CHAPTER 414: ARDUOUS SEA?

The clouds began to darken as rain began to plummet from the sky. What had begun to seem to be light had gradually become heavy as the heavens roared with thunder.

Captain Righthook held a hand over his brows as his face grimaced. But, as an experienced traveller of the Seas, his expression became neutral as his relaxed posture on the wheel became firm.

Nearlo, who had been arguing with him previously, looked up towards the sky before sheltering himself with his arms. His agitated face hardened as he hissed, "Why had the weather suddenly transform into such a horrible one!?"

"You better get down from my stern and onto the deck, matey... I got a bad feeling brewing inside my tum-tums..."

Nearlo, seeing the Captain’s serious expression, immediately dashed down the stairs and onto the deck. If someone as strong as the Captain had warned him of a bad feeling, it must definitely be bad...

Viesta looked towards the skies as well before stumbling to the side as a sudden wave crashed into the side of their boat.

The once calm waves had now become frantic and ravenous as they crashed into the sides of their boat, as though they had intended to assault the wooden vessel.

Fortunately, with the Captain’s seasoned experience on the high seas, they were able to resist the tides or else the ship would undoubtedly have been spun around in circles.

Something was happening to the tides... Something that had only begun once the skies had roared with thunder...

"All crewmates on deck! I order you to reef the sails and tighten the ropes!"

The Captain commanded as he endured the harsh rain and steered the ship against the mighty tides.

As the winds crashed into the side of their boat and got caught in the ship’s white and damaged sails, it caused the wooden vessel to shoot forward.

"DO IT NOW!"

Viesta, who was standing behind Lillian, watched as Nearlo and the bodyguard scrambled towards the mast to reel in the sails.

And as she was about to join in, she found that the raindrops that would’ve fallen on her were suspended in the air.

She looked back and towards Lillian and found that she too was given the same treatment from the rain. It must’ve been her doing...

"Lillian, as much as I want to admire stormy clouds, we have to start helping them out—"

Viesta tugged at the back of Lillian’s shirt before moving around and trying to get a look at her face. But when she did, what she saw caused her to momentarily become rooted on the spot.

Lillian, whom she found would be carefree about everything, was now adopting an extremely serious expression comparable to or maybe even more than the Captain’s.

This was the first time she had ever seen this type of expression from the white-haired girl, even when they were up against the Alpha.

Lillian, who was looking down at her phone, looked at a particular news item she had seen earlier today.

[Lost Contact with Blimp?!]

[On April 25th 2034 - 3:48 PM, a blimp with the flight ID. 9/10J5 had lost connection to the command centre. Belonging to the Azure Dragon Air Corporation (ADAC), which had been appointed to take flight on April 23rd 2034, at 4:10 PM, had suddenly lost connection on its flight to Luton, the East Nation.

Authorities are now working to figure out its last recorded location before disconnection from the command centre.

With an approximate total of 200 passengers, we fear this particular blimp had encountered misfortune during its flight to Luton.]

Lillian’s frown deepened. She recognised the flight ID...

It was the blimp Millis had taken to travel towards the eastern nation...

She breathed in a deep breath before letting it out into a large sigh as a crooked and wry smile appeared on her face, ’I’m sure you’re going to have as much fun as I am, Millis... I’m sure you’ll live...’

Lillian, noticing Viesta’s gaze, pocketed her phone and twisted around, hopping off the rail she was sitting on.

She then turned to the woman and nodded, "I’ll be in charge of throwing water off the deck and tightening the ropes; you and the others handle the mast."

And with a combined nod, the two and the others got to work.

Soon enough, through the arduous waves, everyone on deck had managed to succeed in their task.

So for this moment in time...

"Arr..."

They were going to have to depend on the Captain’s skill to get them through this storm.

The Captain spun the wheel frantically as he stepped and stumbled side to side, as though in rhythm with the tides and the waves crashing against the side of the ship.

It was as if he was dancing... Dancing to appease whatever deity they had managed to somehow upset for them to send such a trivial storm.

Everyone who was currently on deck, besides Lillian, clung tightly to a fixed object on a ship—that being the mast or a thick rope, or maybe even one of the cannons.

Viesta, who was clutching onto a rope, looked at Lillian, who stood in the centre of the ship with folded arms—unfazed by the weather and crashing waves.

She then stretched her hand out.

"Lillian! Take my hand! We gotta try and get under the deck—"

"It’s too late for that, Viesta..."

Lillian muttered mysteriously as a cloak magically appeared over her shoulders, followed by a chestplate, gauntlets, and leather boots.

Viesta watched as Lillian’s body swiftly became wrapped in a thin static outline of electricity as a black-jagged shortsword appeared in her left hand, followed by a scythe, which the girl rested on her right shoulder.

And not only that... But a gloomy and dark mask appeared on Lillian’s face, which seemed to warp and shift every split second.

Viesta’s eyes widened when she saw this. Where did that mask come from? Was it important? And did Lillian spot something that caused her to pull out an Item that wasn’t needed in the battle with the Alpha?

As goosebumps appeared on her arms...

BOOM!

She flinched as she watched a jagged branch of lightning shoot down from the sky, striking a portion of the sea far away from them.

The thunderous noise of lightning in the distance left everyone, even the Captain, anxious about what was to come from the storm.

Will they be able to get through it in one piece...?

...

The Captain, who had been keeping a firm grip on the wheel, loosened it as his eyes slowly widened and the corners of his lips began to tremble as two scaly pillars rose from the water in front of them.

The shadow that had already been cast by the dreadful black clouds above became even darker as the combined size of the pillars dwarfed them.

Everyone besides Lillian widened their eyes and gaped along with the Captain as they watched what rose from the water—their body shivering, not because of the cold... But because of the sight of the humongous entity before them.

Each pillar was around 12 stories tall, with scales with the texture of wet stone that were several inches thick and a pointy head on each one, which made it seem like overly large spears.

There were signs of damage and deep cuts on the sides of the structure, which strangely revealed... A red throbbing substance underneath...?

And not only that... But the pillars began to move on their own.

Once straightened and pointed towards the heavens, the pillars swung down.

What everyone had thought to be the pointy heads were in fact... Heads similar to that of a draconic sea serpent.

And what they had thought to be pillars... Were the necks of the abomination before them, which seemed to be connected to the same body.

They had dark crimson eyes, which contrasted with their dark blue scales, which shone a reflective light, to the point where the entire crew could find their expressions reflected back at them...

And...

They weren’t giving the abomination a pretty welcome as each and every one of them gave a look of despair. Even if their reaction were different, they all gave the same impression.

Viesta, who had just gotten a few days of peace from surviving her battle with the Alpha, couldn’t help but let out a shaky breath as her eyes seemed to lose their colour.

Nearlo’s body began to shiver frantically as his eyes trembled and fell into panic. His bodyguard even lowered his sunglasses as he tried to get a good look at the sea beast, which only caused him to lose further hope.

Lillian tightly clutched her weapons as she gritted her teeth.

Through every encounter with danger, she always remained steadfast and fearless—always moving forward as she fought the dangers head-on. But right now...

’I... I should’ve gotten on the blimp with Millis...’

Lillian had begun to shiver as fear crept inside her heart for the sea beast that stood between their ship and the other side was of the B-rank and had a total of four Mana Shells...

A Prime Husk.