As the flesh on Whiterun Island dissipated, the flesh on the remaining islands began to grow wildly, seemingly out of control.
It seemed violent and even more dangerous, but in reality, it was far weaker.
With just a single, violent attack, it completely wiped out the remaining flesh on the other islands. The cannons roared.
Shell after shell cleared the areas where the flesh remained.
Thus, the crisis that had spread across the entire Link Sea was completely averted.
On Whiterun Island, the few remaining buildings were cleaned up and turned into temporary camps.
Numerous ships were docked nearby.
Various salvaged supplies were brought back, and the Stonehoof Clan could be seen moving around the island, using their power to rebuild the entire island.
Soon, the Stonehoof used their power to control mud and stone to build simple yet sturdy temporary homes for these people, and then they returned to their small world one by one.
Watching this scene,
Saflov couldn't help but sigh and looked at Alka beside him.
"Thank you so much."
Alka smiled.
"It's no problem, just a small favor."
He glanced at the Voice of the Dawn on the steel deck and the people waiting on board.
He smiled and said, "We're leaving."
Saflov nodded, his expression solemn, and said, "We will never forget this kindness. May the wisdom of the Saint shine upon you forever."
Alka nodded as well, folding his arms.
Then he said goodbye and returned to the Voice of the Dawn.
With Alka's return, the Dawn's Voice slowly began to sail, then picked up speed and quickly vanished from everyone's sight.
Safolev stood on the deck, watching Alka and the others depart, only withdrawing his attention once they were completely out of sight.
Looking at the island, which was in ruins,
His spirits returned to normal.
On the Dawn's Voice,
Matthias performed her routine checkup on Alka.
To ensure he had no physical problems.
Although Alka's body was no longer trembling, he could be seen occasionally collapsing in strange places for unknown reasons.
This stemmed from the unstable union between his soul and body.
The aftereffects of severing the connection between them.
And now, Lucilia had no choice but to inhabit Alka's body again, as she had done originally.
While maintaining the union of his soul and body within Alka's body, the connection between them was being repaired.
"Alka, I must tell you, even if your power in dreams and reality is synchronized, you can't sever the connection between them like before."
Lucelia emerged from Alka's body, frowning and speaking sternly.
"Why?"
Hearing Alka's words, Lucelia reached out and slammed his head.
"Why? Of course, if it's severed again, there's no going back!"
"If it's severed again, the connection between the two will be completely severed."
Looking at Lucelia's serious, even slightly angry, face, Alka smiled and nodded.
"Don't worry, I don't want to stay in this dream forever."
"You'd better understand the consequences."
Then Lucilia's expression eased and she said, "The link is almost repaired. It's the same as before, but if it breaks again, it won't be repairable."
Alka nodded repeatedly, indicating that she understood.
After dinner,
Looking at the people who hadn't left yet, Alka knocked on the table and said.
"Don't rush to leave. We have loot this time."
Hearing this, everyone stopped and looked at Alka.
"Loot? What loot?" Jason asked, puzzled.
Besides the Holy Grail-level treasure they had obtained earlier, what other loot did they have?
Looking at the puzzled expressions on everyone's faces, Alka smiled.
He hadn't told them before that the two scepter-level divine essences that had constructed the god's body after his death had been left behind.
Truthfully, the reason this new god was able to be born in flesh and blood, possessing the power of the eighth stage, and drawing upon the power of his original body, was precisely because of these two scepter-level divine essences.
This action was clearly a long-planned one.
The cult had somehow managed to obtain two scepter-level treasures.
Arka guessed that these two treasures were used to initiate the initial flesh and blood explosion.
The entire subsequent month was spent crafting this god's body in this world.
Think about it.
Eighth stage power, combined with the power and experience of a god.
Add to that the god's knowledge of some of the world's forces.
Once it became a major threat, it would undoubtedly cause catastrophic damage to the Infinite Sea.
Arka seriously suspected that the gods had long intended to destroy this world.
This time, they took advantage of the demonic invasion to execute their plan, stepping into the spotlight from the shadows.
After all, if the World Scar hadn't invaded fully, vast military resources would have been dispersed throughout the Infinite Sea.
For example, just like this time.
If Whiteman Island and its island chain hadn't sent a large number of its powerful warriors to the World Scar, the flesh and blood wouldn't have erupted so quickly.
The surrounding seas could also quickly deploy powerful warriors to resolve the problem.
It wouldn't have taken over a month, like it did now, for Arka and his team to finally resolve the problem.
Arka had reason to believe.
Problems like this, like the Newborn God, might have already erupted across the Infinite Sea.
He shook his head, withdrawing his thoughts.
Arka pulled the two divine essences from the small world.
Encased in a mirror-like glass sphere, they were placed before the crowd.
"These are the two, two scepter-level treasures that formed the body of that god."
"Two scepter-level divine essences?" Sofia was a little surprised.
He hadn't expected the spoils to be so bountiful.
Arka smiled and jokingly said, "That's the incarnation of a god. I feel like I'm being shortchanged for such a small amount of loot."
Hearing this, everyone rolled their eyes.
Then, following the previously established process, except for those who had already collected all the treasures, everyone else came forward to touch them.
One could only hope that someone would finally master them.
Fortunately, their team was large enough; otherwise, who knows how many treasures would have been beyond their reach.
This time, it was alright.
The two treasures were each obtained by two people who didn't possess a scepter-level treasure.
Julia obtained one of the divine essences, the one with a pulsating, pulsating center.
Simon obtained another, a divine essence composed of countless overlapping and rotating cubes.
Once these two divine essences were constructed into treasures, each of them would possess at least one scepter-level treasure.
Among them:
Alka, Sofia, Jason, and Pororo.
These four even possessed enough for two scepter-level treasures.
"Sure enough," Alka muttered.
He had already identified these two divine essences in his dream.
His view back then mirrored the current situation.
It seems his eyes are almost reaching their full potential, in dreams, of course.
For example, before.
During the battle with the god's body, Alka's real-life eyes couldn't see its fatal weakness.
He didn't know how to break through that body.
It wasn't until Alka dragged him into the mirror world, allowing the power of the dream to almost completely merge with his own. Only then, through his own dream power and the resulting ability to see through secrets, did he discover the weakness of the god's body.
This is why the new god was so surprised; perhaps he never imagined a mortal could know such a weakness.
It seems that once his dream power reaches the ninth stage, the secret of the eyes will be fully revealed.
After confirming the two treasures, Alka discussed the abilities of their treasures and the carriers they desired.
We first needed to understand their needs and the methods they intended to use.
After confirming this, the design naturally began.
This was a lengthy process.
Thankfully, Alka had made a simple design, and the ship should have sufficient materials.
However, before that, the Voice of Dawn reached the Trial Island.
At this moment, the Trial Island was deserted.
Still, traces of flesh and blood could be seen on it.
After Alka sent the Trial Tower into the small world, everyone left.
To the next destination.
A new destination.
"How far is this destination? Approximately how long will it take to reach it?" Alka asked Sofia from the deck.
Sofia calculated the time.
"A conservative estimate is more than six months, but less than a year. The further out, the more uncertain the time."
Hearing this, Alka nodded. It seemed they still had a long way to go.
"We've already collected five towers. I don't know if that's fast or slow," Alka muttered to himself.
"Not bad. It's only taken us a little over three years. Collecting five towers is already pretty good," Sofia said from the side.
Hearing this, Alka nodded. It made sense. Perhaps if things went a little faster, they could finish the eight or nine years they'd estimated.
Night.
Alka lay in bed.
Beside him were Sofia and Lucilia.
Alka closed his eyes, but didn't immediately fall into a dream.
Lucilia said it was best to avoid dreaming for the next few days, as the connection between his soul and body had only just been restored and stabilized. Just to be safe, he decided to wait a few days.
So, for the past few days, Alka had been sleeping in the real world for a rare few days.
How long had it been since he'd slept in the real world?
He'd almost forgotten.
As he fell asleep,
Alka inexplicably opened his eyes.
Looking at the area he was in.
At some point, Alka appeared in the middle of an endless golden wheat field.
Standing up from the wheat field.
"Our Lady?"
This was undoubtedly the Holy Mother's kingdom.
This endless wheat field, the fragrance of rice wafting in the breeze—where else could it be but the Holy Mother's kingdom?
And so, Alka randomly found a direction and walked forward.
Trying to find your way here is pointless; simply walk forward, and you'll naturally find yourself beside the Virgin Mary.
After all, if you've made it this far, it means the Virgin Mary must be looking for something.
Soon, before Alka could even begin to see the manor in the distance.
The manor's color palette wasn't much different from the surrounding rice paddies.
Looking at the brand new building, Alka smiled.
The Virgin Mary has moved again.
Of course, that's not true.
Every time Alka came to the wheat fields, the buildings changed.
Sometimes it was just a small thatched hut, sometimes it looked like a farm.
Alka even saw it once, like a ranch.
And this time, was it a manor?
The sound of children's laughter reached him.
Before Alka even reached the wheat fields, several children emerged.
Among them was the one Alka was most familiar with, the girl whom Alka always called "sister."
"Alka, you're here."
Alka nodded, walked over, and lifted her from the ground.
He also picked up the child next to him, a child he seemed unfamiliar with, and carried each child in each hand as they headed toward the manor.
The other child, seemingly someone they had never seen before, tilted their head and stared at him.
"Who is this child? Why haven't I seen her before?"
Alka asked, looking at the girl.
"She's a new sister. Mom just let her out to play a while ago."
Hearing this, Alka nodded in understanding.
Alka couldn't quite grasp the existence of these children, but they did have souls.
But correspondingly, they had no so-called blood relationship with the Virgin Mary.
Perhaps a kind of rebirth? Alka didn't know, and he'd never tried to find out the reason; it was pointless.
But he did know that there were always babies inside the house.
Because he could hear babies crying from time to time.
According to the girl, Alka had been a baby like that before.
Before he'd grown into a child and could play freely outside, he'd been sent to the real world.
Looking at the child in her other arm.
She seemed a little reserved, staring at Alka.
Perhaps because she'd just grown, her hair hadn't grown out yet, making her look like a boy.
She couldn't help but laugh and said, "Maybe she was right next to me, lying in the baby basket with me."
Hearing Alka's laughter, the girl next to him nodded.
"Yes, she was right next to you, but a little younger."
"Really next to me?" Alka said, somewhat surprised. They chatted along the way.
They quickly became familiar with the new child.
As for the girl's name, Alka honestly didn't know it after all the time he'd been here. He hadn't introduced Alka to her, nor had he asked.
However, it was clear that this girl was likely the oldest among the girls.
They soon arrived at the entrance of the manor.
Inside, they could see the Virgin Mary sitting at a small stone table.
She smiled, watching the children playing around her.
And this time,
Alka encountered someone he had never seen before in this place.
A woman in armor.
This woman looked ordinary, unremarkable, her features unremarkable.
She stood beside the Virgin Mary in armor, like a guard.
Even though the children surrounded her, touching and tapping on her armor, she seemed completely oblivious. "Who is that?" Alka couldn't help but ask. She had never seen him before.
"The Holy Sword Agent, that's what they call her anyway. My mother's bodyguard," the girl said.
The Holy Sword Agent...
Alka couldn't help but ponder. He felt as if he had heard that name somewhere before, and it felt strangely familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.
After arriving beside the Virgin Mary, Alka squatted down and placed the two children in her arms on the ground.
The girl ran over and took the Virgin Mary's hand.
"I brought Alka here."
The Virgin Mary smiled at the girl and pinched her cheek. "Thank you, you've worked so hard."
"Hehe." The girl smiled brightly and ran off with the other children.
The Virgin Mary then looked at Alka and gestured to the seat next to her.
Alka nodded and casually sat down beside her. He felt the armored woman standing there glance at him.
Alka glanced back.
The Virgin Mary's voice rang out: "She is Meniex. I wonder if you still remember her."
Meniex, so familiar! Where on earth had I heard her before?
Hearing the name, a familiar feeling welled up in Alka. He had definitely heard it somewhere.
It had been so long, however, that he couldn't quite recall it.
Looking at the woman, a flash of inspiration struck Alka; he finally remembered where he had heard the name.
Meniex, the Agent of the Holy Sword.
A Saint who walks the world.
Isn't this the same woman Alka had long ago, when he was just starting out?
Back then, he was still in the sea of his home, and all the memories came flooding back.
This must be the former wielder of the Holy Sword, their target.
Alka clearly remembered that the Holy Sword's former wielder was the Agent Meniex.
It was said that she had long since ascended to the Holy Mother's Kingdom.
Her deeds were even recorded in the new edition of the Holy Scripture.
So it was her.
I didn't expect to meet her here.