Kevin had spoken.
Karen was not surprised.
In truth, Karen had suspected it long ago: since his cat could talk, why shouldn't his dog be able to as well?
If it was understandable that he couldn't speak at first, then why still couldn't he speak after two layers of his seal had been undone?
He was an evil god!
Even if he hadn't been sealed inside a dog, but rather inside a maggot, Karen felt that the maggot would have been able to talk.
Thinking about it in reverse, however, made it easier to arrive at the desired answer.
If he spoke, it would be difficult to maintain his "harmless to humans and beasts" persona.
He knew very well that his presence inevitably kept Karen on guard, and Alfred's one eye was forever fixed on him.
Only by appearing utterly unthreatening would Karen be more inclined to keep undoing his seals.
Besides, in their daily interactions, Purr and Alfred could always translate for him; whether he spoke or not made little difference.
Yet this time, he had spoken.
Purr had been taken, Alfred was still unconscious, and there was no suitable translator to be found here. Rescuing Purr could not be delayed for a single moment.
In fact, Kevin could have gambled. He could have wagered that every time he barked, Karen would ask Purr or Alfred what Kevin was saying. But many times, Kevin had a distinct feeling that before hearing the translation, Karen had already grasped his meaning.
There was no reason Alfred—his worshiper—could understand his words, while the genius who had inherited that fellow Diss's family belief system still couldn't understand what his barks meant after all this time.
Originally, this unspoken tacit understanding might have continued indefinitely, and no one knew how long it would have lasted. But now, because of this crisis, it had been shattered.
Once shattered, everyone remained very calm—at least on this matter.
Karen nodded without wasting words. Closing his eyes, he began to channel the symbiosis contract within him. Soon, a faint resonance reached him, which should be Purr's current location.
This was a connection that could not be severed, because Karen and Purr's lives were bound together. Were it not for Purr's current weakness, the two could practically be considered each other's avatars.
Of course, looking at things now, the frail Purr was practically a flaw for Karen, even a fatal vulnerability.
From the perspective of family, however, none of that was an issue. Besides, when Karen was merely a servant in the early days, the reason he had been able to acquire the inheritance of Light was precisely through Purr's transition.
Augie's figure appeared in the yard. Looking at the golden retriever before her, a curious expression crossed her face.
She had a habit of being handsy—she had pinched Philomena's face earlier, and stroked Karen's cheeks too—so she bent down quite naturally and picked Kevin up.
A golden retriever, considered a large dog, felt as light as a teacup puppy in her hands.
"Oh, I can sense that this dog is very interesting. Very interesting indeed, aren't you?"
Augie extended a finger to lightly tap Kevin's nose.
Earlier, facing the fake Karen, Kevin had cowered because he couldn't die and had to stay alive to deliver the message.
Now, sitting on an emotional hotplate, Kevin had no patience left to engage in some sycophantic pet routine.
He bared his teeth straight at Augie.
A slight smile curled at the corner of Augie's mouth. Emitting a faint trace of her aura, she whispered, "Be a good boy."
Saying so, her finger reached forward again.
"Woof!"
Kevin's jaws snapped shut directly on Augie's finger, making Augie's eyes widen. Naturally, her finger was unharmed—let alone broken skin, there wasn't even an indent.
However, this golden retriever was entirely unaffected by her aura!
Kevin sneered internally:
*Stupid frost dragon bitch! Back in my day, I drank plenty of dragon blood!*
Having broken his vow of silence, Kevin's temper flared.
Mortals easily grew impulsive in their emotions, and evil gods were no exception. For a former deity, controlling one's temper had never been a mandatory course; after all, not everyone he met was the God of Order.
"Lord Augie, the assassin has abducted a member of my family. I have now pinpointed my family member's location. I request your assistance in pursuing the assassin!"
This was not a plea, but practically an official demand for cooperation.
Karen knew Augie would not refuse. She was an exalted frost dragon, yet she was ultimately a dragon under the banner of the Church of Order—more specifically, a dragon within the Whip of Order's own system.
Augie released her hold, leaving Kevin dangling there as he clamped his jaws onto her finger.
"Kevin!"
Kevin snapped back to his senses at once, released his bite, landed on the ground, and spoke:
"Karen, I have only one demand of you: you must bring Purr back."
Karen ignored Kevin's words and walked over to Augie.
"Is it far?" Augie asked.
"In a corner of the city."
"He'll flee." Augie pointed at Philomena. "You stay behind. Your body won't withstand my chill."
Philomena was taken aback, but offered no objection.
Her combat style was closer to that of an assassin, lacking the robust physique of warriors like Muri or Ventura.
When they landed earlier, Karen had merely felt somewhat stiff from the cold, whereas Philomena had taken quite a while to regain her mobility.
Then Augie looked at Karen. "My chill doesn't seem to seep into your bones?"
Without explaining, Karen took out a sheet of ritual paper, preparing to fold a crow to send word.
Augie caught his shoulder directly. "You point the way, and I'll take you in pursuit. There is a much simpler way to deliver a message."
The next instant, a layer of frost adhered to Karen once more, and he shot up into the air.
High above, Augie's long hair fluttered. Opening her mouth, she let out a low roar!
"Roar—!"
This roar was imperceptible to ordinary people and caused no physical tremor, but anyone with spiritual perception could instantly sense it. She was certain that after this silent roar, the Whip-Wielder would immediately receive the message she intended to convey.
The message held only two meanings:
Either her skin was itching and she was crying out for no reason, looking for a whipping;
Or she had found traces of the assassin, and the Whip-Wielder would mobilize the Church of Order's forces to immediately track the trail she left behind.
"How about that? Isn't this much simpler?" Augie asked Karen rather smugly.
Meanwhile, Karen sensed that Purr's position, which had previously remained stationary, began moving rapidly after Augie's roar. The fix suddenly turned blurry.
"Your roar alerted the assassin!"
Augie: "..."
At this moment, Karen finally realized that when Augie introduced herself as stupid, she really hadn't been modest.
To make amends, Augie immediately carried Karen forward in a breakneck pursuit.
Karen's lips were already shivering from the cold, yet he continued to guide Augie's direction without pause.
Though time had been too tight for Kevin to recount the entire sequence of events in detail, Karen had an intuition: Purr had let herself be captured because she was certain he could find her and come to her rescue.
In fact, for this young mistress who had once served as an expedition leader, she had harbored the intention of revenge from the start, not hesitating to make herself a hostage in the enemy's hands.
Even on the brink of death, Bernard had feared Purr learning the truth and sailing out to overturn Dark Moon Island. That alone showed that beneath Purr's slightly chubby-cheeked feline face lay an exceedingly fierce and explosive temper.
The pursuit unfolded under the cover of night.
Augie was remarkably fast, but the assassin was no slouch either. Moreover, Augie presented another problem: during a hunt, a pursuer concealed their aura to make the prey let its guard down;
Yet as Augie cut across the sky, she was like a shooting star—only instead of fire, she burned with brilliant white frost.
This was equivalent to plainly announcing to the assassin where his pursuers were.
The assassin seemed to try numerous methods to shake them off, but the bond between Karen and Purr could not be severed, rendering all of the assassin's obstructive tricks pointless.
Realizing this, the assassin began focusing entirely on fleeing.
The two sides engaged in a chase at near-extreme speeds, which drastically increased the difficulty for rear reinforcements to keep up.
Gradually, both left the Yorktown area and began heading toward Sangpu City.
However, the assassin seemed aware that continuing along the corridor between cities carried a high probability of being cornered, so midway through, he veered directly toward the coastline.
"His speed has increased again," Karen said. "He must have used some secret art to augment himself. Lord Augie, can you go any faster?"
"Unlikely!" Augie gave a blunt reply. "This is my limit in human form!"
"Can't you turn into a dragon?"
"That requires the Whip-Wielder to personally undo my seal. Do you want to stop and wait for him?"
"No, keep pursuing."
"Heh, can you hold out?"
"It won't freeze me to death."
"Good."
"Not good..." Karen let out a low gasp. "Array fluctuations! He left a teleportation array out at sea!"
"Oh, now that's troublesome."
Soon, an island—or rather, a patch of reef—appeared in Karen's sight. The teleportation array was already activated, and from afar, Karen saw a silhouette vanish from it.
Augie descended rapidly. The one-time teleportation array, having been used, was already collapsing. Escape arrays of this sort were rarely made permanent or reusable; they would never be left behind to aid an enemy's pursuit, only destroyed upon use.
It's over...
Just as Karen watched the collapsing array before them, Augie opened her mouth and exhaled a plume of white mist, instantly freezing the disintegrating teleportation array in place.
It was like catching a building in a bear hug right before it crumbled.
Augie sliced her palm with a fingernail. White blood welled out and splattered across the array, causing the forcefully arrested formation to burst back to life.
"It's going to be very bumpy! Don't get shaken to death!"
With that, Augie shifted from holding Karen's shoulder to scooping him under one arm, then charged straight into the array.
The teleportation began!
This was the bumpiest teleportation array Karen had ever ridden. Both body and soul felt as though they were enduring a terrifying tearing force.
It was just like the teleportation light screens produced by the array ships during the naval battle between Samsara and the Moon God Church: only the reinforced structure of a warship could pass through, and the sea beasts beneath the surface had to cling to the warships to avoid being crushed to death by the turbulence.
This makeshift, forcefully sustained beggar's version of a teleportation array was utterly unfit for transporting ordinary people.
Augie's terrifying physical resilience allowed her to endure it easily, but for Karen, it was pure agony. Fortunately, Augie absorbed the vast majority of the turbulent pressure on his behalf.
Mid-transit, Augie glanced down in slight bewilderment at the young man in her arms.
She noticed that although Karen wore a pained expression, he showed no hysteria. This meant his mind remained very calm; simply put, he possessed a relatively high psychological immunity to this level of torment.
*What a strange little creature. The Whip-Wielder might have really misjudged him.*
Karen had never imagined that at such a juncture, this exalted dragon would still have the leisure to observe him.
*Buzz!*
Ahead, the exit of the teleportation tunnel began collapsing. The assassin had evidently destroyed the array on the other end after passing through.
Augie raised her fist and slammed it straight ahead.
*Boom!*
Karen felt his vision, hearing, smell, and all other senses lapse into numbness. By the time they gradually returned, he found himself still clutched by Augie, rushing onward.
"Quick, we're very close, but I lost his location! Tell me where!" Augie yelled urgently.
Karen immediately forced his focus together. "North!"
Only then did Karen realize that sprawling clusters of buildings lay beneath him, whereas they had been over the sea just moments ago.
"Where are we?"
Karen had lost his bearings, but one thing was certain: the teleportation array they had just braved could not have spanned an ultra-long distance.
Even with a dragon's formidable physique, one would not dare charge recklessly through an ultra-long-distance teleportation array.
"We crossed the strait! I don't know where this is!"
Crossed the Wien Strait?
Karen recalled that their pursuit had been heading east out to sea. Setting up a teleportation array generally favored cost-effectiveness, and the simplest route was the shortest straight line between two points.
Directly east of the Wien Strait... wasn't that Ruilan?
They had pursued him all the way to Ruilan?
Rojia, the city where Karen had first awakened, was located within the borders of Ruilan.
Ever since leaving Ruilan, Karen had traveled far and wide via teleportation arrays, but had never dared set foot on Ruilan soil again. He had never imagined that he would "return" in such a fashion.
"Almost got him! Ten more minutes will do it!"
Augie shouted with utter confidence. The assassin would tire, whereas she was only just getting warmed up.
...
"That was a dragon roar! A dragon roar, a dragon roar!!!
"Damn it, why would there be a dragon in Yorktown?!
"Worst of all, how can this dragon track my location so precisely? Nothing I do can shake it off!"
As time passed, "Karen's" visage gradually rusted away, exposing a man's face beneath.
"My premonition was correct, and the shadow in my heart was right, but I truly never imagined a dragon would come straight after me! This is completely ridiculous!"
If the real Karen hadn't been standing right beside Augie at that moment; if Augie had chosen to follow the Whip-Wielder indoors to listen to the briefing; if Augie hadn't stepped outside out of boredom to get some fresh air...
In short, had there been the slightest discrepancy and this frost dragon hadn't followed immediately, the assassin would have already completed his escape for this stage.
The Church of Order was exceedingly powerful and enigmatic, but it was like a ponderous machine; spinning up took time.
Against an entrenched faction, the Church of Order was undoubtedly an existence that inspired despair—an elephant's foot that could crush them outright. But against a mere fly, there was far more room to maneuver.
"No, no, no, impossible. I, Valoti, will never die here!"
Valoti reached up and tore the mask completely from his face, revealing his true features: a distinctly effeminate man with flowing orange hair.
"In truth, my mission is already complete. I've already ignited the spark between the Desert and Order, and I could have returned to report.
"I shouldn't have gotten greedy. Now I might actually lose my life over this!"
Inside Valoti's embrace, the sand sealing Purr began to unravel. Grains of sand sloughed off, granting Purr brief "freedom."
Purr glanced to either side. Grasping the situation at once, she spoke with a mocking tone:
"What happened to 'a piece without the blessing of vital passion isn't a masterpiece'? As expected, the moment your life is actually on the line, your precious art goes out the window—nothing matters more than your own hide.
"I've seen far too many people like you."
"You're right, lovely little kitty. I don't know the reason, but it must be on you! Because I'm carrying you, that dragon can pinpoint me without fail!
"I can't stop, and I can't delay, or the Church of Order's forces will surround me in no time.
"Fortunately, according to earlier intelligence, although this country lies within the Church of Order's traditional sphere of influence, it happens to be a vacuum within their domain. I still have some breathing room."
"A vacuum of influence? Where is this?"
"Ruilan."
"Ruilan???"
Purr raised her head toward the starry sky. Having left Wien, the weather had cleared, revealing a brilliant canopy of stars. By judging the direction, she realized the vector they were moving toward was...
*Meow—!?!*
"You still have the leisure to ask about our location? Oh, right, you must have realized what I intend to do. Only by killing you can I shake off that dragon's pursuit."
Saying so, Valoti raised one hand. A sand spike coalesced, aiming straight at Purr.
...
Inside an ordinary bedroom,
an old man who had lain in bed for half a year
slowly raised a single finger.
Chapter 570