Despite their fearsome reputation, the sirens were not invincible. One by one, they fell beneath the relentless assault of Victor and his men as they reclaimed the ship.
"Secure the area! Make sure none of those creatures are on board!" he commanded. Turning around, he felt relieved when he saw a chain sword flying towards the ship, a sign that Ethan was still alive.
Soon, the area was cleared, and Ethan emerged from the water.
"Do you need help?" Victor called down from the deck, grinning at Ethan, who smiled back.
"I would be grateful," Ethan replied. After dragging the chain, he successfully climbed aboard, drenched in toxic, acidic water. His body was smoking, but fortunately, his reinforcement was sufficient to nullify the acidic properties.
"Where did you get such reinforcement?" Victor asked, knowing all too well the advantages of having strong enhancements. His own reinforcement came from a Horn-scale lizard, granting him dexterity and strength.
"From a big guy," Ethan said, stretching his body for a moment before examining the trident he had picked up.
"What are you going to do with that?" Victor pointed at the trident, noticing that Ethan seemed reluctant to answer his earlier question. "It looks old and worn out," he added.
"You think so?" Ethan asked, holding the trident up for a closer look. He had taken it because of the bracelet connected to it. "Why did the realm eater react to this weapon? It doesn't seem to be an artifact," he wondered aloud.
"The sun is rising!" shouted one of the men, glancing at the horizon. Victor was confused; "So fast? It hasn't been an hour since night fell," he thought to himself.
"Get everybody who is still breathing to get ready to leave the ship," announced Ethan; Victor did not question but gazed at the horizon.
The air was thick with tension as the men gazed out at the churning waters. "Sorry, but why? Isn't this ship built to fly?" asked one man, his voice tinged with desperation. He had good eyes, and he could see what lay before them—a great pit of swirling darkness, a maelstrom that seemed to suck in everything it touched.
"You should be worried about what is beneath the pit," Ethan replied, his voice steady. This time, it was Victor who commanded. "Shot the fuck up! If you have an opportunity to reach land, don't hesitate." His instructions were clear, his frustration palpable. "Damn this forsaken world; we haven't even made it out of the first confrontation that we have to face!"
In front of them, the waterfall cascaded down into the pit, its roar deafening. Their ship, normally buoyed by the magical fairy dust, was heading straight for the abyss. The problem was the giant tentacles swirling around the continent, crushing coastal areas as boulders of the land sank down into the ocean. The very ground they stood on seemed to tremble with ancient, malevolent power.
From the sky, it was as if the very fabric of the world was unraveling. A colossal pit yawned open, its depths shrouded in an eternal darkness that seemed to breathe. Tentacles as thick as mountains erupted from the void, grasping for the continent above. The land trembled as these monstrous appendages pulled it down, sinking it into the abyss. It was a scene straight out of a nightmare, a living testament to the horrors that lurked beneath the surface of their world.
As the fog dissipated, the passengers, including Ethan, caught their first glimpse of the continent's silhouette. Aus landmass stretched, teeming with towering trees and lush vegetation. At its center stood a colossal tree, its peak barely visible—a mere tip of the iceberg on this vast expanse. Despite the Kraken's formidable size, it couldn't compare to the sheer scale of the flying continent.
The continent was called the "Flying continent" because it floated entirely above the surface, presenting two faces: one beneath the waves and the other soaring high. This mystical land had a gravitational pull so powerful that those standing on its surface felt as though they were floating, gazing down at the sea and the pit below. It was a sight that demanded resilience and a strong heart to behold.
"Get ready!" Shouted Ethan; the ship dangerously reached the edge and immediately took off, Extraordinarily, it flew towards the land, both due to the help of the dust and the pull of the land.
"Not now!" Shouted Ethan; if they jumped too early, they would drop into the abyss; they had to wait for the ship to be sufficiently close to the land before they jumped out.
Beneath the floating continent, at the guard post, a man sat on a bench crafted from an otherworldly crystal. He inhaled the purple smoke from his cigar, savoring the dry sensation as it exited his lungs simple pleasure had been lost amidst the recent chaos, and for a moment, he found solace.
"Damn, why did those guys start trouble over mere slaves?" he complained, but his gaze was directed towards the sky. The smoke obscured his view, and he waved it away before looking back. "Fuck me! A ship, there's a ship!" he shouted, alerting the remaining post guards.
"A ship? I told you to stop smoking that; it's affecting your judgment," his colleague mocked. "Besides, there's no way a ship would come from that section. Remember, the area was destroyed, and the last ship arrived a week ago."
"Fuck up, look at the sky if you don't believe me!" shouted the man standing. His colleagues laughed before following his gaze. Their expressions immediately shifted to shock and surprise. "Damn! He wasn't senile at the end," one of them muttered. "Report to the controller! A ship from the fallen tower has shown up!" instructed the man, and people immediately sprang into action.
"Would they make it?" questioned another man. The old man took another puff of his cigar before looking up. "That's up to them and their luck," he said nonchalantly.
"What did you say?!" A man stood up from behind a working desk, pushing a woman who was attending to his lower body. He zipped his pants and grinned evilly. "Get the catchers, there's no way those guys are faction heads. That means they are survivors and a good haul of slaves at my door—hahaha!" The controller laughed, his eyes gleaming with greed as he left the office with his subordinates.
*
"Say that again," a woman's hair turned to her subordinate, who was reporting on the recent news.
"A ship has emerged," she began. "From the direction it came from, it's from the fallen tower of the lower realm," she reported.
The woman pondered for a moment, her eyes narrowing. "He might be amongst them," she thought. "Gather a group of warriors. If he is among them, bring him to me," she instructed. The woman nodded and immediately vanished.
"Nobody runs away from me, even in death," she smiled a hint of determination in her voice. She had once instructed her subordinate to bring a man to her, but he vanished after climbing the pillar of the tower, and nobody had heard of him again. If a ship was coming, it should be him.
*
Swoosh!
Kyaaaaa!
Bringing down the bow, she swiftly made her way towards the creature she just killed; something emerged from it and was sucked within her; feeling stronger; she did not look happy; looking towards the bright sky, she was actually above the flying continent.
"Heh, Katnese, sir, Alex is asking for you," Kraden called out. Katnese, who had evolved to become a beautiful lady with shining black hair and exuberant beauty, turned towards him with a gloomy expression.
"I told you to stop searching for him, it's clear that he..." Kraden stopped when he saw Katnese clenching her bow, "sorry..." She walked away.
For the past month, she has spent in this continent and interacted with it, she searched for him to no positive conclusion; she had to give up as they were getting ready to move towards the next realm, and for that, they had to engage on the crossroad.
Immediately as she left, two people passed by, chatting about the recent news hitting the headlines, "What, you serious?" Said passerby A, "yeah, a ship showed up, they are at the edge heading towards the pit" Answered passerby B, "damn, they better not succeed, it would be a blessing dying than coming here," said passerby A, "true, since they are the last batch, there's certainly no faction within, all the factions would scramble at them to take them as slaves," Said B, A nodded as they walk away.