The Magic Knight who had thrown the Magic Rune Spear didn’t look very relaxed, standing on the deck, slightly panting. Captain Victoria Eliza looked out over the sea with a thoughtful expression, seemingly lost in thought.
Sailors, knowing their place, started cleaning the deck again.
However, just a few minutes into the cleanup, a sailor suddenly screamed,
Richard sharply turned his head, only to see a hundred-meter-long sea snake silently emerge from the sea, lifting its front half and biting a stocky sailor while staring threateningly at him.
Richard’s arms instinctively raised, ready to attack, but the sea snake, as if sensing something, swallowed the sailor with a "gulp" and quickly dove back into the water.
At that moment, the people on the deck still hadn’t reacted when another scream rang out, another sea snake had appeared on the opposite side of the ship, biting a sailor, swallowing him, and then diving back into the water.
Clearly, right after the sperm whale had left, new sea monsters had come to wreak havoc.
This time, a number of giant sea snakes, around seven or eight, were circling the Queen Victoria, looking for an opportunity to devour people.
Richard squinted his eyes. He wasn’t afraid of being eaten by the giant sea snakes. Because he could see very clearly that these giant sea snakes were just a bit faster, a bit bulkier, and a bit more resilient. In terms of real strength, they were between a low-level first-level Wizard and a mid-level first-level Wizard, and he was fully capable of dealing with them.
What he cared about was something else, the appearance of the sea snakes and the previous sperm whale was continuously confirming a suspicion of his: the Queen Victoria was being targeted, these sea monsters were just the appetizer, the main course was still to come, and they had to be on guard.
What would Queen Victoria’s captain do next, and had she noticed this?
Richard turned to look at the captain, to be honest, he was somewhat eager for her to take action to better understand her true strength.
However, at that moment, Captain Victoria Eliza remained calm and did not make a move. She coldly glanced at the sea snakes swimming in the water and ordered the Magic Knights to deal with them.
The method was simple, more Magic Rune Spears.
Compared to the giant sperm whale, the sea snakes had slender bodies and were faster; even the Magic Knights couldn’t hit them accurately with spears every time.
But that wasn’t important, if one shot didn’t do it, then try two; if two weren’t enough, then three.
Or four, five... ten times!
One by one, heavy long cases were lifted from the hold and placed on the deck to be opened, expensive silver-white Magic Rune Spears were handed out to the Magic Knights who then hurled them with all their strength.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
Numerous streaks of silver light passed around the ship’s body, whistling as they pierced into the water.
Massive explosions kept sounding, accompanied by the somewhat fishy smell of blood spreading out, and cut-in-half sea snake corpses occasionally surfaced.
After exhausting several boxes of precious Magic Rune Spears, the gigantic Sea Snake was cleanly dispatched.
However, this time there were casualties among the Magic Knights, to be specific, one dead and one wounded.
The person who died was too close to the ship’s rail and was swallowed into the sea by a sneaking Sea Snake, never to resurface.
The one who was injured was facing a Sea Snake when it suddenly sprayed venom, corroding half his body and even melting his armor.
After the great battle, the deck was quiet, sailors cautiously cleaned up the deck, focusing more than half their attention on the sea, fearing another appearance of a sea monster.
Captain Victoria Eliza did not return to her cabin and stood on the deck, squinting out at the ocean before her.
Footsteps sounded as a Five-Pattern Elite Magic Knight approached Captain Victoria, hesitating as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself. After a moment of hesitation, he mustered up the courage and asked, "Captain Victoria, there’s something I don’t understand."
Victoria seemed to know exactly what he was about to ask and said directly, "What you don’t understand is why I haven’t taken action myself, right?"
"Uh..." The Five-Pattern Elite Magic Knight was taken aback, lowering his head, admitting, "Yes, I don’t understand why you haven’t taken action yourself. Against the pirates, it was natural not to, and the Flying Scale Fish was nothing much. But when it came to those giant snakes, if you had intervened, we wouldn’t have had any casualties, and it would have been easier."
"But what after I intervene?" Victoria countered.
"Hm?" The Five-Pattern Elite Magic Knight was puzzled, not quite grasping her meaning.
Victoria said in a calm voice, "If I had intervened just now, that wouldn’t be a problem, but what would happen after that? Believe me, killing those giant snakes just now isn’t the end, it’s probably just a beginning."
"This!" The Five-Pattern Elite Magic Knight was astonished, still not entirely understanding, but vaguely guessing a dire outcome.
Victoria spoke earnestly, "I’ve thought about it, the broken mast, running aground, encountering pirates, Flying Scale Fish, and giant snakes—these many incidents together can’t be explained merely by coincidence. It’s very likely a conspiracy. Yes, a conspiracy targeting our Queen Victoria.
The broken mast and running aground might have been sabotage by someone planted on the ship. The pirates were fooled, stupidly rushing to their deaths.
As for... the Flying Scale Fish and the giant snakes, if I’m not wrong, someone might have used special magic materials. Perhaps powder from Akman Grass or blood of Flying Scale Fish, both can attract giant sea monsters.
And the reason for doing this is to delay our Queen Victoria’s voyage, thereby blocking us."
"Blocking us from what, Captain?" asked the Five-Pattern Elite Magic Knight, his expression growing severe with worry.
"I don’t know." Victoria squinted, "But their objective should be nearly achieved, considering our voyage has already been delayed by more than two days. I have a feeling they’ll show up soon, and then we’ll see what they’re up to. But before they show up, I want to keep myself as uninvolved as possible, preserving my strength."
At the end of her speech, Victoria paused, then raised her eyebrows and looked towards the distant sea, saying, "Oh, they’re already here!"
"They’re here?!" The Five-Pattern Elite Magic Knight’s gaze sharpened suddenly, becoming extremely wary. He swiftly turned around, following Victoria’s gaze to the distant sea and then saw a large group of ships’ shadows appear.
On the nearby deck, Richard’s eyes also flashed as he looked into the distance.