Shrouded Seascape

As the darkness swiftly returned to its original place, the sea reverted to an inky green color that was almost close to black. It was a color Charles found familiar as his long years in the Subterranean Sea had made him long forgotten the azure waters. In his mind, the ocean now felt right in its inky green, almost black hue.

Just then, a sudden thought entered Charles' mind. He turned his gaze toward the dark sphere. As shadowy wisps of darkness seeped out of the massive black sphere, the orb was also gradually shrinking.

Staring at the ball of darkness before him, Charles felt like a boulder was weighing down his chest, and he felt suffocated.

The orb had been his only friend in the triakis octahedron. Their friendship was genuine, pure, and untainted by any ulterior motives.

Yet, this friend of his was fading away, and the perpetrator was him, who had brought it down here.

"Friday," Charles softly called out. "This is your home. Welcome home."

However, the darkness showed no response. It continued to hover in mid-air and continuously diminished in size. Perhaps the moment it returned to the Subterranean Sea, its consciousness that had been created under the influence of 002 disappeared.

Feeling utterly powerless, Charles was pulled along by the dark tentacle on his wrist. He could only silently watch as the orb shrank slowly. The sorrow and grief he was feeling felt as though he was attending a dear friend's funeral.

He had thought that everything was now all over. The Subterranean Sea was saved; the apocalypse had ended.

But just when the orb of darkness shrank to half its size, the inky black sea below Charles started churning. It wasn't just a small area of the sea that was boiling, but the entire ocean surface was roiling. It was as though something massive was about to emerge from under the depths.

Accompanied by a series of splashing noises, gigantic tentacles, each as thick as towers and their suckers glowing an eerie light, shot up from the churning waters. They wrapped themselves around the dark orb and pulled it into the ocean's depths.

Anxiety raced through Charles, but he was too weak after the battle with the triakis octahedron; there was no way he could fight now.

A sudden thought struck Charles, and he turned toward the massive form of Pede next to him. With strength comparable to that of a Divinity, He could fend off whatever was beneath the water.

No matter how loud Charles shouted, however, Pede merely cast a cold glance at Charles with His three massive eyes. Then, under Charles' gaze, He released his grip on the darkness!

Without Pede's restraint, both the darkness and Charles were dragged by the tentacles and plunged into the waters at a terrifying speed.

A loud splash resonated through the air when Charles crashed into the waters. Falling from such a great height, it felt as though he had collided with a concrete floor.

The waters were boiling, but the temperature was freezing cold and chilled Charles to the bones, causing him to involuntarily open his eyes wide.

The last thing Charles saw was a grand city slowly rising from the depths of the sea. Before he could do anything, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head, and his consciousness faded.

After an unknown amount of time, Charles felt like he was in a hazy dream.

He saw the faces of people he knew and didn't know. Their heads grew extremely large and crowded the entire sky. With twisted expressions, they were screaming at him in an endless cacophony.

Charles had no idea what the dream meant but when he grudgingly came around, he no longer had the luxury of time to ponder over his dream. He found himself hanging upside down against a pristine white wall.

Confused, he scanned his surroundings. The room was the size of a classroom, and aside from himself, there was nothing else in the room. Not only were the walls white, but the ceiling and even the floor were snow white.

The memories from before he fainted slowly turned clear, and Charles' face darkened with realization. The situation was now painfully clear—the demi-gods of the Haikors had never intended to return the darkness to its rightful place.

They had long acquired a way to survive underwater. They had only joined the operation to claim the darkness of the Subterranean Sea for themselves!

This was terrible news as the Haikors had a trump card—Pede, whose power could rival that of a Divinity.

They harbored hostility toward humans, and the Subterranean Sea was too weak to retaliate against them.

Suddenly, an even scarier thought entered Charles' mind. If they took away the darkness, does that mean that the receded waters would start rising again?

While Charles was consumed by his thoughts, the door suddenly slid open with a whoosh!

A Deep Dweller entered the room and used its white fish eyes to look down on Charles with a cold gaze.

"How are you feeling now?"

Charles looked at the green scales on the creature, and a cold sneer played on his lips.

"It seems like the demi-gods have been in cahoots with the Fhtagn Covenant since a long time ago."

The Deep Dweller remained expressionless to Charles' mocking taunt. It continued to ask a series of questions.

"Do you feel like your body is recovering?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Are you hungry? What would you like for dinner?"

Charles didn't want to entertain any of the trivial questions that the Deep Dweller threw at him.

"Call Paiper over. I need to have a word with him."

"Sorry, he's very busy now and won't be able to meet you right now. I'll come back in three hours to check on you," the Deep Dweller answered. It then turned and left the room.

Charles clenched his fists in frustration. His muscles tensed up as he struggled against his restraints, but he realized all his efforts were futile. His body felt like a magnet and was stuck firmly to the wall.

However, Charles was never one to give up easily. He closed his eyes, his mind racing to find a way to escape. If there was one thing he'd learned from enduring countless hardships, it was to never give up, no matter how dire the situation was.

Half an hour later, Charles' eyes suddenly shot wide open, ablaze with newfound resolve. His figure suddenly disappeared from the wall and reappeared just right beyond the wall.

The moment he escaped from his confines, he had already entered his invisible state. Glancing around, he found himself in a wide hallway that was seemingly part of some building.

Charles pushed off against his feet. Using the ability of his boots, he inverted himself and hung upside down from the ceiling. His eyes swiftly darted from left to right before he continued to use his fused relic's power to continuously teleport upward.

It didn't matter where this was or what scheme the bunch of demi-gods were plotting; he just needed to escape from this place!

With each trigger of the relic's power, the pain in Charles' abdomen intensified a notch. When an intense, sharp pain caused his features to twist in agony, he knew he had to stop.

He had to rest. If his stomach were to rupture again at this time, it would spell serious troubles.

Clutching his abdomen, Charles crouched on the ceiling and waited for his body to recover. While waiting, his thoughts drifted to the others, and he wondered if they had also been captured.

Thinking back on the situation, the Haikors' stronger force had followed him back to the Sea of Mist. In that case, Anna, Sparkle, and the rest had to be relatively unharmed.

This thought offered Charles a small amount of comfort. He then took a moment to survey the room he was in. The air was thick with the briny scent of the sea, while the floor was blanketed with a layer of dark green seaweed.

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