The Warring Island of Hjalthor (6)

The rambunctious and energetic crew works quietly in the night. Everyone watches the waves, waiting for the inevitable attack of seaborne foes. Babis the elf stood at the captain's wheel, using [Manipulate Water] to glide the ship through the sea slowly, trying to maintain as much stillness as possible to not draw attention to themselves.

Kyra sits up in the crow's nest, arrow nocked and ready for the first sign of danger, while Garrick stands amongst the crew, his one working arm gripping his blade tightly.

Chark leans over, whispering to Garrick. "You best make sure that sword doesn't damage the ship, or there'll be hell to pay from Cap'n Dex." He points at the sword and then drags his thumb across his throat. "You drop that thing, and It'll probably slice a hole straight through the Hull."

Garrick nods. "Last thing I need is to be aboard a sinking ship with monsters swimming about."

The tense atmosphere drags on, the night feeling never-ending as the Maelstrom Voyage travels unimpeded through the dark abyss of the ocean where monsters lay somewhere beneath, biding their time. It was unsettling enough to send shivers down the crew's spines because monsters should've shown up by now.

Garrick stood in the centre of the top deck, feet on the grating leading to the lower deck. He scans his eyes back and forth, still but aware, his hand twitching on the handle of his blade. Then, he sees a sudden water print appear on the top deck.

Confused, he looks closer, ensuring he sees it correctly on the dark ship, only the moonlight giving him any vision. But as he examines more, another print appears, but no sound to accompany it, just a wide print with two long toes, almost like talons. It was a hand. Before Garrick can open his mouth to make a sound, a tearing noise echoes as the crewmate standing closest to the print has the upper quarter of their torso torn off, cascading a fountain of blood across the ship, partially giving a bloody silhouette to this invisible razor-toothed monster that attacked.

"INVISIBLE MONSTERS!!!" The crew roars with worry, seeing their friend collapse dead, their innards spilling from the gaping hole left by the beast.

Even being battle-hardened, the crew express the worry on their faces; a foe they can see is beatable, but one unseen is next to impossible. Garrick thrust his sword forward towards the monster's crimson silhouette, but with most of it still invisible, Garrick's placement was off as it bit down on the blade, clamping it, and threw Garrick into the taffrail with a crunch.

"Garrick!" Meetle cries out as he sends a [fireball] careening at the monster, the sword still in its maw, giving Meetle a sure enough shot to hit as the fireball smashes into its head, blowing part of it up as it shrieks a watery piercing gurgle before collapsing dead, the body twitching as the invisibility wears off showing the humanoid but fishlike appearance. It has a large upper torso with two scaly turquoise arms with suction cups coating the palms and a smooth head with a giant toothy maw taking up half of its face with two slits for a nose and a singular eye, with a thick tail and fins for a lower half.

"Bring down the sails, full speed ahead! We've been spotted, so no need to be quiet now!" Dex roars to his crew as they quickly move, pulling ropes and levers as the sails unfurrow and the ship is jolted forward as the wind catches them. "Babis, use everything you got to move us!"

"Yes, Cap'n!" Babis shouts back as the water at the ship's rear rushes fast, accelerating them forward.

Garrick staggers to his feet, still reeling from the blow, clearly affected by his earlier fight with limony. A crewmate extends a hand to help him up, and as he does, his freckle-filled face is suddenly ripped off, showing the muscle fibres, ligaments and tendons underneath. He convulses and falls to the ground, shaking violently before beginning to scream as Garrick sees the face of the crewmate floating before being thrown onto the floor with a squelch.

The rest of the crew starts a bloody conflict with other invisible monsters- a mix of slashing, tearing, and biting as the battle has truly begun. But Garrick can't worry about helping anyone else as the monster still looms over him, invisible except for a water drip from its body onto the wooden floor.

With his weapon out of reach, Garrick stands face-to-invisible face with the monster, unsure what should be his following action, but before he decides, a volley of arrows shower in front of Garrick, stabbing into the wood and the monster as it recoils and shrieks, giving Garrick the time to leap to his sword and swing it around in the monsters vague direction, cutting into it as the invisibility fades. It folds backwards, falling to the floor, dying as it leaks with green blood. Not daring to risk leaving it alive, Garrick stomps on the monster's head, crushing it onto the grating, dicing its slimy head.

The battle was far from finished, though, as the crew fought on with bodies lying strewn across the top deck.

Meetle sprints to Garrick, waving his arms to get his attention. "Can you throw me in the air, Garrick? I have an idea!"

Without a second thought, Garrick grabs Meetle and throws him upwards forcefully. Meetle shrieks in terror at Garrick's immediate action, taken off guard as he rockets towards the sky, slowing down as he reaches the height of the crow's nest.

With his outstretched mage arm, Meetlemire uses [Fairy Fire], summoning a cascade of illuminated pollen fragments. The specks of light cling to any surface, including the invisible monsters, who, one by one, are illuminated, giving a more visible target for the crew.

With the disadvantage removed, the crew fight fiercely, spilling monster blood as it pours off the ship and into the sea, no doubt attracting more monsters to join the fray.

It's no surprise that any crew that dares swim through such treacherous waters are crazy, but to fight so effectively is commendable. Their Captain, Dex Bartholomew, laughs and enjoys the mayhem as he fights multiple monsters simultaneously, protecting Babis, who focuses on pushing the ship.

By the time the battle ends, more than a dozen crew members lay dead, with a couple dozen more monsters. The day begins to break the night, a signal of Respite and breathing for Garrick, but for the crew, who lost a dozen brothers, they sing and cheer, happy as they throw the monsters overboard.

"You look a little shocked."

Garrick, who sits covered in green monster blood, looks up to see Captain Dex, also spattered with green blood, standing beside him, taking a seat.

"It's like a switch flicked, and they're happy again." Garrick curiously voices, looking at the crew.

"We know the dangers, and we sail knowing we may die, so what good is wallowing in misery doing? When we die, throw the body overboard for the fish and be happy you lived life on your own terms." Dex grips Garrick's shoulder and stands up. "When I die, my crew will laugh. They will be happy because sadness has no place here!" Dex clicks his heels together and chuckles, running off.

Garrick sits with that usual dumbstruck face until Meetle walks over. He is surprisingly clean and not covered in green blood, mainly from his small stature, being less of a target and his ranged combat style with spells.

"Smart thinking Meetle with that [Fairy fire], we were struggling big time. A month of this will be difficult; who knew the ocean was this dangerous." Garrick wipes off some blood from his face.

"It was a good throw! It's a nerve-wracking place, being out here surrounded by water and god knows what beneath it. It's sad the crew lost so many friends in one night, too." Meetle looks around, seeing the corpses picked up and tossed overboard, splashing into the water.

"Hey, Twiglet! We got some training to do!" The squeaky voice of Limony calls out to Garrick before taking his top off, showing his scrawny, pale body underneath.

"Huh? We just fought monsters. How about a rest first?" Garrick pleads as he sinks lower with exhaustion.

"What a weak response! Babis!!"

A large torrent of water picks up Garrick and pulls him off the ship and toward the water.

"Hey, what the fuck!" Garrick shouts with surprise as he hits the water, but surprisingly doesn't sink. Garrick sits up, realising he is on the water's surface, with the ship slowly moving further away.

Limony jumps down in front of him, standing on the water's surface. "You need to learn how to fight. You're far too sloppy, and you're pretty ugly, too, Twiglet!"

"Pretty sure we drew our match earlier. Or did you forget that?" Garrick stands up, cracking his neck. "I'm assuming standing on the water is your doing?"

"A simple [Waterwalking] spell is all. Fighting on the ship is dangerous, so no better option than out here where there's nothing to worry about breaking. If you can get back on the ship, then your training is complete, but only Might magic is allowed!" Limony splashes water on Garrick's face. "The ship's moving further away, so get up, Landlubber!"

"Strength activate!" Garrick digs his feet into the water. Despite laying on a liquid, it feels surprisingly sturdy and pushes off using [Aspect Buffing Strength] to cannon himself forward toward the ship.

Limony appears suddenly in front of him, barely disturbing the water and throws himself toward Garrick, headbutting his stomach and winding him.

"Nice try, but you're too slow. I can see you coming a mile away!" Limony chuckles as he shadowboxes.

Garrick staggers to his feet, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, I think you may be ri-" Garrick sprints past Limony, catching him off-guard.