Chapter 712 Vanna's "Reputation"

In the misty fog, three small boats silently docked at the end of a gentle slope in the corner of the harbor.

Duncan was the first to set foot on this eerie island that the Annihilation cultists called "holy ground."

All around was silent, the drifting mist carrying a trace of coldness. The artificial buildings within the harbor, varying in height, appeared hazy due to the fog. The boundaries of the buildings seemed to blend with the distant terrain, their outlines blurred. A few dim yellow lights shone through the distant mist, offering no sense of reassurance.

"Not a sound…" Shirley felt the chill in the mist and subconsciously rubbed her arms, muttering as she surveyed the surroundings. "A Gou, do you smell any 'people smell'?"

"No scent of the living, only a faint smell of the dead, mixed with a strong aura of the abyss," A Gou grumbled, carefully sensing the environment. A bloody light flickered in its empty eye sockets. "...The feeling of 'home' is getting stronger. Not just the aura, but even the 'atmosphere'... it's a bit similar."

It raised its head, gazing at the island's interior shrouded in mist with its empty eye sockets, a hint of confusion in its tone. "Many things here feel similar to my 'home,' but they're also... not quite the same. I can't quite describe the feeling."

"A Gou, is this what your home is like?" Shirley's focus was clearly elsewhere. "Then your living environment must be terrible. No wonder you said the abyssal demons in your home usually just gnaw on each other or rocks…"

"I don't like the atmosphere here," Vanna said quietly, frowning tightly as she vigilantly surveyed the surroundings. "It always reminds me of Frost City back then…"

Shirley waved her hand. "Mist, silent streets, wriggling mud, and sudden appearances of Element Copycats, right? We all know…"

Duncan ignored the conversation around him. After confirming that there wasn't a single living person around, he waved to the marines disembarking from the two boats, signaling everyone to follow. He then strode towards the dim yellow lights that glowed faintly in the mist.

The atmosphere was eerie and unsettling, causing everyone to be on high alert. They had imagined the dangers that might lurk in this nest that the Annihilation cultists called "holy ground." They had imagined thousands of savage, armed heretics, countless traps and flesh-and-blood monsters created by demon worshippers, even a powerful fleet secretly built by the Annihilation Order, ready to ambush the exploration team in the mist…

But an uninhabited "ghost island" was not among any of their expectations.

Vanna reached behind her and took down her alloy greatsword, gripping it tightly in her hand. With ample time for preparation this time, she no longer had to resort to conjuring a greatsword from ice in emergencies, as she had done before.

The familiar "battle partner" in her hand gave her a sense of reassurance.

Footsteps approached, and a young woman wearing form-fitting light armor similar to Vanna's, with a large sword on her back, walked over.

Vanna remembered that she was the leading priestess sent from the *Tide*, the leader of the eleven marines.

As Vanna watched her with curiosity and some confusion, the young priestess with the greatsword came to her side, walking alongside her and whispering in an excited tone, "You're Vanna Wayne, right? The legendary Inquisitor from Prisland, the most powerful in history…"

"...Legendary Inquisitor? I don't know when I got such a title," Vanna frowned, seeming a little embarrassed. "But I am Vanna Wayne. Is there something you need?"

"I… I'm Amber," the priestess quickly said. "I've heard many stories about you… like how you jumped off a cliff and killed the evil god's spawn who invaded the city-state, how you jumped off the cathedral roof and killed the cultists who tried to destroy the church, and how you jumped off the Sea Cliff Lighthouse…"

Vanna felt like she couldn't hold back anymore before the other woman finished speaking, and she quickly waved her hand. "Stop, I don't have that many jump-and-kill records—legends are often exaggerated."

"You… you're very humble," Amber smiled, then pointed to the greatsword on her back. It was already larger than most standard steel swords used by Deep Sea priests, but still far smaller than the alloy greatsword in Vanna's hand. "I'm also trying to learn your fighting style. My mentor says it's the oldest and most practical killing technique in Storm Swordsmanship… Of course, I'm still far behind you…"

Vanna opened her mouth, barely managing to squeeze out, "Ah, well… keep it up."

"I'm still working hard," Amber nodded vigorously, then hesitated and asked, "But… how can I gain power like yours? I've heard many stories about your battles… Do you have any unique training techniques?"

Vanna's expression became even more awkward. She subconsciously glanced in Duncan's direction, but found that the captain wasn't paying attention to them at all. She could only hold back for a few seconds before blurting out, "Eat more meat."

Amber: "...Huh?"

"And drink more hot water, go to bed early and wake up early, and have a regular routine," Vanna said, feeling that her answer wasn't very convincing. She thought for a moment and added.

Amber's expression gradually became difficult to describe with just a "huh"—it was closer to a daze. "Just… that's all it takes?"

"Yes, and remember to pray every day, pour out your confusion and bewilderment to the Goddess, and don't leave that kind of pressure and wavering until the next day," Vanna nodded. "And finally, there's one most important thing—"

Amber's expression changed instantly, becoming very serious. "The most important thing?"

Vanna thought for a moment, looking at the younger woman with a particularly serious expression, and said earnestly, "Don't make vows recklessly when you have nothing to do—if you've already made a vow, don't add to it just because you're hot-blooded. You'll get yourself stuck."

Amber's expression turned blank again. "...Huh?"

But Vanna had already walked away quickly. After leaving the somewhat embarrassing "junior" behind, she walked to Duncan's side in a few steps, her head lowered as she walked.

Duncan, however, had been listening to the commotion behind him the whole time. Seeing Vanna walk over, he finally smiled and said, "It sounds like you're very popular among your compatriots—even though you've officially relinquished your position as Inquisitor and left the public eye."

"...I occasionally encounter situations like this, it's more frequent in the city-state," Vanna said, her head lowered. In front of the captain, she could finally complain a little about these "minor troubles that are hard to explain to outsiders." "And no matter how many times it happens, I can never get used to it."

Morris took out his pipe from his pocket, held it in his mouth but didn't light it, just muttering casually, "And I don't know why, it's always girls chasing after her…"

Duncan immediately looked at the Inquisitor beside him with a subtle gaze, only to see her give him a lifeless expression. "...Don't look at me… I don't know why…"

What could Duncan say? He now found it quite unbelievable that this beautiful and stalwart young woman could even have a normal friend like Heidi… Perhaps it had something to do with Heidi being a science student?

Anyway, it had nothing to do with him—it was just interesting to see that the usually calm and reliable Vanna also had such a helpless and awkward side.

Just then, Shirley, who was walking on the other side of the team, seemed to trip over something and stumbled. "Oh shit!"

A Gou reacted instantly, tilting its neck back and using its chain to pull Shirley, who was about to fall. "What's wrong?!"

Shirley steadied herself and turned around, cursing, "What kind of shitty road is this? Something tripped me ju—"

She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening as she looked at where she had almost tripped, and the rest of her sentence turned into a short exclamation: "Crap!?"

Several gazes instantly focused on the direction she was looking.

Duncan also saw what had almost tripped Shirley—it was an arm.

Strictly speaking, it was an arm "embedded" in the road, seemingly fused with the surrounding surface, with a texture like solidified mud!

Duncan's eyes narrowed instantly, and he quickly approached the "arm."

It was a curved upper arm, elbow, and forearm, its black mud-like texture completely fused with the surrounding road surface, even seeming like a piece of matter that had "grown" directly from the road.

This could not help but make people think that beneath this road, there might be buried a more complete body connected to this arm!

At almost the same time, Deep Sea priestess Amber, who was walking not far away, also found something in the mist. "There's something here too!"

What Amber found was a torso protruding from the road, connected to a mutilated head and an arm that seemed to be struggling to reach forward—the appearance of that arm and head was like those "humanoid blanks" that the combined fleet had seen floating on the sea near the Holy Island, black as mud and lacking detailed structures on the limbs and facial features.

But its posture was enough to allow one to imagine the desperate and terrifying scene of this "humanoid blank" struggling to crawl out of something that was devouring it.

Duncan looked solemnly at the body "embedded" in the road, and a scene had already emerged in his mind—the ground softened like mud, the owner of this body was swallowed by the road beneath his feet, his body melted like mud in another lump of mud, and the desperate struggle slightly delayed the arrival of death, but after a short and useless persistence, he was permanently left here…

And Shirley and Amber's discovery was only the beginning.

Just half a minute later, the marines who expanded their search area found more human bodies that were "fused" with the surrounding environment…

Dense and numerous, they were everywhere in the fog.