Chapter 652: Siren

Loren quietly got out of bed, careful not to wake Anna.

It was already night, and everyone else was resting. Mirrorheart was still on the deck.

"Why don't you go back and rest? The ghost ship doesn't need to be controlled at all times, right?"

Mirrorheart was still wearing her maid outfit at this moment. The night out at sea was cold, so after a moment's thought, Loren draped his black robe over Mirrorheart's shoulders.

"Listen."

Mirrorheart clutched the black robe around herself and gestured for Loren to listen to some kind of sound.

Hearing Mirrorheart's words, Loren began to focus and listen to the sounds around them.

Only then did Loren notice that amidst the sound of the waves, there was a faint singing voice hidden within.

"What is this? Are there merfolk nearby?"

The singing from the sea immediately made Loren think of merfolk. Ever since he had bid farewell to Melody last time, Loren hadn't seen any merfolk.

He actually wanted to head straight to the merfolk's territory to subjugate them.

Anyone who refused to submit would get a beating, and those who still wouldn't submit after being beaten would simply be killed.

Anyway, according to their rules, as the Perpetual Observer, it was only natural and just for Loren to rule over them.

But before he could go, he needed to find Naclis first. She had been waiting for Loren for a long time already.

"Can you sense where the sound is coming from?"

"That way. There's a small island, and the singing is coming from there."

Mirrorheart pointed in a direction, but Loren couldn't see anything at all.

The fog over the sea was quite thick, and Loren's eyes couldn't pierce through physical concealment.

"Is your eyesight really that good?"

"I have a portion of your ability. I can see farther and more clearly."

"Is that so?"

That was quite reasonable. It was just that Loren's own authority wasn't even fully comprehensive at this point.

He let out a sigh. If he could find the Witches' Church, his mastery over authority would probably skyrocket by an entire major tier in an instant.

After all, the sheer number of witches in the Witches' Church was right there.

"Would you like to go take a look, Master?"

"Let's go over. There shouldn't be any danger."

Loren didn't even need to think to know that this singing definitely had a beguilement effect. It was just that both Loren and Mirrorheart were immune to it.

Witches naturally possessed mental resistance, so nothing would happen to them either. Thus, Loren wasn't worried.

"This time it probably isn't merfolk. Even if merfolk wanted to beguile people, they'd do it from the sea. But this time, the source of the sound is on the shore..."

"Is it a siren?"

A possibility occurred to Loren. There really were many sirens out at sea. Like merfolk, they loved using song to beguile others, luring ships to crash into reefs and sink.

"That should be it."

Mirrorheart confirmed Loren's guess and continued steering the ghost ship forward.

As the ghost ship passed through the mist, Loren finally caught sight of the island's silhouette.

The island wasn't large, and it had no beach. What lined the shore was a cliff that wasn't particularly tall.

If the ship continued sailing forward, it would inevitably crash into the cliff.

At the same time, as the ghost ship drew closer, the singing became clearer and clearer.

Loren guessed that the song's effect was growing stronger now, causing sailors to uncontrollably smash into the cliff. But the singing had absolutely no effect on Loren. He couldn't even determine what the song's effect was supposed to be.

As the ship approached the cliff, Loren finally saw the culprits behind all of this.

Several trees grew on the face of the cliff, and two women were perched on top of them.

Their appearances were quite bizarre. The upper half of their bodies were human, but the lower half were eagles. Meanwhile, their arms had been replaced by wings, making them look extremely strange.

The singing was coming from their mouths. As the ghost ship drew closer and closer to the cliff, their song began to carry an excited tone.

"Master, what do you plan to do?"

"Let's capture them first. Sirens still have some value.

"Besides, judging by the way they're acting, they genuinely intended to harm us. Even killing them outright would be completely justified."

Seeing that Loren showed no reaction, the two sirens stopped singing and started talking to each other:

"Big Sister, why aren't they crashing into it?"

"I don't know. But judging by their appearance, they're probably already exhausting every last bit of strength just resisting our song. Let's just fly down ourselves. That saves us the trouble of jumping into the sea to fish things out."

"And what do we do with those people?"

"Throw them into the sea... Keep singing, so they don't break free of our control."

With that, the older siren began singing once more, flapped her wings, and flew toward Loren's direction. Her younger sister followed right behind.

It was the moment they landed on the ship that Loren reached out and grabbed them by the throats.

"Urgh..."

The sirens let out muffled groans and struggled, flapping their wings frantically against Loren.

It suddenly gave Loren the illusion that he was grabbing a pair of old hens.

"Enough. Settle down."

Loren suddenly tightened his grip, making both sirens feel the threat of death. They instantly went still.

They knew very well that Loren could genuinely crush them to death with a flick of his hand.

Just as they were wondering what was going to happen to them next, flames suddenly erupted in Loren's hand. Only the hand gripping the younger sister caught fire.

The Sin-Burning Flames scorched directly onto the younger siren's neck. At the same time, Loren loosened his grip just enough to let her let out a proper scream:

"Ah!"

Seeing her younger sister's agony, the older siren forced out a few words through gritted teeth:

"Let go... of my sister... if you want to hurt someone... take it out on me..."

The older siren struggled desperately, her talons raking across Loren's body until she snapped her own claws clean off.

"Don't rush. Your turn is coming soon enough."

Loren released the younger siren. By now, her neck was already burned.

Loren had just been confirming how sinful these two sirens were. If their sins were light, he could spare their lives. If their sins ran truly deep, the Sin-Burning Flames would have burned straight through their necks without damaging the feathers Loren needed.

The fact that the Sin-Burning Flames had only left behind burn marks meant their sins weren't severe, but they still carried some guilt.

From their earlier conversation, Loren could already tell that this was their first time committing such an act, which was why the younger sister had needed to ask the older one how things were done.

The moment the younger siren hit the deck, Mirrorheart expertly bound her. Then Loren turned his gaze to the older siren:

"Your turn."

Following that, the Sin-Burning Flames blazed to life once more. The older siren clenched her teeth and refused to let out a single scream.

Afterward, just like her sister, she was left with nothing more than a burn mark on her neck.

"Wake Scarlett up and bring out two birdcages. I'll keep an eye on them here."

Mirrorheart gave the two sirens an up-and-down look, then quipped:

"You're into these, huh."

With that, Mirrorheart walked off directly, giving Loren no time to retort.

"..."

Loren was at a loss for words. Sirens really were too far from human appearance. No matter what, there was no way he could be interested in something like that.

He simply needed materials from their bodies. Siren feathers could be used to make all sorts of things. The simplest use was crafting arrow shafts.

Items made from these feathers carried spiritual attacks and were fairly handy. Paired with Laila's Arcane Ability, they'd be even more useful.

When Mirrorheart came back, she didn't just bring Scarlett, but also Starnight.

The moment Starnight saw the two sirens, her eyes instantly welled up with tears, and her voice carried a sobbing tone:

"You're keeping other pets again..."