Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 565 Ia! Dagon!
There are inscriptions on it.

The rough carvings depict some kind of ancient hieroglyphic script.

Most of them are marine life, represented by simple symbols for common fish, crustaceans, and mollusks such as octopuses, even ancient and enormous creatures like whales, as well as some even more ancient creatures that, in Rebecca's time, only existed in fossils.

In addition to this series of obscure and complex hieroglyphs, there are also exquisite carvings that resemble paintings.

The carving likely depicts an ancient human tribe...

No, they are deep-sea creatures, because the environment depicted in the carvings is the seabed, and these humanoid creatures could only be deep-sea creatures.

They are worshipping a large, ugly creature.

Perhaps, like many ancient civilizations, this Deep One race imagined and created some kind of object of worship, similar to a deity.

The sculpture depicts this highly acclaimed deity killing a whale.

……

The scorching sun continued to burn the entire land.

The sunlight gradually rose higher in the sky, becoming even more dazzling than before.

Rebecca couldn't keep her gaze fixed on the boulder.

And shortly after she looked away, the entire desert began to tremble.

On this desolate land where not a drop of water could be seen as far as the eye could see, she actually heard the sound of the sea waves being stirred.

...

Subsequently, in the desolate desert, the giant stone pillar was no longer the only conspicuous thing.

Because another enormous body had silently appeared beside it.

The shadow, seemingly emerging from the darkness, resembled... resembled the legendary Cyclops Polyphemus.

It embraced the massive stone pillar with its enormous arms covered in scales and fins, its breathing sounding as terrifying as rhythmic, muffled thunder…

In that instant, Rebecca seemed to suddenly understand something.

The deity depicted on the giant stone pillar, the deity capable of killing a whale with its bare hands, must be the giant creature embracing the pillar at this moment.

Since it can grip the stone pillar with one hand, killing a whale would naturally be no problem for it.

...

Rebecca was momentarily dazed.

Suddenly, the oaths she had heard from the Marsh family bastards on the ship's deck echoed in her mind. Only now, the sounds she heard were even louder, as if millions were making a solemn vow.

“Ia! Dagon! I solemnly swear that I will not hinder or reveal the actions of the Deep Ones to others. If I break this oath, I will be shunned by all, I will be condemned as unworthy of Dagon's favor, and I will receive all the punishments ordained, even death. Ia! Dagon!”...

...

The deafening roar, coupled with the distant growls of the colossal beast encircling the stone pillar, created a surging sound that made Rebecca feel as if every grain of sand in the desert was boiling.

A profound and moving experience.

At this moment, illusion and reality seemed to completely overlap.

Knowing full well that such a gigantic aquatic creature couldn't possibly exist in the desert, and knowing full well that there was no one else in the wasteland besides himself, the oath of the Great Gourd and the image of the colossal beast were still so clear...

...

Until a certain moment.

She felt someone tap her on the shoulder from behind.

Then, a voice that was all too familiar entered her mind. "Did you disconnect?"

...

Then, everything in the scene was instantly swallowed by darkness.

The desert, the blazing sun, the clear blue sky, the colossal stone pillars, and the terrifyingly large beast—everything that was "real" was disrupted by the words behind her, instantly crumbling apart as if it had vanished into some extreme black dot. Finally, that black dot shrank infinitely and disappeared completely from Rebecca's sight.

Immediately following this was the return of that chilly feeling emanating from the sea.

My vision blurred.

She found herself "back" on the smuggling ship, standing at the stern with a rifle in her hand.

Milo was standing right behind him.

Rebecca's first reaction upon regaining her senses was to quickly raise her rifle and aim at the fog behind the ship, because she clearly remembered that hordes of Deep Ones were surging toward them through the fog.

Having experienced the illusion in the desert, Rebecca already knew what the enormous shadow following the group of Deep Ones was—a terrifying creature capable of killing whales with its bare hands. If such a creature caught up with them, the ship would be reduced to pieces in an instant.

but……

The view behind me through the scope was completely empty.

The sea and fog were completely still; it was calm and still, with nothing at all.

There were no Deep Ones rushing in like an enraged swarm of bees, nor any colossal beasts following closely behind.

Not a single unusual sound could be heard, only the hum of the ship's engine.

...

"Have I been spacing out for a long time?"

She turned around and looked at Milo with a somewhat blank expression.

Milo simply closed his notebook, wrapped it in a cloth to prevent it from getting damp, and stuffed it into his pocket. Then he took out a flask and handed it to Rebecca, saying casually:
"The behemoth you saw should be the Great Gon mentioned in the oath."

"Just consider it as supplementing your extracurricular knowledge."

Rebecca had just taken the flask and taken a sip when Milo quickly snatched it back, muttering, "I suddenly forgot I should be frugal; I can't stand the rum on a ship."

Having tasted the top-quality rum from the Port of Selphs in the Dreamland, a smuggler as stingy as Allen wouldn't even want to smell the diluted, inferior rum that Milo had stockpiled on the ship.

...

"Let's pack up the guns. The Marsh family bastard is gone, and now our captain is all alone. We'll have to play the role of sailors ourselves."

Milo waved and jumped down to the lower deck, signaling Rebecca to stop spacing out.

Meanwhile, on the main deck, Allen had already begun dealing with the mast cables.

Rebecca was still not fully recovered. After following Milo to the main deck, she couldn't help but look back at the mist behind her with lingering fear.

……

Zadok Allen, who had recently nearly collapsed, was now whistling, moving lightly and nimbly, and single-handedly pulled the small wooden boat onto the main ship.

She's completely different from before.

Seeing that Rebecca was still in a daze, Allen spoke to her in a relaxed tone, with a sense of relief as if he had escaped a disaster:

"It was quite a shock, wasn't it? I really wish I had been standing at the stern like you back then. To be honest, it's quite impressive that you didn't faint from fright after witnessing it up close."

"Ha, I've decided that after I turn forty, I must write a book to record all the terrifying seas I've passed through during my smuggling career. Maybe it can become another 'Tales of the Unusual'."

(End of this chapter)