James and Frey exchanged a weird look. It was the first time they had seen the captain speak in such a tone.
The dim corridor began to quiet down, and under the threat of the invisible locusts, the air around seemed to solidify.
Suddenly, Charles began to tremble with laughter, starting with a low chuckle that gradually grew louder.
Lily timidly poked her head out from the pile of mice, "Mr. Charles, what's wrong?"
Charles desperately tried to stifle his laughter, then turned around, "Pfft, Sister Mouse, I just thought of a joke, let me tell you. There was once a—"
Almost at the same moment he turned, the flying locust suddenly appeared on the wall to his left, its vicious mouthparts snapping towards the back of Charles's head.
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise, but by then it was too late to warn him.
Unexpectedly, Charles's body bent as if boneless, dodging the monster's bite.
His right hand gripping the knife powered up instantly, and the sharp blade plunged directly into the belly of the flying beast. "Haha! Finally caught you! You can even phase through walls!"
With a spring-like force, Charles leaped onto the back of the locust, stabbing ferociously at its semi-transparent back with the Black Blade in his hand.
The flying locust twisted violently, but Charles, as if equipped with an internal balancer, simply couldn't be thrown off.
"Think you can shake me off? No way!"
The wounded locust quickly withdrew its head, turned, and forcefully spewed a pus-yellow fluid towards Charles.
"I've had enough, goodbye, big bug!"
Charles, with a reverse grip on the knife handle, twisted it like a steering wheel, tearing the skin as the blade moved from the locust's back to its belly.
The blade cut nearly split the locust in half.
The locust let out a huge roar as its mutilated body began to transparent, attempting to flee.
But as Charles exerted force in his hands, he shoved the knife handle further into the locust's body, and the bloated beast plummeted directly towards the ground.
The moment the locust hit the ground, Charles forcefully kicked off its skin and, after a few rolls in the air, stylishly landed with a pose of a king returning. "Cool or what! Impressive, right? Where's the applause!!"
After posing for a few seconds and realizing no one was paying attention to him, Charles turned around to find his crew staring with wide eyes as if they had seen a ghost.
"Ah, you guys really lack rapport. What are you still standing there for? Let's go."
The crowd then snapped out of it and hurriedly started running, with Charles taking the rear.
As they neared the exit, the crew members occasionally looked back at their captain.
Deep bent over and glanced at the captain, who was humming with shaky legs, and whispered to the Second Officer Krona standing beside him, "Should we take the mask off the captain's face? He seems a bit off."
Charles's foot swiped the ground, and his white mask slammed right into Deep's face. "Hey! What are you saying! I can hear you, you know! Who's going to protect you if I take off the mask?"
Deep clenched his teeth, ready to reach for the grotesque mask, but Charles dodged effortlessly, slick as an eel.
He then extended his hand and stuffed the wine jug into Deep's hands, giving him a firm push on the shoulders. "You all go first; wait for me on the ship."
Without waiting for anyone else to respond, Charles leaned back and fell into the darkness.
"Captain!! Captain! Come back!!"
"Mr. Charles, where are you going?"
Amidst the shouts of the others, Charles, wearing a clown mask, walked farther and farther away.
In the darkness, Charles muttered to himself, "Since this place is for researching relics, there must be plenty of them, haha, I'm going to make a fortune."
Humming a vaguely remembered song, Charles once again walked back into the same place.
This time, he went from door to door, using dynamite to blast any that wouldn't budge.
Behind the first door was an oil lamp resembling those from Middle-earth. Just as Charles picked it up and started to walk out, under his keen vision, he noticed a record book hanging on the wall.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, these guys are really thoughtful, even preparing a manual."
Charles grabbed the record book and dashed to the next room.
"Ha ha ha, I'm getting rich, getting rich!"
Hugging a heap of relics in his clothes, Charles moved jubilantly from room to room, looking very much like a farmer harvesting crops.
Just as he was placing a silver Tentacle Ring on his ring finger, a red glow suddenly appeared at the doorway.
"Ah, the slug dares to come, today if I don't show you a lesson, you won't know how many eyes Lord Horse has!" Holding the bundle with one hand, Charles strode confidently toward the door.
As he stuck his body out from the house, he immediately stiffened; the monster in front of him was not alone, but a dense crowd.
Crowded together, some were halfway out of the ceiling, others halfway from the floor, a group in the distance flickered with red light, resembling a wall wrapped in neon lights.
As Charles saw them, the monsters also saw him; all the locust-like creatures twisted their bodies, and the red light quickly vanished.
Darkness engulfed the empty corridor again. Envisioning the scene of invisible locusts ascending towards him in his mind, Charles didn't hesitate and immediately turned and ran. He hadn't run two steps before a fierce mouth appeared out of thin air in front of him.
Charles couldn't stop in time, and half of his body was already in its mouth.
Summoning all his muscle strength, Charles twisted forcefully and managed to back out just before the mouth closed, but his clothes were shredded into several strips by sharp teeth.
"That was close, that was close," Charles, still unnerved, didn't dare stop. Taking advantage of the locust's slow response, he slid directly out by its slippery body.
But this locust was just the beginning. Invisible ones were faster than Charles at full speed, and more and more flying locusts revealed themselves, attacking him.
At that moment, Charles turned into an acrobat, barely dodging each attack by a hair's breadth, his body extraordinarily agile, like a dancer twirling on the brink of death.
Having just dodged a spray of liquid from a group of locusts, another gaping maw emerged on Charles's right side. He stomped his foot and barely dodged it.
Before he could land, another gaping maw appeared. This time, without leverage in midair, Charles had no escape and could only watch as he went directly into the monster's mouth.