"Woof?"
Susie shot Fors a displeased glance, causing Fors to hurriedly apologize, saying she shouldn't have used Susie's name to scare Xio.
After working together many times, she had come to understand that Susie might actually be stronger than her. Susie dealt with pirates extremely quickly, not much slower than Miss Audrey.
In their group of three people and one dog, Xio was basically the only one she could bully.
"The sky over there seems a little different..." Audrey looked up at the sky and pointed toward an area unobscured by clouds.
Xio and Fors followed the direction she was pointing. Above the island, there wasn't a single wisp of cloud, and the blue sky was perfectly clear. There was nothing strange about that by itself, but in the sky around the island's perimeter, clouds were gradually gathering into a grayish-white circular ring.
The ring gradually expanded, as though it intended to bind the entire island within it.
Hastur naturally noticed this unusual sight as well, but he didn't sense the oppressive and violent aura of the Lord of Storms.
Perhaps this was something created by the bishops of the Church of Storms, so that at a critical moment, the Lord of Storms could directly descend?
This was only a guess, so he didn't tell Audrey and the others. He simply watched the situation develop in silence.
Although the pirates were numerous, their high-level combat strength was far inferior to that of the Church of Storms and Bernadette. They made plenty of noise, but no one dared to force their way onto the island again.
Time slowly passed. The blazing sun sank into the sea, and the crimson moon cast down its tranquil crimson moonlight, making the entire surface of the sea appear even more vivid, like blood.
Under the cover of moonlight, there were always some pirate crews unwilling to stop here who began making their moves.
As they repeatedly attempted to force their way through, more and more corpses gradually began floating on the sea.
Their bright-red blood merged into the ocean, staining the reflection of the crimson moon on the water a dark red.
Blood and death, was this the scene the Mother Goddess of Depravity had been expecting?
However, after the pirates died, the clergy of the Church of the Evernight Goddess would always perform purification rituals. That blood should have become useless.
Hastur continued standing at the bow of the ship and observing, with no intention of intervening.
Audrey quietly stood beside Hastur, her gaze distant and unfocused, seemingly lost in thought.
Xio stared unwillingly toward the stretch of sea where sounds of fighting and killing could be heard. She very much wanted to gather Miss Audrey and go complete a few more bounty warrants.
Fors, meanwhile, had gone back to writing her novel, saying that inspiration had struck.
By the latter half of the night, far fewer people dared to secretly land on the island under the cover of darkness, and the sea became calm once more.
The next day, several corpses that hadn't been retrieved in time occasionally drifted across the sea. The corpses were pale and bloated, and all the blood in their bodies seemed to have been completely drained.
Xio and Audrey watched for only a while before returning to their rooms.Hastur, meanwhile, looked toward the island where Roselle was located. It seemed to be shrouded in a layer of mist, preventing anyone from seeing it clearly.
He had also gazed at it once from the Hall of Stars, but hadn't been able to discern anything noteworthy.
If he wanted to understand exactly what was happening, he would have to personally go onto the island and take a look.
But that was extremely dangerous. It would be better to simply maintain the current situation.
Another two days passed. Tonight was the full moon on the fifteenth.
After dinner, Fors hid in her room early and prayed for the protection of the Stars.
Her decision was correct. Tonight's full-moon ravings were stronger than ever before.
It was as though she had arrived at the very source of the full-moon ravings, coming into close contact with the curse itself.
Even with the protection of the Stars, she couldn't completely avoid the harm caused by the full-moon ravings. Several more strands fell from her already sparse hair.
She curled up beneath the blankets, trembling.
"Xio, just now I think I saw all my hair fall out."
"It's fine. That'll just make you look exceptionally brilliant."
Xio remained beside the bed, patiently soothing Fors' emotions to prevent any accidents from occurring.
Hearing the suppressed sounds of pain coming repeatedly from Fors' room, Susie shuddered and moved a little farther away.
Hall of Stars.
As the full-moon ravings ended, Hastur withdrew the protection of the Stars.
Through Fors' experience with the full-moon ravings this time, he became absolutely certain that the Mother Goddess of Depravity was watching this place from the distant starry sky.
It was precisely because Her power existed here that Fors' full-moon ravings had intensified to such a terrifying degree.
"Mr. Door..."
Hastur lightly tapped his fingers against the table as he considered an important matter.
If the Mother Goddess of Depravity's attention was completely focused on Roselle's side, then could he influence Her condition indirectly by affecting Mr. Door?
Regarding how to purify Mr. Door's corruption, he had carried out many simulations before, striving to find a useful method to help Mr. Door and thereby restrict the Mother Goddess of Depravity's influence over the real world.
"Roselle..."
"I have to wait for a more suitable opportunity."
Hastur thought about it for a long time before ultimately deciding to wait a little longer. The Mother Goddess of Depravity was far too terrifying. For their first confrontation, he naturally had to consider everything thoroughly.
Unfortunately, aside from the sealed Son of Chaos, none of the other Great Old Ones were here right now. Otherwise, he could have had them land on the island first to investigate the situation. After all, they were only avatars, so he might as well make full use of them.
"Hm? Primordial Hunger said before that He would send down an avatar."
Hastur turned his gaze toward the star where Primordial Hunger resided. After searching carefully, he indeed found a tiny point of light.
Bringing his vision closer, Hastur saw Primordial Hunger's avatar. With his help last time, His avatar had already successfully descended.
It was just that His appearance was somewhat... off.
He looked like an oversized version of Luffy, currently aboard a large ship, stuffing himself with food and drink. Mm, a more accurate description would be that He was constantly shoving things into His mouth.
His entire body resembled an enormous, round balloon. His waist alone was as wide as four or five people standing side by side. His enormous backside simply rested directly on the deck, while His short, thick legs and facial features were almost buried beneath layers of fat.
The only relatively slender parts of Him were His arms, which could freely stretch like rubber and were responsible for grabbing the various foods covering the long table in front of Him and stuffing them into His mouth.
Two rows of crew members stood along both sides of the deck, working hard to fish seafood from the ocean. Others were responsible for carrying the freshly caught seafood into the kitchen to be cooked, then bringing the prepared dishes back out.
Everyone bustled about, making it look exactly like a massive banquet with dishes being served in an endless stream.
Yet this banquet had only a single guest.
Judging by the way He was eating, it wasn't merely as though He hadn't eaten his fill for three days. He looked like the reincarnation of a starving ghost and a gluttonous beast combined.
Let me see which unlucky pirate crew ended up saddled with this guy.
Heh, so it's the Undying King Agalito's Death Knell.
I didn't expect Him to have come near the island as well. This works out perfectly and saves me from wasting more time.
Hastur watched for only a little while before his desire for delicious food began rapidly fading.
Seeing Primordial Hunger begin pounding hard on the long table because the dishes were arriving too slowly, Hastur knew the time was about right.
From across the Hall of Stars, he directly opened up a starry sky above Primordial Hunger's head. Endless starlight converged, while the majestic phantom of the Hall of Stars towered above the countless stars.
With just one glance, Primordial Hunger stopped eating. His gaze became blank, seemingly unable to understand why the Stars had come looking for Him at this time.
He glanced at the shocked crew members nearby, opened His enormous mouth, and inhaled sharply. All the light was sucked into His stomach. The surrounding world became completely dark, leaving Him alone before this starry sky.
"Stars, what do you need me to do?"
"Go onto the island."
"That is the territory of the Mother Goddess of Depravity."
"It's all food for you."
"All right." Primordial Hunger thought for a moment before agreeing. "Next time, you still need to help me descend."
"Fine. One descent, one condition."
Primordial Hunger nodded, and the starry sky above His head dispersed.
On the Death Knell, a world as black as ink enveloped everything. All the crew members knelt on the ground trembling, their heads lowered, not daring to make a single unnecessary sound.
When the darkness before them dispersed, the mysterious visitor who had originally been as bloated as a balloon had transformed into a bald, muscular man more than three meters tall, with a powerful physique and arms whose muscles were as thick as tree trunks.
His upper body was bare, without a single piece of clothing covering it, while a yellowish-brown leather skirt was wrapped around His lower body. In His right hand, He brandished a large white bone club.
It had been crudely forged from a bone He had extracted from a gigantic sea creature He had eaten earlier.
His entire appearance made Him look like a hunter who had just walked out of a primeval forest.
His body, over three meters tall, brought with it an overwhelming sense of pressure. The surrounding crew members lowered their heads even further, not daring to glance around carelessly.
Primordial Hunger looked toward the island, rubbed His smooth bald head, bent His legs slightly, and then leaped toward the island.
The enormous impact caused the entire Death Knell to emit cracking noises as though it could no longer bear the strain.
With the points where His feet had pushed off as the center, the black hull began to collapse.
The Undying King Agalito looked painfully at his flagship and hurriedly activated the Death Knell's power, causing the shattered and scattered pieces of the ship to gather together again.
Only after finishing this did he dare raise his head and gaze into the distance, toward the direction the mysterious visitor had departed.
He saw that the figure had already crossed the vast sea and landed on the distant island. The tremendous boom when He struck the ground could be clearly heard even from this far away.
"Heh, Bernadette. If you've got the ability, go ahead and kill Him."
The corners of Agalito's mouth rose slightly, but he quickly seemed to remember something, and his entire face fell again.
The thought of fleeing that had originally emerged in his mind was immediately extinguished.
If he wanted to stay alive, it was better to behave himself.