Chapter 29

Chapter 29 “Those Who Protect the City”

The gods of supreme power dwelled in the bedrocks of this world, watching their followers’ actions with a transcendental gaze using this connection. In return for this privilege, devout believers who acted in god’s name would gain the ability to glimpse into the future and the direction it takes.

This kind of voyeurism was not bound by time and space and implied the risk of being eroded by subspace. But for those determined and devout believers, this dangerous and powerful force was what allowed them to protect the fragile light of civilization in this endless ocean.

For this pious inquisitor, a similar foresight had replayed itself in her dreams for many days now.

She saw the Boundless Sea stained with a layer of ink with thunderous noises coming from the depths. Then with a loud splintering crack, the ocean splits apart in two, revealing a terrifying trench that reaches the very seabed. From within came a huge burning ship, rising from the depths into the air, its course, the city of Pland. Her home....

In Inquisitor Vanna’s life so far, the “omen” of such sheer scale has appeared only twice.

The first occurred during her childhood when she awoke from a blood-soaked nightmare and then lost her parents in a cultist attack. That incident left her scarred on the face for life.

The second time had occurred four years earlier when she saw a dark sun rising from beneath the city grounds. That foresight led her to wipe out the biggest stronghold of the Sun God cultists hidden within the city.

Now she finally got her third foresight – a flaming ghost ship was returning from the ocean’s depth and would bring forth an indescribable giant into the world.

So, she had lied to her fellow priest here tonight. The omen wasn’t vague at all; it was so clear that she couldn’t sleep for days as a result.

The priest hesitated for a long time before speaking again: “But you didn’t receive any negative feedback from the lord?”

“May they all be well,” said Vanna softly. Then, lowering her eyes and whispering a blessing before following it up with a reminder, “But if they are unfortunate enough to not be ‘well’, we must also be prepared.”

“Yes, I understand,” the priest said solemnly.

But just as Vanna was about to refocus her attention on the city outside the window, a rush of footsteps suddenly came from the direction of the stairs.

The next moment, a guardian in a silver-rimmed uniform that showed a dagger insignia across the chest ran over. “Inquisitor! We have found the underground sacrificial site of the cultists in the sewer! We also caught a group of those sun god believers!”

Vanna’s expression instantly got serious: “Those cultists who worship the Dark Sun? Wait, you said you found a sacrifice point... Not a hiding place? How dare they hold another sacrifice?!”

“Yes, it was the site where the sacrificial ceremony was held. We found evidence that sacrifices had taken place,” said the guardian quickly. “We also found many victims in the crypt not far from the site—most of them having been sacrificed by gutting their hearts. It’s just that something is not quite right at the site.”

Vanna saw a look of absurdity and confusion on the guardian’s face. Without hesitation, this female inquisitor picked up her heavy sword, blessed by the Storm Goddess, from the side and carried it on her back. Pointing to the stairs: “Lead the way. I will personally go examine the situation.”

“Yes Milady!”

The sound of the huge sword banging against Vanna’s metal pauldron was constantly ringing along the staircase. By the time they arrived at the entrance, two steam walkers were already parked outside in the square, rearing and steaming for her to get on that spider-like body.

Vanna wasted no time and jumped atop the closest walker’s carapace. The huge machine resembled one of those steampunk contraptions that you would find in a book, but this was far more refined and well-designed through generations of improvement.

Pure technological creations could hardly exert enough influence on “anomalies” or “events”, but a crushing fire would most certainly remove any heretic that hides in the shadows. Of course, this hybrid of spider and tank could not be used inside the sewers due to its limited space. However, acting as a blockade at the exit fitted its purpose. After all, a barrage of 8mm bullets blessed by the lord would send any escaping heretic into the afterlife.