Chapter 63: Kalvetua’s Fury

Chapter 63: Kalvetua’s Fury

Danitz was choked speechless. Sullenly, he retreated to the side and watched as Gehrman Sparrow lit the candles, burned the powder, and dripped the hydrosol.

After smelling the fragrance spreading through the air, he could not help raising his voice.

“You—you used the wrong materials, didn’t you?”

He remembered that when the rebels sacrificed to Sea God, they had not used things like Full Moon essential oil, Deep Sleep flowers, and chamomile.

It was not as though they were praying to the Evernight Goddess!

Klein turned his head and glanced at him, then looked back at the altar.

“No problem.”

As a professional who often performed sacrifices and received sacrifices, he knew very well that burning hydrosol, essential oil, and herbal powders mainly served two purposes. First, it helped the ritual host better adjust their spirituality and enter the proper state. Second, it pleased the corresponding deity and catered to the object of sacrifice, increasing the probability of receiving a response. In this respect, every deity had their own affiliated and preferred objects.

This sacrifice mainly depended on two things: Kalvetua’s abnormal mental state—his complete madness—and his craving for the aura of the gray fog. Both conditions were indispensable. Nothing else mattered.

As long as those two requirements were met, whether or not the offering pleased him would not affect the ritual. It would neither increase the success rate nor raise the chance of failure. A perfunctory handling was completely acceptable.

If Kalvetua still had reason, even if I strictly followed the ritual’s requirements, do you think he would respond to me? Klein inwardly retorted. Then he stepped half a pace back, preparing to begin the most critical segment.

After brief thought, without turning his head, he said directly, “Stand farther away.”

Me? Danitz was not angry. On the contrary, he was delighted and hastily nodded.

“Alright. Alright!”

He scurried all the way to the warehouse door, planning to run the moment anything went wrong.

Klein half closed his eyes and meditated on countless overlapping spheres of light, rapidly entering the proper state.

In a low voice, he recited in Elvish, “Blessed of the sea and the spirit world, Protector of the Rorsted Archipelago, Ruler of undersea creatures, Master of tsunamis and storms, great Kalvetua.

“Your faithful servant prays for Your gaze;

“Prays that You accept his offering;

“Prays that You open the gates of Your kingdom.”

As one difficult, awkward word after another emerged, wind gradually arose within the wall of spirituality. It quickly intensified, as though about to overturn everything.

Klein’s coat tails fluttered. He took out another small metal bottle he had prepared in advance and poured about five milliliters of the remaining Thousand-faced Hunter blood into the air.

This was an extremely spirituality-rich material!

The gale sucked away drop after drop of blood, howling as it drilled into the candle flame symbolizing Sea God Kalvetua.

Soundlessly, that flame swelled and expanded into an illusory door. Its surface was covered with symbolic signs and magical labels, and from within came the faint sound of seawater splashing.

Suddenly, all movement vanished. Only a single breath echoed from beyond that illusory door, as though some massive creature behind it was struggling to suppress its hunger.

Huff. Huff. Huff…

The enormous breathing grew more obvious, clearer, until even Danitz at the warehouse door felt his scalp prickle.

Bang!

The illusory door abruptly swung open. A hurricane, almost visible in shape, surged outward.

Amid the shrill, wailing sound, Danitz felt the invisible wall of spirituality shatter. He found himself lifted into the air as if he were a small boat in a storm, then slammed hard against the door with a muffled bang.

He fell outside the warehouse, his back scratched by wooden splinters.

The crimson fireball he had instinctively gathered in his palm instantly dimmed under the storm and went out, like a candle burning to its last thread.

And while he was flying through the air, he saw, behind the open illusory door, a ferocious mouth like a basin stained in blood. It revealed milky-white, slightly curved fangs longer than a human arm, and struck madly against the illusory door, trying to force its way directly into reality. The beast-like howl came a step ahead of it, echoing through the warehouse and shaking blood from Danitz’s nose and ears.

Klein had also been lifted into the air by the hurricane. His vision was immediately occupied by an enormous bloody forked tongue, from which sizzling bolts of lightning erupted.

His body charred black at once and stiffened in midair. Pierced through by the serpent’s tongue, it turned into the ash of burned paper.

Klein’s figure appeared on the other side. His hat had fallen, his clothing was disheveled, and he looked rather battered.

Fortunately, he had known something would go wrong, had known danger would arise, and had remained on high alert without relaxing. He had used a Paper Figurine Substitute in time.

At that moment, Kalvetua, still behind the completely unmoving illusory door, finally realized that ramming it madly was useless and stopped.

He abruptly inhaled, causing azure seawater to surge in from every direction. Deep in his throat, it collapsed into a vortex of terrifying suction—a vortex capable of devouring an entire cargo ship.

The iron cigarette case on the altar flew up and plunged into that vortex.

The small cauldron holding the herbal ashes flew up and plunged into that vortex.

Many miscellaneous items in the warehouse, along with clods of earth, flew up and plunged into that vortex.

Klein flew up as well, irresistibly drawn toward the vortex!

He tried to snap his fingers, ignite flames, and jump beyond the range of the vortex’s influence, but the hurricane accompanying the suction destroyed his plan.

His figure abruptly thinned, turning into a paper figurine.

As that paper figurine was dragged into the vortex, Klein, who had appeared in another position, once again rose into the air, unable to break free from that terrifying suction.

At the crucial moment, he no longer hesitated. The black glove on his left palm became pale and stained with a faint greenish shade.

He activated Creeping Hunger and directly drove the soul of Steel Maviti.

Klein’s body suddenly became heavy. He pushed his left palm forward.

A not especially thick wall of ice solidified before him, briefly cutting him off from Sea God’s vortex.

Borrowing that opportunity, Klein dropped down. His feet landed heavily and sank into the floor.

Crack!

The ice wall lasted only a second before it was torn into fragments by the vast suction and flew into the giant sea serpent’s throat.

Relying on a Living Corpse’s strength, Klein exerted force through both feet and fixed his body in place. He did not fly up again, but he still slid uncontrollably toward the illusory door—toward Kalvetua’s bloody maw—dragging two deep furrows through the ground.

Outside the warehouse, Danitz was not affected much by the vortex’s suction. He tried to condense fireballs and throw them to the side so that Gehrman Sparrow could jump out, but each attempt was extinguished again and again by the raging hurricane.

Klein drew closer and closer to the illusory door. The stench of blood and rot poured into his nose. Before his eyes were milky-white fangs stained with filth and radiating cold.

Thoughts flashed through his mind, and he swiftly found a method.

That method was very simple: throw out the all-black eye that originated from Rosago the Marionettist!

Since you, Kalvetua, have created a seawater vortex to devour everything, then I will let you consume another bottle of “potion” without supplementary ingredients, plus a complimentary dose of mental corruption from the True Creator! I refuse to believe that you, already on the verge of collapse, can withstand that! Klein clenched his teeth and reached into his pocket.

Perhaps instinctively sensing his malicious intent, or perhaps because the mad Kalvetua lacked patience, at that moment, the sea serpent suddenly raised its head and hissed. The seawater vortex at its throat broke apart, turning into countless droplets that sprayed beyond the illusory door.

Splash!

A downpour fell inside the warehouse. At Kalvetua’s throat, a silver-white, dazzling ball of thunder, wrapped in countless strands of lightning, condensed again.

With a boom, he spat out the thunderball.

Amid the “rainstorm,” the silver-white thunderball expanded outward into blazing bolts of lightning, destroying the crude altar and occupying the entire warehouse.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

Within the sea of lightning, Klein’s figure repeatedly appeared, then charred black again and again before turning into scraps of paper. Outside the warehouse, Danitz was also affected. His hair stood straight up, and his body trembled as though convulsing.

After using several Paper Figurine Substitutes in succession and nearly reaching his limit, Klein finally waited until the lightning faded.

The illusory door, affected by the complete destruction of the ritual, swiftly and irreversibly began to close.

Clang!

Sea God Kalvetua’s unwilling shriek was shut outside the door.

In the next instant, the illusory door vanished completely. The surroundings were a complete mess. On the altar, only one candle remained, its weak flame swaying.

Bang! Danitz leaned forward against the warehouse wall, barely standing at the doorway.

He wanted to speak, but could not stop twitching. Only his eyes could express his frustration.

Gehrman Sparrow really is a lunatic!

I still remember the horror I experienced at Bansy Harbor. Even now, it gives me nightmares… Then when he picked from the items sold by the rebels, he brought down Sea God’s curse, scaring me so badly on the road that I nearly ran away… This time, this time he performed some sacrifice and almost summoned Kalvetua over. What happened just now was dangerous to the extreme… Why does he love adventure so much? Why does he love creating major incidents? Why does he keep searching for stimulation on the edge of death? Is this the expression of his madness—or the reason for it?

Kalvetua, this Sea God, is still very strong. Even on the verge of death, even separated by the “door of sacrifice,” with only part of his strength able to seep through, he nearly dealt with me easily… As expected of a demigod capable of resisting a Sea King… Klein pulled his feet out of the floor and saw that his leather boots were already ruined.

At the same time, he discovered that whether by luck or inevitability, Kalvetua had, in every sense, accepted his “sacrifice.” That gigantic sea serpent had created a vortex and swallowed the iron cigarette case stained with the aura of the gray fog, along with many other objects.

In other words, I can try to locate his hiding place in the spirit world now. But I must wait until he dies, when he can no longer interfere with or resist my divination… This search must be conducted inside the spirit world. I cannot rely on the gray fog the whole time… Klein had just quietly exhaled when he felt the glove on his left palm suddenly emanate indescribable madness and hunger, as if it would devour its wearer unless it received food immediately.

There are no sinful criminals nearby… Klein turned his head toward Danitz at the door.

Danitz’s spirit suddenly tensed. He felt as though he had been locked onto by some monster and was about to become its meal.

The hunger on the spiritual level pressed down on him until he trembled faintly, wishing he could immediately turn and flee.

Then he heard Gehrman Sparrow’s indifferent voice.

“Close the door from outside.”

“…Alright!” Enduring the lingering pain from the electric shock, Danitz moved the door panel that had been knocked away and barely blocked the opening with it.

Klein seized the time to perform a sacrificial ritual. He prayed to himself, responded to himself, and threw the nearly out-of-control Creeping Hunger above the gray fog.

This mystical item, which had frightened Danitz into not daring to resist, immediately became quiet, mild, and obedient.