Chapter 245: Argument
Li Wen’s voice fell, and the room was plunged into a brief silence.
Moria shifted his gaze from the glass bottle containing the dark, viscous liquid. His light-colored eyes, through the dim light, locked onto Li Wen’s face, shrouded in the shadow of her hood, trying to decipher her true intentions from the deep darkness.
“Miss Mephistopheles,” his voice remained steady, but with a hint of imperceptible gravity, “The Divine Cult of Eternal Blessing’s objective is to release the Soul Lord. To let them proceed is to personally unfasten the shackles binding the monster. Port Beren, and even lands further away, perhaps the entire Kingdom of Arthur, could be devastated as a result.”
The room was silent, the hustle and bustle of Port Beren outside seemed to be isolated by an invisible barrier. Li Wen walked to the window and gently lifted a corner of the heavy linen curtain with her fingertip. In the distance, the plume of smoke from the Shipyard, though fainter, still stubbornly clung to the gray skyline, like an ugly scar.
“Shackles?” Li Wen’s voice came through her hood, with an almost cold calm. “You seem to have it wrong. Those so-called shackles have long been rusted and worn. Loosening is only a matter of time. The only difference is whether they are recklessly opened by these fools of the Eternal Cult, or silently eroded away by a more cunning existence.”
She lowered the curtain and turned around, her gaze from the shadow seeming to pierce through Moria, looking towards a more distant and darker place. “What I saw beneath the Church was not just a residual soul of the Soul Lord, but his probing tentacle, evidence of his struggle during his long sealing. That guy is constantly trying to break free. Even without the Eternal Cult, there will be others blinded by greed or despair who will become his tools.”
Li Wen took a step closer, the hem of her cloak rustling silently across the floor.
She leaned forward slightly, approaching Moria with a highly aggressive posture, scrutinizing every subtle change in his expression from bottom to top. The latter seemed indifferent to this pressing gaze, and his mind was as tranquil as ever to the warm breath so close to him.
“What can stopping one voyage, destroying one ship, or killing a few cult leaders change? It’s just extinguishing the fuse for now, but the spark is still there, ready to ignite the powder keg at any moment. The Disciplinary Bureau’s actions today are proof. They can dismantle one stronghold, but they cannot eradicate the cult’s ambition, nor can they touch the core of the deep-sea seal. That guy just needs to patiently wait for the next, or the next, ambitious person.”
Not to mention the players mixed among them. Humans can be killed, but players will never give up. At least until the “Great Descent,” they are cockroaches that cannot be killed yet are everywhere, and they will flock wherever the situation is chaotic, making these natives miserable.
Moria remained silent. He did not fail to understand Li Wen’s logic. The weakness brought by the curse was like a maggot gnawing at his bones, constantly reminding him of the limitations of his strength, but this would not be a reason for him to retreat.
“So, what is your plan?” he asked slowly, his voice deep.
“Let them go,” Li Wen said decisively. “Let them clear the mists of that treacherous sea area for us. Black Reef Bay, Cape of Submergence… the dangers of those places are already well-known. Let the Divine Cult of Eternal Blessing take the trouble to clear them, whether it’s natural reefs, deep-sea monsters, or traps set by the Soul Lord. When they are battered and bruised in the ruins, and even believe they have successfully approached the core of the seal, that will be the best time for us to act.”
She paused slightly, her gaze from under the hood seeming to penetrate the wall and cast towards the more distant western sea area.
“The Disciplinary Bureau’s grand mobilization today will only make the cult more certain that what they hold is of extraordinary value, and will only urge them to go to their destination faster and more recklessly. Human nature is sometimes like this. The more dangerous something seems, the more they will go all out, betting all their cards and strength… and this is exactly what we want.”
In fact, there was one more thing Li Wen did not reveal, which was that the Divine Cult of Eternal Blessing might also be a pawn intentionally released. The true mastermind behind all this, who would also release the Soul Lord in the near future, was someone else. That mysterious player who also appeared underground in the church was Li Wen’s true target.
Everything else was deliberately thrown out as bait, waiting to see who couldn’t resist and took the bait first.
“So, what do we need to do now?” Moria asked, his tone accepting Li Wen’s plan. He was not a stubborn person. The training from The Holy See had taught him that when fighting evil, strategy was often more effective than pure force.
Li Wen moved her gaze away from Moria’s face. In the shadow of her hood, the corners of her mouth seemed to curve into a faint arc.
“We don’t need to do anything earth-shattering,” her voice returned to its usual calm. “We just need to wait. Wait for the people of the Divine Cult of Eternal Blessing to depart, and then follow them.”
Outside the window, the hustle and bustle of Port Beren seemed to have temporarily subsided, but the tension pervading the air had not dissipated. The smoke from the Shipyard gradually dimmed, but a new storm was brewing in the deep sea.
Moria frowned slightly. “Follow them? According to you, we need to keep up with them without being discovered. But the problem is that we have neither a ship nor a guide familiar with the routes. Once the Eternal Cult sets sail, how will we track them?”
“We will have a ship,” Li Wen’s tone was certain, as if stating a foregone conclusion. “As for a guide… we will have one too.”
Moria’s eyes sharpened. “Do you have a target?”
Li Wen nodded gently, and a name was clearly spoken from her mouth: “Adventurer.”
“Captain Remington?” Moria immediately reacted. If it were that experienced captain, doing something of this magnitude should not be a problem. He nodded slightly. “Captain Remington’s Adventurer should still be in the port. Given his relationship with Lord Selwin, he might be willing to help if asked.”
Li Wen added, “And he is also the ‘Raging Tide Commander’ of stage four of the Calamity Path. The ocean is his domain, storms are his power. With him at the helm, traversing what is called a ‘treacherous sea area’ might be more stable than we imagine.”
Saying so, she walked quickly to the door, her fingers resting on the cold doorknob. “So now, hurry and go find Captain Remington. Time waits for no one, and the Eternal Cult won’t wait until dawn.”
Moria looked at her retreating figure and asked no further questions.
He stepped to follow, and the room door quietly closed behind them, shutting out the rising clamor of Port Beren outside the window and the surging undercurrents beneath the distant sea surface.
