"Sea Monsters!!" General Keith yelled. "Stay in position!" he added.
Soon, the dynamics on the ship shifted.
Soldiers ran to the sides of the vessel, summoning large round shields which they attached to the wood of the ship to create more reinforcement. Archers, both in the crow's nest and on the main deck, drew their arrows and prepared to aim. They all moved rhythmically and seamlessly; everyone knew their job.
Lyra moved away from the glowing runic circle created by those maintaining the ship, leaving the leaders of the realm to handle it on their own. She immediately ran to the steering oar, summoned her sword, and stood guard beside Leo.
General Keith stood on the head of the serpent, clutching his sword low in his right hand and raising his left hand in a fist, his gaze fixated on the waves.
Everywhere went silent. To Leo, and possibly everyone else, it seemed as if the Tide of Seas had grown calm in their ears, but they knew it was an illusion. It was still rampaging, splashing salty black water onto the ship—but that wasn't the main problem now.
'Curses. Curses. Curses.'
The indescribable shapes of the sea monsters moved in the water, or rather, were moved around by the water.
'Huh? That's weird.'
Leo raised an eyebrow under the Shell of Dread but decided to remain calm and vigilant.
One second passed, then two, then three. This stretched into minutes—perhaps five or six—but nothing happened. Yet, the soldiers maintained grim expressions and remained alert, not moving an inch from their positions as they mentally battled the insidious whispers and dark emotions of the Tide of Seas.
Only Leo felt uneasy. 'What in the world is happening?'
For some reason, the sea monsters were acting strange... really strange. Maybe he felt that way because he had once battled them here before.
'Shouldn't they have attacked by now?'
His crimson eyes flared as his expression darkened beneath his helmet. He stared at the rampaging waves, expecting to see one of the monsters fly out toward him, but no such thing happened.
Instead, his gaze caught a large figure being carried back and forth in the waves.
It was a sea monster. Leo looked at it intently; it was moving, but only with the help of the current. Its underside was visible while the rest of its body remained buried beneath the waves.
Soon, the realization struck Leo. He felt his heart skip a beat. He looked around the ship again, studying the sea monsters intently.
"They're dead... They're all... dead," he stammered under his breath.
Lyra, who was still beside him, frowned and raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"
Leo turned to her, his crimson eyes dancing with fear and darkness. "They're all dead. The sea monsters are all dead!"
His voice traveled across the entire deck, causing the soldiers to lose focus and turn their gaze toward him. General Keith stepped down from the serpent's head and turned to Leo.
He made a gesture that caused the soldiers to lower their guard slightly.
'I guess he also—'
Leo wasn't allowed to finish his thought. A small figure that looked like a black seahorse flew out of the waves with its razor teeth directed toward General Keith. It sank its teeth into the General's neck, but Keith reacted fast, separating its head from its body with his sword. The two lumps of meat fell to the deck, lifeless.
General Keith gritted his teeth and clutched his neck, then smiled.
"I'll be fine. Don't lower your guard; there might be more of them in the waves."
The leaders did not open their eyes, still fueling the ship.
Leo, who watched this scenario unfold in less than five seconds, was speechless. He simply nodded to the General and continued steering the vessel.
The fact that most of the sea monsters were dead should have made Leo less wary, but it did the opposite. What could have diminished the number of sea monsters on such a large scale?
'The Spirit of Madness?' He immediately shook his head, dismissing the thought. It couldn't have gotten here that fast.
Then again, the image of the General's contact with the sea monster played over in his head. It all felt strange.
'What was happening?'
He glanced at the General, who was being tended to by a female warrior whose ability allowed her to use water to heal. He looked at Keith with intense focus.
"Something seems to be wrong with him," he muttered.
"Yes... He's injured. Are you stupid?"
Leo flinched. Lyra was still beside him.
"Ah, did I say that out loud? But still, that's not what I meant. Everything just seems strange today. Something is off. I can just feel the dread."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "You're just being paranoid, Aquarius. I guess it's because this is your second time here and your first trip wasn't such a good experience. It's called paranoia."
Leo nodded, not fully reassured. Everything felt totally off, but he focused on sailing, trying to rely on Lyra's theory.
The ship cut through the waves, rising and falling as if scaling the body of a mighty beast. In this case, the beast was a vast ocean that seemed alive, rampaging on its own, carried along by dark emotions and insidious whispers that were driving everyone on the ship mad—but they held on.
The civilians occupied the inner decks, while the main deck was held by the soldiers, the leaders, and Aquarius himself.
It would have stayed that way if not for the fact that Aquarius was just a thirteen-year-old boy with insatiable pride and ego who was currently feeling like wetting his pants.
'Ah, something seriously doesn't feel right.'
He looked at General Keith again with a deep scowl. The man was already back to duty, supervising and moving with agility as if nothing had happened. He looked at Lyra... she was just Lyra. The leaders were also indifferent to the tension he felt as they continued to meditate, supporting the ship's integrity.
He then looked back at General Keith. This time, General Keith's eyes were fixated on the leaders and the glowing runic circle. His eyes were filled with a raw emotion of darkness mixed with dread and bloodlust.
It was madness.
Leo cursed under his breath as his heart skipped countless beats, noticing something abnormal happen to Keith.
...The General's shadow separated from his body.