The "raw element" that once appeared in the Frost Deep Sea now appeared in this border sea area, near the "holy land" of the Annihilation Cultists. This fact exudes a weird and terrifying atmosphere, but it is not so surprising.
After all, the "Holy Lord of the Deep" is the thread that connects all of this.
Morris squatted down beside the rough humanoid, took out a slender metal sampling cone, and carefully stabbed it into the latter's arm. The sampling cone encountered an extremely tough outer skin - obviously much tougher than the skin of humans, elves or Sen'jin, but with a certain elasticity, like some kind of dense and strong special rubber.
He exerted force with his hands and broke through the tough "skin". The sampling cone rotated half a circle in the arm of the rough humanoid, and when it was pulled out, some muddy black substance came out.
The familiar black mud seemed to have lost its activity, with no signs of movement or deformation.
"I'm starting to feel a little sick..." Shirley frowned. The dirty black mud gave her goose bumps, and reminded her of the chilling things that happened in Frost—the replicas that grew in the fog, the tentacles of the ancient gods that continued to spread upward from the deep sea, and the living mud that surged in the pipes and sewers...
However, the dog beside her seemed to be completely unaffected. The Deep Hound curiously approached the rough human figure, sniffing around in circles as if it had discovered something, and occasionally stopped to think for a while.
Shirley looked disgusted when she saw this: "Agou, what are you doing? Don't you think this thing is disgusting... Hey, stop rubbing your head..."
"Agou, have you discovered anything?" Fanna asked seriously.
"It's not a discovery. This is the first time I've seen this thing in person. I only heard the captain describe it before..." Ah Gou shook his head, "I just think the smell of this thing is a little 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 faint, but it does feel a little familiar."
Duncan's expression gradually became solemn, but he did not speak for a while.
At first, he discovered a large number of "rough elements" in the Frost Deep Sea. However, in order to completely eliminate the hidden dangers under the Frost and prevent the replica of the ancient god from waking up, he burned the ancient god's tentacle that served as the "pillar", which also ignited all the "rough elements" in the deep sea, resulting in him not bringing back any samples from that place - so before today, Agou had never really come into contact with this kind of "semi-finished replica" created by the power of the Holy Lord of the Deep.
And now, Agou smelled the scent of the deep sea from these "semi-finished products".
Duncan vaguely felt that there seemed to be something... "problematic" about Agou's discovery.
Lucrecia noticed the change in her father's expression and asked worriedly, "Do you think something is wrong?"
Duncan's expression was serious: "Why do these 'rough humanoids' have the aura of the deep sea?"
"Is there something wrong with this?" Lucrecia was a little confused. "These things are all born from the power of the Lord of the Deep. It is normal for them to have the breath of the deep sea..."
Duncan turned his head and said, "According to the information we have so far, 'humans' were also created by the Deep Saint. Why has Ah Gou never smelled the 'smell of home' on humans?"
The surroundings suddenly became quiet. Lucrecia blinked and finally realized what the "problem" her father had noticed was.
Her eyes fell on the "rough draft" on the deck without any facial features or hands and feet, and her expression gradually became serious.
Duncan spoke softly, as if thinking about something: "All mortal races are derivatives of the Deep, and the Deep Demons are also creations of the Deep Lord. We regard 'humans' and 'Deep Demons' as the two ends of the scale, so these 'roughs' with human outlines...are they more like 'humans' or 'Deep Demons'?"
"... I remember you said that these 'rough drafts' that look like clay dolls are probably the 'semi-finished products' that the Lord of the Deep created when he created the mortal race, or in other words, the products that were roughly processed according to the original blueprint. The tentacles of the ancient gods in the Frost Deep Sea were just a partial replica of the Lord of the Deep, so it could only create this kind of 'rough drafts', but if it goes a step further, these 'rough drafts' may become real 'humans'..."
Lucrecia recalled the information her father had told her about the Frost Incident, and spoke slowly while thinking.
"And now, Agou feels that these 'roughs' carry the aura of the deep sea. Or to put it another way, he feels that these roughs... are very much like his compatriots."
"I didn't say that!" Ah Gou muttered, but then he lay down again, a little unsure, "Uh, well... Actually, it's a little bit like..."
Shirley blinked, looked at Agou and then at the captain, and scanned the surroundings with a confused look on her face: "What are you discussing?"
Duncan glanced at the girl and pointed at the "rough draft" on the deck: "We are discussing at what stage the 'human' began to differentiate from the Deep Demon. In other words, at what stage did this Deep Demon with a human-like outline begin to become a 'human'."
Shirley took a while to react, and her eyes suddenly widened: "What the hell?!"
Duncan did not explain any more. He just nodded slightly and turned around to return to the stern control deck - this place was very close to the six-nautical-mile critical line, and further progress required extreme caution. He planned to move the Lost Homeland a little forward to confirm the situation ahead.
But just as he was about to take a step, another slight "bang bang" sound suddenly came from outside the ship's side, interrupting his movements and everyone's thoughts.
Immediately afterwards, more "dong dong" sounds were heard by everyone.
Something was hitting the hull, two or three at first, then more—a lot!
Vanna's expression changed slightly in an instant. She rushed to the edge of the deck in a few steps and looked down at the sea below.
The black humanoid creatures, like "rough pieces" made of mud, were at least dozens or even hundreds of them, hitting the hull of the Lost Hometown again and again. They rose and fell on the calm sea, as if pushed by invisible waves, boom, boom, boom...
But what is even more chilling is that further away—
In front of the Lost Homeland, on the sea surface further away, more blurred outlines were slowly drifting over from the misty sea surface! Countless humanoid "roughs" were rolling and undulating like dead wood in the water. They were drifting in the same direction, hitting the hull of the Lost Homeland one after another, making dull collision sounds, and then rolling and changing their floating trajectory, continuing to drift backwards, drifting towards the Brilliant Star...
On the front deck of the Rest, Priestess Polekini, who was wearing the black robe of the Church of Death and had dark golden curly hair, stood on the edge of the deck with a frown on her face, looking at the sea below. The rough human figures that drifted from afar like black dead trees came into her eyes with a chilling weirdness.
A junior priest stood beside her, looking quite uneasy. "Bishop Poligny, what are these things?"
"… They are things born from the power of the Lord of the Deep, and they should have drifted from the so-called 'holy land'," Polegini said casually. There was a voice speaking in her mind, telling her about these 'humanoids'. The voice came from the Lost Homeland, and it was 'Ms. Agatha' who followed Captain Duncan in the form of a shadow. "Don't pay attention to them. These things are 'dead'. As long as we don't take the initiative to contact them, they will not pose a threat to our ironclad ship."
"Yes, Bishop."
The junior priest bowed his head and left, but not long after he left, he hurried back to Poligny.
"Bishop! Under the boat, under the boat too!"
"Bottom of the ship?!"
Polekini, who hurried to the lower area, heard the "bang bang bang" sounds that almost echoed throughout the entire bottom cabin.
The crashing sounds continued, as if coming from all directions. It was the sound of countless hard objects floating in the sea hitting steel. The sound echoed in the cabin, dull and disturbing. Polekini even had an illusion -
It was like the echo produced by countless people holding sledgehammers and deliberately hitting the hull.
She even subconsciously had a picture in her mind, thinking of the countless humanoid "roughs" without facial features floating in the sea water around the Rest. Not only on the sea surface, but also underwater, hundreds of black mud figures were clinging to the bottom hull of the ship, hitting and scratching it again and again, trying to drill through the thick layer of steel and sink this uninvited guest who broke into the holy land...
She quickly shook her head, forcibly 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 this level of impact, it won't cause any damage to the hull," the mechanic said immediately, "It's just a collision, and the power will not be greater than the driftwood in the sea... But to be honest, these sounds are too disturbing, and since 'those things' started hitting the hull near the engine room, there have been uncoordinated noises in the operation of the steam engine..."
Poligny's expression changed slightly: "Is the machine possessed by evil spirits?"
"It's not as serious as being possessed by evil spirits, but the machine does feel uneasy. I hope you can send the church priest down to hold a comforting mass for the steam boiler and the difference engine."
"Okay, I'll notify the church and ask them to send someone down." Polekini said immediately.
Just as she finished speaking, a hoarse and vague voice suddenly entered her mind. The voice was mixed with the continuous knocking around her and the echoes in the bottom of the cabin. It seemed to come directly from the cold sea water outside the hull and penetrate into her heart.
"You...will become them...just like us..."
(End of this chapter)