My esoteric uncle Jules

Chapter 99 Devil's Reef

"who are you?"

Santiago looked up blankly, gazing at Jules who had appeared out of nowhere.

At this time, Jules had changed out of his eye-catching steam priest uniform and into ordinary coarse cloth clothes.

Despite this, in the moonlight, Jules looked as majestic as if he had divinity in his eyes.

Yule lowered his head and said lightly:

"Do you regret bringing that skeleton back?"

As he spoke, he looked at Santiago intently.

For some reason, the other party was not affected by Chibei's twisted desires at all, and his eyes were extremely clear.

The look of reverence that appeared just now was as if it had seen the lingering aura of the waves on his body for a moment.

Santiago's lips trembled when he heard Jules' question:

"I don't know... People not starving to death should be a good thing, right? But why did it turn out like this..."

Jules shook his head and said:
"Because of you, Innsmouth will become a devil's town in the future. The Church of Dagon will completely rule this place, and from now on, everyone will become a monster dominated by hunger and thirst."

Santiago raised his head, his lips a little dry:

"Is it really going to turn out like this..."

Yule said leisurely:
"So, I'm here to stop it—if you tell me where the skeleton is."

"...I don't know," Santiago said, looking somewhat lost. "But the leader should know that it was he who took away the skeleton with the stomach."

Just as Jules was about to ask further questions, he suddenly heard some noise behind him.

He disappeared in a flash, leaving Santiago alone in a daze.

pat, pat.

The sound of flapping flippers approached.

Yule saw that the leader, who had almost completely transformed into a deep diver, had an exaggerated smile on his face. As he walked, he said:

"Santiago, look, they've all accepted the Father's gift. Why are you still resisting? You're the one who brought the Father's grace back to the world..."

Santiago just remained silent.

Seeing this, the leader sighed:
"Santiago... why are you so stubborn? In the beginning, we built the beautiful Father God Church together, but now you've fallen into cowardice. Why is that?"

"Come, my brother. The Father will not take your mistakes seriously. Everything we do is for Innsmouth."

Santiago moved his lips as if he wanted to say something.

But in the end, it fell into deeper silence.

Jules, who was eavesdropping on the side, nodded thoughtfully.

This answered a question in his mind: why did Santiago's status seem so special? He could still drink alone after a few years and even knew some important secrets.

It turns out that he was actually a elder of the Dagon Church, but he "rebelled" later!

Seeing that Santiago didn't move for a long time, the leader seemed quite bored. He shook his head and looked back.

At this moment, there was no normal human being to be found in the inky black sea water.

The bodies of those who had just completed their "baptism" had become extremely distorted.

Sticky scales grew on the skin, emitting a cold light in the moonlight.

Their limbs were also deforming rapidly, and the gaps between their fingers and palms merged into wide webbed feet, which stirred up waves of turbid water when they paddled in the water.

The originally human face was distorted, with eyes bulging out, eyelids disappearing, and the gill slits on the neck opening and closing, appearing quite hideous and terrifying.

The strange cries echoed on the sea, interweaving into a creepy melody.

The eyes of the deep divers were filled with hunger and madness, and some even started to kill their companions and eat their corpses.

And more of them either dived into the sea or swam back to the shore, turning into the wandering monsters that Jules had seen before.

Seeing this scene, the leader's face showed an expression of genuine ecstasy.

"Oh, Father God, you have finally shown mercy to me again..."

Jules hid in the dark, closely watching the leader's every move.

When the leader turned around and walked back, his eyes flashed, and a small knife appeared in his hand.

It was covered in rust, yet it was flashing with a chilling light that made one's heart tremble.

He had just picked this up not long ago. Although it was shabby, it was enough with his ability.

Seizing an opportunity, he suddenly jumped up and stabbed the leader with the sharp blade in his hand without hesitation!

The leader seemed to sense something and suddenly turned sideways. The sharp blade grazed his body and tore his black robe.

Then, the leader turned around quickly, and the smile on his face quickly disappeared, replaced by anger and astonishment.

But his strength is not strong, not to mention that now Jules has repaired the Heart of the Wave, and his physical fitness is far better than before.

Even with some precautions, the leader was pinned to the ground after only two or three rounds, with the sharp blade at his throat.

"Don't move."

Yule's cold words rang out, and the knife pressed half an inch into his throat.

Strange blood mixed with mucus oozed out, emitting a fishy smell.

The leader stared at Yule with his bloodshot eyes and said viciously:

"The dog of the Steam Church?"

Yule curled his lips and said:

"None of my business. I'm not familiar with the Church of Steam."

"Then we haven't done anything evil, why are you interfering with us!" the leader growled. Hearing this, Yule shook his head slightly and said:
"You have twisted the entire Innsmouth into a monster."

There was only anger and fanaticism in the leader's eyes:

"You don't understand! I'm saving Innsmouth! Those London lords want to starve us to death, and we won't let them!"

Yule was silent for a moment, then said softly:
"Then do you still remember when you first began to believe in Dagon? Back then, Dagon was still a benevolent Father God. He didn't have twisted hungers or thirsts, nor did he turn people into complete monsters. Instead, he was..."

Hearing this, the leader's eyes were briefly confused, but then they were replaced by a more violent desire. He interrupted Yule's words directly:
"Don't try to confuse my mind! Father God has always been Father God, and he has never changed!"

Seeing the distorted face of the leader in front of him, Yule couldn't help but sigh.

He remembered that the leader's eyes were still very clear when he saw him last time he entered here.

A monster's body perhaps, but with a kind soul.

But now, that kind soul has been twisted by the Red Cup.

Perhaps he still believed that he was carrying out the will of God the Father and doing good things, but in fact he brought an extremely serious disaster to Innsmouth.

Suddenly, the leader opened his mouth and began to make strange noises like a frog.

But the moment the sound was made, Jules swiftly raised his knife and cut his throat.

"Sorry."

He already had a guess about the location of the skeleton, and interrogating the leader was just to confirm it.

But since the other party didn't seem willing to talk, he didn't bother to waste time.

The leader's body twitched, his eyes became clearer, and his distorted desires and mind seemed to be returning to normal.

He opened his mouth wide, as if realizing what he had done before, and two lines of tears flowed from the corners of his eyes.

Just as Yule was about to step forward and kill the remaining men in black robes, he felt his calf suddenly grabbed.

Looking back, it was the leader.

"This..." He raised his eyebrows.

He could naturally see that at this moment of death, the influence of the red cup on the leader seemed to be broken by something.

Willpower? Or the great terror between life and death?
unknown.

All Yule knew was that the leader, as if having a last burst of energy, raised his hand vigorously and pointed in a direction.

His throat had been cut and he couldn't speak.

Following the direction pointed by the leader, Yule looked—

This is where Devil's Reef is located.

The leader shook Yule's legs vigorously, and his mouth barely formed a word, while his eyes gradually lost their luster.

Jules recognized that what the leader wanted to say was "atone for my sins."

Seeing this, he couldn't help but sigh.

Santiago, who had witnessed the entire process, suddenly said anxiously:
"I see, I know where he put the skeleton! Come on, I can take you there!"

Jules knew that these words were naturally directed at him.

But he just shook his head and said in a relaxed tone:
"No rush, get rid of the tail first."

At this time, the deep divers had gathered together in a black mass, and the black-robed men in the lead also revealed their terrifying faces.

Although they looked like monsters in the past, there was a glint of kindness and compassion in their eyes.

However, Jules could only see distorted hunger and fanaticism in it now.

Santiago widened his eyes and stared nervously at the Deep Divers who were surrounding him.

The fishy smell they emitted seemed to make the air a little sticky.

In contrast to his fear, Jules looked calm.

Santiago had an illusion that the rusty knife in Jules's hand was faintly cold in the moonlight, sharper than the sharpest sword he had ever seen.

As the Deep Ones approached, he saw that Jules moved.

The terrifying figure shuttled among the monsters like a ghost, and almost every time it swung its sword, a streak of blood was drawn.

The blade flashed, and the deep divers let out miserable cries, their already twisted bodies becoming even more broken under the sharp blade.

Not only that, what shocked Santiago even more was that some of the splattered blood even turned into a "fishing net" and caught up again -

However, when the "fishing net" fell, it directly cut the deep divers into countless pieces of meat, which fell to the ground with a thud.

He felt like he was still asleep until Jules came over, smelling of blood and fish.

"Now that you know where it is, lead the way."

Jules threw the rusty knife into the sea with a calm expression.

These were just monsters that had just been transformed from ordinary people, and he dealt with them with ease.

The few who caused him trouble were those black-robed "messengers of God" and a few relatively powerful deep divers.

But he did not let his guard down.

Perhaps, in the picture he "saw" with the help of the power of the waves, there existed an enemy that could truly threaten him.

Santiago swallowed his saliva and said in a trembling voice:
"Please wait for me for a moment."

He turned and went into a warehouse not far away. After rummaging around for a while, he came out carrying a set of rowing tools.

"...If my guess is correct, it should be beneath the intricate reefs of Devil's Reef."

He took Jules to a small wooden boat and put it down with a complicated expression.

"According to the leader, that is where the followers of the Father God reside after his 'return.'"

(End of this chapter)