Chapter 314. Special Method
"According to the archives I saw in the library, His Holiness the Pope attempted a similar experiment ninety years ago. He used those who had failed to receive our Light God's blessing as his test subjects, but without exception, all attempts failed."
Linda's words cast a shadow of gloom over everyone's hearts. Sorrow painted everyone's faces as they glanced over to Bandages, who was barely clinging to life as he lay on the stretcher. It felt as though their First Mate's fate was sealed.
Charles' hand paused momentarily before he resumed drawing the formation. No matter what, this was the only available method now. He would take even a minuscule chance of success over letting Bandages just wait for death.
Soon, the three patterns, each three meters in diameter, recorded on the papers were replicated on the floor.
The peculiar cuneiform lines that formed a triple-layer formation did not exude the mystical aura of the Western Seas' magic circles. Instead, they resembled geometric patterns, each line and space holding seemingly special significance.
Charles gently picked up his extremely weakened First Mate in one hand and walked toward the center of the formation. Bandages' body was icy and dripping with liquid. Charles felt as though he was carrying a half-rotted corpse.
By this time, Bandages' pupils were faintly white, an indication that he had seemingly lost sight. His cracked lips slightly parted, and he muttered to Charles in a soft voice.
"Captain, I remember now... I think I traded my past for something with some entity... But what was it?"
Charles had no answer to his question. He carefully placed Bandages down in the center of the formation.
Linda then entered the formation with a metal syringe in hand. She then injected it straight into Bandages' exposed chest.
"This will keep him stable for half an hour; he won't die, even from what happens later. However, if your method fails, he's really going to die once the time is up."
Charles took a deep breath and nodded slowly at the green sculpture. He had Bandages grip the Dark Blade before he grasped the latter's hand and thrust it into the statue.
A piercing scream of a woman erupted in the room and had everyone instinctively covering their ears.
Immediately afterward, Charles noticed a change in the sculpture's posture. Undeterred, he continued stabbing the sculpture. After several more screams, the sculpture was split into two halves, as a mass of black smoke with hints of gray hovered above it.
It was the Origin Essence that the experimental records had mentioned. The gray smoke seemed to be rapidly dispersing, and it seemed like it would completely vanish in just a couple of seconds.
Not wasting another second, Charles swiftly sliced open Bandages' abdomen with the Dark Blade. To his astonishment, no blood oozed from the incision—or perhaps Bandages had no more blood to lose.
He swiftly located the pancreas. Controlling Bandages' hand, he clutched the Origin Essence and pressed it firmly against the organ.
Bandages's previously limp body tensed up and started trembling. His mouth parted to the maximum in a silent scream.
Charles hurriedly retreated from the intricate formation drawn on the floor. His heart pounded with anxiety as he watched Bandages writhing in place.
The next moment, the pristine white salt on the ground ignited all at once before it extinguished the next second. They had all been charred and looked like motionless black serpents on the ground.
Under the watchful gazes of everyone present, a twisted tree branch slowly emerged from Bandages' mouth. It wasn't a normal, healthy branch; its grotesque green shade was similar to that of vomit. Coupled with its eerie, twisted shape, it looked more like a terrifying tree demon that had been struck by lightning.
It didn't take long for the branch to stretch toward the ceiling and start to entwine itself around it.
However, that was just the beginning. Accompanied by the sound of tearing flesh, more and more branches started to protrude from Bandages's body. His frail body looked like it would be torn apart completely in the next moment.
Charles' heart skipped a beat at the sight. There was something amiss.
The thriving leaves and branches obscured everyone's views. The vines started encroaching the area like sinister tentacles. They even dipped their tips into Linda's array of medical supplies to drink up the liquids within.
Adorned with green leaves, the branches stretched further and longer. The room was rapidly becoming overrun with these invasive plants. They showed no signs of stopping and started reaching out to the nearby crew members.
"Erm...Captain," Feuerbach called out with a look of forced calm on his face. "Something doesn't feel right."
Swoosh!
As though responding to Feuerbach's words, a vine shot out and coiled around Cook Planck and dragged him away.
Planck's desperate cries filled the air as he clung to a nearby table with every ounce of strength he could muster. Acting swiftly, Charles severed the vine with his chainsaw and rescued Planck from the vine's grasp.
"Captain, this won't do. If we don't take action, the plants will overrun the entire ship!" Linda warned as a grave expression appeared on her visage.
Facing the dancing vines before him, Charles' hand slightly trembled as he reached into his coat to pull out his most powerful weapon—the Lightning Rod.
White arcs of electricity danced along the rod, ready to attack, but Charles hesitated to strike. The mass of plants before him wasn't just another creature. It was his First Mate, a crew member who had gone through multiple life-and-death situations with him.
The branches and trunks slowly approached Charles, coiling themselves around his limbs in an attempt to drag him into them.
Just as Charles was about to be completely engulfed by the plants, his remaining arm moved, and he thrust the rod fiercely into the mass of vegetation.
Bzzzzzzt!
White electric arcs leaped rapidly among the green branches and vines. The writhing vegetation stopped their expansion and curled inward, but Charles wasn't done just yet. He unleashed an electric onslaught as he watched the plants' rotten green hue turn yellow and then to charred black.
The bright flashes of lightning reflected Charles' fierce grimace. After what seemed an eternity, he collapsed to one knee with a thud.
He opened his mouth and panted heavily as he stared at the blackened mass before him; the turmoil in his heart was far from subsiding.
Bang!
Charles suddenly slammed his right fist into the ground and created a small crater. His eyes turned red with overwhelming emotions. There were so many things he wanted to say, but he couldn't find any words to.
"Cap...tain..." a familiar voice startled Charles out of his sorrow.
Charles slowly raised his head, his eyes fixated on the charred mass before him. A vibrant green branch slowly extended from within the mass. It swayed gently as if it were confused.
Agitated, Charles rushed forward and peeled away the scorching black trunks with his one bare hand. Soon, he found Bandages, whose appearance had undergone a significant change.
Bandages's torn body had been patched back together with various plants, and he now looked like a tree man. His eyes were now hollowed; in the place of eyelashes, several delicate vines cascaded down to cover his moss-covered face.
Charles hurriedly helped Bandages up. With a hint of anxiety in his voice, he asked, "How are you feeling? Are you alright?"
Bandages lifted his right hand with his palm facing upward. Green branches sprouted from the center of his palm; they curled and uncurled at his will.
"I feel that... the curse... hasn't... vanished. But I feel... I can... endure long...enough to reach... the Divinity's Land."
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