Chương 63: Chapter 62 - Obros-Ka

Welp, that is certainly an interesting find. Before them, right where the wakepath should be sat a monstrosity, algae-green and leaking ichor from a dozen holes with a dozen writhing tentacles bigger than a house. How does it cling to the mist like that? Isn't contact supposed to be a quick death? Maybe it's using something as a buffer, or maybe it developed immunity?

The wakepath would have been entirely obscured were it not for the open void that was its maw, sucking in a river with a worth of water as it filter-fed. OH! So that's what it meant by "Regular clearing of Obros-Ka is necessary" on the map. This is probably Obros-Ka. A monolithic stone tower rose half way up the entrance of the wake-path, wrapped in coil after coil until it appeared nearly fused with the monstrosity. Yet the stone was undamaged. This is going to be a problem.

Fortunately I have a ship with cannons, it does not. With a wave of her hand the ship banked to the left, Aether Culverin manifesting on the starboard side.

"Don't worry, I'll have it cleared in no time" Nythera brushed off Rowen before he could ask a question. I'll see how much damage a regular shell does then go from there. Not like it can do anything from way over there.

"FIRE!" The shell launched forth and arced across the churning waters. This is one of my farthest shots. Just as it appeared to reach the beastie, the shell plunked harmlessly into the waters well before it. Rowen hollered, slapping his hand on his knee multiple times as he bent over in laughter "You're supposed to be the specialist at distance, aren't you? Worse range than an archer!" Her face turned red "Look I don't usually shoot from this far…"

It would take me about 3 seconds to pivot the cannon and another 57 to reload. If he dodges I'll have to adjust on the spot, it could be tricky to hit him if he tries to-"Come on? Are you going to hit the fucking thing" Rowen whined and looked back. He caught her gaze.

"Oh, uh feel free to fire whenever you're ready, I am sure you'll hit your target, I think you missed because of the uh, the air! The air isnt…" Rowen's placation petered out. That's right, you better be careful. The cannon had already reloaded, a shell warm and waiting in the barrel. FIRE! Her command triggered another launch. The shell arced upwards, going well above the ship before plummeting back down.

It smashed into the side of the beast and detonated, chunks of green flesh and blue ichor exploded off its flank. The explosion was nothing but a pinprick on its side, barely even visible without her skill. At that moment, one of the serpents of the deep slithered through the entrance of its maw. The great cavernous teeth closed down, gouging into the serpent like a serrated knife, red blood mixed with blue ichor as the teeth ground into flesh. Minutes later the maw opened.

Half the serpent was gone, its tail trailing out in front. Dragged in by tentacles, the devouring was complete. Well, this is going to be a problem. Time to try with more firepower. If I don't have enough, just get more. Nythera ripped through the flux in her own cannon, breaking the weaving of the new shell and pulling Hyper-flux into its place. The density formed a singularity on the point, pushing away the ambient flux. The sailor retreated below deck and Rowen inched away from the starboard side.

Yeah that's right, you better be careful.

"FIRE!" Nythera yelled with enthusiasm. Maintaining the angle, the shell flew in a familiar arc and impacted the side of the creature. Her finger was already pressed into the "Fire Starboard Cannonry". The entire ship bucked as the right side lit up in a burst of fire. Her head whipped to the side as the blinding light assaulted her eyes. But she kept her eyes on the shells as they raced forward. Three shells, three marks of death.

More firepower than she had ever unleashed before, traced behind her own hyper-flux shell. The Hyper-flux impacted the topside of the maw. The detonation, while small against the size of the monstrosity, ripped deep into the flesh, clearly visible for miles. The three ship-launched shells smashed into different points along its body, with one going directly into the open maw. The ship-borne shells erupted into flames along its surface, gouging deep holes into its flank. Ichor poured like waterfalls down its skin.

One of the monolithic teeth crashed down, piercing its own flesh at the bottom of the maw. A deep guttural cry sounded from within.

"By Kronan, I love this ship" she muttered to herself. Ok so now I just hit it from a distance till it dies then we should be able to proceed through, hopefully something eats its body, I don't want to fly over a rotting corpse every time I come this way.

"So, what's the plan? Hit it from here until it dies?" Rowen asked from the lower deck.

"Yup, I can't imagine it could take many more of these rounds, it is a shame to waste so many though" one finger was already pressed into "Reload".

"Milord, there is something in the water" the sailor had come back up on deck. A rapidly approaching churn of water was visible from their perch, several meters up.

"Rowen, get ready" Nythera said, pivoting Aether Culverin to face towards the sea, she tread down the stairs to get a better look. Is this some counter measure? Maybe it's a tentacle coming up from below? But we are miles out, it shouldn't be able to reach us. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Pulling on Precision-Sight, Nythera focused on the thrashing waters. Oh, lovely.

Small tentacles and tiny maws raced towards them in a mob, some pushed above sea level by their siblings only to fall back into a gap, such was their numbers. Their numbers reminded her of stories of endless swarms of Hel that Kronan was said to have pulverized to ash with a single smash of his fist. Well I am not Kronan, and these are not the swarms of Hel.

Nythera cranked the "Stabilization Height" up and the ship rose until it perched 6 meters above the water, raising it further and seemed to drain from the battery. If I drain the battery we cannot run with the jets. The cannons cost a bunch just to reload too… FUCK The first of the green swarm reached the shadow of their ship, caught in a frenzy, they seemed to disappear in the blue abyss.

"NYTHERA! GET THE SHIP MOVING!" Rowen screamed. Bolting up the stairs to the upper deck, her head slammed to the ground as a green blob of tentacles and teeth went flying overhead. The fleshy mass slammed into the deck with a Thunk and rolled to stop, tentacles unfolding and searching for meat to dig into. By Kronan, is this its baby? Its spawn? The selva sail bent as another slammed into its upper reaches, sticking to the mast. Three steps and a button press later and the ship jolted forward, jet force set to 25%.

Something slammed into her cloak, pushing her against the panel. Thunk….. Thunk…. Thunk … Her deck was bombarded under a green rain. Nythera pulled on Cannon Arm, a lack of space or time forcing her to it. Aiming directly at the amassing tentacles she pulled the trigger. Light, fire, and force threw her over the railings. She crashed down into the lower deck, landing on something squishy stuck to her back. It stopped moving.

Rowen was busy stabbing and slashing at the oncoming horde, while they were weak, the sheer numbers meant his blade could never rest. The rain of spawn thinned as the ship careened forward, while nearly a dozen still latched onto her sails, The Sea Empress was largely out of danger. Nythera pushed her way to the starboard gunwale, careful to avoid any of the stinking animate fleshblobs. There was one stuck to my back, wasn't there? I am going to have to clean this cloak now, it's going to stink like Hel isn't it?

A mass of fluxstone went tumbling before her eyes, clipping the edge of the drift fin, the entire ship jerked off-course. Fragments pelted down in a rain of rockly-death. Rowen dashed forth from the bow, now full of freshly-killed spawn. Another mass of rock careened overhead, barely missing the top of the mast. Thank Kronan, If that had impacted, we would be completely fucked. Where the hell are they coming from?

Rowen practically pulled her up the stairs, yanking her hand with enough force she skipped several steps "We need to go, now!" I've got this, been saving this skill for a time like this. Nythera pulled on Synchronized Thunder like she was pulling out a Varn calf. The ship jerked to the side, the sail inverted, and 2 drift fins collapsed in. Rowen was thrown into one of the railings and nearly thrown off the ship. What? I commanded it to go forward, why is it turning?

Could it be because the skill isnt used to- She flew up the stairs under the strength of Rowen's grip. The upper deck was a twisted forest of death. In place of grass and shrubbery, stacks of fleshy tentacles ate each other. Rowen cut through multiple with every swing, forging a path to the slime-coated console. In the distance, the full-grown Obros-Ka squirmed, tentacles emerging from the sea laden with dozens of boulders, as if it was tossing sand.

Already approaching them, a band of rocks flew in the sky, spreading out as they went. It's got the accuracy of a dead fish, what does it expect to hit doing that?

"Alright, I've cleaned up- I mean I've dispatched the creatures, I'll have the crew clean the deck later. Let's get the jet force amped up and get out of range" Rowen said, sheathing his blade.

"How am I supposed to get them off the fucking sail" he muttered under his breathe. Nythera struggled to pull her head away from the monstrosity shrinking in the distance.

"I don't think it can hit us from this range." A whistling sound grew louder, but she could see no boulders heading for them.

"NYTHERA, GET DOWN!" Rowen screamed. The whistle grew until nothing else could be heard. Nothing except the pitter-patter of something pelleting the ship. ROCKS! There is small debris mixed in with the bigger chunks- Something squelched beneath her. She looked down. Fuck… A foot-long fluxstone shard stuck out of her abdomen. Blood dripped in a stream onto the deck. You know, it's kind of strange, why don't I feel much pain, I suppose this really could be worse.

With a turn back, her beautiful ship's state became apparent. Holes peppered the sail and chunks of railing had been blasted off. A massive crack ran down the center console. Her knuckles turned white as she clenched her fists.

"I AM GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU overgrown green bas-" her mind slipped as she crashed onto the deck. Blood drizzled out of the open wound in her gut. Darkness. … Pain. Deep, radiating pain emanated from her gut, lancing through her body in pulses.

"Do not get up, you will just make the wound worse" Talvik's soothing voice gently whispered into her mind. Soothing? What? Jolting up, the pain lanced through her body to her very fingertips. Her jaw dropped from agony, body refusing to respond to the frozen mind. The silver falcon glared at her from a shelf.

"You should not get up, you have no Health left and we had to feed you two potions just to keep you from bleeding out, we don't have anymore if you get injured again" Rowen chided. Words brought her mind back to the present.

"What happened? Where are we? How long have I been out?" Nythera asked in haste.

"Relax, we have nearly reached Mistvale, we escaped from the creature shortly after you went down and you've only been in bed for an hour" Rowen said with an amused look in his eye.

"You do not have enough dexterity to perceive an attack like that, let alone react to it." A frown crossed his face "We need you to pilot the ship, I don't have the pass anymore. We had to use your unconscious hand to pivot the ship before we disappeared into some remote corner of the seas" he said.

"Rowen, ignore me, how is the ship?" She asked with a hint of fear. Eyes flicked away "It's fine, just fine, don't worry about the ship, we need to get you patched up" he tried to press her back down. No, I refuse to believe the Sea Empress has … Nythera pushed up past Rowen, grabbing onto a pipe jutting out of the wall for support. With a twist of the wrist the latch for the door was undone.

"Wait Nythera!" Rowen grabbed her shoulder "Do not open that door right now, you aren't ready, you are still injured, please wait unt-" she pushed her shoulder into the door, throwing herself through it. Pain cut through her like an edge-eel cut through Ranall whale. Blinding white light, a hand yanked up to protect her eyes. The sinking sun on the horizon. Her sail flapped in the wind from the massive tear running from mast to edge, cutting it in two. I am going to murder this thing.

You don't fuck with my new ship and get away with it.