“Cap-captain Helen, what now? These things won’t let us go!” Naki said to Helen anxiously. “I think they didn’t come for our lives yet because of the tidal waves. But we don’t have long!”
“I don’t know!” Helen clenched her teeth. “Just do what you can right now, get these plants off our ship! Burn them or cut them, use anything you can find!”
They all knew that it was impossible for mortals to fight against supernatural monsters, but no one gave up hope yet.
“They got our tail mast!”
Startled by those words, Helen turned around and felt the ship shaking madly. As she watched in horror, the rear pole mast of the ship tilted to one side and slammed into the sea.
“We’re gone...” she muttered.
They knew what this meant to the ship. Their only way of getting out of here was to repair the pole mast, which... wouldn’t happen, when there was nothing other than deadly elements that surrounded them.
Erwin stepped into the middle of the sailors and tried to raise morale.
“Don’t mind the other matters and focus on cleaning out the plants. We need to stall until Mister Padt gets to us!”
The suggestion successfully ignited new hope among all people. They knew the mighty wizard always had amazing ways to help them.
However...
Helen and Erwin exchanged an uncertain look. Will Mister Padt be fine against 13 other wizards? If he is, can he find us in time?
As the captains, they had to prevent their men from going into complete despair, but this wouldn’t help themselves escape from the discouragement.
Helen closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “It will be fine... don’t give up yet! When we’re done with the plants, we shall repair the ship at sunrise!”
“Aye, captain!”
Their work wasn’t easy. The plants were very sturdy and were almost intelligent. The sailors could only try their best to chop them off while avoiding being grabbed themselves.
While it was possible to kill the plants, the situation wasn’t getting any better when more and more of them were showing up from the island as if there was no end to them.
The darkness of the night and the grim atmosphere ate into their spirit rapidly. The sailors still had their swords in hand, yet fatigue and powerlessness were slowly taking over.
Even Helen and Erwin, the two most resolved sailors on The Limpet, were quickly losing hope and wondered if they could actually survive one of the deadliest parts ever recorded at Devil’s Water.
As if to answer their dismay, the creeping plants around the ship were getting even madder.
A vine thicker than any suddenly rose from the ground and captured the observation platform, which was built below the tip of the mainmast.
If the mainmast fell, it was enough to rip the whole ship apart!
“NO!!!” Helen screamed at the top of her lungs.
However, the plant wasn’t going to listen to her. Slowly but surely, the pole began to crack under the pressure.
Snap!
The shadow of the falling object had covered both Helen and Erwin, leaving no place for them to run.
“Guess this is it...” Helen began recalling her past life in the last moment of her life, which was all about traveling on the sea. It seemed even her grave would be drifting in the water.
“I’m sorry, Mister Padt. I failed my promise...” She closed her eyes and left a drop of tear.
The whole world around her shook. Then everything quieted down.
Am I dead?
This was the first thing that came to her mind. But she felt it strange that there was no pain at all.
She tried opening her eyes again and was blinded by a flash of light. When her eyes adjusted to it, she saw Erwin pointing a lantern right at her face.
She then looked around and found herself still standing on the deck of the ship. As for the sailors... they looked lively enough.
“What-what’s happening?”
“Mister Padt is here. He saved us...” Erwin almost sobbed. “We’re saved!”
Helen looked up and saw a giant beast with a flaming tail soaring in the air. Each time the creature flapped its wings, it created embers that dropped onto the island and scorched the plants but without harming The Limpet.
“Is that... Mister Padt’s bird?” Helen believed she saw the strange gray bird growing into that monster when Angor left the ship to fight the bad guys.
She looked more carefully and saw Angor, who had switched his lazy manners into elegance, as he unleashed more fire to burn the dark plants.
She had lost count of how many times Angor saved them from peril, but she was sure she was never going to forget such a blessing.
When the entire ground around The Limpet was free of creeper plants, Angor slowly descended.
People heard a “poof”, as if a balloon was deflating, and they saw the fierce-looking monster suddenly become the adorable seabird again.
Toby realized he wasn’t wearing any clothes and panicked a little. Then he dived into Angor’s pocket and returned outside while fully dressed in a cow costume—Angor made this one for him recently to help him escape from dust and moisture.
Angor thanked Toby and inspected The Limpet, which was badly damaged.
“Ugh. Guess a lot of things happened while I was away,” he said while walking to Helen, who was crying due to the sudden relief.
“Sir, we-we let you down...” Helen lowered her head probably because of guilt or some other emotions.
Angor didn’t say anything to her and turned to Erwin. “This is not Summerdew Ridge, is it?”
Erwin shook his head helplessly. “The tornado changed halfway and pushed us here before we could get to Summerdew.”
Helen and the other sailors all looked away.
“Where are we?” asked Angor.
Erwin hesitated and mumbled something between clattering teeth.
“Specter Basin?” Angor looked into the depth of the island and saw more glowing eyes returning their gazes at him. It seemed his fiery display earlier did not scare them off.
Sailor Naki suddenly called to them, “Sir, the wind has stopped!”
As soon as he said those words, a glowing white shadow rose from the island and looked at The Limpet using its hollow eyes.
Undead.
There was more than one. Soon, swarms of pale souls rose from the dark island, which appeared like gathering fireflies. While this might seem pretty when looking from a distance, those who were close could only bear with the ruinous breaths coming from the freaks as well as the malice invading their minds.
No one could make a sound at the terrible sight. Roman once told them that even wizards would avoid these merciless spirits who knew nothing other than violence and bloodshed.
Helen felt faint since they just escaped from a death trap only to jump into another.
Are we destined to die today?
“Oof. Looks like we found quite a fascinating place today.”
Helen quickly looked at Angor who just said those words. Somehow, she noticed that Angor seemed to be... excited?
“Sir, those are undead souls, or so I heard. What should we do?”
Angor jumped onto the prow of the ship and grinned. “Nice. It happens that I need souls as materials. Being undead is even better since I don’t have to worry about how to deal with them.”
He tossed the guild member he captured onto the deck. “Toby, keep an eye on this guy. I’ll handle those souls.”
Without a second thought, he took out Prelude to Rebirth from his bracelet and took aim.
Seeing their prey retaliating, the souls could not wait any longer and howled using their ear-piercing voices.
Almost everyone on the ship lost balance and fell.
But Angor wasn’t affected at all. He aimed true and took a shot at the undead group closest to his position.
The air in front of him went blurry for a second. The targeted souls turned into blue smoke and vanished in the air before they could get close.
Helen recovered from the daze and widened her eyes at what she saw.
Didn’t Mister Roman say even wizards don’t have many good ways to fend off the undead? What did Mister Padt just do? Or, is Mister Padt actually a lot stronger than Roman?
She suddenly remembered that Mister Roman used to call Angor a “loser” at the beginning of the journey.
Heh. Who’s the real loser?
The sailors cheered happily even though they were not the ones killing the monsters.
Helen glanced at Angor and was a little terrified to see him almost enjoying the fight. Also, Angor was no longer satisfied by shooting undead from afar. He had jumped off the ship and rushed into the undead swarm while holding his weapon. While eliminating the souls, he also used his spare hand to cast more fire to burn off the noxious plants.
For the next moment, the whole area was lit up by his gunfire and actual fire.