Chapter 258: No Rest For the Weary

Chapter 258: No Rest For the Weary

Fran and I navigated our way through the ship’s interior, only to eventually stop ourselves in front of an average-looking wall. Nothing about it seemed out of the ordinary, but we were confident that it served as the entrance to the room that contained the device bolstering the water dragon’s defenses. Suarez gave us a fairly thorough description when we asked him where we needed to go find it.

We investigated the wall by knocking on it a few times and confirmed that the space behind it did indeed seem hollowed out. The prince told us exactly what we needed to do to access the room, and I’d memorized all the necessary steps, but we decided to circumvent the prince’s ritual through the use of brute force. The method described to us was far too complex; we simply didn’t want to bother with it.

“Fmph.”

Fran swung me several times and filled the wall with incisions before giving it a light kick.

The cuts themselves were so clean that they allowed the wooden surface to retain its form, but the force she applied with her foot caused the now-unstable structure to collapse. The first thing we did as we stepped into the room was gaze upon the device within. I couldn’t help but immediately think of the thing we saw as the product of eccentricity. I’d only ever seen one other device like it. It was a technological oddity, one made from the union of magic and machinery, a pair of clashing concepts.

The magical part, the device’s core, was comprised of two smaller pieces: a giant crystal, and the sculpture that supported it. Though the crystal shone like a jewel, my eyes were more drawn to its base, a delicately crafted carving seemingly made out of bone.

The mechanical part, the device’s shell, was installed to enclose both the crystalline core and the support that held it in place. Its shape almost seemed to resemble that of a sports car’s engine; metallic pipes protruded from it like mufflers.

All in all, the strange device looked like it came out of a game that mixed steampunk elements with more fantastical ones. In other words, it appeared to be the type of device one would discover in F*inal F*ntasy, as opposed to something one would stumble across while playing Dr*gon Qu*st. Like the Algieba’s propulsion device, it reminded me very much of heavy machinery even though I knew its functions were derived from a set of magical principles as opposed to the laws of physics.

“Mmph.” Fran grunted as she felt a sudden wave of magical energy pulse through her body.

“Holy crap that thing’s using up a ton of mana,” I thought.

The room was constructed in such a way that magical energy wouldn’t escape it. We weren’t able to feel the sheer amount of magical energy whirling around within it until we entered. The device was clearly very powerful; it would’ve been easy to detect had the room not been manaproofed.

Wait. What if we just took it instead? Destroying it seems like it would be a waste of a perfectly good item. The water dragon would lose its buff even if I just shove it into my dimensional storage. There really isn’t any reason not to take it, is there?

I settled on the idea of stealing the device, but decided to save working out the details for later.

“I’m going to want to jack this thing a bit later, but let’s just drop a beacon and head back up to the deck for now.”

“Nn.” Fran acknowledged my suggestion, turned around, and got ready to leave.

She had originally planned on walking her way back up to the deck, but her plans were thrown off the moment I finished setting up a beacon. The boat suddenly began violently shaking from left to right and back and forth at random.

“Earthquake...?” Fran muttered.

“Probably just feels that way because we’re inside the ship. Something probably happened. Let’s hurry back up to the deck.”

“Nn!” She nodded.

Fran rushed to the deck, darting through the ship’s swaying corridors and dashing up the stairs on her way. The sheer force with which the vessel continued to wobble throughout her journey seemed to indicate a major change in the status quo.

Upon arrival, we expected to see the water dragon flailing about, but we were instead greeted by a sight completely outside our expectations.

“The foock is that!?”

“Big octopus legs?” Fran tilted her head in confusion.

“Wait! Foock! Those are kraken tentacles!”

“Oh.”

The catkin nodded as she observed the long, thick, wriggling tendrils. Several of the kraken’s feelers had already wrapped themselves around the dragon, binding it and subjecting it to the oversized octopuses’ attacks.

“What!?” I groaned as I caught sight of our ship out of the corner of my eye. “Something totally busted up one of the Algieba’s masts!”

“There you are!” Seeing that she’d emerged from the warship’s interior, Mordred rushed over and filled Fran in on the status quo.

Consuming the potion had boosted Mordred’s magical powers by a factor of five. He promptly took advantage of his strengthened abilities and cast a spell.

“Vulcan’s Order!”

The warship’s two anchors floated over to Mordred from their respective positions. He manipulated the two 10 meter wide lumps of metal, melted them down and merged them to form a single, massive, steel serpent—a feat that would have been impossible had he not consumed an expensive potion.

The massive metallic snake abided his commands. It wrapped itself around both the oversized octopuses and the dragon they were assaulting and bound them as it hardened. Despite their size, the monsters were unable to escape. His spell locked them in place.

“Whew...” He relaxed his shoulders and heaved a sigh. “I’ve strengthened it as much as I could, but it won’t last too long against monsters that powerful. Let’s get out of here.”

“Okay.” Fran grabbed Suarez—who’d been rendered unconscious after refusing to listen to Mordred one too many times—and followed the more experienced adventurer through the portal and back onto the Algieba.

After passing through the gate, she turned around and gave us a bigger picture view of the whole kraken-dragon engagement. Frankly, it looked like a fight between several of the giant monsters you’d often see in P*wer R*ngers.

“Wow.” Fran stared at them as they struggled against one another and their newfound metal bindings.

“Any ship that gets caught up in that is bound to sink,” I mused.

Mordred’s spell denied the water dragon the opportunity to chase us. We would, without a doubt, be able to open up some distance between it and us so we could escape.

“More.”

“Oh god, there’s even more!?” Fran’s statement caused me to panic.

Another Kraken appeared on the water dragon ship’s stern, seemingly attracted by the commotion.

“Man the sails! Full speed ahead, get us the ‘ell out of here immediately!” Jerome yelled.

“Master. There, look.”

“Wher—Oh sheet. You have got to be kidding me.”

Only then did I realize that, by “more,” Fran hadn’t been referring to the kraken, but rather, the arrival of another sort of creature, one that looked like it’d come straight out of the realm of nightmares.

“Fran! Get the crew’s attention! Make sure it gets noticed!”

“Nn. Big enemy!” She quietly nodded and voiced her agreement before yelling in a voice loud enough for all the sailors to hear.

“Big...? Ohhhh foock!”

“The hell is that thing!?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

“Sheet, sheet!”

“Oh come on!”

Their eyes widened as they caught sight of the creature she’d directed their attention towards.

“Well, no rest for the weary, I guess,” I grumbled as I examined the monster’s features.

The grotesque critter was one that I recognized on sight, one I highly doubted I’d ever be able to forget.

Its body was covered in a thick layer of reddish, yellow-brown skin. Its head looked very much like that of a sea anemone’s, but, with massive fangs lining the inside of its mouth.

A creature known as a parasite that plagued the ocean and leeched off of its life.

A midgard wyrm.