Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 891: A Slumbering Messenger - Part 1

While Maria was busy handling her child and waiting for Raven to come to her room, Regalia was busy directing the ship and had given a moment’s rest for Reina as she kept talking about her urge to fish. Slowing down the leading vessel as they passed over the hell’s ocean, she promised the pirate daughter and others who were interested in fishing, half an hour to sate their curiosities.

For most, the act was merely a watching party as winged scouts like Lumine dived into the water and caught surface-swimmer fishes. Bringing them back to the vessel one after the other, the winged boys and girls were stretching their bodies and also enjoying themselves a little. Reina was impressed by the sight and even had Lumine with her metallic wing carry her down to the water, where she threw a large net over what was a school of small fish. Baiting them with some feed had made them easier targets that swam in the direction of the net themselves.

Thus began the fishing frenzy. Everyone either dived feet first into the water or was carried down for a much softer landing. Thankfully, the water seemed safe, and with that mirage of safety clouding their judgment, it wasn’t long before some of the crew had surrendered themselves to fishing and swimming.

"Ey! Reina? What the hell are you doing? I didn’t give you permission to distract my soldiers! You were only supposed to get some fish, and that’s it!" Screaming into her ring, Regalia angrily reprimanded the pirate smith. With no response for a while, however, she was forced to scream some more. "Get those idiots back into the ship! I’m closing the drop lock in ten minutes!"

Another moment of silence passed before Reina’s voice echoed back from within the ring.

"Alright, alright, I’ll wrap things up here and–What the..." The sudden cut off in her speech alarmed the wolf girl’s instincts. Turning her head away from the control panel, she looked at the side windows before rushing over to them.

’Damn it, what happened?’ Staring out through the window, she noticed a deep shadow–much darker than the shadow made by the ships themselves following them at a constant rate. The soldiers and the winged scouts were already carrying everyone back towards the drop lock, and amongst them was Reina, looking just visibly stunned like an animal that had frozen up in front of a predator. ’What is that?’

Setting her gaze back to the massive shadow that stretched much further than the seven ships, the wolf girl took a deep gulp and wondered if her own patron–the deep one had decided to visit them for some odd reason. Alas, no such message had come to her, leading her to believe...

"Infernal monster..." Pushing herself off the window, she rushed back to the controls and talked into a shard of teleporter gem embedded into the panels. "All helmsmen! Second general here, I need you to scatter! SOMETHING IS FOLLOWING US, AND IF WE LOSE EVEN A SINGLE SHIP AFTER JUST A DAY OF RECEIVING THEM, I’M GONNA KILL YOU BASTARDS MYSELF EVEN IF WE ESCAPE THIS MONSTER!!"

In only a matter of a few seconds, all helmsmen sprang into action. Terrified more of their barking mistress than the monster itself, they scattered as soon as everyone who was out fishing was back on board. Being the last to get everyone in, however, Regalia picked up the pace to draw out the monster further ahead. And sure enough, the colossal shadow the size of the entire Athenian kingdom followed them with impossible speed for its size.

"What the hell is it?!" Reina screamed while rushing for the deck, her body still dripping with water from her dip.

Shooting her a razor-sharp glance, Regalia growled like a feral beast at the woman before eyeing the controls to have her help her with the complex machine.

"We will talk about this later, now come here!" Wasting no more time, Reina did as she was asked and rushed to the controls.

The two quickly set their hands on the levels and buttons, each only knew how to handle half of the confusing mess, as the leading vessel was more complex than the others. And with Regalia being a demi-human and Reina a human of slightly above average intelligence, neither was fit to control the ship all by themselves.

In spite of that, with their knowledge of seafaring, nobody else could truly match their level of comprehension when it comes to astral navigation and how to weather a bad seastorm. However, against a beast as large as a kingdom, will those skills help? Remains to be seen as of yet.

"My lord, I need your–" Right as Regalia was calling to Victor for help, something tore through the depths of the ocean and struck the iron trident on the side. Everyone aboard was sent flying to one side, and although the gravitational mechanism helped break their fall, their minds within their skulls were rattled nonetheless.

While still struggling to comprehend what was going on, the wailing sound of a sea kraken was heard rumbling underneath. Regalia’s eyes widened, and so did Reina’s. The duo knew the voice, but there was something off about it–something that only the people of Elenaris could recall and feel deep within their very blood vessels.

"A dragaonic sea kraken..." Gritting her teeth, the wolf girl snarled like a beast once more. A flood of anger and rage coursed through every fiber of her being, and the same held true for the rest of the soldiers of the goddess Elenaria. "PREPARE THE FUCKING CACONS ON THE LOWER DECK! WE’RE SENDING THIS ACCURSED CREATURE BACK TO THE HELLS!!"

Her voice rumbled throughout the fleet via the teleportation stone. And while some struggled to comprehend her reasoning, others were just as feral and ready to kill the dragon, for much as monsters hate humans inherently, so did the people of Elenaris hate the dragon. To the point where their very blood called for the monster’s culling.

"Regalia, have you gone insane?! Just teleport us away!" Reina yelled, her eyes eyeing the teleportation lever.

As she tried to move it, however, it remained locked in place. Not by the wolf girl, but the spirit that inhabited the vessel that they were in.

"Allow me to strike this worm from this world into the next." As the king’s voice echoed through the trident, Regalia stopped the vessel altogether. The shadow lingered under their feet as if in wait for something to happen, and sure enough, it did–but in the way the beast could’ve ever expected...