Countless corpses were strewed over the Black Trojan. There was so much blood that it formed puddles that rippled whenever anyone walked over them. On the ship, only a handful of Crewmates remained.
There was a grim atmosphere on the ship. All of the Crewmates, except a few, had solemn and crazed expressions. The event had clearly reminded them of the reality of traversing the seas in this world.
Captain Merril looked at the ship and its members and sighed.
"What is the total body count?"
Stuart, similarly, in a fearful daze, walked up to Captain Merril.
"Of the Thirty-Five of us, Twenty-Eight died."
"Only seven, huh…"
Captain Merril loomed over the aftermath of the battle. He had only seven Crewmates remaining. A mere handful of Crewmates would not be enough to finish the journey throughout the Void Sea.
There was no telling what other kind of monsters would appear. And when they do, they wouldn't have enough to overwhelm them with sheer numbers like they have been doing for the lower-level monsters.
Captain Merril shook his head.
"What a bad situation."
Caspian's initial shock of the sudden death of Adredah wore off, and he approached Captain Merril. Father Ignatius followed suit.
"The star move from before, which killed Adredah, any idea where it came from?"
Captain Merril pondered for a few seconds.
"If I had to guess… There was this guy we picked up in one of the cities we stopped at. We only agreed because he had paid us quite a bit to take him to Cresbin. Which happened to be our destination anyway.
"He was… Mysterious, to say the least."
Caspian looked around the ship.
"Do you think he wou-"
Strut Strut Strut
"My my, what a fun conversation you all are having. Mind if I join in?"
The man with the dark purple cloak and a hood over his head had appeared. He then removed the hood, revealing a young man with dark purple hair and aloof purple eyes.
Caspian's heart raced at coming face-to-face with such a strong figure.
'Is he the one? The aura he exudes sure point to him being the one.'
He had a calm smile plastered over his face as he looked over Caspian.
"The names Maude. I apologize for staying hidden for so long."
Captain Merril shook his hands.
"No need to apologize, Mr. Maude. After all, we would be dead had it not been for you."
"Haha, please, drop the formalities."
Maude turned to Caspian.
"Not like I did it completely out of goodwill after all…
"What's your name?"
Caspian pointed to himself.
"..Me?"
"Heh, yes, you."
"I'm Caspian."
"Caspian, hmm… Say, what do you know about the world of Abysswalkers?"
Caspian momentarily halted.
'Why is he asking me this? Is there something someone like me shouldn't know about Abysswalkers and everything related to them? There might be some law that prohibits 'normal' people from knowing about Abysswalkers, for all I know… I guess for now I'll just have to trust him. What other option do I have anyway?...'
"Not much, except that Abysswalkers are those who use the powers of the Abyss for their own benefit."
"Given what you know, that's not a bad explanation. However, you do leave a crucial part out."
"..What is it?"
"I would describe Abysswalkers as: Those who tread on the line of the unknown that is the Abyss, to wield its powers."
"The unknown? How can something that isn't known be wielded?"
Maude smiles,
"It's simple. We constantly use and analyze it to learn more about the Abyss. The more your soul has gained an understanding of it, the stronger you get as an Abysswalker. That is what allows us to climb up the ranks.
"Ah, but don't misunderstand. The Abyss doesn't mean the same thing to everyone."
"..Doesn't mean the same thing? What do you mean?"
"Essentially, as your soul gets in contact with the Abyss, it senses the nature of your soul and decides which Path would suit it best. Heh, that's why the majority of the Siren race are users of the Song Path.
"What is this 'Path' you speak of?"
Maude halts and looks at the crewmates around them in total confusion.
"Well, that's something I'll have to tell you some other time. Too many prying ears here."
'Just where is he going with this?'
"I'm curious, why tell me all of this?"
Maude put a finger on his chin, as if in deep thought.
"Hmm. Well, it's because I'm curious about you."
"Curious..?"
"Yes. In the battle with that fledgling Siren, you put up a decent fight, despite not knowing anything about the Abyss. If I were to teach you even more interesting things, I wonder how far you will go."
'Hmm.. Doesn't sound too bad of an offer. There are too many things that I don't know about, not only the Abyss but this world. This guy could be my main source of information. But can I trust him..?'
"I don't oppose this offer, though; there's no guarantee that I'll live up to your expectations."
Maude chuckled,
"That's fine. If it turns out you're not as interesting as I deemed you to be, it'll just be my blunder. Nothing more."
"Alright then. I'll be in your care."
Maude calmly nodded and looked at the dark, serene ocean surrounding them for miles.
"Wonderful. After crossing the Void Sea and arriving in Cresbin, the two of us will depart, and I will show you all sorts of interesting things."
'Cresbin… I wonder what a city from this world looks like. Will it be like back home?'
As the two were talking, Caspian heard multiple screeches in the distance.
Caspian instantly turned to where the sounds were coming from.
'Don't tell me. More monsters?!'
On the horizon, he could see a giant black area in the sky that appeared as if there was a void in place of where the clouds should be.
As it got closer, it made it easier for Caspian to realize what it was. No, what they were.
Thousands of large bat-like creatures with blood excreting from their mouths were instantly making way to them.
Caspian looked in dismay. Three enemies were only just barely manageable by the crew when everyone was still alive. Close to a thousand enemies, with more than half of the crew gone? It spelled out certain death.
"What are those things?!"
Maude stared at the impending bat-like creatures.
"Those would be what we call Vampeers. Truly nasty little things. From just one bite, in a span of hours, you'll become just like them."
Caspian looked even more terrified than before at the grim realization that had just come to mind.
"No way… So all of those are…"
Maude nodded.
"And cures for Vampeer bites are rare; you can kiss survival goodbye."
"B-But, You have a way to deal with all of them r-right??"
Maude turned to Caspian and chuckled,
"Nope!"
Caspian slumped over,
"Ahh…"
"Oh, don't look so discouraged, the situation isn't entirely unsavable."
Maude turned to Captain Merril.
"How long until we reach Cresbin?"
Captain Merril looked at the surrounding sea before turning to Maude.
"At the rate we're going, I'd say about five days."
"Five hmm. I can make it two."
"...Are you serious?"
"With my power, it should be doable."
With that, Maude lifted his hand, and countless purple stars appeared.
The Vampeers were quickly making way. They would make contact with the ship at their current trajectory in just thirty minutes.
One of the purple stars he had summoned had made its way behind the ship.
BOOM
Instantly, it had detonated. And the impact of the explosion had propelled the ship forward to a much faster speed.
Caspian stared as the waves underneath the ship instantly went by.
"Incredible! Using your ability to generate force to move the ship faster. The world of Abysswalkers is just so incredible…"
As a native resident of Earth, seeing something like this really put into perspective the way things worked in this world. Using your own power, your own might, to create the outcome that you want. Such control, Caspian desperately wanted to seize it.
As the ship increased in speed from each detonation of a star, the Vampeers quickly loomed before them.
"Maude! The Vampeers are just up ahead. What will we do about them?"
Maude spread out his arms.
"While I can't eliminate every one of them, I can at least prevent the majority from making their way onto the ship. Though I'll be in a vulnerable state during this."
The countless stars that surrounded him made their way to the outer areas of the ship. They spun and spun at breakneck speed until they formed a dense sphere around the ship.
As Caspian marveled at his power, a Vampeere attempting to make its way through the Star Barrier was disintegrated upon impact.
More and more of them had attempted this, only to meet the same fate. However, although the Star Barrier seemed absolutely dense, there were still cracks in between its formation here and there.
One lucky Vampeere was able to make its way through such a crack and was instantly heading to Maude, the origin of this mystical Star Barrier.
One crewmate was able to take sight of this.
"A Vampeere made its way through!"
Having exerted his entire mental strength on upholding the Barrier, Maude had no way of defending himself from this stray Vampeere.
As it opened its mouth, which was littered with grotesque, sharp fangs for teeth, about to devour a chunk of Maude's body. Father Ignatius let out a chant.
Following this, sharp black Abyssal spears launch towards the Vampeere.
With its evasive maneuvering, it was able to successfully dodge the first two. But with each coming Abyssal spear, it suffered from an onslaught of knicks all over its body. Until eventually an Abyssal spear managed to pierce its chest. Instantly ending its life and falling to the ground.
Caspian walked closer to examine its body; it was certainly not like the bats that were from Earth.
"Hah! Serves you right!"
He kicked its corpse, causing it to land in the ocean.
"But what should we do if more Vampeers make their way through the cracks?"
"I have no choice but to leave it to you guys. Maintaining the barrier is hard enough as is. Haha, I'm sure we'll be fine though, after all, I'm not the only Abysswalker here. Father Ignatius should be able to fend them off, granted you and the rest of the crewmates support him."
Father Ignatius wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Hoho, seems you plan to work this old man to the bone, eh? In that case, I'll have to show you lads my best performance!"
Caspian nodded and readied his revolver.
"I'll help out too."
Captain Merril, seeing the lift in atmosphere from the two chimed in as well.
"Heh, well, I certainly won't let you guys show me up on my own ship!"
The remaining crewmates followed his example
"Aye!"
He then tossed a few boxes of ammunition to Caspian.
"Here. You're gonna need that."
Caspian revealed a slightly shocked expression before melting into a warm smile.
'Was this the first time in my life that I've felt true unity? It feels so foreign, yet… Not unwelcome.'
"Thanks, Captain!"
SCREECH!
A few Vampeers managed to make their way through some cracks in the Star Barrier. One Vampeere was easy to keep track of, but multiple made it difficult as they all swarmed together a few feet above the ship.
The crewmates let out a barrage of gunshots into the air, hoping to hit at least one. The majority of the Vampeeres were able to dodge, except for a few unlucky ones.
Captain Merril was among those who fired into the air.
"Keep at it! We'll keep shooting until we whittle their numbers!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Loud gunshots in unison lit up the eerie, quiet sea.
With Caspian's improved set of eyes from his bodies qualitive change following his refinement of the Abyssal energy, it made it much easier for him to target and shoot the Vampeers. With every two bullets he shot, he was able to kill a Vampeere.
Father Ignatius followed suit. His Abyssal Spears in no way lagged behind the bullets, as they were more accurately able to hit their targets, given a few corrections from Father Ignatius's tracking.
Like this, everyone was engaged in a desperate yet commendable fight to preserve their lives.