Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 878: Mountain

Chapter 878: Mountain

Today is the 42nd day since I set out from the World's Crown. I used the information that we gathered from that monster to create an approximate destination. The next step is using the ship ?? to do the search.

Fortunately, we finally met up with the people whom Bandages had sent out a few days ago, greatly increasing the speed of our exploration. In addition to the troops of the Hope Island Navy, the others also came along upon hearing of the news—Norton, Linda, Audric, ??, Nico, Planck, and Grace.

There's no need to even say that they all miss the captain, but their arrival here makes me feel a bit afraid. What if the captain has truly returned to the surface? What am I going to do if he's no longer here?

No, I can't think like this. The captain couldn't have run away.

With that, Dipp put down his pen, and he felt a little melancholic as he looked at the diary. He had learned to write the majority of the Subterranean Sea's characters through constant cramming; his penmanship was really ugly.

He picked up the pen again with his webbed hand, intending to refine it a bit, but he ended up putting it back down. "No one else is going to read it, anyway. So what if it's ugly?"

Closing the diary with both hands, Dipp turned and walked toward the door to proceed with the daily ship inspection.

The fuel tank, the fresh water tank, the engine room, etc. After inspecting one compartment after another, Dipp finally made his way to the bridge.

"Ah~ Captain Dipp. I see that you're still as punctual as ever," Nico said, leaning back in his chair with his boots on the instrument panel. He was busy filing his nails with a nail file.

"Don't worry, it's fine. The Narwhale is equipped with a state-of-the-art positioning system from the Relic Research Institute. We no longer have to record the route and speed every hour like we always do."

"It's better to be safe than sorry. A machine is great, but it's not as reliable as a person when it comes to meticulousness. By the way, Second Mate, there's one thing I find very strange. Why did you come here?"

"Why can't I come here? Is it because I joined late, so I'm not one of the Narwhale's crew?" Nico asked, putting down the small nail file.

"But you've never been enthusiastic when it comes to something like this. Shouldn't you be trying to establish your dominance on that Coral Archipelago of yours?" Dipp asked. Then, a guess flitted across his mind. "Could it be that you like the captain?"

"Huh? Of course not," Nico replied instantly. A few seconds later, he added, "Our captain's personality is like a pufferfish; he's full of spines, and it's too much for me to withstand it."

Before Dipp could say anything, Nico suddenly stood up and raised his right hand. He pointed at the glass in front of him and exclaimed. "Look! What is that?!"

Dipp whipped around and saw something white beneath the searchlight.

"That's..." Dipp trailed off. It was too far away to confirm its identity, and the only thing they knew about it was that it was white. Nico was no longer as nonchalant and casual as he was earlier. He picked up the black microphone next to him and solemnly notified the other ships to be on alert.

They dared not approach what had just suddenly appeared at sea, but they needed more information as well, so Audric was sent out in his bat form. Audric took to the sky and began his reconnaissance using sonar.

Nico and Dipp took advantage of the downtime to flip through the nautical chart that the Explorers Association had sent over to them.

"This sea region was explored by someone ten years ago. According to the records at the time, what's in front of us didn't exist back then. Do you think it has something to do with Sparkle?" Dipp said, his voice tinged with excitement.

"Who can say for sure what's going on in the depths? It's normal for things to suddenly appear or disappear. Let's wait for Audric to come back. We have to know what exactly that thing is."

For some reason, Nico felt uneasy as he stared at the white substance of unknown composition in the distance. The unknown was the scariest out at sea.

Soon, Audric quickly returned and revealed a surprising piece of information.

"Dipp, that thing is a skeleton!"

"A skeleton? A skeleton of what?"

"I'm not too sure, either, but it's huge—at least as big as two Hope Islands!"

Everyone present was stunned. A creature larger than two Hope Islands. Could that being even be considered a creature at that point? Since there was a carcass before them, wouldn't that mean that there were living creatures this colossal out there?

Everyone stared at Dipp. He was the captain, so it was up to him to decide whether to approach or stay away.

Dipp felt immense pressure beneath everyone's gazes, and he finally understood what it felt like to be a captain. No one knew what was on that skeleton or if it would be dangerous to approach it.

A wrong decision could easily cost the lives of the crew members.

When Charles was still around, he was the decision-maker, and Dipp only had to follow his orders. Today, he finally got a taste of the dilemma that Charles always faced as the Captain of the Narwhale.

"Why don't we mark this place first? We'll send an exploration ship over here once we're back home," Dipp said.

Everyone sighed in relief. To be honest, the massive carcass before them made them tremble in fear of what could be out there.

The Narwhale's smokestack belched out thick, black smoke as it moved slowly away from the enormous carcass. As the ship got farther and farther away, the carcass slowly disappeared from everyone's line of sight.

Before everyone could return to their cabins, however, a massive wave suddenly swept across everyone. The rogue wave caught everyone off guard, and those who couldn't find anything to grab were swept away by the waves.

"Dive! We must dive to the bottom to avoid the oncoming storm!" The cables were pulled, and the iron plates around the Narwhale closed slowly. The ballast tanks were then flooded, and the Narwhale sank rapidly toward the seafloor.

As soon as they were submerged, the commotion vanished into thin air. The sailors, drenched in seawater, all collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath. What had just happened was too scary; the waves were too quick and strong.

However, their relief didn't last long as panicked voices echoed from the bridge's speaker. "Go up! There's something in the sea—"

The voice was cut off, and it sent a chill down the shiver of everyone's spine. Before Dipp could make any move, the ships on one side turned on all of their searchlights.

Through the thick, pressure-resistant glass, Dipp and the others saw something absolutely massive in the pitch-black depths. It was a pitch-black mountain with flesh and blood for walls rather than rocks.

Moments later, the mountain came to life and heaved, generating a vacuum that sucked the nearby ships toward it.