As they passed countless uninhabited islands, Cyr and the others ran into trouble with their ship.
"This is the third time we've ended up back where we started," Maro said, frowning as he examined the compass and looked around.
It seemed like there was some kind of invisible barrier at the edge of the archipelago that kept pushing them back to the same spot.
"Hmm..." Cyr took off his sunglasses and scanned the surroundings.
The sea was still a slightly deeper blue than the sky, with no shadows in sight. Aside from a few scattered islands, there was nothing else around.
But the ship continued to sail in circles.
"Strange…" Cyr muttered absently, stroking his chin.
He jumped off the ship and stepped onto the sea's surface, walking forward one step at a time—unhindered.
Neferpitou was crouched at the bow of the ship, using En to scan a radius of a kilometer around them.
She found nothing.
And yet, the ship was now able to sail forward again, as if the waters had become calm and smooth once more.
"Come to think of it, I feel like I overlooked something..." Cyr murmured as he walked across the sea, deep in thought.
What was it?
"Got it, meow!" Neferpitou suddenly shouted behind him, excitement in her voice—followed by the splash of someone falling into the water.
Maro had fallen in, while Neferpitou held up a bizarre lantern fish that was even bigger than she was, looking at Maro in confusion.
"What happened to him, meow?" she asked, still holding the huge fish.
"An illusion," Cyr replied just as the seawater around them turned into a deep, dark black.
A massive shadow, larger than the entire ship, moved beneath the surface.
A raspberry-pink tentacle wrapped around Maro's waist and yanked him underwater in an instant—he vanished from sight.
The dark shadow quickly swam away.
"An octopus...?" Cyr dove into the water headfirst.
Three seconds later, he burst back out, dragging an unconscious Maro with him. A segment of squirming tentacle was still wrapped around Maro's waist.
Suddenly, the sea began to churn with violent ripples.
A massive octopus—easily four or five stories tall—rose from the ocean, its shadow engulfing the entire ship.
"Feels kinda cursed…" Cyr muttered as he stared at the raspberry-pink creature, lost in thought.
It was cursed, but not that cursed.
Hideous, yet oddly distinct.
The octopus let out a strange sonar-like sound, as if trying to communicate.
No one could understand it, but it was clear the creature was hesitating.
What was it unsure about?
It seemed to be trying to gauge the strength of the group that had intruded on its territory—but its hostility was clear.
It didn't hesitate for long. With a swing of its tentacles, it stirred up a monstrous wave. Its massive form blocked out the sky, like a sea god descending.
The ship rocked violently, looking like it might capsize at any moment.
"Red." Cyr raised a hand, red energy gathering before him and firing at the pink octopus with a burst of force.
Ripples shimmered through the air as the impact landed—thunderous and explosive.
The blow sent the octopus crashing back into the sea, creating a massive splash that drenched the already swaying ship.
The shadow beneath the water quickly receded, vanishing in an instant.
Cyr had grown proficient in using Red as a basic attack technique.
Normally, most creatures would be dead after taking a hit like that—but this octopus...
Was still alive.
In fact, after taking the blow, it seemed to recognize their strength and chose to retreat.
Well, it was an octopus—it had three hearts. Tough to kill wasn't unexpected.
"Ah—wait—don't run—" Neferpitou was suddenly slapped in the face by the tail of the big fish she'd been holding. The strike seemed to have a stunning effect—dazed, she froze for a second, and the fish took the chance to leap from her arms back into the ocean.
It disappeared almost instantly.
The sea returned to its original blue.
Cyr lifted Maro—who had fallen into the water like a peaceful corpse—and gave him two sharp slaps.
"Wake up."
"...My lord?" Maro blinked slowly, clutching his swollen, burning cheek, still totally confused about what had just happened.
"That fish…" Cyr casually tossed Maro back onto the ship as he recalled the strange fish Neferpitou had caught.
That thing… it seemed to induce hallucinations. It appeared alongside the octopus, almost like they were working together.
And once the octopus was defeated, it fled without hesitation—just like an accomplice or a subordinate would.
Maro had clearly been mentally affected, which caused him to fall into the water. The octopus had then immediately dragged him under with its tentacles. That sequence of actions didn't feel like it was the first time it had been done.
As for why they targeted Maro…
Could it be because he was the weakest one on the ship, so they treated him like an easy target?
Being inhuman, both Sora and the three Ants had natural resistance to mental interference. As for Cyr… maybe the octopus couldn't even tell if he was human or something else, but as long as it wasn't insane, it wouldn't consider him prey.
The King's three Royal Guards were more than strong enough to crush Maro…
So Maro was the only viable target. The creature probably figured that since it was already here, it might as well take something with it.
"Your mental resistance is kind of lacking," Cyr said to Maro.
His overall strength was actually decent—not particularly weak—but his mental resistance…
Cyr had always thought Maro's mental state was unstable, constantly teetering on the edge of becoming a full-blown maniac.
"I deeply apologize!" Maro snapped back to full awareness. Ignoring his soaking-wet clothes and swollen face, he dropped to his knees on the deck.
He didn't even need to think to know he'd caused trouble for his lord again.
"It's all because I'm too weak! I'm so sorry!" he said word by word, bowing his head so hard that it thudded against the deck.
In the span of a single sentence, his forehead had already swollen up and started bleeding.
"…" Cyr looked at him and sighed internally.
"I'm tired of hearing apologies. What you should be thinking about is how to strengthen your mind." He raised a foot and lightly nudged Maro to stop him from slamming his head into the deck again.
Of course, he had his Limitless technique active—no way he'd let blood get on his shoes.
"Anyone who endlessly wallows in past pain and can't move on has no future."
In truth, whether it's pain or happiness, someone who stays stuck in the past and can't move forward is naturally doomed to have no future.
"My lord…" Maro braced his hands on the deck, head down, tears mingling with blood as they dripped to the floor.
He had seen it—the look of someone about to kill him.
His lord… wanted to kill him?
In that moment, he lost all rationality and thought. Only one idea remained.
So it really happened after all.
His lord must have no regard for him—his strength was…
And now, with the addition of the three powerful Ants, and knowing how his lord had always preferred non-humans…
With them around, wouldn't he be even more useless?
It was only logical that a useless piece of trash like him be killed, wasn't it?
So he closed his eyes and waited for death.
But when he regained consciousness and realized it had all been an illusion, he didn't feel relieved—only more afraid.
He really was… nothing but a burden to his lord.
"…Forget it. I don't get how your brain works," Cyr waved him off, too lazy to continue.
Maro was the type whose entire world revolved around his "older brother," obsessed to a toxic degree. Every emotion was dictated by every word or gesture from that so-called brother.
Now that "older brother" had been replaced with Cyr…
He found it kind of… amusing.
Though he couldn't understand the kind of empty mindset that pinned all hope on someone else—
If he was the one being treated like a god…
Then it didn't bother him at all.
°°°
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