The area below the deck was dark, but my eyes adjusted quickly. Sebastian was behind me holding an axe and Hugo came last. Between the three of us, I felt confident that we could handle whatever we found down there. But Hemi, who was still unconscious from earlier, didn’t have a lot of time.

I rushed down the steps, and the others followed. We weren’t splitting up, and we weren’t even really focused on finding the monster either. Our priority was to get Hemi out of there and safely topside.

I stopped short and Sebastian nearly bumped into me. He was angry until I pointed at the floor. The water trail had ended at the bottom of the stairs.

[Lucas Hudson: Keep your eyes sharp. This thing could be anywhere.]

We didn’t have to go far to find Hemi’s empty hammock. There was a ripped hole in the center of it, but no blood or other markings. Perhaps the thing had dragged him away somewhere.

“Ahh!” Hugo yelped.

I spun around, ready for danger, but didn’t see anything.

“What?” I asked him.

“I thought I saw something.”

Sebastian sighed. “You thought? Either you saw something or you didn’t.”

“Quiet!” I barked.

There was a scraping sound below. Down where we keep the cannons and the stockpiles of gunpowder. My eyes widened.

I didn’t say a word. Securing the storeroom was even more important than finding Hemi. Something smart, or at least something with enough animal cunning, could get in there and kill us all with a spark.

I thundered down the next set of stairs while the others followed.

This thing had heard us coming. Heard us talking and still it hadn’t tried to attack. Which meant that it was either looking for something or waiting for something. There was a third option, which was that it was too busy eating Hemi to care, but I tried not to think about that one.

On this level of the deck, there was a row of cannons with the storeroom at the other end. The storeroom door was ajar, but I couldn’t remember if I’d left it that way or not.

I took a step. The floorboard squealed, and I winced. It was hard to sneak on this ship.

I approached the door warily. Looking around each cannon. Once at the door, it squeaked as I pulled it open, but there was no monster inside.

[Lucas Hudson: Sebastian, I need you to stay here and guard the store room.]

I figured he’d argue, but he wandered over and leaned against the wall with a sarcastic thumbs up.

Satisfied that the ship wasn’t going to blow up anytime soon, Hugo and I went down to the final level of the ship. It was one large room stacked with crates. In some parts, they were packed floor to ceiling with narrow corridors left to navigate around them. It was almost like a maze, and I doubted Hemi’s large body had been dragged down here.

[Lucas Hudson: What is all this stuff?]

[Hugo: Various supplies. This is a cargo ship, you know.]

[Lucas Hudson: Do you know that our ship would go a lot faster if we weren’t weighed down by all this junk?]

[Hugo: Well, I do now.]

Hugo summoned two birds, and they flew through the corridor and went in different directions.

A few seconds after they were out of sight, there was an animalistic snarl and both birds were taken out.

“Oh crap,” Hugo said.

“Did you get a look at it?”

“No, and is it just me or is getting darker in here?”

He was right. My Night’s Eye ability was active and it should be giving me almost perfect night vision, but it wasn’t. The creature must have some kind of ambient shadow technique.

Hugo moved towards the stairs. “I’m uh… going to control Archer from the upper deck where there’s less distractions.”

I didn’t know if he was afraid of the dark or whatever this thing was, but it wasn’t important. He could still see and remotely control his Archer spirit summon remotely and with him gone, I wouldn’t have to worry about the others being in danger.

Once he was upstairs, I gestured for Archer to go first. If nothing else, the spirit would serve as bait.

I shortened my blood sword down to a second long knife and followed her. In this cramped space, mobility was key.

We crept down the corridor. I kept expecting something to jump out at me, but we made it to the turning point. Archer went left, and I followed, not making more than a couple of steps before a heavy crate fell on top of me.

The weight was heavy, and I dropped my weapons in the crash, but that wasn’t my biggest concern.

The creature hopped over into the corridor and we finally got a look at this thing in the dim light. It stood just over five feet tall. I didn’t know what to call it other than skinny humanoid fish monster with claws. The System’s notification thankfully gave me its name.

*Beast Identified* [Shrikon Footman (common)] Level 65 – The lowest foot soldier with the least experience and combat acumen. It is nevertheless deadly in and out of the water. Its claws and teeth were designed to break through the bones of an abyssal shark, which happens to be their favorite meal. I’d tell you to run, but a Shrikon often favors cornering their prey so it’s probably too late for that.

The Shrikon made several clicking sounds before lunging for me. I shoved the crate out of the way and rolled backwards. Its claws missed me by a hair and scraped along the floor. 

Archer, feeling irked at being ignored, fired at arrow at it but it just bounced off of it.

Oh, come on. This thing is at our level. How is that fair?

The Shrikon took another swipe at me. I formed a blood knife to guard, but the Shrikon’s claw shattered it. Backpedaling quickly, I summoned a blood spike in each hand and threw them one after the other. The creature didn’t even try to dodge them and they bounced off of its chest like they were made of rubber.

I needed my physical knife. Strengthening it with Blade Weaver had allowed me to cut through a rank E creature. It was my only hope, but I’d dropped it somewhere.

“Hugo, I need you to distract it,” I shouted.

He heard me and knew what to do. If the weapons were ineffective, then it was time to be annoying instead.

Archer jumped on the Shrikon’s back and tried to wrestle it to the ground. The creature resisted, but it did finally acknowledge the spirit’s presence as they grappled.

While distracted, I searched for the knife. It was difficult. Unlike my blood blades, I didn’t feel any connection to my physical knife until I was holding it and losing it now would be devastating.

I went back to where the crate had hit me and scanned the area until I found it. The knife was wedged in deep between two crates.

I reached in to grab it, but the gap was narrow and my fingers couldn’t quite make it.

The Shrikon having grown tired of struggling, sank its claws back into the Archer’s head and tore it apart. The spirit dissipated, and it turned to fix its gaze on me.

Goddamn it.

I forced my shoulder into the gap as hard as I could until I felt my fingertips touch the handle. The creature stomped closer and closer. Desperately, I shoved harder.

Success!

The knife was mine just as the Shrikon came within range. It raised one claw high in the air as Blade Weaver worked its magic. As my knife glowed red, I didn’t pull it out of the gap. There wasn’t time for that. Instead, I sliced through the crates and up towards its chest.

The Shrikon screeched as the knife sank in and dark green blood spurted out, hissing as it touched the blade. I thought the thing was done for but it still swung at me. Clearly, the knife hadn’t gone in deep enough.

Suddenly, I cried out in pain. I looked down and felt my stomach getting wet. The thing’s other claw had gored me while I was too busy staring at the one it had held high.

Stupid. This thing was too fast and smart to take something like for granted.

I stumbled back, already feeling a numbness in my legs. I fed myself blood from my Bracer to stop my body from going into shock, but I could feel my reserves were depleted. I didn’t have much more blood on hand for the fight.

Damn it. I should’ve drained the corpses in my inventory as soon as I’d gotten a spare minute.

The Shrikon pulled the knife out and tossed it aside. Okay, I wasn’t ashamed to admit that at this point, I needed help. The creature screeched in annoyance as I turned and fled to the upper deck, where Sebastian was waiting.

“Get it over to the gun port!” he yelled and pointed.

Oh yeah. Say it like it's easy.

Still, if we couldn’t kill it. Getting it off the boat was the next best thing.

Using what little blood I had left, I created a stick in each hand. If I couldn’t cut it, then maybe blunt force would work better.

The Shrikon looked at Sebastian and then Hugo. I whacked the creature on the head, which put its focus back on me. The Shrikon howled in rage and came for me.

I fended it off as best as I could, but it scored several gashes across my arms and broke one of the sticks. I kept retreating while Sebastian moved silently into position in the background. Finally, when my back was against the open gun port, the creature thought it had me cornered. It opened its mouth to show its sharp teeth and then leapt.

I threw myself to the side.

Boom!

There was a deafening roar as Sebastian fired the cannon and the Shrikon exploded into a mess of fish guts.

*DING!* You have slain [Shrikon Footman (common)] Level 65 – Experience Points and Currency Acquired.

*DING!* Class: [Blood Reaver] has reached level 62 – Experience Acquired. 

I heard footsteps walk away from me, but I was too tired to care. A part of me just wanted to lay on the floor, but Sebastian returned and stood over me, offering my fallen knife. I took it and thanked him. “The cannon was a good idea,” I said.

“Actually, it was Hugo’s. Although his description of the thing didn’t do it justice.”

“What? I said skinny creature from the black lagoon,” the bird replied.

I almost laughed, but I was too tired. That fight was exhausting. I had to find a quiet room and get some of the blood out of the corpses I’d collected.

A chair scraped along the ceiling and the three of us froze.

There was something in the kitchen, and suddenly all of us became alert. We’d never considered that there might be more than one on board. We readied our weapons and crept upstairs. This time, I let Sebastian take the lead as we burst through the door.

Hemi looked up from the kitchen table and smiled. “Oh hey guyshs,” he said with a mouth full of food. He appeared completely unharmed.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Oh well, I woke up when my hammock broke. At that point, I was incredibly hungry, and I saw the kitchen here, so I sat down and started eating.”

“Didn’t you hear us fighting?” asked Sebastian.

Hemi sheepishly finished the rest of his food. “Yeah, but I was kinda hoping to finish my snack first before coming to help.”

Oh god, they’re multiplying. Hugo’s infected him. Soon we’ll be stopping the ship at places just to pick up ingredients.  

“Where’d you get the snack?” Hugo asked.

“It’s just a breakfast burrito I had in my inventory,” he replied.

Hugo hopped onto the table and cocked his head to the side. “What’s a breakfast burrito?”

“Don’t answer!” I blurted out. “Unless you’ve got another one of those to give away, ignorance is bliss.”

“Ignore him, Hemi,” said Hugo sweetly. “This can go the easy way or the hard way…”

Hemi looked at me for support, but I was already retreating. There was one final piece of business to deal with first.

I grabbed Sebastian, and we went back to the cannons. I signaled Pete over party chat to ask if the other wrecked boat was still visible, and he said that it was. I told him to turn the boat around.

“What about the sound of the cannon?” asked Sebastian.

I shrugged. “We’ve already fired one shot, so what’s another going to do? Besides, I’m pissed off.”

We loaded the cannon, and I aimed it at the wrecked ship.

“On your command,” he said holding the lighter.

“Sink it.”

The cannon boomed, and we watched as the ball ripped through the base of the wrecked ship's hull, tearing the ship in two. The boat wasn’t in good shape to begin with and so it began to sink. Creepily, the shrouded corpse continued to wave even as it sank into the water.

“What are these things?” asked Sebastian.

“I don’t know, but I know someone who’s seen them before.”

It was time to see if Daisy could shed some light on our new dangerous enemy.