Deep Sea Embers

The "raw elements" that once appeared in the frosty deep sea now appear in this border sea, near the "holy land" of the Annihilation cultists. This fact exudes a weird and terrifying aura, but it is not that shocking. Accident.

After all, the "Holy Lord of the Deep" is the thread that connects all of this.

Morris squatted down next to the rough humanoid, took out a slender metal sampling cone, and carefully stabbed the latter's arm. The sampling cone encountered an extremely tough skin-obviously tougher than humans. The skin of elves or Senjin is much tougher, but has a certain elasticity, like some kind of dense and strong special rubber.

He used force on his hands to break through the tough "skin". The sampling cone rotated half a circle in the rough humanoid arm, and when he pulled it out, some sludge-like black substance was brought out.

The familiar black mud seems to have lost its activity, showing no signs of creeping deformation.

"I'm starting to feel a little sick..." Shirley frowned. The dirty black mud made her get goosebumps, and she thought of the chilling things that happened in Hanshuang—— The replicas growing in the fog, the tentacles of ancient gods spreading upward from the deep sea, the living sludge surging in pipes and sewers...

However, Agou beside her seemed not to be affected at all. The deep hound curiously moved closer to the rough humanoid, sniffing around in a circle, as if it had discovered something, and would stop and think for a while from time to time.

When Shirley saw this, she immediately looked disgusted: "Agou, what are you doing? Don't you think this thing is disgusting... Hey, stop rubbing your head..."

"Agou, did you find anything?" Fanna asked with a serious expression from the side.

"It's not a discovery. It's the first time I've seen this thing with my own eyes. I've only heard the captain describe it before..." Agou shook his head, "I just feel that the smell of this thing... is a bit familiar."

Duncan raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "A bit familiar?"

"...the 'smell' of my hometown," Agou muttered, "but I'm not sure...because it's very light, but it does feel a bit familiar."

Duncan's expression gradually became serious, but he didn't speak for a while.

He originally discovered a large number of "raw elements" in the deep sea of ​​frost, but in order to completely eliminate the hidden dangers under the frost and prevent the ancient god's clone from awakening, he burned the ancient god's tentacle as a "pillar" , which also ignited all the "rough materials" in the deep sea, which resulted in him not bringing back any samples from that place - so before today, Agou had never really come into contact with this kind of deep holy material. A "semi-finished replica" created by the power of the Lord.

But now, Agou smells the scent of the deep sea from these "semi-finished products".

Duncan vaguely felt that there seemed to be something..."problem" with Agou's discovery.

Lucretia noticed the change in the expression on her father's face and said worriedly: "Do you think something is wrong?"

Duncan's expression was serious: "Why do these 'humanoid roughs' have the aura of the deep sea?"

"Is there anything wrong with this?" Lucretia was a little confused. "These things are born from the power of the Holy Lord of the Deep. It is normal for them to have the aura of the Deep Sea..."

Duncan turned his head: "According to the information we have so far, 'people' were also created by Holy Lord Netherworld. Why has Agou never smelled the 'smell of home' in people?"

The surroundings suddenly became quiet. Lucretia blinked and finally realized what the "problem" her father had noticed was going on.

Her eyes fell on the "rough body" with no facial features, hands or feet on the deck, and her expression gradually became serious.

Duncan spoke softly in deep thought: "All mortal groups are derivatives of Netherworld, and Netherworld demons are also creations of Netherworld Holy Lord. We regard 'humans' and 'Netherworld demons' as the two ends of the scale, then Are these 'rough blanks' with humanoid outlines more like 'human beings' or 'deep demons'?"

"...I remember you said that these clay doll-like 'rough blanks' are probably the 'semi-finished products' when Holy Lord Yousui created the mortal race, or they are the products of rough processing according to the original blueprint. The original Hanshuang The ancient god's tentacle in the deep sea is only a partial copy of the Holy Lord of the Deep, so it can only create this kind of 'rough material', but if it goes further, these 'rough materials' may become real 'human beings'... "

Lucretia recalled the information about the frost incident that her father had mentioned to her, and slowly spoke while thinking.

"And now, Agou feels that these 'roughs' have the aura of the deep sea, or to put it another way, it feels that these roughs... are very similar to its compatriots."

"I didn't say that!" Agou muttered immediately, but then he lay down again, feeling a little lack of confidence, "Well, okay... Actually, it's a bit like..."

Shirley blinked, looked at Agou and then at the captain. She glanced around, her face still a little confused: "What are you talking about?"

Duncan glanced at the girl and raised his hand to point to the "rough" on the deck: "We are discussing at what point 'humans' began to differentiate from the deep demons, or in other words, this kind of deep demons with humanoid outlines, At what point did you start to become a human being?"

Shirley reacted for a while, and finally her eyes suddenly widened: "What the hell?!"

Duncan didn't explain any more. He just nodded slightly and turned around to return to the stern bridge - this was already very close to the critical line of six nautical miles. He had to be extra cautious to continue moving forward. He planned to let the Homeless Ship Move forward a little to confirm the situation ahead.

But just when he was about to take a step, another slight "dong-dong" sound suddenly came from outside the ship's side, interrupting his movements and everyone's thoughts.

Immediately afterwards, more "dong dong" sounds came to everyone's ears.

Something was banging against the hull, first two or three, then more—a lot!

Fanna's expression changed slightly in an instant, and she rushed to the edge of the deck in a few steps, looking down at the sea below——

Black human-shaped objects, like "rough blanks" kneaded from sludge, there are at least dozens or hundreds of them at a glance, hitting the hull of the Lost Home one by one, they are in a calm sea. Ups and downs, as if pushed by invisible waves, boom, boom, boom...

But what’s even more chilling is what’s further away——

In front of the Lost Home, further out on the sea, more blurry outlines are slowly drifting over from the misty sea! Countless humanoid "rough blanks" rolled and undulated like undulating dead trees in the water. They drifted in the same direction, and hit the shell of the Lost Home one after another, making a dull crashing sound. It rolled and changed its floating trajectory, continuing to float towards the rear, towards the Brilliant Star...

On the front deck of the Rest, Priestess Polekny, who was wearing a black robe from the Church of Death and had dark golden curly hair, frowned. She stood on the edge of the deck and looked at the sea below. Those human figures drifted in from a distance like black dead wood. The rough material came into her eyes with a chilling and strange look.

A junior priest stood beside her, with a rather uneasy expression on his face: "Bishop Polekny, what on earth are these things?"

"...It is something that was born due to the power of the Holy Lord Netherworld. It should have drifted from the so-called 'Holy Land'," Polekny said casually - a voice was speaking in her mind, telling her about According to the intelligence of these "humanoid rough objects", the voice came from the Lost Home, and it was the "Ms. Agatha" who followed Captain Duncan in shadow form. "Ignore them, these things are 'dead', as long as they are not If we take the initiative to contact them, they will not pose a threat to our ironclads."

"Yes, Bishop."

The junior priest bowed his head and retreated, but not long after he left, he hurriedly returned to Polegina.

"Bishop! There's even in the bottom of the boat!"

"Bottom of the boat?!"

Polekny, who hurried to the lower area, heard the thump-dump-dump sounds that almost echoed throughout the entire bottom cabin.

The sound of impact was continuous, as if coming from all directions. It was the sound of countless hard objects floating in the sea hitting the steel. The sound echoed in the cabin, dull and disturbing. Polekina even had an illusion. ——

It was like the reverberation produced by countless people holding sledgehammers and consciously knocking on the hull of the ship.

A picture even subconsciously appeared in her mind, thinking that there were countless humanoid "rough blanks" without facial features floating in the sea water around the Rest at this moment, not just on the sea surface, but also underwater, hundreds of them. Thousands of black clay figures clung to the bottom of the ship, hitting and scratching, trying to penetrate the thick layer of steel and sink this uninvited guest who broke into the holy land...

She quickly shook her head, suppressing these "associations" that might lead to unpredictable consequences, and turned to look at the technician who came down with her: "Will the hull be damaged?"

“If it’s just an impact of this magnitude, it won’t cause any damage to the hull,” the mechanic said immediately. “It’s just an impact, and the force will not be more powerful than driftwood in the sea... But to be honest, these sounds are too disturbing. , and since 'those things' started hitting the hull near the machinery room, there has been an uncoordinated noise in the operation of the steam engine..."

Polekny's eyes changed slightly: "Is the machine possessed by evil?"

"It's not as serious as being possessed, but the machine does feel uneasy. I hope you can send the church priest down to say a propitiation mass for the steam boiler and difference engine."

"Okay, I will notify the church and ask them to send people down." Polekny said immediately.

And the moment she finished speaking, a hoarse and vague voice suddenly came into her mind - the voice was mixed with the continuous knocking around and the echo in the bilge, as if it came directly from the hull of the ship. It precipitated from the cold sea water outside and seeped into her heart——

"You...will become them...just like us..."