Shrouded Seascape - Chapter 511: D4

“He’s not under the influence of God Fhtagn?” Charles looked at Bandages in the center of the bloody spell array with surprise. “That’s impossible. He only started becoming like this after encountering God Fhtagn’s aura.”

The sticky tentacles beneath the octopus head quivered slightly, and the repulsive voice echoed once again.

“I said he’s not under our Great One’s influence, so he definitely isn’t. We understand the divine might of the Great One far more than you do. Governor, please bring over someone else. The pure blood of the ritual is about to dry up. I’m afraid it won’t be as effective if we wait any longer.”

Charles frowned as he stared at Bandages, who was sprawled out on the ground.

Since it wasn’t working on Bandages, who was he supposed to save first? After pondering for a few seconds, Charles turned to James, who was watching from the sidelines, and said, “Buddy, help me bring Dipp over here.”

The burly James nodded and left with a squad of police in black uniforms.

Charles stepped over the intestines on the ground and walked toward the dark brown octopus-headed leader.

Charles stared into the eyes of the octopus-headed leader and said, “These people are my family. Don’t play any tricks. If anything untoward happens to them, none of you will be able to leave my island alive.”

“Rest assured, Governor Charles. We’re not like the castrated Pope of that evil Divine Light Order. We have an agreement, and we definitely won’t go back on our word.

“Moreover, it’s not like this is our first dealing. You should be aware of our credibility.”

Charles retreated from the spell array and smiled coldly. “I can’t say that for sure. The Pope might actually be more trustworthy than you.”

After a few minutes, Dipp strapped in a straitjacket was carried into the spell array. Dipp squirmed and struggled against the restraint, making him look like a giant maggot waiting to be slaughtered.

“This Deep Dweller can undergo the ritual. I can sense the residual force of the Great One within him.”

The three red-robed Fhtagn priests prostrated in a triangle outside the spell array. Their tentacle-like limbs squirmed out from under their robes and encircled the massive spell array, which was made out of flesh and blood.

The followers with octopus tattoos on their faces stood at the outer layer of the spell array, and they started chanting an inscrutable incantation.

“Stell””””bsn…Nilgh””””ri…”

Charles had heard of their chanting before. They seemed to be imitating the annoying cursed whisperings that Charles was very familiar with.

“wk””””hmr…-nythlloigor…Sk’shgn.”

The chanting grew louder, and in addition to the chanting voices of the priests and the followers, Charles could also hear strange voices as well as intermittent eerie noises.

The black candle flames surged, igniting the bones and entrails on the ground. The spell array transformed into a sea of black flames, scorching Dipp in the middle of the formation.

Dipp’s face distorted into a hideous grimace, and he opened his mouth wide to let loose heart-wrenching howls. Before long, Dipp was covered in flames, and he rolled around in the spell array, clearly desperate to extinguish the flames.

The flames emanated a horrifying aura that instilled a primal fear in everyone, and everyone retreated involuntarily in the face of it. Those with weaker constitutions even covered their mouths and rushed out of the door to vomit.

Seeing the miserable state of his friend, James gnashed his chattering teeth. He cast a murderous gaze at the three red-robed priests conducting the ritual. He truly wanted to kill those deformed monsters, but he couldn’t do such a thing.

The Captain had invited them, so the Captain definitely would definitely not allow them to harm his crew.

The flames burned fiercely, and a cloud of black smoke began to rise from Dipp. Dipp seemed to have become a ball of burning plastic as black smoke billowed out of him nonstop.

Aside from Charles, everyone’s faces distorted in pain, and they instinctively kneaded their foreheads with their hands.

“Ah! My head! My head hurts! It huuurtssss!” Bandages howled as he struggled against the police officers, who were trying their best to suppress him.

Charles turned to James and saw that the latter was clutching his forehead in pain. “Chief Engineer, take everyone here out with you. This ritual is going to have an impact on ordinary people.”

James revealed a pained look as he stared at the horrifying scene before him. He shook his head forcefully and replied, “It’s fine! Captain! We can withstand this!”

The black flames extinguished just then, and the terrifying aura that had permeated the air above everyone vanished into nothingness. Everything returned to normalcy in an instant.

Dipp stood up from within the spell array. He swept a blank gaze across the crowd, and his gaze finally settled on Charles. “Captain, why are we here? Weren’t we inside that trench?”

Dipp was sane! Charles could no longer hold back, rushing up to Dipp. He examined his boatswain carefully from top to bottom and sighed in relief upon discovering that Dipp was unscathed.

The black flames hadn’t harmed him in the slightest. It seemed that those flames could only affect one’s soul.

“It’s over—everything is over. As long as you’re back…. there’s nothing better than that,” the excited Charles said, patting Dipp’s shoulders.

The Fhtagn priest beside them crawled up from the ground and walked up in front of Charles. “Governor, as I said before, we, the followers of God Fhtagn, are always trustworthy. We value etiquette as well. We’ve promised, so we’ll definitely keep our word.”

Charles turned to look at the octopus-headed leader covered in mucus. “Great. I accept this gesture of sincerity; we can now discuss what’s going to happen next.”

The octopus-headed leader nodded and was about to say something when Dipp made a move; Dipp rushed toward a Fhtagnist and yanked off a statuette of God Fhtagn carved from green selenite hanging from that Fhtagnist’s chest.

Then, the fishman knelt on the ground, and his eyes were filled with fervent and devoted zeal. “Ah, the Great One! You are the one and only God! How foolish I was before to have actually failed to notice Your greatness.

“From now on, my life is dedicated to serving You forever! Until the Final Day! Until the day of Your awakening!”

Charles’ veins instantly bulged at the sight. He whipped out the flesh revolver from his prosthetic limb and shoved it into the mouth hidden beneath the tentacles of the octopus-headed leader in front of him.

“How dare you try to deceive me in my own territory, you fucker!”

Clicking noises immediately sounded afterward as the police officers unlocked the trigger lock of their guns. In the blink of an eye, multiple firearms and relics were pointed at the Fhtagnists in the middle of the reception hall.

Charles just had to give the order, and they’d immediately make a move.

A thick, palpable killing intent instantly pervaded the air above the reception hall.

“Speak! Why did you tamper with the ritual?! Do you really think that the long distance between us is enough for me to refrain from dealing with you, Fhtagnists?!”

Charles’ fierce expression depicted his fury. It seemed that even though Dipp had recovered his sanity, he had been infected with the D4 meme and had become a fanatical follower of the God Fhtagn!

However, the red-robed leader was clueless as to why Charles was furious.

“Governor, we’ve come here to make a deal with you in good faith, so we have not tampered with the ritual. Moreover, it’s a ritual that we’ve always used ourselves, and we’ve never had any issues with it.”