Half an hour later, Captain Roseus stood at the edge of the small lake connected to the ocean. Around his waist, a rope was tied, which was being held in the firm grip of Blodwen the Green.

Using a piece of vine, his father’s hat had been tied to his head. He didn’t yet wear his father’s coat, as he was waiting to prepare himself before equipping the entire set.

In one hand was his father’s cutlass. His revolver was currently in the possession of Blodwen, as the water could damage the weapon.

On one hand, he wore the glove, Bloody Fingers, and on the other, he wore the Ring of Unfavourability, which was currently urging him to head to the beach and dive to meet the three approaching ships head-on.

Around the lake were half of his men: Dawn, Kruger, Jackson, and Pip. The other half remained on lookout by their ship, and would soon rotate with the others so that each of them could gain the experience that came from the creatures crawling from the lake.

Blodwen tugged on the rope slightly, drawing Roseus’s attention.

"You ready?"

Roseus took in a deep breath and let it out. Afterwards, he nodded his head.

From there, he donned his father’s jacket and dove into the cold lake.

Immediately, he felt a strong sense of dread as the creatures of the deep oceans targeted him.

Whilst underwater, he was able to see quite well, and the salt didn’t seem to sting his eyes. Blodwen had told him that this was a trait of the First Ocean, as it was much kinder to its sailors than the others.

Holding his breath, he floated by the surface, making sure not to dive too deep. Blodwen helped with this, constantly tugging at the rope around his waist.

He stared deep into the lake, which seemed to have endless depth.

Then, he saw the signs of his first creature. Or, for better words, creatures.

Wasting no time, Roseus pulled on the rope, and Blodwen yanked hard, dragging him back up to the surface.

Drenched and cold, Roseus landed on the dirt, swiftly removing the rope from his waist and taking off his father’s coat, which weighed him down.

At the same time, something landed on the dirt beside him.

Its appearance was ghastly, marking it as a creature that Roseus had never seen before.

Its skin was white like milk, with a white substance constantly dripping down its body, as though it were melting. It was humanoid in form with almost no facial features, and no arms, only legs.

As the wet, milk-like creature landed beside Roseus, it seemed to stare at him with its smooth, featureless face.

Then, it tried to crawl over to him and embrace him.

Bang!

A gunshot sounded and struck the creature in its head. Immediately, the white milky flesh of its face began to twist and contort violently, as though it were devouring itself.

Moments later, the creature’s entire body turned into red liquid, melting into a puddle on the floor.

Roseus looked around. Four more of the armless creatures had landed on the ground, swivelling their heads around as though looking for someone to approach.

That was when Blodwen’s voice called out. The primitive man checked the chamber of the revolver, making sure that he hadn’t accidentally fired the Monochrome .38 Special.

"They are Huggers. Even though they have no arms, they will try to embrace you. That milky substance on their bodies will make you even drunker than the strongest ales. Pick them off from range."

Huggers.

As Roseus logged the name down in his memory, gunshots sounded off around him.

Kruger, Adriana, and Blodwen picked the Huggers off one by one. Each of their bodies turned into piles of red liquid after death.

Just as Roseus was about to consider feeding the blood to his glove, he noticed something fall from one of the creatures’ bodies.

It was a shiny object that landed in one of the pools of blood.

No one picked it up, afraid that it was some sort of treasure. However, when Roseus lifted it in his hand, he found that it was nothing but a tiny gem.

After letting out a sigh, he checked in with his crew. No one had been harmed.

Kruger confirmed to him that these were Lesser Creatures, similar to the Sea Zombies or Suckers.

No one had managed to awaken any new skills or earn anything useful from the small battle against the horde. Nothing but knowledge of the new creature.

So, Roseus began attaching himself to the rope again, preparing to dive into the water once more.

---

After the sixth fruitless dive, Roseus was about to give up.

They had repeated the same method each time, and yet all that came from it were weak creatures such as Suckers and Sea Zombies. Blodwen had explained that, as time went on, he had long since slain most of the more powerful creatures that visited the island, and now only the mindless weaklings remained.

Roseus wouldn’t have had a problem with this if the creatures were at least arriving at the surface with treasure on their bodies.

Yet they had already swapped the crew out so that each person could have a turn fighting, and still there was no sign of treasure. Just useless items.

Not to mention, the longer time passed, the closer the navy got.

Blodwen mentioned that they were only hours away. It wouldn’t be long before cannon fire attacked their ship and the island.

So, on the seventh dive, Roseus came to a decision.

When emerging from the water, he would not immediately remove his father’s hat. Not until something worthy crawled out of those waters and gave him what he wanted.

Like each time before, he sensed the ocean targeting him as he swam to the surface and landed on the dirt. This time, however, he waited.

This horde consisted of Sea Zombies that climbed their way out of the water and were picked off with ease. The crew were getting efficient at using their skills to dispatch lesser enemies.

Meanwhile, Roseus stood there, staring into the lake, waiting...

More zombies emerged and more zombies were slain, yet still, he waited...

Not long afterwards, he was finally given what he wanted, as a golden light pierced through the surface.