Chapter 173: Voyage (4)
Boom!
The sea erupted with a thunderous roar, sending violent tremors through the ship. The force was so much greater than when the harpoon had struck earlier. Every single crew member was thrown across the deck, sliding helplessly as the vessel pitched and swayed.
For one heart-stopping moment, it seemed certain the ship would capsize. The deck tilted at a perilous angle, loose ropes and crates tumbling as men clung to anything they could find. Then, by some miracle, the ship righted itself, narrowly avoiding disaster.
“What the—?!” Valkran stared in utter disbelief at the roiling, churning sea. The water was still foaming, bubbling with a strange, unnatural energy.
To think that just a single blow could shake the entire ship like this—what kind of monstrous strength could do such a thing? Valkran thought as his mind struggled to process the scale of the threat.
The sea slowly settled. Ketal, now back on deck, peered over the rail into the depths below. He spoke quietly, almost to himself. “It’s gone.”
“Did you... did you defeat it?” one of the crew managed to ask, his voice shaky.
“No. It ran away,” Ketal replied. “That thing is surprisingly resilient.”
He had held back, controlling his strength because the ship was so close to the monster. Even then, the force of the attack, dampened further by the sea, should have been enough to tear apart a giant whale from the inside out. But that monstrous ape had managed to escape.
Despite their relief, a chill crept into the faces of those around Ketal. They wondered what kind of nightmare creature could survive an attack like that.
Just moments ago, a massive ape had been gripping their ship from beneath the waves. No one wanted to dwell on what would have happened if it had not let go.
A chorus of uneasy murmurs rippled among the crew. It felt as though they had stared into the heart of a nightmare and barely survived. Aquaz stood near the rail, gazing out at the fading turbulence in the water. Her voice was low, awed. “So that’s what’s been ruling these seas...”