Ark Undead

The Undead could only briefly assess the effects of the Originium on her body.

For patients already infected with Oripathy, even death cannot completely eradicate the disease from their bodies.

That had become part of their very being.

"Hmm... let Warfarin come out. I have a general understanding of the situation."

Kal'tsit waved her hand, turned around and beckoned Shining over, while handing the medical records back to Sussurro.

Shining glanced worriedly at the situation inside the glass wall, then followed behind Kal'tsit.

The two found a quieter spot.

Shining knew that Kal'tsit had definitely obtained some information related to Nightingale.

"Our agents who returned from Victoria brought back crucial news."

"Kal'tsit said."

"What do you have to say about Theresis capturing infected people?"

Rhodes Island and the Apostles have a cooperative relationship, and they will not pry into things unless absolutely necessary.

But now is clearly a critical moment.

"Experimental subjects are also food."

Shining knew she could no longer hide, so she had no choice but to say it helplessly.

"His army of the dead needs the blood of the living."

Yes, this fits the nature of the Abyss Nest and Kal'tsit's conjecture.

But Kal'tsit wanted to ask more than just that.

"So, Nightingale operator is also an experimental subject, right?"

Kal'tsit looked at Shining in front of her.

"And you are her doctor."

Facing Kal'tsit's direct gaze, Shining took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

"Yes."

473. The True Steam Knight

"There are many reasons, but usually only one motivation is needed."

Kal'tsit put down the map in her hand, stood up by supporting herself on the table, and spoke to Shining in front of her.

"Regardless, I believe that the fact that you brought Operator Nightingale out already shows how helpless you felt at the time."

Shining sat in front of Kal'tsit without saying a word.

The two talked for quite a while in the last ten minutes or so.

Kal'tsit asked Shining for something.

A badge that proves one is a pardoner.

Even though it had faded in Shining's hands.

"Betraying your comrades isn't as terrible as you might think. What's terrible is betraying your beliefs."

Shining let out a long sigh, her gaze somewhat unfocused.

"But now I can't tell whether my former colleagues are still living in the faith of the goddess."

The Pardoners are a very special group; their primary clients are the royal family of Kazdel. However, they operate with a very free set of rules.

All of these principles of conduct are based on the shared belief of all absolutioners: the goddess of sin, Belga.

At that moment, Shining, guided by her intuition, told herself that what she was doing was creating sin, not washing away her sins.

Therefore, Shining took Nightingale away from there, taking her away from the ending of her original life trajectory.

Now, Shining has personally handed over his badge, which may mean that Rhodes Island, under that person's leadership, will purge the Exorcists.

Its outcome is self-evident.

The Undead are beings who existed almost in the same era as that goddess. If he were to take action, the lineage of the Pardoner might be wiped out.

As for what Kal'tsit would do with the badge after obtaining it, Shining no longer intended to inquire.

She has now almost said goodbye to the past.

The sword she used to cleanse her sins had been sealed away and rusted by her own actions.

Unless there's a moment when she needs to wield her sword again.

"You should know that the biggest difference between people lies in whether they have enough understanding of what they are doing."

Kal'tsit fiddled with the badge in her hand as she spoke.

"Can you understand what your faith means to you?"

Shining remained silent, not saying a word.

Kal'tsit stared at Shining like that.

She saw her own reflection in The Shining.

In the deep-sea era, when there was no sunlight and no moon.

Born as a child of the abyss, Kal'tsit bears the mission of continuing the Age of the Deep Sea, allowing the boundless darkness and chaos to endure in this world.

However, she betrayed her original beliefs and chose another path.

Shining is currently in a state of having just embarked on this path and has not yet made a complete decision.

This sounds immature, but for Shining, she's just one of the players in this game.

After Kal'tsit regained her memories, her desire for control gradually diminished, and now she could see more clearly what those people gathered on Rhodes Island were thinking and struggling with.

And they have a completely new perspective on it, different from what they had before.

"I won't tell you what's right or wrong, Shining. You have your own judgment."

Kal'tsit put away the badge in her hand.

"But I just hope that before everything is over, you can be ready to say goodbye to the past."

After saying that, Kal'tsit turned and left the medical department.

Shining sat in his seat, saying nothing.

She silently turned her gaze to the side and looked at Nightingale, who was lying on the hospital bed behind the glass room, breathing steadily.

It's not because of this seemingly treacherous act of faith.

Instead, she was contemplating what kind of future she truly wanted.

After the arrival of Victoria's operators and members of the Glasgow Gang, Rhodes Island returned to its previous, precisely functioning mode.

Rhodes Island is undoubtedly facing several challenges right now, and all the operators know who they are about to face.

In a sense, they are their nemesis, a mountain they have never been able to climb.

And these members who have inherited the king's will will go even further under her blessing.

Speaking of this, we have to mention Greyhound and W.

After returning from Iberia, the two men spent one night in the library, and then left immediately that same night.

Before leaving, I made a special trip to see the doctor.

They talked for more than half an hour, after which the doctor fell silent about the conversation.

However, Greyhound and W immediately threw themselves into their new jobs.

The others didn't react much. Members like Ace and Huang were just marveling at how much energy these two had, as they never complained even though they were working non-stop.

Scout was the only one drinking silently on the side.

Then, no one saw Scout the next day.

The conversation between the Undead and Vina did not last long.

Later, when Vina and the Doctor held a war council with Kal'tsit, she revealed the contents of that conversation.

The Undead has no intention of attacking alongside the Rhodes Island crew. He has his own plans and will appear at the right time and place so that the Rhodes Island crew will not need to consider him.

Fortunately, neither the Doctor nor Kal'tsit had any intention of including the undead in their plans. Both of them knew that the undead had their own arrangements.

In order to launch an attack on Victoria, after simulating countless battle plans, everyone still had to realize that Rhodes Island's current combat strength was simply no match for Theresis, who had taken over Victoria.

Putting aside the current capabilities of the operators, just considering the countless Abyss Creatures, ordinary operators have no way to break through them head-on.

While Rhodes Island possesses operators capable of directly assaulting Victoria, they are, after all, a minority.

Simply rushing into Lentinium would be meaningless; failing to gain a foothold there would mean they couldn't launch a full-scale offensive.

Faced with the overwhelming number of enemies in the Abyss Nest, Rhodes Island must find a force that they can utilize.

At the same time, it cannot affect the existing staffing levels.

Vina gave her answer regarding this matter.

"In the lower city of Lentinium, some of the infected people who are imprisoned have not yet lost hope of resisting."

"Few people remember that great knights were born when Victoria was founded."

"Knights weren't just found in Kazimierz; Victoria was also filled with them. Here, chivalry had its own unique meaning."

"The Steam Knights are reviving, and it's not just those who served as the last bastion."

"They are trying to build a monument."

“Some people imprisoned in the lower city are trying to reconstruct that ancient history.”

For Victorians, the term "steam knight" seemed like something from a previous generation.

It seems to exist, yet it also seems to have been forgotten; it is almost never present in people's daily interactions.

Young people's understanding of steam knights is still limited to what they read in textbooks. There is some information that steam knights were once the most powerful force in Victoria, but that's about it.