Shrouded Seascape

Time itself seemed to freeze when the monster's gaze fell on Lily.

Dipp's eyes were wide as saucers as he stared alternatingly between Lily and the monster.

"That thing is the captain's child? You've got to be kidding me!" Dipp exclaimed. He was so shocked that he ended up shouting.

Dipp's voice seemed to have triggered the monster, as the colossal three-in-one monster's figure trembled violently. It flailed around, swinging its appendages, and it roared as it charged at Lily.

Just as the several-story-tall bizarre-looking monster was about to crash into Lily, Lily's shining figure floated up, avoiding the monster.

However, the monster wasn't done yet, as its translucent tentacles with funnel-like suckers swept toward Lily.

"Stay away!" Lily exclaimed, and the sunlight radiating from her condensed into golden spears.

The golden spears streaked through the air, pinning those tentacles in the blink of an eye. A thunderous roar echoed once again, and veins bulged all over the monster's wrinkled skin. The monster shook its head and opened its gaping maws, revealing distorted razor-sharp teeth before charging at Lily.

However, Lily seemed to be extremely familiar with their attack patterns, and she seemed to have already come up with a way to deal with them. Lily lifted her slender, fair hands, and the oncoming maws froze in mid-air before returning toward the monster at an even faster speed.

Lily had gotten quite proficient with manipulating the power inside of her, so it wasn't that easy to deal with her. The two sides exchanged multiple moves in an instant. The nearby houses collapsed and caught fire.

Despite the intense fight, Dipp didn't retreat by himself. He was inside one of the buildings attached to a nearby cliff, quietly observing the chaos down below.

Regardless of whether the monster was truly made of Charles' children or not, he had to help Lily deal with it.

However, Dipp was soon left dumbfounded by Lily's strength, especially when she uprooted a four-story building and smashed it into the monster.

"When did she become so powerful? I thought Captain only made her human again? Did he make her even more powerful as well?" Dipp muttered to himself.

When he saw the monster struggling to crawl out beneath the rubble, Dipp jumped down the window. Kicking hard against the wall with both feet, Dipp decisively charged at the monster.

A pitch-black shadow swept across Dipp from the side, but it only dispersed some of Dipp's mist. It didn't stop Dipp's attack at all. In just two seconds, Dipp in his mist form passed through layers of obstacles and jumped onto the neck of one of the monster's heads.

Raising the black spike in his hand, which was sharp enough to pierce even iron, Dipp didn't hesitate and thrust the black spike toward the neck below him. He gave it a fierce twist, and the neck, which was as tall as the average person, was lacerated until only a layer of skin remained.

Dipp thought that he had severely injured the monster, but the head, which seemed like it would fall to the ground at any moment now, suddenly roared and writhed. A grotesque noise echoed immediately afterward as the head detached itself from the monster, leaving behind a trail of gore and disintegrated organs.

"What the fuck is that! I did so much damage, and it didn't die?!" Upon seeing that even decapitation wouldn't kill the monster, Dipp wisely retreated.

For some reason, the hybrid monster showed no intentions of chasing after the retreating Dipp. Instead, the hybrid monster's heads looked up at the empty sky at the same time.

Lily had just conjured a miniature sun over her palm, but she noticed the monster's strange actions. Moments later, the radiant sun hovering above her palm dimmed rapidly before vanishing.

"Lily, attack from the right, and I'll attack this thing from the left! Let's see if even grenades can't blow this thing's head to smithereens," Dipp said, pulling out a grenade from his waist. He was panting because he had just rushed toward Lily.

"No, don't attack. Look at that," Lily said, her voice carrying a hint of joy.

Dipp turned and was surprised to find that the monster was no longer struggling to pull itself out of the rubble. All of its heads were staring at the empty sky with a hint of longing in their eyes.

"What are they... doing?" Dipp asked.

"They're waiting for Sparkle! When I used to train with Mr. Charles' children, Sparkle would always heal their wounds whenever they were injured. They must be thinking that Sparkle will come here to heal them again, just like old times."

Lily chuckled in delight. These monsters had taken on much more bizarre appearances, but they could still recognize her. This only meant one thing—their consciousness remained undistorted despite their distorted fleshly bodies.

Upon realizing that, Lily cast an affectionate gaze at them.

"I finally know why they attacked me frantically as soon as they saw me. They must have thought that by fighting me and getting injured, Sparkle will appear to heal them again."

Just then, Lily recalled something and looked at Dipp on the ground. She sounded anxious as she asked, "Do you have a portrait of Sparkle with you?"

Of course, Dipp didn't have one, but there was a portrait of Sparkle in the Captain's Quarters. As a painter, Charles had a hobby of painting portraits of people from the Subterranean Sea and the surface world.

With that in mind, Dipp made a beeline for the Narwhale. It took him no time to return, and Lily immediately snatched the portrait from his hand and held it high up toward the colossal monster.

"Hey, look! Are you also looking for her?"

Seeing Sparkle's portrait, the monster struggled out of the rubble, and it kicked up a cloud of dust as it pounced toward Lily.

Dipp broke out into a cold sweat for Lily at the sight, but fortunately, it was just a false alarm. The monster stopped in front of the portrait. It extended one of its tentacles and wrapped it gently around the portrait.

"Are you looking for Sparkle? I'm looking for her, too! Shall we look for her together?" Lily asked cautiously. Her hands were behind her back as she floated toward the monster.

The monster responded, but it was in the form of low-frequency vibrations that lasted for two seconds. They had no idea what it was trying to say, but they could say for sure that no human would understand the monster's words.

Lily revealed an awkward look, unsure of what to do.

Just then, Dipp's face lit up. "I think I know how we can understand their thoughts!"

With that, Dipp charged toward the exit. Before long, Lily saw him running back with an old brass typewriter. Lily's eyes lit up at the sight of it. She remembered that it was a relic capable of reading and printing out one's innermost thoughts.

"We can't understand what they're saying, but what if we can just listen to their thoughts directly?!" Dipp said excitedly. He could feel it—he could feel that this expedition was not going to be for nothing.

"Is this really going to work?" Lily was doubtful.

"I have no idea, but it won't hurt to try it out first. Stand back. Protect me just in case they decide to ambush me," Dipp said, walking up to the hybrid monster with the brass typewriter in his arms.

Dipp put down the brass typewriter on the ground before the hybrid monster. He cautiously took three steps backward, and that was when a clicking sound echoed.

The Soul Printer was working!