Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 467: Leave One Behind

The screen froze as the replay button appeared. The video had ended, but Charles found it difficult to calm himself down. The video recording had just told him that the Foundation had attempted to create their own Divinity, but they ended up attracting the attention of all the Divinities in the entire Subterranean Sea.

The exact details were unknown, but the members of the Foundation vanished since then. Even more shocking was that their disappearance failed to make any ripples as if they had never been here in the first place.

Their disappearance wasn't out of expectations. However, Charles was more perplexed over the success of their final experiment. Had they succeeded? If so, then the so-called Light God had to be Dawn Four, which had become a Divinity!

Charles' head was in a mess as many assumptions popped up in his head. The Pope had told him that the Light God was sealed, and Charles realized that there was a huge possibility that the Divinities of the Subterranean Sea were the culprit.

It wasn't exactly a far-fetched story. After being sealed by the Divinities, the Light God somehow managed to contact the Pope, and the Pope then began his quest to help the Light God break through the seal.

The Light God's will was the collective will of the GK Council. In other words, the Light God was on mankind's side.

Great. If this is truly the case, I no longer have to be so wary of the Pope. After all, the Foundation's mission was to safeguard mankind. Even if the Light God went up to the surface world, he wouldn't harm the humans up there.

No, wait. I'm jumping to conclusions here. I need to have a good talk with the Pope upon my return. It'd be great if I managed to obtain a way to communicate with the Light God from the Pope.

Charles lifted his hands off of his head to say something when the bitter seawater rushed into his mouth, making him choke. He coughed and was horrified to realize that the seawater coming in from the door gaps was already deep enough to reach his face!

I have to leave. We're still in danger, Charles thought. Then, he took a deep breath before diving into the waters and working on the computer.

"You must leave one of your crew behind if you want to shut down 068. You have to trap them here, or they'll catch up to you, even if you were to run outside!" Digital Tobba said before diving back into Charles' "Memory" folder.

Charles was stunned to see the line of text on the screen. However, he knew that he'd have to make a decision soon, or none of them would make it back outside.

"Captain, let me stay!" Dipp said, swimming to Charles' side with a determined expression.

Charles revealed a pained look and peered over Dipp's shoulder to look at the other crew members. The crew members instantly knew what Charles was thinking, and some of them lowered their heads in fear.

Of course, there were some with their chests puffed out, clearly willing to be left behind for everyone else's sake.

Charles' identity as the Captain of the Narwhale was oftentimes useless, but at sea, his identity meant that he'd get to decide who would live and die.

Bang!

A loud noise echoed, and the door vanished without a trace. A horrifying scenery unfolded beyond the door. There was nothing beyond the door apart from the inky waters. More than half of Island 68 had been erased by the "chalkboard erasers."

They were running out of time. They'd all be erased once the "chalkboard erasers" found them. It was now or neverCharles had to make a decision.

Charles dragged the mouse, selecting his crew members and Sparkle before dragging them into the "Narwhale" folder.

Dipp's vision blurred abruptly, and he suddenly found himself on the Narwhale's deck. Thrilled to have survived such a crisis, Dipp stood up and looked around excitedly only to freeze in the next momentCharles was missing.

The Narwhale's steel plates creaked noisily. Everyone felt a sense of weightlessness as an invisible giant grabbed the Narwhale and hurled it away from Island 68.

The powerful force sent the crew members tumbling around, and they could do nothing but watch as the massive Island 68 collapsed rapidly until it eventually became an old computer monitor that sank into the depths of the sea.

Dipp staggered over to the thick, glass windows and watched the unfolding scene in despair.

"Captain, why?! I could have died in your place, so why?!" Dipp keeled over and pounded the thick glass. Knowing that Charles could have survived made him feel like dying.

"You're so noisy. I'm not noble enough to sacrifice my life for you all." A familiar voice echoed behind Dipp.

The despairing Dipp whipped around, and his eyes widened in shock the moment he clapped his eyes on the speaker. In the next moment, he stood up and spread his arms wide before pouncing on Charles.

Charles raised his prosthetic arm and blocked Dipp's bear hug.

"Captain, are you really okay?" Dipp asked anxiously while examining Charles from top to bottom.

"What? Would you prefer if something had happened to me?" Charles replied.

Then, he pushed away the crew members who had rushed over toward him and walked over to Sparkle. Picking her up, Charles walked toward the observation glass to check the outside situation.

Charles looked around for a while before sighing in relief. The "chalkboard erasers" had vanished along with Island 68.

It seems that those two are indeed completely trapped inside. It was a good thing that Tobba didn't lie to me.

Just then, Dipp walked up to Charles. He sounded surprised as he asked, "Captain, didn't that little guy say that you have to leave one of your crew behind? We all managed to come back, so who ended up getting left behind?"

Charles stared at Dipp, and the latter finally realized that Charles' strange eye with a red iris had vanished.

"Tobba said that it has to be shut down, but do you really need an entire living person to press a button and shut it down?" Charles replied. At the critical juncture, a brilliant idea came to Charles, and he made his right eye press the power button for him.

"Dipp, go ahead and retrieve 068. It must never be turned on again. Otherwise, the 'chalkboard erasers' inside of it will definitely come out and chase us forever. I'm sure they're holding a grudge against us at this point," Charles ordered.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Dipp exclaimed and eagerly rushed toward the decompression chamber.

Charles flipped through the slightly damp diary in his hand until he reached the page containing a nautical chart.

"Narwhale, go to the surface and drop the anchor. First Mate, Second Mate, come to the Captain's Quarters."

Every single crew member was overjoyed to have survived the crisis, and their eyes were brimming with excitement as they moved busily in response to the Captain's orders. They also didn't have even a single casualty, which was great.

It had to be known that the previous voyages had resulted in multiple deaths, so this voyage could be considered incredibly easy when compared to the previous ones.

Just as the crew were getting busy with their own tasks, Charles, First Mate Bandages, and Second Mate Conor had already arrived in the Captain's Quarters.

They were there when Charles discovered the nautical chart, so they understood what Charles wanted to do. No words were exchanged as the two started comparing charts to narrow down the location of the colossal key.

Upon confirming their current location on the nautical chart, they realized something unexpected: their next destination was only five nautical miles away from their current location.

Bandages and Conor stared blankly at Charles, wondering about Charles' next course of action.

The one-eyed Charles' conflicted emotions were visible on his face; he mulled over his decision while staring at the highlighted coordinates on the nautical chart.

In the end, he balled his right hand into a fist and slammed his fist on the table. "It's not that far away, so there's no reason for us to postpone our trip to it. The Narwhale shall set sail! Destination: Dark Abyssal Trench!"

Cosyjuhye's Thoughts

I kinda had this feeling he was going to leave his eye behind. Well. I guess he will soon get another new eye.