Chapter 305. Lunaia [Bonus Image]
"Charles, wanna take a bite? The sea urchin sushi from Canteen 3 is the best; it's a must-try!" Tobba said. He chucked a piece into his mouth before pushing the plate toward Charles.
Charles glanced at the food before turning to look at the massive head walking toward them.
"What's his ability? Materialization?" Charles asked Tobba.
"That's right. My ability is to materialize anything I can think of so long as they are not living things," 399 replied with a voice booming with confidence.
As the towering head got closer and closer, the crew members behind Charles took a few steps backward with fearful expressions.
"It's been a while, Tobba. Where have you been?"
"I haven't been anywhere, but I've been in quite a few adventures with lil' Mithila up above," Tobba replied. The two proceeded to chat like good friends who had just reunited with each other.
"399," Charles called out to interrupt their conversation, "Where are the human test subjects? They came down with you, right?"
There were so many test subjects that they couldn't have disappeared into thin air. If they were still alive, perhaps Charles could obtain more information from them.
399's lantern-sized eyes landed on Charles, and he said, "They are these things below me."
Charles' pupils constricted. He glanced at the flesh monsters carrying 399 and said, "These hideous monsters are the humans who came down with you here?"
Charles truly couldn't imagine that these hideous-looking monsters with their shriveled skulls, twisted fingers, various deformities, and alien-looking organs were once humans.
"It couldn't be helped. There weren't enough humans, and the generations of inbreeding eventually led to them becoming like this.
"I used 3452 so that they wouldn't die early; Lunaia and I also tried our best to find a way to return them to normal, but our research bore no fruits," 399 said casually as if it were a trivial matter. Then, he continued his conversation with Tobba.
Alarm bells started ringing in Charles' mind. The flesh monsters couldn't have set up the religious ritual, which meant that 399 had to be the one who had performed the ritual. In other words, the living relic, 399, was far more dangerous than he seemed.
Charles made a sidelong glance at the massive head before surreptitiously taking two steps to stand next to Bandages.
"First Mate, what ritual is this?" he asked.
"This is the...ritual to summon...the Drowned One, but...the ritual is...wrong."
"Wrong?"
"The third row of...inscriptions is supposed...to be the ending. The fifth row...is missing two auxiliary...incantations."
At the same time, the conversations of the two living relics caught Charles' attention.
"Tobba, do you still remember Lunaia?" 399 asked.
"Yes, I remember her. She's your girlfriend, right? I remember seeing you two going out to have fun," Tobba replied.
"That's right. She's my girlfriend, and she's here, too," 399 replied.
"I thought every member of the foundation had been taken away by the calamity at the time? How did she escape when she's a part of the Foundation?" Tobba asked.
"Haha, well, she is away at the moment, but I just found a way to bring her back not too long ago."
"Really? Then, bring her back. I really want to see her again. I really liked her smile," Tobba said.
The two living relics' conversation sent a shiver down Charles' spine. He made a sidelong glance at the pentagram emitting a foul stench before turning to Bandages once more and asking, "What happens if a ritual goes wrong?"
"Evil...creatures...will come out," Bandages replied.
Bandages' words had yet to finish echoing through the air when Charles felt the ground tremble. The tremors and noises grew stronger and louder, prompting everyone to look at where the sound was coming from.
Moments later, two giant trees were easily pushed out of their spot as a bloated, fifty-meter-tall starfish made out of rotting flesh and blood emerged from the woods behind them. Black maggots identical to the maggots in 399's head drilled in and out of its body.
Extreme fear gripped everyone's heart at the terrifying sight, and their instincts screamed at them to turn around and flee. Unfortunately, it was already too late by the time they mustered the thought to run.
Chains suddenly appeared from out of nowhere and immobilized them.
A sinister grin appeared on 399's face, and his expression grew increasingly hideous as he said, "Sorry, she needs to absorb all of you to restore her old body. Your sacrifice is necessary."
The massive starfish started crawling its way over to them, and every move it made created tremors that swept across everyone's stiffened figures. Rotten flesh would also fall to the ground as its colossal figure quivered with each movement.
The usually carefree Tobba started panicking. He pulled desperately at the chains and shouted, "Hey, what are you doing?! Have you forgotten that we're old friends?!"
399's intentions couldn't be more vivid and clear, but it still made an effort to assuage Tobba's anxiety by saying, "Don't worry. Once Lunaia has returned, I'll let these offerings breed. And once there's enough for a horde, I'll use them as payment to redeem you guys from the great God Fhtagn.
"You'd also be even stronger by then."
"I—" Tobba started, but Charles cut him off and roared, "Don't bother talking to it! Can you not see that this guy has gone just as crazy as you?!"
Charles immediately started trying to free himself from the chains. Every single muscle in his body moved in harmony as he tore the metal chains apart with his bare hands.
Charles then rushed toward the nearest crew member, but shackles appeared from out of thin air and wrapped themselves around his ankle.
Charles struggled fiercely to break free. Eventually, he managed to shatter the shackles on his ankles, but a heavy iron cage dropped and trapped him inside.
Of course, Charles quickly made a move to dismantle the cage, but the massive starfish spat out a massive appendage from its belly, and it wrapped around the cage before dragging it into its mouth.
"Mr. Charles!"
"Captaaain!"
"Govenooor!"
The crew watched in horror and despair; they were too weak to do anything.
399 turned his massive eyeballs to the giant starfish, and his gaze turned gentle with affection as he said, "It's okay; eat slowly. There are more of them here. I allowed them into our land just for you."
All of a sudden, the starfish quivered before expanding. It quivered violently as it expanded to its limit before finally exploding into a bloody mist.
The abrupt turn of events shocked everyone, and the powerful explosion blasted them away, freeing them from the chains.
399 reacted first before anyone else, and his enormous head dove into the steaming hot flesh, seemingly looking for something inside of it.
"Lunaia, no! My love... Lunaia, no!" 399 screamed.
399's shrill cry awakened Charles from his stupor. He shook his head vigorously, but his bewildered look remained. He could still remember getting sucked into the flesh monster's mouth, so how did he end up hanging from a tree branch?
Before he could think it through, a dense killing intent bored down on him. Left without enough time to even think, Charles somersaulted down the tree.
A powerful explosion echoed overhead. If he had jumped down even a beat later, his head would have exploded into a bloody mist. In fact, the tree where he had inexplicably landed had been blasted apart into two charred pieces.
"Y-y-you..! You killed my beloved!" 399 roared. As he grew agitated, black maggots of varying sizes crawled out of his face, creating an exceptionally terrifying sight.
Meanwhile, Charles had just landed on the ground when over a dozen grenades emitting white smoke materialized next to his feet.
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