Chapter 174 :

Episode 34 : ‘Atlantic’ World (4)

[Stage #21 : Set Sail.]

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Stage Information: Beware of the calm before the storm. A journey to discover the new world is necessary to figure out what type of monsters dwell within the deep ocean, including the need to search for islands to strive on and build a usable boat. And as always, beware of the calm before the storm.

Stage Task: Sail across the ocean or discover a temporary island to live and to survive.

Time Limit: 744 Hours.

Reward: 7,700 Coins, a Cog ship, treasure map, 50 Enchanted cannon balls, 25 Large HP, MP and SP Potions.

Failure: None.

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"Tch. They worked fast." I muttered before swiping the panel away.

To think that the ‘Helpers’ were quick on their feet to finish resolving the glitches that I and my guild members had caused, it was something I expected, yet felt slightly stunned by their workaholic.

‘Is it because they have more angels to work with, unlike the past ‘Helpers’?’ I thought while staring at the sky.

Either way, it's not a problem whether they fixed the glitches fast or slow.

‘Louis, Mya, Alaine, Noelle and Noel. Must I include Crystal in there as well?’ I pondered about something.

More importantly, I should schedule the plans for the necessary improvement that half of my guild needs.

With one month as the limited time for this current stage, I'll definitely use it wisely to strengthen my guild until it's near unbeatable.

"My liege, you should put this on." Frostina told me after she handed me my black coat.

"I'm fine." 

All of a sudden, Raiden spoke. "Sensei, Mimi Kun wouldn't be fine with you wearing that outfit."

"Mimi? Ah.." I was immediately reminded of the time where Mirai was always flustered whenever I had my swimming suit on.

Along with Mirai, Frostina also felt that way too, yet she doesn't show it that much with her indifferent look.

In any case, I can't have Mirai and Frostina losing focus over something like my exposed arms and legs, so I had to put on my coat.

"Mimi, you could have told me if you didn't like my body." I said to her as she fanned her fan rapidly with her breathing becoming more and more fast.

Then, Mirai looked at me with her eyes peeled before she shifted her glance away from me. "I-It isn't what you think it is, captain!"

"Then?"

Sad to say, I didn't get to hear what Mirai would respond to me since Alaine had disturbed on our conversation. "You guys.. Why aren't you saying anything about the stage?"

"Alaine, you shouldn't bother them like that." Louis scolded Alaine while he was stretching to get used to the swimsuit.

"...I. Ahem.. You look good by the way."

"O-Oh…" 

The compliment from Alaine seemed to have caught Louis off guard which prompted him to be nervous on what to reply, actually it looked as if he was blushing in speechlessness.

‘..I didn't need to see this.’ I thought, sighing at this sight.

At last, I uttered to stop the awkward silence. "Alaine is right. I should be discussing the stage with you all."

"Right! You must! Who knows what gonna happen in just a second or so—" 

FLARE!!!

As Alaine was trying to speak, her sentence was cut short by the sudden appearances of two certain ‘Helpers’ from the look of it.

"They arrived, huh?" I murmured before glaring at the sky. "..It's oddly quiet."

Usually when ‘Helpers’ come and go, they are quite loud to get the attention of the players, so basically kinda like attention seekers.

Scowled, I thought. ‘Still bastards though.’ 

At long last, one of the ‘Helpers’, Ruby sarcastically exclaimed in our direction, mostly sending daggers eyes toward me especially.

"Well, well well! Look who's back! I'm sooo looking forward to overseeing you all." 

‘She ain't.’ I scoffed at her sarcasm.

Ruby glared. "I can't believe I have to oversee some freaking humans like you."

Without a doubt, I sneered back at Ruby's pathetic attempt at glaring. ‘Fair enough. Hate me all you want, but my hatred for you bastards is greater.’

Apart from Ruby's pathetic glare, I found Sapphire to be sending me her dagger eyes secretly, and I couldn't help but chuckle at how weak her cold glare is compared to Frostina's permafrost-like glare.

"I don't want to even talk to you freaking idiots. Just staying here close to you makes me sick." Ruby insulted us which no one cared.

"I want to shoot an arrow into her mouth to shut her up." I murmured quietly, but it looked like my comrades heard me. 

Since Frostina turned to me and gave me a look that meant ‘No’, but ‘Yes’ too. 

What I can understand was that Frostina wanted to pierce an ice lance into those ‘Helpers’'s hearts, however she didn't want to gather attention and be punished for her actions.

The urge to kill, but suppressed. I can understand her feelings.

Not long after, Mirai said to me as she giggled. "Fufufu, captain. You shouldn't get so short-tempered."

"Haha! Sensei is always this fussy whenever bastards arrive." Raiden casually laughed.

When he laughed, his head moved a bit which caused Behemoth to feel worse with his seasickness. "Don't move your head… aargh.."

"Pfft." I chuckled.

Eventually, Mirai became gleeful when I laughed. "Oh~! Even captain is chuckling at Behemoth. Serve him right, fufu." 

In any case, while we were minding our own business chattering by, we were intentionally ignoring the ‘Helpers’ since generally, ‘Helpers’ are completely useless to all the players.

Without giving hints and information about the stages, ‘Helpers’ are just literal overseers, so there is no point in caring about them nor wasting time on them.

..In other words, it would only hurt their angel's pride.

And, that's my aim..

WHOOSH!

"These people.. You all are shameless!!" 

Loud voice violently vibrating out like a gust of wind, was accompanied by the intense heat that was radiating from Ruby.

More destructive and unpredictable, waves began to form into hundreds of swirls and waves, forcing everyone on the ship to follow suit and stumble from an unbalanced foothold.

"Bastards.." I grumbled.

Neither heat nor the ear-splitting roar from Ruby could do anyone harm, since I had Frostina, Noelle, Noel and Crystal who immediately took actions to cool down the suffocating heat, there wasn't any concern.

"The water.." I grunted.

In spite of that, there was something that anyone could see in front of their eyes. A concern that was wavering and causing unsteady footing, was getting higher and closer to submerging the whole ice ship.

The ocean is the problem.

..And if that's not danger itself. 

Imagine the ice ship being driven into the deep ocean, giving everyone a disadvantage in being immobilized and slow underwater.

Moreover, since this is the ‘Atlantic’ World we're talking about, the sea creatures wouldn't leave free food untouched, wouldn't they?

"Rai and Frostina." I called out their names to find them nodding to me as though they already understood what I thought.

[Player ‘500’ has activated her Skill, ‘Snowdrift’ Lv. MAX.]

Alaine gasped. "Huhh?! Whaaa!?" 

In a flick of a second, the ice ship was swiftly launched into the sky with Frostina's skill, almost close to colliding with the ‘Helpers’ if it weren't for Raiden who rotated the ship farther from them.

‘It's a pity.’ I thought, really wishing for angels to be hit brutally.

The thought of a ship knocking into angels was undeniably satisfying if it were ever to happen, I could have ordered Raiden not to take a turn and allow the ship to do its thing by hitting the angels..

..Yet I can't afford to have the angels' wrath befall on us this early, so I resisted the urge to satisfy myself.

‘They're already furious, master.’ Lucifer told me something I knew already.

Rustling~

"O-Oh my god…!! Why did the ship just?! Huh?!" Alaine gasped again.

Of course, everyone would be bewildered by the sudden shift into the air. They must have had a heart attack because of this.

SWISSSHHH!

"You… Every one of you is freaking dead!!" An ear-piercing roar exited from Ruby's grinding teeth.

I thought, glaring at Ruby. ‘Getting vexed over a ship passing you? How childish of a reason to be furious about when you're a bastard angel.’ 

Shaa..

Fortunately, Sapphire seemed to have whispered something to Ruby before casually floating away with Ruby reluctantly following behind her.

"What's their problem?" Louis commented, finally standing straight.

Next, I shrugged. "Don't know. They might just be itching for a fight."

"We would definitely lose if they were to fight us." HwanGi, stating a fact, irked me a little.

It is true that ‘Helpers’ are too overpowered to the point of cheating, yet not unbeatable. 

‘I'll beat them in the near future.’ I smirked.

When I saw how the ‘Helpers’ were leaving without a word, I just imagined that I can't wait for the moment where I get to slaughter every one of those bastards.

‘Master, focus.’ Lucifer warned me.

"Let's go, Rai." I told Raiden who instantly steered the flying ship forward.

Fluttering...

Upon having Frostina's skill, ‘Snowdrift’ constantly lifting up the ship, we managed to avoid the chaotic waves and fast up on our search for an island.

As much as I want to stay in the sky, there's a penalty for those who remain in the air without touching the ocean.

Naturally, it would be cheating if a player were to avoid the sea animals and the ocean itself.

So we must arrive at an island quickly before the ‘Helpers’ could even put a penalty on us.

Eventually, I mumbled. "The sky.. It reminds me of someone."

Out of the blue, a shout resounded from the front of the ship. "Papa! Papa!" 

..She was my daughter.

[Player ‘137’ has activated her Hidden Skill, ‘Crystal Clear’ Lv. 3.]

I immediately shook my head toward Noelle to let her know not to use her hidden skill since it would overwhelm her a little, but I guessed she didn't understand what I meant.

As someone who doesn't hear her voice that often, it makes sense for Noelle to be shy when her hidden skill is on. 

"Father! Noelle spotted an island down there!" Noel exclaimed on Noelle's behalf.

And for Noel to step in for her instead of Crystal.. I better treat Noel kindly from now on.

"Ha.."

Enough with those thoughts, Noelle had found an island which was something we were looking for.

"Excellent work, Noelle and Noel." I praised them and gave them a proud grin.

After that, they seemed buoyant and satisfied as they smiled at each other in an adorable way.

Watching such a scene, I spoke with a smile. "Youthful as a teenager, but blissful as a child."

"We were once like them." Raiden unexpectedly spoke in a reminiscing tone before Mirai replied with.

"Rai, you were the most childish at that time."

"And you were the sassy one."

"Uso, Rai! I wasn't like that."

"Haha! I still remember how you stood proudly and pointed your finger at me, thinking I was stealing sensei's attention."

"B-Baka! I know I was rude, but please do keep quiet about that last bit! Shh..!"

At that moment, I stared at them while letting them talk as they pleased, reminded of our past where it was filled with peace.

Since I didn't need to do anything or tell Raiden and Frostina to lower the ship to land on the island that Noelle had spotted, I got a bit of spare time to watch my comades talk.

Also, Raiden and Frostina were already directing the ice ship toward the island's location the second Noel said the word 'island'.

‘My comrades are always reliable.’ I smiled.

During this short period of time where we have to wait for the ship to arrive on the island, I took this chance to sit down and relax after removing Behemoth from Raiden's head.

As a sort of apology for the things I did to Behemoth earlier, I rubbed Behemoth's head to ease his seasickness a little.

"Meoww~" 

It looked like Behemoth accepted my apology.

———

In the meantime, there was Ruby who was infatuated by ‘The Rebels’ Guild who angered her so much that she wished to end them all.

..But she was immediately stopped by Sapphire at that point.

"Sapphire, why couldn't we just kill them right there!?! They deserve to die!" 

Ruby bawled in a heated rage, talking to Sapphire unlike when in the past Ruby couldn't speak a word to Sapphire because she was scared.

Halted by Ruby's words, Sapphire floated in mid air with no words to say to Ruby's grumbles.

Fwoosh…

..Chills were the only response to Ruby's words. 

In the end, Ruby continued talking. "You're getting creepy now, Sapphire. I take the chilly Sapphire instead of the creepy Sapphire." 

Sapphire menacingly looked at Ruby.

As Ruby glanced at Sapphire, her fury and heat cooled down a bit when she mentioned. "I really don't understand you at all, Sapphire. Take a peek at me and anyone knows I'm hot-headed."

"You, on the other hand, are the opposite of me. But it doesn't seem that way to me anymore, Sapphire."

"..." Quiet, Sapphire was when she gazed at Ruby rather than glaring this time.

"So I'm going to make up my mind and do whatever a hot-headed person like me would do."

"..?"

"That's bringing ruin to any situation is my specialty. I am all in for it. Freaking screw into my head from the start."

…Whoosh… 

"So let's just do whatever the freak we want, shall we? Ain't that right, Miss cold-hearted angel?" Ruby snickered with an insane expression.

Once Sapphire laid her eyes on Ruby's expression, she finally moved her lips to say. "Very well."

"Huh? No freaking way? You actually agreed. There won't be any take back, okay?"

..Sapphire nodded slowly.

"Holy freak.. This is a chance to see which one of us takes down ‘The Rebels’ Guild. I am in for that challenge!"

Sooner or later, anger and craziness turned to excitement, Ruby quickly drifted around in exhilaration as she took off flying toward the sky to return back to the headquarters.

Swoosh~!

Left alone, Sapphire was still floating with a creepy yet blank expression until finally, the surroundings unexpectedly froze up in response to Sapphire's raging emotions inside her.

Calm and cold as she may be, she can't hold back her wrath any further which was why she agreed with Ruby's declaration.

In no time, Sapphire muttered with her tone of voice fueled by her frustration. "..I'll be first." 

Shaa..!

"Everything and everyone of ‘The Rebels’ Guild, I'll certainly eliminate them for the failure and humiliation I received."

Not a second has passed when Sapphire literally soared upward into the sky with no delay in slowing down her expeditiously flight.

..Sprinkling..!

Her trail of frost was nowhere near the same as it was back in the day when she started her job as an overseer.

Those frost were illuminating with her rage, chaotically flickering and landing onto the ocean to unexpectedly create a layer of thick ice on top of the water.

Nobody would notice that the ice formed in the shape of a cross unless they were high in the sky..

..Sapphire was truly and faithfully crossed.