Free Web NovelChapter 42: Chapter 42: Metal Storm
Leo dropped his center of gravity and pushed off with both legs, springing into the air like a coiled trampoline. His body continued to rapidly swell, consumed by festering tumors and clotted pus, each passing second making him look more like a grotesque toad.
"Kevin... I’m going to... drag you... down to hell with me," Leo’s voice fractured, layered with unnatural harmonics.
His face distended and hardened, finally completing his metamorphosis into an Eldritch Frog Monster.
Ribbit... Ribbit...
A wave of grotesque, chaotic, and deeply unsettling dread washed over the deck. The moment Luna, Stephanie, and the others reached the helm, a cascade of system warnings echoed in their minds.
[Sanity -3]
[Sanity -4]
[Sanity -5]
Panicked heartbeats and sudden dizziness hit Celula first. She clutched her chest, gasping for air as she trembled, "What... what is that thing?"
Luna and Amelia, the twins with extensive combat experience, recognized the threat instantly. They knew the Frog Monster hovering above was likely far more dangerous than the elite Fish Fiend they’d faced the previous night. freeweɓnovel.cøm
Without hesitation, both twins pulled out vials of Holy Spring and handed them to Celula and Monchhichi. "Drink. Quickly. It’ll neutralize the Whispering Curse and mental damage."
Celula and Monchhichi took the vials, taking careful sips. A cool, soothing wave rushed down their throats. Warm, sacred light pushed back the creeping fear in their minds. Their plummeting Sanity stats immediately stabilized.
"Your crew’s perks are insane," Celula marveled, watching the Holy Spring get treated like tap water. She turned her head toward the corner, where Nova had been locked away per Kevin’s orders. Both of them looked over in concern, expecting a breakdown.
But the scene they saw was completely different. Nova wasn’t trembling or screaming. Instead, she was watching Kevin on the deck with keen interest, a faint, mysterious smile playing on her lips. The Whispering Curse and primal terror radiating from Leo’s transformation hadn’t affected her in the slightest.
Monchhichi murmured, "Looks like she doesn’t need the Holy Spring. Or our help."
Amelia nodded in agreement. "Out here on this sea, never underestimate anyone. Miss Nova might have a Talent we can’t even comprehend."
Their words were cut short by a shrill, piercing shriek right beside them. Only then did Luna and Amelia realize the third captive-Stephanie-was still tied up.
Her hair was matted, her eyes bloodshot, and her mouth stretched into a grotesque grin as her teeth sharpened into jagged points. "Hahaha! Die! You all have to die! The show is starting! Prepare to become my food!"
Amelia didn’t hesitate. She stepped forward and upended a vial of Holy Spring directly onto Stephanie’s head. Thick, acrid smoke hissed into the air as the holy water burned the corrupted flesh.
Stephanie writhed in agony, roaring, "It’s useless! Even if you expel me, other wandering souls will take my place! You’ll all drown in this sea!"
With a final, desperate scream, she convulsed once and collapsed, unconscious.
Seeing Stephanie in that state, the girls assumed she’d completely lost her mind, their expressions shifting to quiet concern.
Nova then pulled her attention back from the window, murmuring, "Can Kevin really handle this fight on his own?"
Luna and Amelia moved to the window at the same time. Left hand gripping a vial of Holy Spring infused with Eldritch Eyes, right hand resting on her firearm, they stood ready to provide covering fire at a moment’s notice.
Amelia explained softly, "Nova, the most important rule on this ship is absolute trust and obedience to the captain’s orders. He’s not reckless or impulsive. We just need to trust and support him."
At her words, Nova turned to look out the window alongside them, her expression cool. "What an interesting man. He’s actually tamed a whole ship full of beautiful women."
At that moment, the Eldritch Frog Monster dropped back onto the deck.
During its mid-air transformation, it had shed layer after layer of molting flesh. Those discarded husks fell like heavy snow as his limbs stretched and expanded. Almost instantly, the sea surface below began to churn and boil.
Kevin stared at the creature before him, his brow deeply furrowed. He finally understood: Leo’s decision to leap into the sky right before fully losing consciousness and completing his mutation was no accident. He’d done it deliberately.
Just as Kevin had used Leo as bait days ago to lure the Eldritch Entities, Leo was now sacrificing his own shed flesh to summon the deadliest horrors this sea had to offer.
Realizing this, Kevin let out a cold snort.
He raised his hand and activated his 「Mechanical Sovereign」 Talent once more.
Instantly, the helicopter circling overhead banked sharply, and the armored car at the stern of the neighboring ship rolled directly to Kevin’s side.
Seeing the mechanical support lock into position, the Eldritch Frog Monster let out a feral roar and launched itself into another aerial leap, hurtling toward Kevin like a living missile.
At the last possible second, Kevin’s remaining Wraith summon-a five-meter-tall elite Fish Fiend-slammed into the path like a bastion of iron, intercepting the charge.
However, the power gap between the elite Fish Fiend and the Frog Monster was simply too vast.
The two crashed together, rolling across the deck and tearing up massive sections of floorboards.
Seizing the opening, Kevin’s voice cut through the chaos: "Open fire!"
A hail of bullets rained down, accompanied by rocket volleys from the helicopter, all raking the entangled monsters.
Smoke and gunpowder filled the air. Blood and viscera sprayed everywhere, mixing with bright green slime and writhing, unrecognizable tissue.
The barrage continued for a full minute before ceasing. The barrels of both Vulcans and the light artillery hissed with white steam.
In the center of the killing zone, the two creatures were completely reduced to a slurry of flesh, utterly lifeless.
Kevin slowly walked forward, letting out a cold hum. "As expected. Mutated humans don’t leave behind any drops once they become Eldritch Entities."
With a shake of his head, Kevin kicked the scattered flesh and sinew across the deck into the sea.
The molting husks the Frog Monster had shed earlier had already begun churning the water into a thick, suffocating mist. Now, with fresh, blood-soaked tissue added, the sea surface erupted into a violent boil. With four ships clustered together, the fog quickly constricted visibility to just five meters.
Noticing the conditions, Kevin flipped the switches on the helicopter and armored car’s floodlights. Twin beams cut through the haze, illuminating the space between the schooner’s helm and the sloop’s deck-and revealing the silhouettes of monsters born from crimson vapor.
Faceless and textureless, they were nothing but shifting forms woven from thick fog. Humanoids, beasts, birds-all swirling on the water’s surface, drawn rapidly toward the light.
Kevin’s eyes narrowed. He grabbed the comms unit without hesitation. "Damn it, spiritual-type Eldritch! Mist Phantoms! They have no physical form. Load psionic ammo and hold the helm!"
The moment his voice faded, two canine-shaped Mist Phantoms materialized on the schooner’s deck. Towering at four or five meters tall, they moved with eerie lightness. Their bodies of crimson vapor carried zero mass, leaving not even a single footprint on the wood.
They lowered their heads, sniffing the air like tracking hounds. Seconds later, they snapped their heads up. A spiritual resonance-cold and precise-locked onto the souls of the women on the helm.
A guttural howl tore through the fog. The two creatures bolted, sprinting straight for the upper deck.
Celula and Monchhichi reacted instantly, raising their weapons. Two Fireball rounds pierced through the phantoms’ forms, striking the deck and detonating in showers of flame.
Yet the phantoms didn’t even flinch. Neither kinetic impact nor thermal damage registered against them.
Celula’s eyes widened in shock. "What the hell is this thing? Our weapons are useless!"
Amelia was already moving. She drew a Psionic Magazine, slid it into her rifle’s well with practiced calm, and raised the barrel.
Enraged by the gunfire, the two phantoms roared and lunged forward like lightning.
Bang! Bang!
Two sharp cracks echoed through the mist. The psionic rounds struck with the force of iron hammers, carrying a crushing mental pressure. Psionic ammunition didn’t rely on physical penetration. Instead, its kinetic energy was entirely converted into psychic shockwaves.
The moment the projectiles touched the foreheads of the canine phantoms, visible ripples of spiritual energy washed over them. Like hammers striking glass, the creatures whined and collapsed onto the deck. Their towering frames rapidly shrank, venting thick crimson vapor as if a deflated balloon.
Seeing them fall, Amelia finally exhaled, lowering her rifle. But the instant her arm dipped, both phantoms jerked their heads up and let out a feral shriek. Before she could react, they surged toward the helm again.
"Damn it!"
"No!"
"Look out!"
The other girls screamed warnings. But Amelia couldn’t raise her rifle in time.
Just as the creatures were about to breach the helm and tackle her, a streak of lightning split the air like a thunderclap.
The tip of the Lance of Longinus suddenly pierced straight through both of them. The phantoms, mid-leap, were skewered like meat on a spit, hanging grotesquely from the blade.
