Shrouded Seascape

"Ugh!" Charles' face contorted as he clenched his teeth and mustered all his strength to yank off his prosthetic limb. The metal arm, with bits of blood and flesh, was tossed to the side.

"Captain, why do we have to take off our prosthetics too? It's been so long; they should be fine," Dipp said as he stared bitterly at his mechanical legs placed in front of him. He was now stark naked, and with his legs removed, he was left kneeling on the ground.

Charles shook his head slightly. "No. We don't know what kind of relic our prosthetics might turn into and what their side effects would be. It's too risky to have them on us. We need to get rid of everything except our own original relics."

Meanwhile, a crew member next to them was making gagging noises as he shoved his fingers down his throat to force himself to vomit up the food he had eaten earlier.

Since everything had the possibility of turning into a relic, the food they had consumed just moments before couldn't be trusted either.

By this moment, all the crew members were stark naked. Even Bandages had removed the bandages on his body. They stood stark naked, facing each other.

Despite being the only woman among the crew, Linda's face remained completely calm, and she showed not even a hint of shame.

In stark contrast, Lily, perched on Charles' shoulder, covered her eyes with her tiny paws in embarrassment. Though, from time to time, she would secretly peek outside through the gaps in her fingers.

"Captain, what's our next move? Without food or medicine, we can't continue the exploration," Nico said as his eyes scanned the surroundings.

"I know. Unless something happens, we're heading down now." With that, Charles flipped open the diary on the ground to check the latest entry.

Although he wasn't exactly sure what kind of relic his diary had turned into, based on the previous interactions, Charles suspected it to be related to some prophetic ability. The diary entries that had mysteriously appeared seemed to detail events that might happen the following day.

Unfortunately, this time, there was no new entry. The latest entry was the very same page that was supposedly written from the perspective of a dead Charles.

Charles lifted his head to look at his crew. All of their gazes were on him as they awaited his next order.

"Let's head back," Charles declared. He decided not to wait any longer. Previously, he didn't take any action as he hadn't figured out who was the one writing in the diary.

Now, they had already concluded that it was the diary itself after it had turned into a relic. Since it was just a relic, there was no need to worry. The unknown was always the most fearsome.

"But Mr. Charles, the diary says you'll die," Lily voiced out, her words laced with concern.

"It's okay. A day has already passed. If the diary's prophecy was accurate, I should be dead by now."

Charles then turned to Linda and instructed, "Linda, use your stomach acid to corrode a hole in that rock. We'll hide all our relics and prosthetics there."

There was no way they were going to bring back so many strange relics without knowing their effects. Without appraising them, who knew what their side effects were? The safest plan was to leave them hidden for now. After they had formulated a plan to transport them safely, they could then bring them back down to the surface.

With a forceful gag, Linda spewed green bile onto a large rock. The toxic liquid soon corroded a large cavity on the rock. After everyone had placed their items into the cavity, Bandages summoned vines to completely seal up the entrance.

Charles' then rapidly morphed into a gigantic bat. Apart from the two vampires who could fly, the rest of the crew quickly climbed onto his broad back.

With a powerful push of his hind muscles, Charles soared into the air.

Charles didn't dare to let his guard down even though they were prepared to leave. He remained wary of any last-minute surprises that could jeopardize their escape. His monstrous remained open, emitting silent sound waves that resonated in all directions to scan for any potential threats.

While exploring on foot was slow, flying was much faster. In no time, Charles had reached the edge of the floating island.

Just as Charles prepared to retract his wings for a dive, the dark sky suddenly lit up. A massive, crescent-shaped beam of light slashed down from above, aiming straight at him.

The moment Charles caught sight of the beam, every hair on his body stood on alert. That was the exact same thing the diary had warned about. It was the very same thing that killed him!

Without even a moment of hesitation, Charles flapped his wings frantically. Just by a slight inch, he narrowly evaded the deadly crescent as it sliced through the air.

Though it had missed Charles, the moonlight beam didn't dissipate. Instead, it continued its trajectory and sheared off a chunk of the floating island like a piece of cake.

Under everyone's shocked gazes, the severed piece of the island slowly plummeted to the ground below like a slice of cake falling off a plate.

"Captain! Look up there! What's that!" Audric exclaimed in shock with his gaze upward.

Charles swiftly turned his head upward and saw a grotesque, twisted worm, spanning about ten meters long, plummeting toward them from fifty meters above.

Its body was composed of two colors. Half of it was ink black, and the other half was transparent, resembling a blend of glass and obsidian. The colors twisted and intertwined with each other.

Clearly, the crescent beam from before had not come from this worm as it appeared severely injured. Visible cracks could be seen all along its bizarre body. Yet, Charles found the creature oddly familiar.

However, he immediately composed his thoughts the next moment. This was not the time for him to ponder over it. They needed to escape this dangerous place as soon as possible.

Charles rapidly flapped his wings and began his downward descent. Suddenly, a man's voice rang in Charles' ears.

"Don't move! Hide! It will see you!"

The next moment, Charles felt a chilling gaze from the darkness overhead. His body started to go numb from fear, and he struggled to move.

He strained his neck to look upward. In the infinite darkness, he spotted three sinister eyes that glowed with a pink hue and were positioned in a triangular arrangement. Bulging out like a fish's eyes, they were staring directly at Charles.

At this critical moment, the strange, plummeting worm from earlier suddenly appeared next to Charles. Its slimy, writhing body twisted rapidly, enveloping Charles and his crew in an instant.

The worm spiraled down with Charles and returned to the ground. However, it didn't stop there. Its sharp, grotesque mouthparts spun rapidly and effortlessly bored a large hole into the rocky terrain before diving in.

Instantly, the ominous gaze and the three eyes in the darkness disappeared.

Charles stayed still and signaled his crew to do the same as he watched the worm's movements silently.

"Don't move. It's still out there, waiting for us to show ourselves," the same voice sounded in Charles' ears again.

Putting two and two together, it was not hard to figure out that the voice had come from the worm.

Charles calmly looked at the giant, horrifying worm's head before him. "Did Anna relay the message to you guys via telegraph? You arrived quite fast. Aside from that Divinity earlier, what else did you discover up there?"

The worm's slick, elongated body writhed slightly before the voice responded in Charles' mind. "You know who I am?"

"A few years ago, I had some matters to deal with and visited Shattered Heart Isles in the Sea of Mist. I saw a Haikor selling some statues of you. If I remember correctly, you're their main god, Paiper, aren't you?"

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