Chapter 223. Apostle
"I'm sorry, Esteemed Apostle. This is all that we have," Aguino said.
The lizard-like creature crawled toward the corpse, and Aguino did not dare to look up as he remained prostrated on the floor.
The creature opened its protruding sucker, exposing its milky white teeth covered in sticky, viscous saliva. Its sucker engulfed the rotting corpse's head, and it moved ever so slowly downward until it had engulfed the three-meter-tall corpse.
However, the creature abruptly came to a halt, seemingly startled. It moved quickly, and its mirror-like skin turned pitch-black. Its sucker spat out the corpse it had engulfed, and its tail's bone spurs quivered incessantly as if it were showing its dominance over some existence.
The eerie noises it emitted got lower and lower in volume; the monster seemed to have discovered something.
Still prostrated on the ground, Aguino turned his head behind but saw nothing. There was no one in the space apart from him and the lizard-like creature.
Swoosh!
A beam of light fleeted across the darkness, and it struck one of the room's dark corners, scorching it in an instant.
"Esteemed Apostle?" Aguino asked, sounding baffled.
Grooooowl. The monster sensed no abnormalities, and its sucker soon engulfed the salted corpse once more.
A minute later, the towing rope between the two ships sagged slightly once more.
Charles' figure appeared, and a sour expression painted his visage. Putting a hand into the inside of his clothes, he scratched hard with his nails. He felt itchy all over, but the itch was incomparable to the fear that had gripped his heart. What was that creature? Aguino had even referred to it as Esteemed Apostle.
If the Apostle looked so hideous, how could its god look any better? The Subterranean Sea truly had a variety of weird religions.
"That creature looked dangerous. I'm not going to let that disgusting creature follow us," Charles muttered to himself. He had made up his mind, but he was quickly met with another dilemma. How should he go about cutting ties?
Should he tell them that they wouldn't tow them anymore, or should he cut the towing rope and leave them to a horrible demise without saying a word?
Charles' gaze landed on the turtleshell ship. Just then, a Haikor Tribe member poked his head out and looked around vigilantly. His rugged visage revealed a faint smile upon seeing Charles, and he nodded lightly in acknowledgment.
Charles returned the gesture in kind. It's not wise to act rashly. If I end up provoking them without any plans in mind, they might look for a way to snatch our fresh water and fuel. It should be better to maintain the status quo.
Having made up his mind, Charles returned to the Captain's cabin and summoned everyone. Soon, the Narwhale's crew members were gathered in one place, and Charles didn't beat around the bush; he recounted what he had discovered earlier.
"I've dissected them before. Aside from their physiques, they aren't much stronger than us, especially without weapons. There are only five people on their side, so I don't think we have to worry. We should just cut the towing rope and go full speed ahead," Laesto said.
Charles suddenly recalled Anna's previous collaboration with the Haikors, and he shook his head and said, "I don't think it's that easy. I think some of them possess special abilities, and we also don't know the true strength of those five giants.
"The so-called Apostle on their ship also managed to sense me despite my invisibility, so it must be strong."
The crew members debated about it for a while, but none of them came up with useful suggestions.
In the end, Charles steeled himself and stood up. They were in uncharted waters, far from civilization, so he didn't want to wait any longer.
He was the Captain of the Narwhale, and he was responsible for the lives of his crew. He wouldn't feel relieved until the creature that posed a significant risk to his crew was disposed of.
Just as Charles opened his mouth to speak, a right hand wrapped in yellow bandages was raised in the air.
"Captain...I think we...should...just...continue...as it is...we....may not...be...in danger," Bandages said.
"How can you say for sure? It didn't look harmless to me at all. Who can say for sure that it won't come for us next once it has consumed the corpses on their ship?" Charles asked.
Bandages lowered his head, and his eyes shone with a tinge of confusion. He seemed to be pondering over something, which astonished Charles, prompting him to approach the former and give him a pat on the shoulder.
"Did you remember something?" Charles asked.
The confusion in Bandages' eyes lingered for quite a while. Eventually, he pulled out Charles' Dark Blade and began carving a figure on the table.
Soon, a hideous creature was drawn; it had deformed joints, a protruding sucker resembling a trumpet, and a long tail covered in bony spurs. The creature was none other than the so-called Apostle on the turtleshell ship.
"Does it...look... like this?" Bandages asked.
Charles' pupils constricted. "What is this? Have you seen it before? Do you remember what it is?"
Bandages shook his head and muttered, "I've seen... it before... a long time ago... it... is probably... not dangerous."
Charles was rendered speechless at his First Mate's words. Bandages' words weren't convincing at all, as he had said it based on a feeling rather than on hard, concrete evidence.
"Captain," the Chief Engineer chimed in. "I don't think they have any intentions of harming us. Otherwise, they would have harmed us long ago if harming us were their goal all this while."
"I also don't think that taking action, considering our current circumstances, is the right thing to do. If we provoke them, and they go all-out at bringing us down with them, then we'll end up getting trapped here and suffering a horrible demise."
Under the gazes of his crew members, Charles looked down and gestured at the nautical chart on the table. A large circle on the nautical chart represented the entire Sea of Mist.
There were three dots in the circle—one of the dots was on the Shattered Heart Isles' location, the other was where they had stumbled upon 041, and the remaining dot was where they had encountered the turtleshell ship.
Based on where they had encountered the turtleshell ship, it seemed that the turtleshell ship had come from the depths of the Sea of Mist rather than from the periphery on the right.
Recalling the "Apostle's" hideous appearance, Charles sunk into contemplation. Was Elizabeth not lying to me? Could that creature be the offspring of humans and natives?
Perhaps that creature was once human? Charles felt uncomfortable at the thought that his assumption was most likely correct. Perhaps the Haikors had customs and practices that outsiders found unacceptable.
Complicated thoughts filled Charles' head until he finally made up his mind.
"Gather yourselves together, guys. We'll keep towing them, and let's hope that our First Mate's intuition is correct. Still, I want you to keep your weapons on you at all times, just in case something unusual happens," Charles said.
The Haikors on the turtleshell ship had been docile so far, so Charles decided to adopt a wait-and-see approach. For some reason, he felt a bit relieved at the possibility that the hideous creature he had seen was once human.
At the very least, it seemed that a part of that creature was human.
Having received their Captain's orders, the crew members returned to their posts. The air about the Narwhale felt strange, but she continued on towing the turtleshell ship.
The daily rations also continued, and the Haikors showed no signs of dissatisfaction. In fact, they seemed interested in having a deep conversation with Charles, but Charles feigned ignorance to their attempts.
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