Chapter 709 "Knock, Knock"

The "proto-element roughcasts" that once appeared in the Frosty Deep Sea now appeared in this border sea, near the Cult of Annihilation's "holy site." This fact exuded an eerie and terrifying aura, yet it wasn't entirely unexpected.

After all, the "Abyssal Saint" was the thread that connected everything.

Maurice crouched down beside the humanoid roughcast, took out a slender metal sampling probe, and carefully pierced the latter's arm. The sampling probe encountered an extremely tough outer skin—obviously much tougher than the skin of humans, elves, or Sen people, but with a certain elasticity, like some kind of dense and sturdy special rubber.

He exerted force on his hand and broke through this tough "skin." The sampling probe rotated half a circle in the humanoid roughcast's arm, and when it was pulled out, it brought out some sludge-like black substance.

Familiar black sludge, but it seemed to have lost its activity, without any signs of wriggling or deforming.

"I'm starting to feel a little nauseous..." Shirley frowned tightly. The turbid black sludge made her feel goosebumps, and she couldn't help but think of the chilling things that had happened in Frosty Deep Sea—the replicas that grew in the fog, the ancient god's tentacles that kept spreading upward from the deep sea, the living sludge surging in the pipes and sewers...

However, the mutt beside her didn't seem to be affected at all. This Abyssal Hound curiously approached the humanoid roughcast, sniffing around it in circles, as if it had discovered something, and occasionally stopped to think for a while.

Shirley looked disgusted when she saw this: "A'gou, what are you doing? Don't you think this thing is disgusting... Hey, don't rub your head on it..."

"A'gou, did you discover something?" Vanna asked seriously from the side.

"It's not really a discovery. This is the first time I've seen this thing in person. I've only heard the captain describe it before..." A'gou shook its head, "I just think the aura of this thing... is a little familiar."

Duncan raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "A little familiar?"

"...The 'smell' of home," A'gou grumbled, "But I'm not sure... because it's very faint, but it does have a sense of familiarity."

Duncan's expression gradually became solemn, but he didn't speak for a while.

At that time, he had discovered a large number of "proto-element roughcasts" in the Frosty Deep Sea, but in order to completely eliminate the hidden dangers beneath Frosty Deep Sea and prevent the ancient god's replica from awakening, he burned the ancient god's tentacle that served as the "pillar," which also ignited all the "roughcasts" in that deep sea. This led to him not bringing back any samples from that place—so before today, A'gou had never really come into contact with this kind of "replica semi-finished product" made by the power of the Abyssal Saint.

And now, A'gou smelled the scent of the Abyssal Deep Sea from these "semi-finished products."

Duncan vaguely felt that A'gou's discovery seemed to have some..."problem."

Lucretia noticed the change in her father's expression and asked worriedly: "Do you think something is wrong?"

Duncan's expression was serious: "Why do these 'humanoid roughcasts' have the aura of the Abyssal Deep Sea?"

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Lucretia was a little puzzled, "These things are all born from the power of the Abyssal Saint, it's normal for them to have the aura of the Abyssal Deep Sea..."

Duncan turned his head: "According to the information we have, 'humans' are also created by the Abyssal Saint. Why has A'gou never smelled the 'smell of home' on humans?"

The surroundings suddenly became quiet. Lucretia blinked, and finally realized what the "problem" that her father had noticed was.

Her gaze fell on the "roughcast" on the deck that had no facial features or differentiated limbs, and her expression gradually became serious.

Duncan then spoke softly in contemplation: "All mortal races are Abyssal derivatives, and Abyssal demons are also creations of the Abyssal Saint. We regard 'humans' and 'Abyssal demons' as two ends of a balance, so these 'roughcasts' with humanoid outlines... are they more inclined towards 'humans' or towards 'Abyssal demons'?"

"...I remember you said that these 'roughcasts' like mud dolls are likely to be 'semi-finished products' when the Abyssal Saint created the mortal races, or products that have been roughly processed according to the original blueprint. At that time, the ancient god's tentacles in the Frosty Deep Sea were only a part of the Abyssal Saint's replica, so it could only create this kind of 'roughcast', but if it goes further, these 'roughcasts' may become real 'humans'..."

Lucretia recalled the information about the Frosty Deep Sea incident that her father had mentioned to her, and slowly spoke while thinking.

"And now, A'gou thinks that these 'roughcasts' have the aura of the Abyssal Deep Sea, or to put it another way, it thinks that these roughcasts... are very similar to its compatriots."

"I didn't say that!" A'gou muttered immediately, but then it lay down again, a little lacking in confidence, "Well, okay... actually it's a little bit like..."

Shirley blinked, looked at A'gou and then at the captain, glanced around, and still looked a little dazed: "What are you guys discussing?"

Duncan glanced at the girl, raised his hand and pointed to the "roughcast" on the deck: "We are discussing from which step 'humans' began to differentiate from Abyssal demons, or in other words, from which step this kind of humanoid Abyssal demon began to become 'human'."

Shirley reacted for a while, and her eyes finally widened suddenly: "Holy crap?!"

Duncan didn't explain any further, he just nodded lightly, then turned around and prepared to return to the stern control platform—this place was already very close to the six-mile boundary line, and he had to be extra cautious to continue moving forward. He planned to move the Vanishing Sea a little further forward to confirm the situation ahead.

But just as he was about to take a step, another faint "thumping" sound suddenly came from outside the ship's side, interrupting his movement and everyone's thoughts.

Immediately afterwards, more "thumping" sounds entered everyone's ears.

Something was hitting the hull. At first there were two or three, then more—a lot more!

Vanna's face changed slightly in an instant. She rushed to the edge of the deck in a few steps and leaned over to look at the sea below—

Black humanoid things, "roughcasts" that seemed to be made of mud, at least dozens or hundreds at a glance, were hitting the hull of the Vanishing Sea one by one. They rose and fell on a calm sea, as if pushed by invisible waves, thump, thump, thump thump...

But what was even more chilling was the distance—

In front of the Vanishing Sea, on the sea a little further away, more blurred outlines were slowly drifting from the misty sea! Countless humanoid "roughcasts" rolled and undulated like dead trees in the water. They drifted along the same direction, and one after another hit the outer shell of the Vanishing Sea, making dull impact sounds, and then rolled to change the drifting trajectory, and continued to drift backwards, drifting towards the Brilliant Star...

On the front deck of the Resting, Polezhinye, a goddess officer of the Church of the Dead, wearing a black death church robe and with dark golden curly hair, frowned, standing on the edge of the deck watching the sea below. Those humanoid roughcasts that drifted from afar like black dead trees were reflected in her eyes, with a chilling weirdness.

A lower-level priest stood beside her, with a rather uneasy expression on his face: "Bishop Polezhinye, what exactly are these things?"

"...Things born from the power of the Abyssal Saint, should have drifted from that so-called 'holy site'," Polezhinye said casually—a voice was speaking in her mind, telling her about these "humanoid roughcasts" information, that voice came from the Vanishing Sea, it was "Ms. Agatha" who followed Captain Duncan in the form of a shadow, "Ignore them, these things are 'dead', as long as you don't actively contact them, they won't pose a threat to our ironclad ship."

"Yes, Bishop."

The lower-level priest bowed his head and retreated, but he returned to Polezhinye in a hurry not long after he left.

"Bishop! The bottom of the ship, there are also some at the bottom of the ship!"

"The bottom of the ship?!"

Polezhinye, who rushed to the lower area in a hurry, heard the thumping sounds that almost echoed throughout the bottom cabin.

The knocking sound was continuous, as if it came from all directions. It was the sound of countless hard objects floating in the sea hitting the steel. The sound echoed in the cabin, dull and disturbing. Polezhinye even had an illusion—

It was like countless people holding sledgehammers and consciously hitting the hull, producing echoes.

The picture even subconsciously appeared in her mind, associating that countless faceless humanoid "roughcasts" were floating in the sea around the Resting at this moment, not only the sea surface, but also underwater, hundreds of thousands of black mud humanoids clinging to the bottom shell of this ship, hitting it one by one, scratching it, trying to chisel through the thick layer of steel and sink these uninvited guests who broke into the holy site...

She quickly shook her head, forcibly suppressing these "associations" that might cause unpredictable consequences, and turned to look at the technicians who came down with her: "Will the hull be damaged by the impact?"

"If it's just the current level of impact, it won't cause any damage to the hull," the mechanic said immediately, "It's just impact, the power won't exceed floating wood in the sea... But to be honest, these sounds are too disturbing, and since 'those things' started hitting the hull near the machine cabin, there has been an uncoordinated noise in the operation of the steam engine..."

Polezhinye's eyes changed slightly: "Is the machine bewitched?"

"It's not that serious yet, but the machine does feel uneasy. I hope you can send church priests down to perform an appeasement Mass for the steam boiler and the differential engine."

"Okay, I will notify the church to send people down," Polezhinye said immediately.

And just as she finished speaking, a hoarse and blurred

The sound suddenly entered her mind—the sound was mixed in the continuous knocking around, mixed in the echoes of the bottom of the cabin, as if it was directly separated from the cold sea water outside the hull, and seeped into her heart—

"You...will become them...just like us..."