CHAPTER 986: CHAPTER 179: THEIR BLOODLINE

The Deep Divers emerged from the rolling waves, stepping onto the square or remaining in the water, echoing with the distant Devil’s Reef, seemingly endless.

The crouching townspeople crawled up, welcoming the ugly, blasphemous Deep Divers and their kin, their ancestors.

A few obviously strong Deep Divers carried away the offerings bound to the stone pillars—many years ago, the women who became offerings were undoubtedly miserable and desperate. But now, they were fortunate to have the opportunity to become offerings.

No one noticed the absence of a strange townsman, nor did they notice a sticky, winding stream flowing from the upstream fish processing factory.

At the edge of the square, a Deep Diver lowered its head, bulbous eyes staring at the fins smeared with sticky grease.

Whoosh—

A cluster of flames ignited in the gloom, quickly spreading towards the harbor.

The rising flames burned on the square, causing the townspeople to exclaim and run around in panic.

But here was the seaside, and the Deep Divers were also present.

The townspeople and Deep Divers stained with burning fish oil retreated into the water, and after an obscure murmur, rain fell over the harbor.

However, the flames still achieved their original purpose, drawing no attention as a townsman suddenly tackled a Deep Diver.

As he knocked over the Deep Diver, Lu Li tore off the Doomsday Apocalypse and Bee Sting. Yet, the Deep Diver cared more about them than expected, clutching half of the Doomsday Apocalypse in a struggle.

Lu Li didn’t gain the amplification of the Doomsday Apocalypse, the webs on his hands and feet making it harder for him to exert strength. Worse, the longer it dragged on, the more likely it was that the surrounding Deep Divers and townspeople would notice.

Without further hesitation, Lu Li pulled out the Spirit-Calling Gun from its holster, pressing it against the gills on the side of the Deep Diver’s neck.

But before pulling the trigger, the peculiar murmur of the Deep Diver suppressing Lu Li was tinged with surprise.

"Lu Li?"

And Lu Li couldn’t hear anything.

...

Katerina slowly awakened in the silent darkness.

Katerina lay on a bed as magnificent as agate, in an expansive, phosphorescent palace with swirling air, disordered thoughts making it difficult for her to remember.

But she saw her own body. Fins that should never appear on a human and cold, wet scales on her moss-green skin.

Yet, Katerina felt not a hint of revulsion at the strange and terrifying changes, as if she had long grown accustomed to this ugly form.

The emerging power made her feel somewhat reassured despite the unfamiliar surroundings.

Before Katerina could observe more of the environment, a similarly hideous presence emerged outside the palace.

"Child, you are awake."

The silhouette and racket, like a barking noise, felt familiar to Katerina. Because usually, upon seeing a creature, she would either get away or take action.

"Katerina, I am your mother."

It whispered surprising words to Katerina: "Think of all that you saw in your sleep..."

The memories flooded her mind amidst the pain.

It began with the fainting near Himfast.

Her consciousness plunged into the terrifying Abyssal Depths, glimpsing a vast underwater city, with blasphemous figures resembling fish and frogs swimming inside.

As the fainting continued, she began to become a part of those blasphemous figures, wandering with them, worshiping Daqi and Mother Hydra, and the Great Being.

She nearly merged into it, but it was Lu Li’s Doomsday Apocalypse that called her back from the abyssal slumber.

But the nightmare extended into reality, as the Deep Divers from the underwater city came for her. They called themselves kin, inviting Katerina to return to her ancestors, Father God and Mother God, and into the embrace of the Great Being.

Katerina left with them, arriving in such an underwater city as in her dreams, and fell into unconsciousness.

"Mother... didn’t you die in the town’s corruption?" Katerina understood the reason for her calmness in facing them.

"Child, our family always had the bloodline of the Deep Divers. But when your grandfather left the Barren Lands and died in a disaster, we forgot this. That disaster awakened my bloodline, and I could no longer come for you..."

"So you abandoned me?"

"I’m very sorry, child." The Deep Diver’s racket seemed to have a gentle undertone. "Deep Divers possess eternal life, and we have plenty of time together..."

"Where am I?"

Katerina sat up on the agate bed, still clutching the Doomsday Apocalypse tightly.

"Iha Enslay, one of the ancient cities of the Deep Diver race."

The term was quite unfamiliar to Katerina: "I still don’t know... Am I still on the Main Affinity Continent?"

"Humans call this Ailen Peninsula."

"Ailen Peninsula..."

Katerina looked out into the darkness beyond the palace. "Eternal night?"

"No, child, Iha Enslay is located at the bottom of the Devil’s Reef." Her mother embraced Katerina, with a scent that should have been fishy yet was not, but was gently pushed away when trying to nuzzle.

Katerina was still not accustomed to such closeness.

A Deep Diver floated into the palace. Though indistinct in appearance, Katerina could discern its features.

"This is your grandmother."

Her mother approached Katerina’s grandmother, embracing intimately, cheek to cheek as if lovers.

"She still longs for the surface," her mother said to the grandmother.

"Were you not the same back then?" the grandmother gently caressed her body, looking at Katerina. "Is it someone you like?"

Katerina wanted to nod, hesitated, and then gently shook her head.

The grandmother lifted her mother’s chin, adorned with dense scales, appreciating it while speaking in the racket voice Katerina was gradually becoming familiar with: "Carter, when I was young, I was also like you. Resisting this ugly appearance and terrifying abyss, refusing to leave everything outside. Family, lovers... there are many Deep Divers here who are the same, even the son of Orion from the Marsh Family rejected everything in this realm with a gun. In our eternal life, twenty years of human existence is just an insignificant period. You will understand everything."

"Think it over, your mother and I will be waiting for you in the garden."

"I want to go back to the surface!"

Katerina suddenly shouted at their retreating figures.

The grandmother did not persuade further, embracing her mother as they left the palace and headed towards the garden filled with strange scaly coral and bizarrely branching crystal frost.

"The revival day ritual will take place in Insmouth Town tomorrow night, you can return to the surface then."

...

A webbed claw reached into the trigger guard, preventing Lu Li from pulling down.

Unable to pull the trigger and having not regained the Doomsday Apocalypse, Lu Li seemed to be at a dead end. But his fingers slowly relaxed, recalling something else, something that had happened not long ago.

"If being pointed at by a gun seems to leave only a dead-end?" Katerina asked, wiping the Spirit-Calling Gun from Lu Li. "Lu Li placed his finger behind the trigger, demonstrating to Katerina and the observing Puxiu: "If you’re close, you can try to dodge the muzzle or jam the trigger."

The whisper of the Daqi Esotericism priest also echoed in his ear.

"Don’t rush, child, you will see her, tonight... I swear to Daqi."