Chapter 1148: The Abyssal Worm
A worm with a hollow head emerged from beneath Britain.
A dark storm formed its body and wings.
The worm had no substance, only an outer outline.
Its interior was completely hollow.
Its massive body, stretching hundreds of kilometers long, blotted out the sky when seen, as if the entire sky of Britain had collapsed.
This desperate scene was imprinted with extreme impact in the eyes of the surviving fairies and humans.
All hope was lost.
The end of the world was right before their eyes!
And in Eiji's eyes,
it was less of a worm and more of a cave taking the form of a worm.
As the prophecy foretold, its name was the "Abyssal Worm," meaning the endless abyss.
Morgan's face turned ashen, her entire body trembling.
The deck beneath their feet suddenly loosened, slowly descending.
Not only the submarine, but even the land of Britain below was breaking apart. Within a radius of one hundred kilometers, all fairies, humans, and buildings lost their weight.
They fell toward the huge hollow of the Abyssal Worm!
"That hollow is absorbing us—no, it's absorbing the entire land of Britain!"
Inside the submarine, Little Da Vinci's face was filled with anxiety.
"Sheba shows that the hollow inside has no end. That cave is essentially the concept of a planet-covering cave itself. Once sucked in, there's no escape!"
"Full speed retreat!Captain Nemo decisively ordered, engines at full power.
"Too late!"
"We're too close to the cave entrance!"
Holmes, Director Goredolf, Pepe, and the others all changed their expressions.
The suction of the Abyssal Worm was strong enough to shatter the entire British Isles!
From their current distance, even supersonic flight was far from enough to escape the cave entrance!
We're done for!
Such a sense of despair overwhelmed everyone's hearts.
"Ah! Magical energy is covering the entire ship! It's the same wavelength as last time!"
A sailor Nemo suddenly exclaimed.
"Everyone, hold on tight!"
Holmes understood something and urgently shouted to everyone.
At the same time, the Storm Border suddenly accelerated!
In an instant, the submarine's charge burst through the atmosphere, then shot out with astonishing speed, accompanied by a series of sonic booms, racing away from the Abyssal Worm!
"Tch! They escaped pretty fast!"
Seeing the submarine vanish in the blink of an eye, Oberon clicked his tongue in displeasure.
Immediately after, his several forms slowly dissipated.
On the other side.
A full minute later.
"It... stopped?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka, face pale and legs weak, straightened up from Mash's embrace.
"It seems we're safe now."
Noticing his hair was disheveled, Holmes took out a small comb and tidied his slicked-back black hair.
"Approaching the southwestern coast of Britain! Unbelievable, we covered over a hundred kilometers in just one minute?"
Little Da Vinci licked her dry lips, her face brimming with irrepressible excitement.
What to do, I really want to study this!
At least over five Mach per second!"
"Is everyone alright?"
"Y-yes, we're fine...The Heroic Spirits and fairies were temporarily unharmed.
However, the few technical staff on the submarine, being merely human, couldn't withstand the impact even with the vessel's shock absorption protection and have now passed out.
Survival itself is a victory.
At this moment.
Looking outside.
The colossal Abyssal Worm had risen into Britain's sky, soaring beneath the twilight-like heavens, staining the earth with its pitch-black hue.
The island itself had already crumbled—200,000 square kilometers of land shattered into fragments. A tremendous suction force lifted countless rocks, trees, and fairies upward, pulling them into the void from which escape was impossible.
"Wait! Emergency situation!"
Da Vinci's expression suddenly shifted, and the alarms in the command room blared, making hearts skip a beat.
"Oberon's anomalous spiritual foundation has been detected—right on the submarine's deck! How did he manage to arrive here so quickly?!"
"Head to the deck immediately!"
Before anyone could give the order, Fujimaru Ritsuka reacted first, urgently leading everyone upward toward the submarine's deck.
On the deck.
The moment Eiji maneuvered the vessel to escape the Abyssal Worm's maw, his intuition screamed a warning.
He immediately raised his blade, ready to face the enemy.
Then, a ripple distorted the space before him, and the dark insect-like fairy reappeared before him and Morgan.
"Leaving so soon?"
Oberon greeted them with feigned warmth.
But his expression swiftly twisted into a sinister grin.
"After all, no one in this Britain can stop me now. No matter where you flee, the outcome remains the same!"
His emotions were as volatile as a stage actor's, shifting dramatically with each passing moment.
"Underestimating us?"
Eiji snorted coldly, his gaze sharp as ice.
"Seeing us escape your toothless maw has given you some delusional misconceptions, hasn't it?"
The Abyssal Worm might indeed be more troublesome than the Cursed God.
But their side was now fully equipped—there was no reason to lose here!
In fact, with just him and Morgan, they could give this guy a run for his money!
"Keh heh heh ha ha ha! I'm delusional? No, no! It's you who's lost touch with reality!"
Oberon clutched his forehead, as if amused by Eiji's words.
"These useless fools beneath our feet are negligible. The two of you might struggle a bit, but that's all it'll ever be—a struggle. The outcome is already decided!"
"Oberon!"
At that moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka arrived on the deck with a group of Servants.
Her expression was complex as she stared at the Fairy King, now utterly unrecognizable.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Tch, after all this time apart, this is the cliché line you open with? Must every story end with such a trite unveiling of the villain's scheme?"
His manic laughter faded, replaced by an exasperated sigh.
"But considering how diligently you've let me use you all this time, I suppose you've earned this much. So I'll tell you the reason—it's simple. I despise humans!"
"Whether it's the Proper Human History or this world, from the moment of my birth, I have been humanity's enemy!"
"I will never acknowledge the Age of Man, and I absolutely must bring about the end of Britain in the Age of Mystery—this is the very purpose of my birth! Unfortunately, that version of me was far too naive. To retreat simply because of a defeat at the hands of King Arthur—really, if one wishes to eradicate humanity, one must first destroy the world, right?"
From Oberon's lips spilled words akin to those of a mad zealot.
From the moment of his birth, he was an enemy of humanity. To annihilate humankind, he must first shatter the world!
That order is completely backwards!
"Why do you harbor such... animosity toward humans?"
"Hah? Does something like that even need a reason? It's simply because I find humans utterly repulsive!"
Oberon tilted his head slightly, his face brimming with unyielding arrogance.
"Whether it's the humans of the Fairy Kingdom or those of Pan-Human History, they're as disgusting as filth in a cesspit—so vile it makes me want to vomit!"
It was an aversion as instinctual as breathing.
As if designed from the outset to exterminate humanity, Oberon's loathing for humankind could only be described as preordained.