Shrouded Seascape

Just as Charles continued to stab at the gasbags, deflating them, a hand shot out from within its crumpled folds and aimed straight for Charles' chest.

Charles raised his chainsaw and slashed at the hand, but the hand passed through directly as if it were a phantom. It was Linda's hand. She made use of her unique ability to easily bypass Charles' defenses and directly grab his heart.

Having someone clutching his heart was a peculiar sensation; Charles could feel that Linda was trying to yank his heart out.

No matter how hard she tugged, however, Charles felt no pain. His heart had crystallized, and its hardness rivaled that of stone. It seemed like a simple tug wouldn't be enough to harm him.

Just then, Charles watched as Linda phased through the deflated gasbag. With a quick thought, he blinked away to the darkness beside, away from Linda's reach.

Bang! Bang!

Two muffled gunshots rang out. As Charles plummeted, his left arm joint started withering like a dying flower.

"What the hell?!" Charles swiftly transformed into a bat and stabilized himself in the air as he searched for his attacker.

It took him just a fraction of a second to spot Nico on the deck below. He was stuffing small fleshy balls into his gun. Clearly, Nico was using highly corrosive bullets.

The massive searchlights and deck cannons swiveled to try to track Charles, but they failed to pinpoint his location.

Boom!

A violent tremor shook the Narwhale, causing everyone on deck to stagger.

Lily raised a tiny paw and pointed at the overhead gasbags. She warned in a loud squeaky voice, "Mr. Charles is up there! He went up again; he's trying to deflate the balloon!"

At her high-pitched squeaks, a mischief of mice scurried up the ropes toward the gasbag.

As the gasbags were punctured, the Narwhale lost more and more altitude.

Charles parted his monstrous maws and was about to sink his sharp fangs into the gasbag, but the other crew members had already arrived at the top, interrupting him.

As usual, Dipp was at the forefront. He transformed into a swirling blue mist, lunging at Charles.

Just as the blue mist wrapped around Charles, a small portion of it solidified into an arm and reached for Charles' waist.

Dipp was now clad in the deep red leatherhide relic. If he managed to touch Charles, Charles' soul would be ripped right out.

Dipp was just mere inches from making contact when Charles flapped his wings, creating a powerful gust that blew the misty form of Dipp apart.

In his vapor-like state, Dipp was not afraid of any physical attacks, but he was highly vulnerable to strong winds.

Evidently, they knew what Charles was capable of; yet, in the same way, Charles was equally aware of their weaknesses.

As soon as he was done dealing with Dipp, two bats charged at Charles, their sharp fangs aiming for his neck.

Charles instantly reverted back into his human form, and the two bats' attacks missed their mark as his figure shrank in the blink of an eye.

Charles looked up, his gaze scanning the two bats. With a flick of his hand, invisible tentacles coiled around them. White electric arcs danced along the tentacles, causing the bats to twitch from the shock and plummet downward.

At the same time, thorny vines crept up from beneath the gasbags and wrapped around Charles' legs.

The vines had come from Bandages' ability, and Charles realized just then that it was about time for him to retreat. If he were to prolong this battle, he'd eventually be overwhelmed by his own crew.

With a swing of his chainsaw, Charles severed the vines and leaped into the darkness. His physical form swiftly turned invisible, evading the approaching some of the sailors, who were still scaling the gasbag.

When Charles reappeared, he found himself high up in the pitch-black sky. He looked at the rapidly plummeting Narwhale, and a wave of relief washed over him.

"I don't have to do anything now. I just need to let the crew drift away from 005-3 until they are far from its influence.

"The main cause of this crisis is the brainwashed crew. The crisis is over once they are no longer brainwashed."

Meanwhile, the Narwhale was plunging at a speed of two meters per second, and Charles followed it closely from the shadows.

The strangely peaceful yet eerie scene lasted for about half an hour before something abruptly appeared in the darkness and broke the tranquility.

A dull thud echoed as Charles felt a hammer-like force slam into his lower back.

He heard a sharp, clear crack of cracking bones, and the sharp pain told him that one of his vertebrae was fractured.

Charles's figure vanished and reappeared thirty meters away. Parting his massive maw, he emitted a sonar pulse toward his previous position. However, he received no feedback. There was nothing there.

What? Impossible?! Was I hit by a monster with no physical form?

Charles himself wasn't sure of what creatures lay within the darkness around him. After all, humans knew all too little about the darkness.

Woooosh!

A strange sound suddenly filled Charles' ears. It sounded like the buzzing of insect wings.

Several invisible tentacles sprouted from his back and lashed out at the air behind him, but they hit nothing.

The entire situation felt like an eerie ghostly encounter. Charles looked around vigilantly, preparing himself for another sudden ambush.

However, nothing happened even after several seconds. It seemed like the mysterious entity had disappeared as abruptly as it had appeared.

Charles couldn't wait any further. He folded his wings in and began a rapid descent. He had to move as fast as possible. The bizarre and eerie encounter lasted less than ten seconds, but the Narwhale had already covered a vast distance as it plummeted to the ground.

Fortunately, Charles hadn't been stalled for too long, and he soon spotted the descending Narwhale. However, Charles was too far to see what exactly was going on in the Narwhale. He pondered for a moment before his physical form vanished into the air.

There was pandemonium on the deck of the Narwhale. Everyone was anxious.

"Chief Engineer! Fix the ship already! Can't you see we're still descending?" someone shouted.

Traces of annoyance crossed Audric's face, and he snapped back, "The gasbags are torn! How am I supposed to fix that? Also, I'm the Chief Engineer! I'm only responsible for the mechanical repairs in the engine room!"

"So what do we do now? Someone think of something! If we don't get back up, we won't be able to proceed with the ritual!" Grace stomped her foot in frustration as tears pooled in her eyes.

"Throw… stuff… overboard…" Bandages gave a succinct suggestion, spurring everyone into immediate action. They rushed into the cabins, hauled out anything they could find, and tossed it over the ship's side.