The sound of metal scraping against the hull, like sharp nails clawing at the bottom of the ship, cut through the air. I closed the diary with a snap and, furrowing my brows, made my way to the round porthole.

Peering out, I was met with the same sight as eight years ago: a lightless sky and a dark green sea merging into a curtain of darkness in the distance. The darkness ruled everything outside, hinting at monsters lurking within, permeated with an eerie atmosphere.

But in the Underground Sea, there are no stars, no moon—endless darkness is the theme here, and darkness signifies normalcy. Yet, something felt off. My years of sailing told me something was wrong. I decided to investigate.

Opening the bedside cabinet, I saw hundreds of golden bullets rolling with the sway of the sea. I drew my revolver, loaded it with familiar ease, and headed towards the cockpit.

“Captain, why are you up so early? It’s not your shift yet,” greeted the bearded, chubby old man at the helm, with a teenage boy, around seventeen or eighteen, asleep in the chair beside him. Their pale faces, like mine, suggested Eastern European origins.

“First Mate, why is the Rat shaking? Is our course still correct?” I asked John, the helmsman, as I kicked the chair leg to wake the boy.

The boy, seeing me, wiped the drool from his mouth and clumsily got up. “Probably those underwater creatures smelling our meat again. You know, there are more disgusting things than fish in the Underground Sea. Don’t worry, the Rat is made of iron; they can’t break through,” John said, stepping back to let me take the helm.

Despite his reassurance, I remained vigilant. In this eerie place, humans were no longer at the top of the food chain. Survival depended on caution.

I pressed a button on the old equipment, and the spotlight ahead blazed to life. My eyes scanned the sea surface through the transparent glass. The deck between the sea and the cockpit was stacked with cargo, making the ship, which was only about thirty meters long, seem even smaller.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Our course to the Coral Islands has been well-traveled by many cargo ships. Those creatures wouldn’t come here for no reason. Something is off,” I said, gripping the polished helm, my brows tightly knit.

John looked surprised. “Could we have strayed off course? But look, the beacon is still in the distance,” he pointed to a faint light in the distance.

In the starless underground ocean, besides the compass, the only thing that could guide us were the bright beacons placed along the route. As long as we could see the beacon, it meant we were on a safe course explored by previous ships.

Just then, my eyes narrowed as I stared at the sea. “How long have you been looking at that beacon?” I asked, my throat tight.

“About a few minutes. I’ve been staring at it,” John replied, his voice trailing off, a look of terror spreading across his face.

We had been sailing for so long yet hadn’t passed the beacon. It was moving at the same speed as our steamship—something was wrong with it!

I sprang into action, spinning the helm to turn the ship sharply to the left. With a screech of metal, the steamship began to turn. Thankfully, the small ship was quick to maneuver, and the Rat started to distance itself from the strange beacon.

But before I could breathe a sigh of relief, the boy pointed behind us, his eyes wide with terror. “Captain! It’s getting closer! It’s so fast! It’s going to catch up!”

“Damn!” I shouted into a pipe, “Engineer! Maximize the boiler! Something’s chasing us!”

“Aye, Captain!” a hearty voice replied from the other end.

Black smoke billowed from the ship’s chimney as the steamship’s speed increased.

“It’s still closing in! It’s so fast! It’s almost upon us! What the hell is that monster!”

The boy’s voice rose with fear, his body shaking like a leaf, on the brink of collapse.

“Deep! Close your eyes!” I shouted, kicking his leg to knock him to the ground.

John held his head down, red-faced, yelling at him, “Don’t look, don’t listen, don’t think! The captain will get us back.”

Suddenly, a loud crash shook the cabin, and the two on the ground rolled into a heap. I held onto the helm to keep from being thrown off.

“Captain, it’s hit us!”

My face was pale, my jaws clenched tight. I leaned into the pipe and roared, “Engineer! Overload the boiler for thirty seconds!”

"Captain, no! This thing is too old! It’ll explode！！！”