After folding away the Wings of Soaring and landing, Noah pushed open the doors of the Tidal Cathedral. The only figure in sight was Fenrico, standing alone before the statue of the Sentinel.
"Sorry, Righteous One. I couldn't hold Cristoforo back."
Fenrico turned around, placing his right hand over his heart and giving Noah a slight bow:
"Just now, Cristoforo received a communication—likely learning in advance that you were heading to the Order—and hurried to leave.
"I wanted to stop him by force, but suddenly I was influenced by the Threnodian's whispers. By the time I regained consciousness, he had already vanished."
"As compensation, here is a map of suspected Fractsidus strongholds compiled by the Order. If you don't mind, you can investigate them one by one."
Noah took the map handed over by Fenrico, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately shook his head.
Fenrico's condition was becoming increasingly unstable.
"If we follow your map and make too much noise, the Fractsidus will definitely suspect you. Rest well—I'll find my own way to track down Cristoforo."
In the Wuthering Waves storyline, when needing to solve puzzles or find clues, players release perception to get hints.
Now, while Cristoforo hadn't been gone for too long, Noah released his perception, searching for the frequency he had left behind.
On the other side.
Cristoforo, disguised and hurrying along, clutched a blood-red script in his hand, his legs moving so fast they left afterimages.
He was so nervous that fine beads of cold sweat even seeped from his forehead.
Only after returning to his secret base did Cristoforo finally breathe a sigh of relief:
"What a terrifying guy!"
After cursing inwardly, a proud and disdainful smile slowly appeared on Cristoforo's face:
"Fortunately, with the Threnodian Leviathan's hint, I've finally found your weakness."
He took out the script and wrote down the words "Montelli" and "Carlotta." Just as he was about to think, he suddenly felt his heart pounding rapidly, as if some great danger was about to descend.
Taking out his vibrating terminal, Cristoforo glanced at the message on it and couldn't help but shudder all over.
Hastily putting away the script, he opened the underground secret passage, jumped in as if fleeing for his life, and ran madly without looking back.
One minute, three minutes, five minutes...
"Celestial Court Radiance!"
With a cold and stern shout, the secret stronghold was instantly swallowed by a blinding, terrifying white beam, turning into a massive crater.
Noah stepped down on Dawnlight, his gaze sweeping over the ashes of the surrounding Fractsidus craftsmen:
"Damn it, it's all because you tipped him off!"
Cursing inwardly, Noah released his perception again and continued pursuing along the trail Cristoforo had left.
"If only I'd pulled Cartethyia—it'd be fine to let Cristoforo run 3999 meters first. Whatever, no more about that. I absolutely can't let him escape!"
Noah clenched his fists, his speed not slowing beneath his feet:
"Faster, even faster!"
...
"Faster, even faster—Noah is coming! Hurry up!"
At this moment, Cristoforo wished he had been born with two more legs.
This was already the fifth secret stronghold he'd switched to.
Every time he had just escaped to a secret stronghold and thought he was safe, less than half a minute later he would receive a report from his subordinate craftsmen, forcing him to flee again.
His front foot had barely left the stronghold when, within five minutes, it would be flattened by a terrifying white beam.
That guy with dragon horns, stepping on Dawnlight, was openly chasing his escape trail. Even when he took detours, that guy followed the detours.
It was like seeing a ghost!
"A persistent haunt of a guy. Did he plant a tracker on me? Or did I accidentally get some traceable aura on me?"
Cristoforo wiped the cold sweat from his face. Unknowingly, he had circled around and fled back near the Order of the Deep.
Once again, he began to desperately miss that madman who had already died. If Scar were still alive, how would he need to flee in such a sorry state?
Looking at the surging waves in front of him, Cristoforo gritted his teeth tightly, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes:
"Damn Noah—this is what you forced me to do!"
The next moment, he grabbed his collar, stripped completely naked in ten seconds, and with a plop, jumped into the sea.
Cristoforo swore he would never forget this humiliating day of naked swimming.
One minute, two minutes, two and a half minutes.
Noah stepped on Dawnlight and arrived at this coastline. The residual frequency he could capture with perception suddenly cut off.
His brows furrowed. Ancient and profound golden waves spread out dozens of miles in an instant, rapidly rewinding time in the area.
The surging waves reversed as if on rewind; a full ten minutes of time reversal even exposed a patch of waterless mudflat in the sea area.
But Cristoforo's figure did not appear as hoped.
"Cristoforo, you ran fast enough."
Noah snorted coldly, retracted the power of Time, turned, and left.
...
Outside Ragunna City, the one-eyed windmill cluster.
Soaked through, Cristoforo rode a gondola he had intercepted along the way and finally arrived at his last hidden stronghold, changing into a barely decent set of clothes.
He had just sat down when he suddenly heard the creaking friction of the stronghold's old wooden door.
Almost instinctively, Cristoforo turned and ran, stripping his clothes as he fled.
"Are you a pervert?"
The familiar female voice made him stop. He turned back and met a disdainful gaze.
"Oh, it's Phrolova."
Cristoforo breathed a huge sigh of relief, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and let out a long breath.
Scaring himself.
"Phrolova, please remember to knock next time you come in."
"Playwright, put your clothes on properly before speaking."
Phrolova didn't look at Cristoforo again, turning her head away:
"A craftsman reported to me that you've provoked Noah again. I specially came to collect your corpse—unfortunately, you're still alive."
"Sorry to disappoint you."
Cristoforo shrugged indifferently, slowly straightening his clothes and changing the subject:
"Phrolova, how's the task I assigned you before going?"
"The giant dragon is dead, Lorelei can't be controlled alive, though Cetus the Tidebreaker is still under control—but that's all. To stop the Carnevale according to the old plan is unlikely now."
Phrolova turned back, looking at Cristoforo's drenched and wretched appearance, and let out a rare snort of laughter:
"Playwright, your plan is going to fail again. Look at you, like a drowned dog—probably scared out of your wits by Noah. Can you do it or not?"
Can you do it or not?
Do it or not?
Or not?
The mocking words echoed repeatedly, constantly provoking Cristoforo's nerves.
"I can! How could I not?!"
Cristoforo slammed the table heavily:
"Just now, I communicated with the Threnodian Leviathan. It told me that Noah's abilities are entirely borrowed from others—he himself has no abilities at all."
"So?"
"Recently, he obtained the dimensional reshaping ability from the Montelli family's second young lady. I plan to kill Carlotta, making Noah completely lose that ability."
Cristoforo snorted coldly:
"After killing Carlotta, find the sources of Noah's other powers and eliminate them one by one. Sooner or later, Noah will be at the mercy of our Fractsidus!"
Hearing this, Phrolova finally showed interest:
"Is that so? What a despicable idea—worthy of you. With your strength, killing this second young lady of the Montelli family shouldn't be difficult, right?"
"Heh heh." Cristoforo laughed coldly: "Dealing with such a weak existence isn't worth my personal effort."
His pretentious words were ruthlessly exposed by Phrolova:
"You're clearly afraid to show your face, scared of being chased and killed by Noah again."
One sentence made Cristoforo's face turn red with anger. He slammed the table heavily:
"Phrolova, how can you slander an innocent person's reputation out of thin air?"