A strange island appeared on the vast expanse of the ocean.
The island was encased in a twisted mass of flesh, with strands of exposed flesh, resembling blood vessels and fascia, spreading across it.
From above, the flesh seemed to throb constantly, as if fluid were flowing through the veins and flesh, as if the entire island was animated by this covering.
The tumor-like mass protruding from the central hillock continued to throb. The rhythmic throbbing resembled a strange heart.
The buildings on the island hadn't been completely destroyed; some flesh had simply clung to their surroundings, adding an even more sinister and disgusting quality.
The fascia-like threads of blood vessels formed a dense spiderweb, while some were completely covered in flesh.
These fleshy masses clung together, occasionally exuding a thick, blood-tinged fluid.
It was incredibly disgusting. Besides the vast, interconnected masses of flesh and blood on the island, individual creatures could be seen.
There were numerous monsters resembling these twisted flesh and blood, some of them swaying crookedly like twisted humans.
Like flesh and blood monsters without skin, besides humanoid forms, there were also various even more twisted shapes.
Of course, there were also various animal-like flesh and blood monsters.
They moved slowly, as if confused by their own existence, moving slowly and slowly.
"Swish!"
A sharp sound pierced the air.
A twisted monster with a pair of enormous flesh and blood ears looked up at the sky.
Then he saw a black shadow arcing across the sky, hurtling straight towards him.
The slow movement of the figure left him with little opportunity to dodge, and the shadow came crashing down.
Bang!
Following a resounding explosion and intense flames, the monster was instantly shattered into a bloody mass, its debris scattering in all directions.
A dark pit and scattered chunks of flesh were left on the ground.
Besides the scent of fireworks, the air was also filled with the odor of burnt flesh.
Even though much of this flesh had been shattered by the explosion, it remained connected by threads of fascia and blood vessels.
This flesh began to wriggle, like worms. It slowly converged toward the center.
Because some of the flesh had been completely burned, the resulting mass of flesh could no longer reshape into the distorted human form it had previously.
Instead, it transformed into a worm-like mass of flesh, wriggling like a worm, leaving a slimy liquid on the ground that resembled a mixture of pus and blood.
However, not all chunks of flesh had this effect.
The vast majority of the flesh monsters, after being destroyed, simply collapsed to the ground, becoming piles of flesh.
If they landed right on the flesh, they would be absorbed directly.
The whole process was incredibly difficult to adapt to, making one feel sick.
The shells whistled through the air, occasionally flying through the sky before randomly smashing into various locations.
Some pierced the fleshy mass, creating large holes, and some flesh was blasted out.
But for a flesh monster the size of an island, these tiny holes were like tickling, completely useless.
Not to mention the flesh's incredible ability to recover. No sooner had these large holes appeared than countless flesh spread out from the blasted areas. The flesh threads bound it together, repairing it, and even becoming more sinister. The blasted flesh inside would coalesce to form new pieces on the outside, and the monster roamed around.
In the surrounding seas, countless sailboats were attacking the island. The shells bombarded the flesh continuously, but always to no avail. All wounds healed quickly, and the flesh could even coalesce into smaller monsters, like a ceaseless arsenal of monsters.
This island of flesh and blood seemed invincible. Besides artillery shells, strange energy attacks emanated from the sky.
However, these attacks, like the artillery shells, inflicted little damage on the extremely resilient and resilient island of flesh and blood.
From the sky, the island resembled a giant, rising organism, slowly wriggling.
Finally, the distant attacks ceased, and the surroundings grew quiet.
Around Rising Sun Island, ship after ship continued to circle the island, slowly sailing.
The artillery shells had just been launched from these ships.
At a glance, there were dozens of ships surrounding the island.
There were some converted armed merchant ships, as well as numerous other strange vessels, likely from fleets sailing the Infinite Ocean.
Most of them were steel warships from the Church of the Holy Machine. The black muzzles on their hulls were the devices that fired their shells.
These steel vessels, emblazoned with the Church of the Holy Machine's insignia, were deployed around the island like fortresses.
A massive steel warship, hundreds of meters long.
From its magnificent structure, it was clear that it was the flagship of the surrounding fleet.
He wasn't approaching the island, but rather a certain distance away. His artillery had an extremely long range, allowing him to accurately strike the island even from this location.
Besides, as the flagship, he was in command, so he stayed in a relatively safe area.
At this moment, on the deck of the steel ship stood an old man in a military coat.
Although he was an old man, his demeanor seemed full of energy. His hair was a slick of black and white, with a hint of black in his beard.
A pipe hung from his lips.
Smoke continued to flow from his mouth.
With eyes that didn't resemble those of an old man, he stared at the distant island with intense emotion.
"Bishop, we've failed. We've launched ten rounds of bombardment, but we haven't managed to halt the island's slow movement. According to calculations, it's even accelerating, and will only get faster and faster."
Hearing the report from behind him, the old man nodded.
His gaze toward the distant flesh-and-blood island grew melancholic.
"Have the members of the Secret Spell Council arrived?"
Hearing the old man's words, the people behind him nodded.
"We've spotted their ship; they should be arriving soon."
The old man nodded at this.
Then the scholar from the Church of Holy Machines behind him paused and said, "Our reconnaissance ship has also reported that the Compass Eye treasure-hunting group has arrived."
The old man couldn't help but sigh heavily at this.
He took up his pipe and took a deep drag, the white smoke obscuring his face.
"Oh, how embarrassing!" The old man shook his head helplessly.
Then he turned around.
Not far from the team, Alka and his crew's Voice of Dawn were rapidly approaching. From afar, they could already see the entire flesh-and-blood island.
"How disgusting! Yue!" Lucilia, sitting on Alka's shoulder, saw the scene and felt nauseous and retched.
What she hated most was this scene of twisted flesh and blood; it made her feel sick.
She now wished she could fly over and set fire to this flesh-like island.
Although they had seen this scene before in Knight Alka's video, the visual experience they experienced when they actually saw it was far more real than what they had seen in the mirror.
Of course, it was also far more disgusting.
And most importantly, the scene they had seen in the mirror was already a month or two ago.
Although the change wasn't significant, it was definitely more swollen than before.
"A perfectly good signpost island has become like this! What a huge loss!" Juanlu couldn't help but exclaim as he looked at the island's condition.
They knew that this flesh-like island was originally a signpost island.
Although it wasn't as important as a signpost island like the Twin Islands, it wasn't as important as an island like the Ascension Peak.
But its importance was at least far greater than that of a border landmark island like Southern Cross Island.
And yet it was destroyed, overrun by flesh monsters. The damage was unimaginable.
Not to mention that this was during a demonic invasion.
"I just don't know how this kind of flesh distortion could have occurred. It's hard not to think demons were at work," Jason said nearby.
That was indeed true.
At a time like this, a landmark island was condensed by such a flesh explosion and twisted into such a powerful monster. Anyone would inexplicably attribute it to demonic evil.
Not to mention the Devouring Mouth's clones roaming the area, right where the Trial Tower was.
If they hadn't already known that the Devouring Mouth was far away and not yet here, they would have truly believed it had a hand in the destruction of this place. It's a stereotype. Whenever something goes wrong, they want to blame the Devouring Mouth.
As they slowly approached the island, an ironclad ship arrived, guiding them there.
Soon, their ship slowly came to a stop, landing in the center of the fleet. Up ahead was what should have been the fleet's flagship, a massive steel vessel.
It was two or three times the size of the Voice of Dawn.
Most importantly, the steel vessel was covered in a variety of weapons, giving it the appearance of an armed fortress sailing on the sea.
Then the ship slowly approached, and everyone boarded the steel flagship.
They watched as an elderly man with a slightly graying beard approached.
Though he looked like an old man, his gait was imposing and impressive. He was tall and sturdy.
If he didn't truly resemble one, it would be hard to call him an old man.
"Master Alka? I've long heard of your renown. I'm Bishop Savlev of the Church of the Holy Machine."
Alka nodded and shook the old man's hand.
"Nice to meet you."
Then he couldn't help but point to the island of flesh and blood. "If you don't mind, may I ask what's going on?"
Although he had anticipated this, Alka had no idea what the specific cause was. It looked like something major had happened.
Otherwise, no other Church of the Holy Machine would have such a serious problem.
Hearing this, Bishop Savlev sighed and nodded.
"Alas, all this is our fault."
Just as he was about to briefly recount the events to Alka and the others, a scholar dressed in the robes of the Church of the Holy Machine approached.
"Bishop, the team from the Secret Spell Council has arrived."
Upon hearing this, Bishop Savlev thought for a moment, nodded, and then looked at Alka and the others and said, "Another team has arrived. They may be able to help us remove the flesh and blood from the island. They're the helpers I've invited.
So, if you don't mind, come along. They need to know the situation here, too."
Hearing this, Alka nodded, "Of course."
Then Alka and the others followed the Bishop and his group to the other side. An unusual vessel lay anchored on the other side of the ship.
The vessel was only about 30 meters in size, but what was strange was its high bottom, seemingly with a deep draft, and a large cabin. It was also shaped like a half-moon.
The vessel's structure was extremely strange, and the fact that it hadn't sunk proved that it must be constructed by some mysterious power.
It was shrouded in magical elements and various spells. Even the sails were engraved with spells, and the materials used for the entire ship looked quite expensive.
If such a ship were constructed from ordinary vessels, how could it possibly sail the vast ocean? It would easily capsize in normal waters.
Then, a teleportation array appeared on the steel deck before them.
As the array twisted, a group of people wearing pale blue robes, densely painted with incomprehensible spells, appeared.
Do they need to teleport over such a short distance?
The leader removed his hood, revealing an elderly man with a similarly white beard.
The old man's beard reached down to his waist, and appeared meticulously groomed.
He exuded the aura of a seasoned scholar.
He walked over and looked at Savlov.
Then, he glanced at the flesh-and-blood island in the distance.
"You old fellow, it looks like you've made a serious mistake. It doesn't look like something that can be easily resolved."
Hearing this, it was clear that the two had known each other for a long time.
Saflev sighed helplessly; he had forgotten how many times he'd sighed in recent times.
The recent situation had forced the old man to begin to accept his age.
Though he still looked energetic.
"Well, if it weren't for such a serious problem, I wouldn't have asked you to come."
With that, he led the old man, two similarly dressed men following him, and A-Ka and the others into a conference room.
The conference room was very simple, but very much in the style of the Holy Machine Church.
Everyone took their seats.
The bishop sat in the main seat. After watching everyone take their seats, he gently tapped the table.
Then the room fell silent.
The seats were limited, and quite a few people were standing around.
He first introduced Alka and the others to the group in blue robes.
"They are members of the Secret Spell Council. This is Speaker Anris, an old friend of mine."
Alka looked at the old man and nodded. "Hello."
Speaker Anris also nodded politely.
Then he introduced Alka and the others: "They are members of the Compass Eye Treasure Hunting Group. This is their leader, Master Alka. They are here on important business."
Hearing this, Speaker Anris's eyes widened, clearly surprised.
"Are you the treasure craftsman Alka?"
Hearing this, Alka smiled and nodded.
Then his gaze fell on Lucilia, who sat with her calf resting on Alka's shoulder.
"Then this must be Scholar Lucilia."
Lucilia, upon hearing this, turned her gaze from her surroundings and nodded.
"Hello."
"Hello, hello." The elderly woman nodded repeatedly.
Clearly, for scholars like them, Lucilia was more attractive than Alka.