"Roy, who exactly are you?"
As they were making their way down, Serena still couldn't help but ask the question. Actually, it wasn't just her; Charles and Cui Lin had the same question.
Heather answered Serena for Roy.
"Roy is a hybrid of an angel and a demon."
The well-informed Charles immediately reacted.
"Nephilim? The legends about Nephilim are actually true?"
"Well, you've seen it now, haven't you?"
Roy's answer left the three of them in silence. Seeing is believing, and even if they didn't believe the legends of the Nephilim before, they had no choice but to believe now.
The sea monster had fully invaded the Santiago, and terrifying tentacles could be seen everywhere. But under Roy's protection, everyone still managed to successfully get from the upper decks of the cruise ship into the lower levels. Heather and Penny also helped out quite a bit. Wielding their Cursed Daggers, they could cause significant damage to the sea monster's tentacles. The Cursed Daggers were just a bit short, though, and their killing power against large units still wasn't as good as the Executioner Sword.
"Roy, I can't run anymore. How about we rest for a bit?"
Dalia, who had been holding her daughter Cessie the whole time, finally couldn't keep going. Roy looked at the others; aside from Heather and Penny, the two women with Ghost Wolf blood, everyone else was sweating profusely and looked pale. Clearly, the continuous climbing of stairs had brought everyone's physical strength close to rock bottom.
"It's best not to stop. The sooner we reach the bottom of the ship, the safer we'll be!"
As the Santiago sank further, the upper structure of the luxury cruise ship couldn't withstand the water pressure, and numerous breaches appeared, causing the rate of seawater flooding in to accelerate. The bottom of the ship is the strongest part of a vessel, so only by reaching the bottom could they be temporarily safe.
"But... we really can't go on!"
Charles wasn't young either, and his physical strength wasn't as good as the younger people. His condition was similar to Dalia's, who was carrying her child while escaping.
After thinking for a moment, Roy transformed into his angel form and immediately activated his aura.
After becoming a six-winged angel, Roy also gained a new aura ability, which was the Aura of Vitality. The effect of this aura was to rapidly restore the stamina and injuries of teammates within the aura's range, which was perfect for the current situation. Coupled with the strength and morale provided by the Aura of Courage, and the defense and resistance to dark creatures from the Aura of Protection, Dalia and the others quickly recovered.
"Let's keep going!"
Roy simply maintained his angel state and took Cessie from Dalia's arms to lessen her burden. Stimulated by the angel's aura, everyone's speed suddenly increased by a notch.
After climbing down several more levels, Roy and the others arrived at the cabins where the regular ticket holders stayed. There were more rooms here, and most of the passengers lived here. But strangely, there was no one here, and it was completely silent all around.
"That's strange, where did everyone go?"
Charles was very surprised. The lower deck cabins housed at least 3,000 regular passengers. Even killing 3,000 chickens would take quite a while, wouldn't it?
"Charles, don't worry about that! Hurry and find the way!"
"Follow me. If we go through a restaurant, we can find a staff elevator that goes straight to the bottom of the Santiago!"
Led by Charles, everyone arrived at a huge restaurant. Here, they finally understood why there was no one to be seen on this level. It turned out that the sea monster had first attacked the bottom two levels, which had the most residents. This huge restaurant was also the sea monster's dining hall.
Half-digested bodies were everywhere, making the entire restaurant look like a devil's kitchen from hell. Serena and the others, who had weaker stomachs, immediately started throwing up. The sound of vomiting seemed to attract the attention of some tentacles, which began to writhe towards Roy and his group. These tentacles seemed very sensitive to sound and also had some snake-like habits, which was very strange.
"Charles, can we go around this restaurant?"
"This is the shortest way. If we go around, it will waste a lot of time!"
Roy nodded, then spread his light wings.
"Then we'll fight our way through!"
Holding the Executioner Sword in one hand, it burst with dazzling white light, easily slicing through several tentacles. Roy somehow felt that the sea monster seemed very afraid of the power of Holy Light. The cuts made by the Holy Light were all charred. This kind of reaction usually only happens with high-level dark creatures. Could this sea monster be a dark creature? Dark creature, tentacles with snake-like habits... could it be...?
Roy suddenly remembered the strange incantation the female Pinhead had recited before she died. Nothing had happened at the time, but looking back now, could it have been summoning this sea monster? Among the Seven Demon Kings of Hell, only Leviathan, the King of Envy, had the widest range of appetites, not picky at all and willing to devour anything. Most of the other Demon Kings only created human offspring at most, but Leviathan had created many monstrous offspring, which are often recorded in human history, such as the Kraken. But speaking of which, Leviathan himself was the first snake born in Hell, so it seems quite normal for him to enjoy 'dealing with' monsters.
Relying on the Holy Light's inhibiting effect, combined with the assistance of the three auras in his angel form, Roy and his group successfully made their way through the restaurant and arrived at the staff elevator Charles had mentioned. However, the staff elevator seemed to be malfunctioning. Losing patience, Roy forcefully opened the elevator door.
"We'll climb!"
Halfway up the elevator shaft, the Santiago began to shake violently again. Serena lost her grip and nearly fell off the ladder, but luckily Heather, who was below her, was quick-witted and grabbed her arm. At the same time, the steel cables of the staff elevator snapped due to the violent shaking, and the elevator, which had been stopped at the bottom floor, plummeted downwards. Roy quickly flapped his angelic light wings, flew up, and caught the elevator.
"You keep going, I'll push the elevator back!"
Finally, after a scare but without major incident, everyone arrived at the bottom level of the Santiago, which was where the Santiago's power was located. But just getting here wasn't enough, because there were still watertight compartments below the bottom level. The purpose of watertight compartments is to prevent the ship from sinking immediately if the hull is accidentally breached, providing a buffer. For a ten-thousand-ton vessel like the Santiago, the watertight compartments would definitely be even larger.
Roy looked at Charles.
"Why are you looking at me? How would I know where the entrance to the watertight compartments is? I'm not a shipbuilder!"
Right. Charles was just the owner of the Santiago, not the engineer who designed it. Even if he had seen the structural blueprints, he probably wouldn't know where the inspection entrances to the watertight compartments were.
"Alright, we'll just have to search slowly."
On the Santiago, inside the watertight compartments.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! How did things turn out like this?"
Joy couldn't help but curse. The way things had unfolded had completely exceeded his imagination. He was now deeply regretting listening to Catherine's persuasion and returning to the Santiago to look for Roland. Now look what happened – they hadn't found Roland, and they were trapped on the ship themselves.
Joy's muttering made Finnegan's mood even worse, and he couldn't help but curse at his friend.
"Shut up, Joy! Aren't you annoying enough already? The most important thing now is to get off this ship! Is your cutting machine not ready yet?"
"Cutting through the bottom of a ship isn't that easy! This is a ten-thousand-ton vessel. The hull's thickness alone is thicker than your life! Don't expect results without several hours of cutting, and that's if everything goes smoothly!"
Catherine, who was nearby, had a pale and dejected face, and her eyes revealed despair.
"At this point, probably only God can save us!"
These three had entered the Santiago through the yacht garage, a location that was already relatively low down. So, after the sea monster officially started attacking, they quickly ran to the bottom of the ship. However, that group of mercenaries quickly met their demise. Finnegan, Joy, and Catherine truly managed to reach the watertight compartments safely purely through luck.
Catherine, who was silently praying, suddenly saw a person with a halo above their head and light wings on their back, looking exactly like a legendary angel, climbing up through a ladder. She immediately started rubbing her eyes, thinking she was hallucinating.
At this moment, Finnegan was helping Joy cut through the bottom of the Santiago. The noise and sparks completely prevented them from noticing Roy and his group's arrival.
"Captain Finnegan, look! I think I see an angel!"
"Catherine, are you going crazy?"
Finnegan turned his head and also saw Roy, and he was instantly stunned.
"Are there really angels in this world?"
Roy looked at the three people cutting through the ship's bottom with some surprise. It would have been impossible to escape to here without some skill. Out of nearly ten thousand passengers and crew on the ship, only these three had escaped. If they didn't have some kind of protagonist halo, Roy wouldn't have believed it. Then, Roy felt that the two men looked very familiar. They should be the male protagonists from 'Deep Rising'.
"Who are you?"
Finnegan and the other two immediately knelt on the ground and made a wish to Roy.
"Lord Angel, we are all devout believers, please save us!"
Roy's face darkened. He hadn't expected this kind of situation. Roy definitely didn't believe these three were devout believers. They weren't even wearing cross necklaces; they weren't as devout as Roy. At least Roy had properly shown filial piety to the Archangel.
"Cut the crap! Quickly tell me who you are!"
Finnegan and the other two found Roy's tone a bit strange. It didn't sound like a solemn angel; it was rather... street-smart. But they still stated their identities. As expected, Finnegan and Joy were the captain and mechanic from the movie, both important characters. Catherine's identity, however, surprised Roy a bit. This 'guy' was actually Roland Gordon's secretary. It seems Roland Gordon boarded the Santiago via Finnegan's boat.
This was good news. If Finnegan's boat was nearby, it would greatly increase Roy and their group's chances of survival.
"Is your boat nearby?"
Finnegan quickly nodded.
"Yes, it's just a few nautical miles away. As long as we can open an exit at the bottom of the ship, we can swim over and be saved!"
Just as expected!
Hearing this news, everyone's eyes lit up with hope. This was truly a turn of events, a path to survival in a desperate situation!
"Move aside, you're too slow. Let me do it!"
Saying that, Roy exited his angel form and entered his Nephilim form. Maybe the demon form would look good giving the Executioner Sword a 'skin' effect, but Roy felt the Chaos Ray from his Nephilim form might be more effective. The Chaos Ray was a new ability in Roy's Nephilim form after his Rebel ability upgraded to Ashbringer. He first used it when dealing with the King of Wrath. Perhaps the versatility of this ability wasn't as good as Energy Manifestation, but in terms of destructive power, it was definitely second to none.
They saw Roy's eyes suddenly emit a grey light, and then two beams of light shot out from his eyes, starting to cut through the Santiago's hull. In just a moment, it successfully penetrated the thick hull, and seawater began to seep in.
"Everyone hold on tight to me. When the bottom of the ship opens up later, a lot of seawater is going to rush in. Don't let yourselves be swept away!"
Following Roy's warning, everyone held hands and grabbed onto Roy's arm, waiting for the moment the ship's bottom was cut open.
"Just a little bit more! Hold your breath!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the water pressure burst through the mostly cut hull. The huge steel plate was propelled by the seawater and shot towards Roy like a cannonball. However, Roy was prepared. He immediately used his Energy Manifestation ability to turn his hands into a pair of giant hands, catching the steel plate and throwing it aside.
"Go!"
With the bottom of the ship breached, Roy flapped his wings and quickly swam out of the Santiago with the others. A small part of the Santiago was still floating on the surface, so Roy and the others, escaping from the bottom, quickly flew out of the water.
By this time, it was almost noon. The storm had long since stopped, but the dark clouds hadn't dispersed yet. Using the dim light, everyone saw what the monster that had been attacking the Santiago looked like. It was an octopus sea monster about the same size as the ten-thousand-ton vessel, with a head alone about a third the size of the Santiago. The tentacles Roy had cut off earlier were just the very ends of the octopus sea monster's feelers!
(Sea monster image)
This size was way bigger than in the movie! In the original 'Deep Rising', the sea monster's size wasn't actually that large; after all, it could still squeeze into the cruise ship's ballroom. Even if octopuses are good at squeezing through openings, it wouldn't have been that big. Unexpectedly, not only was the Santiago larger than in the movie, but even the sea monster's size had become much bigger.
However, being big had its advantages. With the Santiago as a comparison, Roy and the others flying in the sky were as tiny as flies or mosquitoes, and the sea monster didn't notice them at all. Watching the scene of the sea monster rampaging against the ten-thousand-ton vessel, Roy felt it would be better to safely get the others away first.
"Finnegan, where's that speedboat you mentioned?"
"Maybe it was washed far away by the waves? Look around again!"
So Roy continued to ascend, and sure enough, he found the speedboat dozens of nautical miles away.
"Wait a minute, why is the speedboat moving again?"
Finnegan paused for a moment before answering.
"I know what it is. The two mercenaries left on the speedboat were too scared after seeing the sea monster and tried to escape!"
Roy's face darkened.
A boat isn't that easy to operate. Those two mercenaries clearly didn't know how to sail, otherwise they wouldn't have only gotten that far after several hours.
"Everyone hold on tight, I'm going to speed up."
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