Chapter 60: The Eleventh Floor[3]

By the afternoon, smoke appeared on the horizon. It was faint at first, then it got thicker accompanied by faint cries carried by the wind.

Xior was the first to stand and narrow his gaze towards something in the distance. “There’s a ship,” he said.

Sure enough, a larger vessel loomed ahead. It was a battered galleon, its sails were torn and the deck scarred by fire.

Chaos reigned aboard the ship as figures clashed steel against steel, and above the din rose a single desperate cry cut through the air.

“Get your hands off me!”

On the deck, surrounded by a dozen men, stood a girl in white robes. Her long hair was silver, her garments were embroidered with gold threads.

She struggled against the men as her hands glowed with a faint light.

“There’s a girl, I think.” Beatrice whispered to Xior.

Alice’s demeanor changed, the smirk which she had while bickering with Becca was gone. “Not just a girl, those robes look royal. Xior dear, we have to help her.” She pressed hard for Xior to intervene and save her.

The mutineers pressed her back towards the mast, one grabbed the robe and pulled it ripping it off from the side revealing her whole arm and parts of her abdomen.

Another raised his knife to cut through the remaining clothes, she screamed in desperation. She was scared, these dozen men would ravage her body and then kill her. If she was going to die in the end, she didn’t want to go through that mental torture.

Xior vaulted from the barely intact boat and landed on the enemy deck with a crash. Wood splintered beneath him and in the same motion his gauntlet closed the nearest sailor’s chest, crushing his ribs with a sickening crack.

The others shouted in alarm and raised their weapons but Becca and Alice were already on their heels. They leapt across the gap and as Becca cut through the first man on her way, Alice stabbed the tip of her spear in two others.

Beatrice raised her hands, black flames leapt up the deck and latched onto the sailors around the girl.

The robed girl seized her chance, her eyes blazed with conviction as she thrust out her palm. A burst of light erupted, blinding the traitors who had cornered her.

They stumbled back as they screamed, clutching their eyes.

“Now!” Becca shouted.

Xior surged forward, cutting through their line. Men fell before him like souls to the grim reaper’s scythe.

Within moments, the deck was clear, half the mutineers were dead and the rest either fled or were groveling for mercy.

The girl in white robes steadied herself and lifted her chin up proudly despite her ragged breaths.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice clear and ringing. “I am Meek of the Kingdom of Voltaris, daughter of King Orein and the heir to the kingdom.

Beatrice had seen the Tribal chiefs, although they led the Tribes they were not on the level of princesses, princes or a king.

Her eyes were full of awe, Alice tilted her head with curiosity. But Becca tightened the grip on her sword.

“A princess,” Becca said flatly. “What’s a princess doing all the way here in the middle of nowhere?”

Meeka inclined her head. “I was betrayed by my own men.” She gestured towards the bodies laying down on the deck.

“They sought to ransom me to the mermen after having their way with me. But you…saved me.”

Alice walked towards Meeka and took off her robe and covered her tattered robe showing her body.

She then patted her head like a mother does to her children, the cocky Alice was gone and the motherly Alice was back.

She had grown to love and care for children more after she was held as a slave in the Abyss and met Xior.

“So the royalty here plays these games too? Politics, betrayal and mutiny….this all sounds familiar.

Meeka pressed her lips. “The kingdom is fractured. My father’s grip weakens day by day. His generals are making underhand deals with the Mermen, Dwarves and the Lich. Thankfully the Elves hate us so much that they would never accept any deal from humans.” She said with a voice full of sorrow, her eyes swept the ruined ship.

“I was meant to rally allies but instead we got stranded in the middle of nowhere and….I was nearly devoured by my guard.”

Beatrice stepped forward as if she felt similar to the princess, she too was left alone after Xior killed her sibling who at first tried to kill him.

“You’re kind of like me,” she said softly. “Alone and left behind, but don’t worry. Big brother Xior will help you like he helped me.”

Meeka’s gaze softened when the girl who looked to be an adult talked like a child, the tentacles covered her body like an armor.

For a moment the proud mask of a princess cracked and showed her real self. She reached out and brushed Beatrice’s shoulder gently. “Well that makes it the two of us, also you’re not alone like me though.”

Becca crossed her arms. “We don’t know you. For all we know is that you might turn on us next.”

Alice smiled and looked at Becca, “relax dear. She doesn’t look bad as we got a ship upgrade.”

Xior was silent and stood on the deck as the sea wind whipped at his coat. His eyes lingered on Meeka, unreadable and unsettling.

His black pupils made her take a few steps backwards as if he would devour her, the dozen men who looked at her with disgusting grins and eyes laced with lust were nothing in comparison to him.

They didn’t show a single emotion yet every atom of her being told her to not look into his eyes. They say when you gaze into the Abyss for too long the Abyss gazes back. Xior finally spoke.

“We will move forward, with or without her.”

The princess met his gaze without flinching as he adjusted his gauntlet. “Then let me prove I’m worth keeping.”

The group stood on the bloodstained deck with the horizon stretching endlessly around them. Their old boat bobbed uselessly in the distance.

What would they encounter next was uncertain, dragons, kingdoms or the whispers on the waves.

But for the first time since entering the eleventh floor, they might have a path to follow now and a new companion who might be crucial for later floors.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep