Chapter 159: Aftermath (2)
In the afternoon, the golden sunlight coated the deck with a shiny glow. The sea glinted under the sun and waves kept hitting the body of the ship.
Angele carried the bodies to the railing, inserted two heavy metal blocks into their mouths, and dropped them into the sea.
*PLOP*
The bodies sank into the sea within a second. Angele cleaned his hands with a piece of cloth and left the railings. He walked around the deck but did not see anyone around.
He furrowed his brows as he looked at the stairs, then he quickly walked down to the cabin area.
The oil lamps on the walls were still bringing light to the hallway, but the place was deadly silent.
Angele’s footsteps echoed in the hallways and a chill climbed up his spine.
The cabin area had five levels. Angele was on the first level and the Wizard apprentices were on the fourth or fifth level. Those levels were reserved for sailors and Wizard apprentices.
Angele smelled the stench of blood in the air after walking down the stairs.
He walked down the hallway and saw a pile of bodies by the end. All the Wizard apprentices were killed. A large pool of blood gathered on the floor and the color of the blood indicated that they had been killed at least several hours ago.
Angele knew it was Calello’s doing.
‘So, his plan was to eliminate everyone on the ship. Calello killed all the Wizard apprentices while I was fighting the two Wizards of Light, he knew that it would take me a while to finish the battle.’ Although Angele was a Dark Wizard as well, he refrained from killing innocent people.
Angele walked to bodies and started observing. It seemed that those bodies were all missing parts of their bodies.
The male Wizard apprentices had their arms and chest muscles missing, while the female Wizard apprentices had their breasts missing. It was almost like they were partially devoured by a strong beast. Angele checked the wounds and realized something.
‘Calello’s body was zombified... That’s why the needles did not work.’ Although Angele’s damaged his body, he still almost escaped by turning himself into some strange gas, ‘My Lesser Fireball did 40 degrees of damage to him. I think even a Grand Knight won’t be able to handle it. It’s probably his Talent Spell... Sadly, my Metal Mastery only has moderate physical and magical resistances.’
Angele searched the bodies. He wanted to collect evidence. Moreover, he also found the body of the girl who talked to him earlier.
However, it seemed that Calello had already taken the girl’s enchanted items away.
Angele checked other levels after and confirmed that all other people in this ship were eliminated by Calello.
The zombified Calello ate most of the corpses’ muscles and cut their arms to make meat jerkies or something. However, he did not expect for Angele to have such absurd power.
Angele checked the whole ship again and confirmed that he was the only one left alive at present.
He found some leftover bread and cheese before going back to his cabin. He killed Calello and two Wizards of Light, so he had to find a way to avoid their organizations.
Most of the organizations or Wizard families would avenge their members. Although the Wizards of Light came from a weak organization, Angele still decided to be careful. He planned to get off the ship one dock earlier and travel to the Six Ring High Tower on land.
The ship would arrive at the destination on its own, so it was fine for Angele to get off earlier. The whales in the engine room would move on their own.
*******************
Several months later...
In the evening.
A huge ship slowly advanced on the dark, endless sea, shaking in the strong waves.
Angele stood on the bow of the ship and it felt like the whole world was shaking. He tied himself to the main mast that was tall and wide.
His long hair and black robe were flying in the howling wind. The coldness and wetness left him with an unpleasant feeling. His body was leaning to the side as the ship was hit by the waves.
"F*cking storm!" he cursed. Nothing else happened after the battle with the three Wizards. The ship was now getting close to the next dock.
Angele stood on the bow most of the time recently. He wanted to meet those harpies again as he arrived at the area the Future was attacked. His plan was to collect more harpy blood, and this was the best chance he had.
Sadly, the harpies did not come, but a storm struck the ship.
The power of the signet exceeded Angele’s expectation, but he did not see a single harpy these days. They must have remembered the shape of the ship and decided not to attack it after the massacre.
Angele stopped thinking. He grabbed the railings and leaned forward to check the situation ahead.
*Crackle*
A furious lightning brightened up the surface of the sea.
A bean-sized raindrop hit the back of Angele’s head.
After several seconds of pouring down chaotically, it started freezing Angele’s skin.
The heavy rain kept hammering down and beat a violent tattoo on the deck.
Angele’s black robe was soaked in water. Although the rain left a frosty feel on his body, he was not worried about catching a cold.
He held the railing tight as he looked ahead.
The dark sea looked like a seemingly endless floor. It sometimes leaned to the left and to the right. The world was almost turning upside down.
Angele stayed on the bow and found something unusual in the front.
A humongous back of some creature slowly appeared on the surface of the sea.
It was a thousand-meter long whale that had rows of black spines on its back, which were about the size of an average spear and were extremely sharp. The whale’s eyes were narrow and were coated in a yellow glow.
The ship looked like a small box comparing to the creature.
Angele was breathing heavily. It felt as if a heavy stone had just struck his chest.
He stared at the whale, his face slowly turning pale.
"Echinate Whale! How is that even possible..." Angele recognized this horrifying monstrosity.
"A whale that is a thousand meters long... I thought the book was joking..." He could not believe what he just saw. He never took the data of the Echinate Whale on the book seriously.
The whale slowly passed by. Luckily, the spikes did not hit the ship. The ship was probably just a plankton to the whale as it did not seem to care about it.
The rain was pouring down the sea, Angele stood on the bow and watched the whale passing by. The ship was far from the center of its back, but the waves it brought still made the ship turn several times.
Two hours later, the whale finally disappeared in Angele’s sight, He inhaled once and felt relieved. He was worried that the whale would crush the ship.
Also, the storm left together with the whale quickly and the surface of the sea calmed down as well. Even the wind had weakened.
‘So, the legend is true. The Echinate whale can absorb the power of the storm. I didn’t take it seriously...’ he mumbled.
The ship was protected by the Merfolk’s buff and there was an energy barrier keeping all the normal sea monsters away. However, a horrifying creature like Echinate whale could easily break the barrier and capsize the ship if it wanted to.
He learned in a book about an incident that a Wizard apprentice once offended the whale and the ship got smashed into smithereens. This humongous whale had the most ancient blood among the ancient creatures. Although they were strong, they usually would not initiate any attack. The Wizard apprentice attacked a smaller whale that was a relative of an Echinate Whale, and the Echinate Whale killed everyone on the ship, including several formal Wizards.
After the sky became clear, two crescent moons poured white light onto the deck. The sea was also peaceful and quiet.
It was almost as if the storm never happened. Angele felt relieved. He had no idea what would’ve happened had the whale targeted the ship.
Angele realized that there were many people or creatures much stronger than him in this world. He needed to keep improving.
**********************
Three days later.
In the afternoon.
The ship stopped by a desolate dock slowly.
A young man with long brown hair jumped off the ship with a large bag in his hand.
*BAM*
He landed on the beach that was covered in stones steadily. Metallic silver glint reflected on his hands and feet.
Angele made two small depressions on the beach with his feet.
+
He turned his head around and looked at the ship for a second before he walked to the forest quickly.
After several seconds, intense black smoke rose upon the deck and flames sparked in the cabins. The masts and sails all started burning. The flames streaked into the sky.
The fire illuminated the entire dock.
Angele did not look back. He climbed up the hill and vanished into the shrubbery ahead.
Angele planned to travel to the dock he stopped by when he was on the Future first. The dock’s name was Sea Hawk and was close to the Six Ring High Tower.
He had talked with the navigator of the Future before and learned that he only needed to go across two medium-sized countries before reaching the Sea Hawk dock.
Also, there were several Wizard organizations around here.