Under the lead of Jimmy, the captain of the other exploration vessel, the Narwhale rushed toward the darkness' location.

Charles had learned from Jimmy that a group of exploration vessels had set off ahead of them both for the sake of the Subterranean Sea and the rewards that Charles had promised them.

The exploration vessels that had taken the specified route did not find anything, but Jimmy had stumbled upon the darkness after deviating slightly from the specified route.

Three days were an agonizing wait for everyone, but Charles dared not let his guard down. He knew that he had to be warier the closer they were to their goal.

The ground eventually became brown; it had no vegetation on top and was emitting a thick, earthy smell. There were deep tracks in the ground as well, and they seemed to have been from rocks the size of the Narwhale.

The rocks seemed mobile, but Charles found that they posed no danger and were just slightly larger and rounder than ordinary rocks.

After another day's journey through the strange biome, Charles finally laid eyes on the so-called darkness of the Subterranean Sea at 10 p.m. on the night of that same day.

It had been a year since Charles had started his journey, and he had finally found his objective. Darkness was like sunlight, and it wasn't supposed to be tangible in the first place, but the darkness was piled up before Charles, seemingly tangible.

The darkness was a massive, jet-black wall in front of Charles. After a brief moment of contemplation, Charles commanded the mice to scout inside. The mice soon returned with news that it was safe inside, so Charles wasted no time and carefully walked up to the darkness.

Charles had night vision, so the darkness couldn't obstruct his sight. However, he felt like he was looking at the world within the darkness through a gray and blurry filter. The biome within the darkness was the same as the biome outside; there was no difference at all.

A thrilled Jimmy walked up to Charles and said, "Governor Charles, this is the darkness, right?! I found it! I'm the first one who found it."

"Calm down. This isn't the time to celebrate," Charles said. He reached into the darkness and clenched his fist. He then retracted his hand and opened it to find nothing inside.

Charles looked up at the towering pitch-black wall before him.

The darkness was found, but the issue wasn't over just yet. Charles still had a conundrum that had to be resolved—how were they supposed to retrieve the darkness?

Since mirrorboxes can hold sunlight, they should be able to hold the darkness as well, right?

Charles surmised.

Boom!

An explosion tore through the air, making everyone flinch. A fireball had manifested above the sky within the darkness, illuminating everything within it.

The fireball then wobbled downward.

"Retreat! Watch out!" Charles exclaimed, issuing orders one after another.

The fireball's light allowed Charles to see what was in the distance. An oversized multi-rotor helicopter was in the distance, and it seemed to have encountered an enemy. The appearance of a modern advanced aircraft filled Charles' heart with a sense of incongruity. It was something that wasn't supposed to exist here.

Meanwhile, the helicopter seemed to be riddled by what looked like translucent creatures. The fight was far away, so Charles couldn't quite make out the details, but the translucent creatures seemed to be dividing rapidly.

The helicopter managed to make an emergency landing. The next moment, a few people wearing what looked like spacesuits rushed out of the helicopter and aimed their semi-automatic rifles at the translucent creatures.

Gunshots soon pervaded the air as they rained down bullets on the translucent creatures.

Charles took a closer look at the ongoing fight through a telescope before asking Jimmy standing next to him, "Did you not see any of them here the last time you were here?"

"No, I swear I haven't seen any of those people. This place was empty the last time I was here. Anyway, they don't look like they came from the Colossal Hole Fortress, Governor Charles.

Charles observed them carefully for a while. After getting convinced that neither side posed a danger to them, Charles turned to the sailor manning the helm and said, "Norton, move us closer to them."

As they got closer and closer to the ongoing fight, Charles decided to take out his worn-down cell phone to film the fight.

One of the two groups seemed to be humans, but Charles had no intentions of intervening until he knew what was going on.

The situation wasn't working out for the humans. The bullets of the group of people seemed incapable of dealing sufficient damage to those translucent creatures. At most, they were only able to blow them away using their rifles' stopping power.

Unfortunately, the translucent creatures were dividing too fast for the group of people to keep up, and the scale of the battle was slowly tilting toward the translucent creatures.

I've created the Colossal Hole Fortress, and one must pass through it to reach the surface from the Subterranean Sea, so where did these people come from?

Are they natives here? Impossible. How could there be any people on this hostile surface world?

Charles thought. Before he could become engrossed in his own thoughts, a translucent creature lunged at one of the people.

The translucent creature's deformed animal bones created a red line across the unfortunate person's figure. The unfortunate person's clothes, face, and even helmet were split in half by the attack.

The green hair beneath the unfortunate person's helmet made Charles' heart tighten. Through the telescope, Charles managed to get a clear look at the unfortunate person's bloody face, and the face belonged to none other than Feuerbach!

"Go! Assist them!" Charles roared, immediately changing his strategy upon seeing that his former second mate was among the group of people in the distance.

The Narwhale's tracks turned rapidly, and the two exploration vessels approached the battlefield to provide support. They dared not use the deck cannons for fear of accidentally injuring the distant people.

Charles led the crew in a rush toward the battlefield. The reinforcement from the two ships changed the tides of the battlefield. The translucent creatures couldn't move at all after being suppressed by so many long-range attacks.

Charles ordered his crew to use a variety of attacks to probe the translucent creatures' weaknesses. Hot weapons were clearly ineffective against the translucent creatures, but there was no way they were immune to all attacks.

Dipp rushed into the midst of the translucent creatures in his blue mist form. He opened his mouth and bit a large chunk of one of the translucent creatures. Miraculously, Dipp's primitive attack was pretty effective.

Of course, it was unclear whether it was all because of Dipp's special ability or because of the red animal skin he was wearing. In any case, the battle quickly ended as Dipp made a feast out of the translucent creatures.

"Linda! Come here, quick!" Charles exclaimed, guiding the ship's doctor toward the helicopter.

When Charles got close enough, he saw Feuerbach receiving treatment from his comrades, but his heart sank instantly at the sight. Feuerbach's condition didn't seem optimistic; the wound he had suffered was just too serious, as his skull was almost split into two.

"Captain, the treatment has failed. He'll die as soon as the epinephrine loses its effect," said the doctor kneeling next to Feuerbach.

A man in a spacesuit with a black brooch on his shoulder walked over. He then raised the pistol in his hand and aimed it at Feuerbach's head.

Buzz!

A tentacle covered in white electric arcs swept toward the man in a spacesuit, knocking him away.

"Get away from him! Let my doctor save him!!" Charles exclaimed. He rushed toward Feuerbach but was forced to a stop upon seeing multiple guns pointed at his head.

The man in a spacesuit looked a bit disheveled as he adjusted his helmet and stood up before asking, "Do you know D6751?"

"Of course! He's my crew member—he's my former second mate!" Charles exclaimed, sounding anxious. Feuerbach's eyes were already rolling upward, and Charles couldn't be more familiar with that sight.

The sight meant that Feuerbach would die soon.

"No, he's not your crew member," the man in a spacesuit said. He took off his white helmet, revealing a face completely identical to Feuerbach's face. The others nearby did the same, and they all had the same face as Feuerbach.

Just then, the hand of the Feuerbach on the ground went limp. He was dead.