Chương 19: Hot Waters
Notifications Sprang up for Junko who was being dragged out by a tough ball of water.
Piercing the veil above, Junko could again breathe fresh air as the air pocket widened and the water surrounding her body dropped back below into the ocean.
The fairy floating next to her looked at little Junko with mixed feelings.
All the people gathered on the boat yelled, cheered and screamed at the sight of the two.
Their return from the untraversed and unexplored depths was a piece of good news yet the problem of the raging thunderstorm that had suddenly started was by no means solved by their appearance.
The fairy placed the ball of water that Junko was trapped in onto the deck of the ship. The water held its shape even with Junko attempting to punch, kick and run while partly stuck inside of it.
The prince dashed to his fairy companion as they began talking. The prince checked her state, although she was still partly frightened of the little girl, she had noticeably changed. Almost as if she had reached the next Tier.
Lightning struck the ship and two to three people were burned and pushed away by the blast that the lightning created.
The fire was put out posthaste but the panic on board didn't cease.
As the prince sighed with relief after finding out that his fairy companion wasn't injured in any way, he stood tall and straight as he took command of the situation admirably.
The mages focused only on redirecting and blocking the lightning from hitting the ship while the adventurers took up immediate maintenance while the crew and knights focused on keeping the ship steady and moving.
The fairy companion of the prince floated up towards the crow's nest as she focused her magic and stopped the heavy downpour of rain from distracting the crew.
The waves hit the ship hard like trucks, thankfully not doing much damage yet the impact kept throwing people off their feet. Some had already fallen overboard.
The fairy couldn't stop the heavy waves that kept rocking the ship as just stopping the rain was already draining considering how she was manipulating the effects of the weather while attempting to disperse the storm clouds above.
The crew would just have to deal with the waves and rocking ship themselves.
Junko was still stuck in the ball of water that was sticking to the ground, unmoving.
The magic that the fairy used was interesting indeed and that was what Junko was currently focusing on.
The storm and lightning were definitely interesting but the rain had stopped and the lightning kept being either pushed away or blocked so Junko started studying the closest thing 'of interest' that was there.
As things started to settle down and the crew started to adapt to the situation well, a deep and loud rumbling came from below.
It shook the ocean for multiple kilometres in its radius with the ship near its centre.
With the ocean shaking like a bowl of water during an earthquake, everyone on board had the most straightforward and common reaction of stressing out and panicking.
Many lost their footing and some fell overboard to face the ocean on their lonesome.
The mages lost their footing as two strikes of lightning just so happened to hit the hull of the ship.
Through the panic, some crewmembers didn't hesitate as they ran below deck to start repairing the holes that the lightning had made. The creaking of the wood below was near deafening while the rumbling from below added to the fear they felt.
Chaos returned to the ship through fear of the unknown and the possibility of awakening 'something' but only for a moment.
The rumbling stopped after a minute. The sea turned more calm. The prince along with many others ran to the side of the ship as they looked down at the deep waters below.
They couldn't see much at first.
Yet a few moments after, the ocean began boiling. Bubbles arose from the water en masse.
A low aquamarine glow started rising from the depths and as it grew brighter, the temperature grew more fierce.
The heat being emitted from below was staggering.
The fairy warned the prince through their link as she immediately flew down towards Junko. With her magic stopped, heavy rain again poured below, weaker now thanks to her interference.
"BRACE!"
The prince yelled in fright as he dashed below deck followed by many others.
Some ran into the captain's quarters to hide from what was about to hit the ship.
The fairy dissipated the water surrounding Junko as she fell on her behind, soaking wet.
The fairy hesitated in dragging her away and only pointed towards the captain's quarters, the nearest place to take cover.
Some unlucky few crew members were too late in taking cover, and others were too slow to react in time.
The speck of a blue star that little Junko had dropped to the bottom of the ocean detonated.
That detonation now hit the ship.
A raw explosion of steam and water. The ship shook horribly.
Thankfully the ship hadn't stopped moving and the explosion occurred some ways behind it.
Boiling water blasted into the sky and steam engulfed everything around the epicentre of the explosion.
The unlucky ones who couldn't take cover in time were boiled and scalded alive.
Screams of pain echoed through the ship and beyond, bouncing on the wooden walls.
The prince stood near the entrance to the main deck of the ship. His fairy had yet to follow him below and he didn't see the child anywhere either.
Still, he winced at the screams of the pained adventurers, knights, mages and crew members who didn't make it to cover in time.
Although he wished to help, his control over the element of water was too lacking to do so and he would most definitely receive major scars if he attempted to help.
He bit his lower lip with a frown as he tightened his grip on the wooden pillar he was using for support.
The wood creaked yet the noise didn't drown out the screams.
The shaking of the ship did nothing to help as loud splashes of people continuing to fall overboard due to the immense rocking weren't silent to the ears of the survivors.
The rocking and scalding rain continued for a short two minutes. To the survivors it felt like a gruelling eternity, stuck in a burning coffin of wood.
After it had all blown over, the prince was first to leave above deck.
Few survived above, those who did had many terrible scars and wounds.
Looking around the deck with a deep frown and gritted teeth over this unknown blast that killed the citizens of his very own Empire, the prince was greatly angered. He did not know where any of this came from.
He couldn't connect well with his fairy companion after she and the girl jumped overboard. He didn't know what happened below. Something blocked out his attempts at communication.
Yet mere moments after the girl and the fairy jumped into the ocean, the storm arrived.
The possibility of it being a coincidence was astronomically low.
Looking around the deck, he called for mages to run and heal any survivors that they found.
Moving to the back of the ship where the captain normally steers the ship, he could see his fairy companion sitting on the wheel of the ship while looking to the side and towards the ocean where steam was still rising from.
He walked over to his fairy companion and asked directly.
"What happened? And where is the girl?"
The fairy pointed her finger at the boiling waters below, answering both questions with a single gesture.
Down in the boiling waters with steam blocking most of his sight, the prince could make out the figure of a small girl some ways away from the ship.
Swimming in the boiling waters, or more so floating as she was attempting to learn how to swim, little Junko.
The prince couldn't exactly tell what emotion he was feeling but it was far far away from anything pleasant.
"Tell me. Tell me everything that happened below."
He commanded his fairy companion while gripping the wheel of the ship.
The fairy sighed before replying.
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