Shrouded Seascape

The flesh growing on Pede's figure proliferated profusely until it was about to engulf him completely.

When it seemed like Charles was about to win the fight, the Foundation finally made another move. Pede wasn't the only weapon they sent.

The air howled as a long spiral spear that was as thick as a telephone pole streaked across the battlefield at breakneck speed. The spiral spear was spinning profusely as it struck the colossal Eye of Edikth from behind, piercing it and Charles before exiting through the eye's pupil.

Then, a large black net woven by T6 descended, blanketing Charles.

The colossal eyeball made out of Charles started crumbling, and the flesh proliferating profusely across Pede came to an abrupt halt.

Pede's right hand had deformed to the point that it looked more like a ball of flesh rather than a hand, but the injuries seemed insignificant to Pede, who raised it and swung it toward Charles.

At the critical juncture, a radiant white light erupted in front of Pede, standing in Pede's way to Charles. When the radiant white light vanished, Sparkle's writhing tentacled form was revealed.

Charles' rescue team was finally here.

Despite the obstacle, Pede's pitch-black palm didn't stop and struck Sparkle's colossal form. However, Sparkle didn't burst into a bloody mist; instead, she coiled herself around Pede's massive palm and engulfed it.

Sparkle's appearance on the battlefield hadn't terrified the Foundation members; they were pleasantly surprised instead. They had long been coveting the special being called "Sparkle."

Unfortunately, Sparkle was extremely slippery, so their few capture attempts had all ended in failure. The reason they left Charles in Site 6 was to lure Sparkle into infiltrating the site, so they were pleasantly surprised to see her here.

Hooonk!

A piercing steam whistle fleeted across the battlefield. Moments later, a neat and orderly armada broke through the Sea of Mist's layer of mist and made a beeline for the battlefield.

The armada was filled with the Foundation's clones, and their presence tilted the scales of victory toward the Foundation, but Charles, who had returned to his original form, wasn't scared at all.

He saw something on the other side, and the sight brought him hope.

Swoosh!

A dazzling white laser beam shot out from the mist, hitting Pede in the chest.

The air was instantly filled with the nauseating smell of burning pig hair. After a brief deadlock, the laser pierced Pede's chest and disappeared into the mist behind him.

Moments later, two colossal hydraulic-powered steel legs staggered out of the Sea of Mist and plunged heavily into the sea like two pile drivers.

A creaking sound pervaded the air, and the long-unseen metal construct Ronker finally entered the battlefield.

Ronker towered roughly three kilometers in length, which meant that it was as huge as an island. The colossal vertical pupil in the center of the metal construct's ventral side told everyone it had become Swann's body once again.

While everyone was distracted, Sparkle engulfed Charles and streaked across the sea surface, teleporting her way to Ronker.

However, it turned out that the Foundation had been keeping an eye on Sparkle, allowing them to react quickly to her actions. The rock layer above the dome split open, and a massive steel wall the size of a mountain plummeted toward the two.

The massive steel wall isolated both Sparkle and Charles from Ronker. Ronker reacted quickly as well, and it activated its laser to cut open a gap in the steel wall.

However, T6 was already on the move, and she charged at Sparkle while spitting out black spider silk toward the latter.

When Charles saw what was going on from within the embrace of Sparkle's tentacles, he hurriedly shouted, "Don't bother with them! Even if you kill them, the Foundation will just make another clone of them!"

Charles didn't want to bother with the Foundation members, but the latter clearly thought otherwise as the ink-black seawater parted, revealing a rusty submarine.

The submarine burst out of the water with its bloody maw open, ready to devour both Charles and Sparkle.

"God said: Stop!" A dazzling pillar of light descended and struck the submarine. A low sound reminiscent of a bell's knell reverberated across the battlefield, and the submarine was forced to a halt.

A second later, its hull cracked open, and it fell into the icy waters.

Meanwhile, the massive steel wall was beginning to melt under the constant assault of Ronker's powerful laser. The molten steel fell into the sea, revealing a hole in the massive steel wall.

A deformed and bloated tentacled monster floated over to Sparkle and Charles through the hole in the massive steel wall.

Although there was an eye grafted onto the tentacled monster, Charles still recognized with just a glance that the tentacled monster was none other than Anna.

The massive blood-red eye opened slightly and glanced at T6. The giant spider was instantly reduced into a puddle of water that fell to the water with a plop before sinking powerlessly into the depths of the cold sea.

T6 was still alive, but her body had transformed into liquid from solid.

With the cover of both Sparkle and Anna, Charles safely arrived in the pulsating control room of Ronker, which appeared to be made out of flesh and gears. Then, the colossal steel construct raised its towering legs and started moving.

More and more warships and submarines swarmed Ronker, but the steel construct had no plans of staying passive. Under its control, the mechanical creatures in the ink-black seawater began staging a counterattack.

They weren't safe yet, but Charles was finally free.

Anna's colossal form contracted, and she repeated the same process several times with difficulty before managing to revert to her human form. Anna's expression was complex as she opened her arms and hugged the exhausted Charles.

Her embrace became tighter and tighter by the second.

"Okay, stop, we're not safe yet!" Charles exclaimed, patting Anna on the back. He sighed in relief; he could feel her concern for him, and he felt really great knowing that someone cared about him.

Anna let go of Charles and examined him from top to bottom. Then, she sounded confused as she asked, "Where did your scalp and skull go?"

"They were peeled off. Anyway, they're not important, so let's talk about them later. How is the Subterranean Sea? Did anything abnormal happen? I just heard that the Foundation's plan to destroy the world has already begun!"

"Really?" Anna appeared to be confused as she said, "Nothing abnormal has happened so far—no, there wasn't anything abnormal going on before Sparkle teleported us over here."

Charles frowned, thinking about how exactly the Foundation was going to proceed with their Plan Three. If the Foundation's goal was to exterminate all humans in the Subterranean Sea, then their plan would have caused widespread chaos by now.

The fact that the Subterranean Sea was still calm was very strange in Charles' eyes.

BOOM!

An earth-shattering explosion echoed as one of Ronker's towering pillar-like legs was blown away. Ronker tilted significantly, and the movement dragged Charles back to reality.

Charles turned and looked around. The sea surface covered in smoke was full of people, but they were all clones produced by the Foundation. Charles couldn't actually see any Foundation member among them.

The Foundation members were now missing, except for T6, who had plunged into the depths of the ocean. Charles found it odd. Where did they go?

Just then, there was a flash of white light, and the Pope in neat white clothes landed slowly next to Charles.

There was a golden mouse in his hand.

"Lily?" Charles reached out to grab her, but the Pope moved his hand away.

"Hehe, you can't do that, Charles. You have to keep your word. Since I decided to come here and help you, God belongs to me now."

"Help me? What on earth are you talking about?" Charles asked. Then, he turned to look at Anna standing next to him.