Pirate: Crew of Desire and Bonds

Garrick looked down toward them and gave a small, steady smile.

”Sorry for being late,” he said, his voice calm despite the chaos.

”I came as soon as I sensed the disturbance.”

He then shifted his gaze toward the churning black sea below.

The remaining elongated necks swayed and twisted amid the disturbed waters, their cracked masks still smiling even after several of their kind had been destroyed by his attack.

Black mist mixed with seawater as more dark forms continued to shift beneath the surface, as if... a large school of fish was currently gathering under the darkness.

Garrick’s expression slowly hardened into a frown.

’...What are these things?’

In all his years sailing and fighting across dangerous waters, he had never seen creatures like this.

They weren’t ordinary sea beasts.

Their forms were incomplete, distorted, and far too human in the wrong ways.

His grip on the long sword resting against his shoulder tightened slightly.

Then his eyes narrowed.

”...It isn’t over yet.”

As if responding to his words, the black sea below surged again.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

More elongated necks began rising from the depths, their smiling masks turning one after another toward the ship.

Jake immediately raised his sword once more, red aura flaring back to life along the blade.

But at that moment,

Grace quickly moved up beside him, her golden eyes sharp with urgency as she raised her voice so both Jake and Garrick could hear her clearly.

”Everyone, be careful!! That thing is... a Deep Aberration beast!!”

Her words cut through the tense night air.

Jake’s expression shifted slightly at that term he had once heard before.

Above them, Garrick’s eyes widened in clear shock as the meaning of those words fully registered.

”...Deep Aberration? But how...”

The weight behind that name was not something even a seasoned fighter like him could ignore.

At that exact moment—

RUMBLE...!!

The sky above suddenly roared.

A violent flash of thunder split the dark clouds, briefly illuminating the entire ship and the black sea around it in stark white light.

In the next breath, heavy rain began to fall, cold droplets striking the torn deck and the rising forms below.

And as if answering the storm—

More masks began to rise.

One after another, additional elongated necks burst up from the churning black water, each carrying the same cracked, smiling face.

Their numbers continued to grow under the falling rain, as the Dead Sea Line grew even more restless.

The situation had just taken a far darker turn.

Grace stood beside Jake under the sudden downpour, her golden hair already plastered against her face and shoulders from the heavy rain.

Water dripped from her chin as she stared at the rising horde of elongated beasts with a grim expression.

Her grip on the gun tightened.

Then she raised her voice again, sharp and urgent so both Jake and Garrick could hear her clearly over the rain and the restless sea.

”Use light or fire!! That’s their only weakness!!”

”Normal attacks won’t be enough against Deep Aberration beasts... You have to burn them or purify them with light!”

Jake’s expression hardened at her words, then his eyes flashed with insight.

From above, Garrick’s eyes narrowed further.

Without hesitation, a deeper surge of blue aura began gathering around his long sword once more.

In front of the ship, the elongated necks swayed under the falling rain, their cracked masks smiling as more of them continued to rise from the storm-tossed Dead Sea Line.

But before the next wave of the creatures could fully close in—

Heavy mechanical sounds suddenly echoed from below deck.

Clank—!!

Clank—!!

Clank—!!

Several reinforced gun ports along the lower sides of the ship slammed open in rapid succession.

The dark mouths of heavy cannons rolled forward into position, their iron frames gleaming faintly under the flashes of lightning.

”Fire!”

A sharp command rang out from deeper within the ship.

In the next instant—

BOOOMM—!!

BOOOMM—!!

BOOOMM—!!

The cannons fired in a thunderous volley.

Explosive blasts of fire and iron tore through the rain-filled night, slamming into the rising cluster of Deep Aberration beasts.

BOOOMM—!!

Several of the elongated necks were blasted apart on impact, their cracked masks shattering as black mist and seawater erupted into the air.

The ship itself had joined the battle.

From his higher position, Garrick kept his long sword ready as the cannons continued their thunderous support from below.

The blasts of fire tore through several of the rising Deep Aberration beasts, buying them a brief moment of breathing room under the heavy rain.

Then he glanced back.

His eyes widened.

Coming up onto the rain-soaked upper deck were two familiar figures.

Vivian, her clothes already drenched from the sudden downpour, was making her way forward with a serious expression.

Beside her was Barbara, equally soaked, staying close as they moved through the storm.

Garrick’s face immediately tightened with alarm.

”Vivian!! What are you doing out here?! It’s dangerous!!”

Vivian didn’t even slow down.

”Shut up!!”

Her sharp reply cut through the rain as she continued forward without hesitation.

Barbara stayed close behind her, both of them already soaked from the downpour as they reached the edge of the upper deck.

Vivian looked down toward Grace, her expression serious under the flashing lightning.

”Are you sure those are Deep Aberration beasts?!” she called out, raising her voice over the storm and the ongoing cannon fire. ”I heard what you shouted earlier!”

Grace looked up through the falling rain and gave a firm nod.

”Yes!! I’m sure!!”

She kept her gun raised even as she answered, golden eyes never fully leaving the rising forms in the black sea.

”I’m from the mainland kingdom!! I was taught about some of the known Deep Aberration beasts when I was younger!! This one looks exactly like one of the type recorded in the books—!!”

Her voice remained steady despite the chaos.

”They’re a type of Deep Aberration called... Drowned Stalkers!!”

At those words, Vivian’s expression hardened further.

She silently cursed their luck.

There had never been any recorded appearance of Deep Aberration beasts on the Seven Seas.

Those monsters belonged to the far side of the last mainland... a distant, nightmarish front that most sailors would never encounter in their entire lives.

No one fully understood why they had never crossed into these waters before... only that the Deep Aberrations were obsessively driven to devour the continent itself.

And they had already succeeded in the long history... as many continents had already fallen to these things.

Right now, the main force of those abominations was focused on surrounding the Final Fortress... the last major stronghold of humanity where the Hero, the Legendary Dawn Knight, still held the line as the final defense against complete annihilation.

That was why even someone as experienced as Garrick had failed to recognize them at first... as these beasts should only exist there and in the Lost World.

Vivian herself had only ever heard about these creatures through reports and news.

This was also the first time she was witnessing one with her own eyes.

She stepped closer to the edge of the rain-soaked deck and looked out at the storming black sea.

RUMBLE!

Thunder roared overhead, briefly illuminating the countless elongated necks and cracked smiling masks rising from the restless waters.

Vivian’s voice dropped into a low, grim murmur.

”...So this is the monster that almost drove all of humanity... and the other land races to extinction...”