Chapter 469: Trench

Chapter 469: Trench

"Ag'agth lwhuk yeh agthu"

Charles pressed his fingers strongly on his temples in an effort to lower the volume of the annoying whisperings. Despite pressing on his temples until they were bruised, the whisperings didn't soften at all.

The cursed whisperings had been following him like a shadow ever since he watched that video.

It seemed that Charles had been contaminated mentally by the Divinities through the screen, even though he saw nothing but eyes at the time.

At first, the cursed whisperings weren't that obvious, but the whisperings got louder and louder until they reached an unbearable level.

"Here, take this. Careful, it's a bit hot," Linda said, handing over a triangular glass bottle containing a black liquid to Charles.

Charles wasted no time and snatched the bottle away. Then, he drank the entire bottle at once. Charles' mind was so chaotic that he couldn't even taste the medicine's bitter taste. Fortunately, the medicine seemed effective; the cursed whisperings had become way quieter.

Charles let out a long sigh and said, "Thank you."

However, Linda shook her head and explained, "Your issue isn't that easy to handle, Captain. The reason the potion I gave you is working is that it dulls your brain's perception.

"Your condition is a bit too complicated, and I need to conduct further mental examination on you before I can decide on the best course of action."

"Let's set that aside for now. Now isn't the time for that. We'll talk about it once we're done with our objective here," Charles said. He stood up and wiped away the sweat on his forehead before walking out of the infirmary.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

Upon arriving at the bridge, he saw Bandages and Conor discussing something while staring at a nautical chart.

"Captain, how are you? Are you okay? I think we should have you receive treatment before anything else. How about we go back and do that first?" Conor asked with a slightly unsightly expression.

Charles shook his head. "Don't try to convince me otherwise. Anyway, where are we? How far are we from our destination?"

"If there's nothing wrong with the chart, then the trench is right below us" First Mate Bandages said.

Charles turned toward Dipp at the helm and gestured with his chin. "Kid, go down there and take a look."

"Understood!" Dipp exclaimed and excitedly rushed out of the bridge. He grabbed the railing and jumped into the sea with a splash.

Meanwhile, Charles suddenly felt like something was staring at him. It was a strange feeling because whenever he attempted to probe where the gaze was coming from, the feeling would disappear as if it had never appeared at all.

Is it a hallucination caused by the cursed whisperings? Charles thought. He turned toward the glass windows and looked around, but there wasn't anything outside aside from darkness.

The temperature on the Narwhale dropped as they went deeper and deeper into the trench.

Soon, the crew began to exhale white mists. Some crew members found it hard to withstand the cold and rushed to the smokestack with arms wide open. Then, they hugged the smokestack and revealed satisfied faces.

Charles didn't move. He stayed on deck and quietly looked around outside through the glass windows. There wasn't anything outside but darkness, but the strange feeling had returned.

Charles felt like a pair of eyes made out of darkness itself was staring at him outside.

"First Mate! Turn on the sonar!" Charles ordered.

The Narwhale's sonar was turned on, but the sonar monitor revealed nothing.

It seemed as though the gaze was just Charles' hallucination.

They dove deeper and deeper into the trench, and the Narwhale's steel plates eventually started creaking against the immense pressure of the seawater.

The atmosphere became a bit oppressive, and no one dared to break the silence.

However, the silence was soon shattered by a scream from the bridge.

Charles left the deck and rushed into the bridge. One of the sailors tasked to monitor the outside situation through the periscope had collapsed to the ground.

"What's wrong?" Charles asked.

"C-captain! I-I saw something outside!" the horrified sailor reported.

That was all Charles needed to hear; he immediately walked up to the periscope and peeked outside with his sole remaining eye. However, he couldn't see anything at all.

Just as he thought that the sailor had to have made a mistake, a tube swayed past the periscope. In the next moment, a heavy diving gear appeared in front of the periscopeno, it wasn't just a mere diving gear.

The broken diving helmet overgrown by moss revealed a skull, and the skull's hollow eye sockets seemed to be staring intently at Charles.