Whispering Verse

In that terrible darkness, the unconscious Shade vaguely heard the singing accompanying the waves.

And when he woke up again, everything around him seemed to be shaking. The falling raindrops from the sky hit his back, and the biting wind made him shiver.

"Oh~"

The headache hadn't subsided yet, and the simple act of opening his eyes made him feel a throbbing pain in his temples.

He turned over and sat up, taking off his mask and breathing heavily. Looking around, he was currently on the dirty deck of an old ship, and everything around him was extremely dilapidated.

Looking up, the terrifying and soul-stirring black vortex was actually hanging upside down in the sky above his head. The primitive fear at that moment almost made Shade scream.

Looking around, there is no doubt that this is still the sea. The ship was floating on the rough sea, and the ocean was surrounded by thunderstorms in all directions. The deep darkness seemed to be swallowed up from a distance, and the sound of huge waves made people's hearts tremble uncontrollably. Because there was no light, the sea surface showed a thick black color, and under this black sea surface, there seemed to be something bigger and black and terrifying swimming. Shade just took a look and immediately withdrew his sight.

If you are a timid person, you may faint from fear when you see this scene around you. And even though outsiders have seen a lot of things in this world, they still can't completely control their panic at this moment. This is mankind’s most primitive fear of the deep sea and darkness, not to mention the whispering elements in space that are trying to erode the soul all the time.

"are you still there?"

【I am always with you. 】

The familiar voice sounded, and Shade suddenly felt a lot more at ease. Only Miss Princes, and no one else, could be seen on the dim, shabby deck.

"But how could something like this happen to me right after I left home?"

[To put it simply, the power on this ship is very similar to the curse on the girl who obviously has red hair but dyed her hair blonde. 】

"Is this ship attracted by the [Mermaid Song] curse on Miss Princess?"

Thinking of this, Shade frowned in the rain and looked around. The swaying dilapidated ship seemed to be lost in the dark and terrifying sea, and Shade was the only living person on the ship.

[No, she is not that important. The curse only resonated with the pirate ship of the same origin, which made her feel it. 】

"So, the mermaid statue and this pirate ship are really different steps of the same ceremony, and we happened to bump into this ship. How could there be such a coincidence?"

Shade barely maintained his balance, recalling Miss Prince's last words, looking across the rain curtain towards the entrance of the cabin.

He reached out and checked the things he carried with him to make sure that nothing was missing. Then he stumbled and almost fell down due to the violent shaking of the deck.

"Speaking of which, since there is no light source around, how do I see the deck clearly?"

Thinking of this, he looked down at his blistered and wrinkled hands. Just like when the [Dark Box] lost control, it was Shade himself who was glowing. The light of the silver moon emanated from the surface of his body. It was not bright, but at least it prevented him from being completely swallowed by darkness.

He stretched out his hand to wipe the rain off his face, not daring to look at the terrifying sea above his head or around the ship:

"In addition to the whispering elements, are there any other abnormal things nearby?"

[Not yet, but this ship is trying to assimilate you and keep you here permanently. 】

"I didn't feel it."

Dense raindrops hit his skin, and he couldn't stay in the rain for too long.

[Trying to assimilate any divine creature is the most stupid behavior. You don’t feel it because it has no effect. 】

"clear."

He clenched his fists. Due to the loss of body temperature, his condition was not good. Miss Princes said she couldn't leave the ship, and Shade didn't have the guts to throw himself into the sea in such weird waters, so he had better find a place to take shelter from the rain first.

The rocking ship made a squeaking sound, as if it would fall apart in the next moment. With his nose smelling the smell of the ocean, Shade stumbled towards the entrance of the cabin on the deck. He didn't intend to create too much light in this weird environment, so he just used a little light from his fingertips to illuminate the surroundings.

The dilapidated deck is being beaten by dense raindrops, and wooden boxes and some cargo are piled in the corners. Occasionally, you can see black stains that cannot be washed away even by rain. [Echo of Blood] told Shade that most of those are blood stains.

There were no living people on the ship, but there were quite a few corpses. Those corpses had long been turned into bones and were sliding on the deck due to the tilt of the ship. Shade was very worried that the skeleton inside would suddenly stand up, but until he touched the rusty iron door leading to the cabin, he was still the only one moving on the boat.

The iron door seemed to have been hit hard from the inside a long time ago. The deformed door is stuck in the door frame and cannot be pushed no matter how hard it is. Shade could only summon the silver sword, slash it a few times, and break the iron door.

The sound of metal falling to the ground was buried in the violent rain and thunder, as if a black entrance capable of sucking souls was opened, and a strong stench poured out from inside the cabin.

But at least the boat didn't leak and the interior of the cabin was relatively dry. The ship probably belongs to the Fifth Age and does not have a steam power system, so it is impossible to rely on the pipes in the walls to find those important rooms.

Stepping on the creaking floorboards and entering the cabin, and then letting the sword in his hand disappear temporarily, Shade bent down and used his fingers to illuminate the dented door panel on the moldy ground. The side of the door panel that was originally facing inward not only showed signs of being hit by a huge force, but also had dozens of sharp scratches. [Echoes of Blood]'s observation showed that there were traces of blood in the scratches, indicating that these were most likely traces of being grabbed by hand.

"What happened here?"

Feeling startled, he suddenly raised his head and looked ahead. Silver light illuminated the floor in front of him. On the old floor covered with disgusting moss and dust, ashes suddenly rose up, and then a rotten human figure made of ashes rushed straight over.

"It's not an illusion, this is the undead?"

The moonlight in his hand split forward, and after splitting the undead made of ashes, it flew straight along the cabin to a place farther away. Also with this light, Shade saw that except for the area near the exit, the entire corridor of the cabin seemed to be covered in jet-black blood.

Human bones and remains were scattered everywhere, while the doors to the rooms surrounding the cabin were blocked by old, damaged furniture and bones. The scene in front of me seems to indicate that in the long past, a horrific massacre occurred inside the cabin.

The feeling of headache is getting stronger and stronger. The ship itself is affecting the spirit of the entrants. This is also one of the characteristics of high-risk relics.

I want to move forward and search for more clues inside the ship. But at this time, there was a slight noise beside him. Shade immediately looked to the left. With the faint light from his fingers, he could vaguely see a photo frame behind the thick wall carpet, and the sound officially came from the photo frame.

He frowned and used the pen he carried to carefully peel away the outer layer of disgusting germs, revealing the main body of the photo frame containing dozens of black and white photos of various sizes.

“It turns out that photography technology also appeared in the Fifth Age.”

Most of the photos in the frame were badly faded, and only vaguely identifiable scenes of life on the ship were visible. But only the single portrait in the center seemed not to have been washed away by time. The man with short hair and a high nose wearing an eye patch looked at Shade from the photo.

The calm expression that had been frozen in time slowly changed as Shade observed. The corners of the mouth on his slightly faded face were raised little by little until he grinned at an angle that a normal person would never achieve. The eyes that were originally motionless suddenly started to move at this moment, and the look of intelligent creatures in the dull eyes returned, and those eyes really looked at Shade:

"Intruder!"

Amidst the infiltrating roar, the face was swept by the thick black mist and turned into an infiltrating skeleton and rushed out of the photo.

"Silver Moon."

The ultimate light burst out from the fingers for a moment, and the light even shook the ship itself. When the light went out in the next second, Shade's fist shattered the glass of the picture frame, and he grabbed the old haunted photo regardless of the puncture on his palm.

When he withdrew his hand, the old photo actually flew out of his hand. It slid upward against the yellow-green mold on the wall, as if trying to find a joint in the wall to leave. But when the photo flew to the height of Shade's chest, the glowing holy silver sword tip came over, pierced the fragile photo, and directly pierced the photo and nailed it to the wall.

The moonlight sword illuminated the wall, and the green fungus quickly exited the area illuminated by the sword like a living creature. Wherever the sword blade came into contact with the photo, thick black smoke continued to emerge, as if on fire. A sharp scream came from the photo, and the distorted sound made Shade, who already had a headache, even more upset, but he ignored it.

"I surrender!"

A voice finally came from inside the photo, and like the "intruder" just now, it actually used contemporary language.

Shade waited for a few seconds before grabbing the photo with his left hand and pulling out the sword with his right hand. At this time, there was a black hole that looked like it had been burned out in the center of the photo, and the man wearing an eyepatch in the photo squeezed to one side of the photo so that he could fully appear in the photo. He raised his hands in the photo.

"If you dare to run, you won't have a chance next time."

Shade said, holding the photo with his left hand hard. I was originally worried that the other person wouldn’t understand what I was saying, but fortunately the person in the photo did:

"How is that possible? How can you still be conscious here?"

The voice was hoarse and weird, and at the same time, the image in the photo kept flashing. Most of the time it was the image of a man, but at a few moments, what was in the photo was clearly a monster with a mixture of fish face and human face.