Free Web NovelChapter 106: Men overboard!
The shouts of victory echoed across the deck of the ship as the sailors celebrated the death of the Devourer of Ships, watching it sink rapidly because of its enormous weight.
Victor, covered in blood and sweat, smiled modestly at the crew. He looked at the rusty harpoon in his hands, the weapon that had decided the fate of that terrible sea creature, and drove it into the monster again, giving it an honorable end. It was better to sink with the corpse of the Devourer of Ships and be lost at the bottom of the sea than to return to the dusty warehouse.
When Victor felt the water touch his feet and realized that the sea monster was sinking, he remembered his main task and also the reason for having made a hunt for this creature, so he threw himself back into the raging sea.
The sailors, confused by Victor’s sudden action, stopped celebrating and watched him dive back into the rough waters.
"What’s he doing?" one of the sailors asked the others, confused.
Victor dived in and quickly realized that most of the water around him was dyed red by the creature’s blood. Luckily, he soon spotted the hole he had made in the monster’s head with his new sword and, with determination, dived even deeper to reach it. As soon as Victor got close enough, he shoved both hands through the wound and ripped it open with brute force. His vision became uncomfortable with the monster’s brain showing, but Victor wouldn’t be sickened by that alone.
It didn’t take long for Victor to reach into the Devourer of Ships’s brain with one hand, carefully removing a piece. The organ was massive and throbbing, a material reminder of the threat that had been defeated, but not the kind of trophy that anyone would categorically display around.
Victor held the piece of brain and placed it in a more resistant and impermeable cloth bag, so that the brain wouldn’t drip blood on his clothes.
This concluded his mission at sea and he could finally return to the ship.
However, just as Victor was about to start swimming to the surface, he saw something different moving in the left-hand corner of his view island and that’s also when he saw an orange-haired boy being released by one of the Devourer of Ships’s tentacles. It was Jonathan, one of the two crew members who had been grabbed by the monster during the battle.
Victor swam quickly, ignoring the pressure of the water and his fatigue to reach the body before Jonathan sank any further.
Victor grabbed Jonathan’s soaked shirt and pulled him up, but as he tried to surface, he noticed a movement in his right in this time. The greenish glow of the dead tentacles revealed a second sailor, but he was trapped by a tentacle entwined around himself. Victor didn’t know who this boy was, but he had the slight feeling that he had heard the Captain shouting for someone called Timmy, it was probably him.
Timmy was attached to a dead tentacle, struggling to get free even though he was almost out of breath, his eyes wide and his mouth ajar.
’The tentacle must have stayed closed by instinct when the Devourer of Ships died.’ Victor analyzed quickly. ’Given the strength that monster had, this boy won’t be able to free himself.
Victor left Jonathan adrift for a moment and swam as fast as he could to help Timmy, who when he saw Victor was relieved and desperate at the same time because he wanted urgent help.
The hunter called for calm with a wave of his hand and tore at the dead tentacle holding Timmy with his bare hands. Finally, Victor took a firm hold of Timmy’s arm, pulling him close to him as he swam towards Jonathan to bring him to the surface as well.
The pressure of the choppy waters strained Victor’s tired lungs, but the urgency made him ignore it. It was a race against time.
When Victor and the others finally emerged, the ship’s crew, who had been watching apprehensively from the edge of the bow, rushed to help them.
"Men overboard! Help us!" shouted the captain.
Ropes were thrown, arms outstretched, and soon the three of them were hoisted onto the deck.
Timmy, panting, leaned over the wet wooden floor with his eyes fixed on the cloudy sky. He heard voices, footsteps and exaltations around him as he vomited water.
"The hunter brought them both back alive!" shouted one of the crew members as the others surrounded the sailors who had almost drowned.
"Jonathan!" A distressed voice called out, and soon a small figure ran up to the group, pushing the others hard. It was Marta, the ship’s cook and sister of the orange-haired boy.
Marta, crying, checked Jonathan’s breathing and pulse. The boy was unconscious, but breathing. Timmy, on the other hand, was panting and in shock.
"They need care!" Marta begged the other crew members, "Quickly, get the blankets and hot water!" freewebnoveℓ.com
The other crew members rushed over, bringing blankets and basins of water to clean the wounds.
Victor was sitting on a barrel, catching his breath, then slowly got up, approached Marta, put a hand on her shoulder and said:
"They’ll be fine. Jonathan needs rest, but he’ll recover."
Marta dried her tears with the sleeve of her shirt. She looked up at him and thanked him between sobs: "Thank you, hunter. They’re only alive thanks to you."
At that moment, the captain of the "Traveling Mermaid", an old man with a thick beard, approached Victor with heavy steps and held out his hand to him.
"You saved my crew, and my dear Mermaid," he said in a hoarse voice. "Thank you very much, hunter... What’s your name again?" ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"Victor Shieldman." The white-haired hunter took the captain’s hand and replied.
"Everyone, please give a euphoric salute to hunter Victor Shieldman, our great savior!!!"
"VICTOR, SHIELDMAN~! VICTOR...~"
The sailors on deck raised a chorus to thank Victor.
With that, the "Traveling Mermaid", even with its mast partially broken and a few holes in the sails, continued the rest of its journey to Naeross Island, where the troublesome pirates of the North Sea awaited them and where Victor would meet yet another old friend, even if he didn’t know it yet.
