Chapter 228: Searching the Ship

Before Magician could even finish speaking, a double-edged sword protruded from his chest.

Blood sprayed from the wound, splattering across Lan Qingyou's face, shoulders, and arms as she stood beside him.

Everything happened so fast and so suddenly that no one had anticipated it.

Magician struggled to turn his head, only to see The Pope gripping the blade and grinning fiercely at him.

The Pope's eyes were bloodshot. The sinister grin twisted his entire face, giving him an absolutely terrifying appearance.

"You..."

"Magician!"

"The Pope?"

The sudden turn of events alarmed everyone around them. Their expressions changed drastically as they rushed toward Magician and The Pope, completely bewildered by the situation.

However, there was a fundamental difference between her reaction and the others.

Through Lan Qingyou's eyes, a negative status effect named 'Frenzy' now hovered over The Pope.

That was likely the reason behind his sudden, violent outburst.

"Change gear! Spirit type! The Sun, use an imprisonment Rune! Target The Pope!" yelled Lan Qingyou.

The moment Lan Qingyou laid eyes on The Pope, she shouted this command to the approaching Sun.

Although she was neither the guild leader of Tarot Manor nor the captain of this dungeon party, as a Witch possessing a Magic Eye capable of identifying anything at any time, she had been elected as the core commander for this battle.

Therefore, her words carried significant authority.

That single command instantly brought all the rushing members to a halt.

It also made them realize that this was an attack instigated by a monster.

Without hesitation, they followed their prearranged contingency plans and began swapping their equipment at top speed.

Following Lan Qingyou's orders, Ingrid, The Sun, tossed an imprisonment Rune at The Pope before changing her own gear.

"Mine! This ship is mine!! None of you will take it from me!!!"

The immobilized Pope roared furiously.

The double-edged sword in his hand was originally meant to boost his Strength, but now it had become a deadly weapon used to skewer his teammate.

After shouting her orders, Lan Qingyou did not even bother wiping the blood from her face. She yanked Magician off the blade, force-fed him a pill, and pulled out two bottles of Potion, pouring them directly over his chest and back.

Her actions were so rough that the heavily injured Magician groaned in agony.

However, he was in no mood to complain about her bedside manner.

After all, while the wound could heal immediately, the lost blood could not be replaced so quickly.

"I have patched you up. Bear with the pain and change your gear yourself," Lan Qingyou instructed.

Having resolved Magician's crisis, Lan Qingyou mounted her Magic Broom and soared into the sky.

Of course, soaring into the sky actually only meant reaching a height of over two hundred meters.

If she went any higher, an invisible barrier like a wall of solid air would appear above her, making further ascent impossible.

It felt exactly like the 'zone barrier' that The Fool had once described, something Lan Qingyou had never encountered before.

'This must be the dungeon altitude limit,' she mused.

'Otherwise, letting me fly freely around here would not make for much of a challenge to clear the stage.'

Blocked by the invisible ceiling and now aware of the boundary, Lan Qingyou came to a halt and began scanning her surroundings.

Even without many clouds obstructing the view at an altitude of two hundred meters, a normal person would still find it difficult to see things clearly.

From up there, even the fifty-meter-long Ark of the World Tree looked like a tiny speck.

But for Lan Qingyou and her Magic Eye, this was not an issue at all.

After all, the Magic Eye did not merely give a Witch an extra skill.

Even if it was not explicitly stated in the appraisal results, an overall enhancement in visual prowess was a given.

And yet, after sweeping her gaze across the entire area, Lan Qingyou saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

"How is it?" someone asked.

The group immediately crowded around her the moment she landed back on the deck.

"I saw nothing. I suspect the enemy is either hiding inside the cabins or lurking in the ocean below," she replied.

As she spoke, Lan Qingyou gestured slightly with her chin toward the waters straight ahead of the bow.

"So what do we do now?"

Wheel of Fortune frowned deeply.

"The Sun and Li Huai will stay behind to tend to Magician and keep The Pope locked down. Gu Xiaobei and Wheel of Fortune, come with me to investigate the cabins. If anything happens, use the wind to send a message."

"Also, Gu Xiaobei, leave half of your Potions with The Sun and Li Huai."

Lan Qingyou paused for a brief moment to think before issuing her orders.

The Sun was needed to maintain the imprisonment on The Pope, while Li Huai, being highly proficient with the wind element, could serve perfectly as a temporary communication relay.

Thus, only Gu Xiaobei and Wheel of Fortune were left to accompany her.

She actually would have preferred to go alone.

But she knew the rest of the team would never agree to that.

Thanks to Lan Qingyou's decisive arrangements, the slightly chaotic group quickly regained their composure. Gu Xiaobei immediately handed over half of her life Potions, Magic Power Potions, and Attribute Potions before following Lan Qingyou and Wheel of Fortune down into the cabins.

Before leaving, Lan Qingyou also deployed thirty magic golems to protect the two staying behind.

With an injured man and a madman on the deck, leaving just two people as guards was indeed a bit risky.

Unlike the pitch-black darkness outside the bronze doors earlier, the interior of the Ark of the World Tree was surprisingly well-lit.

The moment the three of them stepped inside, the Magic Carriage Lanterns hanging along the corridors flared to life automatically, illuminating the entire space.

However, the sudden burst of light gave Gu Xiaobei quite a scare.

"I mean, having light is great and all, but why does this feel even creepier than that pitch-black platform cabin from before?"

Clutching a spatula in both hands, Gu Xiaobei muttered to herself as she nervously shrank her neck and tiptoed cautiously behind the pink infantry golems.

"It is probably just your imagination playing tricks on you, especially after what just happened with The Pope."

Wheel of Fortune, walking at the rear, offered words of comfort.

Sometimes, Gu Xiaobei's reactions were a study in extreme contrasts.

When fighting monsters, she was brash and fearless, daring to whack any boss right on the skull to give them a harsh wake-up call.

Yet, the moment she faced something unseen or intangible, she instantly reverted to a timid, easily startled maiden.

'Is this what normal girls are supposed to act like nowadays?'

Having been bedridden in a hospital for years, the twenty-year-old Witch—who wasn't completely out of touch with society but certainly could not be considered a 'normal' girl—stole a quiet glance at Gu Xiaobei and sighed inwardly.

'As expected, no matter how hard I try, I probably will never learn how to switch personalities like that, right?'

'My personality is just too stubborn. I much prefer dealing with things head-on.'

The trio moved quickly.

Under Lan Qingyou's command, the pink infantry golems inspected each cabin one by one, yet they found absolutely nothing.

"There is nothing here. Boss Lan, do you think the monster is actually hiding in the ocean?"

After walking for a while and thoroughly searching two whole decks, Gu Xiaobei's courage had gradually returned to its usual level.

"Since there is nothing inside the ship, it most likely is in the sea."

Lan Qingyou replied calmly, then gestured for the pink infantry golems to push open the door to the final room: the captain's quarters.