Chapter 38: Shadows of the Past

The longship broke through the waves, parting the tide.
The hard ram at its bow aimed straight for the Broodmother.

“Brace for impact!”

BOOM—

The moment the two behemoths collided, the sound was deafening.
Nadiesse and the entire crew stumbled, but quickly regained their footing with their excellent coordination.

Nadiesse looked up.
The ship’s ram had plunged deep into the Broodmother’s body like a sharp sword.
The monster was now extremely weak.
It was the perfect time to press the advantage.

And Nadiesse knew it.

“Fire all the powder kegs on the ship! Aim the cannons! Blast the hell out of it!”

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—

All eight cannons on the deck fired in unison.
The burly bearkin picked up a powder keg, swung his arm, and threw it in an astonishing arc.
It smashed into the Broodmother’s body and exploded.

The withered limbs danced in a futile struggle.
Under the stormy bombardment, the monster’s last bit of life was being stripped away, bit by bit.

At the bow, Nadiesse looked towards the beach, searching for the two figures, one black and one white.
Soon, she saw the black-haired girl lying on the ground, on the verge of death.

“Someone, get the medical staff and come down with me to save her.”
As her words fell, without waiting for the crew to follow, Nadiesse single-handedly jumped over the ship’s railing, landed on the beach, and ran towards the black-haired girl.

But the closer she got, the heavier Nadiesse’s heart became.
She saw the dense, web-like wounds on the black-haired girl’s body, and the blood flowing from her five senses on her pale face.

Such heavy injuries? …Where’s Verona?

Her heart was filled with doubt and shock, but her actions were not sluggish.
A moment later, Nadiesse arrived beside the black-haired girl and squatted down.
She asked with a slight panic.

“Miss Elvira, can you hear me?”
The black-haired girl didn’t respond.
Seeing this, Nadiesse directly bent down and listened with her ear to her chest.
“Thank goodness… there’s still a heartbeat.”

“Please hold on a little longer. Our medical staff will be here soon.
Let me help you up first…”

Elvira, lying on the beach, shook her head almost imperceptibly.
She barely had the strength to lift an eyelid, yet she still raised a trembling finger and pointed forward, her voice as ethereal as a thin thread.

“Ver… ona… is inside.”

“What?!” Nadiesse heard the black-haired girl’s words clearly.

Verona is inside that monster…
It can’t be…

In this situation, anyone could only think of one thing—Verona was dead.
And the fact that there was no trace of her around also proved this point.

But even though Nadiesse understood, she wouldn’t let herself think it.

“You can explain the situation later, Miss Elvira. Let me help you up first.”

Suddenly, a shadow loomed over the two of them.
Nadiesse quickly looked up and saw a giant hand slamming down.
In less than half a second, it was only a hair’s breadth away from them.

With Nadiesse’s speed, she could naturally dodge it, but Elvira, whom she was supporting, was now on her last breath.
Gritting her teeth, Nadiesse dragged Elvira’s body.
She was already at her limit, but it seemed she was still a little short of escaping the monster’s attack range.

At this critical moment.

The giant hand’s descent came to an abrupt halt.
The hand froze in mid-air, and then, on the massive, rotten-flesh-like body…

A flower bloomed.

Death is an eternal fear for any intelligent life.
It is unreasonable, it is inescapable.
One day, the grace of death will befall everyone, perhaps a relative or friend, perhaps a complete stranger, or perhaps oneself.

It is absurd, like brutally tearing a stage actor from the set and making him dance on the street.

Hehe…

To live like a summer flower, to die like an autumn leaf?

It sounds nice, but when death barges into life unreasonably, no one can get away unscathed.

That’s why I feel that life is meaningless.
Sometimes, the courage to live is more precious than death.

But at least this time, I saved one person before I died.

I hope you can live well, Elvira.

Speaking of which, being bitten really hurts.
It feels like being torn to pieces.
When those barbs pierced my body, I was in so much pain I couldn’t even scream.

…How can I still be thinking?
And the noise outside is so loud.
I’m already dead, can’t you just let me have some peace?
I can’t be reincarnated again, can I?
Or go back to a certain moment before death?

Is this ever going to end…

And why does this sound seem to be getting noisier…

After a certain moment, all sounds suddenly disappeared.
The environment became extremely quiet.
I could only hear… the sound of a stream? Or the sea?

Listen carefully…

What? Who’s talking?

Listen carefully… you can also hear the sound of water.

A hoarse, old voice, much like the harsh friction of a rusty axle turning.

Have you not heard the strange churning of the sea… like a storm… yet also like falling rain… incredibly gentle, like a drop of water.

It roars within my heart.

It has appeared! Bursting forth from my heart! Incredibly gentle, like a drop of water.

Pain, nausea, dizziness—these words made me feel very bad.
And I don’t know how these feelings are affecting me.
My body is already destroyed.
I shouldn’t have any feelings.

At this moment, a word suddenly came to my mind—soul.
And then, a sentence.

When the body becomes a cage, the soul breaks free from its bonds.
A shattered vessel does not signify the end of consciousness.

It seems someone has said this to me before… but I can’t remember… what on earth…

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Eerie green flames ignited, converged, and an eyeball instantly formed, floating in mid-air.

“The Ancient Gaze”?
Why is it here?

The green eye looked at me calmly, its gaze placid.
It made no other movements, just stared at me.

‘What do you want to do?’

I asked, but the voice did not come from my mouth, but more like a transmission of thought.

But the eye still stared at me without blinking.

…I’m not dead. You know that, right?

At first, when you went after that monster, you were deliberately leading us there, weren’t you?

No matter what I asked, the eyeball made no movement, as if it were frozen, with no reaction at all.

Just as my patience was about to run out.

“The Ancient Gaze” suddenly looked up, and a beam of light shot out from its pupil, hitting a corner of the space.
With that, the entire space began to have color and shape, gradually becoming three-dimensional like a layered graphic.

My body is back! My hands, feet, and head are all back, intact.

A black and red dress was on my body, exactly the same as the one I was wearing when I first came to this world.

I touched my cheek and pinched my arm.
The touch and the pain were incredibly real…
Why? I’m very sure that I was swallowed by the monster and chewed into pieces by those sharp teeth.

What on earth is going on now?

There are too many questions, and my mind is in a mess.
I want to think, but I don’t know where to start.

So, I decided to observe my surroundings first…

The surrounding scene unfolded, familiar yet strange.
Behind me were regularly distributed houses.
Fishing nets and smoked fish were drying in front of them.
Bundles of garlic and gooseberries hung outside every door.
White smoke rose from the village and drifted into the distance.

Isn’t this the fishing village Elvira and I saw before?
But… this bustling, lively look, could this be the fishing village in the past!

Then this beach I’m on…

My gaze returned, looking towards the coast.

A ray of dawn rose from the distant sea horizon, paving a golden-red long staircase on the sea surface that extended to the beach where I was.
At this time, both sides of the beach were very clean, without any piled-up ship wreckage.
The sunlight shone on it, sparkling and very beautiful.

And right in front of me, at the border of the sea and the land, there was an old man.

His figure was hunched, and he was leaning on a cane.
In his other hand, he held a baby.
He stood alone in the morning light, facing the rising sun.

The next moment, he threw away his cane and knelt down deeply, holding the baby high, in a prayer gesture.

“God… curse… God… curse.”

The old man’s voice was old and weak.
From a distance, I couldn’t hear him clearly.
It was not until the old man shouted that I was able to hear his words.

“Oh God! I curse you!!!”