Chapter 105: Chapter 109 “Usurper of Fire
A violent sensation of freefall came upon Duncan suddenly, stripping his spirit swiftly from before the blazing sun. He felt as if he were being dragged by a powerful gravity through a deep and lengthy tunnel, the raging burning corona and the flesh that supported it quickly receding from his vision— the next second, he felt a solid touch on his back.
That was the back of his seat.
Duncan opened his eyes abruptly, gasping heavily. His heart had never thumped so vigorously, and in his retinas, it seemed as if the blinding light cast by that burning star still lingered.
The terrifying truth beneath that sea of fire was imprinted even more intensely in his mind.
A few seconds later, those strong impressions finally began to subside in his mind, leaving only that ethereal phrase echoing in the depths of his memory—
“Usurping Flame, extinguish me, please…”
Duncan furrowed his brows slightly; he was sure he had really heard that sentence.
Was this… something “the Sun” had conveyed to him? Did it sense his prying and then send out this… call for help to him?
Duncan rubbed his forehead, recalling every detail of that intense sun while speculating about the true nature of this “call for help”.
Without a doubt, that was what the followers of “the True Sun” worshipped, the “real Sun” they spoke of.
To be honest, in that brief moment when he first saw it, Duncan truly felt a surge of emotion in his heart. He was overwhelmed by the fiery ocean of that intense sun, almost believing he had seen the “Sun” from his own memories, his own understanding—that he had seen the star he had observed on Earth…
His emotions were as turbulent then as his astonishment and bewilderment were when he saw the truth behind the sun.
The front of that sun indeed matched “the True Sun” perfectly, consistent with what the Sun Cultists described, but that scene was merely the shell of the Sun—it housed an indescribable thing inside.
Duncan remembered those pale, murky pieces of flesh and the withered, decaying state displayed by the tendrils wrapped around the pupil.
That “creature,” encapsulated by the shell of the Sun, seemed to be not in good shape.
In fact, Duncan even thought it was already “dead”—that feeling of lifelessness was so strong, that even just sneakily glimpsing it from afar, he could feel the “death” emanating and hitting him in the depths of his soul.
It was essentially a burning corpse of an ancient god.
And that ancient god’s corpse was pleading with him, hoping someone would come to extinguish the flames on its body.
A corpse pleading for help was both contradictory and terrifying, bizarre and surreal, yet fitting the already abnormal “logic” of this world.
Duncan gradually organized his chaotic thoughts, recalling that during his brief peek, there was one particularly notable aspect—the name “the Sun” had called him—”Usurping Flame”.
Was that indescribable piece of flesh really addressing him? Did it genuinely sense the approach of this unexpected visitor and therefore made a sound? Was it not just babbling in a haze of confusion?
If that plea for help indeed was directed at him, then this was a very clear indication—Usurping Flame…
Duncan lowered his head, gently twirling his fingertips, observing a cluster of flames quietly burning there.
The green fire of his Spiritual Body obediently awaited his command, ready to contaminate other fires, to usurp other aberrant powers.
The next second, Duncan dispersed the Spiritual Body fire in his hand.
Regardless of whether “the Sun” was truly speaking to him, regardless of what the other party meant by “Usurping Flame,” these were not matters he could attend to right now—the hidden cultists of the Plunder City-State were still lurking in the dark, and he had neither the ability nor the standpoint to deal with the “Sun God” behind those Heretics.
Besides, how was he supposed to “help” that burning Sun? Use the small flicker of his Spiritual Body’s fire to engulf and burn a huge blob of matter? He’d die of exhaustion before he could burn through it all! And besides, just because the other party was begging him for help, it didn’t mean that thing was on “his side” – Who knows what would happen after extinguishing that Sun, what if the flame was a seal, and extinguishing it would awaken something unspeakable inside the Sun that would then wreak havoc in all directions? Would it still remember his “favour” of helping to “put out the fire” then?
Having dealings with something akin to a deity so casually was hardly a wise move.
Duncan shook his head, feeling somewhat sentimental—this so-called “Sun God” was indeed not the Sun he was familiar with.
Perhaps he would never see real “sunlight” again in this world.
The golden mask, modeled after the Sun, still lay quietly on the table, its surface luster a bit dim, as if it had already exhausted its internal energy.
Duncan reached out to pick up the mask, but the moment his fingertips touched it, a soft sound of cracking entered his ears.
The mask, which was originally very sturdy (and plated with copper), seemed to have weathered millions of years of erosion and the next second turned to dust in his hands, dissipating with the wind.
Ai Yi hopped over and opened her wings in front of Duncan, gesticulating: “Happy, slap, gone!”
However, Duncan did not mind this bird’s aggravating behavior; a vague realization began to dawn on him—
The mask was ultimately just a mass-produced “Sacred Relic.” Those Sun Cultists seemed to excel in creating these sorts of limited-efficacy forgeries through various rituals. These forgeries had some of the mighty powers of the genuine items but were ultimately worrisome in longevity.
The function of the Sun mask was likely to act as a channel of communication, with the lower-ranking priests using it to connect with the deities or deities’ “offspring” they worshipped. Just now, he had used the fire of the Spiritual Body to forcibly unlock all the power of the mask, giving it a fleeting effect akin to a “genuine article,” allowing him to glimpse the appearance of the Sun God through the channel – which exhausted the “lifespan” of the mask in a matter of seconds.
“Maybe I should find a way to get a real one in the future…” Looking at the ashes dissipating in the air, Duncan mused, “This thing can’t even last three seconds before burning out…”
He did not plan to really “save” any Sun God, but he was still interested in the secrets guarded by those Sun Cultists and was also curious about the history before the Great Annihilation. He felt he would continue his research in the Transcendent realm; the wool on those Heretics… he had to keep shearing as needed.
But as his research went deeper, he would have to find a way to shear some high-quality wool.
After taking a brief rest to recover his spirits, Duncan left his bedroom.
The goat-headed navigator, who was spacing out next to the navigation table, immediately turned his head at the sound. He first checked to see if the pigeon had followed him out and sighed with relief after finding Duncan alone: “Ah, great Captain, your loyal subordinate omitted here has been diligently steering for you, how was your recent ‘voyage’? I sensed your soul went to a distant place again, but it wasn’t to a human City-State this time? If you’re planning another long trip next time, you might think about…”
“How much do you know about the ‘True Sun God’ worshipped by those Sun Cultists?” Duncan waved his hand dismissively, cutting straight to the question.
After dealing with this goat-head for a while, he had gotten to grips with its temperament and had become more confident in his “Captain identity.” In conversation and questioning, he no longer acted as carefully as he did at first, and it didn’t matter to ask some questions unrelated to the essence of Homeloss casually.
This also served to probe just how much this peculiar goat-head knew about the Transcendent realm.
“True Sun God?” The goat-head was taken aback, then hesitantly said, “Honestly, I’m not too clear, I just know that those followers of the Sun God are both insane and foolish, but I don’t know what deity they serve… However, the ‘blessing’ of the Sun God does exist. Those cultists, when their devotion reaches a certain level, do receive some weird and strange powers, which is also why this cult has been able to grow…”
As he spoke, the goat-head slowly came to a realization: “Ah, why do you suddenly bring this up? Don’t tell me you just now…”
“I was just thinking, if a so-called ‘deity’, was being roasted over a fire by its own Believers, and the Believers are completely unaware of it, working overtime to stoke the fire every day, mistaking the ‘grease’ dripped from the deity’s body as blessings sent down by the deity… then that would be quite ironic,” Duncan mused, “It’s something out of hell’s jokes that seems too much even for hell.”
The chart room grew quiet, the goat-head didn’t pick up the conversation, which made Duncan look at him in surprise, “Why are you silent? You’re usually quite talkative, aren’t you?”
The goat-head opening up somewhat sullenly: “…the topic is too awesome, I dare not speak, I dare not ask, I can only say, the Captain is insightful…”
Duncan burst into laughter.
Whether it was an illusion or not, he began to feel that even this goat-head in front of him was not as ominously dangerous as at first, and the atmosphere on the ship… seemed to be slowly getting better?