Chapter 492: Leaving Grimhorn

Garrick looked at him sharply, searching his face. “You’re not disappointed?”

“No,” Damien replied honestly. “You chose your people.”

That seemed to ease something in the older man’s chest.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Garrick turned fully toward Damien and bowed his head—not deeply, but sincerely.

“You saved my life,” he said. “Down there… I was done. If not for you, I’d be feeding whatever horror lives in those waters.”

Damien waved it off lightly. “You were still fighting. I just gave you time.”

Garrick snorted. “You dragged me out of the sea and killed a Grade Three demon while doing it.” He shook his head. “That’s more than ’time’.”

Before Damien could respond, a familiar sensation brushed against his senses.

Something… pleased.

A ripple of mana surfaced near the ship.

Crew members tensed instinctively, hands moving toward weapons until a glossy, translucent shape rose over the railing and dropped onto the deck with an unmistakably satisfied plop.

Luton.

The stellar slime had returned.

It was slightly larger than before, its surface shimmering faintly with deeper hues of red light. It wobbled happily, then oozed its way toward Damien, climbing up his leg and settling onto his shoulder like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

A few sailors stared in disbelief.

“That thing—wasn’t it still down there?” one muttered.

Damien said nothing.

Within Luton’s body, something solid pulsed once.

An essence core.

Intact.

Undevoured.

Damien’s lips twitched.

Interesting.

Luton had devoured the entire Grade Three squid. Its flesh, demonic essence, corrupted mana and yet, it deliberately spared the core and stored it away.

A choice.

And more than that, Damien felt it clearly now. Luton was on the verge of a breakthrough. The Stellar Slime was very close to Grade Two.

No one else noticed. No one else needed to.

As the crew began adjusting the sails and slowly turning the Grimhorn back toward safer waters, Damien leaned against the railing, mind already moving ahead.

Turning back didn’t change his destination.

It only delayed the ship.

He had never planned to rely on it all the way.

Garrick approached again, watching the crew with the eyes of a man memorizing every face.

“You’re leaving us,” he said quietly. It wasn’t a question.

Damien nodded. “I was always going to.”

The captain studied him. “You’re still going to the Forest of Twin Disasters.”

“Yes.”

Garrick frowned. “On that winged summon of yours? Even with that beast of yours, those waters—”

“I won’t be using Aquila,” Damien interrupted calmly.

Garrick blinked. “Then what?”

Damien raised his hand.

The air shifted.

Mana gathered unnaturally, pooling together as mana surged outward like a silent storm.

Then, a massive shape tore into existence through a large blue portal.

Wings unfolded, blotting out the sky.

A deep, resonant growl rolled across the deck as Skylar, the Shadowfang Wyvern, manifested in full glory. Dark scales drank in the light, shadow clinging to its body like a second skin. Its eyes gleamed with cold, predatory intelligence.

The deck groaned under its weight.

Crew members stumbled back in alarm, some nearly falling over themselves.

“What’s that…?” someone whispered. “It looks like a dragon! Is that…?!”

Garrick stared, stunned.

Then he barked a raw and disbelieving laugh. “You just keep pulling monsters out of nowhere, don’t you?”

Damien allowed himself a faint smirk. “This one’s guaranteed.”

The captain stared at Skylar, then at the sea ahead.

Slowly, a reckless idea formed.

“If that beast flies ahead of us…” Garrick began, voice thoughtful. “Sea creatures might hesitate to attack.”

Damien followed his train of thought instantly.

Garrick continued, “We sail back until we’re far enough that the Grimhorn can defend herself. Then…” He looked at Damien. “You and I ride that wyvern straight to the forest.”

Several nearby crew members stiffened.

“You’re going with him, Captain?” someone asked sharply.

Garrick turned. “I started this journey. I’m not ending it by hiding behind my men.”

A pause.

Then he added quietly, “But I won’t drag you all to your deaths either.”

Silence followed.

Then nods.

One by one.

Damien considered the proposal for a moment.

Then nodded. “Agreed.”

The Grimhorn sailed back for hours, Skylar circling above like a dark omen. True to Garrick’s guess, the sea remained disturbingly calm. No beasts daring to approach with the wyvern’s shadow looming overhead.

Eventually, the waters grew lighter.

Less oppressive.

Safer.

Garrick gathered his crew on deck.

He placed a hand on the shoulder of a scarred veteran sailor. “You’re acting captain until I return.”

The man swallowed. “And if you don’t?”

Garrick’s gaze was steady. “If I’m not back within a week… the title is yours. No arguments.”

The crew murmured uneasily.

Then, one by one, they saluted him.

Damien watched quietly.

No grand speeches.

No promises of glory.

Just trust… and the weight of leadership passed on.

Garrick turned to Damien. “Ready?”

Damien glanced once more at the Grimhorn and her crew—tired, battered, but alive.

Then he stepped toward Skylar.

“I am.”

Skylar lowered itself, wings spreading wide.

The wind picked up.

As the wyvern launched into the sky, carrying Damien and Garrick toward the distant, cursed horizon, the Grimhorn turned fully back toward shore.

~~~~~~~~~

The sea stretched endlessly beneath them, a dark, restless expanse that churned like a living thing beneath the storm-thinned clouds.

Far below, waves rose and fell in slow, powerful rhythms, their crests flashing silver when lightning flickered in the distance.

High above it all, Skylar cut through the sky.

The Shadowfang Wyvern flew with terrifying grace. Its massive wings were beating in steady, unhurried intervals, shadow and wind trailing behind it like a cloak. It was as thought Skylar was the owner of the skies.

Each flap displaced the air with such force that clouds were torn apart in its wake, leaving ragged holes in the sky.

Damien sat firmly between Skylar’s shoulders, one hand resting against the ridge of dark scales, the other loosely braced against the wyvern’s neck. His posture was relaxed, eyes half-lidded as he watched the distant horizon where sea met sky.

Behind him, Garrick clung tightly, knuckles white, boots pressed hard against Skylar’s scaly back.

He was still not entirely convinced this was real or even safe.

“I’ve sailed through tempests,” Garrick shouted over the rushing wind, his voice nearly stolen by the roar of flight, “fought sea demons bigger than houses—”

Skylar’s wings snapped outward, catching a powerful updraft and lifting them higher.

“But this?” Garrick barked a laugh that was half terror, half exhilaration. “This is madness!”

Damien glanced back briefly, the corner of his mouth lifting. “After a few rides now and then, you get used to it.”

Garrick snorted. “Liar.”

Despite his fear, his eyes shone with something else—wonder. Awe.

The kind that came from knowing you were somewhere humans were never meant to be.

Below them, the sea creatures watched.

Most stayed deep beneath the surface, shadows gliding away as Skylar’s oppressive presence washed over the waters. Even the more aggressive beasts hesitated, instinct screaming that the thing above them was not prey—but a disaster in its own right.

“Nothing’s following us,” Garrick said after a while, peering down. “I thought for sure—”

“Most things can’t climb this high,” Damien replied calmly. “And the ones that can usually aren’t foolish enough.”

Usually.

Hours passed in relative peace.

The sun dipped lower, casting long streaks of crimson and gold across the clouds. The air grew colder, sharper, biting against exposed skin. Garrick’s grip tightened as the altitude increased, his breath fogging faintly.

Then Damien’s gaze sharpened.

“There,” he said quietly.

Garrick followed his line of sight.

Far ahead, breaking the monotony of sea and sky, rose land.

An island.

Not really green and not welcoming either.

It looked… wrong.

Jagged cliffs jutted upward like broken teeth, black and gray stone scarred by ancient impacts. Vast stretches of green forest sprawled across its surface, dark canopies swallowing the light, some of their shapes twisted into unnatural silhouettes.

Even from this distance, Garrick could feel it. Like a pressure in his chest, like the land itself was watching them approach.

“The Forest of Twin Disasters,” Garrick murmured. “So that’s it…”

Skylar gave a low, rumbling growl, wings adjusting as it began a slow, controlled descent.

As they closed in, movement caught Damien’s eye.

Below, near the coastline, the sea churned violently.

Something massive rose from the depths.

A creature. It was enormous and serpentine. The creature’s body stretching nearly thirty meters long as it burst from the water, jaws snapping shut around another beast half its size.

Krrrrraaaa!

Bone crunched audibly even from above as blood sprayed in thick, crimson arcs, staining the waves.

Garrick sucked in a sharp breath. “By the gods…”

The smaller creature thrashed for only seconds before going limp, its body torn in half and swallowed greedily.

But the feeding did not last.

Without warning, the sea erupted again.

Another shape surged upward—larger still.

A colossal form slammed into the first predator, jaws clamping around its midsection.

Krrrreeee!!

The thirty-meter beast shrieked, a sound so deep it vibrated through the air, before being dragged downward and torn apart in a frenzy of teeth and crushing force.

Blood spread across the water like a blossoming stain.

For a heartbeat, everything went still.

Then the larger creature lifted its head.

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