Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 328. Daddy [Bonus Image]

Chapter 328. Daddy [Bonus Image]

"Where did you get that ability? That was amazing!" Elizabeth's eyes glimmered in surprise upon discovering that Charles had become significantly stronger since the last time she saw him.

"Let's talk about it once we're done here. We can't let this opportunity go!" Charles let go of Elizabeth's hand and staggered toward the colossal vertical pupil on Swann's ventral side.

A crowd of hideous monsters wearing masks made of intricate flat gears awaited Charles. Like mites, they were everywhere as far as Charles could see.

"Distract them for me! Light all the explosives and hand them over to me!" Charles roared his orders. The others moved quickly; some rushed toward the group of giant humanoid monsters while the others frantically handed over the lit explosives to Charles.

Charles moved quickly and wrapped the explosives with his invisible tentacles. He bent his knees and jumped down Swann. The air shrieked loudly, and the whistling of the wind pierced Charles' ears as he fell rapidly.

Soon, he appeared upside down in front of the colossal vertical pupil. Swann's eye, which was as large as a football field, finally noticed Charles, but it was too late.

"Go to hell!" Charles roared and swung his Dark Blade, drawing a thin line across the eyeball. He then shoved the explosives inside the wound and let go. Charles continued falling, but his gaze landed on the hole between the colossal eye and half a mouth. It was the hole that the Pope had blasted open during that battle.

Charles twisted in mid-air and reached out to grab the ledge before him when the scenery peeled away. When he came to his senses, he was stupefied to find himself inside the wound he had carved open in the eyeball, and he was surrounded by the explosives he had shoved into the same wound.

What was that? Did he teleport me, or is this an illusion?

Charles had yet to figure out what had happened when a thunderous boom echoed around him. The explosives blasted the white gelatinous substance around the eyeball along with Charles.

A wave of excruciating pain struck Charles as his nerves screamed at him. The scenery before him spun rapidly, and the intense pain made it clear to Charles that he had suffered internal injuries.

I'm falling too fast! I have to break my fall before it's too late! Tentacles burst out of Charles, and they waved frantically in mid-air, seemingly looking for something to grab. Fortunately, one of the tentacles managed to wrap itself around a steel pipe sticking out of Swann, and Charles managed to break his fall.

Charles took a moment to compose himself. He got ready to get moving once more when an enormous shadow swept past him. Swann's half of a sagging mechanical tongue had made its move and curled up around Charles.

Charles found himself in complete darkness as the tongue weighed down on him like a mountain. He could even hear the sound of his bones cracking. He was completely trapped between Swann's mechanical tongue and his half of a mouth made out of flesh and blood.

Crackle!

White lightning arcs crackled and sprung up around Charles. His goal was to force Swann to lift his mechanical tongue off of him by electrocuting the latter's tongue, but then a resentful voice pierced his ears.

"You gave me no choice!"

A violent tremor ran through Charles, along with a sharp pain. He felt as though a drill was trying to dig a hole in his back. Charles struggled desperately between the mechanical tongue and the mouth to no avail.

A few seconds later, the sharp pain intensified into a searing pain. The drill had shattered his skin and pierced his muscles. Now, it was in the process of drilling its way into his spine.

Just as Charles felt like he was about to get torn apart, the drill abruptly disappeared. Even the sensation of the tongue and mouth pressing against him was gone. Charles opened his eyes and saw an indescribable cluster of tentacles flickering a dim glow. The writhing tentacles were riddled with eyes emitting a greenish hue. The eyes repeatedly manifested and popped like bubbles on the surface of the writhing tentacles.

Charles was familiar with the creature before him. He had seen it before at sea. As it approached, unexplainable extreme fear gripped Charles' heart, and he instinctively wanted to stay as far away from it as possible.

A few tentacles wrapped around Charles and dragged him out of Swann's mouth.

It saved me? Why? Why did it save me? Charles was baffled.

"Daddy," a hazy whisper suddenly echoed in his ears.

"What?" Charles' pupils constricted. He looked as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning, and the blood drained out of his face as he stared at the cluster of eyeballs in front of him.

He couldn't quite grasp what was happening, and he thought that getting torn apart and eaten by the creature before him was better than having to confront the reality that had just unfolded before him.

No... that can't be. A-am I dreaming? Yes, I must be... this is just too absurd!

Charles and Sparkle stared at each other in mid-air, but Swann had no intention of giving the two enough time to bond as father and daughter.

A rift in Swann's flesh was torn open, and a torrent of flesh, blood, and steel rushed toward the two. Charles snapped back to his senses, and his invisible tentacles twitched, allowing him to climb up and avoid Swann's attack.

Charles looked down and was astonished to find a drill made out of flesh, blood, and steel making a beeline for the cluster of eyeballs. Charles moved instinctively. His tentacles abandoned their climb, allowing Charles to plunge toward the cluster of eyeballs and Swann.

However, it seemed that Charles' response was unnecessary. The cluster of eyeballs that had called him Daddy pounced on the drill and engulfed it with its tentacles. It then ripped the drill apart and devoured it.

A slender tentacle moved to catch the falling Charles. Then, a green eyeball popped out of the indescribable cluster of eyeballs. The green eyeball flipped, seemingly finding its orientation before finding Charles.

"Daddy... play..." The same voice as earlier entered Charles' ears. Sparkle seemed indifferent to the threat of the behemoth next to her as all of her green eyes stared intently at Charles.

Charles was stupefied, and he reached out to touch the green eyeball while stewing in his own shock. What...? Can anyone tell me what exactly is going on here?

Swann was instantly furious upon being ignored by Charles and Sparkle. Every single thread of flesh and blood attached to Swann spliced up and converged to create an ugly amalgamation of flesh and blood.

Charles' heart went cold at the threat before him. He quickly composed himself and shouted at Sparkle, "We have to leave! We can't stay here!"

Unfortunately, Sparkle couldn't seem to understand Charles' words. It remained unmoving as it repeated, "Daddy... play..."

Thud!

A dull thud echoed from out of nowhere. Swann's colossal figure went stiff as a spire the size of the Eiffel Tower pierced Swann's face less than a meter above Charles.

Swann's filthy black blood dripped onto Charles' face down below.

Three breaths later, Swann's colossal figure swayed, and he collapsed. Swann had gotten extremely close to Hope Island, so half of him was in the water, while the other half was on the island as he lay motionless like a dead crab. Three massive spires were sticking out of Swann's back at three different locations.

"Good thing I wasn't too late. Anyway, Charles, who is that?" A friendly and genial voice echoed above Charles.