Shrouded Seascape

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Charles stood frozen in place for three seconds before he was jolted back to reality by Bandages' earnest prayers.

He lowered his gaze to see that his first mate had somehow appeared beside him, and was kneeling before the colossal eye while chanting prayers.

Gritting his teeth, Charles dragged Bandages and stumbled into the pilot house.

Pale with rage, Charles didn't utter a single word as he slammed the door of the pilot house shut. He swiftly operated the instruments and controls and the light above the Narwhale dimmed out. The ship immediately blended into the darkness.

Just then, Second Mate Conor's voice sounded from the communication pipe. "Captain, did something happen up there, why did you activate the—"

The next second, Conor's voice was tainted with horror, "Oh my gosh, did we run into the god of the darkness? We are screwed, it's all over!!"

"Second Mate! Shut up!" Charles roared into the communication pipe. The veins on his face were visibly bulging.

Beside him, Bandages was trembling non-stop. Wrapped up in bandages, he was curled up on the floor as he mumbled incoherent prayers.

Charles rushed over and covered Bandages' mouth with a hand. He whispered, "That's not your god Fhtagn! Can't you see that thing in the air?"

Darkness engulfed the cabin and a tense atmosphere permeated. Other than rapid breaths, no other sound could be heard.

After a few minutes, Dipp's low voice sounded from beside Charles. He seemed to be suppressing his emotions.

"Captain, what kind of divinity did you witness just now? Why don't we pray to it? I heard that as long as we offer sincere prayers to those 'divinities,' they will let us off."

Charles kept quiet. He didn't know what the hell that thing was, and neither did he want to know. He now only wished for that thing to leave as quickly as possible.

Hum...

A low resonance emanated from the dark expanse above.

The sound sent shivers down the spine of everyone on board and made their scalps tingle with unease. As the sound subsided, strange noise could be heard instead from the decks, and the noise grew louder and more frequent with each passing second.

"Damn it! Something got on the boat."

Charles's heart clenched instantly. He knew they couldn't sit idly by any longer. If they continued like this, everyone on the ship would perish.

Gathering all his determination, he dashed toward the controls and instantly switched on all the light sources.

Beyond the window, blobs of writhing red flesh were squirming around on the deck and devouring the bright yellow "snow". He had no idea where those things came from.

"Chief Engineer! Overload the turbines! Quickly evacuate from this wretched place!!"

The dormant Narwhal emitted a low hum as its speed rapidly escalated.

Witnessing the abominations on the deck jumping overboard, Charles felt not even a hint of relief. That entity in the air was the true danger. He didn't dare to look up to see if it was still there. If an eyeball was enough to cover half the vast expanse above them, he couldn't fathom the size of its owner. Now, the only thing he could do was give his absolute best to escape.

Suddenly, the Narwhale jerked violently, and Bandages and Dipp were flung forcefully against the wall. Immediately after, a cacophony of noise and screams emanated from the communication pipe linked to the turbine chamber.

"Captain! Something has penetrated the turbine chamber! The Third Engineer is dead!"

A harsh metallic scraping sound echoed as several huge pillars resembling fingers descended from above and seized hold of the ship's hull beyond the pilot house’s window.

Immediately, Charles realized that the Narwhale was rendered immobile and was even slowly rising in height. She had been caught by something!

"Fuck! This is my transport home! Don't you ever think of taking it away unless you cross over my dead body!" Infuriated, Charles couldn't care about anything else. He yanked the searchlight upward and dashed onto the deck.

Upon arriving at the deck, Charles lifted his gaze and finally got to see the rest of the entity above them. It was a monstrous gigantic butterfly that was several times larger than the Narwhale.

Its insect legs held the Narwhale captive, and the "eye" he had seen earlier was actually a marking on the butterfly's wing. As the monster fluttered its wings, specks of bright yellow scales showered down.

Despite the oppressive aura of the colossal monster before him, a smirk crept onto Charles' face.

Screw that nonsense crap. What divinity? He had almost fallen for that bullshit. A mere monster, no matter how huge it was, was still nothing more than a mere monster.

A low-frequency hum resonated through the space again as the giant butterfly's other legs lunged at the searchlights. It seemed to really abhor bright lights.

Charles speedily darted toward the deck cannon and shouted, "Lily! Load the cannonballs!"

By the time the ammunition had been loaded, the Narwhale was already seven to eight meters above the sea surface.

I can't let it hold onto the ship any longer! Charles aimed the cannon at the giant insect leg that was embedded into the side of the vessel.

"Hold on tight!" With a thunderous roar, the insect leg armored with black chitin instantly burst apart, and red and green bug juice splattered in the air.

The Narwhale crashed forcefully onto the water's surface, causing towering waves. If the Narwhale were a wooden ship, it would have already split apart.

Ignoring his bleeding chin, Charles shouted in the direction of the bridge, "STUFF THAT BOILER! MOVE!"

"Captain! Behind you!" At the bridge, a visibly panicky Dipp was gesturing frantically behind the glass.

Charles turned back to see the giant butterfly, now with a missing leg, in front of the ship's bow. Its two antennae quivered atop its head and emitted a low rumble that increased in volume with each passing second. It sounded like it was in rage from the provocation.

"So you want more, huh? Sure! Let's do this!" Sounding slightly crazed, Charles adjusted the cannon's aim toward the monstrous insect head.

Just when the tense atmosphere hit its peak, a massive pillar of water that was three times larger than the giant butterfly surged up from the sea between the two parties.

The column of water burst apart to reveal a gigantic translucent hand adorned with eerie patterns. It was as huge as a mountain.

At the sight of the hand, Charles immediately heard deafening whispers echoing in his ears. Everything in front of him began to warp, and his self-awareness rapidly dissipated.

With a violent gale, the colossal hand descended upon the butterfly. As the palm met the water's surface, the resultant towering waves crashed upon the Narwhale like a tsunami.

In a daze, Charles caught a glimpse of a colossal being that traversed between heaven and earth. Its entire body was green and it had massive wings extending from its back. Countless tendrils sprouted from his soft head and its forelimbs resembled flaccid claws. Its grotesque mouth, dripping with slime, stretched from its chin to its belly.

Boom!!

The overwhelming waves crashed on the desk and swept Charles into the sea. Witnessing this from the bridge, Dipp swiftly jumped into the waters.

"Captain! Wake up! Captain!!"

Charles slowly opened his eyes and found himself back in the captain's quarters.

"Phew..." Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief when Charles opened his eyes. Lily even burst into tears from her overwhelming emotions.

Ignoring the pain in his head, Charles turned to look at Conor and asked, "Are we safe now? Where are we?"

A bitter smile appeared on the redhead's face as he answered, "We are safe for now, but as for where we are exactly...that, I don't know."freewebnov(e)l.com