Poseidon in Arknights

"Hmm." The cultist nodded. "I wonder if the other brothers will make any discoveries."

“Let’s go.” The cultist walked into the distance. “Whether our brothers find it or not, we must complete our part.”

“That’s true,” the believer nodded. “Let me see…”

After looking at the map, he pointed east: "This way, this place is closer."

"it is good."

So after the two cultists left, the secret outpost in this wilderness fell silent once again. After some time, the tunnel, which should have been quiet, began to make some noise.

Deep inside the tunnel was a pre-excavated stone chamber, reinforced entirely with stone bricks. It contained boxes of various sizes, and on one wall, hidden by the boxes...

The stone wall emitted eerie sounds, and after a while, one side of the stone wall detached from the base, revealing cracks on the surface.

The broken stone wall slowly receded, behind which was a hideous, deformed monster.

The stones were merely embedded in his back, and with his movements, they made sounds of colliding and cracking.

“How interesting, they didn’t even notice you?” Amaya stepped out from the narrow gap and looked at the monster beside her. “It seems my experiment did have some merit, at least in masking the smell of Hai Si.”

"Roar!" Upon hearing Amaya's voice, the monster let out a terrifying roar, as if accusing Amaya of everything she had done and expressing her anger.

Then, the monster raised its claws, intending to strike Amaya hard, but just as the eerie claws were raised, Amaya, as if she had been prepared, pressed the switch in her hand the instant the claws were raised.

In an instant, the collar around the monster's neck emitted a powerful electric current, knocking the monster to the ground.

"Roar!" The monster kept letting out hoarse roars. The electric current directly interfered with its movements. Even though it had great strength just now, it could not use it and could only convulse on the ground.

"It's just a pity." Amaya looked coldly at the monster on the ground. "You ultimately failed to become one of those great life forms. You've only become a monster, a complete failure."

"You didn't even acquire their physique, you even lost your mind, and all you gained was some insignificant power."

After a while, Amaya pressed the switch again to stop the device from emitting electricity.

"Roar..." The monster panted heavily on the ground, and after a while it got up. The roar in its voice turned into obedience, and its angry eyes became confused. Finally, it squatted down next to Amaya.

"Roar..." The monster reached out and scratched at Amaya's trouser leg, making a roar that sounded like it was trying to please her.

"Don't worry, don't worry." Amaya stroked the monster's head, a hint of tenderness flashing in her eyes?

“I will not abandon you.” Amaya withdrew her hand. “You are my first creation, although you are not perfect, even terrible.”

"But you have ultimately brought me one step closer to the answer from the ocean; this is the first step I have taken."

At this point, a glimmer of wisdom flashed in the monster's bewildered eyes once more, and it roared angrily at Amaya again.

Amaya took a step back, waved the remote control in her hand at the monster, and said, "Don't do this. I helped you fulfill your long-cherished wish."

"Why hate me so much? I'm just working hard for our common cause."

"Roar!" The monster roared, its sharp claws clawing at itself, tearing out bloody gashes, as if accusing Amaya of turning it into this monstrous form, and then shamelessly claiming that it had fulfilled its long-cherished wish.

"What's wrong?" Amaya's lips curled into a smile, but the smile was so cold. "Isn't this your wish?"

"Aren't you, me, and our husband all striving to become like them?"

The monster finally stopped scratching its body, its angry eyes fixed on Amaya. Seeing that Amaya's finger wasn't on the remote control, it grabbed a nearby box and tried to smash it at Amaya.

"How disobedient!" Amaya wasn't afraid of the box that was thrown at her; she simply jumped behind her and dodged it.

Just as the monster threw down the box and charged forward, a test tube hit him in the face, shattering and spilling its contents onto his face.

"Roar!! Roar! Roar..." The monster kept slashing its own body with its claws, trying to keep itself conscious with the pain, but its movements became slower and slower, and the confusion that was originally hidden by its anger became more and more intense.

Finally, the monster's knees buckled, and it collapsed to the ground, its anger and wisdom completely obscured by confusion.

“An experiment should look like an experiment.” Amaya looked at the monster kneeling on the ground, her feigned warmth turning completely cold.

Then, Amaya stepped forward, took out a sharp dagger from her bosom, and pried off the stones stuck between her muscles, one by one.

After a while, the ground was covered with the broken stones. Amaya glanced at the wounds that were trying to wriggle and heal, and patted the monster's head.

"Alright, let's go back, Quintus. We're getting closer and closer to the answer from the ocean."

written request for leave

Sorry, I haven't been feeling well lately. I think the recent fever and temperature drop have given me a cold, and my immune cells are killing things up inside me, so I'm taking a day off.

The temperature has been fluctuating recently, so please take care of yourselves.

Purple sweet potato pudding, purple sweet potato pudding, purple sweet potato pudding, purple sweet potato pudding, purple sweet potato pudding, purple sweet potato pudding, purple sweet potato pudding, purple sweet potato pudding, purple sweet potato pudding

Chapter 177: The Prey in the "Hunting Ground"

——————Iberian Wilderness——————

Shortly after Amaya and Quintus left, the two believers, who should have already left, immediately rushed back from a distance.

The last two people stopped in front of the secret passage, their eyes filled with solemnity and anger.

In their field of vision, they could sense that someone had been injured there, or that something had left blood there.

"Damn it!" One of the cultists immediately jumped down into the secret passage, while his companion beside him shouted reproachfully, "Desk, how could you not have noticed those heretics?!"

“It’s my fault.” Desk gritted his teeth. He couldn’t accept that the heretic he had been dreaming of finding had just been right under his nose, or even nearby.

“Exa,” Desk said, standing outside the tunnel and gazing into the surrounding wilderness. “Hurry up, I suspect they’ve already left. We can’t linger here any longer.”

The reason why Desk and Exa didn't go down together to achieve greater efficiency wasn't because they had any conflict that made them unwilling to even cooperate. The Deep Sea Church didn't have such conflicts, not in the past, and certainly not now.

The reason why no two people went down together was because of some "work experience" accumulated in the Deep Sea Church for reasons that those who know, know. These kinds of secret passages usually have a self-destruct mechanism.

There are many ways to self-destruct, and here, according to intelligence, bombs have been placed at several key points. They are a bit difficult to remove, but not impossible. As for why they are not removed, it is simply because there is no need to.

The cultists were just there to search and then leave. There was no need for them to defuse the bomb. Their supplies would be taken away by others later, so the bomb could be left to them.

The reason for splitting into two people, one going down and the other standing guard, was to prevent the heretics from using sneak attacks or the self-destruction mechanism of the passage to bury them inside.

Or simply being able to pursue the heretics while their companions are pinned down.

“They’re not down there.” Exa quickly climbed up. “They tore down a wall and hid themselves behind it, along with these things.”

Exa opened her hand, revealing something that looked like a sachet, and fragments of a test tube on the other side.

“The scent in this stuff masks the smell of those heretics,” Exa showed Desk the sachet. “That’s why you didn’t find them, you damned heretics.”

"As for what kind of hallucinogen is in this test tube, we don't know what those heretics have trained. As for the smell of blood, there's blood everywhere below. We'll have one of the brothers who specializes in this area investigate later."

"So what do we do now?" Desk clenched his fist. If those heretics had arrived after they left, he might have felt better, but the current signs indicated that he had just forcefully let those damned heretics slip through his fingers.

“Of course we’ll search.” Exa gritted her teeth and put away the two items in her hand. “Notify our partners that the hunting grounds have located the prey here.”

Desker nodded: "Okay."

——————Rhodes Island Accommodation Area——————

Ghost Shark propped her feet up on the coffee table and sprawled on the sofa, completely lacking any ladylike manners, watching TV, even though she had always had such a room on Rhodes Island.

Until she regained consciousness, even though Specter had this house, she actually lived in the Rhodes Island psychiatric ward.

"I feel like Skadi's been acting weird lately..." Specter was watching TV, her eyes gradually drifting away, her mind subconsciously starting to wander.

Lately, Skadi has indeed become very strange in Specter's eyes. Sometimes she gets distracted, and after she gets distracted, she does something, but afterwards she feels confused, as if she doesn't know what she did.

Moreover, Skadi's aura seems to be getting stranger and stranger lately. Oh, right, her own aura is also getting stranger and stranger. Perhaps it's because they've been in contact with Yuuki for too long?

After all, to be honest, it took her a while to recognize the two of them when they last met, and her own words and Skadi's words seemed to make sense as well.

As for that group of sea creatures, even with Yuuki's endorsement, Ghost Shark didn't really trust them, so he'd been lingering around them every day for the past few days.

Quite honest, quite...benevolent? Ghost Shark could only use these words to describe her. What she had seen these past few days, even the benevolence shown by those sea creatures, made her feel a little disillusioned.

Specter and Sease have been fighting for far too long, so long that even with Yuuki's endorsement, Specter still doesn't believe that Sease and his ilk will really reform.

At that time, if it weren't for the fact that this was Rhodes Island—no, if Yuuki were here—Specter might have been unable to resist having a heart-to-heart talk with those Deepsea Cultists and the two children when they met.

Now, even Ghost Shark has to admit that these guys have actually reformed; that kind of thing is hard to fake, especially for them.

They truly cared for and treated all the patients with meticulous care; such attentiveness cannot be faked. If they were still the same indifferent butchers who disregarded life, they could never pretend to be benevolent angels.

“If they can become such compassionate doctors,” Ghost Shark picked up a glass of water, took a sip, and shook his head. “Then what were we doing all this time?”

Beep beep beep~ Beep beep beep~

"Hmm?" Specter looked at the door. The sound was someone ringing her doorbell. Specter stood up, walked over, opened the door, and looked at Allelli standing in the doorway.

Specter raised an eyebrow, looked at Alleri, and asked, "What's wrong? Is there something you need from me?"

“We’ve found him.” Allelly looked at Specter. “We’ve found our prey. We’ve located his hunting grounds, Lord Specter.”

"..." Upon hearing Allelly's words, Ghost Shark's lips curled into a cold smile, and a hint of amusement appeared in his eyes. However, deep within those eyes, there was not gentleness, but rather a bone-chilling coldness.

“Oh dear.” Ghost Shark stretched his shoulders slightly. “Are they still in Iberia? They’re really good at hiding. But prey that fights back is worth hunting.”

“Okay, I got it.” Ghost Shark patted Allely on the shoulder. “Have our friends keep a close eye on the prey and make sure it doesn’t escape the hunting grounds.”

“Understood.” Allelly nodded, then thought for a moment, and then looked at Specter and added, “Well, Lord Specter, I would like to remind you that we also hate those heretics very much, and many people do not want them to live in this world for too long.”

"If you want to hunt them yourself, I recommend you set off immediately."

"Alright, alright." Specter waved her hand. "I'll ask Kal'tsit for leave later. You can leave now."

“Okay.” Alleri nodded. “By the way, should we inform Lady Skadi?”

“Of course I’ll tell her.” Ghost Shark rolled her eyes. “How can I not tell her? Of course I’ll tell her.”

"Understood." Allely bowed to Specter and turned to leave, but after taking two steps, he awkwardly turned back and asked, "Lord Specter, do you know where Lady Skadi might be right now?"

“At this hour…” Ghost Shark glanced at the clock, thought for a moment, and then said, “Let’s go check the cafeteria; she might be there right now.”

"I don't know what's wrong with her lately, she's been spending all her time in the cafeteria. I even heard that she tried eating the nutritional meals at Furong."

“Okay.” Allelly bowed to Ghost Shark and then headed straight for the cafeteria.

“Looks like we’ll be meeting soon, Amaya.” Ghost Shark walked into the room, picked up his circular saw from the shelf, pressed the button, and the chainsaw started up instantly, emitting a piercing roar.

Although Specter still had a smile on his lips, his eyes were filled with cold, murderous intent.

"Oh, right." Specter turned off the chainsaw; if she kept it on, people might complain about her disturbing the peace. "Should I tell Yuuzuki?"

"I have a feeling that if Yuuki goes to Iberia, there will be big problems."

To be honest, Specter didn't really want to tell Yuuki, because if Yuuki went to Iberia, there was a real chance that something serious could go wrong.

Through his interactions with Alleli these past few days, Ghost Shark has come to realize just how deeply Iberia has been infiltrated. It's as if you can see someone selling medicine on the street, or someone wearing a white coat.

This person is most likely one of them, originally a member of the Deep Sea Cult, now a healer, as for the Iberian Tribunal…