Demon Lord: Erotic Adventure in Another World

Chapter 868: The Voice Beneath the Fleet

Once everyone left the room, Asmodeus felt a sense of peace, closing his eyes to take a moment to gather his thoughts. He suddenly felt something deep within the quiet slap of the waves against the ship’s hull.

Or at least that’s what he should be hearing...

’What’s going on?’

He expanded his senses, able to see all manner of images in the centre of his mind.

Albrecht was still speaking in his calm, irritating voice. Caelith still stood behind him like a sword pretending to be a woman. Brando still muttered outside the door, grumbling about parchment, ink and the cost of feeding priests.

But beyond all of that, the sea had gone quiet.

No waves struck the hull.

No gulls cried above the fleet.

Even the wind passing through Logan’s ridiculous cooling device seemed to vanish, as if the world itself had taken a deep breath.

’Something’s not right!’

Asmodeus quickly adjusted himself, eyes snapping open as the images vanished, but the sounds still remained absent.

He darted from the room, only to find Albrecht and the others speaking together.

"Your Majesty?"

Albrecht noticed immediately.

Even Caelith seemed spooked by his sudden appearance.

"Don’t... listen!" He placed a finger on his lips, glancing at each of them slowly.

A second later, the ship groaned... it was nothing like the routine noise of the waves. Brando’s eyes widened for a second before he bit his lip. Albrecht and Caelith looked shocked as the noise sounded again...

From beneath the vessel!

The entire vessel lifted half a finger, then settled with a dull creak that travelled through the boards under their feet. The ink bottle on the table trembled. The parchment curled at one corner. Somewhere outside, a sailor shouted.

Then the horns began.

One from the forward line.

Two more from the eastern flank.

A fourth from Brando’s signal tower.

By the time the group snapped out of their daze, the sky began to change.

Moments ago, sunlight had spread across the black sea in bright, sharp lines. Now, dark clouds rolled over the horizon like bruised flesh, twisting in unnatural circles above the distant water. Lightning crawled inside them without striking down, spreading in pale veins across the belly of the storm.

The sea below was worse.

It had pulled away from the ships.

Not far enough to beach them, but enough that every hull sat strangely low, dragged by currents that should not exist. The water flowed in several directions at once, folding over itself with thick, oily waves.

Brando stood near the rail, cane in one hand, spyglass in the other.

"Brother!"

"No, you can’t!"

Brando shoved the spyglass toward him.

Asmodeus took it and looked toward the front line.

At first, he saw only dark water.

Then the surface broke.

Dozens of shapes burst upward at once.

Long silver fish with teeth like knives, pale crabs the size of wagons. Even serpents wrapped in barnacles, their eyeless heads thrashing as they fled toward the surface.

Behind them came stranger things, just monstrosities from nightmares. A shell-backed beast with humanlike arms, jellyfish glowing green beneath the surface, and black eels that leapt from the sea as if something below chased them.

"What the hell!?"

"They’re not attacking!"

"What if they all suddenly decide to!?"

"Everyone get to your posts, man, a fucking cannon!"

Asmodeus lowered the spyglass.

"Prepare for impact."

Brando’s grin vanished.

"Fire the cannons!"

The command tore across the deck.

Demon sailors moved at once. Spell arrays flared along the sides of the ships. Cannons turned with heavy groans, locking onto the waves as the first swarm of sea monsters crashed toward the fleet.

Albrecht and Caelith stepped out behind him.

For once, neither spoke.

Caelith’s molten eyes widened slightly as one of the pale crabs slammed into the side of a Lumerian escort ship and climbed halfway up the hull before three cannons blew it apart in a spray of shell, meat and black blood.

"Those creatures..." Albrecht murmured.

Another horn screamed.

This time from the rear line.

Asmodeus turned.

The Imperial fleet was moving too.

White sails shook beneath the storm as their ships struggled against the strange current. Priests on the decks raised golden barriers while knights fired spells into the water, trying to stop the monsters surging toward them.

The sea did not care which empire they belonged to.

A serpent burst from beneath one of the smaller Imperial vessels, coiling around its mast before dragging three screaming soldiers overboard.

Caelith’s face changed.

"Envoy!"

Albrecht’s lips trembled slightly, but he did not move to escape; he remained stationary.

"We must hold formation, tell the men to fight alongside the Demon Empire!"

’Oh, so that’s what you call us?’

Asmodeus didn’t take offence and just smirked to himself.

"Do as he told you, Brando, support the damn humans."

A blast of heat flared behind him.

Valena.

Asmodeus turned before she could do something stupid.

Nerim had one arm locked around the dragoness’s waist, dragging her back from the rail as Valena’s eyes burned red beneath the remains of her disguise. Her tail lashed against the deck, and hot mist leaked from her glossy lips with every breath.

"They’re coming from below," Valena said.

Her voice was low and sensual, yet carried none of her usual flirtatious air...

’Damn it...!’

Nerim’s blue scales shimmered, her gaze fixed on the churning sea.

"The water is screaming in terror, Asmodeus! This might be it... We need to prepare ourselves!"

"We’re no way near Grigor... if we fight now, it’ll be for nought!"

Asmodeus walked toward them, grabbing Valena’s chin and forcing her to look at him instead of the box, the sea or the storm.

"Stay with Nerim."

"I can fight."

"You can fight when I say you can fight."

Her fangs showed.

"Asmodeus—"

He leaned closer.

"If that thing below wakes fully... What the hell will I do if I lose you?"

"Eh?" Valena’s pupils dilated as she froze, clearly shocked by his sincere shout... even Nerim frowned with a touch of jealousy.

Then something deep below the water opened its throat.

The sound couldn’t be called a roar, but something similar to pure pressure, as if giving the command for each ship to shipwreck itself.

Several sailors dropped to their knees.

One of the younger demon warriors slammed his forehead against the deck, blood spilling from his nose as he gripped his own throat. Across the water, an Imperial priest vomited into his golden sleeves while the barrier above their ship warped like wax held too close to a flame.

Asmodeus felt it too.

A strange voice that whispered in the back of his mind.

It wasn’t strong enough to control him, but he couldn’t easily dispel it either.

’So that’s how you dominate the ocean...’

His teeth showed.

"Brando!"

"Aye!?"

"Activate the Mankchors!"

Brando’s face changed at once.

"Already!? We haven’t reached the marked zone!"

"If we wait until then, we’ll be dragged under before Logan gets to show off his ugly toys. Also, when did I say the entire fleet? For now, just this one... I will entertain the bastard and drag him to the main point if needed."

"B-Boss!?"

"Do it!"

Brando clenched his teeth for a heartbeat before slamming his cane against the deck.

"You heard the bastard! Drop this ship’s Mankchor! Only this ship! If anyone else drops early, I’ll skin your arse and use it for sailcloth!"

The crew moved at once.

Heavy chains screamed beneath the deck, grinding through hidden channels inside the hull before a massive black anchor dropped from the belly of the ship.

BOOOOM!

The Mankchor hit the sea like a meteor.

Black water exploded upward, raining over the deck in foul sheets. Scarlet runes ignited beneath the surface, spreading around Brando’s command ship in a circular lattice. The moment the formation locked, the strange whisper crawling into Asmodeus’s mind dulled, and the entire world shook.

’This... is amazing!’

Asmodeus couldn’t help but nod at Logan and Brando’s genius; this device could even give him a sense of fighting against G-Force.

He took a deep breath as the ship finally stabilised, watching as Albrecht started to rush to the boarding ship of the Imperial fleet.

Albrecht glanced at the anchors for a moment, "Those anchors..." but he stopped himself.

"Don’t ask questions during a crisis."

"Your Majesty, if that device can resist Leviathan’s command, then—"

"It can resist one ship because I said one ship." Asmodeus looked at him. "If you want your fleet saved, pray harder."

Caelith’s face twisted.

"You arrogant—"

A black eel leapt from the water behind her.

Asmodeus didn’t turn.

His left hand snapped out, catching the creature by its throat midair. Its jaws opened wide, rows of needle teeth snapping inches from Caelith’s face.

Her eyes widened.

The eel writhed, acidic saliva hissing against the floorboards.

Asmodeus crushed its skull in his palm.

Black blood splattered across the deck.

"Focus on surviving before insulting me. Head back to your ships, I will divert this flood of monsters, and keep you from being sunk!"

"Tsk... arrogant bastard."

"Hahahaha! If I succeed, let me taste that sweet behind of yours!"

Pah!

He slapped her buttocks as she rushed past him, the holy knights’ eyes widening more than when the monster attempted to kill her a moment before. She held her butt with both hands but held her screech.

’Man, if looks could kill... She’d be a murderer!’

Valena stared at the corpse, then at Asmodeus, her breath still hot and uneven.

"Let me fight."

"No."

"Just small ones."

"No."

"I’ll behave."

"You’re shaking."

Her lips pressed together.

Nerim tightened her hold around Valena’s waist and looked toward the churning sea.

"They’re already gathering, we don’t have the time to argue, Husband!"

Asmodeus followed her gaze.

"Tsk..."

The fleeing monsters had stopped scattering randomly. Something beneath the water had redirected their terror, pushing them into a wide spiral around the fleets. Fish, crabs, serpents and stranger things began circling, not because they wanted to attack...

Because the thing below gave them nowhere else to run.

"Brother!" Brando shouted. "The current is turning us away from Grigor!"

Asmodeus stepped onto the rail.

Wind and black spray whipped against his face.

"Then I’ll make the wind bend to my desires! Follow me."