Luka's brain was trying to process what he was seeing. A strange figure was floating above the water in front of the bow of the ship. It was an extremely long, pinkish lamia wearing a large kimono. She had two horns on her head, mechanical arms, and, more strangely, several parts of her body were linked to small clouds floating around her by magical strings.
"No way… Alipheese the 6th…"
Luka turned toward Ilias. "A past Monster Lord? They brought her back as an undead?"
Promestein tightened her grip on her book. "No, she's definitively dead, but she hasn't been revived through conventional resurrection or necromancy. The strings present all around her body are a clear sign that her appearance here is the work of a puppeteer. Considering the raw power required to transform a monster lord in a puppet, the one behind this is clearly a mastermind. Chrome might have been able to tell more on the matter."
Damn, why isn't she on the boat?
The Grand Noah queen prepared her whip. "It seems that the Monster Lord found a fitting replacement for Morrigan to interrupt us in our cruise to Sentora."
The crew hid in the cabin in the stern of the ship. In the meantime, Ilias prepared her bow.
"Be careful, she was incredibly proficient in Taoism. Also, since she's a doll and not an undead, fire and holy won't be the all solving hammer they usually are."
The other party members nodded. "And she flies, so the advantage isn't our on that one, let's just hope reinforcement comes in fast."
The doll eerily stared at them as the boat got closer and closer. For a moment, Luka wondered if she was really hostile. Still worried, he raised a magic reflection shield around the group. Eventually, the Monster Lord puppet confirmed its intention as she threw a few talismans at the group. Soon, several elemental waves attacked them. Most of them were reflected back at the caster, but a few passed through, shocking and wounding the members of the group.
Ilias groaned in pain as she shot an arrow at the doll. Promestein supported her with a fireball, and the monster was now in the range of the Grand Noah's queen whip. Most attacks were deflected or looked barely effective, but a few of them actually damaged the doll and its cloth. Even then, Alice the 6th didn't react at the assault, her blank expression unchanging, her body not even recoiling or wincing as impacts started showing up, and her voice unheard.
Eventually, she ended just above the boat. Luka imbued his blade with the holy element and struck at the Monster Lord. The doll parried his attack with a mechanical arm, and tried wrapping her tail around him.
"Gnome!"
Luka broke himself out before anything could happen. The puppet attacked him with a mechanical arm at a lightning speed, taking the hero by surprise. Luka recovered extremely fast and launched a new assault.
"Death Sword Chaos Star!"
He slashed repeatedly at the doll, who did not manage to parry his attacks in time. She floated out of range of several of her assailants. Luka raised back the magic shield up, while Promestein and Ilias used every one of their ability to try destroying the puppet.
However, it was clear the group had the disadvantage in the ranged duel. The barrier was not effective against every spell, and Ilias ended up knocked unconscious, leaving Promestein the only member capable of attacking the puppet at range. After a few exchanged blows, the small angel scientist was showing signs of exhaustion, worrying Luka and the Grand Noah queen about the outcome of the fight.
Crap, at this rate, we're going to get toasted.
The past Monster Lord interrupted her assault, and started preparing a more powerful spell. A huge lightning bolt suddenly struck the puppet. While it didn't stun her, her spell was interrupted for a second. Luka could see Levia in the sea. The huge sea serpent was pointing her trident toward the past Monster Lord. She had come with several sea creatures and flying monsters. There even were a few angel soldiers and Trinity supporting them.
"I was starting to fear we would never see them!" The Grand Noah sighed in relief.
The doll turned to face the newcomers. She proceeded to take a rain of blows, knocking her back again and again. The flying monsters kept harassing her by striking her before moving backward. They were supported by Trinity's songs, while the other ones kept spamming spells after techniques to bring her down. Eventually, several strings snapped and the doll lost one of her mechanical arm. After a while, she randomly disappeared. Everybody checked around, but when it was clear she was gone for good, Levia and a few angels made their way to the boat.
"Greetings Luka, it appears that in spite of our best efforts, you would have appreciated our support to arrive earlier."
Luka made a dismissive gesture. He was too tired to give the reinforcement any flak in that situation. He looked around, and saw the angels were taking care of their goddess.
"But still, a puppeted version of the Monster Lord… Who would command such an abomination…" Levia spat those words, clearly disgusted.
Luka shrugged, still slightly shaken. "I have no idea. Get Chrome and Mephisto on the case. One of them is bound to know something." Levia bowed in front of the hero, making him feel a bit strange for ordering the admiral of the Navy around. Still, Levia barked instructions back to her subordinates.
Eventually, Ilias got up and made her way toward them, half walking, half stumbling around. "Hueurg, why don't we actually keep a whole army around?"
"We already talked about that. Because it would attract too much attention and increase the spread of chaosization."
Levia looked around her. "It would be better if we disappeared before arriving in Port Natalia. The less people are aware of the actual power at Luka's disposition, the better."
"While we're at it." Ilias pointed at the cabins in the stern. "Trinity, go make sure the crew forget this little skirmish."
"Yes mistress." The three angels nodded in unison and disappeared into the boat.
Luka's mouth was hanging open, but Ilias interrupted him before he could say anything.
"Or do you prefer the idea of them spewing around about our firepower? We will have enough problems with the Monster Lord, since she apparently also decided to bring some of her kin from the past." Ilias looked on the side with a disgusted expression. "Desecrating her own family to get more fodder. There is no point low enough for her to stoop to."
Time passed, and the various teammates that joined them gradually left to go back on dry land. The idea to finish the cruise with them was considered, but Luka feared that finishing without the boat could be considered deviation from the true history. Promestein refrained from bringing up that the sailors had died the last time. Eventually, night fell, and the small party went to sleep, exhausted by their day.
In the middle of the night, the six sailors that made the crew were silently huddled together on the bow of the bridge. They were whispering like conspirators.
"Ayy lads, it seems our passengers could be worth more than our usual cargo! I think we have a fine opportunity to get rich."
"What do you mean captain?"
"Didn't you notice? One of them is the Grand Noah queen. One is a small angel. The other is apparently some kind of hero. And the last is a scholar. If we take them as hostages, we're sure someone will pay for them and we're set for life!"
"I don't know, it feels wrong…"
"Majority vote then, who's in?"
Five men instantly raised their army. The sixth reluctantly raised it a bit later in front of the peer pressure. The captain pulled out a small cutlass.
"It's settled then, you two guard the bridge, and each of us will take one of them hostage."
The men walked toward the cabins, weapons ready. Each of them went to a door, and stood at the ready. The captain opened the door, and silently made his way to the bed where the silhouette of the queen was. When he reached it, he noticed something was wrong, her head looked slightly bigger. He backed up slightly when he realized he was looking at a pillow.
"Really?"
This lone word was the last thing he heard before a whip struck him in the head, stunning him on the spot. He rushed out of the room to see another of his companion propelled in the hall way, soon followed by a furious looking small man wielding a sword. One sailor tried to strike him from the side, but the hero parried him without looking and disarmed him in the same swing. The next second, said sailor was encased in a block of ice. The hero started charging his target, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"I sleep in a place filled with monsters that want to screw me every night! I fought the Monster Lord's lieutenants and won! I went through other dimensions and faced abominations so powerful and damn ugly you have no idea they exist, AND YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE ON ME?!"
The man sighed in relief when the hero disappeared from his sight. When he turned, he fell face to face with the small angel scientist. Before he could move an inch, he found himself encased in ice, but noticed he could still breathe.
It didn't take long for Luka and his team to round up their would be aggressors on the bridge. The men were terrified in front of the small party, who was looking at them with either scorn and indifference.
Ilias was the first to talk. "Trying to lay your hands on the Goddess herself? I should smite you right now."
The Grand Noah queen shook her head. "No. They're not pirates, merely backstabbing opportunist. They still have a chance to learn this lesson if we don't kill them. We should bring them to Port Natalia to get them imprisoned. Until then…"
Promestein tried desperately to clean her glasses. "The spell should last long enough. Also, they will float in the water, so if we use rope, we shouldn't even have to bear their presence on the boat."
"I have another idea… Gnome!" Luka took each block of ice and threw them one by one into the sea, sometimes several hundred meters away. They could be seen floating, their living cargo likely to fall prey to any monster passing by.
Ilias looked at him in stupor. "Well, that's one way to solve a problem I guess. Those men are the worst." She started smiling happily. "Ok, so who steers the boat now?"
The group fell silent, with each person awkwardly looking at each other. The Grand Noah queen closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Nobody here does know anything about boats?"
Promestein stepped forward. "Actually, I can tell you that this boat is a standard three mast model with a U shaped hull frequently used for cargo transportation and-"
"Great, but do you actually know how to navigate one?"
Promestein's face turned red in shame.
Ilias sneered. "Luka, get sure that next time your monsters come help us, they stay with us until we know we're fully out of our predicament."
"Didn't your angels brainwash those guys? How did they not notice they were thugs?" Luka was starting to get angry.
"Oh, sorry, maybe it's because where I come from, humans didn't step as low as monsters?" Ilias's voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Stop." The Grand Noah queen had increased her royal aura but spoke calmly. "We are all responsible for the current predicament. Blaming each other will only worsen the issue. Besides, I heard that the first time, the boat was sunk and you were saved by mermaids, weren't you?"
Luka positively nodded.
"Then there is no problem. Should it come to worse, your mastery over the water spirit would probably help us get through this, isn't it?"
Luka nodded once again.
"Well, then-"
The boat suddenly stopped in wood creaking noises, making everyone fall on the bridge.
"Aaand we've already hit a reef."
Luka rushed at the bow to try assessing the damages, and proceeded to swear like a sailor as he saw what had stopped the boat.
"It's not a reef! It's a narwhal girl!"
As if on cue, an assortment of sea monsters started climbing on the bridge. The group made its way to the bow, with their weapons ready. Luka rallied with them. Even if those monsters were likely only a minor threat, he had no reason to fight isolated, and would have less difficulty supporting his allies should the need arise.
Note to self. Get sure we're REALLY in the clear before sending reinforcement back.
The small group was surrounded by a mix of monsters that mostly included scyllas and mermaids. There also were several manta girls flying around. Ilias started shooting arrows upon arrows at the monsters that were making their way toward them, knocking down a few monsters. The Grand Noah queen grabbed one Scylla with her whip and threw it overboard. In the meantime, Promestein froze a wide part of the bridge around the group, making the progression of the assailants difficult. Eventually, one mermaid wielding a sword had managed to reach Luka. The hero pushed her back and powered through her attack with a Death Sword Chaos star.
The sea monsters had a large advantage in number, but were having difficulty making their way to the group. As they were all geared for melee, they were obstructing each other when they were getting closer to them. Meanwhile, the party's ranged attacks took a heavy toll. One Scylla fell to an arrow. A group of them was incapacitated by a bolt of energy that came from Promestein. And the Grand Noah queen threw them out of the ship with an alarming regularity. The few that managed to reach the group were cut down by Luka, who had no difficulty holding two opponents back at the same time.
Noticing that the ice and the repeated range attacks they were facing made any coordinated assault difficult, the sea monsters fell back. A large creaking noise could be heard again as the Narwhal girl let go of the boat. Within a minute, all assailants were back to the sea, bringing their wounded with them.
Luka sighed. He was covered in blood and various other substances, and the bridge was slippery from the slime and the blood spilled. His party members had only suffered minor wounds, and were already being taken care of by Ilias. He took the opportunity to check the hold of the ship, and was relieved when he didn't see any water leaking inside. When he came back on the bridge, he announced the good new to the group.
"Monster attack, mugging, second monster attack…" Ilias chuckled. "At least, it's all over, and the remainder of the cruise should happen without problem."
"I should have shut up."
A few hours later, the boat was in the middle of an extremely violent storm. High waves were crashing all around the boat, which was still making his way through the tempest with relatively little disturbance. Luckily, Luka had the reflex to attach Poseidon's bell to the bow of the ship when they departed. However, a heavy rain was still drenching the ship and its occupants.
Luka saw Promestein walking toward him. Her glasses were covered in sea water, making the hero wonder how she could see where he was standing. Ilias and the Grand Noah queen had hidden in the cabins to avoid getting wet any further.
"This is a large tempest caused by the seasonal change of weather. Nothing magical about that. For once."
Luka nodded distractedly. He was behind the wheel of the ship, more or less trying to orient it toward the general direction he thought the Natalia harbor was. He then pointed at a small white dot that appeared above them.
"And what is that?"
A supernatural lightning bolt hit the ship in the middle, tearing it apart. The group found itself propelled in the tempestuous sea water. On his way down, Luka shouted every swear words he could before hitting the ocean.