Chapter 435
Chapter 435
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Offroad (9)
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“Captain! The ship’s tipping over—the ship!”
“It’s not tipping, it’s rolling!”
“What?! You mad—”
“It’ll flip a few times, so hang on for dear life!!”
“Uwaaaaaah!”
Waves as big as houses—no, big enough to leap over castle walls.
“Wow. So pretty.”
“Gruk. What’s that?”
“No, look over there. A red veil fluttering over that deep blue sea.”
“Uruk! What’d you say, just now?”
“Over there. It’s pretty far, but I can see it clear as day. Did some merchant ship wreck or something? There’s a ton of it—”
“That’s no cloth! Drift crabs! They devour anything floating in the sea!”
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding—!
Drift crabs.
Shellfish swarms the size of small islands, known for boring holes through the metal hulls of steamships in five minutes flat.
Kuuoooooh—!
“Ambush tornado!”
“Damn it, worst spot possible!”
Tornadoes that shoot up out of nowhere, without warning or omen,
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
“Uwaaaah!”
“Everyone to the hold!”
“M-my wood’s out there!”
“Hide! Grab Tarimus!”
“Let go! Saltwater’s deadly to wood—”
“Tie him up!”
“Mmph! Mmmph-mmmph!!”
And fish shaped like awls that get caught in those tornadoes, flung down, and spear into the deck(!)!
“Wasn’t the Whale’s deck reinforced with steel plates?”“That’s why we can just hunker down like this right now.”
“....What if it wasn’t?”
“You’d be out there risking your life batting away the fish rain? Holes in your body means high chance of death, but if the ship breaks here, it’s certain death.”
Good lord.
I’d heard plenty about this sea being hellish, but I never imagined it’d be this insane.
“Let’s go clean up the deck and prep for anchoring.”
“Already there?”
“We gotta go a bit further in, but any deeper and the anchor won’t reach the bottom. This is as far as we go by ship.”
It’d taken about two and a half days from port to the boundary where the anchor touches bottom. I was already drained before even diving.
But the sea wasn’t the only problem.
“Hey, Captain.”
“If you don’t wanna stitch sails, go pull up some skewerfish at least. We can lop off their heads and sell ’em for arrowheads.”
“No, not that. Like I said a few days ago—”
“Hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, unexplained anxiety and restlessness during voyages, loss of physical balance, feeling like you don’t belong here—if that’s you, yeah. That’s normal. Just roll with it. That’s this sea for you.”
“I see....”
Ever since hitting the sea, my condition had been off.
Kept feeling like someone was watching me, nerves on edge.
Heart pounding so hard cardiac arrest wouldn’t surprise me, blood pressure spiking, head throbbing, fidgety enough to make stupid mistakes I’d never normally do.
“Th-that urge to jump into the sea keeps hitting me.... Is that a sea thing too?”
“What, monk? You meet a siren or something? You didn’t eat any weird candy from that elf, did you?”
Or this bizarre compulsion to hurl myself into the depths.
‘Am I.... not cut out for the sea?’
This feeling. This weird tug at my toes!
I knew the type, which made it all the more unnerving.
Captain first said it was just seasickness for newbies, but when I described it more, he started suspecting I’d shared Tarimus’s drugs.
Not normal at all. Damn it!
‘Logically, it’s gotta tie to my personal condition.’
From experience, it felt like the ‘searching urge’ that’s plagued me my whole life.
Heart? Sure, heading toward the Warlord, it’s excited. But if it’s this hyper already, what happens when I face him? Might just burst! Unsettling, but anyway, known phenomenon. Pass.
Dizziness, voices, mystery stares? Captain’s right, just poor condition. What Aura Knight gets hallucinations from seasickness? Anyway, blame the blood pressure! Counts as normal!
But,
Shwaaaaa—
....Flinch!
Splash, splash!
Flinch! Flinch-flinch!
How do you explain this compulsion to dive in every time I see the sea!
‘Could it be, like the searching urge that tormented me for 28 years, some other hidden urge just now surfacing?’
No way. One vagabond life’s enough. Already got searching urge, anxiety, insomnia, plus whatever those Warlord memories or hallucinations are. No room for another mental issue.
What if I jump in and feel at peace like when I left home? Turn into a crazy water mage giggling ‘Heehee! Love the water!’ and never come out?
“Um.... Eggwil?”
“Gruk. Your dive gear’s over there. Suit up.”
“No, not that. You know the cursed captain story, the one who wandered the seas forever?”
“Yeah.”
“Did that captain.... ever talk about needing to find something, or tormented by urges like that? Compelled to search for something, or took to the sea mid-vagabond life and wandered eternally....”
“Hide, bullshit. You eat Tarim’s candy?”
No, hear me out. If this is ‘searching urge’ level, it could plague me forever, force me to abandon land like before and roam the seas eternal. That cursed captain might’ve been patient zero with similar symptoms.
Thump-thump thump-thump!
Flinch! Flinch-flinch!
Damn it. Hesitating meant dive gear right in my face. Hard to look away from the sea.
“Uh, uh, think my blood pressure’s up today.... Head hurts, body’s chilly—”
“It’s fine. Seen plenty of rookies shrink before diving. Today’s site’s a confirmed zone I’ve swept a few times for you. Learn good. Learn good.”
“No, listen, that’s not—”
“Don’t chicken out, priest. Where’s that grit you showed when we beat on you?”
“Grrr. We’ll wait for prayer time if needed.”
“....That’s not it, you bastards!”
Resisted the urge to dive with everything I had, but logically, rationally, bailing now after coming this far over anxiety made no sense. Gotta fix the Parangsword, everyone risked life for this, contract includes salvage work—no backing out.
I want to go in.
Ah, I have to get into that sea!
90% like my searching urge, but indulging’ll wreck my life again!
“C-can’t hold back!”
“Whoa, easy suiting up. Gap lets seawater in, you die.”
Couldn’t beat the temptation, slapped gear on in a frenzy.
Came to my senses standing at the rail with geared-up crew.
“....Sea life might not be so bad. Forever on the waves, drifting endlessly.... Hehe, hehehehe....”
“Hmm.... Newbie’s losing it, so watch him down there. Alright, fine weather—let’s wrap quick! Dive suits! Check!”
“Yessir~”
“Breathing gear! Underwater breathing magic circuit and mana stones!”
“No issues.”
“Gruk. Not idiot enough to skip life-saving stuff.”
“Grapples, buoys, dry balloons, uh.... Looks good! No dying, everyone! Today too, ravage the rough sea’s tender belly—with all our heart! Fiercely! Devotedly!”
Captain shouted a pre-battle chant like soldiers.
“Gruk, Hide, join in. Dive ritual. With all our heart!”
“Huuuuh.... With all our, heaaaart....”
No clue what we’re devoting to, but whatever.
My head was already wrecked worrying another urge might ruin my life.
Nothing for it but check.
Splash!
Splash splash!
I toppled in first, crew diving one by one.
Salvage ship Whale, operations begin.
****
Puhah!
“Hey! Captain! Haul us up!”
Operations day 1.
Right off the Deep Blue Line seabed canyon, dubbed the ‘entrance’ zone.
“What, up already? Priest shouldn’t be so jumpy....”
“Not chickening out—used all grapples, so wrap the chain!”
Anyway, the feared ‘mystery urge’ seemed resolved.
Heart still racing mad, head still throbbing, still pulled deeper—but diving didn’t fix it, so dodged the worst.
Rattle-rattle-rattle—
Five chains wound by the magic engine (ship power underway) hauled up salvage bundled on grapples.
Contrary to Captain’s expectations of rookie trash scrap, plenty of valuable old stuff.
“....Four hours in? What the hell’d you do?”
“Like rummaging imperial ruins.”
“You a real Aura Knight, or what? Not a monk?”
“Think what you want, toss more grapples. Stuff left below.”
“More?”
“Tons? Told you! My observation’s on another level! Think finding relics in rotted imperial ruins is easy? I’m a master!”
Personally, couldn’t grasp why folks freak over relic-hunting. I’d just peek spots that ‘feel right’—bam, relics everywhere.
Now chalked it to my sharp eyes. Seabed salvage like imperial ruin dives, minus the water.
Untouched by amateurs, so cherry-picking valuables for grapples was easy.
“Ugh.... Priest or knight, whatever—you’re a born salvager! Lifetime gig!”
“Shut it.”
Of course, clueless Captain saw heaven-sent talent.
Ops skipped lunch, ran to dinner. Menu: Tarimus’s fist-eyed fish.
Chew factor exquisite. Chew only. Rest? Like sucking three-day saltwater-soaked laborer rags.
Enlightening why port cities don’t export seafood despite abundance.
That night, Captain pored over charts plotting new salvage.
Operations day 2.
Deep Blue Line inlet: like an inverted mountain range, gentle slope foothills.
Rumble—
[Gruk. Hear me?]
[Yeah. This ain’t no off-shelf short-range comms, huh? High-end magic gear like this? Nobles only, usually.]
[Captain curses he got ripped off boozed up. Unrefined mana here kills cheap crap.]
[Got it.]
[Use inside inlet ’cause mana stone costs. Payback easy here.]
Unlike yesterday’s ‘why bother?’, valuables jumped out now.
Thumb-thick mana stones in cliff crevices,
Wreckage jammed everywhere: unlucky fishing boats, transcontinental ships, etc.,
Kuuoooooh—
Thwack!
“Ubbrgrrr?!”
Explained why predecessors left souvenirs.
[Sea deer species. On ship, open Tarimus’s pouch, toss, rebreathe. Drink here, die.]
[Khuk, heuk! Deer? The extinct ones? That? Mana jutting fang a foot out!]
[Gruk. Heads vaguely deer-ish, stuck. Love guts—bait to flee.]
[Goddamn.]
Marine life swarming us en route? Fleeing Deep Blue Line core sea beasts to outer seas.
Past mount Blueline birthed magic beasts, evil beasts, undead with holy mana. Seabed Blueline spawned sea beasts with shattered leyline mana.
Why salvagers need Knight-level combat min, and newbie Knight survival under 30%.
Ops ended early; chart got ‘sea deer habitat’ circled big. Fist mana stones, mystery relics: Captain praised my feats all dinner.
Dinner: ship preserved rations.
-Crack!
“....Hey. Hey, Number 3, maknae. Pinch me.”
“Gladly!”
Kwaaak!
“Uwaaak! You sharpened your nails, bastard! Let go! Let go!!”
Pain proved no seawater hallucinations.
Impossible without dream.
“....Am I nuts? Or’d my tongue finally quit on taste?”
“Hide, you’re getting sea legs quick, huh?”
Dried mushrooms tasted good.
Damn fish ruined my tongue.
.
.
.
Operations day 4. Day 5.
“With all our heart!”
[With all our heaaaart~]
Splash!
Adapted to ‘gentle’ inlet zones around first site, inching deeper.
My two-day haul neared 1 mil sil, eyes spun; crew focused on own jobs over babysitting me.
Captain fixated elsewhere than salvage, hyped; pre-dive senses now crystal clear.
[Kuuuuh—]
[Gruk, cum here and it’s like shoving it in our mouths. Control it.]
[No, ugh damn, ugh—can’t even explain....]
Pull split two ways!
Usual anxiety, fidgeting, ‘Warlord reaction’ same.... ish? Familiar anyway.
Post-sea urge: deep inlet bottom.
[Kuuuh, uuuuh.... Dying here! Tarim, got calming meds? Sedatives?]
[Got some. Makes ’em calm forever.]
“Pfft.”
Like heart split, thumping up-down; worried it’d cleave side-side next.
Ops smooth, bar beastkin triplet maknae nearly losing left foot.
Target leyline shard glows distinct green—no sign yet, but fat cash softened mood.
Ops run ~14 days, extend chains gradually deeper. Better stones below—bound to hit.
****