Chapter 326: Captured, an Evil Cult?

Chapter 326: Chapter 326: Captured, an Evil Cult?

"This is a Super Recovery Potion."

Seraphina Sullivan explained calmly.

"As long as you’re still breathing, it can save your life no matter how severe your injuries are, and it will speed up your recovery. It’s one of the best healing potions I currently have."

"What?!"

Forrest and River Sterling both gasped, their eyes wide with disbelief.

The value of such a life-saving potion was simply incalculable in this apocalyptic world!

River Sterling was so moved his lips began to tremble. He, of all people, knew what it felt like to be gravely injured and on the brink of death.

"Sullivan! This is too valuable! I can’t take it!"

Forrest Sterling quickly tried to hand the bottle back, looking embarrassed.

"You saved my brother; we already owe you a massive favor! Helping you contact someone is the least we can do. We can’t possibly accept something this precious!"

"That was a separate matter." Seraphina Sullivan didn’t take the potion, her tone leaving no room for argument. "You already paid for me saving your brother with the [Continuous Punches] Skill Card. We’re even. This is a new transaction. This potion is indeed valuable, so I hope..."

Her gaze swept over the Sterling brothers.

"...that from now on, whenever I need to contact someone, you’ll prioritize my requests without asking for additional payment. Of course, if the circumstances are special or the toll on you is too great, we can renegotiate."

Seraphina Sullivan had made her intentions clear.

She was using this priceless Super Recovery Potion to secure "priority access and a long-term partnership" regarding Forrest Sterling’s communication Ability.

It was both an investment and a signal that she wanted to establish a more solid partnership.

Previously, Seraphina Sullivan might have held onto the Super Recovery Potion as a last resort for her own survival.

But now that she had the [Crimson Gemstone] Talent and the [Flower Therapy] Skill, Seraphina Sullivan had other means of survival; she no longer depended on this one Recovery Potion.

Besides, Seraphina Sullivan had always been extremely cautious. Even before obtaining the potion, she never took her own safety lightly.

As a result, she’d had no occasion to use the potion since she got it.

Giving it to the Sterling brothers now was purely an investment.

Forrest and River Sterling exchanged a look, both seeing the excitement and determination in each other’s eyes.

Forrest Sterling took a deep breath. He clutched the potion bottle tightly, as if holding a priceless promise, and nodded firmly.

"Sullivan! You can count on me! From now on, I’m your personal liaison! As long as I have enough spiritual power, I’ll be at your beck and call!"

"Good." Seraphina Sullivan nodded, satisfied, and then gave him the names. "Now, help me contact Dexter Luther or Crystal Lynn. I need you to confirm their team’s location and status."

"Leave it to me!" Forrest Sterling’s expression hardened with concentration. He immediately cleared his mind, sat down cross-legged, and closed his eyes.

A faint but distinct wave of spiritual power radiated out from him.

A few seconds later, in the air beside him, specks of white light gathered.

They quickly coalesced into a dove, pure white, its feathers seemingly woven from pure Energy.

The dove’s eyes were bright and alert as it hovered silently in the air.

"Teleportation Dove, go find Dexter Luther, deliver my message!"

Forrest Sterling whispered, impressing the questions he wanted to ask into the Energy dove as a spiritual imprint.

The pure white Energy dove gave a slight nod, beat its wings once, and its body instantly became translucent, as if melting into the very air.

An instant later, it vanished completely, shooting off in the target’s likely direction in a way that defied the laws of physics.

"Now, we just need to wait for the dove to find the target and bring back a reply."

Forrest Sterling opened his eyes and spoke to Seraphina Sullivan. It was clear that maintaining such precise, long-range communication was no easy task.

Seraphina Sullivan nodded, feeling a little more at ease.

While they waited, her gaze fell upon the scattered bits of intelligence and miscellaneous items on Forrest Sterling’s stall.

’Perhaps I can find some clues in these fragments of daily Player chatter,’ she thought, ’something about recent anomalies, dangerous areas, or suspicious individuals.’

She casually flipped through some notes recorded with simple symbols and text, trying to piece together a more realistic picture from them.

...

「Meanwhile, in a land of ice and snow dozens of kilometers from the Vorlag City safe zone.」

Inside a deep, naturally formed ice cave filled with icicles, the temperature was so low that one’s breath turned to frost.

Dexter Luther, Morgan Brooks, and Matthew Dawson were bound tightly to the frigid ice wall by crude yet unnaturally tough metal chains, their bodies nearly frozen solid.

The two female members of the team, Chloe Lewis and Crystal Lynn, had fallen unconscious from their earlier struggles and the biting cold. They had been unceremoniously discarded deeper in the cave, with only a scattering of dry grass beneath them.

Crystal Lynn’s pet, a creature named Beau, lay beside its owner, its breathing faint. There were visible wounds on its body.

"Damn it! This is so fucked up!"

The hot-tempered Morgan Brooks couldn’t help but curse in a low voice, his words echoing in the ice cave.

"To screw up on something so simple... getting played by a bunch of god-damned cultists!"

"Alright, Morgan, save your strength. Cursing won’t do us any good," Matthew Dawson advised in a low voice. Though he was in the same terrible predicament, his mind was still relatively clear.

"The most important thing right now is figuring out how to get free. These chains... there’s something wrong with them."

Dexter Luther gritted his teeth, his face livid.

’As if he didn’t want to escape.’

But the dark silver chains binding them were incredibly bizarre.

Not only were they physically impossible to break, but they also emitted a strange Force Field that seemed to seep into their very bodies.

It completely suppressed and Sealed the Power from their awakened Talent Abilities and Body Enhancements!

Right now, they felt even weaker than ordinary people, which was the real reason they were now captives.

His gaze passed through the crack at the entrance of the ice cave, looking outside.

He could vaguely see a group of people in thick clothes but with fanatical expressions.

They were currently prostrated in the snow, bowing in worship toward a blurry figure and chanting under their breath.

’What fucking era is this...? How can there still be crazy cultists like this!’ Dexter Luther thought bitterly, filled with immense regret.

His team had been led into this trap by someone who looked like a harmless, even pitiful, child.

The child had been collapsed in the snow, calling for help, and for a moment, they’d let their compassion get the better of them...

"Dexter, what do you think... what are these lunatics going to do to us?"

Morgan Brooks’s voice held a nearly imperceptible tremor. During the fight, he’d vaguely heard their captors excitedly discussing things like "strong slaves."

"Hmph. Didn’t you hear them shouting? They need ’slaves’! If we don’t agree to become their slaves, we’ll be executed."

Dexter Luther ground out the response, his eyes frigid.

Just then, a faint point of white light flashed into existence without any warning next to Dexter Luther’s bound shoulder, rapidly coalescing into a familiar white dove made of Energy!

"?!"

The pupils of Dexter Luther, Morgan Brooks, and Matthew Dawson contracted in unison, their hearts all but skipping a beat!

Because they recognized this dove.