Chapter 300: Where Is My Dog?

Chapter 300: Where Is My Dog?

Even as its heart was shredded, the golden retriever used its tail to coil around the sword's hilt before hitting the ground, and as it fell, the tail dragged the Sword of Arius down toward Ino’s neck.

"Pfft!"

Ino’s head was severed clean off.

With the deed done, Kevin began to wag his tail, which seemed slightly cramped.

Karen reached up to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and smiled, realizing how hard he had pushed the family dog.

Picking up the sword, Karen stood up and coughed several times in succession; he was injured.

The wounds were not quite severe, yet they were not light either, but fortunately, they would not hinder him from plunging into the second battle for the time being.

Still, Karen felt a tinge of doubt—by this time, why hadn't Captain and the others arrived with reinforcements?

Just as Karen prepared to walk toward the other battlefield, Kevin caught up to him, a string of bracelets clamped in his jaws.

Ah, he had forgotten to loot the corpse.

Karen reached out his hand, and Kevin released the bracelets, letting them drop into Karen’s palm.

When it came to handling details, his dog was indeed more conscientious than he was.

The situation at the other battlefield was far richer and more diverse, yet it bore no resemblance to a slaughter, as Purr and Alfred acted together to maintain a steady pressure on Dart.

The violent explosion naturally startled this side as well, and when Dart saw Karen emerge holding Ino’s bracelets, he broke down completely.

Hesitating and wavering no longer, he turned and fled straight away.

Alfred intended to pursue him and cooperate with his young master to finish him off, but seeing that his young master had no intention of giving chase, he stopped.

"Young Master, are you injured?"

"It’s nothing, the injuries aren't severe, I just want to rest for a moment. These Sea God Cult fellows, especially these few leaders, really have stiff bones."

"Yes, Young Master."

"Go find Mr. Wood—Purr, go with him—and summon Aceros at the landing site to prepare for evacuation."

Purr asked in confusion, "Weren't there supposed to be three signal flares?"

"But Captain and the others haven't come. I suspect a more complicated situation must have arisen at the pier. Preparing for a retreat first can never go wrong, which is also what Captain has always taught me."

"Alright, I understand."

Purr sat on the shoulder of her puppet, and the puppet turned around, tossing the "Mr. Kevin" it held in its hand right in front of Kevin.

"Stupid dog, let’s go."

"Woof!"

Kevin barked, first slipping himself into the leash, then biting the other end away from his puppet's hand before coming to crouch before Karen, wagging his tail.

Seeing this, Karen said, "Take Kevin's puppet away with you, I’m taking Kevin to smash some eggs."

"Sounds like a fun game, I really want to go too, meow," Purr said, though she obediently picked up Kevin's puppet and followed Alfred to find Mr. Wood.

Karen supported the sword with his left hand and held the leash with his right, while Kevin walked ahead with a stride full of supreme confidence.

Upon arriving at the office building they had emerged from earlier, they found the place completely deserted; the occupants must have already relocated. Karen entered the basement, where the six eggs remained, left behind without being transported away.

"I think there should be even more eggs on their ship."

"Woof!"

Kevin nodded.

"Even if it’s related to the return of that being, the sudden appearance of such a large batch of fundamentalist Sea God Cult believers is truly a bit strange. How was there no news of them before? Where were they hiding?"

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

"I don’t understand what you're saying, but I can guess. Do you mean that the fundamentalists have always been distributed among those small and medium-sized churches that fractured from the Sea God Cult?

And now, at this specific point in time, they have gathered together?"

Kevin nodded.

"That leaves only this single explanation."

The Sea God had been suppressed and slain by the dog.

The Sea God Cult had been broken and collapsed by the dog.

Although the silhouette of the God of Order had always stood behind these events, the God of Order had not fully taken the field, which meant the Church of Order would not suppress its remnants as resolutely as they did the Church of the Wall.

Furthermore, with the orthodox Sea God Cult fracturing at the end of the last era, the small and medium-sized churches scattered from it during this era had long ceased to be of any consequence, failing to attract sufficient attention.

By relying on this method, the Sea God Cult managed to remain scattered, preserved, and continued.

Their treatment was far better than that of the remnants of Light.

"I am somewhat curious now about what Captain and the others discovered on that ship; this group is not simple."

Karen walked up to an egg, lifted the Sword of Arius, and thrust it straight inside.

The eggshell shattered, and a head poked out from within; the eyeballs of this head looked as if they were suspended there, dragging down heavily, while the mouth and ears were entirely invisible and utterly slimy, obviously underdeveloped at a glance.

Yet he seemed to possess an instinctive sense of crisis—no, he certainly did.

Because before entering the eggshell, he had been a living, breathing adult, a believer.

With a sweep of the great sword, the thing’s head was severed clean off, and upon hitting the ground, it splattered like a puddle of mud with a sharp slap, incredibly disgusting.

Karen raised the great sword to stab another egg while speaking to Kevin:

"Though I know you collapsed the Sea God Cult for her sake, I still feel now that it’s quite a good thing you broke it. If the Sea God Cult were still an orthodox church today, wouldn't its holy land be filled with rows upon rows of these eggs, with many low-level servants of the Sea God carrying buckets to brush blood over them every day?

And that blood would be offered by those ordinary believers, who would even feel that doing so was glorious and sacred.

Then there's the Church of Samsara. I've always been curious about how many of the countless souls inside the Gate of Samsara were captured and thrown in, and how many were voluntarily offered by believers praying to pass into the afterlife. The latter surely makes up the vast majority."

Listening to Karen’s words, Kevin turned his head to look at him, a look of confusion and reminiscence actually appearing within the dog's eyes.

After piercing the third egg, Karen lowered his head, looked at Kevin, and asked, "What is it?"

Kevin immediately shook his head.

"Crack... Crack..."

Cracks appeared on the remaining two ordinary white eggs, the things inside having sensed a great danger and preparing to flee.

With two sharp slaps, Karen smashed the eggshells along with the things inside to pieces.

"This egg-smashing game is quite stress-relieving."

Now, only the last and largest black egg remained.

"Does a black egg mean a second evolution?" Karen asked.

Kevin nodded.

"As expected." Karen raised his sword, when suddenly, a sound wave echoed from inside the black eggshell, followed by a dark shadow thrusting out from within, stretching out both hands to claw at Karen’s head.

A flash of light erupted from Karen’s right eye as a beam of pure radiance shot out, striking the dark shadow; the shadow let out a miserable shriek and shrank back inside the eggshell.

"Slap!"

Cullen crushed the eggshell into shards, but the black filth only curled beneath it.

"Light—incinerate!"

Flames surged upward, and the dark silhouette let out a shrill shriek as it lunged at Cullen once more, only to be cleaved straight through the waist by his sword.

Waiting until it was entirely reduced to ashes, Cullen went out of his way to prod through the cinders a few times with the tip of his blade.

"This is turning into obsessive-compulsive disorder, and it is all Bernard's fault."

Having dealt with the basement, Cullen led Kevin upstairs, inspecting room after room on every single floor. Quite a few rooms contained isolated eggs. Cullen guessed that before encasing themselves, they might have shared close relationships, or perhaps they were lovers, spouses, or friends, placed separately to be cared for by whichever party broke from their shell first—since a separate bucket of blood and a brush stood beside every egg.

Cullen spared not a single one, smashing them all to pieces.

After thoroughly checking the third floor, Cullen entered the communications room he had previously leapt from. Without needing a single command, Kevin intuitively stepped forward to adjust the array stones, and moments later, the communication formation was established.

"Wood? Wood? Is that you, Wood?" Old Anderson's voice drifted out.

"Anderson, it is I, Cullen."

"Young Master? Have you already landed on the island and rescued Wood?"

"Listen to my instructions now. Use your channels to notify the Church of Order, in the name of Neo’s squad, that a large number of Fundamentalist Sea God cultists have appeared on Corona Island and ambushed a Whip of Order squad. Be swift."

"Yes, Young Master."

The communication ended.

Cullen looked down at Kevin. "Sniff around again. Are there any eggs left here?"

Kevin shook his head.

"Then let us head to the pier."

...

Over by the pier, three ships had caught fire. One was burning most furiously, while the other two had been ignited simply because they were moored too close.

Bang!

Bang!

Up on the mast, Fanny raised her magics rifle, firing down upon the black-robed figures lining the shore and thrashing in the water.

Gerry, spear in hand, blocked the cultists attempting to scramble aboard to extinguish the flames.

Wynn’s silhouette roamed across the deck like a gentle breeze, working in tandem with Gerry to strike down the black-robed men in the water.

The enemy's numbers were far greater than anticipated; the first eggshell they had discovered truly belonged only to the first batch.

On the shore, the captain alone was dueling two of the black-robed figures. Red bandages wrapped around their faces, marking them as entities of the same rank as Ino, whom Cullen had just slain.

Unable to utilize the power of Light, the captain could only rely on the power of Order to deal with them. Fortunately, he also possessed the bloodline of the Bloodthirsty Aberration, which could be openly displayed. Thus, though he was slightly disadvantaged, holding his ground posed no great problem.

Memphis's performance, however, astonished everyone except the captain. He held a floating magic cube in his palm, while clusters of mist swirled within a ten-meter radius around him. He faced the largest concentration of black-robed attackers, including two with red bandages, yet none could breach his formation's defenses. Instead, from time to time, his enemies were dragged into the array and ground to pieces.

With him serving as an anchor and the captain conducting harrying maneuvers, the two of them directly stabilized the defensive line along the shore. Those remaining, who had swum over from further away, were left for Fanny and the others to handle.

Yet overall, the pier had plunged into a bitter, grueling struggle.

Cullen entered everyone's field of vision leading a dog. Upon seeing the state of the battle, Cullen's immediate reaction was bewilderment, because the captain had fired three flares, signaling a full-scale offensive.

Rubbing his neck, Cullen raised the Sword of Alius.

"Cullen, over here!" the captain shouted to him.

"I am coming, Captain!"

Cullen raised the Sword of Alius and charged directly into the fray surrounding Memphis.

It was not that he deliberately ignored the captain, but Cullen knew the captain would not employ the power of Light until the absolute final moment. Therefore, it was best to let him continue his maneuvering while Cullen helped Memphis break the deadlock first.

This uncle of his was, after all, a genuine Spell-Enforcer, and his greatest flaw was likely that he was simply not very adept at combat.

The Sword of Alius cut into the battlefield with overbearing force. After a chaotic flurry of hacking, Mr. Memphis opened a gap in his formation to receive Cullen inside.

Cullen did not stand on ceremony, stating directly, "I will lead the assault. You assist me and follow my rhythm!"

"Yes, understood!"

Memphis showed no hesitation or doubt regarding Cullen's demand; he felt it was only natural.

Cullen’s eyes flushed crimson as the power of the Dark Moon Blade was driven to its absolute limit, though he still used a layer of Order flames to dye and disguise it. Immediately after, Cullen slammed directly into the targets ahead.

Mr. Memphis kept pace with Cullen's strides. Whenever Cullen struck at a target, his formation helped shield Cullen from threats looming from all other directions.

Very quickly, one black-robed figure after another fell beneath Cullen's blade.

Flourishing his sword in a graceful arc, Cullen sheathed it briefly to pause and catch his breath, and Mr. Memphis swiftly enveloped Cullen entirely within the formation.

"Continue!"

"Good!"

After another bout of hacking and slashing, Cullen sheathed his sword once more to breathe.

This style of fighting felt wonderfully comfortable, akin to being greeted with a warm towel and iced water immediately after a round of golf.

Of course, such treatment was a rare luxury; at any other time, he could hardly find a Spell-Enforcer to devote themselves entirely to supporting him.

Yet even though the black-robed cultists suffered immense casualties, they still refused to retreat.

During the next breath space, Cullen asked, "What was found on the ship?"

"A great many eggs! White ones, black ones, and even blue ones!"

Blue eggs as well?

An even higher echelon of evolvers?

Cullen now somewhat understood the abnormal reaction of these black-robed figures. They were desperate to reclaim that ship and rescue the eggs on board because the cargo hold contained not just their companions and leaders, but potentially even elder-level existences.

So, was this the reason the captain had fired three flares?

Because the captain knew that if they did not destroy those creatures before they fully matured and emerged from their shells, wiping them out a short while later would become incredibly difficult.

When it came to his duties, the captain had always preferred to eradicate problems root and stem; he had been quite displeased last time when he failed to kill Pede of the Samsara Sect.

Just then, Pegao dashed out from the burning cabin, shouting, "The magic bombs are set!"

The captain immediately commanded Fanny through the blue seashell: "Retreat first, head to the landing site!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Fanny relayed the order at once, then slid down the mast and leapt into the water. Wynn, Gerry, and Pegao did the same, diving into the sea to climb ashore in a different area.

The captain calculated the time, enduring a minor wound to break off engagement.

"Cover me!"

Mr. Memphis opened a gap in the formation, and the captain entered, panting as his wounds began to mend rapidly.

At that moment, the two red-banded cultists who had been entangled with the captain charged straight toward the ship, but before they could climb aboard.

Boom!

A tremendous roar echoed as an explosion erupted from the ship’s hold. Thick black smoke and fierce flames erupted instantly, and the hull began to list, sinking into the water at a pace visible to the naked eye.

"Just how many eggs are there that we had to use arcane bombs?" Karen asked.

"More than you could ever imagine. The hold is entirely filled with eggs," the Captain replied. "We can withdraw now. Break out!"

When Karen and the others showed their intention to break out, the enemy did not block them. Instead, they parted ways and leaped back into the water one after another, preparing for a final salvage operation.

This scene left Karen somewhat astonished. The ship had been blasted to such a state that the eggs should have mostly been shattered. Shouldn't they be seeking vengeance in a mad frenzy?

Ultimately, Karen and his companions successfully departed from the pier.

When the three stopped to rest, Karen asked, "Mr. Wood's wife and daughter seemed to be on that ship."

"Rescued. Along with Gendi and a few of his remaining team members who were also imprisoned on that vessel. I had them head to our landing point first. That mother and daughter are very familiar with this island and know the terrain; they can lead the way.

Gendi and those few surviving team members are heavily wounded and unable to fight, so I had them retreat first."

"Gendi actually didn't die?"

"That crowd probably regretted it after their ambush, so they kept him alive for the time being, not daring to kill him. But more than half of his team members were lost, and he himself became a prisoner. If not for this suddenly emerging faction of Sea God cultists being so exaggeratedly large in scale, he would probably have been court-martialed for dereliction of duty this time. But now, he might still be able to earn some merit, sharing a bit of credit as an auxiliary team helping us."

"Then what about the lion's share?"

"Heh, what lion's share? This escort mission has always been our responsibility, and I was the one who accepted it. We repelled the attack of the Sea God cult and successfully launched a counterattack.

In the face of the evil Sea God cult, our Hound Squad defended the glory of Order with stubborn resolve and an unyielding spirit!

Right, Memphis?"

"Yes, indeed," Memphis nodded.

"By the way, Captain, did you have Paige bring the arcane bombs?"

"Yes, I originally intended to use them to wipe our tracks and destroy evidence, but I didn't expect them to be used here. Now my only concern is how many of the ten crows Memphis and I sent out will successfully fly back to York City."

"I used the communication array to have the people at Allen Manor call for reinforcements for us."

"True, this route originally belonged to our Church, Dark Moon Island, and Allen Manor. In that case, reinforcements should arrive very soon. Alright, no need to worry.

Actually, there is one more thing I find strange. I always felt their preoccupation with that ship wasn't just because of the densely packed eggs in the hold. However, once the reinforcements arrive and capture them all, we should be able to interrogate them thoroughly."

Karen nodded, habitually raising his hand to stroke a certain hairless object, only to grasp empty air.

"Where is my dog?"

The Captain immediately corrected himself:

"Where is your dog?"

...

A golden retriever swam out of the water to the shore, frantically shaking its drenched body.

Opening its mouth,

*Plop!*

A purple egg dropped onto the sandy beach.

*Thump... Thump... Thump...*

Inside the purple egg, it felt as though a heart were beating.

"Return me... and I shall... bestow upon you... wisdom... grant you... everything you desire..."

Kevin showed an extremely excited expression upon hearing these words, then raised his hind leg and aimed a stream of urine precisely at it.

*Trickle... Trickle... Trickle...*

"You... you... you beast!"

Kevin smiled, laughing very happily.

Promptly, Kevin raised his head, gazing into the distance to discern the direction, preparing to take the egg and leave. But when he lowered his head to pick the egg up in his mouth once more...

He froze.