Chapter 416: Surviving the Fall that Comes from a Falling Ship?
Everyone gritted their teeth as the tail crashed into the side of their ship.
They felt the wooden vessel creak and shudder from the force behind the attack. Miraculously, the ship managed to survive; however, this led to it being thrown several hundred metres into the air.
The ship flipped several times, causing countless shattered wooden floorboards to fall and rain down onto the surface of the water below.
Everyone on deck quickly scrambled to try to cling to a fixed object on the ship. Unfortunately, besides the Captain and Viesta, with the help of her whip, they failed.
Luckily for them, Lillian had already tied a liquid rope around their waist to keep them from flying off the ship.
Lillian gritted her teeth as rain pelted their ship and the wind crashed harshly into their wooden vessel. If it wasn’t for her strong body, she would’ve been thrown off.
She clung tightly to the mast as she felt the ship continue to flip around. But finally, on its last spin, the ship landed in the sea upright. And that wasn’t all, but despite the fall, the ship managed to remain intact.
And scientifically... That was impossible for a wooden vessel of this size, put together with nails, to survive such a fall from that large a height.
But yet... It did...
Everyone—besides the Captain, Lillian, and Nearlo’s bodyguard—sustained serious injuries.
Fortunately, though, Nearlo had high-quality health potions on hand, which he was graciously willing to share with everyone.
After making sure everyone was okay, the Captain looked around for the two-headed sea beast.
Lillian watched as he did this and tended to Viesta, who was still in a state of panic. It didn’t help that the atmosphere and weather around them reflected the dreadful situation.
"What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?" Viesta muttered over and over again as her eyes trembled with fear. "Shit...! I knew we shouldn’t have gotten on this boat!"
Lillian watched as the woman clutched the edges of her cowboy hat with shaky hands. Her eyes couldn’t help but soften as she looked in pity, but she couldn’t say she wasn’t feeling a bit of fear as well...
She looked down at her hands and found them to be also shaking... When was the last time she had felt such fear like this?
Was it when she was being chased down by Marionette during the entrance exam? Was it when she had fallen into her Trial and was met with instant darkness? Or could it be when she got a taste of weakness against the Spider in the Forest of Disruption?
Lillian gulped as she brushed the tip of her fingers along the edges of her mask. She gritted her teeth at the thought of weakness.
’Weakness... Fear... I need to be strong. I can’t show such things at a time like this!’
Viesta, who was still shuddering in fear, found someone wrapping their fingers around her left hand. Looking up, she found herself looking into a mysterious, ever-changing mask.
She flinched and tried to pull her hand back; however, when Viesta did that, she found herself being pulled in instead and into a warm and comforting hug.
Lillian, with the help of her mask, whispered:
"Everything will be alright... We will get through this. I promise that every single one of us on this ship will live past this arduous trial no matter what..."
The tears in the corner of Viesta’s eyes bulged as she heard this, as Lillian’s words echoed into her ears. She then muttered with a crooked smile, "Y-your voice sounds so weird with your mask, Lillian..."
Viesta wrapped her arms around Lillian as well, intending to enjoy the comfort before the sea monster appeared again. "But thank you... I really needed that..."
Lillian nodded and remained still, allowing Viesta to enjoy her comfort. And as she did that, she took a subtle glance towards Nearlo to find him shakily digesting pills.
She knew what they were. They were supplements a person could take to counteract paralysing fear.
"Hey! Share one with her!" Lillian demanded, which caused Nearlo to stiffen.
His bodyguard, who was standing beside her, pointed at Lillian scoldingly, "Please don’t talk to the young master that way." But then he looked towards Nearlo and gestured towards Viesta, "Please share one with her."
Lillian watched as Nearlo passed over one of the pills to her. And after wrapping it in a ball of water, which she dropped into Viesta’s mouth.
She then stood up once she had seen the woman calm down and walked towards the side of the ship, which had made contact with the sea beast’s tail.
The rails and cannons had been completely destroyed as there was now a large dent in the side of the ship, which had caused the Captain, who was overlooking it, to frown.
However, the longer they looked at it, they realised the ship was bumping itself out. Almost as if... It was repairing itself...
The Captain turned to Lillian with a dark expression, "Matey... How are your injuries and everyone’s elses’ from the fall?" He asked in a concerned voice.
"Everyone is fine, Captain. But I fear... The ship may not be able to get through this part of the sea while the monster is around us..." Lillian commented, getting a slow but acknowledging nod from the Captain.
"I see you are aware of the situation already... Indeed. This ship of mine could only do so much, and unlike modern ships, it isn’t that swift and relies on the wind to move..."
"Yes... I’m aware of that as well... Which leaves us with only one option left, Captain." Lillian, having put away her weapons earlier, summoned the shortsword and pointed it towards the sea, "We will have to kill the dreaded sea beast that is plaguing us currently."
The Captain looked into Lillian’s ambitious eyes and sighed with a shake of his head, "Although I was able to repel its first attack, crewmate... I don’t know if I can do it again for who knows how long... I’m sure you had already gauged its rank, correct?"
"You’re right, I have. But that doesn’t mean Fate isn’t still with us, Captain..." Lillian muttered as she watched the two-headed sea beast rise from the surface of the water.
And with a calmer mind thanks to her mask, she noticed more details on the surface of the monster’s neck.
Deep wounds, exposed scars without any scales to protect them—it was still bleeding. And not only that, but each head of the two-headed sea beast was missing an eye.
In the Neveron sea, there were unlikely other creatures that might’ve been able to deal such grave damage to the sea monster. So, where could it have gotten these deep injuries from?
...
It was a monster that had strayed from the frontlines.
"Captain, at this moment in time, the Prime Husk you see before you is gravely injured and hadn’t yet healed from its injuries. We have a chance of winning this battle!"