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A sudden sound of sea waves abruptly awakened Duncan from his dreamscape.
His eyes snapped open, and the phantasm he observed in his half-dreaming state had vanished, leaving only a faint silhouette. He could only remember something about seeing fish swimming in the air, and those fish around him seemed extraordinarily delicious—but what did those fish look like again?
Fish... swimming in the air?
Duncan blinked, a strange feeling of reality and dreamscape tearing and blending confusing him momentarily. He looked towards his three fishing rods, secured on the rod holder, and saw no indication of a bite, while the sea in the distance was already starting to heave, wave after wave crashing against the Homeloss's hull.
Then the waves grew larger. Within visible range, stronger waves succeeded each proceeding wave, continuously surging from afar. The massive body of the Homeloss swayed in the storm, with the sound of the surging waves filling his ears.
Duncan looked up at the sky to see that the weather was still good—just a bit more wavy, but probably not something that would lead to extreme weather like a major storm.
"This might not be good weather for fishing..."
He muttered, pondering whether to reel in the rods. But at that moment, he caught sight of one of the fishing rods bending dramatically from the corner of his eye!
The robust fishing line designed for sea fishing instantly became taut, and the short and sturdy sea fishing rod seemed to latch onto something big, its entire front part bending like a bow along with a grating noise of creaking and squeaking. The rod holder was also making the sound of wood rubbing under the pull of this great force, all of which signaled to Duncan:
A fish! A big one!
He immediately discarded the idea of resting and reeling in the rods. The enthusiasm of a fisherman blazed in his chest as he made two steps and reached the "struck" rod, one hand grabbing it to prevent any slip from the holder, the other hand slowly adjusting the tension of the line.
"I knew it! How could I come up empty-handed?"
Duncan excitedly muttered to himself, beginning a fierce struggle with whatever massive thing was at the other end of the line. It was a hard fight, the entity at the end of the fishing line clearly not intending to make capture easy, pulling against the rod with such force that even with Duncan's strength and the support of the rod holder, the standoff seemed precarious.
The waves around the Homeloss grew little by little, but to Duncan, this slight rocking was nothing.
He was simply angered by the stubborn "prey" and also worried that the chance to improve their diet that had finally appeared would slip away for no reason.
The fishing line stretched to its limit, and the big fish was about to break free from his grasp.
After an indeterminate period of deadlock, Duncan steeled his heart and suddenly a cluster of eerie green flames spread from his hand that was holding the rod.
The spectral fire burst fiercely, spreading like water and quickly flowing along the fishing rod and line, the Spiritual Body flame burning its way along, forming a straight line of "fire" that entered the water. In the next second, a ghostly green flame outline suddenly emerged deep in the water surrounding the Homeloss, and under the illumination and delineation of the pale green flames, a vast shadow began to surface in the water.
The shadow resembled an irregular mass contracting and expanding, almost covering the entire sea surface within hundreds of meters around the Homeloss. Its fringes extended into numerous dark entities that constantly transformed and proliferated, like thousands of arms writhing and waving in the ocean, stirring the waters around the Homeloss, controlling the invisible surges and tides of the Endless Sea.
Duncan heard some strange noises coming from the sea, and while maintaining his standoff with his "prey," he peeked curiously outside.
He saw nothing but the undulating waves, not much changed from before.
And he could distinctly feel the opposing force transmitted through the fishing rod weakening somewhat.
The prey was running out of strength—a fact that spread a brilliant smile across his face.
He started to reel the line tighter, gradually dragging his catch out of the water...
...
Alice was startled by the roaring and howling that came from outside the cabin. The violent shaking began under her feet, causing all the items in the room to make a series of clanking noises. She quickly grabbed a nearby railing to prevent herself from falling, an expression of confusion and doubt on her face, "What's happening?"
The Homeloss was shaking as if a huge storm was raging outside, and from the depths of this ancient Ghost Ship came low, oppressive strange sounds. It was as if it was roaring, bellowing, resisting the terror of the deep sea, fighting against some colossal beast that was trying to devour it.
Everything in the cabin was clanking, and at first Alice thought it was just the collision caused by the shaking of the ship. But she soon realized that many of the noisy items were actually chattering in place—they were making noises, communicating with each other, but Alice couldn't understand this language that only the Homeloss itself could comprehend.
All she knew was that something might be wrong outside.
The doll-like Miss decided to check the deck—she staggered out of the cabin, using the walls to prevent a fall, and headed towards the deck.
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After nearly being tripped by the wildly flying ropes and the barrels bouncing haphazardly around her, she finally reached the end of the staircase, she pushed open the wooden door that swung continuously in the storm, and saw the terrifyingly huge waves forming on the Endless Sea.
The sky was as black as ink, and the ominous, thick clouds had almost solidified into oppressive masses that pressed close to the ocean's surface. Towering waves rumbled and surged under the dark clouds, undulating menacingly around the Homeloss!
For Alice, it was the first time seeing such a spectacle, and she didn't know if this was normal for the sea, but she knew she had to find the captain at this moment.
She scanned the deck and, without much difficulty, spotted Captain Duncan standing on the edge of the deck.
...
The wind and waves were somewhat bothersome, but for Duncan, on the verge of success, these were just trivial "disturbances." With the feedback from both the fishing line and the green fire, he could clearly sense that his prey had stopped struggling, and the massive creature was gradually being pulled to the surface.
"Come on up, you!"
He shouted joyfully, pulling the fishing rod in his hand with a final fierce tug.
A large fish leaped out of the water—it was really big, almost half his size.
In that brief moment, Duncan locked eyes with the fish suspended in the air.
"...Pretty ugly."
That was his first thought.
The fish truly was extremely ugly, its dark and dull body seemed to be covered with some sort of proliferative outgrowths making it rough and uneven, and bizarre gray-white patterns sprawled haphazardly along the fins on either side. Bone-like structures were visible around the fish's head, and a pair of hollow, whitish eyeballs stared down Duncan from beneath those spiky projections.
Duncan felt uncomfortable; he actually felt the fish was giving him a malevolent stare.
But in the next instant, he saw the fish suddenly convulse, and for some reason, its eyes exploded on their own, instantly streaming with blood.
The fish fell heavily onto the deck, writhing and thrashing madly as if electrocuted, and became still in just a few seconds, with blood seeping out of its mouth and burst eyeballs, slowly dripping onto the deck.
Duncan watched somewhat bewildered as the hideously ugly fish quickly became lifeless at his feet. He vaguely remembered knowledge he had read in books: most deep-sea fish were indeed quite ugly, and due to living under high pressure for extended times, they indeed tended to suffer from ruptured blood vessels and rapid death after being brought to the surface due to the pressure change—so the fish in this world were like that too?
Just as he was stunned by this realization, a crackling sound suddenly reached his ears again.
Curious, Duncan followed the sound and saw several smaller "strange fish" follow suit, landing on the deck as well.
They looked similar to the one that was half-human in size but were only about a half meter long and, like the large fish— when Duncan laid eyes on them, they were already profusely bleeding and soon lay gasping for breath.
Duncan was somewhat dazed, and it took him a while to come to his senses, "Little Calabash saves grandfather? Delivering them in a row?"
...
Alice clung tightly to the railing beside her, watching nervously the vicious battle happening not far away that would drive any ordinary person insane.
She watched as Captain Duncan stood at the edge of the deck, his body enshrouded in billowing green flames that blazed sky-high. He stood like a towering inferno, confronting the ocean. Three hooked chains stretched out from the deck beneath his feet, one of which was alight with terrifying flames.
She saw a huge shadow appear in the Endless Sea, and then, a tentacle almost thicker than the mainmast of Homeloss emerged from the water, its surface covered with malevolent eyes. Countless sharp teeth gnashed and chewed between the eyes, as if it was about to bite the entire ship to pieces the next moment.
Alice almost cried out; she wanted to warn the captain to dodge, to rush forward to help, but before she could act, the tentacle came crashing down towards the captain.
She saw Captain Duncan lift his head, and under the raging flames, a look of harvest joy appeared on his face—he gazed at the countless eyes on the tentacle, and those eyes also gazed back at him.
The next second, all the eyes on the tentacle burst open violently, and hundreds of sharp teeth emitted a piercing and agonizing shriek. Subsequently, the tentacle was cut off as if a massive entity hidden beneath the sea's surface willingly severed the connection with the tentacle, abandoning the grievously damaged end directly onto the deck.
The tentacle crashed to the ground with a thud, and filthy, viscous blood and flesh spilled from the severed end, splattering all over the place, some landing at the captain's feet.