Chapter 131: Journey to Antarctica (2)
Night had fallen over the waking world's ocean, its dark waves crashing against the mighty steel vessel as it carved its way toward Antarctica.
The legendary Nightwalkers of the House of Night were guarding the ship during this time, as it was when Nightmare Creatures were most active.
The rest of the Awakened, however, were resting within their tents and chambers, fast asleep.
Hugo himself had remained awake, staying in his private military cabin inside the vessel, meditating calmly.
His Spirit Body was outside, patrolling the perimeter of the ship for any Nightmare Creatures that might emerge from the waters.
He was still getting used to handling two bodies, but his mind was not hurting as it was in the first few days. He was not proficient yet, but he was getting there.
While his Spirit Body was patrolling, his main body was watching the latest Dreamscape tournament, with the final match being between the champion Queen Bee and mysterious Mongrel.
He had to admit, this Mongrel dude was really cool! But Why did his armor look awfully familiar ?
Just as he was thinking about that, Hugo suddenly heard something strange.
It was sweet and gentle, yet somehow inexplicably loud.
'Singing?'
It was the voice of a woman too.
Why would anyone be singing right now? Perhaps it was a military tradition?
'No, that's not right...'
He should not be able to hear anything from the main area where the soldiers were, after all his cabin was separated from the neighboring compartments by thick alloy bulkheads. The entrance hatch was securely fastened, isolating him from the rest of the battleship. No sound should have been able to penetrate so easily.
Hugo frowned...
What was stranger was that he could faintly hear the same thing from his Spirit Body.
***
A similar frown was plastered all over Lugan's face, as he looked at the sea.
The singing was coming from somewhere beneath the waves. It was beautiful—haunting, even—but something about it felt wrong... His instincts, honed by the Spirit Body, were screaming at him, telling him that something was extremely wrong.
He felt something attacking his mind at that moment, both in his main body and his Spirit Body.
His main body was protected by the [Omni-mind] trait, His Spirit Body, on the other hand, despite having an affinity to mind hexes, did not share that protection.
He activated [Phaseform], shifting into his specter-like state, and descended toward the water's surface.
The singing grew louder and more chaotic.
Below, the dark water churned unnaturally, as if it were infested with a cancerous sickness.
Lugan saw shapes moving beneath the surface—hundreds of them, circling the ship like sharks. But they weren't sharks, after all that species of sea creatures had gone extinct after the descent of the nightmare spell. Instead, they were humanoid figures, pale and slick, their eyes glowing faintly in the darkness.
Deep among them, there was a gigantic figure resembling that of a giant. It was pale and skinny, with its hair flowing gently... It took on the form of a woman.
That was likely a Tyrant.
He scowled, feeling a chill run down his soul as he realized what was happening.
'...They're trying to lure people into the water.'
They were not only dealing with a Tyrant with an army of abominations, but also one capable of mind hex.
Usually a Tyrant and its minions would be of no threat to him, but there were just so many of them and their Abilities targeted the mind, making combating them something only his main body could do...
But more importantly, there were people on the ship here.
One wrong move could end up getting the entire ship killed.
Despite everything, Hugo was not yet in Antarctica, so he could not move on his own...
'at least, they can't see me when I'm like this...'
He rose upward towards the ship and released his [Phaseform].
Keeping his calm, Lugan was about to send a warning to activate Code Red, all-out battle, but suddenly... His communicator buzzed as another code appeared.
Code Black.
In the next moment, the lights in the passageway blinked in a specific pattern and simultaneously went out, submerging it in utter darkness. The battleship vibrated intensely for a split second, and then went still as its reactors were shut down.
Absolute silence enveloped the mighty vessel.
Condition Black had gone into effect.
Condition Black meant that the fleet was on the cusp of dire danger. After the alert was issued, every member of the First Army aboard the forty ships had to cease all activity. They weren't supposed to make any noises or movements. They were not even allowed to agitate their essence in any way, either.
'What the hell?! Why would such a code be active now...'
Before he could do anything, Lugan turned around and noticed something pass from his side.
It was not a horrible abomination or anything, but instead it was a tall man with a slight, friendly smile illuminating his captivating face. he did not look older than thirty. His tan skin was smooth and flawless, and his disheveled black hair fell to his shoulders, as if it had absorbed the heat of the sun... His eyes were a beautiful amber shade, almost golden—or perhaps truly golden—glistening strikingly as they reflected the darkness of the sea.
The man was looking at the sea, directly where the abominations were, with a calm, friendly expression.
'is he an officer?'
Confused, lugan moved towards him.
He did not care about the identity of the stranger or his rank, what mattered now was the fact that he was in danger.
"Sir... It's dangerous. I don't think that you should be out here..." Lugan moved to the man
"Why not, young man?" The beautiful man turned to him with a charming smile. "I'm right where I want to be... Now, if I were you... I'd watch out for that thing behind you."
Lugan turned around, only to see a grey humanoid-like abomination jump at him, its maw open to devour him whole.
In a moment, he activated [Phaseform], letting the thing pass through him. Then he summoned [Nothing] in the form of a spear and drove it through its neck.
[You have slain a Fallen Demon: grey Child]
Shivering from the creepy interaction, Lugan turned his head towards the man and assumed a physical form once again.
"Thanks, mister—"
He frowned deeply...
Suddenly, there was no one there anymore.
***
Hugo leapt from his bed, opening the cabin directly and going to wake Sunny, who's cabin was directly next to him, but there was no one in Sunny's room.
Seeing this, he transformed into Fasttrack and rushed through the ship, reaching the upper level in an instant. As he did, he saw a terrible scene.
Sunny was standing beside something.
It was an abomination in grey skin, wearing the clothes of an officer, just like the one his Spirit Body had killed moments ago.
Sunny was... talking to it as if it were a regular person.
Having seen too many situations like this, Hugo realized exactly what was going on.
'He's enthralled...'
Rushing at subsonic speed, Hugo dodged Sunny and slammed directly into the abomination like a train. The creature didn't even have time to scream, it simply exploded, its grey flesh tearing apart in a wet spray of viscera and black ichor. Shreds of uniform and bone scattered across the deck like confetti...
[You have slain a fallen demon: grey child]
Sunny looked at him with wide eyes, splattered in gore. From his perspective, Hugo had just turned an officer into a fine red mist.
"What-"
"Wake up, you fool! You're affected by a mind hex! This singing is messing with your mind!"
Sunny's eyes widened, then he summoned a strange metallic armor, likely one that gave him resistance to mind attacks and slapped himself in the face, slobbering up slightly.
"What do we do?!"
"I don't know... Maybe check on your cohort. I'll go see what I can do."
Sunny nodded, grabbing his communicator while Hugo rushed forward, moving through the entire vessel and locating each grey child, to avoid confrontation, he simply allowed himself to slam into them, evaporating their bodies before they could react.
That left the crew members in shock and horror, but he could offer an explanation later.
As he was moving through the ship, the night sky was suddenly obliterated by hundreds of bright flashes as hundreds of cannons roared, discharging an endless rain of steel and tungsten rounds into the ocean. A large section of it had changed color at some point, becoming absolutely black.
Although the force of the wind had not increased, the black waves seemed taller and more violent than those rolling far away. They reached toward the ships like fingers of an unknown monster.
In an especially blinding flash, the main cannon of the flagship of the naval convoy fired, causing countless tons of the black water to be displaced and rise high into the sky like a colossal pillar. A second later, the thunderous roar of its discharge reached Hugo and made him grimace.
The scope of the heavy bombardment was truly mind-boggling.
However, it did not seem to do much except for slowing down the churning black water a little.
***
"Lugan!" Naeve's voice rang out, as a dozen member of the House of Night raced towards the water. "We're in battle! Come with us!"
Lugan looked at the scene for a moment, still dazed from the strange interaction.
Was that man he had just seen one of the grey children?
No he couldn't be... After all he warned him of the impending danger and more importantly... There was a strange feeling when he talked with the main, as if he was speaking with a distant family member, one that he had never seen but recognized anyway.
More then that, was he hallucinating, or had his connection to the main body suddenly cut off for a brief moment when talking with that man?
Looking at the Master of the House of Night, he didn't think much of it and jumped into the waters alongside them, engaging in battle.
Saving the convoy mattered more right now.
At the same time, a monstrous killer whale hit the water, breaking them apart. Lugan recognized it well, having seen it in action plenty of times in the storm sea.
'Saint Bloodwave...'
As the House of Night members dove into the battle, Lugan readied himself and went deep, impaling one of the abominations with his spear.
At the same time, he activated his Spirit Body abilities and wrapped the souls of the creatures weaker than him, dealing soul damage to a large portion of them.
***
Hugo jumped over the water. As he did, he slammed his Omnitrix, shifting from Fasttrack to a certain aquatic abomination he hadn't used in a while.
"Ripjaws!"
His fur-like body transformed to resemble that of a horrendous fusion between a mermaid and a fish, giving him a truly harrowing visage that would scare even the abominations.
But he was not done yet. He needed to empower himself further.
Hugo was already using his Titan core, so he needed something else as well.
He could use either his Awakened or Ascended abilities, or use [Omni-Kik] instead...
Truly, having such a wide selection of options was truly annoying sometimes.
In the end, he ended up choosing [Omni-Enhanced].
Rocky skin formed over his body, as blue plasma engulfed his form.
The ball of light on his forehead glowed even more powerfully, and at the same time, Hugo activated Ripjaws' ability—the one that attracted the attention of creatures and made them want to devour him, more then normal, at least.
Using it, he made all the Tyrant's abominations focus on him.
He smiled, as the Omni-Energy enhancing his body glowed even further.
At long last, he has the chance to unleash his full Titanic power.
He rushed through the water at unimaginable speed, his terrible claws tearing into the abominations as they surged toward him, eager to consume him whole.
Not far away, Saint Bloodwave engaged the Tyrant, the terrible teeth of his Transcendent form sinking deep into flesh.
The members of the House of Night, alongside Hugo, transformed the black water that night.
They painted it red with the blood of Nightmare Creatures.