Markets and Multiverses (A Serial Transmigration LitRPG)

Chapter 56: Ships and Monsters

It took another ten seconds for the boat to reach us. In that time, Felix, Erik and I bobbed up and down in the ocean, taking a moment to hack some water out of our lungs and savor the feeling of being alive. Now that the adrenaline rush had started to fade away, the pain and exhaustion from our desperate flight in the Ocean started to kick in, but we had made it.

Once the boat was close enough, I opened a gate beneath us, shoved us down a little, and teleported us directly onto the boat. Then, I took a look at Erik and Felix, to assess the damage they had taken.

Erik’s leg was gone, and so was a big part of his pelvis and stomach. I had healed his body fast enough that he hadn’t died, but I had no clue if he would live for more than a day or two after this. Some of his intestines had to be missing, and I had no idea what that meant for him in the long run. Through sheer force of will, he was remaining conscious and keeping the pearl hidden, but that was basically all he was doing now. I shuddered as I looked at him, feeling a sense of horror as the consequences of my actions caught up to me. I had wanted to explore the ocean, but I hadn’t wanted someone to die because of it. 

I took another, longer look at Erik, intending to apologize, even though it was nowhere near enough. As I opened my mouth, he laughed, a burbling, broken sound, as he looked me in the face.

“It wasn’t your fault, Miria. I got injured because I volunteered for this, and I volunteered because I want to protect my friends and the village I care about. Don’t… don’t look down on my determination. And don’t blame yourself for this,” he said, before letting out another broken laugh. he gestured towards his missing leg, as well as the minced remains of his stomach, before coughing. “It’s a lot worse for you. The left half of your face… doesn’t look so good anymore. Your mother was one of the prettiest women in the village, and now her daughter has become like this. Both of us suffered because we wanted to protect the people we care about. So don’t blame yourself. If I didn’t get hurt here, maybe I would get hurt or die fighting an Outsider, and maybe they would hurt some of my friends too. My injuries are my responsibility. Not yours.” 

I stopped, the pain in my head starting to clear up. It wasn’t fully gone; I still couldn’t help but wonder if I could have done something differently, or thought more quickly and saved Erik from his injury. But with the adrenaline of the fight, our successful mission, and the time I had spent training and thinking about this mission factored in, I realized I had done my best. I still felt some guilt, because Erik had gotten hurt while I was leading our group, but he was right. He was an adult who had volunteered to join us, and all of us had known from the very beginning this mission was risky. 

Seeing my face relax a little, Erik laughed again, although it sounded more like a burbling cough. “You get it now. Nobody joined this mission thinking it would be perfectly safe, and we came anyway.” He didn’t say anything else.

After Erik finished talking, I realized he wasn’t the only one. I still couldn’t see out of my left eye, and I doubted that was going to change. My arm was much worse.

The flesh and bones of my left arm were corroded beyond repair. My arm no longer resembled a human arm, so much as extremely chunky red soup. I didn’t feel any pain from it when I moved it with my other arm, which was how I knew I was probably never getting my arm back. Even the nerves were completely destroyed. I couldn’t move it at all. I shook my head. At least I was most familiar with one-handed swordsmanship. I could still fight, with or without my left arm. 

Finally, I took a look at Felix. Felix, unlike Erik and I, was practically unscathed, and was staring at me in shock.

“Your arm… and your face… both are pretty bad,” he said, visibly taking efforts to calm down as he looked at me.

I hesitantly reached out to touch the left side of my face with good arm, and felt my coarse, scarred skin. The left half of my face was lumpier than it used to be. It didn’t hurt, because I had healed my flesh as it melted, but it was definitely more distorted than before. I did my best to smile.

“It’s not a big deal. I knew what could happen,” I said, and as I said it, I started to understand Erik’s words more. I had made my own decision to go into the deeps. It might have been risky, and if I had done things differently, I might not have ended up with a scarred face and a ruined left arm. But my decisions were my own, and I had done what I needed to in order to protect the village I had grown up in. My scars weren’t just an ugly imperfection; they were a mark of honor. 

“I’m fine,” I said, turning to my father and Sallia. As I spoke, I realized that my voice was also messed up. It sounded more raspy than usual. I touched my throat, and realized some acid had gotten my throat as well, although I hadn’t noticed it before. I was lucky it hadn’t ruined my ability to breathe or killed me on the spot. 

My father, however, looked the most devastated.

“Miria. You…” he looked at me, and I could see tears glimmering in his eyes as he looked at my arm and my eye.

“Sorry, father. I tried to get out intact, but a new sea creature showed up,” I said, before laughing. “But we succeeded. Nobody died, and I managed to get out alive, and with a black pearl. Sorry for worrying you,” I said, before I took a step closer and gave him a one-armed hug. I heard him sniffle, before he gently returned my hug, making sure not to disturb my ruined arm.

“You’ve… you’ve done enough, Miria. No matter what you look like, or how weak you become, the village won’t forget your sacrifice for everyone’s safety. And if they do, I’ll make them remember,” said Olav, gently ruffling my hair. “And if this works, you might save dozens of lives with your actions.”

Edel, and Claus also nodded, and I felt a surge of warmth in my heart. Even though I knew the village chief would look after me when we returned to the village, and the village had a strict policy of caring for those who got injured while protecting the village, having my friends, family, and co-workers reach out to me still made me feel happy. I was protecting the right people. My actions hadn’t been in vain. However, we were also wasting time.

“Quickly. We need to get the pearl to the outsiders.” I said. “Even with my fish cores, Erik’s mana will run out sooner or later. We need to get the pearl to them before that happens” 

Olav and the other sailors nodded, and we began quickly flying towards the meeting spot with the village chiefs and hunters. 

Sallia and Felix, who had the least to do right now, were still looking at me with concern. Sallia gently reached out her hand partway towards my ruined face, before hesitating. “Are you really okay?” She asked, more softly this time.

I laughed. “It’s not so bad. There are plenty of scarred women in the village, right? Felix’s mother is doing just fine for herself. It’s just a shame my left arm is ruined. And I was really looking forward to being a knockout beauty in a few years. I guess I’ll have to wait until next life.”

Sallia also let out a rough, half-choked laugh, before she smiled and hugged my good arm. 

“Even in this life, you’re still my amazing, beautiful best friend,” she said. “Including me in this mission was hard, and you and Felix have spent so much time and energy finding a way to get me a good keyword ability. I don’t know if this will get me one, but I won’t forget what you two have done. Both of you are the best people I could have had with me after my first life, and I’m so… so happy that you’ve been with me all this time.” After that, she gave Felix another, lighter hug, before the three of us also lapsed into silence. 

The boat made good time towards where the village chiefs and hunters were waiting for us. During that time I took the opportunity to look at my System notifications I had been ignoring up until now.

Slaughter: Assist the locals in killing a transparent fish for the first time

Influence: Steal a Greater Fragment of the Ocean’s Heart from under the watchful eyes of Al’thalus, the Slumbering Arms of the Ocean

Wealth: Own a Greater Fragment of the Ocean’s Heart

Achievement +85, +700, +500

I let out a chuckle. Adding nearly 1,300 Achievement to my total from this whole fiasco was pretty good. It put me at 9,941.06 Achievement. My miniature goal of getting to at least 10,000 Achievement would almost certainly be accomplished, as long as the rest of my plan worked out.

I was also more than a little surprised to see that I got an assist for killing the transparent fish. It must have been killed by the worm. Perhaps me distracting it, reducing its mana, and running it in circles still counted as me contributing to the fight, even though it had been killed by another monster instead of a human? I hadn’t realized I could get an assist if a monster got the kill.

With my only remaining arm, I shrugged. It wasn’t that big of a deal either way. With my body’s current state, I probably wouldn’t be doing any more adventuring into the deeps of the ocean, sadly. I was too badly injured to keep

The first outsider had died. I didn’t know what killed him. Maybe he accidentally jumped into a weapon or got eaten by a sea monster. Either way, my plan was working even better than expected, after the struggle to get the black pearl out of the ocean.

Then, I felt something slam into the boat, sending us in a random direction for a few moments before we stabilized. I frowned. The outsiders were firing abilities at us, even if a lot of them had already been taken out of the fight. If the great ocean monster didn’t come soon, we would probably be barraged out of the sky.

Our boat began to fly more erratically, zigging and zagging in random directions in a desperate attempt to throw off the aim of the Megailians. I clenched my teeth, keeping my eyes closed as I counted seconds and prayed for the great ocean monster to come.

Moments later, I heard a call that nearly broke my mind, but that I had been waiting to hear. My perception of the world distorted, and I felt closer than ever to the secrets of space. I heard, rather than saw, something massive tear itself out of the ocean, and I heard a massive crunch in the distance.

I grinned, opening my eyes, and saw two outsider boats turned into splinters in the blink of an eye. I had estimated the great ocean monster would destroy at least one boat if it came, but the fact it hit two out of eight was a pleasant surprise.

Influence: You contributed to the battle of the ocean by a [Significant] amount

Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 1 humans with 4-6 runes.

Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 5 humans with 4-6 runes.

Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 25 humans with 4-6 runes.

Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 10 humans with 7-9 runes.

Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 40 humans with 7-9 runes.

Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 1 humans with 10-12 runes.

Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 5 humans with 10-12 runes.

Achievement +???, +40, +125, +220, + 200, +300, +400, +700

My Achievement instantly increased to 11,926.06. However, before I could celebrate how effective my Ocean Pearl ploy had been, something else slammed into our boat.

I looked beneath us, and saw our boat splitting in two, as a golden drop of blood drilled through the wood of the boat.

Oh, crap.

A barrage of wooden spikes ripped apart the front of the boat, and then a metal arrow tore through Olav’s head. He didn’t even have time to scream before he died. Meanwhile, the boat was thrown out of the sky, and began falling towards another of the boats. I briefly saw a man standing at the front of the boat, glaring at us with enraged eyes, before we slammed into the deck.

Crunch. 

I heard one of Sallia’s legs break as we slammed into the hard, wooden deck. Since I had two higher grades of Fortitude, my bones didn’t break, but the pain from bruising still nearly made me pass out. I gasped in pain, before using my good arm to prop myself up, and look around.

Sallia, Felix, Claus, my father and I had landed on one of the outsider boats. I had no clue where Edel and Erik went.

Staring at us was a very, very pissed off crew of Megailians soldiers.