Chapter 627: The Ghost City |
Luke stared at the notification that had appeared the moment he left Beacon 2’s dungeon.
Phase 3 Challenge
In this phase, the Beacons are not at the bottom of the ocean. They are hidden within a ghost city. Far to the north of the location of Beacon 2 lies a region swallowed by a sea shrouded in fog. Sometimes an eerie stillness reigns there. At other times, a violent storm dominates the horizon. In those treacherous waters rests a vast city built over the ocean, abandoned for millennia. Its structures still stand, worn down by time... but not empty.
It is said that its former inhabitants still wander the submerged streets and leaning towers, waiting for some fool to draw near so they can drag them into the depths. The Beacons are scattered throughout this forgotten city. But be warned: the place is labyrinthine, treacherous, and haunted.
Luke looked over at Katarina. She was sitting on the deck in her jar. Every now and then, Anne fed her little treats, cubes of fish meat. The carnivorous plant loved them.
“Feeling anything, Katarina?”
The plant nodded. It did not take long before they reached an area thick with seaweed, much of it breaking the surface of the water. Luke gathered some of it. The fog had thinned, and the sea had gone calm. The group headed into the cabin for lunch. Charlie had cooked.
“I can’t believe I’m going to have to learn how to cook all over again,” Evangeline said as she ate.
They were all gathered around a large table.
“I only know the most basic stuff. My post-tutorial plans involved hiring a private chef and enjoying my wealth, not getting dragged back into Narnia,” she said.
“I made dessert,” Charlie said.
“Dessert?” Eleanor asked. “You’re very... domestic, Charlie.”
“It’s the duty of a wi—” She cut herself off. “Yes. Master Luke really likes my cooking.”
“So do I,” Artemis said.
Anne was outside steering the ship.
“I just ate, sorry I’m not staying to the end. Thanks for the dessert, Charlie. I’m not very hungry,” Jack said as he stepped out of the cabin and returned to the deck.
“The short one is worried,” Evangeline said.
“I’m worried about my mother too. She didn’t have the system, and just like Luke’s parents, she’s on the continent,” Eleanor said. “But for him it has to be even stranger, knowing his father had the system and hid it.”
“Maybe it happened during the time he was missing in the tutorial,” Luke said.
“And then there’s you. Your mother’s alive,” Evangeline said. “For you it’s even stranger, since she stayed gone anyway. Families are weird.”
“I hope she has an excellent explanation for the last fifteen years...” Luke said. “But I’m not angry. I just... feel strange.”
“I killed the mood. Sorry,” Evangeline said. “Sorry, Luke. Eleanor too.”
“What about you? Don’t you have anyone left in your family? No one at all?” Luke asked.
“No one. And if anyone did survive, they didn’t come looking for me, and I never cared to go looking for people who never cared about me,” the ninja woman said. “After my parents died and I ended up on the streets, my priorities were staying alive and not getting kidnapped.”
“Fair,” Eleanor said. “Did your parents always live in New York?”
“They were from all over, I think. If I remember right, my mother’s family was from Japan. My great-grandmother, anyway,” she said.
“Seriously?”
“You think I picked the kunoichi class for no reason?” she said. “That was in my DNA.”
Listening to the ninja woman talk about her life on the streets was enough to bring the mood back to normal.
“Wait a second. If technology is gone, how are we supposed to make ice cream?” Evangeline asked. “And what about online shopping?”
“Online shopping is dead,” Luke said. “But ice cream...”
“Ice cream is the easiest thing in the world to make if you have access to ice. Remember Allison?” Eleanor asked.
Then she fell quiet. “Sorry. Another touchy subject.”
“We’re drowning in touchy subjects,” Evangeline said. “But ice cream was my favorite dessert.”
“I like pumpkin pie,” Layla said. “It’s amazing.”
“Of course you do... Pumpkin,” Luke said.
“That has nothing to do with it...”
“And you... Master Luke?” Charlie asked, clearly taking mental notes on what he liked.
“I don’t really have a favorite dessert. I’m not that into sweets. On my birthday... there were always a lot of sweets around. I preferred presents,” he said.
“My favorite dessert is cream pie,” Artemis said, then burst out laughing.
Eleanor and Evangeline both turned to look at Luke with flat, deeply judgmental expressions.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that. She’s the one saying stupid things, not me,” Luke said.
The goddess’s voice kept laughing at her own joke.
“Seriously, I’ve been sitting on that one forever and never thought I’d actually get a chance to use it,” Artemis said between laughs.
“I don’t get it, Master Luke,” Charlie said, confused.
“Me neither,” Layla said. Then her face turned red and her eyes widened. “Y-you shameless pervert!”
At that exact moment, Jack burst into the cabin.
“Giant monster!” he shouted, pointing outside.
The whole group jumped out of their seats and ran. Outside, an enormous algae-creature with a massive flower was attacking the ship. Anne was dodging its tentacles and striking back with her sword. Luke and the others joined the fight, hacking apart the tentacles trying to smash the ship.
Charlie shone brightest in the battle. She leaped onto the giant flower and started pummeling it, her flaming fists setting the whole plant ablaze. Luke helped by diving into the water and using the shark to rip through the creature’s roots.
Within minutes, the enormous plant monster was dead.
“There are boats in the water,” Layla said.
They were shattered. Broken into pieces and wrapped in algae.
“Other people tried to get through here and got unlucky,” Evangeline said.
Luke was looking at Charlie’s notification.
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Charlotte Vespertilio’s 2nd Class [Black Ash Fighter] reached Level 85! (+18 STR, +8 INT, +7 END, +6 VIT, +6 PER, +5 AGI, +5 Free Points)
[Charlotte Vespertilio has unlocked a new class skill]
When they went to toss the giant flower head overboard, Luke felt something.
“What is it, Katarina?” he asked the carnivorous plant.
The little plant opened its mouth and started chewing at the air.
“She wants to eat this,” Luke said.
“This?” Layla asked. “She’s tiny compared to that thing. That’ll take years.”
“Katarina has refined taste,” Luke said.
Layla clicked her tongue.
“Your job is to feed the plant. Don’t forget that,” he said, walking off.
“Hey, how exactly am I supposed to cut up something that huge?” Layla called after him.
“There’s an artifact glowing in the water,” Eleanor said.
The monstrous plant had been guarding it.
***
Eleanor was in the ship’s bath area, a room lined with large round wooden tubs. After the fight with the giant plant, all of them had gotten covered in the slime the monster spat at them.
She rinsed herself off, sluicing away the grime with a bucket before stepping toward the tub. It was already full, and Charlie had heated the water by plunging her flaming fists into it.
“Now this is living,” Evangeline said.
She was already in the tub.
“Weren’t you supposed to be helping clean the slime off the deck?” Eleanor asked.
“Luke excused me. He’s using telekinesis to do the work. Lucky bastard is lying down while everything floats around cleaning itself,” she said.
“Wait a second... I saw Layla scrubbing the deck corridor with a mop.”
“Don’t tell Layla,” Evangeline said. “That’s what he told me when he let me off the hook.”
“He’s messing with Layla again... no,” Eleanor muttered, sinking into the hot water.
“You can go tell her. Are you really getting out now that you just got in?”
Eleanor sank lower. “Damn it... the water’s too warm and too good... I’ll tell her... later.”
She let the heat soak through her whole body. For a while, the two of them sat in silence, just enjoying the bath.
“He has a girlfriend...” Eleanor said at last.
“What?” Evangeline opened her eyes. Eleanor had not realized she had been half-asleep.
“Luke has a girlfriend...”
“Well, who would’ve thought? Cinderella would be the first one in the group to end up dating,” she said. “I’ll admit, I thought he liked the Rhiannon princess.”
“I thought so too... which is why...” Eleanor dipped her face halfway under, then came back up. “I thought... maybe the path was clear.”
“I’m not following.”
“You know... Allison was so far away, protected by that dragon family of hers. Deep down, I thought she knew she was never going to see him again, right?”
“But there was still the whole friendship bracelet thing.”
Eleanor cleared her throat. “Anyway, I thought maybe... things between them would cool off. But then...”
“Oh. I think I get it now,” Evangeline said.
“It’s just... he and I went through a lot together.”
“Is him pretending to be interested in you part of it?”
“No. I didn’t fall for that old James act of his. I was annoyed he thought I would fall for that scumbag routine, though.”
Eleanor felt her cheeks heating up.
“But then... I interrogated him, and after that he became a fugitive criminal, and then he came back to help me when I got arrested. He saved me. Took me somewhere safe. We spent months together preparing for a war, thinking we were going to die. And then we made it out of hell.” She looked down at the water. “It just... happened at some point.”
“I think that’s how falling for someone works,” Evangeline said.
“But then... he’s taken... and Charlie is really beautiful.”
“She really is,” Evangeline said. “Damn, she’s absurdly pretty. What was Cinderella even thinking? I should’ve been the one to show up first with a hot guy or a hot woman just to rub it in his face.”
“What do you mean, a hot woman?”
“I like women too, Eleanor.”
Eleanor blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly that. I also... like women.”
“What?” Eleanor turned around so fast she ended up facing the other way.
“Why did I suddenly become some kind of pervy creep? That whole posture is because of that collar around Luke’s neck.”
“Right. Sorry,” Eleanor said, turning back around.
“But relax. What draws me in is personality. The body...” Evangeline shrugged. “That part doesn’t matter much to me. It’s not that I can’t feel attraction, but what really matters to me is what’s inside. Once you’ve lived on the streets and done certain things just to eat... you realize we all look ugly on the outside eventually.”
She stood up and wrapped herself in a towel. “That’s why I like fashion.”
“You’ve really been through hell. Makes me feel like complaining about growing up in Washington sounds kind of ridiculous,” Eleanor said.
“Hey, relax. We all have our own problems, and we all know how they shape us.” Evangeline smiled faintly. “Anyway, back to Luke. They sleep in the same cabin. Same bed, too.”
“Yeah... I know.”
“I’ve even heard them having sex.”
“WHAT?!” Eleanor shot up in the bathtub.
“It was a joke.”
Eleanor exhaled hard. “That’s not funny. I believed you. You sleep in the cabin next door.”
“But it lightened the weight in your head a little, didn’t it? See? Push something to the absolute worst possibility, and suddenly the rest feels easier to bear.”
Eleanor grabbed her towel and started drying off. “Wow... that actually worked. In a weird way.”
“Finding out the guy you like is in a relationship and then having to keep seeing him and his girlfriend laugh together and sleep in the same ship must be a special kind of awful,” Evangeline said. “But they definitely do things.”
“Okay, I do not want to picture that. And if you hear anything, do not tell me.”
“Are you sure?”
Eleanor froze. “Damn it, Evangeline... now I don’t even know how to answer that.”
***
Luke was in his cabin aboard the ship. Night had already fallen. He was studying the algae, jotting down notes as he worked.
[Green Moss Algae]: A type of algae with modest nutritional value, but far more notable for its unique magical properties. Mother Freya’s Tip: An algae with remarkable magical capacity for retaining oxygen from water. Useful in potions related to breath, and also an excellent ingredient for stomach pain.
“Master Luke, it’s already very late,” Charlie said.
He looked back and saw her. The beautiful vampire woman was standing there, pouting as she looked at him.
Charlie sat down on the bed and lightly patted the mattress beside her, beckoning him over.
“I want you sleeping next to me. No staying up late working.”
“I’m only going to stay here a little longer. You can go to sleep, Charlie.”
She pouted and patted the bed again. “I want you here.”
Luke stored the algae away in his pocket dimension and set the necklace inside a box. Artemis complained immediately. The moment Luke approached the bed, Charlie’s pout melted into a smile. She was wearing simple shorts and a shirt.
“I just like sleeping with you beside me,” she said as she lay down.
Luke lay down too. She pulled the blanket over him, then turned her back to him.
“Hug me, Master Luke.”
Charlie liked falling asleep curled against him. Luke wrapped his arms around her, and the two of them shared warmth. That alone made her happy.
“This bed is a little small for the two of us, but we can make it work,” Charlie said.
“For what I have in mind, there’s more than enough room,” he said.
Charlie’s cheeks turned red. “I-I’m embarrassed to do... that... with people nearby.”
“I’m not sure I believe that, Charlie. Your wild side back at the Citadel didn’t seem too concerned.”
Her face turned even redder.
“T-that was different, and I-I’m embarrassed about what I did...” Her voice went small at the end.
“I know, Charlie. I’m teasing you.”
Luke held her a little tighter.
“You’re so warm, Master Luke. Don’t let go.”
“You say that every night, Charlie.”
“I say it so you remember. You always let go. I want you to keep holding me.”
“I let go because I fall asleep.”
“Hm... then make an effort to keep holding me even while you’re asleep. That’s your duty as a husband.”
“You’re getting more spoiled every day.”
“I like... being spoiled.”
And the two of them fell asleep.
***
Morning started badly. Sharks were attacking the ship. Luke hurled knives charged with [Cursed Weapon].
[You have slain a Prowling Shark - Lvl 81] *287.012 EP earned*
[You have slain a Prowling Shark - Lvl 79] *281.478 EP earned*
[You have slain a Prowling Shark - Lvl 79] *282.628 EP earned*
There were too many of them, and they kept slamming into the hull. A roar came from the front of the ship. An enormous hammerhead shark was striking with brutal force.
“It’s circling around and hitting us from the side too,” Eleanor said.
“More are coming up to the surface!” Jack shouted.
[Hammerhead Shark - Lvl 104]
“I’ll draw them away,” Luke said.
“I want to test something too,” Charlie said.
She opened her system interface. Five skill options appeared when she tapped the level 85 notification for her second class. Charlie had waited. But now she had made up her mind.
Fun fact: this chapter has artwork of Eleanor and Evangeline in the bath waiting over in that other place.