Chapter 85. Bandages' Location
A streak of electricity zapped through the air and surged through the air before diving into the water. As wisps of white smoke sputtered, twitching bodies bobbed up to the surface.
Charles himself was also numbed by the powerful electric discharge. With trembling hands, he stashed the staff back into his coat. It was exactly this moment when he noticed an arrow and an exclamation mark appeared on the wall before him.
Instantly, he felt a wave of murderous intent crashing down from above. He mustered all the strength he could to move to his left, but his paralyzed body couldn't cooperate.
The quick rhythm of breaths echoing from just beneath him sparked a wicked smirk on Scarface's visage. He had deliberately engaged Charles in incessant chatter to confirm the latter's exact location.
He was fully aware that Charles was the leader of the group. Eliminating him would effectively disperse the group. When that happened, the woman and all their food would be his to take.
Just as Scarface felt his nails pierce flesh, three giant tentacles suddenly coiled themselves around him and yanked him away. Charles had triggered his ring.
"Damn it! What is this?!"
Scarface slashed at the tentacles with his nails, but a second had already passed. A second was long enough to do many things. For example, Dipp, with his dagger in hand, had already rushed to stand before Scarface.
The two swiftly engaged in battle. However, Scarface had clearly been robbed of his advantage and was losing the fight of numbers.
In a flash of cold light, his arms were severed and tossed away. Letting out a pained scream, Scarface dived into the murky waters.
With the Clown Mask on his face, Dipp wanted to follow Scarface and behead him. However, Charles stopped him before he could follow.
"Wait, don't kill him. He's still of use to us."
Seeing that his boss had been apprehended, Blake, who was underwater, spun around and swam into the distance in a state of panic. He had severely underestimated the power of these newcomers. He didn’t expect them to be such a tough nut to crack.
But halfway through his escape, he suddenly felt something furry crawling onto his back. Terrified, he tried to surface, but pain instantly coursed through him. Lily's mice gnawed at his flesh with great ferocity.
Once Charles' body had returned to normal, he lifted Scarface out of the water. Despite having both his arms severed, the man still wore a defiant expression on his face.
With a cold sneer on his face and eyes filled with contempt, he remarked, "Impressive relics. With those, you can barely be considered Level 3. But that's as far as you'll go. If you had encountered me in my prime, you would have died long ago!"
Charles had no intention of wasting his breath on Scarface. Receiving the rope from a crewmate, he tied the man securely and turned to approach the wall.
If it hadn’t been for the warning signal that had abruptly appeared on the wall, Charles would have been done for. Just as Charles approached the wall, a crude doodle of a man in bandages surfaced. Despite the rough lines, Charles could clearly recognize it to be his first mate, Bandages.
So, Bandages had been trapped within the wall. No wonder they had been unable to find him.
Charles dragged Scarface over and pointed at the graffiti on the wall, "You've been here for a while, so you should know this place well. My crewmate is trapped within the wall; how do I get him out?"
Scarface let out a scoff, clearly unwilling to say a word.
A cold glint flickered across Charles' eyes, and the Dark Blade in his hand pierced the severed stump of Scarface's right arm.
"Speak!"
Amidst his scream of agony, Scarface cursed, "Bastard! Kill me if you've got the guts!"
Just then, Bandages on the wall shook his head, and a string of jumbled words appeared next to him.
"tfel eht morf gnimoc s'erutaerc A. evaeL"
Charles was baffled by the cryptic message, but he soon realized that the text was mirrored. Bandages was warning him.
Even though he didn't know what was behind him, Charles chose to trust his first mate. He immediately turned around and shouted, "We have to leave now! Something’s fast approaching!"
Everyone followed Charles into a spring. The graffiti of Bandages flickered in and out of view as he guided the way for them.
The labyrinthine corridors twisted and turned with various intersections, but Bandages navigated them as though he knew the way and led them in a frantic dash.
After running for close to five minutes, a look of terror appeared on Scarface's visage when he had remained fearless in the face of death. "What are you doing? Stop! We can't go that way!"
Charles took a glance at Bandages on the wall and hastened his steps. Compared to the man who had just tried to kill him, he had more trust in his first mate.
Upon turning a broad corner, a piercing scream echoed from the distance. It was a heart-wrenching cry that paralyzed everyone.
"What's ahead?" Charles carved into the wall.
"Exit." A simple one-word answer surfaced.
"Impossible! That's not the exit; don't believe in his nonsense! That's Torment's territory! If a human gets caught there, their lives would be worse than death!"
With that, Scarface struggled and ran in the opposite direction. Charles lifted his revolver and aimed at the back of his head, "Stop! Or don't blame me for pulling the trigger!"
However, in his mad dash, Scarface turned and smashed his head hard against the wall. In an instant, the yellow wall was splashed with red. He would rather die than go to that place.
At the receiving end of his crewmates' gazes, Charles' brows were knitted together as he was caught in a dilemma. There was danger up ahead for sure, but Bandages had been insisting that it was the exit. One wrong decision and the lives of his entire crew would be in danger.
Charles pondered for a brief second before he carved a question into the wall with his Dark Blade.
"Which limb of yours did Anna eat?"
"Right leg."
Reading the text that surfaced, Charles was certain that it was indeed his first mate, Bandages.
"Why do you know the exit is up ahead?" Charles carved into the wall once more.
"No time!!!"
The sight of the three exclamation marks baffled Charles.
"Why do you mean by no time?"
"The island is sinking. If you don't get out now, you never will!"
As the text appeared on the wall, a sudden realization struck Charles. He slowly looked up and gazed at the endless wall above. Suddenly, it all made sense.
It wasn't Bandages who was trapped in the wall; they were the ones trapped in the wall.
The searchlight of the Narwhale cast a beam of light into the water, illuminating the underwater labyrinth along with the graffiti resembling Charles and his crew of about a dozen men on the walls.
Chef Frey anxiously watched from the deck as Bandages surfaced and dived down again and again.
"First Mate! Is Captain not out yet? I just checked. The island is sinking at an astonishing speed!"
Bandages shook his head. He took a deep breath and dived down once more. As he watched the graffiti of his comrades spring into action, Bandages held his breath and kicked his legs, rapidly following after them.
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