Chapter 650: Officially Setting Sail

"It smells a bit rotten..."

Mirrorheart led Loren to the side of the Restless Meat Grinder, where a pile of ground meat was already stacked at the machine's outlet.

The meat had been sitting there for quite a while, already beginning to stink, with pale maggots crawling all over it.

It was also a boon for the nearby seagulls, who were enjoying an all-you-can-eat buffet.

This kind of ground meat tasted far better than corpses.

"This thing is quite dangerous. The humans in this town were basically all killed by it, and the rest were replaced by Pseudohumans..."

The Restless Meat Grinder was a Tier 3 Anomaly, and according to the classification system, Tier 3 Anomalies only pose a threat to individuals.

But Loren felt this thing could easily qualify as a Tier 2 Anomaly, which by definition poses a threat to multiple people.

Granted, the Restless Meat Grinder could only kill one person at a time, but if someone witnessed that happening, they would feel fear, and the moment they felt fear, they would trigger the Restless Meat Grinder's killing rule.

Through this chain reaction, an entire town was wiped out.

However, this was only the baseline for Tier 2 Anomalies, so it was understandable that the Restless Meat Grinder was placed in Tier 3.

The classification of Anomalies wasn't determined by the Church, because in the classification system, every life was considered equal.

Loren remembered an Anomaly that could directly kill the highest-ranking leader, killing from the top down by rank, and even that was only classified as Tier 3, with a note that it was a low-risk anomaly within Tier 3.

And the Restless Meat Grinder was a high-risk anomaly within Tier 3.

Loren activated Return to Earth, disposing of the shredded flesh. The seagulls squawked at Loren, seemingly expressing their displeasure with him.

But Loren couldn't be bothered with them. He activated Abundant Magic once more, sinking the Restless Meat Grinder deep into the ground.

This thing might come in handy later, after all, it was technically a perpetual motion machine.

Have Noah study it, and maybe they could use it to generate electricity.

It's just that Loren couldn't conveniently carry it around right now. He wouldn't let the Witches take that risk.

"There's definitely more than one Meat Grinder. The amount of meat piled here is too little, nowhere near the number of people who disappeared from this town.

"People couldn't have escaped. When they felt fear and tried to flee, they had already triggered the Restless Meat Grinder's killing rule, and would only fall into the grinder.

"When I saw this thing, I brought the Witches into hiding, so I don't know the locations of the other grinders."

Mirrorheart explained the situation to Loren, but he didn't take it too seriously:

"We'll just clear out the grinders along our necessary route and leave the rest to the Church."

Loren still had no intention of cleaning up the Church's mess for them. They couldn't handle it themselves, and Loren had no reason to help them.

Even if Loren wanted to save ordinary people, it wouldn't matter. The ordinary people here were all dead, and solving the Anomalies now would be meaningless.

"Yes."

Mirrorheart never questioned Loren's decisions.

Together, Loren and Mirrorheart walked the necessary route, clearing out every Restless Meat Grinder they could see along the way.

Just on this trip alone, Loren found two of them.

After dealing with the Restless Meat Grinders, Loren returned to the inn. The moment he stepped back inside, he heard the innkeeper's scripted greeting again:

"Welcome, would you like to stay the night?"

Pseudohumans didn't think the same way humans did. They merely imitated humans as best they could.

"Tell me, where is Gabriel?"

Loren pressed Requiem against the innkeeper's neck, but the innkeeper showed not a trace of fear, still wearing that warm smile and repeating the same greeting, looking just as enthusiastic as ever.

"Forget it."

Interrogating a Pseudohuman was pointless. Even though they were created by Gabriel and controlled by Gabriel, they might not actually know who Gabriel was.

And even if they did know, Loren wouldn't be able to pry it out of them, because they had no capacity for fear.

In the end, Loren just casually cut the innkeeper down, and he also cut down the group of people still drinking at the bar.

After all, they hadn't made a single move when they saw Loren cut down the innkeeper.

"You don't need to test them. The only ones who can survive in this town are Pseudohumans."

"I still wanted to verify. It's not like the situation is that urgent."

Loren sheathed Requiem and returned to his room.

"Get ready to depart. The Anomalies have been cleared out.

"Laila, do you need some rest?"

Before leaving, Loren asked for Laila's opinion, since she had been traveling with Loren nonstop the entire time, barely getting any rest.

"Forget it, I'll rest once we're on the ship."

Laila didn't want to waste time, planning to be as efficient as possible.

After all, Naclis was still waiting on the other side of the sea. She had probably already received word of Loren's return and was anxiously waiting.

Of course, it was also possible she didn't know about Loren's news at all. She had stayed in place without moving, and even information was brought back by Reflection Naclis.

So, if Reflection Naclis didn't want her to know Loren was back, she would never find out.

...

The group made their way through the empty town and arrived at the seaside.

This was the territory of the God of Night and Thunder, and since the God of Night and Thunder had no jurisdiction over the ocean, this place was far more dangerous along the coast than the territory of the God of Vows and Wind.

Almost no one lived near the shore, because there was a good chance they would be devoured by some inexplicable sea monster at any moment.

So, the followers of the God of Night and Thunder didn't go fishing either, at most using the ocean to transport goods.

Loren stood at the water's edge, raising the conch shell high in his hand. Wind magic blew through the conch, and the ghost ship emerged from the sea.

This ship was the Raging Tide, the most comfortable ghost ship of them all, and its cabins had already been fully furnished.

Once aboard, Laila went straight to her room and began resting. She really was exhausted.

"You should go rest as well, my lord. I can handle things here. You've worked hard this entire time."

Loren was just about to personally take control of the ghost ship's navigation when Mirrorheart stopped him.

"Alright."

Loren didn't decline and planned to head back and rest.

As the former Master Mentor, Loren never doubted Mirrorheart's abilities. Her seamanship was certainly superior to his, so Loren could rest easy.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure the course is set."

At that moment, Starnight also transformed into some kind of seabird, a species capable of transcontinental flight with an incredibly accurate sense of direction.

"Good."

Loren stroked the feathers on Starnight's body and returned to his cabin.

The moment Loren lay down, Anna curled up beside him:

"Need a body pillow, Master Mentor?"

With that, Anna spread her arms wide.

But Loren gave no response, merely staring intently at Anna. Anna was anything but a peaceful sleeper.

"Ahem, I'm not sleeping this time. I just want to enjoy your embrace a little."

Loren still didn't respond, simply lying down on his own.

Then he felt Anna's arms wrap around him, her small hands resting gently on his body, warm and soft.