Shrouded Seascape

"Just what the hell is going on? Are they under the control of an entity here?" Charles flapped his wings forcefully, propelling himself to around three hundred meters in just a few seconds.

Then, he approached the amphibious steamships in the distance.

Charles soon got a clear view of the people on the steamships, and the questions in Charles' mind were instantly resolved the moment he saw the octopus tattoo on their faces.

The ambush was made by the Fhtagn Covenant to avenge themselves. To think that they had already planted so many moles among the ranks of the surface world exploration teams.

Just then, Charles spotted the deck cannons of the steamships turning toward him. In response, Charles flapped his wings to gain altitude and get out of their attack range, but a bone flute appeared out of nowhere and pierced Charles' abdomen.

Charles' invisible tentacles burst out of his back and attempted to pull out the bone flute. However, Charles only saw the bone flute swiftly retracting with an afterimage and thrusting toward his chest.

A gray shadow manifested slowly behind the bone flute. Charles was familiar with the gray shadow, as it was one of 134's companions.

Charles had managed to avoid sustaining a fatal wound by dodging in time, but the attack had punctured one of his lungs, making him feel like his chest was being squeezed forcefully.

White electric arcs danced across Charles' skin, but the lightning arcs simply passed through the gray shadow, and the attack failed to inflict even the slightest damage to the latter.

"Captain! I've come here to help!" Dipp's voice echoed, and a blue mist floated over from Charles' side before lunging at the gray shadow. A cloud of dark blue smoke was made as Dipp and the gray shadow fought each other.

Dipp's assistance allowed Charles to take a breather, and the two stood with their backs against each other, ready to fend off any attackers.

Charles took a moment to reorient himself. He prepared to fly toward the oncoming amphibious steamships when he saw a plume of smoke speeding toward the Narwhale like a train. The plume of smoke was coming from an amphibious steamship that resembled a white maggot.

A bloated man, who seemed affixed to the steamship's prow, roared incessantly as the steamship charged at the Narwhale, and the insectoid limbs that protruded from both sides of the hulls like oars told Charles that the other party was the "King" of Sottom.

The two cannons on the deck, which were under the control of Lily's mice, bombarded "King," but despite suffering many wounds and being covered in blood, "King" did not slow down in the slightest.

"No! 134 must also be on that ship as well! We're in big trouble if she makes contact with the Narwhale!" Charles flew as fast as he could, but he was too slow compared to the oncoming steamship.

The bloated maggot-like amphibious steamship collided heavily with the right side of the Narwhale, and the two ships moved diagonally against each other.

"King" roared, and his pallid flesh opened up, revealing a dense swarm of strange insects that made a beeline for the Narwhale.

Charles finally arrived just then, and he wasted no time, charging straight into the dense swarm of insects. As radiant lightning arcs danced across him, the electrocuted insects fell like rain.

The crew members rushed onto the deck and began their counterattack. They bombarded the attackers nonstop, which made the situation even more chaotic.

Holding a doll in her hands, 134 had on a grin as she emerged amidst the insects. Staring at Charles in the sky, she cleared her throat and began to sing.

A beautiful and bizarre melody echoed, and the crew members of the Narwhale felt something growing beneath their skin. The Narwhale's crew revealed pained looks as they fell to the ground one by one; 134's attack was very effective.

Charles and the crew instantly found themselves on the losing end.

Just as a tinge of smugness surfaced on 134's face, she saw a large expanse of green bursting out of Bandages, and the greenery expanded quickly, rushing toward 134, who was still singing.

When the greenery touched the "King's" pallid and bloated flesh, they went berserk and dug incessantly into "King's" flesh as they grew wildly.

It turned out that 134's singing had greatly enhanced Bandages' special ability.

134 stomped with her right foot clad in a tiny red leather shoe. She opened her mouth wide, revealing her sharp fangs, and roared, "Margaret! What the hell are you doing?!

"It's about time you make a move! Are you still not going to move? If you don't act soon, I'm going to retreat myself!"

134's words had yet to finish echoing in the air when a series of cannon fire echoed in the distance. A black shadow crashed heavily on the deck of the Narwhale, denting it in the process.

Margaret emerged from the dented pit with two daggers in hand. Her face was abnormally flushed, which made it clear that she had consumed stimulants before setting out.

Margaret wasted no time. She directed her killing intent and charged at Second Mate Charlie, who was standing the closest to her.

In response, Charlie tried to activate his relic, but it was too late. Margaret's dagger pierced his chest.

Margaret pulled out the dagger and did not even spare a glance at Charlie as he collapsed to the ground while coughing out a mouthful of blood. The muscles in her legs bulged as she bent down slightly and kicked off the ground, rushing toward Norton in the distance.

Norton was firing nonstop at Margaret from the sidelines, but it only took Margaret a moment to reach the former. Margaret then swung her dagger, slicing off Norton's fingers and splitting his gun into two.

Margaret threw her dagger briefly into the air before catching it in a reverse grip and slashing out at Norton's neck.

The sky darkened just then, and Charles collided heavily against Margaret, along with a swarm of scorched insects. Charles had successfully interrupted Margaret's next attack, but Margaret hadn't been knocked over.

Margaret possessed mighty strength despite her frail look and had withstood a collision against Charles.

Before Charles could fall to the ground, Margaret let out a low growl and raised both of her daggers before thrusting them fiercely into Charles' torso. Then, she used all her strength and slammed him to the ground.

The grotesque cracking noise told Charles that the impact had fractured a few of his ribs.

However, Margaret wasn't done just yet, and she raised her daggers once again, getting ready to strike.

Charles saw that and stood up before wrapping more than a dozen tentacles around Margaret's arms to stop her attack. However, Margaret was extremely powerful, and even more than a dozen tentacles couldn't keep her at bay as her daggers slowly but surely advanced toward Charles.

For the first time ever, Charles glared murderously at the woman before him. "Do you even know what you're doing?!"

"What I'm doing? Of course, I'm doing what my predecessors have done themselves! I'm here to claim glory on the battlefield!!"

A dull thud echoed as Charles' back hit a wall. He had nowhere to retreat, but Margaret's dagger was steadily approaching his heart.

Just then, two bats flew toward Margaret. One of the bats bit Margaret's carotid artery, but unfortunately, even their sharp vampire fangs couldn't pierce Margaret's skin.

Margaret's grip on the dagger in her right hand loosened, and the dagger fell to the ground. Unfortunately, Margaret hadn't chosen to give up. Instead, she raised her bare hand and thrust it into Charles' chest. Margaret had become so strong that Charles' flesh and blood was like tofu for her.

Her hand pierced Charles' skin, muscles, and fractured ribs. When Margaret's sharp nails met Charles' beating heart, a ruthless smile blossomed on her scarred and flushed face.

Just as Margaret was about to squeeze Charles' heart, the latter's right eye bulged out of its socket and landed squarely on Margaret's face. Then, it bit fiercely on Margaret's eye.

Even those with the toughest defense would always have their eyes as weaknesses. Margaret reflexively closed her eyes, and Charles did not let go of that opportunity; his figure contracted as he transformed from a bat monster to a human being before slipping out of Margaret's grasp.

By the time Margaret had crushed the spider with a palm strike, Charles' figure had already vanished into thin air.

"I'm the captain, and I must be responsible for my crew. I'll bring your corpse back with me and give you a solemn burial."

Margaret's ears twitched slightly. She flicked her left hand, sending a dagger flying toward where the sound had come from. Margaret had used all of her might to throw the dagger, and it even left afterimages in mid-air.

Unfortunately, it pierced nothing but air.

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om