Shrouded Seascape

"I…ear…none…you…write…ground…"

"Shaike! Shshsy…."

"!@#$^&*()_+"

Three different records were printed on the white sheet of paper. Regardless of whether this truly reflected the thoughts of the three different heads, Dipp and Lily quickly placed their full attention on the first line that they could still somewhat try to decipher.

"Lily, is it asking us to write what we want to say on the ground?" Dipp asked, his voice laced with confusion.

"Hmm…Let me try." Lily took a brief glance at her surroundings before extending her index finger. A soft glow emanated from the tip, and she carefully wrote a message in the dirt nearby.

Do you know where is Sparkle? I'm looking for her. Sparkle is the one who catches the whales and feeds them to you.

As soon as Lily finished writing her final stroke, a pair of massive, teal-colored hands with jagged teeth on their palms reached out and scooped up the dirt she had written on. The creature brought the soil to its mouth and began to chew softly. Soon, the Soul Printer started clicking away rhythmically as a fresh piece of paper emerged.

She…left…urgent…took…others…remain…us…

"She left in a hurry? She took the others with her but left you behind?" Lily responded immediately but realized that the creature couldn't hear her. She quickly rewrote her response in the dirt.

Yes…beside her…presence… fear…terror…familiar… we… hide… deep…

As soon as Lily and Dipp read the latest message, their eyes glimmered with a trace of hope. Who could be the presence next to Sparkle? It would definitely be Charles!

Was it a man with a lot of scars on his face? Oh, and is his hair made of tentacles? He has a mechanical left arm, while his right eye is a red spider.

Unable to control her excitement, Lily's finger trembled as she wrote in the dirt.

Fear… despair… afraid… we… ran… we… underwater…still… feel…

As though reminded of that memory itself, the creature's enormous body began to shudder with dread.

Lily's heart sank at the answer. That description didn't match Charles at all. Though he had many scars, it wasn't enough to instill such overwhelming fear.

"Lily, stop asking those questions. Just directly ask where Sparkle went. This guy might look big, but its brain sure doesn't match its size," Dipp urged with apparent anxiety.

Lily nodded and followed through with Dipp's instructions. However, they got an unexpected reply.

Fear… North… Presence…

"North… North…" Dipp muttered as a mental image of a nautical chart covering the entire Subterranean Sea appeared in his mind. "That's strange. There's nothing in the north except for a few unexplored islands that have been marked dangerous. Why would Sparkle go there? If it's further north, that's Skywater Island.

"If even this creature felt some kind of terrifying presence, the islanders must have realized as well. Unless Sparkle is currently somewhere between Skywater Island and the World's Crown," Dipp concluded.

Find… her… Desire… our…

The massive monster raised the portrait of Sparkle once more.

Lily gave an affirmative nod. "Yes! We'll definitely find Sparkle! I'll make sure you're reunited with her. Then we can all play together again."

Now, it seemed that their objective had been achieved. With a general direction to follow, at least they only had to follow through with it.

Just then, a new question popped into Lily's mind. She wrote on the dirt once again.

Erm… Why are your bodies fused together? Were you affected by something? I remember you were separate before.

The three-in-one monster lifted one of its tentacles with suckers and darted toward the nearby ruins. It coiled itself around a human corpse draped in a white robe before dragging it out.

Them… food… suffer…they… imprison…

"Huh?" Lily and Dipp gasped in surprise as they stared at the corpse in front of them. So it seemed that this monster had fused into such a grotesque form because of those cultists?

For a moment, they sank into a state of confusion, unable to grasp the rationality of the situation.

"So… it's actually not the god that enslaved its followers. Rather, it's the people of the World's Crown who deliberately imprisoned this creature here and forcefully worshiped it as their god?" Dipp speculated.

"But why would they do that?" Lily countered, a pang of pain hitting her as she looked at the hybrid monster before her.

Before she could make sense of the situation, her thoughts were interrupted by a commotion at the entrance of the city. Rows of heavily armed soldiers from the World's Crown were pushing armored vehicles and marching toward them.

At the forefront of the army was Governor Smith. Clearly, he had mobilized the entire force of the World's Crown to deal with the intruders.

The buildings on the walls crumbled as dark barrels of cannon protruded from within. In an instant, the entire city transformed into a trap, a deadly pocket formation. Every cannon was aimed at Dipp, Lily, and the creature they had once worshiped as their god.

Governor Smith still wore his amicable smile and spoke in an all-too-enthusiastic tone. However, his words sent a chill down Dipp's spine.

"I'm sorry. So terribly sorry. I tried everything, but I couldn't stop you guys from finding this place. Now that you've seen it, I'm afraid that I can't let you guys leave."

"Is this how you treat your god?" Dipp asked as he eyed his surroundings with caution.

Out of his expectation, Smith's expression twisted into one of disgust. The priests behind him mirrored the same expression as well.

"No. That thing is not our god. From the moment you defeated it, it's no longer our god. We thought we'd already found our god, but it seems that we have found the wrong one. Our god would never lose to trash like you."

The moment Smith's words fell, the sound of metal clinking filled the air as the cannons were readied. Clearly, Smith came prepared.

Amid such a barrage of firepower, even Lily wasn't confident she could protect everyone from the assault.

"Stick close to me," Lily whispered as she wiped the sweat on her palm onto her skirt.

Just as Smith raised his hand and was about to give the signal to fire, a woman's voice rang out from behind him.

"I think you guys need to hear this."

Dipp's wife, Aliya, emerged from the crowd, her back weighed down by a smoking, steam-powered contraption that hissed with every step.

"Perfect. I was still thinking I had to spend time to find you, and yet, here you are, delivering yourself right to me. So has your ship been docked?"

Despite the apparent threat in Smith's voice, Aliya seemed completely unfazed. She pulled out a key-like device and inserted it into the machinery strapped to her back.

After twisting it twice, a click sounded, and the voice of Bandages, who was far away on Hope Island, sounded from the contraption.

"I already know… what has happened…Here… as the Governor of Hope Island…I declare that… if even a single hair… on my people's heads… is harmed… Hope Island's navy… will completely erase… World's Crown… from the map… All of you… shall die."

Bandages' messages followed his usual style of speech—slow, calm, and with pauses. However, his powerful declaration had certainly caused everyone to feel that the temperature around them seemed to have plummeted.

For a few seconds, no one moved. Smith's face contorted in frustration. His jaw was clenched so tightly that he felt like his teeth might crack. But eventually, he turned around and led his subordinates back through the red tunnel behind them.

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