Free Web NovelChapter 13: Chapter 13: The Fixing Gaze
Kevin looked up and laughed. "Aren’t you doing great? Keep shooting."
Amelia rolled her eyes. "Can’t you see how strong its regeneration is? My bullets won’t kill it, no matter how many I fire."
Kevin spread his hands. "What’s that got to do with me?" fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
"You!" Amelia snapped, furious. "Just tell me, what do I have to do to get you to step in?"
Kevin stuck his hand out the window, plucked an Ocular Barnacle off the wall, and tossed it to Amelia.
"Like I said, I’m not getting involved. Live or die, that’s up to you."
A cold, slimy, disgusting lump of meat landed in her arms.
She instinctively wanted to toss it away, but Kevin’s earlier warning suddenly echoed in her ears.
Did she really have to eat this thing to survive?
At that thought, Amelia instinctively looked down.
The Ocular Barnacle’s eyes were staring straight at her, sending a jolt of fear through her.
[Sanity -1]
[Sanity -2]
[Sanity -3]
Then came another violent shake, followed by the sharp sound of the mast cracking.
Amelia felt her center of gravity shift. The whole platform tilted.
The mast had snapped.
At the last second, Amelia gritted her teeth, grabbed the Ocular Barnacle, and shoved it straight into her mouth.
[Sanity -50]
[Warning: You have fallen into madness. Your body is entering a semi-mutated state. Restore your sanity quickly, or your mutation will become irreversible.]
A string of system prompts rang in her ears.
Before she could even process what the warning really meant, the mast crashed onto the deck.
With a deafening crash, dust and wood chips flew everywhere, scattering the blood fog across the deck.
The Grotesque sensed Amelia’s presence. A look of madness and excitement crossed its face. It bared its teeth, planted its feet, and charged straight at her.
Just as that fanged maw was about to tear Amelia apart, a flash of madness ignited in her eyes.
Dense blood vessels spread across her pupils. Next, an Eldritch red light blasted onto the Grotesque.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze.
The Grotesque hung suspended in midair, defying all laws of physics.
Seizing the opportunity, Amelia raised her pistol and pulled the trigger frantically, aiming straight for its throat.
A rapid fire of gunshots erupted, each shot accompanied by a burst of muzzle flash.
Amelia emptied her entire magazine.
At the same time, the hovering Grotesque dropped to the deck, completely motionless.
Only after the muzzle flash faded could Kevin and Luna see clearly. The Grotesque lying on the deck had been blown to pieces. Its head, arms, and torso were all torn apart and charred into blackened chunks by the bullets from the Enchanted Fireball.
[Sanity -20]
Amelia stared at her handiwork, her eyes trembling violently.
Suddenly, she let out a wild, manic laugh. Her laughter was thick with madness, slaughter, and an Eldritch thrill.
[Warning: Your sanity has plummeted into the danger zone. Your body is on the verge of irreversible mutation. The whispers of the Evil God are pulling you into the abyss. Emergency request for help! Emergency request for help!]
From the wheelhouse deck, seeing Amelia’s bizarre transformation, Luna shrank back in fear and ducked behind Kevin. "What happened to her?"
Kevin smiled and warned, "You shouldn’t just eat those Barnacles’ eyes."
With that, Kevin pushed off with his hands, leapt down, and landed squarely behind Amelia.
Next came a crack... Smash!
The sharp sound of shattering glass echoed. A bottle of Holy Spring smashed directly onto Amelia. Milky-white liquid poured down her hair and face, carrying a cloying sweetness mixed with a foul, fishy stench.
Quickly, the Holy Spring’s curse-cleansing effect took hold. Amelia’s blood-red pupils gradually returned to normal, and the blood vessels creeping from her irises quickly receded.
Thud!
Amelia collapsed onto the deck. Sanity slowly returned to her expression, though her eyes were hollow with exhaustion. "What was that? What was that power just now?"
Kevin pulled out another bottle of Holy Spring and handed it to her. "Those are Eldritch Eyes—specifically, the Eldritch Core found inside an Ocular Barnacle. Once you ate it, your sanity dropped to the critical threshold, and your body fell under the Barnacle’s The Taint."
"Those with weak willpower will completely transform into Eldritch Entities, just like that monster that was neither human nor mermaid. But those with strong will have a chance to harness a portion of the cursed abilities from the Eldritch Entities."
"Since your mutation centered on your eyes, it means you’ve managed to grasp and wield a fraction of the Ocular Barnacle’s power."
Hearing Kevin’s explanation, Amelia silently downed the entire bottle of Holy Spring. freēwebnovel.com
She looked up, her gaze sharp, staring dead into Kevin’s eyes. "How do you know so much? What exactly is the rank of your Talent?"
Kevin shrugged. "Everyone has their trump cards. You just need to know that the intel I have is far more extensive than you can imagine."
[Favorability +30]
Hearing the prompt, Kevin glanced over Amelia’s head, saw her favorability finally return to zero, and nodded with quiet relief.
The biggest taboo when consuming raw Eldritch Entities flesh is accidentally eating one’s Eldritch Core.
In his past life, many Survivors didn’t know this intel. After accidentally swallowing an Eldritch Core, their sanity instantly hit zero. Stricken by The Taint, they’d mutate into lifeforms indistinguishable from the Eldritch Entities.
But as more Survivors started feeding on Eldritch Entities, they discovered that as long as they avoided the Eldritch Cores, their sanity wouldn’t plummet drastically.
So, within an acceptable range of sanity loss, countless Survivors began adopting a diet of raw Eldritch flesh. After all, on this terrifying ocean, getting a meal was a luxury in itself. Nobody cared about a few sanity points.
Of course, Survivors who failed to practice restraint still ultimately couldn’t escape a The Taint eruption, ending up transforming into Eldritch Entities themselves.
That’s why, starting from his past life, Survivors had been desperately researching how to restore sanity and suppress The Taint.
Finally, some Survivors with crafting and resource-production capabilities discovered that among their crafted supplies, there was a chance to produce items capable of neutralizing toxins, dispelling curses, and restoring sanity.
Through these items, Survivors began intentionally collecting the Eldritch Cores from Eldritch Entities.
Eating these cores at critical moments gave them a chance to master the abilities of Eldritch Entities.
Although these abilities couldn’t be retained long-term after curing The Taint and were essentially single-use, they still provided Survivors with a crucial lifeline for survival on this terrifying ocean.
Beyond innate Talents, battling with temporary abilities granted by Eldritch Cores had become the second pillar of survival in this world.
Luna’s crafted "Holy Spring" was exactly such an item, which is why Kevin dared to let Amelia ingest the Ocular Barnacle eyes.
With that in mind, Kevin gave Amelia’s shoulder a light pat. "Don’t forget, you still owe me ammunition."
With that, Kevin turned and walked off the deck without looking back.
Inside the cabin.
Kevin passed by the four-person quarters shared by Stephanie and Leo.
At that moment, both Stephanie and Leo wore expressions of sheer panic and madness. Clearly, the recent ordeal had taken a significant toll on their sanity.
Compared to Leo, Stephanie still clung to a shred of sanity. Seeing Kevin, she immediately asked in panic, "Kevin, what’s the situation outside? Did that monster follow us in?"
Looking at Stephanie’s terrified face, Kevin sneered, "Stop trying to be clever. Your stupidity will sink this entire ship."
With that, Kevin didn’t look back, stepped straight into the wheelhouse, and firmly locked the door, leaving the two behind.
The moment he stepped inside, a wave of fragrance hit him. Luna immediately buried herself in his arms, her body trembling.
Although she’d stayed in the wheelhouse the whole time, she had seen everything: Leo’s fight with the Eldritch Entities, and how Amelia couldn’t put down that terrifying Grotesque before consuming the Ocular Barnacle...
The more she thought about it, the more terrified she became. Luna whispered, "Kevin, would a survivor like me just be a burden to you?"
Kevin gently rubbed Luna’s hair and smiled. "Fool, don’t you realize that you’re the most valuable survivor on this ship?"
Taking in Kevin’s words, Luna said in disbelief, "How is that possible? I’m just a support specialist who crafts Holy Spring."
...
