“Vel? Velmira?” Amalia sang, Vel groaning and shifting in her hammock. “We’re nearly there.”

  Vel perked up, launching herself out of the hammock and yelping when her feet didn’t catch the floor, but the rest of her did.

  [Tough Hide level 59]

  Huffing, she rolled over onto her backside, and stared at Amalia. The singer offered a hand.

  “Are you okay?”

  Taking the hand, Vel grunted, stiff muscles aching as she stood up. “Yeah,” she said wearily, and looked towards the open trapdoor, dust glimmering in the sunlight. “Did I sleep all morning?” she yawned out.

  “Sigurd didn’t want to wake you sooner, something about a serpent’s den? I don’t know,” Amalia sighed, shoulders slumping. “He’s hardly talking to me.”

  “Because of your argument?”

  “I suspect so. I apologized, but I think it’s best I just give him some more space, but for retribution’s sake, I just didn’t know. How could I? It’s not . . .” Amalia trailed, eyes running over Vel’s weary face. “And now I’m whining about it. Lovely. Well, there’s nothing more I can do, and we’re all tired.” Amalia raised her other hand, a small roll of bread in it. “Breakfast.”

  Vel blinked, taking the roll. “Thank you,” she said, and looked back up into Amalia’s brown eyes. She wanted to help Amalia with her situation with Sigurd, but at the same time, she’d just woken up.

  “Aden’s hoarding the jam upstairs,” Amalia pointed.

  With a slow nod, Vel shuffled towards the stairs, her legs lazily waking up as she climbed up into the sunlight. Wincing, she turned and squinted at Aden beneath the aftcastle, sitting on his barrel with a jar of jam in his lap. Sigurd, meanwhile, was on the forecastle again, looking ahead.

  “Have you two even slept?” Vel muttered, looking back at Sandy.

  The healer hopped off his barrel, jam in hand, and made his way towards Vel. “Mornin’,” he greeted, and extended the jar of jam towards her.

  “Good morning,” Vel said, taking the spoon in the jar and placing some of the viscous strawberry paste atop her roll before plopping it in. Sandy was more than satisfied with that, taking a whole spoonful of the stuff and sticking it in his mouth. He swallowed with a hum and a smile that made Vel feel sorry that she’d even taken any.

  Biting into her roll, she paused.

  No.

  She was sorry she didn’t take more.

  “Holy . . .” she said, closing her eyes and savoring the citric taste, strawberry mixed with something else. Sweet, savory, and something tangy. “What is this?” she asked.

  “Made by some church or somethin’. Honey, lemon, and strawberry,” Aden said. “There’s more jars of the stuff below━”

  “Give me that,” Vel said, swiping the spoon from him and glopping more jam on her roll, even tearing the bread in half to sandwich the jam. Finally, she handed the spoon back, and devoured the scrumptious meal. It wasn’t until she was licking a finger that she realized Aden’s wide eyed look, still holding the spoon in the same position.

  “Maybe we should take some with us,” he said.

  Vel nodded, wiping her hands off on her skirt, it was dirty to do, but . . . oh well, it was already dirty. The only thing that could have possibly hid that was if the skirt was━

  Blank ink seeped from Vel’s fingers, spreading over the fabric like water, only that it didn’t feel wet.

  [Dye Magic level 7]

  [Dye Magic level 8]

  [Dye Magic level 9]

  [Dye Magic level 10]

  “Seriously?” she said, looking up at Aden and finding the rest of the world in monochrome, like all the color in her vision had seeped out.

  “Huh,” Aden cocked his head. “Want to know ‘bout the serpent now?”

  “The one that sort of saved us from pirates?” Vel asked.

  “Mhm.”

  “And?”

  “The kid informed me earlier,” Sigurd said, making his way down the steps, “that we’re not likely to know where we’re making land at, given our hurried state and sorry lack of coordinates. And, apparently,” Sigurd side eyed Aden, “we might go over its den.”

  “We’re going over the den of a ship destroying monster?” Vel asked.

  “Probably,” Aden shrugged.

  “A ship destroying monster?” she asked again.

  He nodded.

  “A monster?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “No.” Vel sighed, color coming back to her vision now, and as it did, she realized the lush green color in the corner of it. Turning her head, she gaped at the forest━no, jungle. Starting towards the left side of the ship, she stared at the monstrously large trees, the greenery so dense and the palm leaves so large that they looked to be from one of Edard’s fairy tales.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  As she reached the railing, she placed her hands, gripping it. They were still quite some distance from the golden shore, moving along it. “What is this place?” she asked.

  “Ymril,” Sigurd said, moving to her side. “We’re searching for a dock city. There’s only two, but if the serpent attacks, we need to think about how we’re going to deal with it.”

  Vel cringed. “How can we? It’s so big!”

  “So was the blood spider,” Sigurd said, “and you killed it.”

  Frowning, Vel looked up at Sigurd, then shook her head. “Hardly the same concept, Sigurd. The blood spider was on land, this is the ocean. If we sink, I can’t swim! Let alone fight this thing.”

  “I guess it’s time to learn how to swim,” he said.

  “I am not getting in the water.”

  “I don’t mean that. Just, if you do end up in the ocean, kick your legs, and hard. Use your arms to push water to move through it,” Sigurd explained.

  “And how do I float?”

  “Float?”

  “Yes.”

  “You just . . . do?” Sigurd said.

  “Helps ta take a deep breath before goin’ under,” Aden mentioned.

  “Good enough. Should it come, you and Amalia can magic it. Aden and I will use the collection of harpoons there,” Sigurd pointed to the area under the forecastle.

  “You two are terrible at this,” Vel muttered, then asked, “Will fire work against it?”

  Aden laughed.

  Frowning, she turned to him, watching him humorously slap the railing a few times. After a long awkward moment, he stopped, then gave a quizzical look, “Oh, ya’re serious,” he said blinking. “It’s wet. It won’t catch fire. Might steam a scale or two.”

  “Okay, so what can I do against a serpent?” Vel asked, then without waiting, went on, “[Sticky thread] doesn’t do well with water. I guess I can try tying it up with [webshot] and [create silk], but . . . [Rock throw] is useless here, not unless━”

  “Can [rock throw] work for metals?” Sigurd asked.

  “What, you want me to throw daggers at it? With magic?”

  “It’s an idea,” he said, then unsheathed a dagger from his waist. It was much larger than Vel would be comfortable with throwing, and had a slight curve to the blade.

  Taking it, she held it away from the others, outstretched. Just a gentle throw, she thought, somewhat worried it would go flying off the opposite end of the ship, lost to the watery abyss. Instead, nothing. A little harder? Nothing.

  “Is it workin’?” Aden asked.

  “What does it look like, Kid?” Sigurd crossed his arms, taking the dagger back. “Rocks only then, and I doubt I’ll find anything other than fancy weapons, jewelry, and precious minerals in the cargo bay.”

  “Ya forgot the most important thing!” Aden chirped, Sigurd rolling his eyes.

  “And jam.”

  Vel pulled at her hair, which she had yet to tame this morning━something she did her best to ignore as she considered other options. “The rest of my magic isn’t very useful. [Water beam], perhaps, but the sea serpent is the creature that gave it to me, and it’s only level one,” she explained, “unless I can somehow use [shadow sneak] out in the middle of the ocean?” she thought, unsure of what that would look like.

  “[Shadow sneak]?” Aden asked.

  “Is that not a potential skill for shadow creatures?” Amalia said, and Vel turned her head, looking towards the other woman as she emerged from below deck.

  Sigurd looked away as she approached, Vel giving the man a glare. He was supposed to be the mature one, and here he was, holding grudges! She tore her eyes from him, shifting to Amalia.

  “Yes, but I’m unsure if it works at sea,” she said.

  “There’s only one way to try, is there not?”

  “It could be dangerous,” Sigurd argued, finally looking at the singer. “She could test it at shore, not out in the middle of the ocean.”

  “And what’s the worst that could happen? We have to get her a lifeboat?” Amalia asked. “Shore is not that far off, we could row to it and be safer on land anyways if our concern is the sea serpent.”

  “Walking would be much slower. I don’t know if you realized, but your people are still chasing us,” Sigurd hissed.

  “My people!” Amalia looked at him, aghast; jaw dropped. “Last I recalled, you also worked for them.”

  “Only to avenge the blood of my wife!”

  “And I was just hand packaged by my father to serve the church, so untwist your britches, you arse, and stop holding her death above my head!”

  Vel opened her mouth to interject, only for Sigurd to go on, “And I’m just supposed to believe that you just so happened to reject decades of church teachings . . . !”

  Cringing, Vel shook her head as the two went at it, each stepping closer, yet never laying a finger on the other. Meanwhile . . . I can test it, I can make that decision myself, she thought, though she knew Sigurd’s concern for her safety had weight, yet . . . she also knew that he’d encouraged her to take care of herself, so she moved to the aftcastle and rolled her foot against the planks.

  The drop into the shadow realm made her stomach lurch, free falling through the ground and twisting up on the other side. However, when she did twist up, her body was thrown forward, churning her stomach. She hit the glassy ground with a gasp, rolling with the ship on the other side, seeing only the forecastle’s ceiling, passing by under her quicker than she had time to orient herself.

  A pillar of light crashed into Vel, her body engulfed by it, blinding her eyes and warming her skin, like sunlight touched her from every angle. She yelped, feeling her gut fly as she fell. Her eyes were wide, catching the back of the ship as it sailed away without her. After twisting further in the air, she plunged straight into the ocean, the cold water engulfing every part of her.

  I should have listened! she thought, arms thrashing as her chest tightened, panic setting in. There was no air in her! Her lungs suffered, already begging for the sweet reprieve of air, and all Vel could do was helplessly push at water, even allowing the salty sea to sting her eyes. Go up! Up! she internally screamed, crying to herself to move to the surface.

  Just one breath, at least one!

  Vel kicked. Hard. She kicked the ocean beneath her, angry that it would dare to suck her down into its depths! No! Refusing to be a victim of the unforgiving waters, she emerged, gasping in a big breath. Now up, she found herself kicking hard, arms aiding minimally in the effort, sparing one hand to push violet strands from her face.

  Blinking water away from her eyes, she peered out towards the ship, watching it float further and further away, faster than she could ever hope to swim.

  “Holy Retribution,” she slipped out, not caring much about the old habit now.

  “Sigurd!” Vel called, and just as she did, she saw the hunter emerge from the water, halfway between her and the ship.

  “Velmira! Kick towards me!” he yelled, then proceeded to make large strokes towards her.

  Taking a big breath, if only for the mild amount of buoyancy it gave, Vel kicked, leaning forward to angle herself towards him. She was slow, much slower than the hunter, but the movement was there, though each time she bobbed under, her heart thrummed. With every moment she spent struggling to swim right was another moment energy was lost. If she ran out . . .

  No, Sigurd was almost here, she just had to do her part. I’ve done harder, she reminded herself. This is just swimming. Just swimming.

  Right. No big monsters to fight, no church trying to kill her, and for avenging’s sake, she wasn’t even bleeding. I. Can. Do this! With one powerful kick, she was within arm’s length of the hunter before her. She reached her hand out, and just as she did, she felt something thin wrap around her ankle.

  Grasping at nothing but water, Vel sucked in a quick and deep breath, heart stopping as something pulled her beneath the waves. She covered her mouth and plugged her nose with both hands, forced to pull her limbs close to her body from the pressure.

  [Skill gained: Swim]

  [0.5 Strength added]

  [Class Dark Avenger level 2]

  [1 Total Renew received from Boon of Renewal]

  The speed she was pulled at made her ears ache, and Vel could feel the water move against her skin, almost grating.

  She blinked through the water, trying to look down at what held her, but even that much required more strength than she had. Instead, she looked ahead, seeing the vague shape of . . .

  The sea serpent!