The church's ship always cruised at the extreme edge of the battlefield, cautiously maintaining distance to avoid being drawn into the chaotic combat over there.
At the bow, mana continuously gathered into Sophia's gloves, condensing into magic arrows one after another. The bowstring vibrated ceaselessly. With each tremor, a silver arrow streaked across the sky, crossing extreme distances to strike demons on the battlefield.
This near-beyond-visual-range terrifying strike capability, combined with the supreme maritime mobility the [Ocean Scepter] granted the vessel, was Priest Samuel's greatest reliance in finally agreeing to come investigate.
Sophia's sneak attack achieved remarkable results—crippling a Hall-tier Demonkin's arm and outright killing a Diamond-tier vampire on the spot.
But this didn't defeat the demons. Their counterattack remained fierce.
Especially that Hall-tier Demonkin—his strength far exceeded the ordinary.
Sophia only succeeded with that initial surprise arrow in wounding him. All subsequent arrows aimed at him were either shattered by his fists during fierce combat with Qisi tentacles, or intercepted mid-air by freezing air.
After several fruitless attempts, Sophia decisively changed targets, turning her deadly silver arrows toward other demon officers and key caster units.
With each flash of silver light, another figure on the distant demon battle line lost combat capability.
Aside from Samuel applying a full set of enhancement spells to Sophia before battle began, most could only serve as spectators at this moment.
This ultra-long-range assassination—the stage belonged to the hero alone.
Bella leaned on the ship's rail, eyes narrowed, faint silver radiance spilling from them as she strained to gaze at the distant blurry and chaotic battlefield. She couldn't help but say: "Truly... an uncomfortable color. These bugs give me the worst feeling."
In her special vision, those Qisi and their creations—whether six-claws, evil eyes, or massive tentacles—all displayed an extremely pure, undiluted black color.
Just looking from afar made Bella feel a chill.
At the bow, Sophia's gaze remained locked on the distant battlefield, but during a gap in drawing her bow she interjected: "These bugs called Qisi all seem to be under some kind of mental control. Is there a mage behind the scenes manipulating them to attack the demons?"
In Sophia's vision, all the Qisi panels displayed a status called [Mental Control].
"Not a mage," Priest Samuel explained. "They are controlled by a 'heart.' Their internal relationships are closer to a hive. It's a special monster that constantly devours and plunders to expand its own swarm."
Hearing this, Bella turned back with concern: "What if it keeps eating more and more, constantly expanding... wouldn't that become extremely dangerous?"
Samuel wasn't particularly worried about this:
"No need for concern. These bugs aren't appearing for the first time. Over several centuries, truly large-scale Qisi incidents have only occurred three times."
"Once, it appeared in the dwarves' Molten Fire Dungeon. After assessing the cost of eliminating them, the dwarves chose to seal the dungeon entrance."
"Unable to breach dungeon rules, the Qisi ate everything in the dungeon except elemental spirits during the ten years of lockdown, then ultimately died en masse from lack of food."
"When the seal was lifted, dwarf legions easily cleaned up the few remaining individuals that had survived through hibernation. Even that Qisi heart became their trophy, still kept in the dwarf treasury to this day."
"Another time erupted in the Hermit Empire's heartland. Vampire Emperor Motis personally took action, bringing artifacts and leading elite armies to eliminate it."
"Didn't you say three times?" Bella asked curiously. "What about the other one?"
"Three hundred years ago, Qisi attacked the ship of the hero Link at that time." Samuel said no more.
Then he changed the subject, returning to Bella's initial worry: "It is indeed dangerous, but its range of harm is ultimately limited. Not to mention it has the fatal weakness of the 'heart'—just the fact that it can mentally control the entire swarm is certainly terrifying, but this power itself has also become its shackles. Even though the Qisi species has exceptional talent in the mental domain, the swarm size it can maintain has an upper limit. According to past records, the extreme limit is usually several thousand to ten thousand. Even if it grows, it's only a regional disaster. Judging by its current location, it affects the demons more."
"Moreover," Samuel's gaze once again turned toward those distant demon warships, sensing the energy fluctuations that despite best efforts to conceal, still emanated like a lighthouse in darkness, "this massive energy—whatever it actually is—had better not be safely transported to the demon front lines. The front line situation is already difficult enough..."
The battle still hadn't ended. The Demonkin named Hess displayed heart-pounding formidable strength. Even with his right arm severely wounded by the silver arrow, he still managed to forcibly kill the last remaining evil eye in combat with the tentacle beasts, and used bitter cold air to firmly suppress that massive tentacle creature on the ice surface.
However, as Sophia, like the Grim Reaper calling names, sniped down the demon side's backbone officers and casters one by one, the demon forces' resistance was rapidly disintegrating.
Ship destruction and deaths seemed only a matter of time.
Bella, who had been straining to observe the battlefield, suddenly furrowed her brow, her tone carrying confusion: "Strange... are we moving away? Why do I feel those ship silhouettes over there are getting blurrier?"
From behind came the response from the helmsman guard captain: "Course is holding steady. No deviation."
"Then why..."
Before Bella finished speaking, Priest Samuel's face changed drastically. He rushed to the ship's rail: "It's not distance—it's fog! Fog is rising at sea!"
The mist was initially extremely faint. Without the silhouettes of the distant demon warships as reference, this subtle light change would be almost imperceptible.
Samuel didn't wait for everyone to react. His right hand swiftly rose, instantly condensing a sphere of the most basic illumination spell in his palm.
"Too bright!" The light sphere burst out with nearly blinding orange-yellow intense light. Bella had to turn her head and close her eyes. "Priest, what are you doing?!"
However, Samuel, bathed in the strong light he himself created, had a face full of dread.
He knew all too well the mana he'd just injected—it was merely the standard amount for an illumination spell!
This meant only one thing.
"It's the Mist!" He practically roared it out. "Quick! Turn east, maximum speed!"
The guard captain didn't hesitate. His arms exerted tremendous force, instantly turning the wheel to its limit. Under the divine blessing of the [Ocean Scepter], the entire ship turned desperately toward the east, leaving the unfinished battle behind.
Only now did everyone clearly see—on the western horizon, an endless, impossibly dense pure white fog wall was spreading toward them at extreme speed, and would soon swallow the Qisi and demon fleet still in combat.
"How is this possible?" Sophia looked at that white vastness devouring heaven and earth, incredulous. "This is nearshore waters close to the continent! If the Mist appears here, what about the archipelago?"
Samuel stared intently at the fog wall, quickly determining that at its spreading speed, they probably still couldn't escape!
Before being swallowed by the dense fog, he raised his staff, abandoning protective spells for himself and others, concentrating all mana and spirit—layer upon layer of brilliant blessing radiance stacked upon Sophia.
At the same time, he advised at extreme speed: "Hero! The Mist during expansion phase is extraordinary—it can be repelled! A temporary core will form inside. I will try to deal with it! Until then, no matter what, please be sure to protect your own safety. Don't trust..."
The dense fog swept over.
"Samuel!" Sophia instinctively stepped forward, reaching toward where the old priest had been standing close by. Her fingertips grasped only emptiness.
She looked around. Her voice was particularly clear in the deathly silence: "Bella? Guard Captain? Everyone?!"
As far as her vision reached—only endless pure white. The ship, companions, sound of waves—everything seemed erased by this bizarre mist.
This was her first time being swallowed by the Mist. Before, she'd only hunted some Lost Souls at the edges.
She instinctively wanted to explore forward, but remembering Priest Samuel's final warning, she forcibly suppressed the anxiety and unease in her heart, stopped her steps, and instead half-raised the longbow in her hands, a silver arrow nocked on the bowstring but not released, alert for any abnormal movements around her.
Time flowed slowly in absolute silence and the unknown, as if several centuries had passed, yet also as if only an instant.
Finally, that suffocating dense fog seemed to dissipate somewhat.
However, when her vision gradually cleared, Sophia's pupils suddenly contracted, her face filled with disbelief.
She discovered she wasn't on the deck. In its place was a small room of about ten square meters!
A soft but unfamiliar bed, beside it a nightstand with an alarm clock, against the wall a desk with a computer whose screen was dark, and beside it several books with gaudy covers scattered about.
The layout and items all carried a distant yet familiar sense of strangeness.
She almost stumbled to the window and yanked open the curtains.
Outside the window, the mist still existed, but compared to the earlier inability to see one's hand before one's face, it had thinned considerably—enough for her to see the scene outside.
Familiar red brick buildings, narrow streets, in the distance faintly visible church silhouettes with onion-shaped domes...
"Saint Petersburg... am I... back?"
(End of Chapter)
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