Shrouded Seascape - Chapter 480: Shattered

“Ag’agth…lwhuk! yeh agthu…”

The cursed whisperings erupted in Charles’ head the moment he saw the hand.

They stood face to face before a Divinity—a forbidden existence of the Subterranean Sea. Charles’ arrival had disturbed the Divinity living in the bizarre city at the deepest part of the Dark Abyssal Trench.

“Close your eyes!” Charles roared urgently.

The crew members who had yet to see the hand instinctively obeyed, and they were spared from the fate of collapsing to the floor as if they were puppets that had their strings cut.

However, the crew members were extremely nervous. Having not seen the hand, they had no idea what was going on.

Rumble!

A low rumbling echoed, and space itself seemed to have been torn apart. Charles noticed that the Divinity had noticed them and was walking over toward them.

Charles looked around and stared alternatingly between Anna convulsing on the floor and the crew members who had their eyes shut. A Divinity was invincible, and Charles couldn’t imagine the consequences if He got close enough to the Narwhale.

Charles was the reason behind this incident, and he knew that he had to clean up his mess. Thus, he turned to the bridge and roared, “Bandages! Drain the ballast tanks! Ascend! Take everyone up and leave the trench!”

With that, Charles turned around resolutely and was about to charge into the cabin when Anna’s tentacle wrapped around his arm, forcing him to come to a halt.

“What are you going to do? You’ve always been a selfish person, so how come you suddenly want to play the selfless hero?! You’re not even that kind of person, are you?” Anna asked.

The low rumbling and tremors outside prompted Charles to sever Anna’s tentacle using his chainsaw.

“His target is me. I’ll go and distract Him. Don’t worry; I’ve become undying, so I’m going to be fine. Anyway, take good care of Sparkle for me,” Charles said. Then, he immediately rushed into the cabin and entered the decompression chamber.

Charles rushed out of the Narwhale with a determined look. He looked up and finally saw the true appearance of the hand’s owner.

The Divinity seemed to be a semi-transparent incorporeal being, and His figure was riddled with sinister prints, which squirmed constantly as if they were alive.

A myriad of tentacles were sticking out of His silky smooth head, and His appendages resembled claws. Meanwhile, His ferocious maw was expansive, stretching all the way to His torso from His chin.

He was far away, but He appeared extremely close due to His colossal figure that resembled a mountain.

The Divinity’s gray eyes with three black pupils moved slowly until His gaze landed on Charles—He had finally noticed Charles.

As soon as His gaze landed on Charles, the latter felt like his head was about to implode. Veins bulged all over his scalp as his head swelled. Charles was extremely scared, but he had no idea why he was afraid—all he knew was that he was afraid.

However, this wasn’t the time to dwell on his fears. Charles turned around and cast one final glance at the Narwhale, which was ascending at top speed. Then, he turned around once more and swam in the opposite direction.

The Divinity’s target was none other than him, so he had to stay here as bait for the sake of Anna and the crew’s safety.

Charles swam with all his mind, and the distance between him and the Divinity grew farther and farther. Just as Charles thought that he’d be able to shake off the Divinity, the latter suddenly raised His semi-transparent hand and pointed at him.

Charles’ body abruptly cracked open, shattering without any warning. He seemed like a huge glass slab that had been struck by a sledgehammer. The collision “shattered” Charles, and his body burst open into tiny fragments.

The seawater around Charles was instantly dyed crimson by his blood.

Charles had suffered an injury so severe that anyone would have died instantly upon sustaining such an injury.

However, Charles was still alive. His eyeball rolled haphazardly in the bloody water, and he saw his pink brain floating past him. His beating heart was just two meters away from him as well.

The corners of Charles’ mouth curled up slightly into a smile when he saw the Divinity walking toward him. His gamble had paid off; the Divinity’s target was indeed him, which meant Anna and his crew were going to be safe.

Just then, a shadow descended upon Charles. The shadow was none other than Anna, and her tentacles moved fast, rapidly piecing together what was left of Charles’ body.

What are you doing here?! Hurry up and leave! He’s coming! Charles wanted to shout, but his vocal cords had been split in half, so he couldn’t say something.

“Shut up! What would I become once you cease to exist?” Anna’s trembling voice echoed loudly in Charles’ mind.

The fragments that Anna had gathered were barely enough to create a humanoid shape of Charles. Charles looked like a porcelain doll that had been reassembled after shattering; he looked both hideous and miserable.

Unfortunately, it seemed Anna’s efforts would end up being futile. The colossal Divinity raised His right hand and swung it toward Anna and Charles.

“Anna, leave! I’m begging you! Leave!” Charles shouted while unwittingly transfixed at the entity before him.

Anna didn’t respond, but her tentacles wrapped around the fragmented Charles as she swam up as fast as possible. However, the Divinity’s hand was just far too fast and massive for Anna to elude.

The hand arrived just a few meters away from them in the blink of an eye, but before Anna “shattered” like Charles. A discordant noise reminiscent of folding metal echoed from the far left.

The semi-transparent Divinity came to a halt. He twisted His body and turned to look at where the sound had come from.

Charles swung his head to follow the Divinity’s gaze. His eyeball popped out of its socket, but Charles still managed to see a colossal eye in the darkness. The colossal eye had an amber cat pupil, and Charles found it incredibly familiar.

Charles realized that he had seen this cat-eyed Divinity not too long ago. The cat-eyed Divinity had lent a hand to Charles when he and his crew were about to get squashed to death by Hypnos.

The semi-transparent Divinity seemed entranced by the cat-eyed Divinity. The next moment, He transformed into what seemed like a torrent of liquid and rushed toward the cat-eyed Divinity in a bizarre, eerie manner.

“This is our chance! Let’s hurry up and leave,” Anna said.

She held Charles tightly in her arms and was about to swim upward when Charles’ voice echoed in her mind.

“Forget it, Anna. My current condition means that I can only live here. I’m definitely going to die once I go up, so just let me go.”

A violent tremor ran across Anna, and she slowly let go of Charles.

Without the tentacles holding him together, Charles’ body scattered into dozens of fragments in the seawater.

Before the fragments could float away, however, more than a dozen invisible tentacles burst out of Charles. Then, Charles rolled in the water, piecing himself together by binding himself using his tentacles.

“Anna, can you apologize to Sparkle for me? Tell her that Daddy can no longer accompany her. Please tell my crew that my will is beneath my pillow,” Charles said. His two remaining free tentacles waved furiously in the water, propelling him toward the distant cold, metallic light in the bizarre city.

Charles felt incredibly calm; he couldn’t feel anything except for the burning curiosity about the light’s identity. He wanted to see whether the light was truly concealing the colossal key or not.

Anna’s eyes widened as she stared at Charles swimming away. Moments later, she rushed at Charles and shrank rapidly, transforming into the beautiful Anna. Then, she hugged Charles tightly and shouted hysterically, “I told you, didn’t I?! Why did you not listen to me? What do you want me to do now?!”

Charles looked at Anna and saw the despair and extreme agitation on her face. An inexplicable emotion welled up in his heart at the sight. His mouth fluttered open, seemingly wanting to say something, but he held back and stayed quiet.

Eventually, Charles said, “So many of my crew members have met their demise; it’s finally my turn now as the captain.”