Chapter 149: Gamble[2]

One moment Xior felt the solid marble floor, the next the weight was gone, replaced by the sway of something fragile.

A sharp tang filled his nostrils, stinging his throat. It was salt, raw which carried on damp air that clung to his skin like a second layer.

He blinked against the sudden brightness. There were no walls, no ceiling and no ground. Only the endless expanse of water.

The creak of wood beneath his weight made him glance down, a weathered boat little more than a fishing vessel rocked gently.

Its mast was cracked and its sails frayed. It bobbed like a leaf on the rolling waves.

Beatrice whimpered, clutching at Xior’s side. Her fingers twisted into the fabric of his coat, knuckles white. Xior steadied her with one arm, his other hand brushed the edge of the gauntlet on his forearm.

Alice leaned forward on the railing, her hair whipped by the wind and a wide grin formed on her face while her eyes reflecting the sunlight on water.

“Well,” she said lightly, “no end in sight. Looks like we’re in the middle of nowhere.”

“Not nowhere,” Becca replied curtly as she stood near the bow, one hand resting on the hilt of her sword.

Her pale green eyes scanned the horizon, narrowing. “Everywhere.”

The horizon stretched in all directions, but it was empty. No islands, no ships and no smoke on the wind. Just an ocean that seamed too vast and heavy as if it swallowed the sky.

Xior crouched and dipped his hand into the water, the chill of it bit into his skin. He flexed his fingers and pulled them out, watching the droplets trail down his calloused palm.

“It’s deeper than it should be,” he muttered.

Becca turned to him. “What do you mean?”

“It feels like there is no bottom,” he said simply, his voice carried no fear but the weight of it made Beatrice perk up.

Alice tilted her head. “Isn’t that just what oceans are?”

“Not in the Tower,” Becca shot back. “Every floor has limits, terrains and rules. But this…” She gestured to the horizon.

“This feels infinite and if it is infinite, we’ll die of thirst before we find land.”

Beatrice didn’t talk much just like Xior but she mustered up the courage to say something, her small voice cut in, barely audible over the slap of waves against the hull.

“Then how do we clear this floor?”

Silence hung in the air, the only answer was the sounds the boat made as it rode the swell of the sea.

Xior’s jaw tightened, he didn’t like unanswered questions. But before he could speak, the sea shifted.

A ripple disturbed the surface, then another and then many. The water around the boat churned as if something stirred far below.

Alice straightened her brows furrowing. “Did you feel that?”

Becca had already drawn her sword, the steel catching the sunlight. “We’re not alone.”

The shadows came first, sleek shapes circled just beneath the water. They were too fast and coordinated to be mere fish.

The surface broke and with a hiss of spray, figures rose taller than men, with scales that glistened blue-green with lean arms.

Their eyes glowed faintly, pupils thin as a shark’s. Each carried a spear tipped with jagged coral.

Mermen–they let out guttural clicks and shrieks, their mouths lined with sharp, uneven teeth. Some clung to the sides of the boat, their claws scraping against the wood.

While the others balanced easily on the surface of the water, as though the sea itself bore their weight.

From below a shadow much larger stirred. A tentacle, thick, mottled and lined with suckers snakes upwards, slamming into the deck with enough force to tilt the boat dangerously.

The timbers shrieked as the tentacle slammed into the boat.

“Sea monsters too,” Alice muttered, her lips twisting into a wry grin despite the tension. “Of course.”

She was a warrior of the Rabbit Tribe but as their chief had to show restraint and act modest but with Xior and Becca and on a floor other than the previous ones she could let loose.

“Less talking,” Becca snapped and stepped forward, her blade covered in ice.

The fight began in an instant, a spear darted towards Xior fast as a darting eel but he raised his gauntlet, the impact ringing out as metal met the coral.

The weapon shattered in the merman’s hands, the fragments scattering across the deck. Xior’s follow up punch caught the creature in the chest, sending it flying back into the sea with a splash.

Another tentacle lashed across the deck, sweeping aimlessly. Beatrice grabbed it with her own tentacles and Becca intercepted, her sword flashed as the ice covered sword erupted into fire and cut through the tentacle.

Black ichor sprayed across the boards as the severed tentacle writhed. Alice inhaled sharply, wind gathered around her palms. She thrust her spear forward, a burst of compressed air blasted a cluster of mermen back.

The gust whipped the ocean into froth, but the salt thick air fought her, weighing down her control. Her second blade sputtered, weaker than she intended. “Tch, this stupid humidity.”

Xior grabbed a merman by its throat, lifted it up and crushed its skull against the mast. Another leapt at him from the side with his spear raised but Beatrice intercepted. She grabbed the merman mid air with her tentacles and twisted its body in angles opposite to which the bones would move.

“Good,” Xior murmured to her, though his eyes never left the battle.

The sea was full of more attackers, tentacles wrapped around the boat’s sides straining the withered timber.

The planks cracked under the pressure, Alice gritted her teeth and unleashed a spiraling gale that brought them some time.

Becca’s blade carved clean arcs through anything that came near her. Her expression was cold and efficient while her movements were sharp and precise.

“Stay behind me!” She barked at Beatrice, though.

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