Holy hell…
Aaron's eyes widened in shock as he gazed upon a sight so terrible that it made his heart skip a beat.
Boxes were stacked to the ceiling, ripped and torn in various areas, and leaking their contents onto the floor.
Bugs crawled through dirtied crevices, hiding from the ever-dimming flame that illuminated the chamber lightly.
Taking another step inside, he was surprised to smell the scent of roses; however, a sudden noise caught his attention.
In what sounded to the boy like plates shattering into pieces on the floor, he heard an annoyed feminine yelp from the same direction.
"Hello…?"
Calling out cautiously, he walked towards the strange groaning, pushing away the wooden crates that blocked his view.
Looking downward, strands of thin, dark black hair fluttered before him, their host a woman who looked to be in her early twenties.
In her hands, a shattered piece of pottery was being hastily reassembled with a white substance unknown to the boy.
There was silence for a moment before she noticed Aaron's gaze, her blue eyes turning upward to meet his own.
Immediately flushing red in embarrassment, she tried to hide her art project, only for it to shatter once again.
"Ahh! No!"
Once again, ignoring the blond boy's presence, she attempted to repair the object with all her might.
Aaron himself could only speak quietly, trying to grab the woman's attention for a moment as she was engrossed in her work.
"Ma'am? I was sent here by Father Braun to help you organize for the festival."
Pausing her work abruptly, she turned her gaze back to the boy, before standing up and examining him thoroughly through the hole he had made in the box fort.
Taking the opportunity to do the same, he scanned her from head to toe, a thin white shirt and dark gray pants covering her body.
"Ah! How rude of me not to introduce myself!"
Her voice was apologetic as she bowed her head profusely while stepping out from behind the crates.
Walking over to Aaron quickly, she stretched out her hand towards the boy, a smile upon her face as she spoke.
"Please don't feel like you need to address me as madam! I insist you drop the formalities and just call me Alicia."
Nodding his head, he shook her hand while furrowing his brow slightly, a memory tugging at his mind.
It's nothing… I couldn't have met her before…
Shrugging off the feeling, he smiled, introducing himself to the woman as well.
"If that's what you'd like, then I'd be happy to oblige. My name is Aaron, I'm here as part of a Hunters' Guild mission."
Excitement appeared on the woman's face instantly, her eyes practically glowing at his words.
"Really? You're a part of the Hunters' Guild? My brother is one of their best men!"
Digging through her pockets hurriedly, not allowing Aaron any time to think, she pulled out a small slip of paper.
Holding it out for the boy to read, Alicia puffed her cheeks proudly, expecting a startled reaction from the boy.
Squinting his eyes, he read from the tiny slip slowly, taking in the few words that were listed on the front.
Letter of Exam Recommendation, issued by Admiral Palmer White.
Freezing in place, Aaron looked between the paper and the woman's face, realizations clicking faster than light in the boy's mind.
"Y-Your brother is an Admiral? And he recommended you for the Hunters' Exam?"
Posing the first of his questions, he watched the woman's expression contort into a prideful grin, a response coming quickly.
"Yep! That's my brother! When he heard I was homeless, he bought me a home here and told me to join the Exam this year. However, the Hunters' Guild isn't the place for me… Too much danger, too much death. Therefore! I settled here in the Church!"
Enthusiasm filled her words, a slow chill coming over the blond boy's spine as something he had read a long time ago came to his mind.
"W-Where would you happen to be from?"
His words made Alicia pause, her brow furrowing slightly as if confused by the boy's odd question that was out of place.
Answering it all the same, she spoke slowly, attempting to decipher the boy's intentions.
"I'm from the Sea of Chains. More specifically, the largest island in the Isles of Gharr."
…
Calm waters splashed ahead of Akari's small vessel, the afternoon sun high in the sky as she gazed into the distance.
One day had already passed, and the nest of terrors remained hidden from the pink-haired girl who waited with baited breath.
"How much longer will this terror drought last…"
Groaning as she threw her legs up on her food barrel, she continued playing with her gun, taking it apart only to reassemble it a moment later.
It was her only entertainment on her excruciatingly boring expedition, each minute that passed drawing her closer to insanity.
However, as she finished her ninetieth rebuild of the weapon, a sudden burst of bubbles from under the waves caught her eye.
Darting up, she aimed her pistol downward into the waves, her eyes locking onto a dark shadow swimming in circles around the vessel.
Not hesitating for a second, she pulled the trigger, a deafening explosion echoing through the empty sea as the bullet tore through layer after layer of seawater.
There was no sound as the shot connected with the beast, only a thick black substance spreading through the water like ink.
One down, two to go.
Waiting for the terror's body to float to the surface, she kept her gun ready, in case it brought company.
Three. Two. One…
Right on her count, the slimy black eel-like body popped up from the sea, a layer of grime coating its scaly skin.
Sludge oozed from the bullet hole lodged in its skull, its seizing form only awaiting the final strike from Akari.
BANG!
Ending the creature's misery, she brought her ship closer, dropping the mana anchor and preparing to harvest its core.
Unlike regular anchors that were used to dock on islands, mana anchors created their own surface to catch on; the seafloor was far out of reach for anything human-crafted to reach.
And as Akari grabbed her butcher knife, she felt a strange tension hanging in the air, her other hand tightening around her pistol.
Gazing out at the floating creature's body, she noticed odd shapes criss-crossing its skin.
Those aren't bullet holes or birthmarks…
With a slow chill running down her spine and a paling face, the girl realized that the creature was covered in suction marks.
The only thing that could leave those marks on a low-level terror would be…
Freezing in place, she dropped her knife, hurrying to the rear of her ship where she slammed open the lid of a crate.
Inside, a rifle far surpassing the strength of her pistol rested, a fresh magazine of mana-infused bullets ready to load.
Holstering her small weapon at her side, she seized her larger artillery, inserting the ammo quickly and facing the corpse of the terror.
Feeling the air pressure tighten, she attached a rope around her waist, a protective measure to prevent being tugged undersea.
Blurp. Blurp. Blurp.
The waves intensified as a storm brewed above, an overwhelming force pressing down on Akari's body as she stood firm.
Then, rising slowly out of the depths, a creature clad in slimy red skin broke the surface, tentacles shooting out in every direction.
Its pitch-black eyes stared at the girl, killing intent surging out like water in the ocean, blood oozing from its lips.
This terror was no weakling, and as Akari knew from her intensive research, it was one of the strongest mid-level terrors in the sea.
"A Kraken in the Sea of Mystery. I should've expected as much."
Attaching the scope to her rifle, she aimed it at the creature's fat, round skull, her mana swirling around the weapon in a grid-like formation.
Instead of individual shots, the experimental armament designed by her own teacher, Xeon Maxus, fired eighteen shards at once, decimating its target in seconds.
BZZZZ!
The sound of the weapon charging its strength forced a shriek from the giant octopus's mouth, its tentacles flailing around wildly.
Swinging downward with all its might, it faced the full brunt of the first wave of bullets fired from Akari's rifle.
BOOM!
Within the blink of an eye, one of the terror's legs vanished from sight, erased by the devastating blow from her weaponry.
A screech of absolute agony erupted through the sea, blood spewing in every direction like a fountain as it recoiled.
Akari, not wasting a moment, began recharging the weapon while also pulling out her handgun quickly.
The rifle's reload was over a minute after a shot was fired, the pistol needing to substitute for it in the meantime.
Yet, as she faced down the injured terror with a smile on her face, she felt three explosions of water emerge around her.
And crawling out of the dark depths of the Sea of Mystery, three gargoylites appeared, clad in their stony scales.
Widening her eyes in shock, she had no time to react as the first attack from the one directly behind her slammed into the rear of the ship.
The boat exploded into a flurry of wood, and her body flew upward, splinters digging into her back as she struggled to breathe.
Grimacing through the pain, she fired her pistol quickly at the beast, only the sound of metal hitting against stone refracting in her ears.
T-This isn't what I needed today…