A moment later, not a single living mutated fish could be seen on the sea surface.
Only those tentacles remained.
They hung in mid-air, the eyes on their suckers looking around as if confirming the prey had left.
Then, they began to sink, slow and silent, until they submerged into the seawater, settling beneath the Abyssal Hunter.
Alice walked to the captain's cabin's glass window and looked down; a massive circular shadow enveloped the entire Abyssal Hunter right in the center.
Those tentacles swayed slowly around it like bizarre petals, and the Abyssal Hunter was the flower's pistil.
It didn't leave.
It was following from below.
No one spoke in the captain's cabin.
Alice stood before the glass, her warhammer resting on the floor. Her hands were shaking, but she didn't look away.
She was the First Team Captain of the Nightwatchers in Gelimu Port, a rank 2 Flesh transcendent. She had faced rank 3 eerie entities alone and carved a bloody path through swarms of mutated creatures.
But now, before such an existence, the strength she took pride in was not worth mentioning—as laughable as an ant waving its antennae at a giant's feet.
Philip stood in the corner, his lips trembling. He wanted to recite a prayer, but his throat felt as if something was choking him; he couldn't utter a single word.
The Descendant still stood before the wheel, maintaining the course.
The creaking of mechanical joints betrayed everything; it was the tremor of metal under extreme tension.
"Continue... forward..." The Descendant's voice was raspy and intermittent.
No one responded, but the ship kept moving.
In the cabin, Lu Yuan also saw the tentacles piercing the clouds through the porthole.
It was them.
The things that appeared in the Strange Dreams.
Those tentacles, extending from the bottom of the deep sea and covered in eyes, were now hanging over the sea surface, exactly like the scenes in the Strange Dreams.
At the edge of his vision, grey-white text flickered:
【Sanity: -1, 20/70】
Only dropped one point... this thing actually isn't an eerie entity...
Lu Yuan's heart pounded violently as a terrifying thought surfaced—everything in the Strange Dreams was real.
The wreckage of the Iron Whale, real.
The altar and runes, real.
The tentacles in the deep sea, real.
Those grey-cloaked figures... were also real.
They weren't illusions; they truly existed in some corner of this world.
The warning from the man who was likely Gaowen echoed again:
"The island... is but a part of the plan..."
"Gelimu Port... is the true target..."
A chill rushed to his heart.
If the Strange Dreams were some kind of omen, then the goal of the grey-cloaked figures had never been this island from the start.
It was Gelimu Port.
It had always been Gelimu Port.
At the same time, the gaze of those countless eyes pierced through the hull, falling directly on Lu Yuan.
Heavy, cold, and irresistible.
But Lu Yuan discovered that the eyes of the tentacles outside weren't looking at him.
They were looking at the item in his arms.
【Blood of ██】
Time passed in silence—perhaps an hour, perhaps longer.
The dark shadow remained beneath the ship, neither attacking nor leaving.
The tentacles swayed around them like some sort of guard, wrapping the Abyssal Hunter in the center.
Whenever marine creatures approached, the tentacles would swing and drive them away, as if clearing the path.
"It’s protecting us?" Philip finally realized something was wrong, his expression one of astonishment.
Alice didn't know what the thing wanted, but one thing was certain: it wasn't after the Abyssal Hunter, the ship itself, because the gaze of those eyes had never fallen on her.
"It's protecting something on the ship," Alice whispered, "Or someone."
What happened after Marcus and Lu Yuan entered the cave where the heart was located?
She didn't know.
But the timing of this thing's appearance was too coincidental.
Her gaze unconsciously drifted toward the cabin.
Marcus was still unconscious, and Lu Yuan was heavily injured.
What exactly did those two bring out from that heart?
In the cabin, Lu Yuan gripped the glass bottle in his arms; he already had the answer.
It was escorting this bottle of blood back to Gelimu Port.
But why? What would this bottle of blood bring? Regardless, he couldn't give up this bottle of blood. Even if he wanted to, Marcus from the Ascension Society wouldn't allow it.
After an unknown amount of time, the storm began to weaken.
The waves were no longer so frenzied; the dark clouds began to disperse, revealing a sliver of grey-white daylight.
And at that moment, the black shadow beneath the ship began to sink.
Those tentacles swayed one last time, like a sort of farewell, before sinking into the deep sea, getting further and further away, finally vanishing into the endless darkness.
It had left.
No one in the captain's cabin cheered; there was only a deathly silence.
"It’s gone," Philip’s voice came, "It left."
Alice took a deep breath. Ignoring him, she shouted to the Descendant, "Full speed ahead!"
Her voice was steady, but the hand holding the warhammer was still trembling slightly.
She had a feeling that this wasn't "escaping by a hair’s breadth," but rather "being granted passage." A hidden entity was controlling everything, keeping them all in the dark.
There was something on the ship that the thing in the depths cared about; otherwise, the Abyssal Hunter would have long since been reduced to shards, disappearing into this vast sea.
In the cabin, Lu Yuan slowly closed his eyes.
His Sanity began to recover steadily as the oppressive feeling of being watched vanished.
Gray, standing nearby, also breathed a sigh of relief. After all, the thing beneath the sea was too shocking; its size was far larger than anything seen on the island.
Just as everyone thought things had settled, the communication crystal in Alice's arms suddenly lit up.
It was the Nightwatchers' emergency communication device.
The crystal flashed with a red light—a top-level alert.
Pressing the receive button immediately, intermittent sounds came through; it was Old Morgan's voice:
"...Abyssal Hunter... respond immediately if received..."
"Gelimu Port... is under attack..."
"...The Deep Sea Church... is launching a full-scale offensive..."
"...If you are still alive... return immediately..."
"...Repeat... return immediately..."
The signal cut out, leaving only harsh static.
The cabin fell into a dead silence.
Alice's face turned ashen. "Accelerate! Full speed return!"
The steam engine of the Abyssal Hunter gave a dull roar, the hull vibrating violently as its speed began to climb.
Alice stood in the captain's cabin, her face ashen, clutching the dimmed communication crystal.
Old Morgan's voice was gone, replaced by harsh static.
"Gelimu Port under attack..."
"Deep Sea Church full-scale offensive..."
These two sentences were like nails driven into everyone's hearts; another fierce battle was coming.
The people of the Deep Sea Church really don't give up.
Alice suppressed the irritability in her heart.
"Everyone, assemble in the captain's cabin!"
Rate on N.U.
