The Sea Adventure of Graham Hymes (II)

"Angus, full speed ahead! They can't see us now, but once we're out of the radius, this mist will disappear!" Graham commanded.

"Alrighty!"

Vroom!!

Angus de Velde pushed the lever and accelerated the boat, going at full speed, creating a steady line of foam behind it. Occasionally, the boat would smash against the water after it surfed over a wave, and the people on it would hold on tight to whatever was closest to them.

The pirate fleet stayed in position, the people on them still stupefied by the sudden disappearance of their prey.

The boat's engine ran with its full strength, breaking the waves as the boat went. It took its passengers closer and closer to the pirates' location, all the while covered in the mysterious yellowish mist.

The pirates seemed to be busy talking and shouting at each other in perplexion. However, the sound of the boat drowned their voices, so Graham could barely make out what they were saying. Judging from their expressions that he caught using his Supersight, he could guess that it was nothing good.

"Val, I still wish I had your super hearing..." he muttered.

Vroom!!

"What did you do, lad?! Why are those zakkenwassers just standing around like pancakes?!" Angus shouted from the front. He himself seemed puzzled by what was happening.

"They shouldn't be able to see us, Angus! We're hidden by my ability! Just keep moving and don't stop!" the detective shouted back, his voice barely reached the captain who then nodded and turned his attention back to the front.

"Mr. Hymes!!"

Suddenly, Luuk called out. The young man was pointing at the space on the left of the pirate fleet.

Over there in the distance, the water surface seemed to be rising and there was a large shadow hiding underneath it. The shadow was probably almost as big as the biggest of the pirate ships, and it was moving at a frightening speed towards their boat.

At that moment, Graham suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Angus, we have to go faster!!" he commanded.

The boat's captain looked at the demanding man at the back and then turned towards the direction he was pointing at. Seeing the threatening presence quickly approaching them, he suddenly felt a hint of urgency.

"We can't!! This is already our top speed! Do something about it!" Angus yelled. There was no sign of fear in his tone, but he was nonetheless nervous.

"Val, that guy is indeed a seasoned sailor. He didn't sound scared at all," he turned his attention back at the thing charging at them from underwater, "What should we do about this situation..."

The shadow under the water surface grew larger as it got closer to the boat. From that distance, Graham could see clearly that it was a kind of sea creature with dark scales and a long, tubular body that spanned over fifteen meters in length. Judging from its trajectory, there was no way it was just passing by by chance.

"That creature is colossal! What in the world is that, Val?!" exclaimed Graham.

"Mr. Hymes! It's getting closer!" warned Luuk.

"Try to distract it! I will try to divine what it is!" the detective commanded, and then went to the middle of the boat to get as steady a footing as he could.

"How?!" Luuk was at a loss.

A tiny amber light began forming in front of Graham, becoming more and more real-looking rapidly. The man then focused on the illusory flame, shutting off the noises around him.

Meanwhile, the creature was only two boats away from theirs, and Luuk got his pocket knife ready--not that he was sure it would do anything to the seaborne creature.

Whoosh!

The creature was getting closer and closer until Luuk could see it from up close. It was only a few meters away from the boat, and it was just in range for his ability. After observing the creature's movement and chose his timing, he made a swiping motion with his right hand.

"Your intention to attack this boat is mine!"

Just as the creature was about to ram the boat from below, a shiny orb appeared on Luuk's hand while it continued swimming past the small vessel from under it as nothing happened.

The shadow of the creature swam several meters away before suddenly turning back. It began charging at the ship again, seemingly having formed a new intention of attacking it.

Quickly, Luuk ran to the other side of the boat and took out a severed hand that was tied to a rope. He was still holding the orb in his right hand, keeping it secured for the time being.

"Your intention to attack is mine!"

Luuk hurled the severed hand at the shadow. The strange body part mysteriously moved through the air like it was guided and landed on the creature's black scale, breaking through the water surface with ease. The hand held onto the scale before Luuk pulled it back, taking the severed limb that was now holding an identical orb like the one he had in his hand.

"Mr. Hymes! I'm already at full capacity right now!" the young Thief shouted.

He held the severed limb in his left hand after putting away his pocket knife. His hands were all occupied, and he couldn't hold anything else anymore until he released both the stolen intentions or until they expired.

"Done!"

The detective finally replied while putting the illusory flame aside.

"The creature is called Geschaaldevis and its weakness should be its underbelly, just like a Tsuchinoko!" explained the man.

"How are we supposed to attack its underbelly if it's underwater? I'm not going down there! No way!" retorted Luuk, looking at the vast and deep ocean with a hint of fear in his eyes.

"I'll do something about it!" Graham assured convincingly.

The detective ran towards the side of the boat where the creature was after it strangely swam past the boat once more. The Geschaaldevis had now turned around after realizing what it wanted to do, and for the third time, it was charging towards the small vessel.

The sound of water being broken through rapidly could be faintly heard underneath the noisy sound of the boat engine. Mysterious Geschaaldevis was ready to launch an attack at the boat when suddenly Graham shouted.

"Release those!"

Luuk nodded and let go of both orbs that he was holding. The strange objects floated overboard and shot at the creature, returning to their owner. Suddenly, the creature's speed increased significantly like it couldn't even stop itself anymore.

"I order you to jump!!"

Splash!!

A huge, black-scaled body of a snake-like creature suddenly broke through the surface of the water, shooting straight into the air with a lot of force. The momentum it had built up just now was all used for the jump, and it was now out of the ocean involuntarily, getting farther and farther away from its safe zone.

The pirates from afar had been watching the abnormal movements of the creature; it seemingly trying to attack something but then just swimming past without doing anything. With the creature's inexplicable leap to the air, they were now completely bewildered.

"Attack that spot now!!" Graham pointed and quickly lit a fire using his lighter.

The detective was pointing at a spot on the creature's belly that was grey in color, lighter than the black scales covering its body. Thanks to the creature's size, the weak spot was also large enough, close to the size of a big round shield. If not for it being out of the water, there was no way someone could spot its weakness--unless they were swimming under it.

Whoosh!!

Luuk was very swift to react. He threw his pocket knife, aiming for the spot that Graham pointed at.

Stab!

The knife hit the creature's belly, and apparently, the skin around the spot was not as hard as the scales covering the rest of its body. Without wasting time, Luuk quickly made a swiping motion with his right hand.

"That knife is mine!"

The sharp small weapon that was stuck on the creature's body suddenly disappeared and reappeared in the Thief's hand.

Hurl!!

Luuk quickly threw the knife again, stabbing the creature near the wound that he had created. He had to seize his chance before the Geschaaldevis fell back to the water.

Whoosh!!

Graham, who had created several fireballs the size of a person's head, hurled all of them at the snake-like creature's belly in quick succession. The balls of fire burned the target, creating a line of smoke in their wake.

Splash!

The Geschaaldevis's body finally hit the water and, as if feeling threatened, it hastily swam away from the boat. Its shadow made a beeline towards the location of the pirates. It looked like a dog that had been threatened by something and sought its master for protection.

"Did we get away, lads?" Angus de Velde shouted from the front. He hadn't seen what had happened, but the loud splash told him something had been transpiring in the back.

"Just focus on the way ahead! We might not be out of the frying pan yet!" Graham reminded the old man.

Graham's words were proven not even a minute later. The boat finally got out of the fifty-meter duration of the Concealment's effect, and the yellowish mist dissipated rapidly like the boat just tore off by force a layer of blanket laid in front of it.

In the distance, the pirate fleet could be seen leaving their position the moment the boat became visible again. The smaller motorboats were approaching faster than their bigger counterparts. The boats were manned with four people each and they all looked to be armed and ready to plunder.

"Angus, how good is this boat's engine?!" seeing the approaching pirate fleet, Graham quickly shouted a question at the captain.

"Huh?! It's good enough if that's what you mean, lad!" Angus didn't understand what the man meant by his question.

"I mean, can it handle an extra load?! I'm going to do something to get us away from those pirates!" the man explained loudly.

"It should be able to hold on for quite some time! This engine is brand new!" Angus shouted back. Although not knowing exactly what the man was about to do, there was pride in his voice.

Graham nodded and then ran to the back of the boat where the motor engine was. It was a single-engine, but the thing was bigger than those used on boats that size. It was black in color and looked pristine, showing proof of good maintenance and quality. Despite making a loud noise, it was not a rough kind of engine sound, but a smooth rotation.

Looking at the engine, Graham began mouthing his ability.

"I order you to work faster!"

Vroom!!! Vroom!!

The propeller underwater began spinning even faster, creating a louder noise. It was apparent that the engine had gone past its normal usage limit, and was working on overdrive.

The boat moved even faster, catching Luuk by surprise. The young man quickly held on to a metal railing nearby.

Meanwhile, Angus de Velde was too busy keeping the boat steady to care about his passenger. He didn't know how the detective had done it, but as long as they could get away from the pirates without breaking anything on his boat, he was okay with it.

"Mr. Hymes, the pirates are too slow for us now!" Luuk announced.

The boats of the pirates were not as fast as Angus' under Graham's ability. They were unable to keep up and were slowly left behind. The motorboats and the rough-looking men became smaller and smaller as they sped towards the sea ahead.

Once Graham was sure that the enemies couldn't reach them anymore, he quickly used another Order to return the state of the boat's engine. Although the effect would wear off by itself after five minutes, he wasn't sure the engine could keep running at that speed for that long without being damaged.

"Angus! The pirates are gone!" Graham told the captain.

"Thank goodness! Well done, lad!" Angus replied. He was looking back at the detective and Graham could catch a hint of admiration in the captain's eyes. "You lads can relax for a while now! However, when I tell you so, you have to get ready!"

"Get ready for what?" Luuk asked.

"What?!" Angus didn't quite catch what the young man had said because of the sound of the engine.

"Get ready for what?!" he repeated, louder.

"The sea ahead of us is going to be very rough! Make sure you don't fall overboard!!"