Chapter 13: Another Journey

The captain hurried out of his room, looking around with a worried expression. He felt as though an earthquake had just struck his ship.

He saw members of his crew running around in panic.

He had a large crew specifically formed to manage such a large ship, and each one of them was an expert since he had chosen them carefully.

They had never faced any problems before, regardless of sea conditions, but it seems they finally encountered a problem today, just hours away from their destination…

His eyes scanned the entire place and quickly, he grabbed one of the crew members by the shoulder.

He felt this time the matter was serious, unlike the usual waves that posed no threat to the ship and those on it.

"What's happening?" He was genuinely worried but maintained his composure as best as possible.

After all, he was the captain, and showing his concern would only double the chances of failing to ward off the unknown danger.

The person he grabbed was a young man not yet twenty, with very short brown hair and black eyes. The calm look on his face was strange considering the surrounding commotion.

"What's happening?" repeated the question, perhaps the boy hadn't heard him the first time due to the loud noise.

The ship was rocking strangely from side to side, as if it were some kind of toy, and it looked bad.

"There are waves coming from a distant island, Killian said it's because of a fight between powerful people."

"By the name of god..."

Ronald let the boy go and moved quickly towards the ship's helm to better understand the situation. What kind of power could affect the sea like this?

Since he was approximately ranked -B, he realized that even those ranked A+ could barely create ripples in such a sea even if they used all their power on it.

He left the boy and rushed to meet the other members responsible for maintaining the ship's system.

Ronald quickly reached the helm where several expert individuals gathered, issuing their commands through communication devices, and the worry on their faces slowly faded.

"The situation has improved as we gradually move away from the site, at least we won't face the danger of sinking..."

One of the elderly experts spoke, and the bodies of the other exhausted crew members fell onto the ship's wooden floor. Their chests rose and fell; most in this room were of an older age and only a few of them were awake.

Such an event had completely drained them, in the entire room only Killian still bore a grave expression.

"It's not over yet..."

Everyone looked at him and their hearts stopped for a moment when they heard his words, they all knew his skills, and if he said that, he was right, this isn't his first time sensing danger…

In that moment, they heard the sound of tearing wind faintly, some of the awakened noticed immediately, that sound definitely didn't signify anything good.

As seconds passed, the sound became louder and louder, eventually, it sounded like an airplane engine above them.

What they didn't see was that a wave of sword energy had been launched from the distant island, alongside a man-shaped shadow, his aura close to at least A or A+ Rank.

He was among the world's elite, but now just a remnant of what he once was, and by coincidence, he collided with the giant ship that covered the entire horizon.

The powerful blow also struck the ship.

For the people on board, it seemed the world had turned upside down, seeing a huge ship split into two was unbelievable.

They watched sea monsters ten meters long attack the ship in terrifying numbers but couldn't even scratch it, ultimately surrendering.

The water swept through the ship, turning most of those on it into mere memories in the hearts of their loved ones.

The ship sank, and someone woke up in the prison room despite being in a deep sleep for the past two weeks...

=+=

Nothing unusual, just that the world seems somewhat upside down, is it because I slept for a long time or something else?

'And what am I doing here? Why does the place look like a prison and water is everywhere? What's happening? Am I really awake?'

My mind was confused, and I couldn't think logically as the water reached about my stomach height.

I tried to move the chains I was tied with, but it was difficult. I quickly recognized the chains, since I was their designer originally.

They were silver-colored, but notably shiny.

They seemed somewhat ethereal, and clearly weren't normal.

These were designed to suppress mana, and they temporarily cursed a person's body, making people weaker than a child's.

It's appropriate to say that curses based on mana don't affect me, only soul curses could pose a threat to me.

Mana despises me so much that it refuses to enter my body, even as a curse.

I didn't know whether this was a curse or a blessing, maybe both?

I put all my strength into my body and pulled, then pulled repeatedly without giving up. I heard the sound of the floor and the wall cracking, but the chains remained as sturdy as ever.

After my drowsiness disappeared, I felt extremely clear-headed and knew that my physical strength had almost doubled.

It wasn't strange considering the resources Jor threw at me like water, and most importantly, the sleeping roses... making me more sleepy is clearly not the only reason for using them.

Before I noticed, the sound of the wood cracking grew louder and louder.

Eventually, the wooden wall to which the chains were attached broke, the result was good enough.

I immediately ran toward the corridor of the cell, seeing a gruesome sight where many people were cut in half. It was clear that I was now on a ship.

How had it come to this... I ran down the corridor while the chains dragged behind me, their noise annoyingly loud.

I quickly emerged on deck and saw dozens of people thrown into the sea, some cut in half and others completely crushed.

The once majestic ship had turned into mere wreckage, and I noticed that the edge of the ship that had been cut off glowed with extreme danger.

As if acid had covered it, the ship was quickly shrinking.

I noticed many powerful people around me, enveloping themselves in mana barriers or special suits.

What particularly caught my attention was a shadowy figure standing unsteadily atop the overturned ship, teetering between life and death.

Despite the strong aura surrounding him, he seemed close to die, Just like everyone else around me.

 'Was I kidnapped? But how did people bypass the fog and reach me?'

Anyway, what drew my attention to that shadowy figure was not his power or injury, but that I recognized him.

I wasn't bad at recognizing people, and this individual's build was distinctive and easy to remember.

isn't he a worker in my family? He was the one who opened the gate from the StarHold palace to the Mountain of Fog… I remembered him well since he was one of the few I had spoken with since my arrival.

Before I noticed, the water had reached my torso, and it seemed swimming was the only solution. I was somewhat frustrated.

I had just woken up minutes ago to find myself in this situation, my mind hadn't even processed it yet.

And worse, I was an amateur swimmer, all I could do was float aimlessly, and also the unnecessary weight of these chains…

Needless to say, the previous Cassian's experiences didn't include swimming either. I sighed as the water reached my face.

'I hope I don't die drowning, that would be incredibly embarrassing..'

I then knew that drowning should be the least of my worries…

The sea waves were violent, and I mean violent enough to overturn massive ships! I looked at the wave crashing over me and could only put my hands up in defense.

Still, being whipped by water was somewhat painful, the strength in my body barely enough to keep me afloat, nothing like the rest around me.

I saw some of the people using mana like a very effective life jacket, unfortunately, I couldn't do that.

I searched my inventory where I found various items, and sea survival equipment wasn't among them.

I mean.. I never expected to end up in the sea! I was supposed to spend most of my time on the mountain and then return to the human realm as quickly as possible!

I saw the shadow-man in the distance surrounding himself with a life jacket, then losing consciousness.

With not very nice intentions, I headed towards him, trying to help lessen his body weight in such hot weather.

However, it seems he was somewhat smart..

A transparent magic barrier prevented my hands, its rubber-like structure well-known to me that I wouldn't be able to break it, just from the danger I felt.

A huge wave headed towards me, about the size of a small island, within seconds it would reach ending the fate of everyone here.

With a worried expression, I found only one solution, I immediately used the long chains to tie myself to the shadow.

I tied all four chains, used to encircle my feet and hands.

Luckily, the barrier couldn't resist the chains..

 then I hugged the shadow-man's body with all the strength I could muster.

It looked ridiculous from afar but was necessary, I really hate how I look now...

Then I lost my thoughts when the wave hit me, starting a dangerous journey after the last one had barely ended, the thing is, this would take a longer time…

A very long time...