To their wonder, the fleet had arrived in an enormous coral reef formation. This Coral Reel was like an island, a quick look at the spyglass, and they saw coral formations that were like hills. On the side of the coral-hill were tunnels, tunnels that seemed to lead to entrances. One of the natural structures was a jagged horn protruding skyward.

  Every essential crew member stayed topside to watch the corals that stretched for miles. One of the brigs that carried diving bells dived to inspect the corals. According to their reports, the coral extended to the bottom of the abysses of the sea.

  From the appearance of the Coral reef, it would have been a disaster if the forward ships didn't detect the landmass made of corals. Gabrio remained on the deck while watching the curious faces of the sailors.

  For the Merchant Union had come to deliver a message. A message to those who would join them in exploring this land made of corals. The man sent to the ship was a doublet-wearing scholar with thick glasses. He unrolled a scroll, proclaiming,-

  "That we must seek a way of out this island. Those who are brave come and join the expedition to this unknown land!"

  A simple statement that made the mercenaries aboard. Among them was a group led by Caldor Ando, and he found Zyra following. She was with the woman whose aura resembled that of Lady of the 'blood.' Four hours after that message, a hundred troops were marching to the coral island.

  Meanwhile, the fleet faced broadside, expecting creatures to come out. In the journals collected by the scribes, speak of beasts that walk in two legs, carries a shell spear, and heads that looked that of a crab. They move with the fog, and what followed them was the wind masking the sounds of the knitted shells they wore as armor.

  Gabrio was not a warrior; he was a doctor. He stayed on the ship, watching as they saunter to the unknown, eyes regarding the coral island. He would remind himself that he was no warrior.

  Gabrio, a voice said. I won't be turning you into a Surgeon. Yes, you will be a Doctor instead, just like your Seniors. They will try to turn you into a butcher, a madman, but I pray that you don't, Gabrio. One day, when this is over, I shall have you become a Surgeon, then you will know what I meant.

  Gabrio sneered at the voice inside his head. He turned his thoughts back to the fleet, and the people of it. From the bow of Galleon, he could spot the eager scribes recording the corals. A tent was on the shore of the coral island, inside that tent was two trunks. The first trunk filled with blank paper. The second trunk filled with the records they used.

  Back on the bow of the ship Gabrio turned his attention to Dom, who became the Chronicler of the Galleon. He brought with him a thick book that was thicker than his arm.

  "Ah, a land anew," Dom said. "Do you wonder if this stretches miles?"

  "Hmm," Gabrio pointed. "Those holes have bubbles coming up. There must be pockets of air inside those things."

  "So tunnels?"

  "Must be that," Gabrio said. "Not that I have good knowledge of landforms. Maybe ask the divers?"

  "I'll note that," Dom said, writing on his book. "Do you think that we'll encounter monsters?"

  Gabrio looked at the soldiers armed with breech-loaders. He noted that one of them had a spyglass attached to his rifle. He was surveying the landscape with that spyglass.

  "Snipers?" Gabrio muttered.

  Dom turned. "You call them snipers. It has a nice ring to it."

  "Is that so?" Gabrio said. The imagination inside his head would call the marksmen with different names. He preferred it.

  "Looks they'll be posting marksmen to watch the area soon. It must be about the book."

  "Indeed," Gabrio said. "We can chastise the handwriting of that book, but never the content. Besides, I do remember hearing from a certain someone about no beast appearing until we reach the edges of the Dread Line."

  Dom's face turned to the opposite side. "I admit that I was wrong in my theory, but the pus-ridden beast was a deviation from what I expected. I mean an infected beast?"

  "Infected, yes," Gabrio sniffed. "Do you think that the Ark had cleaned?"

  "They have the long-ears around to help."

  Pus meant infection, and he did not like that. He had Millie cleaned the clinic and had Wiles joined her to motivate the two. He suspected that the two liked the flirting more than the cleaning of the room.

  "Your rather lonely today, Doctor."

  "Zyra's out risking her life, Millie and Wiles are in the clinic, and Robert was out with his swift hand."

  "Robert, the Constable?"

  "Him."

  "Ah, the man with a bow."

  "A bow?"

  "You don't know?"

  "That Robert has a swift hand?"

  "That he fires it faster than any rifle could."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "The distance, though?"

  "It won't matter when he can somehow land an arrow the way he could fire a rifle."

  "He wields a rifle."

  "He does, but he keeps a curved bow. He's great at using a ranged weapon. I saw him use a rifle and a bow and never miss a shot."

  "That's good to hear."

  "He's not uptight, that Robert, he'll be around sooner or later. We have to wait for the scouting ships to arrive and bring in the news. No way we can carve a path. We'll exhaust our ammunition before we can leave this place, and that is by the assumption that we can somehow break this land."

  Cannons won't help them carve a path big enough to get passed this. That is also in the assumption that it would work against this ancient coral formation.

  "We have to wait for the scouting ships. That's all we can do now."

  Gabrio muttered. Dom nodded at those words, his hand scribbling on the book's pages.

  Two days later, a message carried by a fast runner came to the main fleet. The man had cuts all over him, and he spoke of creatures that came from the corals. Fastened on his belt was a creature's head with a bullet wound on the forehead and right cheek.

  "What can you tell me of this creature?" Gabrio asked the man brought into the clinic.

  "They came from one of the holes on the ground, Sir. They arrived like ants, and they had surrounded us before we knew it. One of our guys dodged an attack that came from his back. The bayonet he fixed didn't pierce so easily. We were able to drove them back with our gunfire, and I kid you not, Sir. We took down at least ten of them before my buddy shot the one hung in my belt dead."

  "The leader of these creatures?"

  "Yes, Sir. They wouldn't run away if we didn't shot this one dead."

  "Did they speak? The monsters?"

  "They did not have tongues like us, Sir. They spoke with wet clicking sounds, Sir."

  "Are you sure?"

  "They have webbed hands, Sir. And they were pointing at us when they make this clicking sounds."

  "They carried weapons, spears, I believe?"

  "Yes, sir," he said, clenching his wrapped hand. "They also carried two blowpipes that fired an inch-long thorn."

  "Were you hit?"

  "I was. I had it pulled out."

  "Poison?"

  "None, Sir. I had drunk that antidote they gave us."

  "Good that it works then," Gabrio nodded. "The body of the beast, or at least the head. Did you take it with you?"

  "It's on the Ark, Sir. They wanted to study it."

  "You only got the head, right?"

  "We did. We didn't have time to bring back a whole corpse."

  "What are your opinions about the coral? Oh, and can you sit in that bed?"

  "Uh, I have to stay here?"

  "Not like you'll have a choice, soldier. I had to watch out if the antidote truly works. We don't know what sort of diseases those creatures have, and we have to make sure you don't keel over and die."

  "Oh, I will stay here."

  "So, what did you think of walking around that place?"

  "Hard surface, cold, though I think there was freshwater around half a mile where we were."

  "How could you tell?"

  "I live in an atoll, Sir."

  "You from the Beian Region?"

  He nodded, twisting on the bed. "It reminded of the scent of a freshwater lake."

  "A freshwater lake in the middle of the sea?"

  "I don't know how its possible, Sir. All I know was that I smelled freshwater."

  "Hmm, maybe the saltwater is being filtered by the corals? But then again, what I would know about these things?"

  All he knew was that they were corals. He didn't have time to study corals. He was always stuck reading a book about medicine to care. Gabrio did believe the soldier's words.

"Have you told the Captain about this?"

  "The Captain, the Lady, and Commander, Sir."

  "The Inquisitor?"

  "He heard as well."

  "Must be why we faced broadside. I guess there is credibility to the journals of those who traveled. Though I didn't hear the mentioning about a surface area like this."

  "Maybe it's the tides, Sir?"

  "Could be," Gabrio nodded. The waters of the Dread Line were still and flat. There were barely any waves, and it was impossible to travel when the wind doesn't blow. He did notice that there waves forming on the shores of the coral land. They couldn't dock the ships with how shallow the coastline was.

  Gabrio could imagine the whole fleet being on constant alert. There should be brigs and scouting ships scouring the area for any movements. Diving bells deployed to watch for any creatures that might start their assault. Though Gabrio doubts they could see clearly in the evening.

  But as he thought of the dangers lurking. He saw blue dots of light floating inside the clinic. From the looks of the dots, it resembled the same 'spirits' that had pushes the whole of the fleet forward.

  "The Lady?"

  "Probably," Gabrio sighed. "God blessed her watchfulness."

  The presence of the Lady of the Galleon was like an assurance. Without the Lady, the fleet would not reach this far. The lights danced around the walls of the clinic while some of it bounced them. There was warmth on the things. The creatures leaped from one object to another. Gabrio had noticed that they avoided objects that they had already attached.

  Before long, the dots of blue lights left the clinic. The soldier who was wounded started to fall asleep. Gabri clambered to the topside and visited the soldiers who were watching the deck. He then stayed inside the cockpit. Wiles had visited him and then left to make a report to the Inquisitor. Alone in the cockpit, Gabrio would sometimes turn his attention to the direction where the wind was coming.

  Then it was at this moment that the blue dots scattered in the air turned red. A silent screech that did not the ears surrounded the area. Gabrio pushed the door open and went to the broadside of the ship. From the rail of the Galleon, he saw gleaming eyes. Dangerous slit eyes that numbered hundreds.

  He saw a bipedal beast rise holding a spear thrice the size of a man. Something primitive held Gabrio's heart, but then a boom sounded, a swivel gun fired at the feet of this horde. Two-hundred cannons open fired simultaneously, followed by the whole fleet. The coastline of the coral island covered by the fumes of the gunpowder coming from the fleet, and he felt nothing but pity for the creatures. The whole world felt like it shook. When the fumes cleared, he saw the monsters screeching in pain. The soldiers entrenched in the shoreline of the Coral Island started firing their breech-loaded swivel guns at the creatures.