Volume 11 - Chapter 2 – Part 3 (1/2)

Chapter 2 – Part 3

“Mr Zigies, but you’ll have to stop”

The next roup made the necessary preparations and headed to the shi+pyard shi+n found Zigive hi that his inspection had to end, Zigma looked disappointed, but when Milea put her hand on his shoulder, s, he shuddered and quietly backed away Apparently, Milea overruled Zigma in their company — a relationshi+p that was opposite to what their ranks would suggest

“The guild representative arrived!”

The inspector in charge of checking the shi+p’s diroup had visited the guild the previous day, infor Arno that they had procured a shi+p

“Oh? Ms Arno?”

The guild representative, led by the shi+pyard workers, turned out to be the receptionist, Arno

“GoodI have co So you are in charge of inspecting shi+ps too? This is the shi+p ill use for our search”

“I am not the only one, but……by the way, I don’t think I see any sails?”

Arno voiced her doubts after looking at the shi+p’s shape In this world, shi+ps with sails were still the norm

“This is a rather unique shi+p that we found in a certain ruin The Kuwain area is very different froed, but I assure you that it sails without problems We tested it yesterday in the bay too”

Thanks to shi+n’s illusion skills, the shi+p looked battered enough to make anyone believe that it had been found in some ruin

“I can vouch for that too, h”

Zigave his full approval

“I see If sir Zigma says so as well, there shouldn’t be any problems I have verified that the shi+p’s diulations, so I don’t think there are proble Kuwain’s preh If you do not o on further”

“Thank you veryto leave soon, so…until next tima and Arno looked on as the party boarded the shi+p Zazie and the others were hiding inside, since things would be troublesome if they were found and stopped

shi+n activated the ine and the shi+p departed

Leaving behind Arno’s surprised expression, the shi+p proceeded in the direction of the Kuwain area

◆◆◆◆

“This is…not a place you could get lost in by accident, huh A store if I’ve ever seen one”

shi+n’s party accelerated after leaving Barbatos and had now arrived close to their destination, which re rain, massive waves, and violent winds

As if separated by an invisible wall, just outside the area the breeze was gentle and the waves small A situation completely outside the realm of natural pheno to turn rough Are you ready everybody?”

shi+n made sure Tiera had drunk the anti-seasickness roup

After everyone nodded in agreement, he stepped on the pedal

There were no patrol shi+ps in the surroundings As Arno had instructed, shi+n proceeded forward The shi+p, lulled by gentle waves, sped towards the storm

“Waah!?”

The next instant, the vessel shook violently vertically, a shock big enough to make Tiera shout, despite her preparation When the shi+p pointed upwards, the sky could be seen froe When it pointed down, the sea surface was directly in front

The gap was so large that, for an instant, it felt like the shi+p was floating in midair

“shi+n! Look! In front!”

Tiera pointed to a large wave, taller than the shi+p itself

“This is even worse than stores, huh”

“Wouldn’t it be better to travel underwater?”

Despite the powerful ruestion without a single change in her expression

“That would be better to go forward, for sure But the elf saw Celciutos above water, so we’ll travel above the surface for now, at least until we reach the center of the area I wanted to save energy, but it looks like there’s no other way Activate the vessel balance system!”

As shi+n said these words, part of the tall wave in front of the shi+p split, just enough to let the shi+p pass At the same time, the violent waves around the on?”

“I calround spells, to secure us a route It’s a function that ic-powered vessels have That’s why these shi+ps can travel on routes impossible for nor that convenient, you could have used it since the start…”

Tiera, tightly latched onto an ar such a large wave during her second time at sea was a bit tooon the shi+p, without losing balance or rolling around, so she must have acquired some resistance

“Sorry, sorry In the past, I faced a store similar to this I just wanted to see how this one actually was first”

After apologizing to the slightly glaring Tiera, shi+n looked forward again

“Let’s head northeast first I’s via the sonar and theweird outside everybody”

The party sailed on, defeating ,the air vibrate eerily

“What’s this?”

“This feeling…it’s a cursed song”

shi+n couldn’t hear the tune well and looked towards the storm, then Schnee answered his question

Unlike the barrier set up in the woods north of Bayreuth, this song did not manipulate the intruder’s mind to make them turn back, but enticed the to hurt…”

“How does it feel? To o in a certain direction”

shi+n asked Tiera, as frowning, her hands pressing against her teht she could be affected, but maybe thanks to her particular position as priestess, or maybe because she had powered up, she did not see

“Itit If we didn’t resist it, we’d probably exit the area before we knew it”

“I see, sorry foryou do that Put these on If you can resist it now, they should lighten the burden”

shi+n apologized and gave Tiera a pair of faded silver earrings They had the effect of increasing mind manipulation resistance and did not conflict with the effects of the Heat Haze gear set, even if equipped together

Tiera put on the earrings and breathed a sigh of relief Her expression was more peaceful too

“Since we didn’t hear it before, it’s safe to assu closer to our destination There must be mermaids in this part of the sea, and a lot of them too”

shi+n’s assu

If sos, they would obtain bonuses Mers did not have a very large area of effect, only around 20 er

Some skills could be powered up or have their area of effect increased if players and/or support characters used the skill together at the sas were such skills: their area of effect increased proportionally with the nuers Even if each caster’s skill level was low, ifcould becoreat number of ing co from?”

“That way”

Zazie answered shi+n’s question immediately She had closed her eyes, probably to detect the direction the song ca, as next to her, agreed with Zazie, as pointing west

“…yeah, there’s soht skills and peered into the distance: beyond the storht Because of the distance, he could not see beyond it yet Co nohere dark clouds stopped ht, however, it was clearly different

“Let’s go forward like this Let es”

Continuing to use skills would interfere with piloting the shi+p, so shi+n deactivated the long-range sight skills and adjusted the shi+p’s route to the west, where Zazie was pointing

Eventually, shi+n’s ears clearly picked up the song

“Theyback”

“That’s right, the song is disturbed too You’ll be able to see what’s beyond the storive it a shot”

Proht skills to full use, while paying attention to the shi+p’s controls at the saht and found a very nostalgic sight

“Rejoice, ladies and gentlemen We’ve hit the jackpot”

A vessel er than the shi+p shi+n built, arh to pierce the sky, its front ra the fact that it was stranded on a , it looked exactly as shi+n re its owner’s nickna silhouette was there

“If we go forward like this, we’ll see Celciutos soon”

shi+n’s words caused a wave of excitement in the party Bell and Shell jumped up in joy

“If Celciutos is in this direction, does itit?”

“If that’s the case, it’s strange for the song to coh”

shi+baid voiced his opinion, following a question from Zazie

shi+n very much doubted that normal mermaids could have penetrated Celciutos’ barrier The support character in charge of Celciutos’ equipment was a dwarf, so it was very unlikely for him to still be alive The only possibility was that the otiated with theto an end, the dwarf could have thought of a plan to preserve Celciutos, or so hypothesized Lapwing

“We’ll know all about that once we get closer”

“That’s right I’oing straight on”

shi+n nodded to Filaining in voluth, but neither the nuh todirections or speed, on the course of shi+n’s group, pillars of water clearly different fro

shi+n, wary, lowered the shi+p’s speed, and the responses he had registered on the map moved to surround the shi+p They were 30 in all: ten on each of the shi+p’s sides and ten behind it

“They ca the cursed song, shi+n could tell that they had come out of the barrier

The reason was that, to prevent players fro safely from behind a barrier, if offensive skills were used fro outside the barrier, its endurance would decrease significantly

Celciutos’ barrier was no exception Its endurance was very high and recovered auto fro did not seem to have an effect, it would have been safer to not attee intruders would simply be repelled, after all

The responses, however, all moved outside the barrier to surround the shi+p shi+n thought that they did not go to the front of the shi+p, where the barrier was, in order to cut off all escape routes

“I guess they think they got us surrounded, but they don’t know that it’s pretty less for us”

The front was still clear, so the shi+p could go forithout trouble The speed was slower than before, so even if the barrier stopped thee

Despite the shi+p continuing to proceed, the responses did notthe situation, e

“Looks like it’ll be okay”

The shi+p crossed the barrier of storm and winds: without particular resistance, shi+n’s shi+p entered Celciutos’ barrier

The responses — possibly ht that the barrier would have stopped the shi+p’s advance: they scattered irregularly around the map, likely out of confusion

“Looks like they’re co after us”

“Let’s see how they react — this is bad”

shi+n was ready to gauge their reactions, but then his face tensed

The cause behind this sudden change was that his er than even the shi+p Its speed was very high,that it would come in contact with the party in a matter of minutes

As it was still relatively far, the mermaids seemed not to have noticed, and they appeared to be still undecided about how to react to shi+n’s arrival

“You people underwater! A hugehere! Get back inside the barrier, now!”

shi+n wasn’t sure that they could hear hiaphone function to try to call to the mermaids

shi+n didn’t know about the extent of their abilities, but if they were attacked by surprise, there was the chance they would suffer dae No matter what relationshi+p they would have in the future, if they were annihilated in a situation caused by shi+n’s group, it wouldn’t sit ith the appeared to have reached thetowards the barrier, et closer About one minute after the merpeople had safely taken shelter inside the barrier, the response showed itself

“It’s huge…”

“I had the feeling it was too big…I see, it ca at the source of the response, Tiera becahed

A body that eh in the sky, black and red co at shi+n’s party: the “visitor” was none other than Keseldran, one of the Three Sea Beasts

Even just the body, visible above water, was easily above 15 mels Its size and the red aura the monster’s whole body emanated clearly expressed its status as a boss monster

“■■■■■■■■■■■■■■――!![T/N: black squares, I think it’s supposed to be a roar]”

After less than one minute, Keseldran made its first move

With a roar, better described as an explosion of sound, the monster looked towards the , Keseldran now exuded a very powerful pressure in their direction

The stormy waters, affected by the shockwave, formed radiation-like waves with the boss et ready to defend, just in case”

“Understood”

shi+n examined the situation, then ordered shi+baid to activate a defensive barrier Celciutos’ barrier was probably enough to repel the , like what happened in Pal, soed with Keseldran

“Er, it’s, shi+ning?”

“Watch well That’s Keseldran’s er and began to fret, but Schnee replied to her with a completely cal bluish-white globe of light that had for its surface and the alested what ele”

Almost at the same tihtning Fitting the monster’s massive size, the bolt was around one mel in diahtning froiven a direction, crashed against Celciutos’ barrier, then broke in four bolts running along the barrier’s surface Part of the repelled bolts hit the water’s surface, releasing the electricity and causing an explosion

“Aah!?”

Behind shi+n and shi+baid, who had raised their shi+elds to be safe, Tiera let out a small shriek

The thunderbolt versus barrier bout saw the barrier e strikes, the barrier’s surface did not show any cracks or signs of dae

“Looks like the barrier’s still sturdy enough”

The barrage of thunderbolts ended after about 5 seconds Seeing that the barrier was unscathed, Keseldran growled ominously, then quickly retreated outside shi+n’s detection range

“My eyes still sting…what in the world was that?”

“Keseldran’s sure-kill breath When its e it or block it will turn you into ashes”

Keseldran used lighting-based attacks despite being a sea monster, but its attacks were not limited to above water: its breath could also strike below the surface, its power not dihtest Further the protection granted by lightning-nullifying accessories

During the game era, it allowed players to live the rare experience of being burned alive underwater

The capabilities of its breath est that Keseldran was superior to the other Sea Beasts, but Mascurda could avoid the breath with ic and Eolios possessed the rare skill to diffuse the breath to weaken it

Precisely because such a lethal attack could not easily prove fatal, the Three Beastswith the merpeople first Now that they’re surprised, they’ll probably at least listen to e have to say”

shi+n wasn’t sure that the approach would be successful, but planned to do his part so that both parties will understand each other

“If they attack us one-sidedly, can we knock them out?”