Ashes Of Deep Sea Chapter 481

Chapter 481: Chapter 482 Room Chapter 481: Chapter 482 Room In the deep, dark sea, a pale green flame dashed like a shooting star, seemingly unaffected by the billion-ton pressure of the water and showing no signs of delay.

Ai Yi zipped across the deep-sea island, clad in black, and finally came to a stop in the central region of the island, reshaping her form from the flames.

Duncan stepped out of the flames, floating in the seawater, and turned his head to look at the dove spirit darting around beside him.

Ai Yi flew over and perched on her master's shoulder, tilting her head curiously, “What are you looking at?”

Duncan didn't answer, just reached out his arm and gently stroked the dove's head, then turned around to gaze at the massive “pillar” at the heart of the island.

Now, he was in front of it–the awe-inspiring column stood before him, rising from the summit of the floating island in the deep sea, pointing almost straight up into the sky as if piercing not only through the island but through the boundless dark sea itself, extending toward “Frost” above and into the sun-bathed world beyond the surface of the sea.

Yet it did not truly extend infinitely–upon closer approach, Duncan finally discerned more details and noticed that the upper half of the “pillar” halted abruptly in the seawater.

It ceased at a great height, where there seemed to be a sudden break.

However, before examining that break, Duncan cautiously approached the middle of the pillar, observing its “outer” form.

Symmetrical, compact, with intricately organized patterns barely visible, and regularly spaced protruding structures, the pillar, resembling a massive tentacle, exhibited a sense of “neatness” that suggested an orderliness as if it were some industrial product.

Duncan hesitated for a moment before cautiously reaching out toward the pillar–his formless arm began to swell and move, quickly morphing into the structure of a hand as his arm extended to touch the “pillar.”

Was this the spontaneous Transformation based on the “original template” under specific stimuli?

Duncan recalled the sensation of forming an eye structure from his own face and speculated subconsciously, while at the same time, he felt his newly formed fingers touching the obsidian-like surface of the pillar.

A rough, cold sensation reached his fingertips as if he were touching coarse cast iron, yet…it seemed to have a certain flexibility.

Duncan leaned in closer for a more detailed examination of the pillar's surface.

Deep within the dark gray facade, he could faintly make out some pale blue patterns, resembling veins buried under the skin.

A thought struck Duncan, instantly connecting it with the sample of “flesh” he had obtained from Captain Cristo Babeli's mouth aboard the Obsidian.

Both appeared very similar in texture–was this pillar in the deep sea a manifestation of The Saint extending into the real world?

With a strange stirring in his heart, Duncan backed away slightly, his eyes slowly scanning over the vast pillar.

Finding the wound left by Captain Cristo on such a massive structure seemed unrealistic, yet Duncan couldn't help but feel a renewed respect for Captain Cristo.

Minutes later, Duncan began swimming upward toward the “break.”

After a long time, he finally reached the location of the break, and it was much as he had envisioned.

The pillar indeed ceased abruptly here, as if cut off by uneven, jagged teeth, with the edges of the break undulating unevenly.

And within the break, the dark gray inner walls showed a continuous concave state, resembling a bizarre crater.

Floating near this “break,” Duncan roughly estimated the scale of the pillar and soon confirmed something–
If the giant cavity in the Subspace gold mines was indeed carved out by a similar “pillar” or “tentacle,” then the tentacle that penetrated the City-State was much smaller than the pillar before him, perhaps only a fifth of its size, or even less.

Was it because the tentacle that penetrated the City-State was just a “power projection” of this entity in the deep sea, or was the tentacle in the mine still in its early stages of growth and could have continued growing?

If Frost's defense had failed, if he ultimately couldn't annihilate Frost's reflection, if the pillar in the depths of the Subspace gold mines continued growing uncontrollably…would it ultimately grow to break through the mine, or even burst through the mountains above, becoming like the colossal pillar before him, as if piercing through the entire floating island?

Was this what those crazed doomsday cultists proclaimed and sought–“recreating the grand blueprint of The Saint's Creation in the real world”?

These somewhat terrifying speculations flashed through Duncan's mind, but immediately after, a flicker of light from the edge of his vision interrupted his thoughts.

He sharply turned toward the direction where the light had appeared.

It was at the center of the “break,” in the deepest part of the crater-like “volcano.”

Without any hesitation, he immediately swam toward that direction.

“`
Crossing the unevenly broken “cliffs” at the edge of the pillar, and over the dark matter that gradually sank toward the center, in the silent deep sea far from the civilized world, a sudden flash of light became Duncan's sole target. He swam swiftly over this distance, arriving near the center of the pillar's break.

However, when he arrived, the flash of light had already disappeared.

All that was left was a hollow darkness, and the “ground” inside the pillar's break was as cold and silent as rock.

Duncan floated in the seawater, frowning as he scanned the darkness. The emptiness of this place was like a gathered ellipsis full of regret, hiding its secrets once again deep behind the curtain.

Yet soon, he noticed something amiss in his field of vision.

Beneath him, in the central area of the pillar's “break,” the texture of the “ground” subtly revealed something strange–it felt somewhat… “blurry.”

Yes, blurry, as if it wasn't a physical substance, but rather a veil sitting somewhere between reality and illusion.

Duncan hesitated for a few seconds and finally cautiously moved toward the strangely textured “ground.” But before touching the material, he first congealed a small flame at his fingertips and cast it into the blurry “veil.”

When in doubt, Spiritual Fire leads the way–extra caution never hurts.

The greenish Spiritual Fire almost instantly fell into the pitch-black “ground,” first disappearing as water into sand, and then slim threads of ghostly green flames began appearing in the darkness, and in the blink of an eye, the entire “ground” was ablaze!

With the flames burning, Duncan suddenly felt… a subtle “connection” was being formed.

However, this connection was not directed toward the “huge pillar” beneath his feet, suspected to be an ancient god's tentacle, but toward something… vaguely familiar.

The next second, he saw the ground below change rapidly under the spread of the flames and gradually transform into a surface with a mirror-like texture. The mirror-like surface then undulated slightly in the firelight, resembling a viscous and smooth liquid!

Duncan's mind stirred, and he moved closer to the undulating “liquid surface,” like a mirror, extending his finger to touch its surface.

Boom!

In an illusion, it was as if a loud explosion blasted in his mind, like time that had ground to a halt suddenly started moving, like a heavy curtain was abruptly torn apart, like a barrier at reality's boundary crashed down. Duncan felt himself crossing some boundary instantly, and then the “world” before him began to be filled with warm light.

The sensation of being enveloped by cold, heavy seawater suddenly vanished, replaced by the feeling of solid ground underfoot in lieu of the previous second's vast emptiness. The warm light before his eyes gradually softened, and as his vision adapted, Duncan finally saw his surroundings clearly, and stood dumbfounded in astonishment.

He was in a luxurious and brightly lit room.

Light poured down from a chandelier on the ceiling, illuminating the room's many exquisite and refined furnishings. Court-style racks and metal sculptures shone with a soft light, and there was a lavish large bed at the center of the room surrounded by semi-transparent drapes. Deeper within, someone seemed to be sleeping.

Duncan stared in surprise at the scene before him, then suddenly turned his head to look behind himself.

That seemed to be the direction from which he “came.”

He saw a twisted, chaotic darkness.

The room seemed to vanish into thin air before the boundary, beyond the broken walls and floor was a void-like chaotic realm, with disorderly shadows and dim light flows undulating and moving, as if they were filled with truths and secrets enough to drive mortals mad, yet seeming merely an empty void.

A word suddenly flowed into his mind–
Subspace.

Duncan felt his heart (if his body had one) suddenly skip a beat. He had never imagined such a sight–standing in a fragmented room, one step away from the chaotic lights and shadows of the Subspace, and those foggy chaotic lights and shadows seemed to be emitting a silent roar, conveying incomprehensible… knowledge and “truth” to him in various manic languages.

Duncan raised his hand, carefully reaching toward the darkness beyond the room's boundary.

He touched a layer of hard, cold surface.

An invisible barrier, standing between him and the Subspace.

“You can't go through,” a voice suddenly came from behind him. “You haven't truly opened that door yet.”

Duncan startled and abruptly turned around.

The drapes around the grand bed had opened. The person who had been sleeping on the bed had woken up at some unknown time and was now quietly watching him.

Silver-white hair spilled from the shoulders, and purple eyes sparkled like gems.

“Alice?”

Chapter end

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