Ashes Of Deep Sea -
Chapter 661 - Chapter 661 Chapter 658 Unexpected Change
Chapter 661: Chapter 658: Unexpected Change? Chapter 661: Chapter 658: Unexpected Change? Eerie green flames surged like a sudden tide, flooding into the vast assembly hall in an instant and beginning to spread among all the Profound Demons’ heretics– as if the fire had been brewing on the ship for who knows how long, and as it ascended, it even emitted the roaring of wind and thunder!
Screams and roars from all directions erupted in an instant, and nearly all Profound Demons reacted the moment the spectral flames appeared, with the weaker demons immediately losing control. Even the stronger ones, driven by immense fear and instinct, refused to obey the Symbiotic Demon’s orders. Dark rifts of the Subspace Shadow began to emerge above the hall, and the heretics and priests dragged away by demons disappeared into those uncontrolled rifts, wailing– leaving only a few “lucky” ones to hurriedly confront the enemies that had suddenly invaded.
Disorderly gunshots erupted, and a few ineffective spells fell on the spot where Duncan and Alice stood.
But like a wall of fire, these feeble attacks could not even approach the flames before exhausting their power. Bullets turned spectral green in the flames and harmlessly fell to the ground, while projectiles and acid summoned by Demonic Power became new flames in mid-air and flew back whence they came.
Alice’s eyes widened in amazement at the thrilling spectacle around her, surrounded by oddly shaped demons and frenzied heretics in fear, yet she didn’t feel scared– she had come with the captain to “enjoy the show,” and indeed it was quite a spectacle.
But soon, she felt it was getting a bit too noisy.
She turned toward the noisiest direction and frowned, lifting her hand to beckon, and invisible threads drifted lazily into her hand– before setting off, the captain had told her that everyone in this hall was a heretic and that heretics weren’t to be considered human.
Thus, centered around the puppet mistress herself, countless Annihilating Priests instantly stiffened and came to a halt, then one by one, began their Transformation into puppets.
But just then, a deep, drumbeat-like sound suddenly emanated from the center of the hall. A colossal force burst forth in an instant, even briefly suppressing the Spiritual Fire that spread throughout the hall, and stopping Alice’s puppet control.
The Saint on the high platform finally moved– his eye stalks raised high, countless crisscrossing black bones clicked like folding limbs around his large brain, stretching out, extending, and supporting outward, the original skeleton-like “body” quickly transforming into a spider-like form. The terrifying brain was carried at the center of the Skeleton Spider, shaking, while a “thump, thump” sound that seemed like drumbeats, or heartbeats, continued to pulse from its pulsating, bulging veins.
Duncan looked on in astonishment as the Saint rose from the high platform, watching the Skeleton Spider climb down the edge toward their side, emitting a series of chaotic hissing noises.
His expression was one of surprise– because he hadn’t expected that thing on the platform to get even uglier.
But before he had time to exclaim, Duncan and Alice heard the terrified and desperate screams of the Annihilating Priests from all over the hall.
It was the heretics who had survived the first wave of demonic loss of control, who had luckily escaped the first onslaught of flame burning, and who had just managed to keep their lives through Alice’s puppet Transformation– amidst howling, their bodies suddenly began to swell, and within the blink of an eye, the human forms were contorted into various horrifying postures. Under their skin, countless throbbing, bulging traces appeared as if another uncontrollable exoskeleton was emerging within their flesh, ready to burst out from their skins–
In the blink of an eye, the bodies of the heretics tore open on their own, turning into pools of blood and flesh scattered on the ground. Accompanying their sudden death, the Symbiotic Demons linked to them also began to collapse and disintegrate one after another.
But the collapsing demons did not dissipate directly.
They turned into drifting black smoke that began to surge toward the space above the platform in the center of the hall.
The Saint raised his pitch-black skeletal limbs on the platform. The black smoke released by the dying Profound Demons was frenziedly absorbed by the undulating, throbbing brain; his body size doubled in the blink of an eye. The even more powerful aura escaped from the brain, and in the area around the platform, a barrier resembling a space distortion gradually formed.
“…You’ve decided to take out your last followers first,” Duncan said, looking at the platform, somewhat surprised. “That’s unexpected.”
“Weak people are of no use here… They will only become kindling for your flames, or sacrifices for anomaly 099,” the voice of the Saint from the platform was hoarse and deep, his skeletal limbs clacked as he slowly moved from the platform to the ground, “It’s better to become my strength… I will fight you to the death in their stead…”
Duncan couldn’t be bothered with his nonsense. He raised his hand before even hearing everything; the Spectral Flame in the hall that had been suppressed for a moment flared up again and spread toward the platform.
“You’ve gathered quite a bit of intelligence,” he said offhandedly. “But I still advise you to cooperate. My request is quite simple–I just want to have a chat with your ‘Master’… and, by the way, I’d like to know where this ship is heading.”
“I see… You are indeed a threat to us, ‘Captain Duncan’,” the Saint moved his long limbs, resisting the corrosion of the flames as he advanced forward. “That’s why I can’t let you have your way… Oh, Saint, bless me!”
The terrifying Skeleton Spider roared lowly, and then the space around it seemed to distort briefly–the Spectral Flame that was about to ignite him was momentarily pushed back. Following this, he leaped high, charging toward Duncan, who ruled the sea of fire, with the intention of mutual destruction.
“The time for martyrdom has come!!”
This grotesquely horrifying creature screamed zealously, repelling all the flames spreading in the air with his tremendous power. He crashed down like a pitch-black meteor, fearlessly aiming for the terrifying “Subspace Shadow” that plagued the world!
Duncan opened his palm to the creature; the Spectral Flame that had been pushed back in the air converged, lying in wait for the falling creature. It looked as if in the next second, it would completely engulf the Skeleton Spider.
But the Saint suddenly took a turn in midair.
“`
With an angle bordering on the incredulous, the monster plummeted straight down — in a deafening roar, it smashed through the hall’s floor, creating an astonishingly large hole. It fell right into it, frantically burrowing through the layers of decking below, and vanished from Duncan and Alice’s sight in the blink of an eye.
Duncan: “…?”
Alice: “…?”
The incident unfolded too quickly, even Duncan, let alone Alice with her slow wits, hadn’t been able to react.
After all, he had encountered martyrs and witnessed fervent heretics, but never before had he seen one who abandons martyrdom halfway — in this world where deities truly existed, was there a saint-level zealot who would stand up “The Saint”?
Alice, puzzled, turned her head to look at Duncan, then turned back to the gaping hole in the center of the hall, still emitting a faint spectral flame, and finally blurted out, “Did it just run away?”
Run away? On the vast Endless Sea, aboard a ship that had been completely corroded and set aflame by the Spiritual Fire, where could the “saint” possibly flee to?
Duncan frowned as the sounds of digging through decking, walls, and breaking some support structures continued to emanate from below — then suddenly, he understood.
“No, that guy isn’t running away — he’s trying to destroy this ship!”
…
Digging, digging, incessantly burrowing downward, the location of the engine room was just ahead.
The faster, the better. The faster, the better, before the Ghost Captain catches on, before the rampant Spectral Flame catches up.
The bottom of the ship was near, just past the last few layers of decking and walls, through the pipeworks area… There, the nitroglycerin he had previously had delivered was stored.
All it would take was for the nitroglycerin to detonate in the steam core, and the resulting chain reaction from the reactor vessel losing control would be enough to obliterate the entire ship. Then… the “holy land” would be safe.
The colossal and terrifying Skeleton Spider was rapidly burrowing through this massive ship, cleaving open the steel plates, pipes, and all dividers along the way from memory — this vessel, once the pride of the cult and built at great expense, was being swiftly dismantled by his digging, turning into irreparable scrap.
But the “saint” didn’t hesitate for a moment — he kept accelerating, carving out a path even faster through the belly of this iron beast.
In his foretelling of fate, he had long glimpsed his own death, the death of everyone else.
The feeble followers would perish amidst wails, their flesh burning in the flames, and he would not survive either, for the gloom had already completely shrouded all possible directions. When you’re on the edge of shadow, it might help to change course, but if the entire ship is already deep in endless darkness, then choosing any other direction becomes pointless.
Confronting that Ghost Captain was not wise — in the clearest foresight of fate, the “saint” had already witnessed his own swift and meaningless defeat.
Since the end is predetermined, why not do something bolder?
At the very least, he couldn’t let the ship fall into the hands of that “captain,” nor let the secrets of the “holy land” be known — otherwise, his own sins would be unforgivable.
The final wall collapsed thunderously before him.
The deep chamber housing the steam core finally came into view.
The Skeleton Spider stumbled nearly headlong into the area, landing on a platform surrounded by numerous pipes, valves, and control stations.
He lifted the many eyestalks on the edges of his body, surveying the entire chamber.
As expected, there were no living followers here — only a few corpses lay not far away on the ground, and near those control stations and valves, one could see some distorted human-like shadows “imprinted” on the surfaces of mechanical devices.
The “saint” didn’t “mourn” for those deceased brethren.
He had found what he was looking for — the explosives were stacked at the far end of the platform.
“`
If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report