Chương 17: Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Gion looked over to the lonely island she was approaching. She knew she shouldn't be here, but her curiosity won over the reason. And it was on the way, at least that is what she would say in her report. Either way, if she didn't come here now, she might not have another chance later. Any information on that rookie will be valuable.
The harbor was quite small and, most importantly, empty. Gion read that a Marine Captain had been stationed here not long ago, but she couldn't find any information about who that captain was or where he was now. Something definitely smelled fishy about this situation, and she wondered what this island was hiding.
The port already gave Gion a bad feeling, and the clouds covering the island didn't look promising either. She ordered her men to stay behind while she continued deeper into the island. The bullet holes along the way gave Gion a dreadful image of what might have happened here. The deeper she walked, the worse it got.
The town was worn out. What seemed to have been a colorful town was now bleached out, and the buildings were falling apart. But that wasn't why she came here. Gion looked around, founding nothing. It was a ghost town. Factories and what seemed to have been steel mills were mostly destroyed; the marks left behind indicated that someone had done it.
Walking up the hill before it started raining, Gion felt it harder to breathe. Something was in the air. Being careful she covered her mouth with a cloth as she continued. On top of the hill, a graveyard awaited her. But what surprised her were the colorful massive umbrellas that covered the tombstones.
As she walked around the graves and read the names, she discovered that almost every grave was made not far from each other. She didn't go over every grave, but multiple graves were made in the same year. The death rate in this town must have been out of the charts for it to be possible. But a set of graves made her pause.
"Finn and Violet Silverlakes," Gion read the names of the deceased. "Beloved parents and respected members of the community."
What got Gion's attention, though, was that there was no grave for their child. She quickly caught on that everyone was buried with their families. But only this pair of parents were alone. They died in the same year. Silverlake, it was a name Gion would remember. She turned to leave just as rain started to fall, and she felt the acid burning her skin. Now, she was sure someone had destroyed this island, and she was going to find out who and why.
…
Snow, like the rest of his crew and Cavendish, looked around the town. The local people were all looking at them with creepy smiles that felt unnatural but not fake like they did seem to be happy that they had visitors. This experience was certainly creepy, but it would take more than this to scare them.
"Hello," Snow went stiff as he heard a voice next to him. "Would you like some fruits?"
He didn't see the girl coming up to him. And he was looking around the town carefully as it was full of bottomless holes in the middle of streets. One wrong step, and he would fall through it. He would be fine since he could fly, but the rest of the crew, those who hadn't left for the ship, were keen on not falling in. So, it surprised everyone that a girl with a basket of fruits came up to them unnoticed.
"Sure, I'll buy some apples," Snow said, handing a few berries to the girl and taking the red apples the girl offered.
"Thanks," And then the girl ran off.
"They are watching us."
Snow had to agree with Law. The locals didn't even try to hide the fact that they were watching them. Snow thought for a moment to scare them away but chose not to. They were here only to get some supplies and wait for their log pose to reset. There was no need to cause a disturbance, no matter how weird the people were around here.
"Let's just get what we came here for and leave," Snow said as he looked around for a water source, a bar, or a well.
"Leave!" What was with these people's ability to sneak up on Snow? "Leave, or they will feed you. They will feed you!"
"Apologies," Snow looked at the old man that clung to him and then at the new arrival as he took the old man off him. "Nobark here has some loose screws. We don't get visitors often, so I hope our attention has not put you off. I am the Mayor of the town, but you can call me Clyde. If you need anything, please ask."
Snow looked at Clyde and then at the old Nobark. Even as he looked crazed, Snow found his expression more real than that of Clyde's. There was something uncanny about how Clyde smiled and looked at him. It didn't help that Nobark went stiff the moment Clyde grabbed his shoulders. Snow was now curious about what this island was hiding.
"Direct us to your water supply," Still, Snow took the opportunity to finish his task.
"Of course, but firstly, would you like to have a meal? You are probably tired from your long journey."
"Sure," Snow could tell that the Mayor would be persistent, so he accepted. "By the way, what is with the holes all around."
"An earthquake wrecked the island not long ago; it was quite bad," The Mayor replied quite quickly. "It caused quite a few sinkholes, and people didn't have time to fix them. We are poor but quite hardworking if I would say so myself. The holes will be patched up in time."
Snow nodded along to the Mayor's words as they entered a dinner. Somehow, Snow didn't believe the Mayor and thought that he was hiding something. That fake smile rubbed Snow the wrong way. Law seemed to be suspicious, too, but Cavendish and Caribou were now relaxed, not bothering to think deeper about what the Mayor had said.
"I don't like it," Law said as he looked at the empty tables in the dinner.
"Let's just eat a bit, and then we can leave," Snow replied as they sat down and food was delivered to them. "Hmm, interesting."
"We don't get too many travelers, so we got a bit excited to see you; please enjoy the meal; it is on the house," The Mayor looked at them expectantly.
Snow looked over the food, but he wasn't interested in it since there were no sweets. Looking over Law, Snow gave him a signal. There was no way he was going to eat food from the stranger, not since the last time he did it. Law seemed to understand and created a room without anyone noticing.
As Caribou and Cavendish were about to get the food to their mouths, it would be replaced with water from the sink. Caribou and Cavendish looked confused, but they said nothing as they saw Snow's eyes looking down on them. Coribou, on the other hand, didn't even seem to have noticed that his food was replaced with water.
"I think we had enough," Snow didn't want to play these games, and he made himself clear to the Mayor.
"Of course, if you please follow me, I will bring you to our water source," He didn't seem to be disturbed that they had barely eaten half of the food they were presented with.
They were still watching them, even as they left the town's center and went to the outskirts. Cavendish was getting irritated, but he said nothing. At the same time, Caribou was starting to lose his nervousness and was scaring people around them with his creepy smile and laugh. Law was still suspicious of the people around them.
"What is this?" Snow asked as they reached caverns just outside the town.
"There is an underground river that runs beneath the town; this is the way we can access it," The Mayor smiled. "I see that you have quite a ship and a crew; it would be best to get the water from its source. We even have barrels inside waiting for you."
"How kind of you," Law replied, but he wasn't the only one suspicious of their kindness.
"But of course," The Mayor didn't seem to have picked up the sarcasm or chose to ignore it. "We wouldn't want to make trouble for you. We are simple people without any Marine presence. By using our kindness, we want to protect ourselves from harm. Oh, and we are here."
Snow and the rest of them stopped and looked at the dead end. He didn't need to understand what was going on as he was already turning around to face the Mayor only to find him by the wall with a hidden lever in his hands. Before he could even let out a sound, the lever was pulled down, and the ground underneath them collapsed.
Snow's first instinct was to turn into his bird form and fly back and beat up the answers from the Mayor. But while he did turn into a bird, he first caught his crewmates and Cavendish and made sure they landed unharmed. At least the rest of the crew had returned to the ship beforehand, so it wasn't difficult for Snow to catch three people in an instant.
"We have been had," Law said, anger evident in his tone.
"Wait a minute." Snow only now realized that there were four rather than five of them. "Where is Coribou?"
Somehow, they had left the big guy behind. If Snow had to guess, he was at dinner, still eating what they hadn't finished. At this point, Snow couldn't understand how he kept losing track of him when he was the biggest guy among them. And he couldn't blame Caribou for not noticing that his brother was missing since he was an idiot.
"What is this sound?" Cavendish asked as they heard something hitting the ground in fast motion and approaching them.
"You have to be kidding me," Snow said as he looked at what was approaching them. "Giant ants?"
If Snow wasn't used to the dark mines, he might not have seen the countless shadows that neared them. And calling them giant ants was an understatement. They were massive, at least three meters tall, and their bodies stretched extensively, not speaking of their long legs that made them run towards him so fast.
"What?" Cavendish asked as he couldn't see as clearly as Snow.
"Prepare yourselves, we will have a long night."
Snow took his umbrella while Law and Cavendish drew their swords. As the first ant approached, ready to ram Snow to the ground with its head, Snow stabbed his umbrella at it. Dark and sticky blood spilled all over Snow, but he didn't have time to worry about that, as another was already coming at him. And then there was one coming from above.
…
Covered in blackish, gooey, and sticky insides of giant ants, Snow breathed heavily. Even with the stamina he had earned working in the mines for years, he could barely lift his arms right now. And he was in the best condition out of the four of them. Cavendish and Caribou have collapsed on the ground, while Law was barely holding up.
"It's finally over," Snow said as he cleaned his eyes and hair of the sticky blood and looked around. "I don't see nor hear anymore coming."
Was it hundreds or thousands they had killed? Snow had no idea. All he knew was that there were countless bodies of giant ants behind them, blocking the exit. He wasn't even given time to fly away as the ants fell from all directions upon them. Every time he tried to fly up, he would be jumped by a group of ants.
Not only were they massive, but they were heavy, too. If not for his strength, Snow would have been crushed under them. At least the exoskeleton wasn't as tough as his umbrella. So, it wasn't hard to kill them. One or two hits were enough for the most part. But since there were so many of them at the end of it, Snow could barely move his arms.
"We need to return," Law said as he barely could walk. "Who knows what those bastards have done to the rest of the crew."
"They will be fine," Snow said, not that worried. "They should be able to hold off some townspeople. First, we need to find a way out. I think I can feel the wind coming from before us. Let's rest for ten minutes and gather our strength, and then we will move."
Ten minutes weren't enough to rest, but they had to move. Who knows if more of these ants will come if they stay in one place? They needed to get out and show the people above them that they messed with the wrong group. That Mayor Clyde or whatever his name is, will have a good taste of his umbrella.
As they slowly walked, Snow noticed human bones scattered around the caverns. Snow wasn't the first to fall here, and they probably wouldn't have been the last. Snow didn't know what sick game the townspeople were playing, but it would come to an end once he got out of there.
"Light," Caribou said as he pointed in front of them.
And indeed, light fell from above before them. As they walked up to the light and looked up, Snow could see the sky above them. They were probably at the bottom of one of the holes that he saw in the town. Snow didn't waste time and turned into his bird form before taking the rest of them with him and flying up.
As he emerged above the hole, he took a big breath of fresh air before landing. He was right. They were still in town. But he was surprised that he didn't see anyone around. The streets were empty, but he did hear sounds coming from the port. Just as he was about to rush back to his ship, he stopped as he saw Nobark staring at him.
"You came back," Nobark was surprised to see Snow. "You came back!"
"You knew what was waiting for us," Snow said as he looked down at the old man. "What are those ants, and why did the Mayor bring us there?"
"They are the real rulers and inhabitants of this island," Nobark said. "We came here fifty years ago looking for a new land. And this island was fertile and big enough to fit many people. But it didn't take long to realize that we were the invaders. And yet, we didn't even think of giving up."
"And why should we?" Snow turned as the Mayor came in upon them. "This is our island, our home. I will not give it to those bugs. After years of letting them dig under our feet, sinking our homes underground, we are at last on the winning side. Ten more years, and I will exterminate those bugs once and for all."
"And how do you intent to do it?" Law asked.
"Poison," The Mayor smiled back. "The poison I fed you would have slowly killed those ants that should have fed upon you. For years, I have dropped people filled with poison into these caverns. Slowly, the bugs were dying out, and my home was getting closer to becoming free. I don't know why it isn't working on you yet, but I fill you with more poison and finish the work."
"I had enough of this bullshit," Snow replied by punching the Mayor in the face. "Let's clean up this mess and get some rest."
Snow wasn't in the mood to listen to the madmen who would capture and kill all the travelers coming to this island. If they were normal people, he might cut some slack for them, but since they were mass murderers, Snow didn't have any intention of letting them go so easily. They really shouldn't have screwed with him.
A.N. Well, this is a stop for now, I will get back at it when I get back at it.
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