After careful analysis, Silas roughly pieced together the entire sequence of events.
The "Black Saint" Leomaster had led a team of pilgrims through the Sea of Ruins, heading deeper into the Sonia Sea in an attempt to have an audience with the True Creator.
However, their fleet encountered disaster on that mist-shrouded island.
Leomaster, who led them, suffered a personality split that produced a kind-hearted personality.
This drove him mad, and he went on a killing spree, slaughtering the pilgrims.
The surviving members piloted their ship to escape, but because their bodies also experienced personality fragmentation, they eventually went insane and died as well.
At this point, the entire pilgrimage team had completely collapsed, leaving only Leomaster on the island.
During his occasional moments of lucidity, he would still use his fingers to create distress signals, having fish swallow them... until Silas followed the trail of fingers and came knocking.
"Everything makes sense now."
Silas took a deep breath and thought to himself.
So then, how could he safely land on the island?
He lowered his head in thought, pacing around the plaza. After spending a few minutes, he came up with several methods.
First, he could use his cheat, the illusory tide in his mind.
That tide could protect his spirit from the erosion of evil gods; perhaps it could also resist the harm from this island.
But this was just his assumption and hadn't been verified.
Second, he could ask the Queen for help. Her methods were complex and varied.
She was the one who had originally brought him here, so she should know about this place's situation and already have a prepared plan.
The problem was that the Queen was currently entangled with the King of the Black Throne and might not be able to contact him.
Third, he could get Leomaster to come out on his own.
Since he could send out distress signals, he should still have some ability to act during his lucid moments.
Silas could use rescuing him as bait to trick him into boarding the ship.
As for how to deal with the "Black Saint" after encountering him, he also had an idea.
Use dreams!
Silas planned to cooperate with that kind personality in the dream world to jointly deal with the Black Knight's main body.
Once the Black Knight's main body died, that kind personality wouldn't be a threat and could be directly backstabbed.
Though it was somewhat cruel, when facing the Aurora Order, he had never shown mercy.
When Silas woke from his dream, the midday sun was shining into the cabin.
He patted the snoring black cat beside him and went up to the deck alone.
"Yo, Captain."
Anderson had moved a lounge chair for himself and was reclining on it, leisurely basking in the sun.
He was peeling an apple with a small knife and asked when he saw Silas come up, "Want an apple?"
There was a bruise on his face.
This bruise wasn't from Silas hitting him, but rather the work of the "Misfortune" charm.
Every two or three days, Silas would create one for Anderson to use.
Using the charm would cause him to encounter predetermined misfortune, thereby avoiding uncertain disasters from erupting.
This time, the "Misfortune" made his legs unsteady, causing him to fall repeatedly on the deck, which produced the bruise on his face.
"You eat it yourself."
Silas replied coolly, walking to the ship's rail and gazing at that island in the distance.
The "Black Knight" potion was approaching him step by step, but each step was extremely heavy.
"Say, this island should be the final destination, right?"
After lying in the chair for a while, Anderson couldn't help but get up and walk over to him, asking, "Seeing how eager you are about it, is there something very important to you inside?"
"You want to know?"
Silas glanced at him.
"No."
Anderson smiled knowingly.
"I just hope you achieve your goal quickly, then set sail early and leave this dangerous sea area soon."
As he spoke, he finished peeling the apple, then flicked the small knife, stabbing it between Silas's ribs.
"Pfft!"
Anderson's movements were smooth and natural, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
When Silas felt the pain and looked toward him, Anderson's face first flashed with confusion, then horror.
"It wasn't me!"
Anderson shouted, immediately raising both hands and backing away, as if to show how innocent he was.
But just as the two created distance between them, more than a dozen blazing fireballs formed around him, compressing and gathering, then shooting toward Silas!
"Boom boom boom!"
The fireballs rushed at Silas one after another.
While he was still clutching the wound at his ribs, they immediately exploded.
Crimson firelight enveloped him, trying to claim his life.
"How is this possible?"
Anderson's hair stood on end.
He felt like his body didn't belong to him, unconsciously doing all these bizarre things.
He wanted to put out the fire but was afraid that going over would further harm Silas.
For a moment, he was frozen in place.
"Swish!"
But just then, the shadow beneath his feet suddenly had a will of its own.
It squirmed upward, wrapping around his limbs in an extremely short time, making him unable to move.
Anderson struggled and sat down hard on the deck. He saw the flames dissipate, but Silas's figure was nowhere to be seen inside.
The latter had somehow already appeared in front of him.
"What are you trying to do?"
Silas's wound had already healed. He just looked at him and asked coldly.
"If I said I didn't mean to, would you believe me?"
Anderson gave a miserable smile.
Unlucky, so unlucky! I already detonated my misfortune, so why is this still happening?!
"..."
Silas didn't answer immediately.
He also found it suspicious. From any standpoint, Anderson shouldn't have ambushed him.
This was obviously detrimental to Anderson himself.
Yet he did exactly that, and with a completely innocent look on his face, as if he really didn't know what was going on.
Facing this Sequence 5 Hunter, Silas was about to examine him carefully when he suddenly froze.
He saw that Anderson's eyes were like mirrors, reflecting certain images.
It was the sea surface he was directly facing. In the distance on the ocean, a giant ship was slowly approaching.
It was a pitch-black vessel, and its appearance was somewhat familiar.
The King of the Black Throne's flagship!
Silas turned around abruptly, looking behind him. However, the sea surface was completely empty.
His naked eye couldn't see that ship at all!
He turned his head back and found that the reflection in Anderson's eyes was enlarging.
The ship's features were becoming increasingly clear!
How is this possible!
Is this ship using some strange ability to hide its form?
But if that's the case, why can Anderson's eyes reflect it?
Silas took out a mirror from his pocket, but he didn't see anything in the mirror surface.
This ship was approaching them in a bizarre way, but it hadn't manifested in reality.
Could it be sailing in another dimension...?
"Do you see a large black ship?"
Silas asked seriously.
"A ship?"
Anderson looked confused, then, as if remembering something, said, "A large black ship... I saw it. I clearly didn't see it, but it's like I did see it..."
He didn't need to continue this self-contradictory statement, because the ship in his eyes was getting larger and larger.
Finally, in the next instant, this ship appeared in the real world without any warning.
At the bow of the ship, the King of the Black Throne, sitting in a wheelchair, was smiling at them.