I Became an Evolving Deep-Sea Creature Chapter 124

Chapter 124. Departure of the Golden Sea Route

The strait between Britain and Frangia was a distance that could be crossed in a single day.

They boarded a ship, handed over part of their goods in Frangia, exchanged them for provisions, and only then did it truly feel like a proper voyage.

The route of the ‘Golden Sea Route’ was excessively long and complicated, repeating the sa paths over and over. Yul had seen the entire route, but aside from a few special locations, he hadn’t bothered to morize it.

After all, Lucian had recorded every direction and even stored it into a magic engineering compass.

The first leg of the route was the Great Azure Ocean.

Their destination was Calamity Island, the closest and largest island.

The first person to discover Calamity Island was a captain of the British Navy who had set sail after the Great Catastrophe.

It was nad Calamity Island because it was the first island discovered after the disaster, but that didn’t an calamities actually struck there.

Britain was the first to claim ownership of the island, and soon the Kingdom of Britain officially took possession of it.

From then on, it beca a port of call for warships and vessels heading into the Great Azure Ocean.

In a sense, it was the first act of pioneering. It was also the reason Frangia later turned bloodshot-eyed and began seeking new territories.

“Land ho!”

“It’s Calamity Island.”

The ship docked, and the first voyage ca to a successful end.

‘So far, it doesn’t seem like there are any problems.’

A captain must exert dominion over the ship. And Lucian, for now, was moving without any issues.

The crew drew up a schedule to take turns disembarking on Calamity Island and continuing the voyage.

“Corman, let’s go down and take a look.”

“Yes, Captain. Cowin! Stay on the ship with Coren and keep the crew under control!”

“Yes! Captain!”

Second Mate Cowin was a large man with a solid, sturdy build. Third Mate Coren still had the air of an apprentice navigator, but he seed to accept orders without much complaint.

Yul, Lucian, and Corman disembarked first and headed for the largest tavern on the island. It was also the biggest building on the island and the place where the most sailors gathered.

When Lucian and Corman entered in uniform, with Yul following separately, soone greeted them with a broad smile.

“Oh, welco! Are you newly arrived navy n?”

He was a large man in his fifties with buck teeth, seemingly the owner of the establishnt.

“Navy? Our ship is a civilian rchant vessel. It also serves as an exploration ship.”

At Lucian’s words, the man bowed his head.

“Ah, I see. My mistake. The navy ca in around the sa ti, you see. They’re already resting over there.”

He pointed with his thumb toward a group of naval soldiers in full uniform, drinking.

“There’s plenty of room. The second floor just happens to be empty—how about that? Your crew needs a place to rest, too.”

“Thank you. We’ll send the crew to the second floor.”

As Lucian said that, he asked a few questions at the counter.

“Why is the navy here?”

“Well, now. They might be investigating those recent disappearances.”

“Disappearances?”

“That’s the thing. Over by the ‘Howling Sea’ to the northwest, three rchant ships have already vanished.”

“They just disappeared? Pirates?”

“So say a giant sea monster appeared and caused it; others say it was an attack by a group of pirates. Either way, after that happened, ships heading further northwest to Anteria Island stopped sailing.”

“Hm. That’s serious. Our next destination is Anteria Island.”

“Oh, dear. Ah, you must be hungry. Co and have sothing to eat. And if you have any fresh provisions, how about selling so to our place too?”

“That was the plan, but we’ll eat first. Corman, is that alright?”

“Yes, of course.”

Navigators of this era also handled accounting duties. It would be a good chance to check Corman’s skills.

Just as they were about to head upstairs, amid the clamor, Yul overheard sothing interesting from the navy’s conversation and paused on the stairs, pricking up his ears.

“The sea howled? Isn’t that just a figure of speech? It’s only been given the nickna ‘Howling Sea’…….”

“That’s not it, Captain. The survivors clearly testified that they saw a gigantic mouth in the sea.”

“Then it’s a sea monster—but we brought sufficient firepower, didn’t we? Harpoon cannons, and even counter-magic.”

“But still…….”

“Enough! No objections! Tomorrow, we set out at once to subjugate the monster! Feed the n well, but no alcohol.”

Ho.

Lucian, who had been waiting upstairs, tilted his head.

“What is it?”

“No, it’s nothing. It sounds like it’ll be taken care of on its own in a few days.”

Since this was only the second port of call, gathering information was essential, and it seed like if they waited a few days, it would be resolved anyway.

However, that thought vanished after they set sail a few days later. On a foggy day, even though it was dayti, the sky was dim and gloomy.

“What’s that?”

“……?”

The lookout above stiffened after seeing sothing, then shouted down.

“There’s a ship ahead!”

Through the thick fog, a single ship floated alone. The sight was truly ominous.

“That flag…… it’s the navy flag that was near Calamity Island not long ago.”

As Navigator Corman spoke, Lucian raised a high-magnification telescope to confirm it.

“It really is the navy…….”

“But there’s no sign of anyone. We’re signaling with flags from here, but there’s no response. And I don’t see anyone on deck.”

“We’ll check it ourselves. Prepare to board!”

Yul crossed his arms and watched.

A ship erging from the fog. There was an unmistakable sense of foreboding.

Lucian decided to cross first and climbed onto the larger naval vessel.

“Yul, would you like to co up?”

“Yeah.”

Yul leapt onto the navy ship in a single bound. The navigators watching from afar paused and murmured in admiration.

“He’s fast.”

“What do you think he really is? With that kind of physical ability, is he a knight who uses aura?”

“They say he’s a Seaborn.”

“What kind of sea creature looks like a human…….”

“Hey, whatever he is doesn’t matter—he’s our patron, after all. Anyway, let’s go.”

After that, the navigators, the boatswain, and several large senior sailors boarded as well.

They looked around. The atmosphere was bleak, and there was no one in sight. Not a single person remained on the ship.

“…….”

“There’s no one at all?”

“In my experience, staying on this ship won’t bring anything good.”

As the boatswain said that, Third Mate Coren spoke up.

“Old man? You’ve been on a ship like this before?”

“I’ve boarded a similar one. All kinds of bizarre things happened there…….”

Leaving behind the sailors’ ominous muttering, Lucian called out.

“We search the interior! Check anything you find! I’ll start with the captain’s cabin.”

Yul followed Lucian inside. The captain’s cabin was also completely empty.

Yul had seen a similar ship before. Back when he fought the Hive, there had been an Aragon-registered ship that had foolishly ddled with the Hive.

If this ship had likewise touched sothing it should not have, then the current route was extrely dangerous.

“Lucian, we can’t change the route, can we?”

“No. The crew can disembark, but the ship itself has to proceed as is. Stopping or slowing down is fine, but we can’t change our direction.”

“Hm. That’s troubleso.”

Lucian’s ship was bound to a fixed course. Even if there were reefs, massive ships, or monsters ahead, it had to pass through that route no matter what.

“There’s no one here!”

“It’s completely empty!”

“Should we seize this ship?”

“Of course, we should take it! A perfectly intact ship like this! Even if we can’t use it due to a lack of crew, handing it over to the navy would still be worth a fortune.”

An abandoned mid-frigate-class sailing ship with no one aboard would certainly be considered a fine prize.

‘Luck like this right from the start feels a bit…….’

Yul felt the fog surrounding them grow thicker and thicker. Then he heard soone scream.

“W-What is that?!”

“A black ship! There’s a black ship over there!”

Far away, through the fog, a pitch-black ship erged.

“Boarding canceled! Boarding canceled! Get off the ship!”

Lucian imdiately abandoned the mid-frigate and returned to his own vessel.

In the distance was a ship with black sails and a black hull.

“I-It’s a ship I’ve never seen before.”

As Corman said that, the elderly boatswain, Muhari, shouted.

“That’s the ship of the 「Black Priest」. The 「Blind」—they say no sailor who’s encountered that ship has ever co back alive…….”

“Ah, pirates? Prepare for battle!”

At that mont, Yul felt the sea around them screaming.

Kieeeeeeeeeek!

The chilling sound made it obvious the instant he looked down.

The waves were opening like mouths, screaming in chorus.

The gigantic mouth beneath the sea that the navy had spoken of days ago was nothing tangible—it was the waves themselves.

“T-The waves are howling.”

“I-It’s a curse! Is the monster cursing us?!”

“You idiots, get a grip! It’s magic!”

Muhari kicked a ntally shaken rookie in the backside.

“Is it the magic of the captain called the Black Priest? Lucian, want my help?”

“For now, let’s try to repel them with our ship’s own capabilities. Prepare the cannons!”

Yul crossed his arms and sensed his surroundings.

Below deck, the gunports opened and cannons slid out. Each was fixed in place by a peculiar chanical apparatus.

‘These are magic engineering cannons, huh?’

They weren’t ordinary cannons. From the magazine, shells were automatically lifted and loaded by the system.

Thanks to the incredible loading speed, if the gunners were skilled, they could fire several tis faster than other ships.

That also ant much higher ammunition consumption—but it also ant firepower several tis greater than that of ordinary vessels.

“Fire!”

With a thunderous roar, the shells tore through the fog.

Yet the opposing ship did not fire back. It simply cut through the fog, steadily approaching.

A ship advancing calmly while being struck by cannon fire.

At that mont, Yul looked at the howling mouths in the sea.

‘My control isn’t fully taking hold.’

He tried to calm the sea using the Sea-Sync Demon Eye, but only parts of it settled. The rest continued screaming.

Watching this scene, sothing ca to Yul’s mind, and he retraced his mories.

‘It feels similar to when an Outer God descended.’

It was strikingly similar to the anomalous phenona that manifested in the creature Puyo had parasitized.

But there was no sign of anything actually descending.

‘If there’s a cause, it must be that ship.’

The ship accelerated at trendous speed, then abruptly turned.

“S-So fast!”

“We can’t evade it! It’s too fast!”

Despite taking several direct hits from cannon fire, it endured and drew close, exposing its broadside.

Then everyone gasped at what they saw on its deck.

“W-What is that?! Monsters!”

“Sea monsters!”

Instead of sailors, massive sea monsters stood there.

Among them, a bipedal creature with the head of a sea serpent shouted.

“Prepare to charge!”

They had no intention of firing cannons. From the very beginning, they planned to engage in close combat.