On the ship, 6
"Bress is coming again—!"
Turning around, I saw the monster once more, its mouth wide open, spewing a torrent of water.
The water surged forward, demolishing the walls of the hallway that stretched all the way to William's room, coming straight at us with chilling precision.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
Stepping in front of everyone, I let out a battle cry and forcefully unleashed a lightning spell.
The spell was clearly weakened, its duration short and barely more than a residue—like squeezed-out dregs. The lightning clashed with the breath attack, which narrowly veered off course.
The breath sliced into the ship's outer hull. William's room was completely exposed.
A severe headache struck me, my vision swam, and my hearing became distorted. I collapsed onto the ground. My mind was blank. It seemed I was also bleeding heavily from the nose.
"Tarou, you mustn't use magic any further. If you continue like this, you'll die," Alex said, helping me up as I tried to leave William's room.
"Wait a moment. Alex, Tarou, I need your strength."
William stood there, trembling all over, his face pale blue.
"Please wait. Even without the young master, we'll reach land soon. Besides, the combatants are still intact."
"As I said before. They're fulfilling their duties. Then I must fulfill mine as a noble."
"That is true, but..."
"In any case, if we stay like this, the ship will be shattered by the monster's breath. If that happens, we'll all be food for that shark monster before we reach land. Taro, please help us. What should we do?"
In the boy's eyes, though small, a clear flame burned.
We stepped out onto the deck.
"There's nothing complicated about it. When the monster tries to unleash its breath, shoot William's fire magic into its mouth."
"Eh!? I still can't control magic properly!"
"It's alright. Trust me! The key is visualization. Decide in your heart that 'I can do this,' and imagine yourself succeeding."
William hesitated for a moment, then closed his eyes and thrust the fire crystal he held toward the shark-like monster.
"Focus, visualize it—imagine your flame reaching all the way to that shark creature. Concentrate on the crystal, and picture your fire growing stronger."
Before William realized it, a fireball larger than a human head had formed before him. It continuously increased in density, expanding and compressing repeatedly, until it shrank down to the size of a fist. William always fails at this point.
Though he wasn’t sure if it made any difference, William touched the magic stone he was holding, reinforcing his mental image. For some reason, the fireball before him seemed to shift to a whiter hue, and he felt its power intensify.
A shark-like monster stands before the ship.
The monster's mouth, injured by the explosion that occurred when it tried to swallow me, opens wide as it prepares to unleash a breath attack.
"Now! Release the flames!"
William shouts, then releases the fireball.
The fireball streaks forward, emitting shockwaves. In an instant, the perfectly shaped sphere hurtles at high speed into the monster's mouth, colliding with a violent impact.
A massive explosion erupts, spreading shockwaves across the entire area.
The shark monster burns. Flames engulf the beast.
After leaping out of the water, it dives beneath the surface. Remarkably, even underwater, the shark monster continues burning, swimming through the sea while emitting intense light. The surrounding water itself is also ablaze.
"What on earth is going on?"
Alex asked me.
"It's fish oil. I figured, since it's the cold season and the creature's so large, it would have built up a lot of body fat. Thanks to that oil and William's firepower, we were able to attack the monster from within."
The shark-like monster, still submerged in the sea, continued to burn fiercely.
But gradually, its movements slowed, and it floated to the surface, belly-up.
Eventually, pale blue flames spread across the ocean. The sound of crackling flames echoed through the water.
It seems we've finally achieved complete victory.
We relentlessly drained its strength, and only after much effort did we manage to bring it down. The oil floating on the sea is drifting toward the ship. I tell the captain to move away from here.
"Wait a moment—let this be the soul-light for our fallen comrades."
With that, the crew members on board each mourn their lost companions in their own way. After finishing their prayers, the ship sets course toward the shore.
We were already close to land.
The ship sways. Even though we're near the shore, the ship is swaying? It's too dark to tell clearly.
Just as I thought that, it went completely dark.
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I wake up. I must have fallen asleep without noticing. Where am I?
I sit up and look around.
There's a fireplace, and the room is warm. Looking out the window, I see snow piled up outside. In the distance, a large, dilapidated ship is visible.
"Ah, you're finally awake. Truly impressive, adventurer-sama."
"Who are you?"
She wears the same maid uniform as the one who's been tending to William. That must mean...
"I was instructed by Master William to look after Lord Tarou. You've been asleep for an entire day."
So William's doing again, as expected.
According to the maid, this is the port town we were aiming for—a country estate belonging to the Rolling family.
Just as we were talking, Alex entered the room.
"Are you feeling better from your injury?"
"Yeah, the wound wasn't that serious. It was the expenditure of mana that was worse. I've recovered quite a bit after sleeping. Anyway, tell me what happened after I passed out."
According to Alex, the ship had slowly docked at the port. Apparently, the villagers from the fishing hamlet had put up a bit of resistance upon seeing the ship's battered state.
They say the villagers thought it was a ghost ship.
Apparently, there's a monstrous shark creature in the harbor, and they haven't been able to go fishing for a while.
They'd sent a request for reinforcements to the city and were waiting there in the meantime.
Since ships that came without knowing about the shark creature were invariably devoured, leaving only corpses and wreckage drifting into the harbor, the fishing villagers were quite worn down.
No one can defeat it. If it's to be defeated, it must be by another monster like it—or by something entirely unknown.
Soon, the villagers came to believe this, though they were mistaken.
Had William not come out to explain, we might never have been allowed into the town.
The ship suffered severe damage; a next voyage seems unlikely. At the very least, no one knows how long repairs will take, or whether we'll even be able to return safely.
Even while worrying, we did our best to recover over the course of two or three days.
Next, we finally reached William's town.