Deep Sea Embers

Under the illumination of the whale oil lantern burning quietly nearby, Morris opened the book on the folk customs of the city-states before him, slowly relaxing his mind and lowering his mental defenses. This allowed his thoughts to embrace the knowledge and let the book’s power seep into his soul.

He could feel his unprotected mind emitting an increasingly enticing “scent” across the vast, Boundless Sea.

An unguarded, reckless scholar had opened his heart on the high seas, and the hungry shadows lurking in the depths of the world must have already sensed this bait. These writhing, blind shadows couldn’t resist the temptation, but they were still hesitating. Their barely rational, slightly civilized minds, which pursued knowledge, instinctively disliked the environment aboard the Vanished. This made them hesitate.

But they wouldn’t hesitate forever—those entities lurking in the spiritual realm, the deep sea, and even subspace didn’t possess true wisdom.

Morris slowly turned a page, his eyes scanning the lines of text.

Folklore knowledge was what could most attract the attention of those shadows. Folklore condensed the fear, awe, and simple understanding of nature that humans had accumulated over a long period of time. It was a rough amalgamation of human nature, a mixture of sweet emotions and solidified knowledge, perfect for hungry knowledge seekers to feast upon.

Another page turned, causing tiny dust particles to dance and disperse between the pages under the slanted lamp light passing through the curved paper.

Yet, the cabin remains quiet, with the captain overseeing from one side and the sun fragment on the other.

Morris didn’t feel disheartened and continued to read the next line of text. But then, his eyes caught a slight trembling of the words at the edge of the paper.

This signaled the intruder was getting closer.

As predicted, the invisible knowledge hunter could no longer restrain itself and approached the edge of the real world. Its tentacles began to probe Morris’s mind through the pages through the disguise of text, warping and twisting the original symbols into something more.

They’re non-existent texts depicting non-existent knowledge.

Clever hunters often disguise themselves as prey, and knowledge seekers frequently disguise themselves as “knowledge” when luring scholars. Reading them is the first step in falling into a trap.

Morris looked at the rows of unrecognizable characters that appeared on the paper, feeling the power emanating from them that enticed him to read, and whispered, “It’s here.”

The next second, the hidden “hunter” within the pages and text seemed to suddenly sense something. A sharp and chaotic scream abruptly filled everyone’s ears. Then, the pages of the large book began to flip wildly, and the black text on the pages seemed to take on a life of its own, leaping and struggling to transform into ink, trying to break free from the yellowed paper!

Duncan observed this and allowed a slight smile to cross his face.

His “fishing” had been successful; indeed, using a historian as bait for a knowledge hunter had proven effective.

A cloud of smoke rose from the book’s pages, and the escaped words quickly merged into the smoke. As they roared out of the book, they formed a whirlwind of dust that ascended into the air. Soon after, a pitch-black substance began solidifying and taking shape within the smoke. It morphed into a skeleton-like structure in a mere moment—countless chaotic and twisted black bone shards fell to the floor beside the dining table. Instantly, they assembled and merged into a form familiar to everyone present: an ugly, hound-like creature made of black bones.

Dog, who had been on high alert nearby, was dumbfounded upon seeing this. He looked up at those around him and said, “I don’t know it.”

“If you don’t know it, that’s good,” Duncan casually replied. He then approached the newly formed, seemingly disoriented shadowy hound. At this point, the creature finally grasped what was happening. It abruptly raised its head, its hollow, blood-red eye sockets flashing with red light. From the cracks in its skeletal body, endless black flames erupted as it prepared to fight back!

However, its resistance was cut short before it could even begin— as the shadowy hound’s black flames started to rise, its gaze met Duncan’s. The next instant, every wisp of flame spewing from its body took on a dark green hue.

In a mere second, the intruder from the depths had lost control of its own flames, becoming a sacrifice under the captain’s watchful gaze. Its chaotic mind may not have even had time to process what had occurred before it was consumed by the burning spiritual fire—its anguished, chaotic screams shattered the tranquility aboard the ship, and the sound of flames consuming bones and the eerie tearing noise echoed throughout the dining room!

An excellent hunter often disguises itself as prey—but a poor hunter ultimately becomes prey.

What happened next was unbearable for Dog. His entire skeletal body shuddered and trembled, hugging its head and quivering behind Shirley. It watched the dancing flames before it and listened to the sounds emanating from its side, his red eyes flickering: “Ah… ah, this… ah, mom, it’s burning… ah, the bones are shattering… ah, howling… ah, mom, I can’t bear to watch…”

The dining room had fallen silent after the torturing session, leaving nothing but a pile of indistinguishable broken bone fragments scattered on the floor. Wisps of green smoke rose above the bone shards, and a few residual green sparks danced between the wreckage, devouring the last bit of power the “knowledge hunter” had left in this reality.

Duncan frowned, finding the sequence of events somewhat unexpected and the speed at which it had concluded.

He stepped forward, nudging the pile of shattered bones that still retained a bit of warmth with the tip of his shoe, and glanced at Dog not far away.

“Why is it a dark hound?”

“I… I don’t know…” Dog shuddered instantly, his voice trembling, “I’ve never read a book before, and I don’t know how to read. Before I met Shirley, I didn’t even have much of a reason. I don’t know why a… fellow hound would appear.”

At that moment, Morris, who was seated nearby, stood up. The calm voice of the elderly scholar finally aided Dog out of his dilemma: “In theory, the ‘evil spirits’ attracted while reading books are random, typically originating from the unseen shadows of the spirit world. However, in a few cases, they might be ‘demons’ that have escaped from the depths of the abyss. Deep Abyss Hounds are known for their ‘hunting’ and ‘chasing’ abilities, and they are indeed a type of knowledge hunter… and a rather formidable one at that.”

“A rather formidable one?” Duncan raised an eyebrow upon hearing that and subconsciously glanced at Dog, who was shivering at Shirley’s feet, “Really?”

“…Under normal circumstances, a person reading a book at sea who is suddenly attacked by a deep abyss demon emerging from the book would have almost no chance of survival,” Morris said with a somewhat peculiar expression. “In worse cases, deep abyss demons that invade the real world through this method will grow rapidly and become uncontrollable, slaughtering everyone on the ship within a short time… Not every ship is the Vanished.”

“Alright,” Duncan nodded, quickly doing some mental calculations, his tone slightly nuanced, “If the strongest invader summoned while reading is a Dog-like ‘hunter,’ then it doesn’t seem very dangerous…”

As he spoke, he looked at Nina: “Nina, you can do your winter vacation homework on the ship in the future. If something really appears, just beat it up yourself – just be careful not to burn anything.”

Nina suddenly laughed: “Oh!”

Then Duncan looked at Dog again: “You mean to tell me you didn’t even know you were a ‘hound chasing knowledge’?”

“I didn’t know,” Dog shook his grotesque head, his voice muffled, “I told you, I was in a daze before…”

On the other hand, Shirley pondered for a long time before suddenly saying, “But shadow demons like Dog can’t read, so what are they chasing knowledge for?”

“Alice is studying cooking,” Duncan said casually, “Maybe it’s just a hobby.”

Shirley nodded vaguely, glanced down at her partner, who quietly crawled under a nearby table, and with his massive claws holding his head, he muttered, “Don’t ask me, I don’t know anything… This place is too damn scary…”

Duncan couldn’t help but smile and shake his head, suddenly feeling that the atmosphere on the ship had been improving day by day since more people joined them. Now they had these pleasant daily moments; he wondered what it would be like when Vanna came aboard.

With a happy mood and a little anticipation for the future, he stepped forward and kicked the pile of black bones on the floor that had gradually cooled down.

This was just a heartless deep sea shadow demon, nothing like Dog.

“Alice, clean up this mess.”

…

Under the bright and warm sunlight, Vanna, who was walking in the church courtyard, suddenly felt a chill and shivered involuntarily.

She looked up at the sunlit path in the courtyard and sighed deeply after a while.

What was meant to come would always come.