Extra's POV: My Obsessive Villainous Fiancee Is The Game's Final Boss-Chapter 268: Siren’s Song

The sun rose slowly, looking colorless. Like a pale smear in the cast canvas called the sky.

It was the kind of dawn that didn’t feel like a beginning. Just a continuation of a long, quiet end, as if the world itself was on its last legs after a long battle.

The crew of the Lady Rill moved in silence.

Even Thorn, who had tried to joke the night before, now only poked at a cold strip of dried fish without much enthusiasm. The salt didn’t help the taste anymore. At this point, it felt like chewing regret.

They had one day’s worth of supplies left. One day’s worth of food. Less than that in water.

No land in sight. No clouds. No sign.

Just that same cold stretch of water in every direction.

Zuzu stood at her usual place at the helm, barely moving the current now.

She looked out over the horizon, not really seeing it. Her hands were limp at her sides, her water sense dulled from fatigue and the quiet erosion of hope.

Ren approached her quietly. He could see the tired set of her shoulders, the slight tremble in her fingers.

She didn’t turn to him. "Say it." She said.

Her voice was flat, scraped hollow by the wind.

Ren blinked. "Say what?"

"That we should turn back."

He didn’t answer.

She let out a slow breath, one that seemed to sag her whole frame. "I’m starting to lose hope, Ren. I can’t keep pretending."

He looked at her a moment longer. Then turned to the others.

They gathered around the deck, their faces tired, wind burned, skin stretched too tight over worry.

Well, everyone except Lilith. She seemed fine like it didn’t matter to her where they were.

"We’re heading back to Seta." Ren finally spoke. There was always next time.

Thorn didn’t even pretend to joke or argue. He looked relieved.

Elias nodded, already turning to check the ropes and ration what remained. Zuzu closed her eyes, her mouth a hard line.

Lilith remained still, her back to them again, watching the water like it might speak.

That was when Ren noticed it.

Lilith had sensed it first.

The air had changed.

He turned slowly.

The sea was still. Too still.

No birds. No wind. The water’s surface was so flat, it looked like a mirror made of glass. The only movement was the occasional twitch of the boat, as if it, too, sensed what was coming.

Zuzu frowned, raising her hand. The current beneath her palm rippled strangely.

"Something’s wrong." She whispered.

And then the sea cracked open.

A thunderclap echoed across the sky as a great rift split the ocean. Not with sound, but with silence. A silence so deep, it swallowed the world.

Wisps of darkness shot up from the sea and the horizon vanished as if it had been erased by a god’s hand.

The Hungering Deep had returned. Stronger.

"What the hell?" Zuzu whispered.

In the distance, the giant maw was open. But this time, the sea wasn’t being swallowed.

Instead, dark water surged upward, not crashing, not spilling. Rising. Pouring like ink into the sky, defying gravity, logic, and sanity.

And from the center of it came something new.

A shape slithered upward, coiled around nothing.

It was massive, with long tendrils, its flesh glistening like wet pearl. It shimmered with colors that didn’t belong in the waking world.

A head rose slowly, shaped like a crown of coral. And beneath it, a mouth, if it could be called that, split open into dozens of petals, each lined with gleaming teeth.

And then it sang.

The sound was not a song. It was a scream wrapped in honey. A lullaby sung in the voice of your mother and your deepest grief. Ancient, aching tones that seemed to crawl into the skull and bloom there like rot.

Zuzu dropped to her knees. Her eyes glazed.

Thorn swayed, blinking rapidly. His carving knife fell from his hand, forgotten. Elias staggered forward, reaching toward the sea like a man trying to step into a dream he thought he’d buried.

"No." Ren growled.

[Level Up: Hypnosis Resistance Lvl 19.]

[Level Up: Hypnosis Resistance Lvl 25.]

[Level Up: Hypnosis Resistance Lvl 37.]

[Level Up: Hypnosis Resistance Lvl 52.]

Unfettered Enhancement went into overdrive, the pressure of the creature serving as fuel to pull him back from the edge.

He felt the pull of the voice, but he grabbed it and crushed it under foot. His blood screamed against it.

His hand snapped forward, catching the back of Elias’ shirt before the man could walk into the sea.

He yanked him backwards into the boat.

"MOVE!" He shouted.

He lunged toward Zuzu, dragging her back from the edge just as her fingers brushed the rail. She blinked, the fog in her eyes breaking.

Lilith hadn’t moved. Her eyes glowed red-gold in the darkness.

"Enough." She whispered.

Soul energy erupted from her body like a sudden flame, burning away the effects of the song around them.

The creature reared back, its skin shimmering erratically.

And Lilith moved.

She stepped off the boat like stepping onto a garden path.

She hit the water in silence and dove. The surface didn’t even splash.

The sea boiled as she shot through it towards the creature.

The sea erupted, a large ripple moving in a circle away from them as she met the creature under the water.

The creature fought, its tentacles thrashing as Lilith formed a giant sword of soul energy and drove it into the monster.

Above, the Lady Rill rocked.

Ren helped Elias to his feet. Thorn slumped to the deck, panting. The trance was broken.

"She’s fighting it alone." Elias said, breath ragged.

"She can handle it." Ren muttered, though his jaw was tight, knuckles white.

Zuzu clung to the railing. "We have to help her."

"No. Trust Lilith. Our part is to survive this."

Beneath them, the sea turned red with blood.

The creature rose again, roaring now. The previous music had now become just a shrieking noise.

Lilith clung to its side like a parasite, stabbing again and again with her giant sword. She tore into flesh, dodging its tentacles and shrieks.

Bubbles escaped her mouth as she opened it and with a final yell, she drove her blade into the base of its skull.

The siren let out a broken moan. Its glow sputtered.

And collapsed.

Then the sea roared.

The water finally began to pull backwards, trying to suck the dead body into the Deep.

Lilith shot out of the water and onto the boat as it was pulled along.

"Brace!" Ren shouted.

Too late.

The Lady Rill lurched violently. The water around them spiraled, dragging the boat toward the Deep.

Wood groaned, and ropes snapped.

Zuzu screamed, gripping the helm.

Thorn and Elias held onto each other, eyes wild.

Ren stood in the center of the deck, hands spread, his body wrapped in Push resonance as he tried to resist the drag.

Lilith anchored herself to him, a big smile on her face as the chaos went on around them.

And a minute later, the Lady Rill was dragged under.

Down into the Deep.

Down into darkness. Into silence.

The sky vanished above them, replaced by churning black.

And the sea closed over their heads like a grave.

The Hungering Deep had claimed them.