Chapter 43. Wooden Ship
A month flew past quickly, and soon, it was the day to set sail again.
Black smoke rose again from the smokestacks of the Narwhale. Accompanied by his newly recruited sailor, Charles got onboard.
"Bandages, assign the shifts to the new crew," Charles instructed the First Mate next to him.
Bandages nodded silently and strode away with his newly regenerated leg, while the new sailors trailed after him.
Meanwhile, Charles brought Audric to the ship's bridge and unfurled his newly purchased, huge nautical map on the table. Islands, dangerous zones, and unexplored zones were all detailedly marked out.
"Where is Sottom? Mark it out on the map," Charles said to the vampire before him.
"Erm, I can't see. Please show me where's Dark Crystal Island."
Charles guided Audric's finger onto a thumbtack pinned on the map, which indicated the location of Dark Crystal Island.
Starting from Dark Crystal Island, Audric traced an arc across the map and then gently poked a point with his sharp nail.
"Here," Audric said.
Much to Charles' surprise, Sottom wasn't as far as he had anticipated it to be.
"Sottom is here? It's that close?"
"It's here at times. On the 6th and 25th of the month, it will appear here," Audric answered.
Charles was taken aback. "Appear? It's not an island? It can move?"
"Yes, Captain. To be exact, it's a fleet of ships. A massive vessel complex that was created by chaining together the ships they plundered."
Staring at the marked location, Charles quickly calculated the necessary travel time and provisions in his head.
Even though Audric spoke with certainty, his information was from forty years back. If they really arrived there and found nothing, at least they would have enough provisions to cover them for the return voyage.
"Do we have enough plasma packs?" Charles asked.
Audric swiftly nodded, "Yes. I've prepared sixty days' worth."
"Keep some of them as our reserves. I might need it if a high-intensity battle occurs."
"Understood. But Captain Charles, that's a vampiric relic after all. Please use it sparingly."
"I understand. You may leave now."
Audric bowed before he morphed into a bat and flew out.
While they were still in the near-island waters, Charles deliberately slowed the ship's pace so that the newly joined members could acclimate themselves to the work on board and build rapport with the older ones. Most of the new recruits this time were locals of the Coral Archipelago, and some of them even had personal encounters with Charles before. It didn't take long for a harmonious atmosphere to envelop the ship.
On the eighth day of departure, the Narwhale was closing in on her destination. Visible changes could be spotted on the surface of the still, dark waters.
"Captain, there's a ship ahead!"
"I see it." Charles peered through the glass at the distant vessel.
It was clearly not Sottom. The ship was too small, only half the size of the Narwhale, and it was even made of wood. Wooden ships were rare in the subterranean world. Under usual circumstances, places with trees would be flattened to be used to grow edible crops.
As the wooden ship sailed closer to them, Charles could make out more details of it. Unlike the Narwhale, which was powered by turbines, that wooden ship was actually powered by sails. This was terribly odd considering that there was hardly any breeze in the subterranean sea, and even if there was, relying on whatever mini-zephyr for speed was akin to courting death.
"Captain, what should we do?"
"I will man the helm. Go out and signal to them to follow the custom: port to port."
This was an established basic nautical practice to avoid any collisions due to the lack of communication.
"Aye!" With the silver bracelet on his wrist, Dipp grabbed the flags and ran out.
The young man gestured with the red flags in his hand, and the wooden ship started to change its course. It seemed to have understood the flag language.
As the two boats brushed past each other, a trace of doubt crossed his mind as he stared at the old wooden ship. Is it heading to Sottom too?
Clunk! Clunk! Clunk!
Just then, a crisis ensued as the flaps on the wooden ship's port side flipped open to reveal menacing cannons aimed at the Narwhale.
Immediately on alert, Charles rapidly turned the ship's wheel wildly, trying to face the cannonballs with only the smallest area possible. Despite his swift response, some of the projectiles landed on the deck. However, the expected explosion sounds didn't follow. The cannonballs seemed to be soft and stuck to wherever they landed. A dark purple smoke then began to emit from the cannonballs, and soon enough, the entire Narwhale was engulfed in the smoke.
"Lily! Fire back!!" Hearing Charles' command, the mice on the deck speedily ran toward the gun turrets and aimed the 125mm cannons at the wooden ship.
Meanwhile, silhouettes began to emerge from the dark purple fog. Their bodies were as thin as paper. Where their head was supposed to be, they had no distinguishable facial features, and they held weapons made of the same material—paper.
The moment the eerie Papyrians steadied themselves, they dashed for the deck cannons and brought their weapons down on the mice, hacking at them frenziedly. The movement of the cannons was brought to a stop.
The crew members quickly opened fire at the Papyrians, but the bullets merely passed through them, leaving a hole in their bodies but did nothing to impede their movement.
Charles frowned. He didn't dare to waste another second. He took out the mirror, wanting to smear blood on it. Such childish ghostly tricks didn't scare him. That wooden ship in the distance was the key; he had to stop it.
Just when he bit down on his finger, he felt a sudden pain flaring from his stomach. Shocked, he looked down to see the tip of a bloody blade poking out of his torso.
Without a second thought, he pulled out his revolver and turned around to aim at the figure behind it. He was just about to pull the trigger when he froze.
It was the boatswain, Dipp. A sinister smile was etched on his face as a chilling voice called out, "Fire...Shoot me..."
The next moment, Charles took a deep breath. Ignoring the extreme pain, he slapped the Clown Mask onto his face.
The moment the Clown Mask was on his face, Charles pulled the trigger and Dipp fell to the floor.
Controlling his internal muscles to clamp down on the wound, Charles stumbled out of the pilot house.
Outside, his crew members were already engaged in combat with the Papyrians. They were clearly at a disadvantage, save for James, who had transformed into a giant. The attack from the others seemed to have no effects.
Pressing onto his wound, Charles grabbed the Bat Mirror and tossed it toward the bat in the air.
"Blindy! Shatter that ship with your sonic scream!"
With the mirror in its beastly maws, the bat speedily flew toward the wooden ship.
No sooner had he finished speaking, a Papyrian appeared behind Charles. With its gleaming weapon, it was ready to slash down on Charles' head.
Charles strategically retreated and crashed into it. With swift movements of his black blade, he slashed the Papyrian into thin paper shreds.
"Tsk. Is that all?" Charles let out a snort. With his trustworthy knife in his hand, Charles was about to sprint into battle when he suddenly froze. Blood had started seeping from his wound again. He didn't dare make any reckless movement as his physical body was in a precarious position. If he made any movement, he might just die from severe blood loss.
Charles soon found another solution to the situation. He slowly squatted down and retrieved a bunch of steel nails from a wooden barrel beside him.
He hurled a nail like a dart, and it accurately struck a Papyrian, pinning it to the ground. But this was just a stopgap measure.
The Papyrians kept increasing in numbers. There seemed to be no end to it, and Charles' vision was starting to blur.
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