Chapter 214: Sea Beast Priest Illaoi, Blood Harbor Pike

This was the situation on the island when Yasuo and Ahri arrived by boat.

Even after Gangplank was overthrown, Bilgewater was not at peace.

Miss Fortune not only has to maintain the balance of power on the island, but also has to deal with the sudden black fog.

In Bilgewater, a seaport closer to the Shadow Isles, the audience also learned more information about the Harrowing.

It turns out that the black fog is the cursed undead on the Shadow Isles. Normally they are bound to the Shadow Isles, but on the day of the Harrowing, they can break through the restrictions.

Bilgewater, which is closest to the Shadow Isles, was hit hardest.

But for Sarah, things were even more wrong, because this day was not the Harrowing Night, but the black fog appeared in Bilgewater and attacked her men.

Feeling that something was not right, Sarah certainly would not try to solve the black fog alone, but instead called her subordinates to mobilize people.

The helper she found was the famous sea beast priest Illaoi in Bilgewater.

Illaoi's physical prowess is matched only by her unwavering faith. A prophet of the Leviathans, she wields a massive golden idol that rips the souls out of her enemies' bodies and shatters their sense of reality. Those who challenge the Truth of Nagakabouros will soon discover that Illaoi never fights alone—the gods of the Serpent Isles fight alongside her.

Anyone who has seen Illaoi is struck by her physical beauty. This priestess is not afraid to express herself, and is completely immersed in the experience of life. She takes what she desires and destroys what she hates; she is intoxicated by everything that makes people linger.

However, if you want to truly understand her, you must understand the teachings she has devoted her life to. Nagakabouros is the deity she worships. She is often depicted as a gigantic sea monster with tentacles coiled around her neck, swimming back and forth endlessly. She is also called the Snake Mother, the Leviathan, or the Bearded Lady. Nagakabouros is the god of life in the Serpent Islands, the storms of the deep sea, and supreme motion itself. (The name really means "the restless monster that moves the sky and the sea.") The core of the teachings are three tenets: every soul is born a servant of the universe; the desires of all life are planted by the universe; and the universe surges forward because all things are eager to pursue their own desires.

The lower-ranking priests have various tasks, such as cleaning temples, calling on the sacred snake, teaching people the way of Nagakabouros, etc. As a true one in the sect, Illaoi directly serves her god and removes all obstacles to the endless flow of the universe. Therefore, she bears two major responsibilities at the same time.

First, in the war against the undead, the True Ones are the spearhead. Because the undead are outside the normal flow of the universe, they are seen as a blatant provocation to Nagakabouros. While the other priests of the Snake Mother are busy protecting the residents from the ravages of the Soul-Eating Night, the True Ones will face the black fog and rely on the most powerful will of the sea beast to repel it.

Second, Illaoi needs to find people with potential and test them with the Trial of Nagakabouros. This is Illaoi's duty. Using the huge holy relic "Divine Si" in her hand, the True One will tear the soul from the body and force the subjects to face her torture and prove their qualifications. Although she knows very well that failure in the trial means total annihilation, the Snake Mother cannot tolerate cowardice, hesitation or restraint. However, it must be understood that destruction is not an end in itself. The surviving subjects will be forever changed and sincerely follow their true destiny.

Although Illaoi was the most powerful and respected Truth-Keeper for hundreds of generations, she destroyed the tradition that she was proud of: after she received the training and became a Truth-Keeper, she left the golden temple of Baru with her majestic divine power and set foot on the sewage-filled Bilgewater.

This pirate city is the only place in the Serpent Archipelago where outsiders are allowed to land, and it disgusts Illaoi’s people. The previous True Ones completely ignored the city’s existence and regarded outsiders as little more than undead. So when she tried to protect the residents of Bilgewater, she was violating her own traditions. Even more outrageous, Illaoi even believed that there were souls here who were strong enough to pass the test. Despite this, only a few temples were built in Bilgewater, and few "pink faces" (a derogatory term for islanders) could set foot in them. Regardless, it was Illaoi who brought the teachings of the Snake Mother to Bilgewater and allowed them to take root. It was her unbreakable will that allowed the sect's ideas to spread. It is rumored that the most notorious bloodthirsty pirates in Bilgewater were saddened by the iron-towered priestess. To anyone who has met her, this is not surprising. Illaoi's rugged demeanor belies wisdom, strength, and an admirable confidence.

Many people are impressed by Illaoi's charm and welcome her to Bilgewater, but everyone is afraid of being chosen by the Leviathan Priestess to participate in the next trial.

"There is no rest in life. We are the ones who move."

——Quoted from "Twenty Sayings of Nagakabouros"

……

Coincidentally, while Miss Fortune was going to find the sea beast sacrifice, Illaoi was also on her way to Bilgewater.

But she is not a prophet, but has another purpose, she is here to find the Blood Harbor Ghost, Pike!

This is exactly the will of the goddess Nagakabouros.

And this Blood Harbor ghost is naturally no ordinary person.

When he was young, Pike, like most people in Bilgewater, started out working at the slaughter docks. Every day, monsters caught from the deep sea were piled up on the shore, waiting to be sent to the slaughterhouse for dismantling and processing, all day long. The place where he worked was called Blood Harbor, because even the waves could not wash away the endless greasy blood between the wooden planks.

He saw more and more clearly what kind of trade this was - smelly work in exchange for a meager salary. Time and again, Pike watched the captain and crew receive heavy bags of gold coins, all thanks to him and his men cutting the horrific sea monster carcasses into easy-to-sell pieces of meat. No longer satisfied with the few coppers in his pocket, he tried to convince the crew to take him on board. Few dared to hunt in the traditional way from the Serpent Islands: flying on the prey, stabbing the drag hook into the monster with bare hands, and then starting to dissect it alive. Pike's fearlessness and extraordinary skills made the harpooner's value rise quickly, and he was out of business without a gold kraken. He knew that the flesh of the sea monster was actually of average value, and the real valuable things were certain organs from larger and more dangerous monsters... certain organs that needed to be harvested alive.

Each sea monster has a different price depending on the difficulty of hunting, and the most popular one among Bilgewater merchants is the jauerfish. The green sac taken from its saber-toothed mouth can be purified into different magical essences, so everyone in Runeland covets it. A small bottle of glowing green oil is enough to buy ten large ships and crews. However, when Pike went out to sea to hunt with an inexperienced captain, he learned what a bloody life is.

A few days after setting sail, they encountered a huge jauer, with rows of green sacs exposed in its wide open bloody mouth. Although this jauer was much larger and older than any Pike had ever seen, as soon as several harpoons with ropes controlled the giant beast, Pike jumped into its mouth without hesitation.

Just as he was about to start, a low tremor came from the end of the monster's deep throat. Then, foam rose on the sea surface, and a large group of harpoons appeared and rushed to ram the ship. The captain was terrified and cut Pike's lifeline. The last thing the poor harpooner saw before the monster closed its jaws was the horrified expressions of the crew - they just watched him being swallowed alive by the monster.

But Pike's story doesn't end there.

(End of this chapter)