Shrouded Seascape

Seven Pedes, each towering a hundred meters tall, stood on the ink-green seawater, surrounding Charles and the others in midair.

Their pitch-black eyes reminiscent of the abyss exuded a suffocating pressure that was so heavy that it felt tangible.

The aircraft carriers of the Foundation passed by their feet, accompanied by the Foundation's clone fleet.

The Foundation's reinforcements were here.

Charles' brows were furrowed as he stared at the raven-headed figure standing on one of the Pedes' shoulders.

"So not a single word from your mouth was true?! Everything you told me was actually a lie?! Pede is so powerful, but you can actually clone him!"

The two raven heads jutting out of the trench coat shook at the same time. "The Foundation has many secrets. If our secrets were known to outsiders with ulterior motives, the consequences could be catastrophic.

"With that, it's not strange for us to knowingly release fake information to mislead others. I did that because I was deeply concerned about you, and I was right. In the end, you refused to join the Foundation, so you don't deserve to know the Foundation's secrets."

As soon as the raven-headed figure's words fell, the seven Pedes raised their hands and slapped the sea. The sea surged upward, and a wave that was so high that it reached the rock layer above the dome was made.

As the towering wave of seawater curled and rolled, both heaven and earth seemed to change colors. The towering wave of seawater pushed the aircraft carriers and warships in Charles' direction.

The pitch-black barrels of their weapons were then pointed at Charles and the others before unleashing a salvo of shells.

They were in such dire straits that Charles knew he had to make a move as soon as possible. His mind started racing, thinking of many ways to escape certain doom.

After a brief second that seemed to have lasted an eternity, Charles forcefully flapped his wings and charged at the oncoming wall of water.

"Charge at the injured Pede!" Charles roared. The weakest of the seven Pedes was surely the Pede with a hole in his chest. The injured Pede was their only hope of breaking through the encirclement!

It wasn't the best choice, but it was the best choice Charles could make in just a second. Moreover, their situation called for speed rather than logic.

In response to Charles' decision, everyone made a beeline for the injured Pede.

Sparkle and the Pope flew ahead of Charles, defending him from the oncoming bombardment.

Soon, they arrived in front of the injured Pede, but before they could do anything, the seawater beneath them split open, revealing a Pede. The howling waves of the seawater accompanied him as he rushed at Charles and his group.

Anna immediately jumped down off Charles' back and revealed her true form.

"You go first! I'll be there soon!!" Anna exclaimed.

Charles obviously wouldn't let her do that. With a flap of his wings, he flew toward the rock layer above the dome. His plan was to draw a magic array on the rock to draw upon Edikth's power.

A mortal's strength was useless here; he had to borrow a Divinity's power.

Bzzt!

A dazzling laser appeared just a few inches before Charles. The laser had come from an aircraft carrier. Charles wanted to dodge, but it was already too late!

Just as the laser was about to engulf Charles, a gentle burst of sunlight manifested in front of Charles, protecting him from the laser capable of slicing open even an entire island.

The gentle burst of sunlight had come from the Pope, who was wrapped in sunlight. Fissures were all over the Pope's skin, and sunlight reminiscent of midsummer noon was leaking out of the fissures in his skin.

The brief moment of distraction had allowed the Pedes to tighten their encirclement around Charles and the others.

The Pope swept his gaze across the chaotic battlefield and turned to Charles. "Our breakthrough point is gone. We are going to die."

"We can't give up! We must resist and give it our all as long there's a sliver of hope! You can't give up, either!" Charles exclaimed. The Pope seemed like he was ready to give up, so Charles hurriedly tried to convince him to keep fighting. "Just think about it; what do you think the Foundation will do to Lily?!"

With that, the Pope slowly took Lily out of his arms. He bent his head toward his chest and used his forehead to rub against Lily's furry head. His gaze was extremely gentle as he said, "God, please answer my call. You're here, are you?

"To free You from Your predicament, Your servant Lylejay needs to borrow Your strength."

Five seconds later, there was still no response. Two towering Pedes had already walked up to them, but there were still no changes in Lily.

Lylejay's eyes revealed bewilderment, but he quickly suppressed it. Moments later, a smile blossomed on his young face. "It must be because You're still too injured.

"That must be the reason You can't respond to my call, God. But it's okay; I have my own ways. I'll return Your power to You immediately once I am done."

Lylejay opened his mouth wide and bit down on Lily's back.

Golden blood flowed out of Lily and merged with him.

Lily cried out in pain, but Lylejay didn't stop.

The sunlight within him grew brighter and brighter as Lily's golden blood merged with him. The power within Lily's golden blood was so powerful that mortal flesh couldn't withstand it at all.

Lylejay's body began to collapse, but there was neither blood nor flesh beneath his skin peeled off—there was only an extremely radiant sunlight.

Meanwhile, one of the two nearby Pedes raised his palm and swung it toward the Pope.

The palm carried with it the force of a towering mountain as it flew toward them, but as soon as the Pope's sunlight illuminated Pede's three-fingered hand, a radiant white flame erupted and engulfed the hand.

The white flames were extinguished moments later, but Pede's hand had disappeared along with the white flames.

Meanwhile, Lylejay's body was still crumbling, and his jaw fell off his face as he stared at the mouse in his hand with a loving gaze. "God, I want nothing but to accompany You forever. Why is such a simple wish so hard to fulfill?

"God, I really can't… bear to part with You."

Lylejay's body burst open just then before exploding into a radiant sunlight that vanquished the darkness of the Subterranean Sea.

And just like that, a newborn sun rose over the Subterranean Sea…

Deafening noises echoed consecutively from the rock layer up above as colossal steel walls as huge as mountains descended toward the sun in an effort to cover it.

However, it was futile.

The steel walls melted in midair before they could get remotely close to the newborn sun. The temperature rose sharply, and the seawater directly below the sun was starting to boil from the heat.

Charles couldn't resist the sunlight at all; his figure was immediately set ablaze by the radiant sun, and he plunged into the seawater as a ball of fire.

The icy waters instantly cooled down both Charles and his brain.

When the battered Charles swam up to the surface, he saw that a dense layer of seven-colored sunlight had enveloped everything. The multicolored sunlight was so dense that it seemed tangible.

The seven Pedes turned and made a beeline for the sun in midair, but their figures riddled with pitch-black holes erupted into a mighty conflagration before they could even approach it.

To make matters worse, white strands of what appeared to be solar flares writhed out of the sun and flew toward the oncoming Pedes.

The Light God's power was incredible. This was just a weak manifestation of the Light God's power, but the Pedes weren't true gods. They weren't the sun's match at all.

Just as the Pedes were about to be defeated, the sunlight suddenly dimmed.

Charles looked up and saw a towering wall that seemed to be made of extreme darkness. The wall was so dark that light couldn't reflect off of it. The sunlight dispersed as the black wall encroached on its territory.

The black wall was none other than the darkness of the Subterranean Sea!

Everyone was stupefied to learn that the Foundation had somehow managed to take control of the darkness of the Subterranean Sea in such a short period of time!

Lylejay, whose figure seemed to have become sunlight itself, also saw the black wall, and he didn't hesitate to wrap the trembling Lily in a gentle band of sunlight before sending her over to Charles.

Lily's fur was no longer golden and had returned to its previous white color.

Charles reached out to catch Lily, and Lylejay's calm voice echoed in his ears. "Charles, take my God and leave. I can't hold on much longer. Take her with you and leave. This is really funny. I actually ended up saving you."

The dazzling sunlight was growing brighter and brighter by the second.

Charles gnashed his teeth and roared, "Sparkle! Take me and your mother away from here!!"

The tentacles in midair fell and wrapped around Charles' waist. They also reached out to wrap around Anna's waist before dragging both Charles and Anna into the distance.

As they moved farther and farther away from the seven Pedes, the restraint on Sparkle's teleportation ability became looser and looser, allowing her to teleport much farther after each teleport.

The brightness of the sunlight behind them reached a crescendo, illuminating the entire Sea of Mist. A deafening explosion echoed soon afterward, and a powerful shockwave swept across them from behind.

The shockwave was so strong that it even flipped Sparkle several times in midair.

Charles poked his head out of Sparkle's tentacles and looked behind him. The seemingly perpetual mist around the Sea of Mist had dissipated completely; it was vanquished by the radiant sunlight. The seawater beneath them receded rapidly, revealing various fish and aquatic monsters on the dry seabed.

The distant sunlight was so blinding, so scorching, and so... fleeting.