relying on catapults, bows, and close combat with blades—this is the only way to fight?”
“How many people do we actually have?”
“Right now, I have only just over four thousand Sea Guard Knights under my command.”
Dax Migludia sighed, “Aside from the ones who volunteered to follow me, over two thousand of them were brought by my long-serving lieutenants.”
Four thousand sorcerers against two hundred thousand Cultists—a fifty-fold difference in numbers.
And all of it in the dangerous predicament where magic no longer works.
“If the commoners of Shilang Bay can help, that brings us up to maybe six or seven thousand.” Yosena spoke hesitantly, but no one responded.
It was obvious, even so, that looking at the entire history of war recorded in the annals, such an overwhelming difference in strength would leave their side with not even a sliver of hope for victory.
What was more despairing: their enemies were not fools.
That Bloodpact Servant, Blaineau, even with such a huge advantage, specifically prepared a chain weapon crafted from a magic beast’s crystal core to control the Magic Whale—designed especially to deal with the juvenile Magic Whale released from Silver Tears Lake…
Their already slim chances grew even fainter.
In the suffocating silence, only Lin Nuo asked again, “If we could kill Blaineau, would the crisis end?”
“No,” Yosena shook her head, “Even if he dies, the Cultists and monster tide wouldn’t just retreat and you must have noticed… That Blaineau probably planted a spy, hidden among our Shilang Bay civilians.”
Yosena continued, “And I suspect the one who accepted the Evil God’s temptation to inherit the title of ‘Delusion’ is from our very own Shilang Bay.”
Bloodpact Servants don’t receive any specific orders from the Evil God.
It’s only those who possess an obsession that are chosen and granted power.
The Evil God amplifies this obsession, turning the Bloodpact Servant into a natural disaster—willing to do anything to fulfill that obsession, disrupting order and creating calamity.
Since no one knows a Bloodpact Servant’s obsession before they appear, and no one can predict their actions, these calamities always strike in unimaginable ways—wreaking destruction upon some place, object, or person, for motives none could foresee…
Just like Blaineau, his obsession was obviously connected to Xī.
Since Blaineau knew so much about what happened eight years ago, before he received the Evil God’s gift, he might’ve just been a knight or sailor in the abandoned shield campaign, or perhaps a fisherman from Shilang Bay.
And that he could lead countless warships straight through layers of mist to attack Shilang Bay’s weakest spot—
Both Xī and Yosena were now certain—
The Bloodpact Servant must be hiding among the people of Shilang Bay…
“I don’t want to admit it, but the truth is clear. Someone could instantly recognize the decoy scarecrow tactics on our ships; it’s obvious there’s someone passing information to the Bloodpact Servant, hiding among our civilians.”
More worrying, with monsters poised to attack at any moment, they had no way of finding out who the traitor was.
Yosena gazed a little sadly at Xī, who remained silent at her side.
“That’s why we’re talking here, in a place with absolute secrecy.”
It was all clear now.
Coming up with a way to face two hundred thousand Cultists and monsters was already next to impossible and now, even if they had a plan, they had to guard it as though playing a game of Werewolf, never knowing if the person beside them would betray everything…
Unable to guess who the traitor was, they could not make any strategy public.
“Creak—”
Aware of the situation, Lin Nuo simply slid his stool back and said, “Looks like… there’s no way to win.”
The fighting spirit that had been burning in his chest since arriving seemed to collapse instantly upon realizing the hopelessness of their predicament.
Dax, Dax’s lieutenants, Yosena, Captain Kaier of the guards, and a few other Shilang Bay sorcerers whom he didn’t recognize… all turned their eyes to him.
At this moment of deep gloom, Lin Nuo, unexpectedly, smiled at Xī and said, “But for now, it only looks that way, doesn’t it?”
***
“Swish, swish, swish—”
“Swish, swish, swish——”
“Chirp, chirp…”
Fatty Bird, now the darling of the little merfolk here, spotted Lin Nuo sitting alone by the giant stone slab on the coast, writing something.
With a chirp, it flapped over to him.
Lin Nuo glanced at the hat of green foxtail grass the local Ling Yao had woven for it, and at its brightly painted claws.
Freeing a hand from his feather quill, he gently patted Fatty Bird’s head.
Then, he buried himself once more in the developing paper he’d borrowed from Xī, drawing and jotting down with even greater determination.
Xī’s predicament was plain.
She could not leave this place like the other Ling Yao.
Having inherited the divine art of Shilang Bay, her very life was tied to the vitality of this land.
The image of her growing pale after transferring her magic to him surfaced in his mind again…
“So there were signs even back then.”
“The Devourer of Mist’s life was nearly at an end, was her body already that fragile…”
Now, aside from the fishermen and civilians who’d been evacuated, more of the Ling Yao chose to stay, willingly risking their lives to protect their Princess of Shilang Bay…
At this moment, Lin Nuo gazed out over the terrain of Shilang Bay, continuing to list everything known about the enemy and themselves onto the developing paper spread across the rock slab.
Laying everything bare might help spark a solution…
Even the seemingly useless information Xī had told him—that the ancient monster, the Devourer of Mist, who’d never appeared in the deep sea, “at the end of its life, will become a breeze breaking through a thousand layers of fog, leaving a farewell song for Shilang Bay as its final legacy”—was written down.
After a whole day of hard thinking, Lin Nuo devised dozens of ideas, only to methodically reject them one by one.
He eyed the dwindling number of possible options left on the developing paper, but his thoughts had never once stopped.
Using a stone to hold down the sketch of Shilang Bay’s outline, he analyzed the directions from which the monsters would come, circling an area in the sea.
The first plan: try to have the Magic Whale create a massive whirlpool.
Just looking at the map, Lin Nuo’s mind constructed a battle scenario—
Countless shadowy warships charging out of the mist, only to be swept up by a hidden whirlpool that drags them down with the force of an invisible giant hand…
But, the Skeleton Church’s main force was medium-sized cog ships, carrying waves of Cultists and monsters.
With nearly two hundred thousand monsters in all, and each ship able to hold up to 187 small monsters, 56 medium monsters, and possibly large ships for mixed monsters…
Their fleet hidden in the mist should number at least two thousand ships.
Lin Nuo’s mind drifted into an almost god’s-eye perspective, enabling even finer calculations.
He imagined the whirlpool created by the Magic Whale destroying a dozen or so ships—only to be skirted by the following ones…
[Failure]
Lin Nuo drew a bright red cross by this strategy.
A trap wasn’t enough to halt the monsters’ march.
Second plan: a war of attrition.
Dax had mentioned that those cave-dwelling monsters still struggled with the rolling of the waves.
That was why Blaineau hadn’t ordered the Cultists to attack en masse yet.
They knew the Magic Whale could control rainfall in a region.
If the Magic Whale swam outside the anti-magic field, making it rain across the whole area, then…
Lin Nuo’s eyes flashed briefly before calming again.
“But a juvenile Magic Whale can’t control rain over that large an area. And without magic to control the wind and waves, rain alone won’t change anything, let alone stop their attack…”
[Failure]
“Or should we, like when I came here, use wind and water magic from far outside the anti-magic field to raise the tides and make a tsunami? Even if a monstrous wave rushes into the anti-magic zone, losing its magical boost, it could still, by sheer inertia, crash through the enemy ranks…”
“That won’t work, either. It’d take more magicians than we have to create a tsunami that could flood two thousand ships at once.”
“And, The enemy won’t give us the time.”
Lin Nuo calculated the enemy’s fleet and the little time left—they still couldn’t make it work, and he marked another cross.
“Xī said the Devourer of Mist told her its life was almost at an end… The enemy must be waiting for the Devourer’s death. Even though they know it has no fighting strength, they’re taking the safest approach—how meticulous…”
Lin Nuo spoke without emotion, calmly analyzing: “So, at most two days before the monster tide arrives.”
Two hundred thousand monsters and Cultists together—impossible to fight head-on…
For now, they’re holding back partly because the monsters, unused to the ocean, are still adjusting…
The Bloodpact Servant who took the title of “Delusion” comes from Shilang Bay, and there’s a spy in their midst who can uncover every plan…
Blaineau possesses a chain magic tool that can temporarily control the Magic Whale released from Silver Tears Lake, binding its body, fins, and tail…
Suddenly, as if guided by fate, Lin Nuo, reorganizing all these thoughts, altered the last sentence he’d muttered.
“Xī said that in at most two days, when the Devourer of Mist dies, a breeze will rise on the sea.”
Wind…?
As if struck by inspiration, Lin Nuo jerked his head up to look at the banners fluttering in the sea breeze.
His breathing quickened instantly.
The pounding of his heart seemed to dilate every blood vessel, his mind surged with a torrent of ideas—
Until—
All the scattered thoughts converged, bursting into clarity on the page!
His brain whirled furiously, as if afraid to frighten away this fleeting inspiration.
Lin Nuo kept his posture—leaning over the stone slab, eyes fixed on the developing paper—utterly motionless.
No telling how much time passed.
Maybe after Dax called him to eat twice—
“I think I have an idea…”
“Chirp?” Fatty Bird, who had been napping on his tousled blond head, nearly tumbled off in fright as he suddenly moved.
“Maybe!”
With every other useless idea tossed aside, the real solution struck Lin Nuo with such unreality that he could hardly believe it, leaving him dazed as he muttered, eyes finally regaining their focus.
Carefully storing the developing paper, Lin Nuo quickened his steps toward the gathering of Shilang Bay natives.
He saw Captain Kaier hacking at a wooden stake, but without magical strength, he couldn’t even split the thick wood.
Lin Nuo walked over, patted Kaier’s shoulder, and with a much lighter tone than before, said, “If you’re weak, just practice more.”
Kaier: “?”
“Alright, I’m kidding. Practicing won’t help if you’re weak.”
“…”
Kaier said nothing, thinking Lin Nuo was just making light of their hopelessness.
The young master was right—no amount of training would change the outcome now.
“Come on, we need another meeting.” Lin Nuo said, “I might’ve thought of a way—it’s worth trying.”
At these words, Kaier’s empty eyes widened in disbelief.
He looked at the young master with a mix of dullness, shock, suspicion, and even a trace of despair, as if suspecting he was being lied to.
When he saw Lin Nuo striding away, Kaier’s gaze flickered between skepticism and hope.
At once, he gripped his sword and followed.
***
At the very top of Shilang Bay.
A classical, simple council hall with a soaring dome, from which the entire island could be overlooked.
This was the place the Holy Knight Captain of the Migludia Family had found—safer than the grotto where they’d been discussing strategy for half a day.
Dax Migludia, rubbing his cane, frowned deeply.
Sitting opposite him, his longtime aide Angellei, who had brought two thousand men, was speaking heatedly, trying to shake Dax out of his stubbornness in the face of imminent disaster.
“My lord, I’ve served you for decades. I know well the stubbornness of Migludia Family knights. You’ve told me before: you won your title, rising from mere centurion, thanks to opportunities in this very place. When you were besieged by fifty thousand monsters, you survived because of this land.”
“Yes, you hold this pure land in the same reverence as a goddess… but you can see for yourself! This battle cannot be won! Helping the locals escape is the most we can do… Please, my lord, let’s go! Leave those who can’t leave behind—you’ve done enough!”
***
Atop the dome of the council hall.
Lifted by still-airworthy Paper Angels, Xī sat quietly, arranging her skirt on the stone, gently stroking the soft moss growing there.
Just as in her childhood, she gazed over every blade of grass, every flower and fruit below.
She stared so long in a daze that someone, she knew not from where, managed to sneak up behind her and tap her on the shoulder before she realized it.
“What were you thinking about?”
“I was wondering when I should knock you out so they can take you away from here.”
“…”
Xī shifted over to make room as Lin Nuo sat beside her.
Her eyes remained fixed on the beautiful scenery of Shilang Bay, unmoving, but her soft hair rested on his shoulder.
Her cool, jade-like hand slipped naturally into his palm.
Xī actively sought the warmth of his hand and said, “Master, just having you come see me, knowing you care, already makes me very happy.”
“Honestly, I’ve never been one to be easily satisfied, especially when I’m by your side.” This time, Xī didn’t use hypnosis, but spoke her true feelings: “I’m scared something will happen to you. I’m scared… you’ll leave me behind.”
“So you want to knock me out and leave me first?”
Lin Nuo said nothing more, but took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders, telling her formally, “First, I will never leave.”
“Chirp!” Fatty Bird fluttered down before them, tapping its head as if to say it wouldn’t leave either.
“Secondly,” Lin Nuo swept the hair blown by the wind behind Xī’s pale, delicate ear, looking at her beautiful profile.
“There’s no need to be so pessimistic. You should have faith in your young master, just like you always did back at the manor.”
“Because…”
“They can’t come up with a solution. But I never said I couldn’t, did I?”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.