“Take everything you can and get out of here.” The bald vampire shouted at his underlings.
“Yes, sir.” The underling followed his command immediately. They ditched fighting completely as they shoved the crew aside and rushed down the lower deck to loot whatever they could get their hands on instead.
Looking at the Leviathan that was getting closer and closer, Toby couldn’t help but feel grateful since the monster just created a perfect chance to chase the vampire away. He and Grillion both reached Lily and Lukas at the same time to help the kids.
“We should take this chance to get out of here. That’s not something we can mess with.” Toby said.
“What’s about the crew, big brother Toby? We can’t just leave them.” Lukas asked.
“…I'm sorry, but we can’t save them from the Leviathan, Lukas.”
“What are you talking about? How can you say we can just leave these people here to die? They agreed to go with us, it’s our duty to protect them. I saw its face. That was the monster master punched. Its tooth is still missing. It came here for us. We can’t just leave these people.”
“They agree, knowing that there’s a high chance they could die, Lukas. I would rather let strangers die than let people important to me die.”
“…How could you?” Lukas bit his lower lip as he looked at Toby with teary eyes.
“That’s enough. We need to get out of here, little Lukas.” Grillion took control of the situation and pulled Lukas.
“They are right, Lukas. We can’t do anything about that monster. The best we can do is help the crew evacuate safely and leave the ship. I don’t know what happened, but the chance of that monster coming to get you is low.” Lily tried to persuade Lukas.
“No.” The boy yanked his hand away from Grillion’s then pointed at the wounded crew. “They will die if we don’t lure that monster away. Look at them, grandpa Grill, big sis Lily, big bro Toby. Can you look me in the eyes and tell me they will be safe if we help them get off this ship?”
Toby looked at the crew before letting out a sigh, then turned his gaze toward Lukas to look at the boy in the eyes. “And what do you suggest? We act as baits and die so that strangers could live?”
“We don’t have time, Lukas. We need to go.” Lily held Lukas hands.
The boy’s lips quivered as he shifted his gaze at his three most important people repeatedly. He closed his eyes, and tears streamed down his face and muttered.
“No. I am a Hero. I must do what a hero does. I refuse to let the innocent die helplessly in front of me again. Never again.” And yanked his hands away from Lily's, then dashed toward the ship’s port. With the speed he was going, the boy was most likely going to jump.
“LUKAS,” Lily and Toby shouted as they used [Push] and knocked the boy back toward the middle of the deck.
“Please don’t stop me. I can’t let them die.” Lukas shouted with a shaken voice as he lay on the deck.
“Well, that was very touching.” The bald vampire mocked. “But I’m afraid I can’t stay to watch the show. So, thank you for being the Leviathan’s food instead of us. Bye lads, have fun being eaten alive.”
After he said that, he and the rest of the vampires dived down the sea while carrying the ship’s cargo. Toby tried to use [Magic Hand] and [Push] to stop the bald head, but [Push] was too weak while [Magic Hand] was out of reach.
“Dammit,” He cursed and looked toward the incoming monster. The Leviathan was barely four hundred yards away from the ships. The worst part was that the monster didn’t even bother to look at vampires as they dived down, it only locked its gaze on the ship they were on. If it wasn’t Toby’s imagination, then just as Lukas said, the Leviathan was looking straight at them.
Toby looked back at his party - Lily and Grillion were stopping Lukas from jumping off the ship, Tootha was wrapping bandages around the wounded crew members, Rina was helping evacuate those who couldn’t move on their own by lending them her shoulders. The rest of the crew, who were still healthy enough, were preparing smaller boats to get away. But from what he could see, they wouldn’t make it in time. If the Leviathan refused to change its target, they were all dead meats.
If they didn’t do anything, everyone died. If they did something, someone would die, but not everyone. This isn't the damned trolley moral dilemma. Toby looked at the sky as the clouds drifted heartlessly while the rain fell like shattered alcohol glass bottle. He gritted his teeth, then glared at the Leviathan.
“FUCKING HELL. FUCK YOUR ENTIRE BLOODLINE, YOU DAMNED FISH.” He cursed before jumping into the water. He barely heard gramp and the kids' voices calling out to him before the current swept him toward the monster.
It felt different in this current. It wasn’t the same chilling but natural flow he felt when training with Natural Mana - the term the previous Dark Lord coined in her notebook. The suction force that was pulling him felt more like that of a vacuum machine than anything else. Toby expanded his senses to the best of his ability, only to barely feel something akin to a deep mountain river. A violent river that was controlling his movement.
Toby opened his eyes and saw he was being pulled toward the Leviathan’s opened mouth.
Fuckkkkkk. Ten points in Mind, five points in Mana. Toby shouted in his mind.
[Mind increase: 20 -> 30]
[Mana increase: 20 -> 25]
Stolen novel; please report.
[Distribution point: 23 -> 8]
The moment his stats increased, his mind felt calm and fresh, like he was soaking in a cool bath after a hot sauna. Whatever blocked his thoughts earlier was shattered into pieces, leaving behind a clear mind without hindrance.
The current around him didn’t feel like a violent river that was robbing him of his movement anymore. It felt more like a pristine, untouched spring that was soft, smooth, and gentle, like dew on leaves in the early morning. But at the same time, the flow held a kind of powerful and invigorating sense to it.
Somehow, it felt like he was sensing that chaotic but orderly Dark Mana all over again.
Is this what Water Mana feels like? Before Toby could answer that question, his mind forced him to focus on the matter at hand. The fact that he was about to be swallowed by a Leviathan.
Shiiiiiiii. Toby thought as he subconsciously focused on the sensation of the current around him and imitated it. The transparent Mana around him quickly turned into an artic blue color as it wrapped around him. Once he was fully covered by the artic blue Mana, the pulling force of the current suddenly lessened significantly.
I can get out. That single thought forced Toby to use [Push] at maximum output and shove himself out of the way. He barely dodged the iron maiden that was the Leviathan’s mouth. As it passed by him, the monster glanced at the teeny tiny turtle with gaze of a beast demanding food.
When it saw that it missed, the monster turned around, away from the ship, toward Toby, roared, then lunged forward.
Oh no, I’m NOT going to be your fucking food, asshole. Toby thought as he summoned two broken blades and held them with [Magic Hand]. When the monster got closer, he used [Float] and [Push] combined with his swimming moves to dodge upward, barely missed the monster’s head beneath him, and grabbed one of its bony scales. He moved the blades above one of the monster’s four eyes, then stabbed down.
Toby stabbed again and again, yet, something felt off. He stopped stabbing and looked at the blades. If they were broken before, then they were dust after the stabbing.
The monster stopped for a brief moment as it looked at Toby with its vertical eyes. Toby looked down at the eye that was at least ten times his size and smiled awkwardly.
That might not have been the best move, as the monster roared then thrashed around like a five-year-old throwing a tantrum in the middle of a supermarket because his mother won’t buy toys for him. Toby grabbed on with his dear life as he was thrown around in every direction. His well-protected brain could be in danger as it was turned into a milkshake inside his skull. Heaven and earth spun around and replaced each other’s places repeatedly. It was ten times worse than riding a hardcore rollercoaster.
Suddenly, much to Toby’s relief, the Leviathan stopped. It raised its head and looked at a spot.
There, someone just dove into the sea. Her white hair floated around as she was covered from head to toe by two layers of white Mana. The first one most likely was the Bubble Breathing Skill, while the other was her own Mana – specially crafted and trained to kick butt and take no names. Her Mana quickly expanded and formed two giant white arms. The arms cracked their knuckles slowly and menacingly. Each step she took toward the Leviathan caused ripples to form and smashed into both the monster and Toby like a sledgehammer.
There was one person who could ever do that with just her presence. The demon-like Guild Master, Elaria D’vanna.
Toby had never felt so happy to look at the cruel master who could learn a thing or ten from the gentle, kind, and loving granny Nanna. Kick this thing’s butt, master Elaria. Toby cheered.
But he knew that this thing was going to run away again. So, that was most unlikely.
Contrary to his belief, the Leviathan looked at Elaria with bloodshot eyes before it roared. This roar was embedded with one of the things Toby hated the most. Fear. Once again, his body trembled and froze in place, his eyes shook, and a mountain was placed on his chest. The simple act of breathing became a fight for survival.
Yet, despite everything, he could still hear Elaria’s words.
“Who drove you to this frenzied state?”
A light ball went off in his head. The other team disappeared without a trace right before this Leviathan attacked. This monster appeared soon after. Master Elaria said someone drove the Leviathan into a frenzy. This encounter wasn’t an accident. It was staged. There was only one person who could be the suspect here. Yet, he had no proof.
Toby gritted his teeth once again at how weak and powerless he was. Being toyed by someone more powerful, he loathed that.
The Leviathan ignored Toby as it charged toward Elaria. The elf used her giant Mana hands to grab the monster’s jaws to stop it. But they were underwater, she had no footing, so she was pushed back until she crashed into one of the ships. She could create those Mana floating things, but she didn’t. Elaria simply looked at the monster and shook her head with a sigh.
“The weak are always used, one way or another. I’m sorry. I’ll make this quick.”
Her two giant hands grew until they were the same size as the Leviathan’s head. One of the hands wrapped around the monster’s mouth to secure it in place, while the other was raised high with its open palm clenched into a fist. The monster might have sensed that its end was near as it tried its hardest to get away from Elaria. Its giant body even broke two nearby ships while it broke the hurl of a third one.
But it was in vain as Elaria’s fist fell like an execution blade and smashed the Leviathan’s head in one hit. The monster's head burst like a watermelon hit by a hammer. It stopped moving as green blood drifted around like mist.
Elaria sighed before she reached out and scooped up Toby, who was swimming toward her.
“Let’s go back to the ship.” She said before forming a Mana ball beneath her feet and using it as a trampoline to jump up on board again.
“Get me some ropes,” Elaria ordered, and the crew obeyed. She used the rope and tied the monster’s corpse to the ship.
“This should give all of you more than enough coins as compensation. Any rejection?” She asked the crew. Seeing that no one refused, she nodded. “Good.”
“Thank you for saving me, master Elaria. But why are you here? Shouldn’t you all only appear when we send a signal so that the vampire won’t be spooked?” Toby asked.
“You’re welcome. And there’s no way I’ll sit back and watch as a Leviathan attacks the fleet.”
“But the plan failed.” Toby sighed.
“Not necessary.” A fake warm voice that was obnoxious to the core butted in. Dorian continued. “It seems that the party that I trained noticed the Leviathan quicker than anyone and correctly prioritized the main goal of this mission.”
“And how exactly did they do that?” Elaria sneered.
“I’m a good mentor.” Dorian smiled. “It seemed like we can only rely on them for this mission now.”
“Not necessary, my good fellow.” Grillion entered the conversation, his answer caused Dorian to raise one of his eyebrows.
“I have put a special ingredient in one of the crates that the vampires took. As long as we follow its unique scent, we can find the ruin.”
“It’s not about finding the ruin,” Elaria sighed. “It’s about breaking that illusion formation.”
“Ah, my apologies. But I believe I have a solution for that.” Grillion smiled as he pointed at a passed-out and soaking-wet vampire tied up on the deck. “We can pretend that this man escaped by a hair and passed out when he fell into the sea. When he wakes up, he will lead us to the ruin. All we need to do is follow him, as we originally intended.”
“Brilliant, good work, Crumblepot.” Elaria laughed. “Seems like your party isn’t the only competent one, eh?” She gave Dorian the side-eye.
“Of course, this kind of quick thinking is worth celebrating. We can go ahead with the new plan.” Dorian didn’t bat an eye. It was like the success or failure of this mission had nothing to do with him.
“Then let’s see how this vampire will move through the formation,” Elaria said.