My crewmates must have been attacked by now—I regretted not stopping them so much, even if I had to be violent! Fuck!Even as I was left in a dilemma, I noticed the glow stick on the table and immediately thought of an idea. I took out every glow stick I could find, despite being uncertain if those things were afraid of light and only able to hope that it would work even just a little, so that my crewmates on the other ship had a chance instead of just waiting for their deaths.I promptly picked up the glow sticks and tied them into several bunches, then threw them through my cabin window into the other ship over different locations. All at once, a venomous hiss echoed from the other ship—the corrupted Yiki that resembled human hair started thrashing once the glow sticks touched them, causing an eerie sight.Still, my hunch was right. Light somewhat worked against those horrid things, and I therefore threw more glow sticks over to the other ship. They would burst into light over a
I turned around and fired a shot at those accursed things. The bursting gunpowder struck the lubricant, and the ensuing flames rushed into the air with a loud bang. The monsters that had been chasing immediately twisted and contorted as they struggled within the flames, crying shrilly in blood-curdling noises that resounded throughout the night sky.“Hah! Let’s see how you’d get to me now!” I yelled at them, as if to muster my courage.Having shaken them off for the time being, I was about to fire my grapple gun when I sensed a presence behind me. I turned and shuddered, freezing in the discovery of a towering shadow.The shadow shrouded me. His long, narrow eyes were so dark it seemed to consume everything. His wet, slippery tongue slithered out of his mouth and brushed against my lips, his thick black hair spread loosely and carelessly above the face I recognized in my bones. However, he did not show a single shred of emotion at that very moment—his presence was icy and bloodthirs
I couldn’t answer Gary because I was in too much pain to even utter a single word. My temples were throbbing, but I still turned back towards the Seeker, which was completely engulfed in flames: Dicken was gone—the place where he and I had been was now consumed by the fire, leaving those monsters struggling against the blaze.This situation was utterly ironic.My own lover had maimed me, whereas my enemy saved me and my friends—I had just noticed the Seeker’s crew, including Luna and Mike, being fished out of the sea. The sight made my spirits soar, preventing me from going unconscious right away. Soon, Gary lay me on a bed, with the doctors he had been yelling for hurrying to treat me. Despite being reluctant to bare my wounds in front of so many, there was no other choice than to leave my lower body bare for the doctors to examine. The only consolation was that Gary did not linger like some voyeur, and only returned inside after my wounds were dealt with.The doctors seemed to h
Nonetheless, I decided that I should turn the tables against Gary instead of allowing him to probe me like this, so that I wouldn’t be left entirely passive—something I had learnt after following David around for over a year. Moreover, I needed Gary around because he had something I needed, while I also had to get to the nuclear radiation zone to rendezvous with Dicken.“Do you know that’s this, Gary? Maybe you do know about what it is to some extent, but do you want to know more?” Mustering my spirit a little, I pushed myself up and attempted to sit up so as to appear a little more serious, but the pain forced me to fall back on my bed right away. Gary reached out to scoop me up, saying, “I do, but I would rather find out if you want to be with me… And don’t be in such a rush to reject me, Linda, and stop for a moment to think instead. You’re going to need help with your condition—you have to know that you won’t even be able to take care of yourself for a while.”His words were ge
Meanwhile, Gary kept scanning out of the window for a long while, lowering his gun hesitantly when he found nothing. “I’ll take a look outside. Stay here, and don’t move around.”However, my gaze was drawn to the darkness outside, and I was unable to hear him. Upset, Gary grabbed me by the chin and turned me towards him, intent on getting an answer—but that was when I saw a ‘hand’ over his shoulder. Strictly speaking, it was a black, shriveled webbed paw of a merman. The rotten human face from before slowly manifested, its two hollow eyes beneath its drenched seaweed hair staring fixedly at me. “T-There’s something behind your back!” I cried out in terror even as my head went numb. The lights above me flickered as I yelled, dying out in an instant and leaving the cabin in utter darkness. Though it was a fluorescent green to my vision, it only made the scene appear more frightening.I watched as the paw suddenly grabbed Gary by the neck, lifting him into the air with ease and pull
“But that doesn’t mean that I would give up on winning your favor.” Gary raised a hand to stroke my cheek, only for me to slam the handle of my gun into his head, and grab him by the hand instead to keep him standing. Despite the pain in my lower body which limited my movement, I couldn’t care less—I needed to reach Mary soon, or this ship would end up no different than the Seeker.I realized that the entire ship’s power had been cut when we stepped out of the cabin to the deck. There wasn’t a single light on the ship, just as there wasn’t anyone to be seen aside from me and Gary. It was unusually silent and every corner of the ship was eerie like a ghost ship sailing across the vast oceans, devoid of the cries of seagulls or even the splashes of waves against the hull.We might have been caught within another illusion—an otherworldly nightmare. We carefully walked ahead, sticking to the ship’s bulkhead so that we wouldn't lose our way in the fog, and to avoid any threats lurking i
Even as she spoke, Mary grabbed the edge of the glass tank and pushed herself over it, though she soon skidded down the glass again soon enough, perhaps because she had not moved a muscle for a long time. I promptly caught her and asked, “What do you mean, fate? Don’t you decide that for yourself? I may be speaking rudely, but could you tell me what’s going on between you and that purple merman before you leave? There’s no telling when we would meet again, but if you feel that it’s invasive…”“It’s fine. I should actually be glad that I could tell someone before I go, and this secret has been kept for too long…” Mary leaned into my arms then, and I somehow saw an elderly person who had gone through the vicissitudes of life through her eyes. It was only then that I remembered—despite her young and beautiful appearance, it had been half a century since she had been turned into a mermaid. That young girl dressed in a kimono was already long gone, and she would be an elderly woman near th
Dicken extended both hands and intercepted me. Then, he puffed his chest so that his back arched backwards a little, and I heard the sound of skin being torn apart, as if something was struggling its way out of its body.Mary and I were shocked by the Dicken in front of us—his hair was dancing in the air as if every strand was given life, and I suddenly noticed that there were tentacles as thick as eels flailing around between his hair, reaching into the water and streaking towards me before I could react.“Watch out!” Mary yelled in panic, and spread her claws to pull the tentacles away, only for Dicken’s tail to swipe at her, sending her slamming heavily into the bulkhead. Then, Dicken’s tail fins shifted form into a razor-sharp scythe, and swung it at her head. However, just as he was about to kill her, I bounded forward and pushed her out of the way with no hesitation, the razor-sharp fin swiping just past my head and stopping right above my back.Mary struck the bulkhead, blue