“Ughhhhh…”
Yuma faced the sea, vomiting up something glittering.
“Yuma, are you okay?”
Rui asked worriedly, patting his back.
“Ugh… it’s my first time on a fishing boat… I didn’t know it would make me this sick… I wonder if I can make it to England?”
As he whined, Jacob, who was steering, frowned and looked at Yuma.
“What’s with you, so pathetic! That’s how all the young ones are these days…”
Jacob snorted and faced forward with a “Hmph,” as if to say, “Good grief.”
About an hour had passed since they left Hamburg. The fishing boat was steadily advancing through the North Sea. He had expected more Monsters to appear, but so far, there was no sign of them.
“Jacob-san, how much longer until we reach England?”
Yuma, who had been clinging to the edge of the boat, stood up unsteadily, wiped his mouth, and asked Jacob.
“Well, if nothing happens, it should be about six hours.”
“Six hours!? Does it really take that long?”
“You fool! A normal fishing boat would take even longer! This fishing boat has been modified by me, so it’s quite fast. Just be quiet!”
Hearing Jacob’s angry voice, Yuma felt utterly dejected.
–This sickness is going to last for six hours… it’s much scarier than Monsters.
As Yuma was feeling hopeless, Werner, who was at the stern, shouted.
“Hey! Something’s coming! And a lot of them!!”
Yuma, Rui, and Felix immediately moved to the stern and looked behind them. White waves were splashing and approaching them.
It looked like a school of fish, but it was clearly different.
“Are those… a horde of Fish-men?”
Felix muttered with a distorted face. Yuma also strained his eyes and stared at the surface of the water.
Fish-like heads, silvery shimmering bodies. The way they stroked their arms like butterflies was a chillingly disgusting sight.
“Yuma, let’s do this! We’ll be overtaken if we stay like this.”
“O-okay.”
Rui drew his Katana, and Yuma took out the three-part Pickel from the bag he was carrying and assembled it.
As the two of them readied their weapons, Werner and Felix retreated to the bow.
Rui lightly swung the Scorching Blade. The scattering Embers turned into flaming Birds, dancing in the air and heading towards the horde of Fish-men.
Three Birds exploded on the sea.
Splashes of water rose, and smoke billowed out. But–
“Damn it. They’re diving underwater to avoid the explosion!”
As Rui said, the Fish-men, who had disappeared for a moment, reappeared on the surface. They were swimming at high speed as if nothing had happened.
Yuma clicked his tongue in frustration. So Monsters in the water aren’t so easy to deal with.
“I’ll do it!”
This time, Yuma stepped forward and raised his Pickel high. Rui’s Fire Magic was incompatible with Water Monsters. But what about Wind Magic!?
Yuma gathered Wind Magical Power into the head of the Pickel.
The wind swirled and became a spherical mass. Yuma swung down the Pickel and threw the Wind Sphere at the Fish-men.
The moment the sphere touched the surface of the water, the water burst as if it had exploded.
The Fish-men tried to evade by diving underwater, but the impact was too great, and several Fish-men were blown away and slammed onto the surface of the water.
“Wind Magic seems to be working somehow…”
Just as Yuma was about to unleash a second attack, a scream came from behind him.
“Waaaaaaaaah! W-what is that!?”
It was the voice of the tall young man, Finn. Yuma and Rui hurriedly turned around, and an unusual sight unfolded.
The sea in front of the boat was rising.
“What!? What is that?”
Yuma didn’t understand and froze with a frown. The rising sea was undulating and moving.
Eventually, the water receded, and a large torso covered in scales came into view.
It was a giant snake… no, a Dragon.
“Sea Serpent!! And a pretty big one!”
Yuma snapped to attention at Rui’s voice and came back to his senses. That’s a Sea Serpent? He had heard of them, but seeing one in person was incredibly overwhelming.
The fishing boat rocked violently from the waves caused by the Great Serpent.
Yuma and the others couldn’t stand and crouched down, waiting for the waves to subside.
“Damn it! Can we even fight in this state!?”
Yuma gritted his teeth. Even if he used Metallization, underwater combat would be impossible.
After all, his body would be heavy metal. He wouldn’t be able to swim and would sink without being able to do anything.
Thinking about it, trying to get to England by boat might have been a mistake.
He should have chosen the aerial route, even if it was dangerous… While Yuma was thinking about this, the waves subsided, and the area became quiet.
Yuma and Rui slowly stood up and looked around.
The Sea Serpent was gone. Had it dived into the sea? And the Fish-men, who had been so numerous, had disappeared before they knew it.
The boat stopped its engine and was just floating on the waves.
“What’s going on!? What the heck? Why aren’t they attacking?”
No one answered Yuma’s question. Everyone was confused, staring at the now-calm surface of the water.
At that moment–
“Ugh!?”
A sharp pain ran through Yuma’s left hand. He grimaced at the sudden sensation and bent over slightly.
“What’s wrong? Yuma!”
Rui called out worriedly from behind. “No, it’s nothing,” Yuma replied, but he himself didn’t know what was happening.
Yuma straightened up and looked around.
There was no wind, and the surface of the water was calm, eerily so.
Jacob, the fisherman, also noticed the abnormality and was sweating nervously.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this before… something troublesome is coming.”
In the tense atmosphere, Felix showed a hint of panic, saying, “Oh come on, give me a break! What’s coming!?”, and Werner was regretting it now, saying, “Maybe I shouldn’t have come.”
Everyone could feel it in their bones. This incredibly dangerous atmosphere.
Soon, the fishing boat began to rattle. Small waves rose, and the boat tilted. Yuma endured the urge to fall and grabbed the edge of the boat, looking at the surface of the water.
A large shadow was swimming in the sea. It wasn’t the Sea Serpent. It was something even bigger.
Yuma shifted his gaze to his left hand. This tingling pain, he had only experienced it once before. Yuma remembered that time clearly.
“This is… the pain I felt when I met the Green Lord, the Chimera’s Jewel is reacting to a powerful enemy. If that’s the case–“
Yuma looked out over the vast North Sea. The once-calm sea was now wavy and slowly beginning to swirl.
“It’s down there! The ruler who controls the sea… the Blue King!!”