The bellowing screams weren’t the thing that alarmed Cy when he gradually came too. Nor was it the deafening sounds of guns blasting. Even the harsh rocking of the ship went unnoticed at first. What caused him to shriek at the top of his lungs was the little mouse sleeping on top of his chest. In a panic, Cy flung himself out of his hammock causing him to fall hard on the floor. As he wiped the sleep from his eyes, he was initially thankful the other pirates around him were too preoccupied before starting to worry about what they were freaking out about.

“What’s going on?” Cy tried asking various people, but they were all too busy to pay him any mind. Troubled and unsure about what was happening, he decided to search for Max. Just as he was about to go up one of the ladders leading to the main deck, he found them amongst some of BB’s cargo. Cy’s memories of the night before were fuzzy and missing parts, but he suddenly recalled why he used beer as a ruse to barge into the captain’s quarters. “It’s the navy-blue fate!”

Max was surprised to see Cy. “Morning.” His voice showed a slight amount of nervousness as he tried to think of excuses. Having found some of BB’s paint for her portraits, Max was painting runes onto the skin of a shirtless navy-blue fate. “Surprised to see you’re up.”

Cy was staring at the navy-blue fate. The fear in the air was palpable as he tried to keep still while Max applied the paint. “What’s going on? You know that’s the navy-blue fate-”

“I know,” Max cut him off before it could be counted as investigating by the system. “I’m just killing two birds with one stone.” The ship rocked heavily from another attack.

“Sumashiumo to ijjiriru-ko ha shitawa,” said a quiet voice from the mouse.

“Rude,” Max scolded. “Cy doesn’t understand.”

“My name’s Coleridge.”

“Too complicated and nobody asked,” Max gave a small sigh of frustration as he repainted one of the lines. Luckily, the system didn’t count the willing disclosure of information to unwilling ears as ‘investigating.’ “Your name’s now Navy, got it?” Navy nodded obediently. He seemed pleased for a moment before the fear returned. “There’s a monster attacking the ship. Navy has volunteered to be a sacrifice and kill it before the ship sinks.”

“Are you sure he volunteered?” Cy asked suspiciously, as Navy struggled to contain his tears.

“Navy, have you agreed to do this?” Max stopped painting and waited for him to give a panicked nod. “You see? I have consent to do this.”

“So, what do these runes do?” Cy tried to give subtle gestures to communicate with Navy, just in case Max was stretching the truth about his willingness to go through with this.

“Electricity.”

“Electricity?”

“Ah, it’s like lightning-”

“I know what electricity is, jackass. Back home, it’s one of Aris’s specialties.”

“How was I supposed to know? Anyway, Navy will just jump in the water and cause a massive electric attack. What better way to get rid of a giant water snake?” And it’ll also get rid of the other story prompt, which had been following them from the village. Two prompts cancelled in one attack.

“Navy can’t survive this electric attack?” Cy asked with a pitiful look before it turned serious. “Will we get caught up in it?”

“Nope.” Navy was struggling to keep it together. Cy’s words did cause Max to think. “Actually… you make a good point. BB’s crew might get hurt or killed in the process, especially with how the waves are right now. She seems to care about her crew… It’ll probably sour our relations…” He thought for another second as the ship shook suddenly from another series of blasts from the cannons. Finally, he sighed. One bird with one stone wasn’t too bad either. “Turn around,” he instructed Navy, who hesitatingly complied.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“What are you painting now?” Cy asked curiously.

“The attack shouldn’t affect humans,” Max rubbed out one of the lines and repainted it to make the line thinner before adding other runes.

“What about the fish?”

“The fish?”

“Shouldn’t you paint another rune or two so the local fish don’t get electrocuted?”

Max scowled at Cy. “What are we going to do if it turns out the leviathan counts as a fish? No, too risky.” Cy reluctantly gave up as Max painted a couple more strokes. “Lucky you, Navy. Seems like you’re going to survive after all.”

Navy’s expression worsened. It took Cy a moment to see what the cause could be. “Can you swim?”

“…No.”

“No?” Max was genuinely shocked. “You’ve had all this time, and you never learned how to swim?” Navy shook his head frantically. Looks like the original plan was back on. “Oh well, you’ll know for next time… if there’s another life.” He added, but Cy was too busy trying to keep his balance after another impact to the ship. “Drowning is not a fun way to go, but it’s by no means the worst way. Alright, looks good… Do you think BB has a plank for you to walk off of?” It’s been forever since he saw someone walk the plank.

“Why do you have to be cruel just-”

“There’s one on the port side of the ship.” Navy was starting to lose it once the words escaped him.

“Okay, let’s go.”

While the three stumbled their way up to the main deck, BB’s attack continued. The moment they stepped out and smelled the mixture of the sea, spilled alcohol, and gunpowder, Cy erupted into screams from seeing the leviathan charging towards the back of the ship. BB seemed to be on top of it as she shouted for her men to release the sails and anchor causing the ship to sharply turn at the expense of some of the sturdiness of the ship. It allowed them to have one more chance of attack. The leviathan must’ve been too fast for them to flee from. Max grabbed Navy by the shoulders as he began pushing him towards the plank. Sometimes Navy complied with the force and voluntarily took a few steps, other times he was frozen with fear.

Max could hear BB screaming something, but he was too focused on forcing Navy out on the plank. Once he was teetering on the edge, Max asked, “Ka rua ha toko sukonoii ni goisa?” Navy shook his head before voluntarily falling off the end.

The moment Navy hit the sea; the ocean lit up a bright yellow as far as they could see. Max covered his eyes slightly as he tried to watch the leviathan. It let out a scream that was quickly caught in the beast’s throat as it twitched out of control. Occasionally, he heard a cracking noise. Probably from the muscles of the beast breaking its own bones. Max was relieved he didn’t have to find other objects to paint runes on before throwing them overboard. Humans were a good source of power for runes in this world. Good to know.

Story Name:

The Leviathan

Genre:

Epic

Description:

After bareLy surviving an encOunter with a leviathan, the mC begins A quesT for vengEance against emnAh TstiSgl eyb esRtea…

Goal:

Slay the leviathan.

Difficulty:

★★★☆☆

How to Start:

Survive the encounter.

There it was. LOCATE. And the other part was the same as before.

Max relaxed as he waited for the shock to end. The story prompt meant he couldn’t just walk away, since surviving the ongoing attack meant starting the story. So, the easiest thing to do was complete the goal now by killing the beast. No goal? No final villain? Nothing to overcome or fight against? Naturally, the story would be cancelled. If only completing stories were usually this easy. Sub-goals and requirements truly were the worst.

The moment the ocean began to return to its original colour and the leviathan’s muscles went loose, Max was shoved out of the way as someone ran out onto the plank and jumped into the sea. The sudden impact surprised him. He looked back up to the poop deck to see the helmsman was at the wheel now. “Man overboard!”

Max got up and peered over the edge to find BB fighting to keep both herself and an unconscious Navy up on the surface. Once one of the other crewmen threw a makeshift life preserver, which BB probably invented in this world, she was able to relax a little while waiting to be helped back onboard. BB checked Navy’s pulse while they bobbed around in the sea amongst the floating fish. Max didn’t know what to feel when she looked back up at him with a smile before giving him a thumbs up.

For a second, Max felt anger that Navy survived. Just as he was about to act and cause further tragedy and excitement to their day, he realised Navy’s prompt had disappeared. Either by choice or by loyally following his orders, Navy was set to stop doing whatever the system had asked of him. He was lucky that the ‘them’ in the goal had been referring to only Navy. Today would have ended differently if it were actually referring to ‘them.’

“Lucky mouse.”