Shrouded Seascape

The rotten state of these things told Charles that they once belonged to the Albion Isles, and they were animated through an unknown method.

Under the incessant bombardment of the fleet, they all sank back into the sea, but there seemed to be an inexhaustible supply of them beneath the sea surface as more of them popped up and charged at the fleet.

A discordant mixture of explosions, crashing waves, and nonsensical phrases pervaded the surroundings. Despite the chaos, however, they were obviously still in control, and it was proven by how Sparkle was still sitting on the gunwale, reading a book with a bored face.

Wiping away the seawater on his face and flicking it onto the deck, Charles turned to Sparkle and said, "Keep an eye out. If the situation gets out of hand, send them back first."

Sparkle wordlessly nodded. She was clearly engrossed in her book. At first, it seemed that nothing else was going to happen, but everyone was soon proven wrong.

Filthy, pitch-black bubbles suddenly emerged from the seawater on the starboard side of the ship.

A mechanical castle sewn together using a variety of machinery emerged from the filthy bubbles. The mechanical castle was colossal, seemingly the size of a hill, and there were cannons jutting out of the castle windows.

As soon as they emerged from the ocean, the cannons immediately spat fire at the fleet.

The mechanical castle was just the first of many to come as more ships that seemed to be made of flesh and machinery burst out of the water and began to fire a salvo at the fleet, putting everyone's lives at risk.

To make matters worse, the shells of the artillery contained either those bizarre monsters or humanoids made of machinery.

Regardless of whether they crashed into the water or onto the deck of the ships, these monsters, which were seemingly made of both flesh and machinery, swung their deformed limbs to attack Hope Island's navy.

The sailors whipped out their weapons and fired incessantly at the monsters to no avail. Their bullets couldn't pierce the skin of these monsters and simply bounced off of them.

One of the sailors onboard one of the ships found himself in a dire situation. The monster before him was about to pounce on him when a sharp anchor hook shot out from the side, piercing the monster.

Charles looked into the telescope and saw a familiar face atop the mechanical castle. The face belonged to none other than the Governor of the Albion Isles, Swann.

However, the sight of him here did not make sense. Swann was one of the keys needed to unseal God Fhtagn, so Anna had imprisoned him in the most heavily guarded cell on Hope Island.

There was no way he could be here.

Upon closer inspection, Charles realized that the Swann before him wasn't the Feaster's Chosen One, and it all made sense.

The Governor of Albion Isles had split himself into two back then, and his other half served as a decoy. As far as Charles could remember, the decoy was killed by the Pope, and his corpse sank into the depths of the sea along with the entire Albion Isles.

Charles had no idea how he was alive, but it was clear that he had become the leader of the bizarre monsters.

Sparkle looked up from her book when she felt Charles patting her head.

"I'll go and handle that side. You keep an eye on everything here," Charles said. As soon as his words fell, black fur grew all over him, and sharp fangs grew in his mouth.

His muscles also writhed beneath his skin as he transformed into a horrifying bat monster. Charles kicked off of the deck with his backward-bending legs, and he spread his fleshy wings open, making a beeline for the distant Swann.

Charles' flight made him the target of aerial attacks, but they all missed as Charles' figure disappeared in midair.

Sparkle cupped her chin with her hand, wordlessly observing the chaos in the distance.

"Sigh, how boring," she remarked. Just then, her eyes lit up. Her figure disappeared from the gunwale and reappeared in midair as she turned toward the starboard side of the ship.

Beneath the waters, a pair of blood-red eyes had appeared at some unknown point in time, and it seemed to have been quietly watching the fight since then.

"Where is that thing from? I've never seen anything like that at the bottom of the sea. It doesn't have that aura. I don't think it's a god."

The pair of blood-red eyes seemed to have sensed Sparkle's gaze. A few tentacles with suckers extended from the water, and they bent slightly, seemingly beckoning to her before disappearing into the deep sea.

A glimmer of curiosity flashed in Sparkle's eyes. She had seen some things in the waters, but this was the first entity to greet her.

Sparkle turned to the distant chaos and seemed to fall into deep contemplation. In the end, she removed her right eye and tossed it onto the deck down below before her figure vanished in a flash of white light.

Sparkle rushed toward the blood-red eyes in the depths.

Meanwhile, Charles had already approached the mechanical castle where Swann was located. Swann's other half seemed to be embedded in the castle, and it was located not too far away below him.

The invisible Charles rapidly reverted to his human form as he raised the black spike in his hand and thrust forward, piercing Swann's head. The black spike was incredibly sharp, and it pierced Swann's heart all the way from the crown of his head.

Both of Swann's eyes—a half-rotten natural eye and a half-rusted metal eye—turned to Charles at the same time.

Looking into Swann's eyes, a hint of doubt arose in Charles's heart. Swann's eyes were cold, devoid of any emotion. It was so indifferent that Charles felt like he was staring into the eyes of a puppet rather than a living being.

There's something wrong here! Why is there not even a hint of hatred in his eyes while he's staring at me?! The one controlling this body isn't Swann! There's someone else controlling this guy!

Just then, the seawater down below darkened, becoming as black as ink. At the same time, familiar yet unfamiliar whisperings echoed in the depths of Charles' mind.

The whisperings were so loud and so clear that Charles could even make out a few words from it.

Charles gnashed his teeth and resisted fiercely against the whisperings in his mind when several afterimages rushed out of the ink-black sea water and charged at him.

Charles vanished as he teleported a short distance away to dodge the attacks of the afterimages, but it seemed that they had anticipated Charles' actions. A beam of golden light darted out from the side, rushing toward his waist.

Charles lowered his prosthetic arm, and his steel arm collided with the opponent's weapon with a clang. Sparks flew, and Charles revealed agony on his face. At the same time, he finally saw the faces of his attackers.

They were covered in mucus all over; they had octopus-like eyes with horizontal pupils and more than a dozen tentacles on their chin. It turned out that Charles' attackers were the elders of the Fhtagn Covenant!

Just then, Charles felt a sharp pain radiating from his neck.

A weapon made of pure gold had buried itself into his neck, digging into it.

This was an ambush, and the ambushers were the twelve elders of the Fhtagn Covenant's council. It couldn't be helped. Charles was becoming more and more powerful by the day, and they were becoming increasingly afraid of him.

To make matters worse, Hope Island was becoming more powerful along with him to the extent that they could no longer afford to underestimate the island's firepower. If they waited any longer, the gap between them would only widen.

They had unanimously decided to go all out and eliminate the major threat known as Charles! Otherwise, they'd suffer the same horrible fate as the mighty Foundation.

Charles let out a guttural growl, and bright white electric arcs burst out of him in an attempt to force the elders around him to retreat.

Instead of retreating, however, the octopus monsters clad in black robes braved Charles' electric attack and charged at him. Clearly, they were willing to risk severe injuries just to kill Charles.

Charles' daughter had a power comparable to a Divinity, so they had to seize the brief opportunity to kill Charles before she came back to her senses!

"Long live the Great One!"

"Long live the Great One!"

"Long live the Great One!"

They removed their black robes, revealing their hideous and terrifying octopus-like forms. Determination blazed fiercely in their eyes as they pressed closer to Charles.

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