Chapter 43. Wooden Ship
A month flew past quickly, and soon, it was the day to set sail again.
Black smoke rose again from the smokestacks of the Narwhale. Accompanied by his newly recruited sailor, Charles got onboard.
"Bandages, assign the shifts to the new crew," Charles instructed the First Mate next to him.
Bandages nodded silently and strode away with his newly regenerated leg, while the new sailors trailed after him.
Meanwhile, Charles brought Audric to the ship's bridge and unfurled his newly purchased, huge nautical map on the table. Islands, dangerous zones, and unexplored zones were all detailedly marked out.
"Where is Sottom? Mark it out on the map," Charles said to the vampire before him.
"Erm, I can't see. Please show me where's Dark Crystal Island."
Charles guided Audric's finger onto a thumbtack pinned on the map, which indicated the location of Dark Crystal Island.
Starting from Dark Crystal Island, Audric traced an arc across the map and then gently poked a point with his sharp nail.
"Here," Audric said.
Much to Charles' surprise, Sottom wasn't as far as he had anticipated it to be.
"Sottom is here? It's that close?"
"It's here at times. On the 6th and 25th of the month, it will appear here," Audric answered.
Charles was taken aback. "Appear? It's not an island? It can move?"
"Yes, Captain. To be exact, it's a fleet of ships. A massive vessel complex that was created by chaining together the ships they plundered."
Staring at the marked location, Charles quickly calculated the necessary travel time and provisions in his head. Embark on a quest to the commencement at n0v#lbin★
Even though Audric spoke with certainty, his information was from forty years back. If they really arrived there and found nothing, at least they would have enough provisions to cover them for the return voyage.
"Do we have enough plasma packs?" Charles asked.
Meanwhile, silhouettes began to emerge from the dark purple fog. Their bodies were as thin as paper. Where their head was supposed to be, they had no distinguishable facial features, and they held weapons made of the same material—paper.
The moment the eerie Papyrians steadied themselves, they dashed for the deck cannons and brought their weapons down on the mice, hacking at them frenziedly. The movement of the cannons was brought to a stop.
The crew members quickly opened fire at the Papyrians, but the bullets merely passed through them, leaving a hole in their bodies but did nothing to impede their movement.
Charles frowned. He didn't dare to waste another second. He took out the mirror, wanting to smear blood on it. Such childish ghostly tricks didn't scare him. That wooden ship in the distance was the key; he had to stop it.
Just when he bit down on his finger, he felt a sudden pain flaring from his stomach. Shocked, he looked down to see the tip of a bloody blade poking out of his torso.
Without a second thought, he pulled out his revolver and turned around to aim at the figure behind it. He was just about to pull the trigger when he froze.
It was the boatswain, Dipp. A sinister smile was etched on his face as a chilling voice called out, "Fire...Shoot me..."
The next moment, Charles took a deep breath. Ignoring the extreme pain, he slapped the Clown Mask onto his face.
The moment the Clown Mask was on his face, Charles pulled the trigger and Dipp fell to the floor.
Controlling his internal muscles to clamp down on the wound, Charles stumbled out of the pilot house.
Outside, his crew members were already engaged in combat with the Papyrians. They were clearly at a disadvantage, save for James, who had transformed into a giant. The attack from the others seemed to have no effects.
Pressing onto his wound, Charles grabbed the Bat Mirror and tossed it toward the bat in the air.
"Blindy! Shatter that ship with your sonic scream!"
With the mirror in its beastly maws, the bat speedily flew toward the wooden ship.
No sooner had he finished speaking, a Papyrian appeared behind Charles. With its gleaming weapon, it was ready to slash down on Charles' head.
Charles strategically retreated and crashed into it. With swift movements of his black blade, he slashed the Papyrian into thin paper shreds.
"Tsk. Is that all?" Charles let out a snort. With his trustworthy knife in his hand, Charles was about to sprint into battle when he suddenly froze. Blood had started seeping from his wound again. He didn't dare make any reckless movement as his physical body was in a precarious position. If he made any movement, he might just die from severe blood loss.
Charles soon found another solution to the situation. He slowly squatted down and retrieved a bunch of steel nails from a wooden barrel beside him.
He hurled a nail like a dart, and it accurately struck a Papyrian, pinning it to the ground. But this was just a stopgap measure.
The Papyrians kept increasing in numbers. There seemed to be no end to it, and Charles' vision was starting to blur.