Shrouded Seascape

With a thick pipe clenched between his lips, Captain Karp gripped the ship's mooring rope with one hand. His brows were furrowed as he stared into the slightly restless dark waters illuminated by the searchlights.

Despite not catching sight of anything, his years of experience at sea had honed his instincts. Every fiber of his being was telling him that something was about to happen. It was the instincts of a weathered old sea captain.

The Explorers Associations had ceased offering mission rewards or post exploration quests, so most explorers had long abandoned their trade and switched to another field.

Now, opportunities were aplenty in the Subterranean Sea. Why risk one's life at sea when safer ventures await on land? Only stubborn souls like Karp insisted on the ways of the old and stuck to their trade.

Yet, at this current moment, Karp was slightly regretful of his sudden impulsive itch to seek out the new, uncharted island that had reportedly emerged.

He had already sold off his ship and was planning to retire on Hope Island. But here he was, out at sea again after being enabled by the excited words of others. When would he ever learn to rein in his rash tendencies?

"Cap, what's going on out there?" A bald head poked out from the bridge and asked Karp.

Karp turned to look at his helmsman. "Are you sure we're still on course? Something feels off."

"There's definitely no mistake. We're right on course. I just checked the reading five minutes ago," the helmsman replied in a firm tone.

"If we are on course, then where are the navigational markers?" Karp questioned as he stared at the black expanse ahead.

The bald helmsman waited for a few seconds before he raised his right hand and pointed directly toward the front of the ship. "Cap, look, isn't that a marker?"

Karp squinted his eyes and followed the direction of his helmsman's finger. Indeed, a faint, wavering glow had appeared on the dark horizon and was swaying with the currents.

"Speed up and get us closer," Karp commanded. "Check the numbers on that buoy and see if we've veered off course."

As a belch of thick, black smoke ejected from the smokestack, the aged exploration vessel began to pick up speed.

As the distance between them and the light narrowed, the restless waves seemed to gradually calm down before returning to normal tranquility. The change in their surroundings had certainly helped Karp's heart settle somewhat.

But just as they were about to reach the buoy, there was a sudden thud and the light vanished. Instantly, darkness enveloped them.

At the same time, it became eerily quiet, so quiet as though the ocean itself were holding its breath. Even the waters were still like a smooth piece of glass, devoid of even the smallest ripple.

"Damn it! We're in trouble!" Karp immediately removed his shirt to reveal the intricate tattoos that covered his chest and back.

The clustered tattooed snake heads brimmed with malevolent energy; they were even slowly slithering and moving across his skin. Some of the gray tails even extended out of his flesh and suspended in the air.

As one of the few who had managed to survive in the Core, Karp was far from just any average captain. He had every protective and offensive power he could get his hands on.

His eyes darted around to scan his surroundings, trying to find the source that caused this strange disturbance.

Suddenly, a faint sound reached his ears. It was a low-frequency murmur; it sounded like an entire crowd was softly chanting in the distance. He strained to catch the words, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't understand anything.

Beads of sweat started to form on Karp's forehead as his face darkened. He knew he had stumbled upon some dreadful and powerful existence.

Suddenly, a splashing sound broke the silence; the sound came from the darkness to the ship's starboard.

Karp whipped his head around. Despite the pitch-black darkness, he could feel the presence of a massive, faint silhouette lurking in the shadows. He was certain that the murmurs in his ears came from that existence.

Before Karp could shout any order, the ship's cylindrical searchlight swiveled upward. The bright beam of light swept across a giant figure in the darkness.

In that instant, Karp and his crew saw what was lurking in the shadows. His eyes landed on the various bizarre limbs and organs on the creature!

Each limb was grotesquely twisted into sharp, angular forms. And despite their twisted forms, they were still writhing as if trying to grasp for something.

They even saw the eyes embedded in the creature's flesh. Compared to their unnervingly large, malformed sockets, each pupil appeared strikingly small. The irises weren't the commonly seen black or blue; instead, they were a chilling, evil white.

The eyes were completely devoid of emotions. They seemed to belong to that of a Divinity, staring down from a higher plane and judging every creation with cold disdain.

"It's… it's a Divinity!" Karp's sanity was shattered in an instant. The whispers in his ears suddenly amplified as something insidious seemed to be quickly burrowing into him and was swiftly corrupting his soul.

Just as Karp was teetering on the brink of madness, a sudden snap resonated in the air, and all the lights on the ship exploded into fragments. As darkness swallowed the scene, every person on board passed out.

In the darkness, the bloated figure slowly shrank and descended. Charles' form emerged from the amalgamation of organs and limbs, and he stood silently on the ship's deck with Sparkle by his side.

Sparkle looked down at the unconscious crew; their faces still contorted in expressions of extreme terror. She shook her head and commented, "Daddy, they're just normal humans?"

"Why would normal humans look for me? Aside from Dipp and the others, no one else should know my location."

However, the question didn't plague Charles for long. He soon arrived at the captain's quarters and found the leather-bound logbook sealed with a brass lock.

With a simple gesture, the brass lock melted away, and the journal's contents were revealed to Charles.

"The job request from the Governor of Whereto was too tempting to turn down. I've made more than enough money for myself, but it's not enough for my grandson. Besides, I just need to find an island. I don't need to set foot on it. There's no reason to reject a job as simple as this.

"Hicks accepted the job request as well! If he can take it, why can't I? He's older than me by five years. I'm not that old yet!"

Charles slowly lowered the logbook as he muttered, "The Governor of Whereto… Margaret? She's looking for me? How did she even know where to find me?"

"Do you want me to make sure she quiets down? I can help her forget a few things," Sparkle asked.

"I don't know any Anna. My wife is Margaret. She's such a good girl, though." The words of Charles from another plane surfaced in his mind.

Memories of Margaret began to return to Charles' mind. All of a sudden, a longing crept into his heart; he wanted to see her. "Yeah… Margaret was really great… Why come I could not see it back then?"

Charles then turned to Sparkle and said, "Sparkle, can you go to Whereto and check if she's at the Governor's Mansion right now?"

Sparkle instantly vanished, only to reappear just a fraction of a second later.

"She's not on Whereto. She's aboard a ship at sea," Sparkle reported.

"Well, that makes things easier. Let's go pay her a visit then."

With that, Charles tossed the journal aside. A writhing, fleshy tentacle tore through the ceiling, coiling around Charles and Sparkle.

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