Chapter 153: An Odd Instinct

Chapter 153: An Odd Instinct

Early Morning - Early Spring : Strait of Western Elynnor

*Crackle*

The noise of ice cracking filled the night as I watched the pirate ship sink into the deep.

Turning back to Adrians ship, I saw several holes in the side with a few letting in water. -I’ll at least fix the urgent ones..-

Using Ice magic to raise the ship out of the water, I used my aura to find and reposition the splinters of wood from the holes and patch them up. (like how he repaired broken bones.)

-That should be good..- "Hey Ilios, you alright?" Once I finished, I looked up to see Ilios's smiling face poking between the railing.

"Woof!" He was wearing his familiar and characteristic smile.

“Phew..” A mix of relief and joy filled my body, but I had a lingering uneasiness. -Its too quiet..-

Once the ice quieted down, there was simply no noise at all, neither the voices of people on the merchant ships nor the waves of the ocean. The ocean had turned glassy. -Is that a phenomenon caused by the shockwave?-

After thinking about it for a second and not figuring anything out, I tossed away the thought and hopped up onto Adrians ship.

I slowly squatted down to pet Ilios. “Hey, buddy. Sorry if I made you wo-” My words were cut off as I felt a massive conglomeration of uncontrolled auras coming from the merchant ships. -What the..-

Quickly standing back up, I darted up to the bow and overlooked the merchant ships. The decks were covered with unconscious bodies, both dead and alive.

-Sh*t.. I forgot to muffle the shockwave.- It was a gruesome scene that would make any human feel a deep shame or guilt, but I felt indifferent to most of them.

As I hopped onto the merchant ship, I quickly ran over to Adrian who was on his hands and knees with a pale face.

"Are you alright Adrian?" He didn't move at all, as if he couldn't hear me. -Well that's not good..-

Spreading out my aura once again, I did a low detail scan of everyone's bodies.

Of the several dozen people on the ship, over half were dead, but none of them were apart of Adrians crew. Although some of the crew had stab wounds or cuts, they were all alive and their lives weren’t threatened, that didnt mean I was going to just leave them be though.

Including Adrian, everyone had damaged retinas and had muscles all around their body that were ripped apart, with only the weaker or unluckier ones having concussions. -But.. to think none of their eardrums ruptured..- It wasn't till I looked closer that I noticed why.

-How fascinating..- They all had accumulations of mana in their ears that they subconsciously used to lock their eardrums in place. This made them temporarily deaf, but once the mana dissipated they would be able to hear like normal. -To think they all did it too.. is it a part of human instinct in this world?-

Quickly snapping out of my thoughts, I turned back to Adrian. -Right.. Ill have time to think about it after I treat everyone.- I lightly set my hand on the back of Adrians head. -You first..-

"Huh?" Adrian mumbled in a lethargic voice.

"Sorry Adrian, but you don't want to be awake for this.."

A bit of relief and thankfulness filled me. -To think my strength didn’t discourage him..-

We continued to idly talk after that until Adrian’s muscle soreness faded so he could walk again.

As soon as he was able to get up, he headed straight to the captain's cabin to look through information about the merchants. -How has no one else woken up though..-

As I sat on the railing overlooking the ocean, time steadily passed, and people finally started waking up.

After a few hours, Emelia and Lynn finally woke up but neither of them could move much.

"Ughh.." Emelia forced herself to sit up against the side of the ship. "Is this... Where is this?"

Seeing she woke up, I quickly made my way over to her. "Do you remember anything?"

She held her head with her hand like it was hurting her. "It's a little fuzzy.."

"You probably have a tension headache so don't try to move much. Just lay down and relax." With one hand, I casually made a makeshift ice pack. "Just lay this on your head or anywhere hurting, it should help a bit."

She looked a bit confused before reluctantly setting it on her forehead. "Will this really help?"

"Yeah, just try to lay down and relax.." I carefully moved her away from the edge of the ship and laid her down again.

Right as I was about to set her down, she jolted her head to the side. "Oh right-Ackk!" She gripped her head as her headache worsened.

"I told you to relax.. What made you jolt like that?"

"That little girl, where is she?" Her face looked panicked.

I moved to the side and pointed right behind me. "She's right here, and she isn't hurt so don't worry."

She didn't seem to believe me though. "If she's fine, why is she laying down like she's dead.." She glanced around at how I had people lined up while laying down on the deck.

"I lined them up like that when I treated them, everyone on the deck is alive so stop panicking.." As I laid her back down and repositioned the ice pack, I waved Adrian over to let him and Emelia talk.

As I got ready to walk away though, I was stopped. "Vasilias.." She hesitated and turned her head away from me. "T..thank you.."

Seeing Adrian get close, I decided to let them have a moment to themselves. "No worries. If you need anything just let me know."

As I walked away, I headed up to the bow and looked over the ocean. It was still unnaturally calm without as much as a ripple being seen in the water around us.

The scene made me feel a deep unease. -Just let my instinct be wrong for once..-