A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Chapter 148: The Marooned (Part-2)

Lance took them to a more secluded spot as he began to speak with a sigh, "Before we arrived at this place, we had ten ships, we braved the storm and whatnot, but when we arrived at this place, a giant creature attacked us, and now we have only four badly damaged ships."

"So, in other words you are stuck in a desolate island."

Lance looked towards Ryan as he spoke with a nod, "Yes, Your Holiness, we are trapped essentially on an Island that is barely able to sustain us."

Ylerias frowned as she spoke, "I see.", she then turned towards Ryan, as she continued, "We can ferry this people away to safety, though it would take time and multiple trips, but it is doable, is it not Ryan?"

Ryan was about to nod in agreement, only for a message to pop in front of him, which made him groan out loud.

Hearing his groan, Xuelong could not help but send a pitying glance at him as she spoke, "A new troublesome quest."

Ryan nodded as he began to speak, "Yes, I am to slay the beast before someone arrives, and if I fail to kill it, the person would die, causing me intense grief as well as receive eternal loathing of the God of Ocean."

Both Ylerias and Xuelong were silent for a brief moment before a matching grin broke on their faces.

Ryan owlishly blinked before he spoke, "You know the person?"

Xuelong nodded at Ryan's question as she replied to him, "Do you remember about all the different apostle's we told you about?"

As Ryan nodded, Xuelong continued with a smirk on her face, "Well, you are about to meet one of the oldest Apostles, Xue Okeniosi,

Apostle of the God Ocean and Rivers."

Ryan gulped as he spoke, "Yes, I remember about him, and I also remember you telling him being nigh invincible ."

Xuelong nodded as she spoke, "Yes, as long as he is near a body of water, he is near invincible."

Ryan frowned before his eyes widened in alarm as he quickly spoke, "Can he control the water inside someone's body?"

Ylerias frowned hard while Xuelong replied with a shrug, "No idea, you will have to ask him."

"I see."

With that, Ryan's face morphed into a scowl as he continued to speak, "So, how dangerous is that creature if it can cause harm to someone of his stature."

Michalina quickly supplied to her brother's chain of thought, "He might have lost his levels like the rest."

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"That may be the truth, sister, but unfortunately, we do not know what he went through since, what is his current level and most importantly, how much of the previous abilities that he can wield."

Michalina bit her lips as she spoke, "That paints a dire picture indeed.", she then turned towards the other two apostles as she continued, "Your Holiness, what is His race?"

Ylerias acknowledged her question with a nod as she replied to her, "Uncle Xue belongs to the Merfolk race, but he is a bit special even amongst them."

"How so?"

As Ryan questioned her, Ylerias continued with a smile on her face, "The thing about Merfolk is that when they are born, they share more resemblance to some aquatic creature rather than us land dwellers."

"Most do not have legs like us and will never do, but in some cases, they evolve, gaining more similarities to us land-dwellers."

As Ylerias stopped, Xuelong picked up with a grin on her face, "And here is the kicker, these evolutions happen only to a lucky few, and no amount of levelling up or training can trigger it."

Ylerias nodded in agreement as she continued, "True, and Uncle Xue sired by Sea Dragon and Leviathan type merfolk, was born as an evolved."

As the siblings' eyes widened slightly, Ylerias continued, "Uncle Xue is on a class of his own, but enough of that, how are we to proceed with our current situation?"

Xuelong frowned as she spoke, "If uncle Xue would have trouble with it, then the creature is troubling indeed."

Ryan frowned as he spoke, "Can you give an example about his strength."

Xuelong smirked as she spoke, "You remember that Iron dragon?"

As Ryan nodded, Xuelong continued with the smirk, "He would have slapped the creature to death, and that is, how scarily strong he is, amongst the Apostles he boast the highest strength."

Ylerias snorted as she spoke, "Please, sister, do not sell yourself short, as you are not that far behind, and if it were not for the level difference, you would have surpassed him in pure strength."

"That may be true, but you have to give credit where it is due."

Ylerias nodded in agreement while Ryan turned to speak with Lance, "High Priest, your people and you are more knowledgeable on the creature, so please enlighten us about it."

Lance bowed deeply towards Ryan before he began to speak, "Your Holiness, it was early morning when the creature fast attacked us, and it was swift as well as vicious."

"The creature attacked our ships from directly beneath us, and it used its massive size to capsize and sink our ships, it was quite agile and cunning, and if only would have been able to operate the cannons on our ship, then we would not have suffered such loses."

Ryan frowned as he spoke, "How tough is its hide?"

"Not by much if you ask me, again, as I have said before, it was because of the sudden loss of our level we were caught flat-footed, or else we would have killed it easily, the main thing about the creature is its size, speed and its flexibility."

"Even after all that, we managed to damage it, but alas, while we are stuck here, it is hunting and growing stronger with each day, and currently, it is impossible for us to harm it any more."

Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose as he spoke with a sigh, "Troubling."

"Your Holiness, may I suggest something?"

As Ryan nodded, Lance continued with a touch of reverence in his voice, "Your Holiness, I am more of a healer than a fighter, and during the battle against the creature, I had spent most of my time healing the injured, as such may I be rude enough to point you towards the Captain, as he might be more insightful than I am."

Ryan nodded as he spoke, "That would be much appreciated."

Lance suddenly got a bit fearful look on his face as he spoke, "There is also something I wish to warn you about the Captain."

As Ryan permitted him to continue with a wave of his hand, Lance suddenly looked very old, as he continued with a look of unease on his face, "The Captain was a very pious and devout worshipper, but recent events had tested his faith, and he had was found wanting, and since then he has been spouting a bit of heresy, and many seem to be following him."

Xuelong let out a growl while Ylerias spoke with a barely concealed anger in her voice, "And why are you all suffering in a heretic?"

Lancer slouched as he began to speak, "Because not only we are low in number, he has some of the best warriors and hunters following him."

Ryan quickly spoke while trying to diffuse the situation, "We will deal with the problem, later on, as at present, our main priority is that creature out there."

Both Ylerias and Xuelong sent Ryan a stern look, weighing the pros and cons of such action before they decided to acquiesce to Ryan's advice.

A few more minutes later, Lancer left the group alone, and as he moved further away, Ylerias popped a barrier around them using runes.

"So, what should we do now?"

As Michalina asked the million-dollar question, Xuelong began to speak, "We should break up into groups to learn more about his creature."

"And terrain as well."

Xuelong nodded in agreement towards Ryan as she spoke, "That too, we have to know the place where we are to fight it."

With that decision in mind, they split into smaller groups, and each group moved on to perform their separate tasks.

While Siora and Michalina had taken the aircraft high up in the sky to map the terrain, while Ylerias had taken Shakidra with her to question the survivors about the creature, leaving Xuelong and Ryan to confront the captain.

As the duo made their way towards the last known location of the  captain, Ryan could not help but ask out a question running inside his mind, "Xuelong, may I ask you something?"

"Feel free to ask me anything my love."

Ryan blushed slightly at Xuelong's tone before he continued, "How should we deal with the captain?"

"Simple beloved, if the captain turns a new leaf, then he would be spared, and if not, then heresy will be dealt with extreme prejudice."

"Then we have to make sure to deal with him in a way that does not cause resentment to be born with others."

Xuelong nodded as she spoke, "True, as it would be incredibly tricky, especially when he is looked up to by many."

"So, how should we proceed?"

"First, we test the waters by casually talking with him, try to learn about your newest prey, and if he is outright hostile from the beginning, we will kill him then and there."

Ryan nodded in agreement before he spoke in a whisper, "What should we do about the person trailing us?"

"Nothing, as long as the person does not attack us, we do nothing."

The duo soon found themselves taking a small path that took them up the right peak and then into a clearing, where the captain sat surrounded by his men.

The captain's eyes widened momentarily upon seeing Xuelong before he spoke with a smirk, "My my, what an auspicious occasion to have an Apostle amongst us, what can I do for you, Your Holiness."

The mocking edge, on The captain's tone, was not lost to either of them, but Xuelong did not rise to it as she spoke, "The giant creature tell us about it."

"Why? So that you can show up to us, gain favour and glory, have your name written in annals of history."

The Apostles frowned at his words as Xuelong once again spoke, "We came to learn about the creature nothing more, so sto..."

"Shut up, I was not born yesterday, and I know why you are here, for it is to deal with a heretic right me, right? Go ahead, do your worst I am not afraid to speak against your God."

The duo looked stunned for a moment before Ryan could no longer stomach it as he broke into laughter while Xuelong desperately tried to control hers.

"Sorry, your joke was too much for us to handle, and did you seriously think we came this far for you? Just how arrogant are you? We are busy, and we do not have time to bolster a pitiful heretic's fragile ego."

Hearing that, the captain jumped up from his seat as he spoke with a snarl, "How dare you whore, how dare you!"

Ryan was feeling annoyed by then, and he had a quest to complete, and as such, he spoke with a sigh, "Are you done with your pity party? Unlike some, we are busy."

"I will show you what busy is, attack them!!!"

With a warcry, the captain's group jumped on the duo, while, on the other side of the island, Ylerias turned to look towards her fellow Apostles' direction before she spoke in a whisper while shaking her head in exasperation.

"They should have dealt with the heretic, before he could spit out heresy."

Shakidra's brow wrinkled with a frown before she spoke with a sigh, "It seems, we have to deal with a few heretics on our own."

As she spoke, the duo found themselves being surrounded by a group of people who looked ready to kill them.