Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (44 page)

"But, Captain, today is a Thursday. You know how it is bad luck to sail on Thursdays and Fridays." argued Mersinge. "We should set sail on Saturday as scheduled."
Malheur let out a fake loud sigh. "Fine! I know of your idiotic superstitions. I'll add another three million zecs. With six of you here, that should give each one of you a plump million."
The crew fell silent, and all of them looked at each other. Their eyes were worried about the old sailor sayings, but the money was right there, for their taking.
Then, Oursin raised his hand. He was followed by Escroc, then Moche, and the rest of them all raised their hands.
"Alright, let's get her ready, then," ordered Rongeur.
"Aye, aye, Captain!" yelled the crew in unison.
"You must be very rich, Malheur," said Smoke to the HighElf.
"If you want to ask for money, don't bother. I'm not that charitable," said Malheur as he looked at Smoke's tattered brown clothes. "But you should save some money, and get an upgrade on your equipment soon."
Malheur returned to his cabin.
Since the crew were busy and Smoke didn't want to get in their way, he decided to retire to his chambers for the day as well.
Once inside, he found himself inside a tight space with a small bed. He had to curl up in order to lay on it.
Smoke opened the metallic orb on his chest and let out his symbiote.
"I'm gonna call it a night, bud. I'll see you in the morning," said Smoke to Igniz, and logged out of Zectas.
 

* * * * * * 

The next day, before the sun was up over the waters, Smoke was already out on the deck of Naufrage. He saw Mersinge at the helm.
"Good morning, Mersinge, you slept well?" asked Smoke politely.
"I have been at the wheel since we departed from Havre," strictly answered Mersinge, without turning to face him.
"Oh," replied Smoke and gave out an embarrassed expression. "So, when is your shift gonna—"
Oursin suddenly appeared behind Smoke and took the helm from Mersinge.
"Good morning, Faux," said the OrkElf to Smoke.
"Morning, Oursin," replied Smoke cordially. "So, you going to get some shut-eye?" he turned to ask Mersinge, but the bald man was already gone.
"You know it's best if you leave him alone," explained Oursin. "He only really talks to the Captain and my sister."
"Your sister?" asked a surprised Smoke. Then, he realized that the OrkElf was talking about Mouette, the HighElf Navigator.
"I bet you didn't see that coming, huh?" asked Oursin.
"Just took me by surprise that's all," answered Smoke.
"Yeah, I don't blame you. That's the common reaction when I tell people that she's my sister," explained Oursin. "Who would think that a beautiful girl like her, would have a brother like me."
Smoke understood that their mother must have been raped by an Ork.
"And your mother?" bluntly asked Smoke. "If you don't mind me asking, of course."
"I don't mind," answered Oursin. "She's living alone in our house in Vona City. Although, she got sick just recently. That's why the two of us are working so hard."
Even though he still had plenty of questions for Oursin, Smoke didn't say another word and stared blankly at the rising sun. He wanted to ask him, however, he simply did not know how to as his Intimacy with the OrkElf was still below 55.
"You look like you have a lot of questions on your mind," suddenly said Oursin. "I don't mind if you say them."
"How did it happen? How did your mother get...attacked by Orks?" slowly asked Smoke.
"Mother said that Mouette was still a little over a year old. They came to her village and attacked everything in sight," began Oursin. "The cities of Vitzytl maybe famous for their mages, but the outlands have an overgrown population of Orks."
Oursin let out a heavy sigh. "Mother quickly hid Mouette under the floors and wrapped her mouth tightly, leaving only her nose to breathe and stopping her from crying. She said that two of them came inside the house, but Mouette's father managed to drag one of them outside."
Smoke tightened his grip on the ship's railings as he listened.
"She said she fought him with all her might, but the remaining Ork managed to overpower my mother," said Oursin. "Mouette's father returned after he killed the Ork outside, but by then it was already too late. I was already conceived in her belly."
"And where is Mouette's father now?" asked Smoke.
"He died ten years ago," said Oursin bitterly. "He gave me a roof to live in. One could say he treated me well, but I did not feel any love from him."
Smoke didn't respond as he did not know what to say.
Oursin suddenly forcibly laughed. "He was even the one who named me. Can you believe him? Giving me this name? And people around us keep on saying how much of a great guy he is for raising me and not killing me."
An awkward silence immediately fell after Oursin explained his story.
"You know, I have two OrkElf friends back home," abruptly said Smoke. "Their names are Sharur and Jinggu."
"No wonder I had a good feeling about you," exclaimed Oursin. "So, why didn't you bring them with you to Sawtorn?"
"One of them died just recently, and his twin brother left without any warning. I haven't heard from him since," somberly explained Smoke.
"Sorry to hear that," said Oursin.
The two of them silently stared at the horizon as the sun rose higher above the seas.
"Hey, have you heard about the Skull Cap Pirates?" asked Oursin. "I hear they're famous pirates of the Murray. They say that the weapons that they carry are as big as their own bodies."
Smoke chuckled. "Really? They say that, huh?"
"Well, I hope we don't encounter any pirates like those," said Oursin hurriedly.
"But you've seen other pirates in these waters?" asked an intrigued Smoke.
"Here and there, but Naufrage can easily outrun most of them," proudly replied Oursin. "She is way better than she looks."
"I see," replied Smoke and smiled.
"The thing you should worry about in the Ausud Sea is its monsters," explained the OrkElf. "One of the six legendary monsters has been said to be very active lately, the Draugen. Its body is said to have the width of a ship and its length...Well, not even ten ships could compare to it. This sea monster does, however, have small arms for claws."
Smoke looked at him curiously. He was wondering whether he was just making all of this up.
"The Widower Draugen," said Oursin with a worried expression.
"Oh, but you forgot to tell him about another new monster that we keep on hearing about recently," suddenly said Mouette as the beautiful HighElf appeared from behind them.
"I hope my brother hasn't bothered you with his stories," she said brightly.
"No, it's fine. I like learning new things," answered Smoke. "And what about this new monster?"
"Well, they say that it has tentacles so long they could probably rival that of the legendary Kraken," explained Mouette.
"Then, we better steer clear from them," added Smoke.
The hours idly passed and the voyage to Sawturn remained uneventful. Smoke used this time to secretly train his Manatl inside the small confines of his cabin.
As the sun was about to set to end the day, Malheur stepped out of his quarters.
"Are we on schedule?" he asked Rongeur who was at the helm.
"Yes," briskly answered the Captain. "With fair winds we should arrive in Vitzytl, eight days from now."
"Eight days?" asked a surprised Smoke. "I thought the voyage was suppose to last two weeks?"
"That is, if you were on one of those slower Brigantines," promptly answered Oursin.
"I told you the Naufrage was better than she looks," said the OrkElf and patted Smoke's shoulder.
Then, Escroc suddenly called Rongeur's attention.
"Captain, there are two large bull sharks following us," said the tiger Lioumerean. "Do you want me to harpoon them?"
"No, no, just throw some chum at them, they'll probably leave us alone," replied Rongeur.
"I knew it, bad luck has come aboard our ship," accused Mersinge, looking at Malheur.
"Come on now, Mersinge," chided Mouette. "Sharks following our ship doesn't really mean that we're—"
The HighElf stopped talking as dark storm clouds gathered up ahead.
Hail began to shower from the clouds as a lone blue monstrous body protruded out of the water, its head presumably inside the dark skies.
"It's the Draugen!" shouted a terrified Mouette.
Two large blue eyes glowed from behind the muddled atmosphere.
Suddenly, a large hail, three-meters in diameter, blasted from above.
Malheur calmly stepped in front and changed the trajectory of the hail.
"We have to get out of here," said Mouette in panic.
"The wind is pushing us towards the Draugen," replied Rongeur as he tried to steer away.
Posthaste, Malheur pointed his scepter at the sails and chanted. Instantly, a casting circle appeared in front of the High Wizard, spewing out a strong gust of wind. The Naufrage was forcibly pushed backward.
However, the Draugen began attacking with a hail storm. Several hails, twice the size of Smoke's fist bombarded their ship.
Six of these icy projectiles hit Malheur's back, canceling his casting circle. The High Wizard's life bar displayed (220,000/250,000 HP) as he was sprawled on deck.
Smoke wanted to help, but there was no earth to manipulate near him.
"Can none of you attack that monster at all?" asked Malheur while slowly getting up.
"Attack!" yelled Rongeurs, and four harpoons were released all at once.
It accurately pierced through Draugen's scales, but its life bar indicated (980,000/1,000,000 HP).
Rongeur threw a harpoon as well. This time, five harpoons were flying in the air.
Yet, before this round of attacks pierced the giant blue dragon, they released another two more rounds of harpoons at the beast.
"KRRAAAAAH!" roared Draugen angrily.
Their ship violently rocked with the waves as everything around them was suddenly pelted with hails by the hundreds.
Malheur tried deflecting the frozen attacks away from them, but the ice attacks were beyond his control.
"Faux, do something!" angrily shouted Malheur.
Smoke did not respond as he was confused whether to expose himself to a complete stranger.
"We need to distract it," suggested Smoke. "Long enough for you to cast your spell and take us to safety."
"Brilliant idea," answered Malheur.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind picked Smoke up and threw him off the ship.
"If you aren't good for anything, then just satisfy that monster's appetite," plainly stated Malheur. "Better you than the Zectian crew, right?" he yelled at Smoke.
"Man overboard!" shouted Mersinge.
The bald burly man threw Smoke a lifesaver, and tried to dive in after him. Yet, before Mersinge could jump off, the High Wizard recasted his strong gust of wind on the sails and sent the Naufrage jumping through the waves.
Left behind, Smoke hurriedly put up a concave Manatl above his head with his recently colored brown staff. The hail storm did not let up and pounded on his barrier.
SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD
"Igniz, are you alright in there?" asked Smoke as he debated with himself whether or not to let out his symbiote against a gigantic ice dragon.
However, Smoke had no time to think as the two bull sharks, who followed their ship before, appeared from behind him.
Upon closer inspection on their horns, he realized that these sharks were larger than any regular bull sharks.
"Damn it!" he shouted with frustration.
Smoke could not cover a full spherical Manatl as he needed to absorb the current one before activating a new one.
As he was about to absorb the gathered energy of his barrier, several large tentacles with dozens of sharp teeth on them latched onto the Draugen's body.
'That must be the new monster Mouette was talking about,' surmised Smoke, and transferred the energy into his brown-colored-staff.
He turned to face the two bull sharks, but was surprised to see that they swiftly swam past him.
The two bull sharks leapt out of the sea and ram their horns into the Draugen's body. They pointed it downward, slicing through its scales before returning to the sea.
"What are these sharks?" he asked out loud, amazed at their attacks.
Draugen focus its hail storm on the two sharks, revealing their life bars and names Cornu (460,163/550,000 HP) Requin (461,029/550,000 HP).
"Hey, I know these sharks," he said to Igniz, who was still hidden inside his orb.
"If those sharks are the ones from the lake in Saruras Village, then those tentacles must belong to… Calamar!"
The colossal squid's head popped out of the sea. Its eyes were even larger than before. While the two bull sharks were busy biting sections out of Draugen, Calamar gave Smoke a knowing wink.
Suddenly, one of Calamar's tentacles sent him out of the water and flying through the air. With his energized staff, Smoke slammed it hard below the Draugen's eye, damaging it for 100,000 points.
Smoke expertly kicked off the massive blue dragon, and glided a few meters away. He quickly readied a full spherical Manatl before another hail storm came swirling through.
His energized strike distracted the Draugen.
Cornu, Requin, and Calamar quickly took advantage of this. The twin bull sharks took out larger chunks of the sea monster's flesh, while the colossal squid itself went after its eyes.
Due to the trio's coordinated attacks, the Draugen's hail storm ceased.
Smoke quickly switched out his staff for his twin lightning rods, and landed safely on top of the Draugen's head.
He helped Calamar's tentacles beat the hit points out of the sea monster with each of his Lightning Shock attacks.
Yet, suddenly, the Draugen's hail storm resumed its attack. Calamar, Requin, and Cornu were all directly hit by them.
The three sea creatures got blasted back into the water. Then, the Draugen dove in after them. Smoke, who was gliding, could not see what was happening to them underwater.
Seconds quickly turned to minutes, and Smoke was still none the wiser. He only saw pillars of water randomly erupt from the bottom of the sea. He could not begin to fathom the savage battle going on below.
With his brown-coated staff still uncharged, Smoke switched to his twin lightning rods in preparation, patiently waiting for an opening.
However, it was the bull sharks who were first exposed out the water. Their orange life bars displayed below 30%.
"Calamar, I know you can take that sea monster!" cheered Smoke from above.
Then, the colossal squid's head popped out. It was filled with wide scars across its face. Calamar's life bar displayed (450,000/900,000 HP).
Smoke intensely searched for the Draugen. Suddenly, he spotted a part of its body protrude out of the sea.
Not missing this opportunity, Smoke joined his twin rods and fired his Lightning Strike at the sea monster.