Shrouded Seascape

Lily lifted her head with a worried expression and explained, "Mr. Charles, it was the only way to get this guy to help you."

The Pope revealed a smug smile and said, "Child, the process was unexpectedly smoother than I expected, but that's none of my business. You still have to pay the price that you have to pay. I promised to defeat the Foundation and rescue you."

Seeing Charles' grim expression, Anna crossed her arms in front of her chest. She looked quite annoyed as she said, "Hey, hey, what's up with that look? You're not blaming me, are you? We're talking about the Foundation here.

"Of course, I have to go all-out against them. This mouse in exchange for the Pope's help is a great deal."

Looking at Lily in the Pope's hands, Charles' mood instantly took a turn for the worse. He stared at the Pope's childlike face and said, "She's my crew member, and I will definitely get her back."

The Pope shook his head, and his eyes were filled with a fanatical light as he gazed at Lily's furry nape.

"God never belongs to anyone. God is God. If you want to serve Him devoutly like me and assist Him completely in His return, then as the Pope of the Divine Light Order, I'm delighted to have you onboard."

The Pope saw Charles' eyes glimmering in a peculiar light, and he became a bit worried that Charles would do something extreme, so he hurriedly said, "Don't even think about going back on your word. God Fhtagn is the arbiter of the contract between me and Anna.

"Before you act, think about the consequences of violating that kind of contract."

Charles remained quiet. He desperately wanted to retrieve Lily, but he knew that he had more important matters at hand. He was still in the Sea of Mist, and they were still under the Foundation's threat.

The Foundation had to be dealt with, or everyone would die, including Lily.

"Lily, wait for me and don't worry. Trust me."

Lily's drooping ears perked up slightly. "Mmhm! I'm not worried at all! I'll wait."

After comforting his gunner, Charles turned to look at his daughter, whose figure was teleporting across the air, "Sparkle! Can you teleport Ronker and us back together? We need to return to Hope Island as soon as possible."

There was a flash of white light, and Sparkle instantly appeared in front of him.

Sparkle's clear and melodious voice sounded exhausted as it echoed from her tentacled figure. "I'll try, but this guy is really big and heavy. It actually took me quite some effort to bring him here."

With that, Sparkle's tentacles spread out and latched onto Ronker's back, and then a white light enveloped everyone.

When the white light dissipated, Charles looked around but did not find the scenery of the eternally sunny Hope Island. They were still surrounded by mist, which meant that they were still in the Sea of Mist.

"Daddy, something's wrong. My teleport isn't working. Is it because I got too exhausted teleporting him here?" Sparkle asked, sounding confused.

Just then, a towering silhouette appeared in the mist.

The moment it stepped out of the mist, Charles' pupils constricted.

The silhouette belonged to none other than Pede. He was missing a hand and had a large hole in his chest due to Ronker's powerful laser; he was still standing steadily in the deep waters, and his three giant black eyes were transfixed on Ronker.

"Hmph, I knew that things wouldn't go so swimmingly. And he sure is a tough guy," the Pope said before carefully tucking Lily away to safety.

"Don't worry, he's not that strong. He shouldn't be our match as long as we join forces," Anna said, and her gorgeous figure instantly swelled.

Every single figure aboard Ronker cast a wary gaze at the approaching Pede.

Just as another battle was about to start, a colossal black silhouette appeared in the mist next to Pede. When the silhouette walked out of the mist and was revealed, everyone inhaled sharply.

The silhouette was another Pede, but it had zero injuries.

The Foundation could make an army made out of clones, and they could clone even the GK Council members as well. In other words, it wasn't strange that they could clone even Pede.

As time ticked by, more and more black silhouettes walked out of the mist.

Soon, there were seven Pedes before everyone's disbelieving gazes, and the sight instantly filled their hearts with despair.

Pede was the most powerful member of the Foundation, but it turned out that even Pede's strength could be replicated. Perhaps this was the Foundation's true strength, and if that were the case, then the current Foundation was no weaker than the Divinities of the Subterranean Sea.

"Swann, hurry up and run! We're no match for them!" the Pope roared with a grim face.

A creaking noise pervaded the air as the colossal Ronker raised its pillar-like legs to start moving, but everyone was appalled—Ronker wasn't moving away from the seven Pedes. It was running toward the seven Pedes with everyone on its back!

"Stop right there! Are you crazy?! Retreat!!" Charles yelled, stomping on the blood vessels all over the floor.

The brass horns on Ronker trembled, delivering Swann's smug voice into the ears of everyone in the Sea of Mist. "Hahaha!!! Eat shit, you bastards! Do you really think that you can order me around? Who do you think you are?!

"All of you are going to die with me today! This is what you owe the Albion Isles!!"

It finally became clear that Swann's goal had never been the same as everyone else from the very beginning. Swann's raison d'etre was revenge, and it was a fact that finally became painfully clear to everyone.

Swann hadn't made any moves earlier, as he didn't have the confidence to do so.

However, he had simply been pretending that he was working with them, so as soon as he saw that the Foundation's strength was far greater than everyone's strength combined, he immediately revealed his true colors.

Charles' figure morphed as he transformed into a giant bat monster. Carrying Anna on his back, he flew frantically in the opposite direction.

Sparkle and the Pope followed closely behind him.

Unfortunately, Swann clearly had a different idea.

Ronker's laser began to glow, and Charles felt his hair stand on end. He instinctively retracted his wings and dove straight down. The next second, a dazzling laser beam shot past him and pierced the rock layer above the dome.

However, Swann wasn't over just yet. The whirring of helicopter propellers echoed as grotesque-looking helicopters made from flesh and blood ascended from within Ronker to chase after Charles.

Sparkle turned and teleported into Ronker's control room. She wanted to drag Swann out of Ronker.

The grotesque-looking helicopters were no threat to Charles and the others, but Swann couldn't care less. He just wanted them to buy some time for the Pedes to catch up.

Soon, Sparkle burst out of Ronker with Swann's battered figure wrapped around her tentacles. She looked up and saw the unmanned helicopters crashing into each other. Unfortunately, Swann's gambit had paid off in spades—the seven Pedes had already caught up to them.

There were seven Pedes before them, which meant that they were facing seven demigods. Charles and the others didn't need to make any moves, as they were bound to lose.

"As I said, you cannot escape. The Foundation is far more powerful than you can ever imagine," the raven-headed figure said calmly while standing on the shoulder of one of the seven Pedes.