Ambushed into Oblivion!

A shriek. Right there in the narrow corridor of the hold, before everyone's watchful eyes, Hanafiah—who had just been convulsing all over—suddenly leaped up. He clamped his teeth around the neck of the comrade behind him, tackled him to the deck, and began to gnaw and feast with feral frenzy... It was impossible to tell whether it was wailing or maniacal laughter. "Help! Save... save—" The victim being savaged screamed with every shred of breath in his lungs, struggling and crying out in vain until Second Mate Shamska realized something was dreadfully wrong, drew his gun, and shot the crazed Hanafiah dead. With a deafening bang, the monster that had been their comrade moments ago fell to the deck, motionless, life or death uncertain. Those vacant pupils were still staring straight at them. It sent chills down everyone's spines. The stifling hold felt as if plunged into an icy abyss in an instant. The crew stared at one another, dumbstruck. Outside, thunderous artillery rumbled in endless waves and the tactical situation remained unknown, yet something like this was happening within their own ranks. A shudder ran through everyone. What was even more horrifying was that on the deck, the critically wounded man whose throat had been torn out began convulsing as well... Amidst the spasms, flesh cracked and split, the body deformed, taking on the texture of wood. His melting face began to rot at astonishing speed, yet his expression twisted involuntarily into a hideous grin. Just like that, right before everyone's eyes, he slowly crawled back to his feet... Bang! With a savage grimace, the second mate pulled the trigger. Gunfire cracked repeatedly, instantly riddling the newly mutated crewman into a sieve until he collapsed backward, face to the ceiling. In the dead silence, nobody spoke. "Something's wrong!" The second mate's face grew darker and darker. He stared fixedly at the two corpses at his feet and took an involuntary step back. Why was there no blood from the corpses? "What's... w-wrong?" The disemboweled corpse raised its head stiffly, repeating in a mechanical monotone: "Normal. We are normal... We are very normal." Beneath fractured, rubbery skin, a metallic skeleton was exposed. Sparks sputtered from intricate modules, and its pupils glowed a feral crimson. Amid screeching metallic friction, they tried to scramble up from the floor, slipped, and stumbled as though malfunctioning. Their limbs twitched violently, twisting in spasms, propping their bodies up in bizarre, unnatural contortions. Heads tilted backward and spun around. Tightly stretched flesh tore apart, exposing skeleton-like frames along with tangled cables and modules. Finally, the bionic eyeballs embedded in their faces swivelled, staring at each and every stunned pirate. "Normal, normal, normal..." Those disordered whispers overlapped like the delirious ravings of a fever dream, rigid and flat, utterly devoid of inflection: "We are normal. Why are you... w-what..." Chilled to the bone, the second mate stumbled back, only to hear a dense skittering rustle rising from the darkness of the hold. Like a sudden downpour. Beneath flickering lights, grotesque silhouettes crawling on all fours tore open bulkheads and deck plating, pouring out of the cabins like a swarming tide. Though bearing human-like faces on their heads, they scrambled, leaped, and darted on all fours, murmuring and whispering with smiles of rapturous bliss. Their terrifying numbers seemed endless! Heavy gunfire erupted. Amid terrified shrieks and desperate screams, swept by sweeping volleys, figure after charging figure shattered into pieces. Yet immediately, even more monsters crawled out of the ship's depths, tangling together, trampling over their own kind as though numb to fear and pain, lunging at every living thing in sight. Screams rang out, only to be cut short. Blood and severed limbs splashed through the air amidst ravenous biting and tearing, raining down only to provoke another round of frenzied fighting over the spoils. Eyes, hands, bones, entrails... Even clothes and shoes were treated like priceless treasures, adorned onto their faces and torsos. They greedily licked up blood, their upturned faces draped in freshly flayed human skins. Howls of ecstasy and screeching filled the air! Thus, the disaster began to spread. "Oho!" Ji Jue lowered his eyes and sighed with feeling. "A slip of the hand and they turned into zombies. How terrifying." The Veil had, after all, originated from a Tyrant's spiritual pact. Even though Ji Jue had modified it beyond recognition, it still inherently carried the traits of abominations. Originally, the Veil used mist to plunder spiritus and souls, acting like a living organism to drain every trace of life within its domain... After being modified with Three-Phase Alchemy, however, its properties had completely reversed. Instead of plundering spiritus, it channeled the quicksilver mist to inject the user's spiritus into the targets, granting them enhancement. Unfortunately, the core trait of the Embers path's spiritus was material property interference. It was naturally prone to affecting physical matter. Back when Ji Jue was still an apprentice, he could already use spiritus to enhance material properties. The stronger the artisan, the more exaggerated this trait became. And as for Ji Jue's current spiritus... well, let's just say its humanity content was a bit too low. Once control slipped, it would rapidly corrupt, causing the infected to undergo materialization. Bestowing spirit upon matter was one of the fundamental tenets of alchemy, and this process was naturally augmented by the Embers triad. Consequently, if a target injected with Ji Jue's spiritus lacked sufficient resistance, they would immediately mutate into a living mechanical creation. And that was without Ji Jue injecting the flame of the vile fiend. If he had, there was no telling what sort of nightmarish monstrosities they would have become! Uh-oh. How had he accidentally cooked up another nasty little Profound trick? Boom! Gunfire intensified, drumming like a tempest. Before the Seven Cities Joint Defense Fleet could even close the distance, the Venom Fleet had already plunged into unprecedented civil chaos. "Fire! Fire! Open fire right now!" Second Mate Shamska sprinted wildly and leaped, landing on another ship tens of meters away. Looking back at the chaotic mess aboard the Pine, cold sweat drenched his back. Without even caring for his subordinates still fleeing across the deck, he seized a machine gun mounted at the bow, spun around toward the swarming abominations, and pulled the trigger. "Die! Die! Fucking die, all of you!!!" Under the squandered barrage of machine-gun fire, scores of metallic monsters shattered to pieces and collapsed in heaps. Shamska laughed hysterically, squeezing the trigger again and again until the ammunition belt was completely empty. Only then did he realize... they hadn't pursued him at all. Those hunched, grotesque figures stood still along the ship's railing. Across such a short distance, they were watching them. Staring unblinkingly. Unmoving. Among the "crowd," Shamska even spotted the subordinates he had left behind! Those familiar faces were smiling rigidly, waving and calling out to him. "Normal. Everything is normal... We are normal... normal..." A bone-chilling dread completely swallowed Shamska. He stumbled back a step, nearly tumbling to the deck, shouting frantically for the others to fire, his voice near a shriek. Yet when he turned his head around, he froze, plunged into a freezing pit. He nearly forgot how to breathe... In the dead silence behind him, the pirates of the escort frigate were watching him as well. Vacant expressions suddenly blossomed into smiles. Pinned to Shamska's chest, the walkie-talkie finally sputtered with a response from within the cabins: "Normal. Everything is normal. We are normal... We... join... join, join... Join us, join us, join us..." Amid raspy voices resembling mournful wails, laced with shrill laughter and weeping, everything dissolved into static. No further response came. Only walking corpses with stiffened legs shambled forward step by step. And Shamska's despairing face was swallowed entirely. There was no further sound. In the silence, only soft chuckles of blissful ecstasy, dreamlike murmurs, and delirious whispers echoed in endless loops. "We join... We are normal... normal, normal... Join... We are happy, happy, happy, happy, happy..." The same radio signals echoed throughout the fleet, vibrating across every frequency band, causing Renut's expression to freeze on his face. It turned steadily darker, steadily more savage. Until the very same murmurs and chuckles broke out beside him. Right in front of him, a terrified face suddenly convulsed, stiffening into blank rigidity... and as all expression drained away, only a spine-chilling numbness and emptiness remained. Spasming and trembling, beneath hardened, peeling flesh emerged bones with a metallic sheen. The structure of the eyes disintegrated, and from the gore, camera-like mechanisms slowly took form and grew outward. Right under Renut's nose, an irreversible mutation surged and spread. In mere seconds, a living, breathing human was transformed into a puppet and monster. At this moment, as the last flicker of reason faded from its eyes, the head snapped around to face him. A blissful smile spread across its lips. "Join us... join... hap—" Boom! With a thunderous crack, Renut punched out with cold apathy, blowing the monstrosity apart. Innumerable fragments showered down from the mangled flesh—metallized bones, bizarre visceral structures, and blood vessels and nerves mutated into cables. No one dared speak. No more distress calls or shouts came over the radio. The moment those countless eerie whispers rang out, every device across the entire fleet crashed and stopped responding. The channels overflowed with murmurs of delight. On darkened screens, grotesque faces flickered into view amidst static, and cascading waterfalls of repeated characters scrolled endlessly. In the end, even the public address systems and speakers went completely out of control. Demented whispers layered upon one another until countless voices merged into a single hysterical hymn, swelling louder and higher! They moaned, they praised, they whispered, they rejoiced. As if welcoming the Kingdom of Heaven. The mutation spread like a plague, throwing the entire fleet into disarray. Even though the mutated crewmen posed little actual threat and could be dispatched with a few bullets—they didn't even know how to use firearms!—how many people could keep their heads at a juncture like this? In the distance, the Seven Cities Joint Defense Fleet was closing in; nearby, that bizarre freighter was devouring men whole. The fleet descended into utter turmoil, as though the apocalypse had arrived. With the communications network offline and the chain of command severed, the fleet had devolved into a loose pile of sand. "Help! Help... It's contagious! I—I—" Panic-stricken wails erupted from the deck of a distant vessel. A bitten sailor fled blindly in terror, and even though he showed no symptoms, he tripped in his hysterical panic, tumbled into the sea, and was instantly drained dry and devoured by the wildly thrashing, completely berserk Sacrificial Maiden... It was bad enough that this disorder object, which once struck terror into the Venom Fleet's foes, was now being slurped like kelp by a monstrous freighter; now, it had turned around to prey upon them... "A bunch of useless trash!" Renut's face was ashen. The hilt in his grip was crushed completely out of shape, groaning under his strength. "If worthless mud can't stick to a wall, then die!" He roared at the top of his lungs, the aura of the Sin of Frenzied Slaughter bursting forth without restraint. Bizarre scales pushed out from his flesh, and sharp horns thrust forward from his brow. In his right hand materialized a balance scale of white bone. On one pan rested a feather that looked as though carved from flesh and blood, weighing it heavily down, while the tilted-up other pan hung empty. When Renut pointed his finger, an indicated pirate aboard another ship in the distance suddenly froze, dropped to his knees, and convulsed violently. Upon the scale arose the auras of the Tower and Frenzied Slaughter. In an instant, a fresh, beating heart appeared on the empty pan, restoring balance, before being devoured as though by an invisible maw. A sweet offering was presented to the Sacrificial Lord, and a generous blessing rained down. The kneeling pirate screamed in agony as black scales erupted across his body and crimson flames erupted! Life and soul were drained dry, everything sacrificed in exchange for fleeting frenzy and power—devoid of fear, plunged into total madness! One, two, three, four... Showing no hesitation, Renut held the scale high. In an instant, the crew members who had dripped their blood onto the scale and signed the pact upon joining began to transform one after another. Streaks of blood-red fire linked together and spread, engulfing even the haywire ships. The effect of Deus Ex Machina was forcefully dispelled, replaced by another mutation: bloody water gushed from every seam, and amidst anguished wailing, countless faces of the dead appeared along the hulls of the ships, weeping tears of blood in torment. How was this steel? It was plainly a monstrosity cobbled together from the skeletons and fingernails of countless corpses! In the cold storage of the Ivory, tons of blood evaporated at blistering speed. Vast stores of harvested organs burst, shriveled, withered, and reduced to dust. Under Renut's sacrifice, the disordered fleet surged with frenzy once more. Even the sea water turned an ominous crimson as flames billowed upward. The dismal tide seemed to have reversed, yet Renut's face bore no joy—only rabid fury. It was once said that among all forms of warfare, naval combat alone could squander centuries of accumulated wealth in a single afternoon—or even a single hour. Yet what was being sacrificed here went far beyond the Venom Fleet's savings. At this moment, even the Venom Fleet itself had become the offering. To sate the Sacrificial Lord's appetite, Renut had offered up virtually every contracted soul except for a handful of trusted confidants. Years of accumulation were going up in smoke. The more savage the flames burned, the more astronomical the losses. Even if he achieved a pyrrhic victory, he would have to start from scratch... The thought made him too terrified even to let his heart bleed—every drop of blood was an indispensable offering. He didn't even have time to weep; under the Sacrificial Lord's extortion, even crying cost precious time! "Kill! Kill them all!!!" Renut drew a bone sword from the blood and leveled it at the strange freighter ahead, eyes bloodshot to bursting. "Tear those bastards to shreds!!!" And then, he saw... the Prosperity come to a screeching halt, before dragging the Sacrificial Maiden in its mouth and putting into reverse at visible speed! Time to bounce! Hey! It was just a joke, why take it so seriously? You can't take a joke at all! I'm done playing with you, I'm out! Bye-bye! "You motherfucker—" Beside himself with rage, Renut howled, blood-tears nearly spilling from his split eyelids. Beneath his feet, the Ivory unleashed a beast-like roar as viscous blood boiled, accelerating in hot pursuit to ram straight into the target! Want to run? Not so fast! A tempest surged, parting the sea of blood. The blood-soaked Ivory surged forward, its main guns and secondary batteries firing autonomously as though alive, gouging hole after massive hole into the battered freighter. In the span of a few breaths, fissures covered the freighter from stem to stern. It seemed to have completely shut down, stalling dead in the water, helpless to do anything but watch the Ivory charge forward for a catastrophic collision! Yet there was no boom, no crash, and no collision. The instant before impact, the Prosperity seemed weightless as it shed the encumbering, overburdened outer hull plates. Then, almost hovering, it drifted sideways—an impossibly light, impeccably cool dodge that cleared the Ivory's path. As the two vessels crossed paths, a stunned Renut glanced back, only to see the freighter—which looked ready to fall apart at any second—seemingly grin at him. With crisp efficiency, it slurped the dying Sacrificial Maiden entirely into its maw, then sharply bent its bow like a head turning around, folding its entire hull into a right angle. Aiming straight at the Ivory's undefended flank, it opened that damned giant mouth once again! Boom!!! Even the blood-flame-engulfed Ivory seemed to let out a hallucinatory, agonizing shriek. Long before Renut had acted, the clash and struggle between Sacrificial Lords had already begun. The Sacrificial Lord Life-Eater, who had been gorging itself on the burnt offering, suddenly discovered an extra pair of chopsticks dipping into its bowl, followed by another pair, and then yet another... Three bright pairs of chopsticks were brazenly sticking right into its feeding bowl! Whatcha eating? Smells amazing! Share some, share some! It was as though, out of nowhere, amid blasting music, three repulsive hulks leaped out, each boasting signature moves, each showing breathtaking fighting spirit and tenacity... Mycelium, Scar, and Blood Wrist leaped from the bushes, pinned down the bewildered Life-Eater, and began snatching its meal and wolfing down its food! Not only was the Ivory nearly cut in half, but Renut also realized his Heritage Burnt Offering was about to be halved as well, barely able to bear the Sacrificial Lord's fury and sheer weight. He couldn't even suppress his terror. Mycelium?! The Red Nation? Was the Red Nation trying to assassinate him? Which Chief Priest had come?! And why was Scar here too? Who was the other one... Why was this happening... The more he thought, the more terrified he became, until he dared not think further, frozen stiff. From the very beginning until now, he hadn't even caught a glimpse of the enemy's face. Even at this point, he still had no idea who had orchestrated such an elaborate plot against him! It was as if invisible hands were casually manipulating, toying with, and mangling him, ravaging him like a cheap toy! Such utter contempt... At that moment, his pupils flared blood-red with vicious fury. All hesitation and fear were incinerated in the blood-fire! Even at a dead end, did they expect him to bare his neck for slaughter? In their dreams! It was nothing more than life or death! "You want me dead? Keep dreaming!!" Renut crazily devoured the Sacrificial Lord's power, recklessly pushing it to the limit, forcing the Lord to bestow even more! I've fed you for so many years—now that shit has hit the fan, you dare blame me? If I die, forget sacrifices, you can eat shit! The Sacrificial Lord Life-Eater's power descended once more, without reserve! To reclaim its sacrifices and secure future offerings, the Sacrificial Lord went all out—while also handing down punishment! Crimson flames raged. Within the Lord's fires, Renut was reduced nearly to a desiccated corpse. Viscera and flesh shriveled completely; in charred blood vessels and a blackened heart, blood no longer flowed, replaced solely by purest fire and savagery. An unprecedented burning agony flared from his soul, impossible to dull or ignore, flooding his consciousness and driving him entirely mad. Opening his mouth in agony to scream, no sound came out. He reached into his throat and drew out a grotesque greatsword entwined with bone and flesh, rows of eyes blinking open along its spine to cast baleful glares. "Haha, hahahaha! Such power—!" Renut laughed maniacally, two gaping mouths across his face screeching shrilly. Bone wings snapped open behind him as he vaulted into the sky, diving down toward the Prosperity. Come on! You dogs, you wretched scum—taste my will, taste my absolute might! Raised at the highest reach of the heavens, the blood-bone greatsword gathered infinite scarlet radiance, condensing into a tempestuous tornado bridging sea and sky. It collapsed inward to form a magnificent, brutal blade, cleaving downward with thunderous force! With crushing ruin, it tore through the Prosperity's hull, driving forward into the holds like splitting bamboo, cutting an unstoppable path, and then... And then, nothing. Boom!!! Renut spat out a mouthful of blood. It was like walking down the street and kicking at a plastic bag on the sidewalk, only to discover a solid steel pipe cast in concrete hidden underneath... Pain—unbearable pain! As countless hull fragments burst outward, what emerged in the darkness was a brilliant radiance. Immediately after, the all-out strike of the blood-bone sword collided head-on with the Prosperity's keel, unleashing a deafening roar and a tempest that engulfed the entire sea. In that instant of collision, the Juque keel flared with brilliant light. Before the savage power could detonate, it was circulated and distributed across all directions. It was like pitting oneself against the entire world—there was nowhere to exert force, no purchase to be found. He could only watch helplessly as his might was rapidly siphoned away, distributed evenly into everything around: the boundless sea, the surging storm, and the vaulted heavens. Thus, the ocean boiled, the gales raged, and the heavens trembled. With a single strike, heaven and earth changed color! But the problem was... what about Juque? Juque was completely unharmed. It had treated the blow like a speed bump! Immediately after, as the ripples spread, the boiling sea, whipping storm, and shaking heavens suddenly jolted. Then, as if time were reversing, the expanding shockwaves contracted back. Under the control of the Formless hand, the dispersed force was channeled through physical matter, converging once more, and then... Returned in full! Renut's vision went dark as a shriek ripped from his throat. The blood-bone greatsword he had just brought down shattered inch by inch, and the previously unstoppable demon of Frenzied Slaughter was hurled backward, screaming in agony... looking as pitiful as a stray dog kicked across the pavement. Slashing down with all his might hadn't just achieved zero effect; that strike, delivered with everything he had, was reflected right back at him at his most vulnerable moment! It was as if himself from half a second ago had executed a jumping cleave straight into his own present face... Luckily, it had only been a purely physical shockwave without any exotic mechanics; otherwise, not just the blood-bone sword, but he himself would have blown up on the spot! What in the bloody hell was this?! Where the fuck did you buy your cheat engine?! In overwhelming terror, whatever courage he had managed to muster vanished into thin air. He didn't even care about the Heritage Burnt Offering anymore, tossing any fear of the Tyrant's punishment behind him, and no longer gave a damn about the besieged Venom Fleet below. Riding the recoil force, he flew backward without the slightest thought of fighting on. Instead, he channeled his blood-fire with everything he had, fleeing headlong. Like a meteor of bloody flame, he rocketed toward the horizon! Fleeing for his life. Then, mid-air, he stopped dead! Only now did he realize that countless faint threads of silver light had wrapped around his body at some point, woven into threads, bundled into cords, and braided into a rope. One end was tied to him; the other was tethered to that bizarre freighter... Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Amid scalp-numbing snaps and crunches, the riddled freighter bit off half the Ivory's hull in a single mouthful, then seemed to raise its head to look at him. Like watching a cooked duck still trying to hop out of the pot. Immediately after, purple lightning and black flame flickered along the silver threads, flashing in an instant. Like a ten-thousand-ton steel ingot crushing a camel. Boom! Amid the Sacrificial Lord's enraged screech, the blood-fire dispersed entirely, and the Heritage Burnt Offering crumbled. Falling helplessly, he crashed into his own flagship, punching straight through the deck and landing in the cold storage hold below. In his stupor, he didn't even know how much time had passed. Opening his eyes, he saw only utter devastation. He struggled in terror, scrambling and crawling out from among the shattered containers, only to find that in the dead silence, the entire Ivory seemed to have fallen into hell. In the corridors of the hold, only stiffened figures wandered like living corpses, shambling and muttering to themselves. Only screams echoed continuously from the distance, rising and falling in succession. One terrified pirate after another was dragged from concealed crevices. Ignoring their frantic struggles, they were forcibly subdued and hauled away like slaughtered hogs into the deepest darkness, their fingers clawing uselessly at the deck to leave behind streaks of bloody scratches. Mid-struggle, a despairing pirate froze, spotting Renut poking his head out around a corner. Wild joy flared in his eyes as he cried: "General! General, save me!!!" Yet under the vacant stares of the walking corpses, Renut felt as if struck by lightning. Stumbling back, he turned and fled without hesitation, running blindly. The screams and pleas behind him only grew more agonized. Eventually, they faded into nothing. And there was nowhere left to run. The massive Ivory seemed to have become a graveyard of inanimate matter. Even the familiar layout of the holds had become completely foreign, shifting constantly as if alive, transforming into a labyrinth. In dash after frantic dash, he looped back in despair to where he started. Struggling in vain, he was pinned down by lunging corpses, his limbs restrained, and injected with an anesthetic. Then, dragged and hauled along, he was delivered to where he truly belonged. Until the pale fluorescent lights of the infirmary illuminated his eyes. "Male, prime of life. Unfortunately, too much drug abuse. Grade C-minus..." "Youth, robust vitality, signs of augmentation. Grade B-plus, tag him with green for now..." "This one won't do, drained dry by the Heritage Burnt Offering... This one won't do either... Ah, this one's good! Barren Ruins Celestial Chosen are the most versatile. Grade A-plus!" Inside the infirmary, a slender figure with his back turned picked up a pen, skillfully categorizing, recording, and waving them along. Next, next, and next again... until Renut was strapped into the examination chair. "Don't be nervous. Relax." The artisan deftly changed into a fresh pair of gloves and picked up a tongue depressor. "Come on, open wide." "It's you!" Renut's pupils constricted, his face twitching. Before fear and despair could even take hold, he blurted instinctively: "Wait, I know where the Sukarno family's treasures are hidden—" "Shh!" The artisan raised a finger, shaking his head in mild reproach. "Don't speak of such vulgar things, and don't defile sacred scholarship with filthy lucre." Numbness spread, swallowing everything. Renut twitched reflexively, yet he could still hear his voice: "I quite like your system of classification. Simple, straightforward, and clear. All materials ought to be evaluated for their precise value. It's very sensible..." "...After deeply studying the Haze heritage, I found that certain formulas can be specifically applied to mortal flesh. "While techniques for converting flesh and life into materials aren't uncommon, in theory, it should be possible to transform a person into a mechanical creation... Looking at the practical implementation now, I was a bit too optimistic. "The gap is still too wide." The artisan gave a soft sigh, turning around to show him a mutated, grotesque head on the table. "See? Not only is the path of turning dead matter into living things separated by a chasm, but the process of turning living things into inanimate matter is also fraught with obstacles... "Even if both possess soul and life, there remains a fundamental difference between them. "—Have you ever wondered where that difference truly lies?" Renut stared blankly, eyes wide. Subconsciously, he wanted to make a sound. Yet words failed him. "Still, it doesn't matter." The artisan smiled, offering warm comfort: "We have plenty of time to search for it, slowly... I promise that regardless of success or failure, you will all create final value for this world." And just like that, that palm slowly rose, reaching out. In the reflection of his pupils, it grew larger, and larger, until it eclipsed everything... Nothing could be seen anymore. Darkness flooded all.