Charles stood frozen in place for three whole seconds before he was startled awake by the prayers of the bandaged first mate.
Looking down, Charles saw the first mate was already kneeling beside him, a bandaged figure bowing ceaselessly toward the colossal eye in the sky.
Charles clenched his teeth, yanking the bandaged man as he stumbled and crashed into the cockpit.
With a face as pale as ash, Charles didn't answer. He slammed the hatch shut. As his hands danced swiftly across the controls, the Narwhal's lights flickered out one by one, merging the exploration ship with the darkness.
At that moment, the Second Officer's voice crackled from the comm tube. "Captain, what's going on up there? Why are you initiating—"
The next second, the Second Officer's voice turned shrill with terror. "My God, did we run into a 'God' in the Darkness? We're doomed, we're completely done for!"
"Second Officer! Shut the hell up!" Charles roared into the tube, veins bulging on his face.
Beside him, the first mate's body shivered uncontrollably. His bandaged body curled into a ball on the floor, muttering garbled prayers.
Charles rushed over, clamping a hand over the man's mouth and hissing, "That's not your Futan God! Didn't you see that thing is in the sky?"
The cockpit was engulfed in darkness, and a tense atmosphere began to spread. Aside from harsh, ragged breathing, there was no other sound.
After a few minutes, Deep's low, strained voice came from the side, as if he were suppressing some violent emotion.
"Captain, what kind of God did you just see? Maybe we should pray to it. I've heard if you meet a 'God' and sincerely pray, it'll spare us."
Charles stayed silent. He didn't know what that thing was, and he didn't want to know. All he wished was for whatever was outside to leave—now.
HUUUMMM... A deep, resonant vibration came from the dark sky above.
The sound sent a chill crawling down everyone's spine. Moments later, bizarre noises rose from the deck, growing in number.
"Dammit! Something's come aboard!"
Charles's heart seized up. He knew they couldn't just sit and wait to die. At this rate, everyone on the ship would be killed.
Steeling his nerves, he lunged toward the instrument panel and instantly switched on all the lights.
Through the glass, he saw crawling, writhing masses of red flesh—God knows from where—clinging to the deck and devouring the glowing yellow "snow."
"Chief Engineer! Overload the turbines! We're getting the hell out of this damned place at full speed!"
The slumbering Narwhal let out a low groan as its speed surged.
As the deformed monsters on deck dove into the sea en masse, Charles felt no joy. What hovered in the sky was the true threat. He dared not check if it was still there. A single eyeball could block out half the sky; he could hardly imagine how large its owner must be. All he could do now was run for his life.
Suddenly, the Narwhal shuddered violently. The bandaged first mate and Deep were slammed into the wall. A commotion of loud bangs and screams erupted from the turbine room's comm tube.
"Captain! Something broke into the turbine room! The Second Chief Engineer is dead!"
A shriek of scraping metal rang out. Outside the glass, several gigantic columns like monstrous fingers reached down from the sky, clutching the hull.
Immediately, Charles realized the ship had stopped moving and was slowly rising. Something had seized the Narwhal.
"Fuck! This is my ship home! You want to take it? You'll have to step over my dead body!" Enraged, Charles threw all caution to the wind. He jerked the searchlight upward and recklessly charged out onto the deck.
Storming onto the deck, Charles threw his head back and finally saw the thing in the sky for what it was: a butterfly monster easily ten times larger than the Narwhal.
The things gripping the Narwhal were its insectile legs. The "eye" from before was just a pattern on its wing. As the wings beat, points of glowing yellow scales drifted down from the heavens.
Despite the monster's suffocating presence, a smile spread across Charles's face. That's no damn God in the sky. I was almost fooled. It's a monster, and no matter how huge it is, it's still just an animal.
A low-frequency resonance pulsed again. The giant moth's other auxiliary legs stabbed toward the searchlight; it clearly hated the bright light.
Charles dashed to the deck gun. "Lily, load the shells!"
By the time the shells were loaded, the Narwhal was already hovering seven or eight meters above the sea.
Can't let it keep holding the ship! Charles swung the cannon's muzzle toward the giant leg impaled in the ship's side.
"Hang on tight!" After a thunderous boom, the black, chitinous leg exploded, spraying red and green insect gore everywhere.
The airborne Narwhal crashed back down onto the water's surface, kicking up massive waves. If it had been a wooden ship, it would have shattered on the spot.
Ignoring his bleeding chin where he'd smashed it, Charles yelled excitedly toward the cockpit, "Get the ship moving! Move it!"
"Captain! Look behind you!" Inside the cockpit, Deep stood at the glass, flailing his arms in panic.
Charles spun around to see the giant butterfly, now missing a leg, looming directly in front of the bow. Its two antennae twitched, and its low droning grew louder and louder, as if it had been enraged.
"You want more, do you? Fine! I'll play along to the bitter end!" A hint of madness in his voice, Charles aimed the cannon at the giant butterfly's hideous insectoid head.
Just as the tension reached its breaking point, the sea between them suddenly swelled, forming a pillar of water three times larger than the butterfly itself.
The water exploded, and a translucent, mountainously huge hand covered in wicked patterns rose from the surface.
The instant he saw that hand, Charles heard a deafening whisper in his ear. Everything before him began to twist, and his own consciousness started to rapidly dissolve.
With a great gust of wind, the sky-blotting hand swatted toward the giant butterfly. As the colossal palm struck the water, it raised immense waves that formed a towering tsunami, which came crashing down on the Narwhal.
In a daze, Charles saw a Giant striding between heaven and earth. Its body was green, its soft head was covered in countless tentacles, its forelimbs resembled limp, sagging claws, and a grotesque, mucus-lined maw gaped open from its chin all the way down to its belly.
BOOM! The mountainous wave crashed onto the deck, sweeping the stunned Charles into the sea. Deep, watching from the cockpit, saw this and immediately dove in after him.
"Captain! Wake up! Captain!"
Charles slowly opened his eyes, finding that he had somehow returned to the Captain's Room.
"Phew..." Seeing Charles open his eyes, the crew members present all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Lily was so overcome with emotion she broke into tears.
Ignoring the stabbing pain in his head, Charles turned to the Second Officer beside him and asked, "Are we safe now? Where are we?"
The red-haired young man gave a wry smile. "We're safe, for now… but as for where we are, I have no idea."