08.31 cycle fifteen, Ca’thir, of calendar Moonrachia

  I don’t know how long it has been since I started accompanying these old men drinking, but at least I have found some interesting information

  Though now, they’re barely talking normally, just how much are they going to keep drinking? They weren't making any sense anymore

  “I will take my leave then.” As I stand back and walk away from them

  Guess they aren’t conscious enough to notice me leaving, huh?

  Since the cafeteria was still filled with people, I decided to walk into the foredeck of the ship

  When I arrived there, a gust of wind showered my entire upper body, and the smell of salt filled my nose, it was so strong I could taste it in the back of my throat

  When I fixed my hair that was messed up by the wind, I noticed someone standing in front of the deck

  She was looking straight into the horizon, a soft light from the sky and the light from the reflection of the sea gently caressing her face

  Her hair was incredibly long, so the breeze turned her hair into a billowing curtain

  And I noticed that she isn’t just a regular person, the dense mana that I feel from her, despite its instability, felt powerful enough to be at the Sigil level

  She was just standing there completely unmoved, and somehow I feel I shouldn’t bother her

  Before I could turn back, the ship began to shudder, and piercing screams rang out

  -ATTENTION

  -CURRENTLY THERE’S A MONSTER INVASION HAPPENING

  -ALL PASSENGERS ARE ORDERED TO RETREAT TO THE INNER CABINS IMMEDIATELY

  -ALL REGISTERED HUNTERS, PLEASE ASSEMBLE AT THE STERN AND FOREDECK

  -ATTENTION

  -CURRENTLY THERE’S A…

  The announcement repeated once more, but it’s not the only thing that repeated, the ship was shaking again once more and worse than before

  At that moment, when I glanced around the sea, I noticed there was a barrier manifested

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  “I guess the sea wasn’t that peaceful after all…”

  Then there’s a small wave that slowly turned bigger and bigger. When I walked toward the corner of the ship, I noticed the water's surface was a weird color

  It was a pinkish-red color... dotted with countless eyes

  The monster then grows a limb, trying to eat the barrier around the ship itself

  I heard something fall into the sea, followed by a loud explosion

  “How the fuck is there an IV-level monster here?!”

  And when I turned my gaze toward the sources of the voice itself, a man with a heavy beard and an… pirate hat? For a second, he looked like the famous Captain Sparrow

  Once again, he threw something into the sea, and it exploded again

  The foredeck was now filled with hunters and a few mages. From their mana alone, I couldn’t sense anyone beyond Veins-level, and there, Kiara walked toward me with her usual expressionless face

  Somehow, among this event, she just walked normally as if nothing happened

  Then I lean forward and whisper to her, “Currently, my name is Leif.” When I pulled away from her, she nodded once

  Near the heavy-bearded man, a lot of people were talking loudly, “We’re going to die!”

  “Did you pick the wrong route, you dumbfu**k?! Why did we get invaded by an IV-level monster?!”

  “Mages! We need you to transfer your mana into the barrier orb right now!”

  [The monster grade is categorized by the Mages and Knight power hierarchy, which is Petals = I > Sigil marks = II > Vein = III > Horn = IV > Halo = V]

  IV monsters should be rare, and most of them should exist around the main continent and the skull monster continent, yet somehow we got invaded by this high-level monster…

  At this point, the barrier won’t last long, and the mages will dry out

  I had to think of something quickly, or we would all die, and I refused to let that happen, especially since I had only just escaped my fate

  When I’m focusing, the sound of broken glass fills my entire sense of hearing

  The monster limb is growing longer and longer, entering through the broken barrier hole

  Some of the hunters drew weapons from their sheaths and leaped into the air with their weapons covered in an aura

  The other half focuses on supporting them through defensive and buffing magic

  I couldn’t think of anything in this busy environment, my sight and hearing filled with all of the information that’s going on around me

  Despite getting cut, the monster easily regenerated its limb, and even the parts that fell onto the ship became separate monsters and began attacking everyone

  This isn’t just a normal fantasy world, there’s no biography about each of the monsters' weaknesses

  But there should be one

  Randomly attacking won’t do anything, so there should be something to hit them with

  When I tried to sense everything with mana and the other human senses I have, a human limb rolled off in front of me

  Followed by a tearing sound

  When I lift my head, there are a few people pierced with the monster's sharp limb edge, and a few droplets of their blood falling into my eyes

  It felt weird, as if something foreign was entering my face, and it felt a bit irritating

  Something hit my legs. Looking down, I saw a torso sliding through its own blood, tossed by the lurching of the ship

  Somehow, everything feels too quiet

  And half my vision now is nothing but red

  At that moment, my entire mind clicked on something

  A red string tied around the human weakness

  And after that, the monochrome vision came back once again, and I could see everyone who was still alive had a string attached to their neck, and one strange string that stretched down into the sea beneath us

  Without much thought, I ran straight and jumped out of the ship

  The surface of the water feels much denser, like a blanket, since it was the monster's body, but the momentum from the ship was enough to pierce way below its body

  Then I see it

  The red string attached to a barnacle, a mutated animal

  As I swim faster with physical enchantment and grip the barnacle out with my hand

  I could feel a sharp pain in my palm, and the water around my palm turned a reddish color, and the other limb was trying to hit me with its sharp edge

  Since pulling it was impossible, I poured every ounce of my mana into lightning and fire elements to destroy the barnacle from the inside

  There are at least 6–9 limbs that are attacking me simultaneously, and I couldn’t help but pull away from the barnacle to dodge them

  My breath is coming short now, so as a last resort, I just held the barnacles and poured every single thing I had, even when there was one limb of them that pierced around my shoulder

  Before the other limb could follow and hit me, the living thing inside the shell of it finally died

  I could feel my body become much lighter, and yet I fell deeper into the sea

  Despite how blurry my vision is, I could see that the shade of the ship had already passed me

  So sleepy…

  At the very end of my consciousness, I see a shade of someone swimming toward me

  ---END---