Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 815: Infinity

Despite bearing the brunt of Sparkle's formidable power, there wasn't a single hint of fear in the eyes of the elders. Instead, their horizontal, octopus-like pupils glimmered with firm determination.

"shaggo…th…fhayak…lloig…ilyaa…"

The bizarre chanting resonated once again, but it wasn't coming from the lips of the elders this time around.

Brows knitted together, Charles and Sparkle turned their eyes downward. In the inky dark expanse beneath them, innumerable black specks glowed eerily, forming a massive concentric circle array that stretched across the ocean floor like a sprawling island.

Charles focused his night vision and realized that those black dots were not just random specks. They were actually swarms of deformed and twisted Deep Dwellers. And the chanting had come from their lips.

He had no idea how many Deep Dwellers there were beneath the waters but one thing was certain: they were countless. Perhaps every single one of the Deep Dwellers in the entire seascape had gathered.

As the chanting intensified in volume, every Deep Dweller raised a jagged blade and plunged it into their own chests. Their sickly green blood flowed out and rapidly stained the water into a toxic hue that engulfed the entire concentric circle array.

Their move signaled the start of the sacrificial ceremony. The next moment, the twelve elders raised their solid gold weapons high. Their mouths moved in unison to chant an incantation as they slit open their own stomachs.

When it came to the power of the Fhtagn Covenant's sacrificial array, it was always proportional to the magnitude of its tributes. This time, apart from the massive throngs of the Deep Dwellers being offered, the twelve elders themselves were also part of the sacrifice. Something was very wrong.

Sparkle realized it instantly and instantly teleported before her father. Her tentacles wrapped protectively around him, and she was about to whisk them both away from the scene.

However, before she could make a move, an overwhelming shockwave erupted from the depths of the blood-stained waters.

Every living creature in the sea—whether it was fish or the corpses of the elders—was blown apart by the force. Had it not been for Sparkle's protective tentacles, Charles would have mirrored the same fate.

Sparkle was about to teleport away when she suddenly froze once more. Charles knew why as he felt the same sensation. A tangible and suffocating gaze pierced through the waters, dyed murky green with blood, and landed on them.

It wasn't any ordinary gaze. It didn't merely stare at their outer forms. Rather, it pierced straight into the depths of their souls. A creeping realization gripped Charles. He knew that no matter where he ran, the owner of the gaze would follow him. He had been marked.

"Sparkle, I need a favor…" Before Charles could complete his sentence, Sparkle's tentacles thinned into tight, rope-like strands and rapidly formed intricate, humanoid runes across his back.

Mutation took over Charles' body as Edikth's power started to course through him. Yet, Sparkle didn't let Charles go. Instead, she merged her own form into Charles' mutation.

She had already discovered earlier during their battle with the Triakis Octahedron on the Core that her blood and flesh could amplify her father's strength. They were father and daughter, and hence, their flesh resonated as one.

Now, at this critical moment, they had to pool every ounce of their power to deal with the threat before them.

Charles' grotesquely swollen body intertwined with Sparkle's tentacles adorned with glowing, luminous eyes. Gradually, their forms melded into a single mass of flesh that consisted of eyes, skulls, tentacles, and limbs.

Regardless of how deformed the eyes looked or who they belonged to—Charles or Sparkle—all the eyes were now fixated on the green, swirling, bloody water beneath. Something was emerging from the depths.

The thing summoned by the Fhtagn Covenant at such a hefty cost was not physical nor tangible. Charles and Sparkle could only detect its presence through the trembling currents of the ocean.

"…mglw'nafh fht…n-ngah cf'ayak…vulgtm…vugtlag'n."

The eerie chanting from the waters didn't fade away with the sacrificial deaths of the Deep Dwellers. Instead, the volume intensified and vibrated in harmony with every creature within the waters.

It was impossible to find words to describe the entity that emerged. It was indefinable. If one were forced to explain the presence for human comprehension, the entity beneath the water was like a mass of noise, a collection of frequencies, a cacophony that sounded like the most beautiful music ever heard somewhere.

Right. That was it. At this point, Charles finally began to understand the sound. The entity before him was a singer! It was using its vast range of frequencies to sing praises of a greater and higher existence!

It was singing praises of God Fhtagn! This being was one of Fhtagn's vassal gods! No, that wasn't right! It wasn't a vassal god! It's a devout follower of Fhtagn! Fhtagn's power was so formidable that even the other Divinities in the Subterranean Sea had been affected by it!

It was just human ignorance and their lack of understanding of the Divinities' language that made them mistake the being to be one of Fhtagn's vassal gods. However, Fhtagn didn't care about anyone, and that included all humans and also all other Divinities across the Subterranean Sea!

Meanwhile, far away on Whereto, 134 was hosting an afternoon tea party with her dolls.

The moment the Divinity appeared from the depths, the color drained from her youthful face in an instant. Overpowering fear suffused her gaze.

A song resonated in the air. That song was the source of all her misery, the melody that haunted her!

The next moment, her mouth parted. and involuntarily, an exquisitely beautiful song flowed from her lips.

Yet, unlike her previous songs, her voice didn't animate the things around her. The notes seemed to take on a life of their own as they rushed toward the depths of the ocean.

134 wasn't the only one affected. All across the Subterranean Sea, other similar beings began to play their own music.

Each music was different, but together, they pierced into the oceans and traveled along the currents, converging beneath Albion Isles.

Suddenly, without any warning, Charles' body exploded. The moment he had heard the song, it meant that the very essence of the singer had burrowed into his ears.

The pieces of flesh in the surroundings didn't gather and reform. Instead, they flickered as they moved toward the "Singer" lurking beneath the waters.

Their collision sent ripples through the sea and unleashed a colossal tsunami.

Under Bandages' command, the Hope Island's fleet struggled to stay afloat. Bandages had never encountered a tidal wave this huge. But the threat extended beyond the tsunami; dazed, blissful expressions began to appear on the faces of the sailors.

A quick nudge was enough to snap them back to reality, but only for a brief moment before the haunting song would enchant them again.

This was terribly amiss. Bandages knew they had to leave immediately, but Charles had yet to return.

He watched helplessly as yet another cruiser was overturned by the violent waves. He gritted his teeth, and with a grim resolve, he commanded the fleet to retreat beyond the borders of the Albion Isles.

However, even their path of retreat proved to be challenging. Even though their ships were the finest Hope Island had to offer, they lost yet another warship before they safely evacuated from the radius of the powerful tsunami.

"Retreat… Leave a ship for me… I'll wait for him…" Bandages said in a low voice as he stared at the raging waters in the distance.

Without the governor, the admiral held the highest authority. Soon enough, the fleet followed Banadages' orders and steered along the long-abandoned trade route toward the nearest island, Coral Archipelago.

Only one ship remained on the dark waters. Bandages stood at the bow, and waited silently for the return of his captain. That was the only thing he could do now.

Time ticked past. Periodically, Bandages would send out a speedboat to scout the Albion Isles' waters. Yet, none of the boats ever returned.

He thought that the situation would prolong for a long while, but soon enough, he noticed something slithering out of the overhead rock layer.

It was a vividly colored serpent. Its head meet Its tail to form an infinite loop, like the symbol ∞.

If the previous generation of the Foundation were still around, they would have recognized the scales immediately. Those iridescent scales belonged to 004.

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