Chapter 261. A Divinity's Corpse
"Governor Charles, which island did you visit?" the old man asked as he lay weakly on the bed.
"Shattered Heart Isles."
The old man shook his head and extended a withered index finger to trace in the air.
He traced a circle that symbolized the entire Sea of Mist before marking eight points around its periphery.
"See, Shattered Heart Isles is just one of the fringe islands. There are eight such islands on the outskirts of the Sea of Mist. The deeper you venture, the more clustered the islands become. Shattered Heart Isles is merely a supply point for the inner islands, providing them food, fuel, and living humans..."
The moment his words fell, a heavy silence hung in the air.
The old man continued. "The deeper you go, the more you'll understand the horrors of the Haikor Tribe. In the Sea of Mist, the Haikors are considered lower existences. We are not the only ones serving our gods. The others' appearances are far from normal compared to us.
"Also, did you not notice that there were no children on Shattered Heart Isles?"
"No children?" Charles quickly scanned through his memories. Indeed, he really hadn't seen any Haikor children throughout his entire time on the island.
"Yes. The Haikor Tribe and the other tribes are created by the gods of the Sea of Mist with methods beyond your imagination. Interbreeding of different species is just the most common and the most ordinary one."
"Wait," Charles interrupted. "Although I haven't seen their gods, I've encountered their apostle. They aren't as formidable as you described them to be. If I hadn't saved their apostle, it could have died of thirst.
"Apostles are different from gods. Are you perhaps thinking that we don't revere our gods enough, and our gods can die, making them pale in comparison to the Divinities out there?"
Charles didn't nod, though he agreed with the statement a hundred percent in his heart. Indeed, at a height of seven meters and devoid of immortality, no matter how terrifying these beings might look, they were just mere monsters.
"You are mistaken. We don't worship or revere gods because they don’t need our worship. Moreover, I’ve been to the innermost islands. Do you know what I saw there?"
At this, Elizabeth's grandfather seemed to have recalled something so terrifying that his voice even trembled as he said, "A Divinity's corpse."
"What?!" Charles' pupils shrank to pinpoints in shock.
"Yes, those underwater Divinities that can't be directly gazed upon. A Divinity larger than a mountain lay suspended in mid-air, and the Great Paiper was perched atop its corpse. Paiper opened its half real, half illusionary mouth and was devouring the continuously wailing and writhing flesh."
"I was young then and stole a glance out of curiosity, but I immediately fainted. When I woke up, I found that a human female slave had saved me.
"I couldn't bear to have her descend into that endless hell, so I smuggled her onto my cabin and secretly left the Sea of Mist.
"Though it had been many years, the scorching scar that corpse had left in my mind is still here; it was dead, but it was terrifying."
"How are you so sure that it's a Divinity? Perhaps you might have been mistaken, and it was just another sea creature. There are plenty of large beings in the waters."
The old man's hunched back slightly raised as a trace of agitation crossed his countenance. "I'm absolutely certain that I wasn't mistaken! I was a sailor as well, and only the Divinities from the sea can have such immense bodies! The gods in the Sea of Mist can even devour a Divinity. Do you still think that they are weak?
"Don't go to the Sea of Mist again, and never ever get involved with them. Don't even think of conquering them as well. Just pray that they remain inside there forever. If they ever come out...." the old man trailed off and didn't complete his sentence.
Charles had no idea when he had returned to his bedroom. As he reflected on the old man's words, his heart was far from calm.
He sunk into the couch, his brows furrowed, and he brooded over everything he had just heard. What exactly are these gods of the Haikor Tribe?
Charles pondered for a brief moment before he dug out his old captain's journal and began flipping through the pages.
Soon, he found the pages that detailed the two blank periods in his memories.
"Eyeball... Giant hand." Charles' finger trembled slightly as he traced the Chinese characters on the page.
A sudden sensation hit it. It felt as though something terrifying was surfacing from the depths of his mind—those two memories that had been wiped away by 041.
Charles immediately stopped himself from thinking and hurriedly took out his fountain pen. He swiftly started writing on a piece of paper. To prevent the incident of a monster appearing again from his sketch, like what happened with Door 3, he didn't draw detailed images but sketched a few rough lines.
He jotted down the details of the various Divinities he had met: the giant hand, the eyeball and the final one, 003 God Fhtagn.
The Narwhale spanned over 65 meters, and that gigantic butterfly was over ten times her size. If the butterfly was 1000 meters long, the giant hand that was three times larger than it would be 3000 meters long.
Going by this scale of comparison, the Divinity with that giant hand was practically an insignificant being compared to God Fhtagn.
Evidently, there had to be a power ranking among the Divinities as well.
However, even the lowest-ranking one was unimaginably powerful to humans. The current humans in the Subterranean Sea stood no chance against them.
To think that a god of the Haikor Tribe could slay such a formidable being...
"If they are that powerful, why didn't they leave the Sea of Mist to conquer the other lands? Could it be just because they don't wish to?"
At the thought of this, Charles' face turned grim. This implied that humanity wasn't worth mentioning before those beings in the Sea of Mist.
A hand with red-painted nails reached out from behind and wrapped around Charles' chest. "I had no other intention. I just want you to know not to provoke them, and the farther you stay away from them, the better."
Charles nodded without a word. The words of Elizabeth's grandfather had significantly raised his guard against them.
He had no intention of deliberately dealing with those creatures, but it had aroused a deep concern in him over Anna.
Whether it was pulling him out of his madness or seeking the help of the Prophet to guide him to 041 to break the Divinity's Curses, Anna had sought their help.
The frequent cooperation between them suggested a more than acquaintance kind of relationship. Charles wondered if she knew about these gods behind the Haikor Tribe.
"Elizabeth, do you have a telegraph in the Governor's Mansion? I need to contact my wife. It's urgent."
Staring at Charles' serious expression, Elizabeth was stunned for a few seconds before she nodded. Soon enough, a telegraph was brought to them. However, when Charles sent a message to the World's Crown, he received an unexpected reply.
Their Governor's sister, Lady Anna, had recently left on a battleship, and the vessel didn't have a telegraph onboard. No one knew where she went.
Where could Anna go at this time? Why does it seem like she is always busier than I am? Charles' brows were pressed together as he pondered over it.
The Haikors hadn't done anything that seemed capable of bringing harm to Anna, but he couldn't rely on others' benevolence for her safety.
"Charles, is Anna your wife? When did you marry her?" Elizabeth asked, her voice tinged with an unknown emotion.
Charles turned to look at her. Staring into her eyes, he calmly said, "Yes, I haven’t had the chance to tell you. She's my wife, and she has always been my wife."
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