Chapter 242: Arrival
Weister felt a sense of impending doom. Audric sniffed the air in the fuel storage and said, "Captain, it smells fishy in here. Something's coming."
Without warning, the vampire sailor moved and rushed to the door. He lifted his sharp claws and slashed out at Weister's left temple. A grotesque noise echoed as dark purple blood haphazardly spurted out and painted Weister's face. Embark on a quest to the commencement at n0v#lbin★
At the same time, something emerged from Weister's clothes. Blood was dripping down something invisible as something rushed outside. The creature didn't make any noises, and it was also invisible, but it still failed to elude the vampire sailor.
"I can smell it! The smell of blood!" Audric's two fangs protruded out of his mouth as his figure chased after the creature.
Charles rushed past Weister and chased after Audric.
Weister was in a daze. His legs were trembling, and he was beyond pallid. He truly believed that he was about to die earlier, especially when that unknown creature started reaching into his clothes.
Soon, the Captain returned with dark purple bloodstains on his face.
"The two creatures earlier could turn invisible. I've dealt with them. It is safe now. Sailors, clean up the cabin. Everyone else should return to their posts," Charles declared. His words instantly vanquished the oppressive air about the crew members as they immediately relaxed.
They started muttering to each other and laughing while carrying their weapons with them outside. They looked carefree as if they weren't involved in the crisis just now.
However, the rookie Weister found it difficult to recover. It was his first time standing so close to death. His hands trembled uncontrollably, even during mealtime.
At that moment, he started regretting his decision. He should have gained more experience before signing up to become a crew member of this death trap.
Regardless of the amount of money the Governor was willing to offer, Weister knew that he had to be alive to enjoy it.
"Ah!" Weister snapped back to reality at the noise. A smiling fatty stood before him; the smiling fatty was Narwhale's cook, and he had just placed a ladleful of what looked like a gooey broth of apples on Weister's plate.
"Scared? I know, I know; I've been there, done that. You just need to encounter more creatures of the sea, and you'll eventually get used to them," the cook said.
"Are you not scared? That thing could become invisible..." Weister muttered.
Time slowly passed, and the Narwhale received no further attacks aside from the earlier attack. However, Charles had noticed something strange.
For some reason, he would feel as though someone was staring at him from the depths of the pitch-black ocean whenever he stood on the Narwhale's deck with his back to the sea.
Charles thought the surreptitious gaze belonged to Dipp, but he changed his mind upon recalling Dipp's behavior and personality. The latter had never really been the type to shy away, nor was he a sneaky type.
Just then, the surreptitious gaze fell on him once more. However, Charles didn't look back. He took out a mirror and peeked at what was behind him using the mirror.
The mirror depicted nothing but the rippling waves and the bubbling of the sea surface as the Narwhale carved a path in it.
Am I getting too paranoid? Charles considered it but was immediately forced to dismiss the thought when the surreptitious gaze fell on him again. Frowning, Charles walked back into the cabins, and the surreptitious gaze vanished.
Over the past two days, Charles had been nervous about the gaze, but upon realizing that the gaze posed no danger to him, he calmed down and decided to ignore it.
However, he couldn't help but think that it would have been great if the creatures in the jet-black sea of the Subterranean Sea only knew how to look around; explorations would have been so much easier if that were the case.
Nothing good would come out of telling the crew members about the surreptitious gaze on him, so Charles decided to adhere to the principle of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
Beneath the surreptitious gaze, the Narwhale soon arrived at the coordinates indicated on the nautical chart.
However, the crew members appeared bewildered; only a seemingly endless stretch of water was before them—there weren't even traces of an island, not to mention an entire island.
Everyone's gaze fell on Charles. The next course of action the Narwhale and her crew would take depended on Charles, as he was the Captain, and he had set their course.
Charles frowned at the jet-black stretch of sea while stroking his chin.
Did Aaron lie to me? Charles immediately dismissed the thought. It wouldn't make sense for Aaron to have made such a dumb decision, considering his situation at the time.
In addition, Aaron was absolutely loyal to the Foundation, and his last words reeked of his sincere feelings toward the Foundation.
"Audric, go around and take a look. Check if we had inadvertently gone the wrong way, and I also want you to double-check if there was a mistake when we had plotted the course," Charles said.
The vampire sailor nodded and transformed into a bat before taking off.