Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

Chapter 199 Dangerous Darkness

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When we really got close to the island, we found that the area of ​​several hundred meters around this small island was all covered by huge rain clouds. Even the "Sun" spirit running around in the God-forsaken Land would not visit here.

In the heavy rain and dim sky, it is difficult to notice the island even if you pass by, let alone explore it.

"Wow... Wow..."

The spirit of the storm was unusually active in this area, and heavy rain and thunderstorms had been raging for two days. Perhaps before outsiders visited this land, the heavy rain had been falling for a long, long time, and it might even have continued from the "Great Cataclysm" of the Third Age to the present day.

The sound of wind and rain filled everyone's ears.

Since entering the rain curtain, Agaritu has ordered that no one should pray to the Lord of Storms in any language or in any way, in order to prevent these spirits from being moved by prayers and causing unnecessary changes. The storm path has the property of breaking evil to a certain extent, so the "Death Announcement" has been asking the crew to hang rainproof cloths everywhere, and the crew has shown great interest. Because once the wooden structure of the hull is affected and deformed, they will have to be used to repair it.

In the wind and rain, the sky and the earth were dark, and the sea was as black as the sky.

The heavy rain blurred the concept of sky and sea. If it weren't for the occasional lightning that illuminated the sky, the crew, who had hallucinations due to long-term fear and pressure, would probably suspect that they had sunk into the sea or fallen into the sky and were about to die of suffocation.

In the cabin, more than a dozen people were crowded together, sitting around an oil lamp on the table. Their pale faces illuminated by the lamp were like sunflowers chasing the sun, their eyeballs swaying along with the flickering warm yellow flames.

A lantern was hanging in the eaves of the entrance to the cabin, swaying, and was the only source of light outside.

Sitting under the eaves, enjoying the light alone, Agaritu read the memory of the real "Agaritu" over and over again. Unfortunately, the nominal captain did not really have the power and qualifications to plan the next move most of the time. Therefore, after a long keyword search, Agaritu finally found the source of his familiarity with the "giant key".

——"Blood Admiral" Senior.

It’s not that the key is in Senior’s hands, but when Senior made a bold statement about seizing a strange key related to the “treasure of the god of death”, “Agaritu” learned that “Admiral Iceberg” Edwina Edwards had found this thing through archaeology.

"Senior wants to grab it, which means he hasn't grabbed it yet."

"Did Edwina discover it herself through archaeological excavation, or did she buy it from another explorer or collector?"

The original human never paid attention to this matter because the "Death Report" did not need to.

As a sealed item, the Death Announcement did not require any role-playing or rituals, except for the necessary human sacrifices. Therefore, a Sequence 3 Demon Path Extraordinary Item was far less notorious at sea than the Sequence 5 Indulgence Faction member "Blood Admiral". Although the bounty of tens of thousands was quite respectable, it was still the bottom of the Four Kings.

While not killing indiscriminately, there is no need to obtain extraordinary characteristics through other means, nor is there a need to obtain powerful extraordinary items...

The "Death Announcement" can really be said to be pure-hearted and aloof, and can even be considered orderly and good among the demon group.

Agaritu smacked his lips, feeling that there was no point in searching for the key to the Giant King's Court.

There is a pilgrim road from the Glorious Era in front of me, so I have to go in and take a look. If the Forsaken Land really has only one road to the Giant King's Court, then it won't be too late to leave then.

"What does the 'Undying King' entering the God-Forsaken Land have to do with Edward Vaughn's breach of contract?"

"Even if there is a breach of contract, the True Creator will not give up the 'Witch of Despair'. At most, he will sell it at a discount."

He raised his head and with some difficulty identified the island ahead, making sure he had not deviated from the route.

In the dim vision hazy in the wind and rain, the moment the island, which seemed not very big from a distance, came into Agaritu's eyes, a flash of lightning happened to flash across the sky as if it could split the sky.

"Ok?"

At the moment when the sea was illuminated, he suddenly found that the island was bigger than he had imagined, much bigger! A huge stone pillar pointed straight to the sky, more than ten meters high. But there were obvious signs of being broken on the stone pillar. The jagged cracks and the flashing stone debris around it suggested that this pillar-like building was not as simple as it seemed.

This island was a resting place on the pilgrimage to the ancient kingdom of the sun god. Agaritu had a rough idea of ​​what it looked like. He didn't take the brief image in the light to heart, and contacted the Death Announcement to find a place that could serve as a port.

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As expected, after circling the island a quarter of the way, the Death Announcement successfully found a small bay and anchored in it.

"There's something I've wanted to ask for a long time." Agaritu looked at the Death Announcement ship, which was fine-tuning the bow to adjust the distance between the two sides, and couldn't help but say:
"A Sequence 3 Sealed Artifact. Theoretically, you have the ability to travel through the spirit world. Why don't you travel through the spirit world or fly?"

The Death Announcer stopped adjusting the distance, and several seconds passed before Agaritu received its response.

"Your Highness, I am a ship."

"As far as I know, ships can't fly, nor can they travel through the spirit world."

Hearing this, Agaritu felt a little surprised, but he didn't think this answer was surprising. After thinking about it, he even thought that the answer of "Death Announcement" was very interesting. If "Death Announcement" was a person, then it would still regard itself as a human after suddenly becoming a demon, not overusing its strength, and even not exercising the various abilities brought by its characteristics.

However, the "Death Goodbye" is a ship. Where do its "ship nature" and "cognition of the ship and itself" come from?
"No, Nast Solomon's 'Black Throne' can fly and travel through the spirit world. You are not an extraordinary ship." Agaritu said, "The ship will not accept living sacrifices."

"No, Your Highness, ordinary ships will also accept sacrifices."

What he didn't expect was that the Death Announcement actually seriously refuted the latter sentence. The Extraordinary Ship slowly replied in his mind:
"Pirates would kill people on board, and sailors would kill people on board, and the blood of these people was a sacrifice to the ship."

"The sailors would throw out sick compatriots, and would also throw mad compatriots into the sea. They would hope to sacrifice the lives of these people so that they could be safe, away from infectious diseases or curses, and return home safely. This is naturally a prayer ceremony."

"Although they often pray to the Lord of Storms, it is actually the ship that carries the prayer. So they are praying to the ship, and the sacrifice belongs to the ship, and to us."

Agaritu listened thoughtfully. The Death Announcer rarely spoke so much.

"…My extraordinary characteristics gave me my own self and memories. I remember that when I was still a mindless ship, the captain who firmly believed that he could discover a new world would sacrifice the crew members who wanted to start a mutiny and force him to return to the voyage to me."

"At the end, as he sank into the abyss, the captain was sacrificed by the others, and they sacrificed him to me, praying that I could bring them out."

"There was no food in the abyss, so the crew kept decreasing. Then one day, I found that I could talk to them."

In the eerie and terrifying environment, "Death Announcement" stated in a straightforward manner that a ship really should not have emotional fluctuations:

"But I was very weak at the time, so I told them that only by increasing the sacrifices and increasing my strength could I leave the abyss."

This is a rather horrifying story, told in its entirety by the last survivor, a demon ship.

Just listening to these few simple sentences is enough to make people with rich imagination feel great fear. A large sailing ship that can accommodate up to 170 people returned to the sea as a demon ship after years of sailing... In the navigation records of the "Death Announcement", which are not even memories, these few sentences fully describe the details of its birth and the reasons for the destruction of the "Christine".

In the age of the Russell Maritime Discovery, there were countless captains and sailors who set sail with the dream of leaving a legacy for generations to come. However, only one or two of them were able to return home safely thanks to the navigation tools and extraordinary abilities of the time, and the vast majority of them became insignificant fragments of history.

Ships are very interesting things. Over a long period of time, they have been the most efficient tool for humans to explore the unknown outside world.

When I'm at home, I dream about going out to sea every day.

But once I actually got on the boat, I dreamed of returning home every day.

“When I came out, there was no one left, but I brought their spirits back to the normal sea.”

Agaritu nodded, very satisfied with the story: "They became a part of you, and you fulfilled their wishes."

"Thank you," said the boat. "I feel the same way."

After a long time, the Death Announcement still vaguely remembers the route its captain took to the abyss. That bloody voyage, the terrifying experience, and the birth full of madness are a beautiful childhood worth remembering for it.

Agaritu was very interested in this topic, but the first thing to do was to investigate and explore the island.

The Death Announcement stopped at a sheltered harbor with some rocky roofs that could shelter from the rain, and the discomfort caused by the wind and waves and violent turbulence immediately dissipated by more than half. The demon sailors and adventurers in the cabin cheered softly at the same time.

In the open sea, even in the sea where gods fight, every change and extreme weather here is walking side by side with death. Having escaped another deadly storm, how can they not be excited after surviving the disaster?
They urgently needed supplies and rest to relieve their tense spirits.

After so long, the thing they were most looking forward to was to step onto land, light a campfire, and eat some hot meals, or even hot water.

Agaritu allowed their request to disembark and set up camp to avoid the rain. The crew happily picked up the only lamp and all got off the boat.

——Because the "Death Announcement" obviously does not need anyone to guard it.

The captain stood at the side of the ship, watching a small boat being lowered. The light was like a firefly in the wind, gradually drifting towards the shore. There were almost no plants on the island, and the heavy rain that never stopped and the lack of sunlight made it impossible for them to find a spare place. But it was not without benefits. The island was very empty and there were no large objects blocking the view. They soon found a strange ruin and used the building materials and stones inside to temporarily repair a house and hide inside.

More than a dozen people huddled together, and the damp and cold house finally had a hint of warmth.

But they looked at each other, all of them were soaked, and even if there was a hunter nearby, there was no way they could find anything to make a fire.

They sat around the oil lamp, just like on the boat, staring at the knuckle-sized flame in a daze.

"Damn it, the rain doesn't look like it's going to stop, and there's nothing to eat in this damn place. We might starve to death here!"

In the extremely depressing atmosphere, the negative emotions that a demon sailor had been holding back for a long time finally erupted. He stretched out his hand and pulled his hair hard, scratching his scalp. His bloodshot eyes swept across the adventurers on the opposite side, and he laughed sinisterly:
“Isn’t the food right in front of us…?”

He looked at the "outsiders" behind the oil lamp one by one with hungry and greedy eyes. Blood flowed from his head, across his temples and corners of his eyes, adding another layer of horror to the dim room.

The demon sailors began to rustle and rustle, and the second mate Gilchies watched coldly and tacitly agreed with the sailors' idea.

The adventurers responded immediately, and the atmosphere became extremely tense, as if it was about to explode!
At this moment, a hand suddenly inserted between the two groups of people. The adventurers and the demon sailors immediately glared at the owner of the hand. In the dark environment, their fierce eyes would make even a hungry wolf run away with its tail between its legs.

However, the owner of the hand was not afraid. Anderson Hood knew that the situation was urgent, so he tried hard to make his expression serious.

But it was useless. His frivolous behavior made him almost unreliable in everyone's eyes, just like the shepherd boy in Russell's fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". Anderson simply gave up on facial expression management and spoke directly:
"How many of us have come down here in total?"

The hungry demon sailor roared: "You can count them after you die!"

"Idiot! If I were you, I would never yell like that." Anderson threw out a challenge without any hesitation, and then followed up with his own heavyweight news, "We only have sixteen people now!"

"But when we came down, there were 20 of us! Just enough to fit in two rows on the boat! - You criminals claim that you are not afraid, not nervous, cold-blooded and rational, but you didn't realize that three of the four missing people are your own people!"

Anderson finished speaking in one breath. Seeing that the demon sailors were all intimidated by him, they were whispering with their eyes wide open, he felt refreshed. This was undoubtedly his highlight moment!

Just as he was about to continue his highlight, he suddenly heard Gilchies's cold sneer.

"You're not that smart."

The Slayer said with a grim look, "Two people were sacrificed on the way, and another was burned to death by the sun before. So now there are only 20 people on the ship, including the captain... but the captain did not come down."

As soon as these words came out, it was like dropping a bomb into the crowd, and all the whispers stopped immediately.

Everyone's blood ran cold at this moment. The house where more than a dozen people were sitting was completely silent, and you could hear a pin drop.

Anderson's eyes widened: "Why didn't you say so earlier?!"

Gilchies looked grim, and of course he couldn't admit that he only noticed the problem of number of people because Anderson reminded him.

"Go back to the ship!" a demon sailor suddenly shouted in despair, "Go back to the ship! The captain and the 'Death Announcement' will protect us!"

His shout was widely recognized, and even the navigators began to miss the gloomy and cannibalistic room of the Death Announcement (as long as they were not eaten, they were safe). Several people stood up first, stepped on the gaps between people and walked towards the door covered by wooden boards. They pushed open the wet big board, and suddenly stopped at the same time.

A bad feeling slowly arose in everyone's heart.

"Outside."

A sailor turned around, his eyes full of horror and disbelief: "Is it so dark outside?"

They moved aside to make room, showing the scene behind the door panel to everyone - outside the doorway was a pitch-black darkness, extremely thick, like a ball of ink that could not be dissolved, or as if outside the door was not an empty wasteland, but a black wall!
“It’s definitely not that dark when I come here!”

An adventurer said: "We were outside the door and could see the whole room clearly with the help of lightning! It is precisely because this place is so spacious that we chose to rest here!"

Someone bravely reached out his hand into the darkness and felt that his hand was wrapped in cold mist and could be stretched freely. But when he withdrew his hand, he was shocked to find that the skin on the part of his body that had been stretched into the darkness had been silently peeled off.

The red flesh and tendons contracted and stretched as he moved, like a living model prop in a medical school.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!"

The pirate screamed in terror, seemingly having never felt any pain until now.

Everyone was shocked, and the scene of themselves being skinned appeared in their minds unconsciously. Blood dripped onto the ground, plop, plop.

Gilchies stared at the piece of red meat, his Adam's apple rolling, and he thought that he might as well cut it off and eat it. It was obvious that he was not the only one who looked at the pirate's injured hand with greedy eyes... But leaving this piece of raw meat hanging bloodily was obviously not a solution. Now they knew that there was a skinned monster in the dark, and the smell of blood would most likely attract more dangerous things.

"Give him something to bandage." Gilchias whispered.

Several pirates searched their pockets and pulled out a bandage, a handkerchief, and a palm-length cloth. These things were soaked by the rain, and using them to bandage such a serious wound might make the doctors outside faint.

But the good thing about Extraordinary people is that they won't die easily from infection. The injured pirate thanked the second mate repeatedly and gritted his teeth to wrap up his injured hand. Without the protection of skin, the pain of direct contact between flesh and rough cloth made him tremble with pain.

Anderson thought for a while, waved his hand, and a fire crow flew into the darkness ahead.

The fire crow only illuminated the darkness within a radius of half a meter before being engulfed. However, this also cheered up everyone, and they all looked at Anderson at the same time.

"Take the light." Anderson hesitated for two seconds and said decisively, "If you want to go back to the ship, take the light!"

"The darkness here is wrong. There may be something scary hidden inside. You must not leave the range of the light!"

If members of the Tarot Club were here, they would be surprised to find that the environment here is very similar to the God-forsaken Land mentioned by "Sun" Derrick. Monsters are hiding in the darkness, and once you fall into the darkness, you will disappear instantly, which is equivalent to death.

After hearing Anderson's words, the adventurers immediately took action, stood up, wrung out their wet clothes, and waited for the next move. In this environment, Anderson, who was at the forefront and had life-saving lighting ability, immediately gained prestige.

The demon sailors followed suit subconsciously, then realized that their leader was Gilchies, and looked at him expectantly.

Gilchies stared at Anderson gloomily for several seconds before saying, "You're just waiting to die if you stay here. Bring the light and let's go together."

"Also, I have another request. The lights belong to us, so we have to stand in the middle." He added viciously, "Let your people stand on the periphery and don't get close to our lights!"

The pirates cheered softly and looked at the adventurers with disdain and arrogance.

They quickly formed a formation, and several tall people lifted the huge wooden board to block the heavy rain and prevent the rain from extinguishing the lights and fire. Anderson walked in the middle and front, constantly throwing fireballs around to ensure that there was no blind spot within one meter around the small team.

Gilchias walked in the middle and back, holding a kerosene lamp that depended on his life, surrounded by pirates. Every pair of greedy eyes looked at the lamp, but they were afraid of the second mate's strength and dared not take action, which greatly satisfied Gilchias's ambition and vanity.

There was still half of the fuel left, which could probably burn for another hour. Fortunately, the bay was only a ten-minute walk from the campsite, so I could definitely get there before the fire went out.

The team filed out of the house in silence. The moment the light moved, Gilchies saw a darkness as deep as that outside suddenly appear at the edge of the house, filling the walls and corners that were originally safe and where the crew members were leaning against each other. As the light moved, it slowly approached like the mouth of a huge monster.

There is a big mouth inside the house and dangerous darkness outside. It seems that no matter where you go, it will be a dead end!
Seeing this, Gilchies felt a little uneasy for no reason. He suddenly felt that being trapped was not unacceptable. At least before the oil lamp and Anderson were all gone, the captain would notice the missing crew members first and come down to look for them.

No! The captain can't come to save us, we will all die here! These adventurers are not trustworthy at all, and that hunter is like a cunning fox. Only I can take them away from here!

Only I can... Gilchies muttered to himself, I can also gain the favor of the "Death Announcement" and become the "Undead King"!
The voyage on the Sea of ​​Gods had aroused his extreme desire for power and status, and the irresistible danger and uncontrolled desire devoured his reason. He turned his head firmly and walked into the darkness with the team.

In the darkness behind them, a boneless and fleshless hand floated in the air, like a human leather glove.

With his hands dripping with blood, he followed slowly.

TBC
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Enter the Pilgrim's Way.

Getting closer and closer to the God-forsaken land.

(End of this chapter)