Chapter 603: The Stranger on Deck |
Randall stood on a giant lily pad drifting over the water. Selmarines kept climbing up at him with spears in hand, and he crushed them one by one with his hammers. Doug kicked one of the corpses away. There were still plenty of them, but little by little their numbers were dropping. The halos were no longer sending more of them into the area.
One of the ships had already been destroyed.
“Come on then, you bastards!” Triss shouted, leaping over the water and bringing her axe down in a brutal arc.
Her boots let her run across the surface. She spun through the sharks, cutting them apart. Even in the middle of chaos, she looked almost cheerful. Part of that was just who she was, Randall figured. The rest was probably rage-based skills.
“So much for our chance at getting an artifact,” Doug said.
Randall looked toward the trees. The golden glows of the artifacts were disappearing. Someone was collecting them.
“We never had a chance,” Randall said. The rain was coming down even harder now.
More sharks closed in around the lily pad. They bit chunks out of it, then sank again, trying to tear it apart.
“Best option is getting out of here,” Doug said.
Randall was thrown into the water. Down there, he saw the sharks turn the instant they noticed him and charge straight in. He swung his hammer, killing one, driving the others back. The moment he broke the surface, another wave hit him and dragged him away.
He held onto the hammer and felt his back slam into stone and splintered wood, pieces of broken boats drifting in the chaos. When he finally managed to climb onto another broad leaf, someone held out a hand to him.
“You just have to jump the wave,” Triss said, hauling him up.
Randall coughed up water onto the giant leaf.
“Easy for you to say,” he said with a weak laugh. “You’ve got super jump.”
Doug was already approaching, walking on top of the water. A ship pulled up beside them.
“I’m leaving,” Triss said. “Staying here is wrecking my ship.”
Ahead of them, the battle between the selmarines and the people still raged while the waves kept coming. Randall grabbed the net thrown from the ship so the next wave would not drag him off.
“Both of you, get up here. I’ll get you out of this section,” Triss called.
Randall climbed until he reached the deck. There he saw a lot of people working, and others armed, watching him and Doug with hard eyes.
“Tie your boat to ours. We’ll tow it too,” Triss said, already walking off and barking other orders. The ship began to move.
Randall looked back toward where the golden lights had been. One ship was firing cannons, blasting open a path toward the artifacts.
“I’ve got my own rope,” Doug said.
“There’s just one problem,” Randall told Triss. “I don’t have a boat anymore. The sharks destroyed it. I know trusting strangers is hard, but I don’t mind being tied up and dragged behind the ship.”
It was still a hell of a lot safer than swimming alone through the ocean. This biome at least had giant trees whose tops could serve as makeshift land, but sooner or later he would end up alone out there anyway, and then the journey across the sea would be his problem and no one else’s.
“You can share space with me in my boat,” Doug said. “You know how to fish?”
Randall showed him the shark wound. “Oh, absolutely. I make excellent bait.”
“Tie the boat to the ship,” Triss ordered.
“Captain,” someone said, hurrying over, “more people want to join us.”
“Tell them to tie a rope from their boat.”
“They don’t have boats. Most of them lost theirs when they sank during this challenge.”
“We can’t let strangers onboard. Last time, we nearly lost the ship because of that.”
“I can help!” someone shouted from the water.
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“Me too!” another voice called.
“Some rafts went under. If they swim, they can still grab them,” Doug said.
“Pass the word to them. But we’re not waiting for anyone. We’re leaving,” she replied.
An elderly man with a thick beard stepped closer to her. “Captain, are you sure we’re giving up the chance to grab an artifact?”
“Sometimes the best way to finish a game is simply not to lose anything,” she said. “The ship has already taken enough damage. It isn’t worth the risk. And if another vessel turns its cannons on us, things get complicated fast.”
“I understand. You’re right.”
“So this haul was a failure.”
“Maybe it wasn’t such a bad catch after all,” a voice said.
When they turned, they saw a figure sitting on the ship’s bulwark. Triss’s crew immediately raised their weapons.
“The hooded guy?” Randall said, recognizing him.
“Did anybody even see how this guy got onto our ship?” someone nearby asked.
“I want to make a deal with you, Triss.”
“A deal?” she asked.
The hooded man raised a hand. The others kept their guard up. Behind him, a raft floated up into view.
What kind of power is that? Telekinesis?
Randall had already seen the mysterious man riding a giant octopus, and now this. But the moment everyone saw what was inside the raft, their eyes widened.
“Artifacts...” someone whispered.
“I picked up a few artifacts,” the hooded man said.
Ten Marine Artifacts rose from the raft and dropped onto the deck in front of Triss.
“They’re yours.”
“Mine? For free?”
“No. It’s a deal. What I want is simple. If you meet anyone from the list of names I give you, help them. That’s all. You remember the names?”
“I remember. Elizabeth, Charlie, Eleanor, Angie, Evangeline, Jack...” Triss continued through the rest of the list.
“Those artifacts are the payment,” the hooded man said.
“And what’s your name? I need to make sure they actually know you, so I don’t end up giving a ride to someone with the same name,” she said.
“Luke Moon.”
“All right, Luke Moon. We have a deal.” Triss extended her hand, and he shook it.
Then he looked at Randall and Doug. “How many artifacts do you have?”
“Artifacts? I’ve got three,” Doug said.
“And I have two,” Randall replied.
Five more artifacts floated toward them.
“Now you’ve got ten. That’s enough to clear a Beacon. I already got close to one, so I know how it works. Up to ten people can complete one together. So just team up,” Luke Moon said.
All the remaining artifacts flew back to him, and he stored them in his pocket dimension. Randall noticed the way some of the others stared at those artifacts, hunger burning in their eyes.
“And the raft is yours,” Luke Moon said to Randall.
The raft settled onto the deck.
“I appreciate what you did, hooded guy,” Randall said. “But I’m not keeping the raft. I’ll give it to someone down there. What do you think, Triss?”
“That works. As long as it’s quick. We’re leaving.” She looked back at Luke. “Why not come with us, Luke Moon? Join us. You’d be a huge help to the crew, and you’d have a ship to move faster across the sea.”
“I’m staying alone. I still have some things to take care of. And if I’m searching separately while you keep moving, the odds get a little better. Small, but better.” He stood there on the edge of the ship.
Randall saw him looking down.
“All those people want to get on your ship?”
“Yeah. But I’m not bringing anyone aboard who hasn’t earned my trust. I’ve had problems before.”
“I know how that is.” He glanced over the side. “Looks like they’re all out of boats.”
The man raised a hand.
“There are a few down there.”
A moment later, boats began rising out of the water. They floated into the air under telekinetic force, spinning as the water drained out of them, then dropped neatly beside the ship.
“See you around.”
Then he jumped into the water and disappeared beneath the surface.
Triss stared after him. “The guy showed up... and left with style.”
Doug let out a low whistle. “What level do you think he is?”
“Very high,” she replied.
“I saw him riding a giant octopus,” Randall said.
“An octopus?” one of Triss’s crew repeated.
“An octopus showed up during the fight and blasted ink all over everyone,” Triss said. “Looks like that was the hooded guy’s doing.”
People immediately started climbing into the recovered boats. Triss began shouting orders to her crew, and Randall jumped into the water and climbed into one of the boats himself. With that many boats suddenly available, he had one of his own again.
“So technically, we’re stealing, right?” Randall asked.
Doug shrugged from the next boat over. “The owner lost it in the storm and it sank, assuming the owner isn’t already dead. Rules of the sea. Found isn’t stolen.”
They both looked back toward the battlefield.
“The hooded guy really is gone.”
“Alone, that guy got at least twenty artifacts,” Doug said from the neighboring boat. “And I seriously doubt anyone else in this challenge pulled off anything even close to that.”
Randall nodded slowly. “There are forces in this world way above people like us. He’s in a different league.”
***
Luke kept diving deeper. Reaching into his pocket dimension, he pulled out the reward he had received for visiting the Abyssal Zone.
Hey everyone, if you thought you were reading the wrong chapter or that I skipped some content, don’t worry. The next chapter will explain what happened to Luke in the Abyssal Zone.
Fun fact: there’s artwork of Triss on Patreon for this chapter.
I’m mentioning this because someone asked after the previous chapter, where I shared the fun fact about Charlie wearing a maid outfit. And you know an even bigger fun fact? Since so many people kept asking me for Artemis artwork, I also included her at the end of this chapter.
