The winds roared greatly, sounding like a terrifying howl of nature. The waves were almost as high as the Aegir, almost toppling the ship upside down.

Lightning glared in the clouds above, striking a large school of lionfish surrounding the 24-sailed Schooner.

As a gigantic wave passed by the Aegir, the ship could barely manage to keep itself afloat.

In the deck of the ship, seawater flooded its insides. The quarters, mess hall, and the clinic were washed up by the water. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The winds pushed the sails to its extent, making it dart through the stormy seas in order to escape the group of Leviathans.

It had only been a few hours since the Aegir Pirate Crew had set sail but already they were swarmed by Shadow and Blinded rank Dreadspawns!

Normally, Reid and Galkan would’ve handled these Dreadspawns if their numbers were only a few.

However, there were hundreds of them circling below the Aegir!

Worse of all, they didn’t act like the mindless Leviathan they are. They didn’t jump or pummel the ship with their heads, they merely circled beneath it.

Due to this, the currents changed and the waves became stronger.

Floating above the ship near the clouds, Skadi noticed this fact and started striking with her Windslinger.

With each strike of her lightning, one or two lionfish would fall. But then, their formation would be replaced by another.

Down below, atop the ship, Elishia and Jones ran around and salvaged the ingredients, and medicine down below.

Cetas was helping them too, but right now, he was below deck gathering everything he can to salvage.

Reid and Galkan used makeshift weapons to attack the lionfish below.

Their efforts were not fruitless though, killing a few Leviathans every now and then.

But the issues still stands, with the constant rocking of the ship and the risk of toppling it over, their postures would be broken if they didn’t focus.

Then, it arrived, another humongous wave heading towards the ship.

"Brace yourselves!"

Skadi used the winds to transmit her voice, making each one of her crewmembers hold on to whatever they could.

The wave arrived sending the Aegir upwards to its peak. Once it reached the top, the Schooner immediately faced forward, falling towards the raging seas with utmost speed.

However, that sheer speed was halted when the sails were blown in the opposite direction, serving as a way to slow the ship’s eventual demise.

It was Skadi’s effort to save the Aegir that saved them once more!

Once they were afloat, the seawater inside increased.

"Oh no no no no! Our food supply!" Elishia panicked.

Jones and Elishia hastened their actions, running towards the flooded deck below.

They needed to remove the water inside fast! If not, then the whole ship will sink along with them!

"Cetas! Use your Zeal to clear it out!" Skadi yelled

Cetas climbed up the main deck and heard this.

Wasn’t it a Forbidden Zeal? And didn’t they prohibit it!

But Cetas understood.

The situation called for it!

Instantly, he reached inside and activated his Zeal. His attunement to water rung, making him sense everything around him.

As if he could control the element in his mind, Cetas began to send droplets out of the ship.

His control was akin to a child first beginning to learn how to play in the river.

He was weary as to not break this focus.

On the very edge of the Aegir, the seawater on the floor slowly crept up and left the ship.

Following along with it was the seawater below deck, which seemed to carefully rush its way to the main deck.

It was working!

But due to Cetas’ inexperience, he felt a tingling sensation in his mind.

His control was new and it was the very first time he used his Attunement to water. However, the cost of Zeal when using this was far greater than he anticipated!

Thus, Cetas’ focus was broken.

The seawater rushed out of the ship like a river, sucked out by an imaginable force. However, it only lasted for a few seconds!

Cetas collapsed on the floor, the rain tapping on his cheeks as it was slowly absorbed by his dark scales.

Although a lot of seawater has left the ship, there was still a lot that flooded the rooms below!

The thunderbolts above rang as Cetas laid motionless on the floor.

His vision spiraled, the rain seeming like stars that left a trail in rotation.

Just as his consciousness began to vanish, he saw Jones reaching out to his head.

A warm feeling engulfed his entire body, giving him some sort of rejuvenation.

Just like that, Cetas no longer felt the strain of overusing his Zeal.

But still, the world spun ever-so lightly.

"Sit up straight, let the blood in your veins circulate.." Jones advised, his accent still remaining unique.

With those words, Cetas used his arms to carry his weight to sit up right.

He observed his surroundings.

The ship wasn’t as flooded as before due to these efforts. Reid and Galkan were still fending off the Leviathans, and Elishia ran like hell, carrying crates that contained their food.

Just as he observed, a loud thunderclap instantly illuminated the surroundings.

It was as if a flash of light engulfed everything in a half a second!

Suddenly, the waves below started to slow down and the pressure of the Leviathans decreased.

A gust of wind swiftly dove through the depths, looking like a green lightning that passed through the air.

Once it emerged, a woman with golden-hair was revealed.

It was Skadi, the captain of the Aegir Pirates.

In Skadi’s right hand was a small sardine-sized fish, whose scales were dark green and its body flimsy.

Just as her figure remained graceful and flawless amidst the storm, multiple shadows beneath her appeared.

"Skadi!" Galkan screamed out.

In an instant, she ascended above the winds and threw the small fish up in the air.

She aimed Windslinger at the poor thing, gathering up the winds inside its cannon-sized barrel.

As she did, numerous lionfish jumped up from the sea, their mouths wide open to crush Skadi in half.

But before they could even reach her, an impact suddenly came upon the Aegir.

Two individuals, one white haired and the other fiery-red, jumped out from the side of the ship.

Their speed was considerably fast, but not as fast as Skadi’s!

Reid and Galkan traveled through the air, the former holding his silver blade and the latter phasing through with his fists.

Soon, they reached the school of Leviathans leaping from the sea and decimated each single one of them.

Reid’s victims simply remained lifeless, their bodies suddenly falling back to the depths. Whilst Galkan’s victims were pummeled until their bones came out of their scaly bodies.

Meanwhile, up in the air, Skadi shot a bullet of air—one so swift and fast that it made a precise hole on the small fish’s head.

The hole was a s big as a thread, and yet, after a second passed, the small fish vanished and was replaced by a dark green illusory particle that floated up in the air.

Skadi very quickly flew up and grasped the Zeal Essence left behind by the tiny thing.

Then, she looked down only to see Reid and Galkan standing on the dead corpses of Leviathans floating in the sea. Their expressions were exhausted but still they had retained a sense of vitality within.

Skadi floated down and flicked her fingers towards the two. With that, they floated up in the air, their bodies as light as feathers.

Skadi then looked in the direction of the ship and swiftly made her way back to it. The two followed along behind her, their faces showed that this was not the very first time that this had happened.

Upon making it back, Skadi graciously landed near the helm of the ship.

She looked at Elishia.

"How much did we lose?"

Elishia turned to Skadi’s direction, "Only about a week’s worth, we didn’t lose much but these might spoil quickly."

She pointed to the crate beside her, containing various ingredients that she kept in their cold storage.

"Alright.."

Seeing this, Cetas was relieved to see the safe return of the three. It had only been hours but they were already put through so much struggle already!

Was the Rule of Divinity this potent?

Cetas began to blame himself.

But before he could loathe more in his thoughts, Skadi’s soft hand hustled his hair.

"Don’t blame yourself, we prepared ourselves for this. If anything, I should not have prevented you from using your Forbidden Zeal.."

Cetas looked up, Skadi’s figure looked inspiring.

"You did well, Cetas.. Next time, I’ll teach you how to control your Elemental Zeal."

She then walked away, checking on her other crew members.

With that, the clouds started to slowly part, the waves calmed down, and the seas raged no more.

After a few minutes of recuperation and getting rid of the seawater below deck, Skadi gathered her crew near the mast.

She leaned back on the wooden pillar and opened her hand.

From it, a dark-green particle was revealed.

"This is the essence of the Leviathan, a Devastation-Ranked Dreadspawn. Turns out, the lionfish that we faced are its puppets. I noticed that they formed a protective layer in the core of the school, therefore, I headed down there to check."

The crew’s eyes were magnetted to the essence.

"And I was right, the Leviathans—the lionfish, were nothing more than puppets that are mere fish that could do no damage."

Cetas then joined Skadi’s analysis.

"So their tactic is to shift the currents until their prey has been weakened? Or in our case, toppled over so that we are vulnerable under the sea?"

Skadi nodded.

"Precisely.."

"But I don’t get it Captain," Elishia curiously stated, "Aren’t these safe charted sea routes that are meant for seafarers to voyage?"

"Yes, that is what I’m thinking about too.."

The crew went silent for a while.

"Could the Rule of Divinity really be that strong?" Reid voiced out.

"Perhaps.. Then because of that, we need to prepare for harder struggles."

She raised her hand, "We’ll use this Zeal Essence to craft Zeal Weapons that we can utilize to repel the Leviathans."

She then looked at Jones.

"Jones, you’re next in line for a Zeal Weapon, seeing as the Zeal of that small fish relied on gathering groups and puppets to protect it, let’s see if Galkan can create something similar to protection."

Skadi focused on Galkan.

"Can you do that?"

"Of course!" Galkan raised his voice, "There ain’t nothing I can’t do!"

"Great." Skadi nodded with satisfaction.

"Now, take your rest everyone, we don’t know how long it’ll take for the next one to attack."

The crew dispersed from the main deck and headed down to the quarters.

As Cetas was about to leave, he heard Skadi’s voice call out to him from behind.

"Cetas.."

He turned around, facing his Captain.

"After resting and cleaning up with the crew, come to the Captain’s Quarters, I will teach you how to control your Elemental Zeal.."

Cetas straightened his posture and nodded.

"Aye.."

With that, he headed below deck with the others.