Captain – Chapter 535

There was a slope leading from the cave entrance to that road.

Although the gradient was rather steep, for someone with decent skills, it couldn’t be considered an obstacle at all. There was no situation where once you went down, you could never return.

It was like an escape route prepared for visitors.

This left Cain quite puzzled, because that devil didn’t seem like a merciful being who would leave enemies a way out. Like setting up strange fog at the corridor entrance to cut off retreat—that was his style.

Unless… he felt this was completely unnecessary, confident that whoever came would inevitably be unable to survive.

But where did this confidence come from?

After walking for a long time on the lengthy slope, the young man finally left the “mountain range” he had come from and stepped onto the road leading to the stone platform.

Only at this moment did he discover that what he had seen from afar as reef-like strange rocks and peculiar peaks were actually extremely towering and endless when viewed up close.

Even more magnificent than the Great Rift of Bjorn they had passed when heading to the far north.

It’s just that those stone peaks, some resembling sharp claws, others like pointed teeth, were uniformly dark and twisted in bizarre shapes, unlike natural scenery. Layer upon layer, they loomed overhead, blocking most of the moonlight, which made their appearance even more sinister.

Walking among them truly gave the feeling of mistakenly entering the underworld.

Stepping on the elusive moonlight that seemed ready to disappear at any moment, Cain moved toward the stone platform while vigilantly sensing his surroundings, guarding against sudden attacks from strange beasts.

In mythology, the gates of hell were guarded by multi-headed hounds. Who knew if that arrogant and conceited devil who considered himself a master would pull the same trick.

As it turned out, he was overthinking.

There was no danger along the way, not even symbolic obstruction. When the first mate realized this, that stone platform was already close at hand.

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Similarly, the Abyss of Decay was also very near.

No cutting off retreat, no laying traps—this path to hell that he and the captain had imagined would be extremely dangerous was actually quiet to the point of being eerie.

What did this mean?

His footsteps gradually slowed, and Cain stopped near the stone platform, but his attention wasn’t on it. His thoughts raced, and thus all the information he had gathered along the way arranged itself like scattered stars.

Two paths, heaven and hell, a strange spirit bound by chains and trapped in eternal slumber…

Complex clues intertwined, and the truth gradually surfaced.

In the end, only two possibilities remained before the young man.

One was that they had all been deceived—the path to the ocean floor was the useless option that person had thrown out, and the divine artifact and real danger were both above the waterfall.

In that heaven.

This was the first mate’s first reaction when he arrived safely at the stone platform.

But soon, he rejected this speculation.

Because when he withdrew his thoughts and looked ahead, his gaze was attracted by the magnificent object on the stone platform and could hardly move away. If not for his iron-like will, he would probably have been unable to resist the impulse to step forward.

To call it a stone platform wasn’t quite accurate.

What was actually before the young man were four slender, smooth columns like petrified vines. They grew from the pitch-black ground, twisting and interweaving, extending up to about half a person’s height before spreading apart again at the top.

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Separating into four pointed corners, like a strange hand gripping a disk slightly larger than a palm.

Calling it a disk wasn’t quite precise either.

Because that thing was very thin, like a hollowed-out semicircle, with silk-like straps visible below. Overall, it looked like a face shield that had been scaled down several times and made exquisite.

On the shield’s face, a brilliant golden sun was inscribed.

But if you looked carefully, you could distinguish that it was actually a lifelike human face with closed eyes, and the sunlight patterns extending in four directions were her long hair.

Hair strands like serpents flicking their tongues.

Except for size, its design and shield face relief had no major differences from the Aegis in mythological illustrations.

There was no other possibility—it was that key.

It was the divine artifact they had been pursuing.

Not knowing how much effort it cost, the young man barely managed to withdraw his gaze from that absolutely beautiful human face, simultaneously discovering that the clothes on his back had somehow become completely soaked with cold sweat.

It wasn’t that he had never seen artifacts of the gods.

He had witnessed the Lady’s divine statue and the magic box, and had even handled the former personally, but they had never brought him this kind of terrifying impulse.

This kind of irrepressible desire to possess it.

As if possessing it would mean possessing everything.

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His initial speculation was correct.

Calming his rapid breathing caused by losing focus and vague lingering fear, the young man thought silently, his somewhat chaotic emotions completely settling down.

When he looked at that shield again, there was no longer the slightest ripple in his ocean-blue eyes. All emotions and impulses had been annihilated by the lightning in the deepest depths.

Only absolute rationality remained.

At this moment, he had confirmed everything.

The divine artifact before him was undoubtedly Aegis, which also meant their judgment hadn’t been wrong, and that first possibility couldn’t stand.

The divine artifact was here, and naturally so was the death trap.

The reason why until now there had been no devil’s minions or strange traps to take his life, and there was even an escape route, was because…

This shield itself was where all the danger lay.

If I take you, it will awaken, won’t it?

Cain looked at that shield and silently asked himself. Although the intelligence he possessed was pitifully little, he had already guessed the devil’s true killing intent hidden here.

Earlier he had been puzzled about when that bound strange spirit would awaken. Now, the magnificent divine artifact before him had already given him the answer.

Captain Edward would absolutely not allow Aegis to fall into enemy hands. Naturally, when it left its proper position, danger would descend.

That thing would wake up.

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Captain, you still miscalculated a few steps.

The young man slightly raised his head, looking through the gaps between stone peaks toward that brilliant but false sky, thinking that destroying this entire underwater world wasn’t something the ghost ship could accomplish, not even ordinary old calendar beings could do it.

Only… those strange entities that had fought against gods could.

The dense chain formation, the blank space in the mural seen after entering the corridor—all pointed to this.

If not for this, how could it be called a certain death situation?

The recollection came to an abrupt halt, and the scene in the first mate’s mind froze on the girl’s figure before they separated, on that all-too-familiar face.

Thinking of how he had been running all this way while the captain should still be climbing the stairs, Cain smiled, withdrew his gaze, stepped forward a few paces, and came before that “key.”

If this is your fate…

Extending his hand to gently caress the shield face that had endured unknown years yet remained spotless, the first mate’s smile faded from his lips, and no emotion remained in his eyes.

Then let me take it over.

With this thought, the young man hesitated no more and gripped the slightly sharp shield face with both hands, applying gentle force.

As if sensing the arrival of the destined one, those vine-like stone columns quietly crumbled, turning into countless specks of dust that fell and finally all flowed into the fissure ahead.

As if saying that the deep abyss was the end of all life and time.

It was your destination.