Chapter 452: Destination
An oppressive silence descended upon the Narwhale, and no noises could be heard aside from the crashing waves as well as the grating noise coming from Bandages' severed fingers as he carved furiously on the deck floor.
Just as the towering "islands" were about a few hundred meters away from the Narwhale, one of the "islands" shuddered and tilted before plunging into the sea.
"Wait, there's something wrong! Something's happening underneath!" Charles rushed to the railings, leaned over, and craned his neck out to peer into the water.
Amidst the swaying waves, Charles clapped his eyes on a massive blood-red eye.
It was a Divinity, and Charles had seen it before when he was underwater. Murmurs echoed in Charles almost at the same time as he saw the blood-red eye. His head throbbed in pain, and the murmurs grew louder with every passing second.
Charles ignored the worsening mental pollution and stared in excitement at the blood-red eye. Five years ago, the blood-red eye was all by itself, but today, there was something else next to it.
Boom!
A deafening rumbling echoed as another "island" sank into the abyss. Charles had no inkling of the massive blood-red eye's identity, but he knew one thing for sure: the blood-red eye was fighting Hypnos!
"Hurry up and move! This is our final chance to make it out of here alive! Overload the turbines to their limits!" Charles roared hysterically into the brass communication pipe that led to the turbine room.
Charles rushed out once more and saw that there were only two islands remaining.
"You can do it! You can do it! Kill it!" Charles roared with both hands around his mouth, cheering for the entity underwater.
The distance and the dark waters didn't allow Charles to make out the figure of the entity, but the entity's yellow cat pupils were particularly eye-catching.
Rumble!
A towering "island" sank, and the waves pushed the Narwhale farther away. The cat-eyed Divinity seemed to be more powerful than Hypnos, as it had remained at an advantage throughout the battle.
The tumultuous waves soon calmed down, and the Narwhale eventually got far enough from the battleground where humans had no place.
However, Charles dared not to let his guard down and forced the ship to sail even farther away as he stood outside the bridge. He looked around warily with nerves stretched taut and prepared for any ambushes.
If those "islands" were Hypnos' fingers, then who is fighting Hypnos? Just how many Divinities exist throughout this vast sea? Charles thought.
Quite a few burning questions popped up in his mind, but he didn't really care about the answer to those questions at the moment. Charles' top priority at the moment was to escape with their lives.
Just like that, two days and two nights passed. Charles' taut nerves finally loosenedthe Narwhale was safe.
The moment he let his guard down, he collapsed to the cold, hard floor. He hadn't slept a wink over the past five days and five nights, so it wasn't strange that he immediately collapsed. Even a man made of iron wouldn't be able to withstand not sleeping for such a long time, much less Charles.
Charles slept soundly until someone shook him awake.
"Captain, wake up. Hurry up and wake up." The voice sounded extremely familiar to Charles, but it was a voice that he wasn't supposed to hear anymore.
Charles opened his eyes and found himself on a bed.
Second Mate Conor was sitting next to him, shaking him awake.
"Is there something wrong?" Charles asked. Then, without waiting for Conor's reply, he stood up and put on his boots. He was about to head out when he froze in his steps and cast an astonished gaze at his second mate.
"Aren't you dead, Conor?"
Conor smiled before putting a trembling hand on his chest. "I would have died if I hadn't been prepared. Fortunately, I knew we'd be in extreme danger, so I made sure to buy a life-saving relic before we set sail.
"I'll give you that relic once we disembark, but the price of using it"
Charles examined Conor from top to bottom and was finally convinced that Conor was indeed alive.
"Great," Charles said, revealing a relieved smile. "It's great as long as you're still alive. I was thinking about how to explain your death to your wife upon our return.
"It's okay. You didn't have to bother. Misha knows everything. You asked me for my help, and I can't just refuse you. So, I told her that I'm going to help you one last time."
Conor's mouth fluttered open to continue speaking, but Charles raised a hand, stopping him. "Let's save the chit-chat for later once we have time. Anyway, how long was I asleep? Why did you wake me up?"
"Captain, you've been sleeping for two days. I woke you up because we've arrived at our destination," Conor replied.
Charles nodded and rushed out the door.
Second Mate Conor chased after Charles and called out, "I'm not done yet, Captain. We've reached our destination, but there are no islands nearby. Are you sure the nautical chart has no errors?"
Charles soon arrived at the deck and looked around, along with the other crew members. The dark expanse seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions. There wasn't even a reef around, not to mention an island.
"Audric, do a three-kilometer-perimeter search. Check thoroughly to see if the error is with the nautical chart or us," Charles ordered.
The blind vampire nodded and spread his wings before disappearing into the darkness.
Meanwhile, Charles rushed to his quarters to take out the spare nautical chart and compare it to the one on the wall in the bridge.
The blind vampire eventually returned and told them that there weren't any nearby islands.
What's happening? Did the island grow legs and run away? Charles thought, frowning slightly as he stared at the nautical chart before him. As soon as he fell into deep contemplation, he realized something and looked up abruptly. An island can't run away because it doesn't have any legs, but it can definitely sink!
"We're diving! We're going to look for any clues underwater!" Charles shouted. At his order, the crew sprang into action. Cold seawater filled the ballast tanks, and the huge steel plates forged from Type-3 Steel soon covered the deck.
The Narwhale dove straight down, illuminating the dark waters with its searchlights. The sea was extremely deep, and it seemed as though they would never reach the bottom even if they were to dive endlessly.
Five minutes later, Norton peeking outside through the periscope abruptly shouted, "Reporting to Captain! Seafloor discovered! However, there is something strange with the seafloor!"
Charles rushed over and pushed Norton aside to use the periscope. With excellent night vision, Charles saw more than Norton had seen. There wasn't any sunken island on the dark seafloor, but there was something else.
There was an uneven stretch of terrain to the Narwhale's right. Someone seemed to have scraped the ground there, creating an uneven path.
"Port about, heading thirty. Let's go over and take a closer look. The topography doesn't look natural," Charles said.
The Narwhale moved according to Charles' order, but the uneven path seemed to extend endlessly into the dark waters.
Charles was also overcome with a strange feeling just then. For some reason, he felt like the island housing the key had transformed into a snail and crawled away, leaving behind a trail of uneven path.
Did it really grow legs and run away? Charles thought. He considered many possibilities, but none of them could explain the bizarre scene before them. Regardless of the truth behind the strange scene, nothing could stifle Charles' determination to find the key, and he ordered the Narwhale to keep tracing the uneven path.
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