The Admiral’s Biggest Hunt

“Wh… What… in the hell is that?!” Morgan shouted in utter fear as a shadow was cast on the entire ship. All of the useless crew were in a panic, and this time I understood their fear as I felt it too.

A colossal monstrosity just appeared directly from a distance, opposite in the direction of where we are sailing. The entire thing almost blocked my entire vision of the island where I left that demon lord to die by my spell. The entire volcanic island is gone and it has sunk into the depths. I cannot believe my own eyes for one second. The entire fortress of which I entered to slay the demon queen lifted from the depths and into the surface.

This massive black fortress with white and red markings glowed as it appeared. It hovered over the hole it just made after leaving its grave. The islands and the water around it fell into the hole and created a massive maelstrom for a few minutes and then dissipated after the water completely leveled. It then finally went down and touched the surface of the sea, creating waves almost as high as my ship. I even felt the waves hitting my ship after a few minutes before the fortress finally touched the sea.

So this is what the demon lord was plotting back there. That damn bitch. I should have killed her right there and now when I had the chance. Seeing her suffer under the curse as well as a test to Shiva was my intent before that thing awakened. That doesn’t matter now, the poison from Regina Aqua will kill her soon enough. Everything still doesn’t add up to her using something from a spell of her own skills. None of her skills shown in appraisal indicate something related to summoning a fortress to kill your adversaries. It must not have been a magical skill then,.. but what was it?

The crew of The Aiyan Conqueror was in a frenzy trying to do whatever they could to escape with the ship after seeing that massive thing float from the sky and onto the sea. Some of the men even went to prepare the ship to sail away from that monstrosity. Others find themselves motionless, in awe at the fortress that seems to float from the sea.

“Fools! Turn us around NOW! Head straight toward that fortress as it would appear that we still have unfinished business against the demon lord!” I shouted towards the deck below the helm.

“Signal the entire fleet to turn around and head to that fortress. The demon queen might still be alive and we need to finish her here.”

“...Yes admiral!”

All of the 6 ships that are headed home turned around to face the spawn of the demon lord. It took some time for us to turn around while being under the gaze of the fortress. All of the sails were dropped from their folded rest and the ships went to their full speed. There were 3 ships that were left behind near the islands for patrolling and are probably fighting that thing right now. I couldn’t even see them from here since they are all behind the Western Island.

“...What the hell?! … Oh god… What are those things?!...” After not another minute of silence due to being occupied by making preparations for the ships to turn, my crew once again cried from what they were witnessing.

“Silence!... What is it this time!?” I did not for one see anything unusual as I turned around to face the fortress. The moving sails from each section of the ship covered the scene of the islands from the helm.

“Admiral! Something is trying to get out from the constraints of the fortress!” Morgan shouted at me from the crow’s nest. I took off from commandeering the helm and went to look at the fortress from the front bow of my ship.

“...?!”

My eyes grew wide in shock as I saw the fortress spring into action. A large bright white tentacle appeared from each side of the fortress as if some kind of sea creature was contained inside trying to break free of the fortress. I waited for a creature to emerge but none appeared. These tentacles were of the fortresses’. After it released those two tentacles, five smaller tentacles appeared at the end of the larger one. It then went down into the sea faster than I expected it would be considering its massive size. It would appear that it was attacking something, probably defending itself from the 3 ships that were left behind.

“Do you think they could even manage that thing? Those ships we left behind to patrol for any demon survivors?” Morgan asked me a question. I don't even know the answer now.

I witnessed the action again in horror as one of the large tentacles was holding a ship high up in the air and threw it away behind it.

“Mother of God…”

“What even is that thing?!”

“Turn us around, we need to get away from here!”

My crew cried and pleaded for me to change my mind and return home, away from the danger. They are as useless as ever. They forgot what they had signed up for when we went recruiting for sailors. Now is their chance to meet their purpose and die honorably for their Admiral.

“Silence! If we do not deal with that now, it will deal with us later on. We need to destroy that thing before it destroys Toratoga. I do not want to return home bringing disaster upon us.”

“But Admiral, that size of that thing is completely out of our league. We cannot possibly destroy that with lesser light arrows. How do you even propose to destroy that thing?”

Everyone looks at me dead in the eye. Even Morgan is concerned about how we beat this thing. I guess we need to sneak inside of it again to kill the demon queen once and for all.

“Did you forget my power? I hold the most powerful sword here in this world that could cut anything it pleases. I, Astin Petrel, the hero of the 7th tower will slice that thing in half when we get there. Give me all your aid in this battle and each of you will be granted a ship and crew once we step on our home islands again. You will all be granted the title of nobles once we return victorious. Now I ask you for your complete contribution in this upcoming battle.”

Of course, even when we happen to be victorious in killing that thing, they will only be granted a higher wage for the rest of their lives. No ships or royalty, all of those must be with the heroes' privileges. I only asked them to die in battle for me or continue to live and serve me. This is all for moral boosting, that's all.

The entire crew cheered for my success in this upcoming battle. Signalmen also sent messages to the other ships for their complete obedience. Each ship responds and gains more activity on the deck.

“Are you sure about this, Astin?” Morgan asks me quietly as he stands beside me after finishing whatever he was doing below deck.

“Do not worry. I will use my final skills if it comes to it. But for now, we head for that thing head-on.

The fortress seemed to have retracted its tentacles for now. It slowly turned around heading straight East. It was so fast for our ships to follow. I didn’t expect that thing to have such incredible speed despite being so massive.

“Admiral, we have passed the island mark where three of our ships were. They are all gone.”

“Reel in the survivors stranded in the water. Take whatever weapon you can find floating in the water. Once we are done, we chase that thing into the Eastern side of the Avia Abyssal Sea.”

Several more wrecks of ships are seen throughout the area of the islands. The massive hole that thing left was enough for the seas around it to drop in depth. A part of what makes the Avia Abyssal Islands was cut out from the shape of an awakening beast. After some time the seas that tried to fill the hole eventually calmed down and judging by the shape of it, it was triangular and downright massive. Since the cooperation between those vampires started, all of my individual armadas are communicating via bats. They were no ordinary creatures as they were the vampires themselves. They take the form of the creature and fly to another fleet and back. Usually, these vampires roost on top of the mast or the crow’s nest and each ship Toratogan Fleet has them as well as the West Cardavenia Empire, their empire. At times of peace and searching for the demon lord hiding beneath the waves, traffic between communicating fleets was light but not for what we are experiencing at the moment. Bats from the general direction of where the fortress have gone steadily increased in number as well as frequency. More and more of those vampires reported to The Aiyan Conqueror than ever before.

One of the vampires reports the situation and the losses of the fleet. One told the entire crew of The Aiyan Conqueror that their fleet captain panicked the moment that fortress tore the island apart in its wake. They shot the massive beast with the Lesser Light Arrows but the damage was infinitesimal. The fortress had something similar to a Mana Shield Skill that blocked the entire attack of their fleet as the vampire would report it. The fortress responded in kind with its tentacles tearing and ripping their armada one by one. It was a 12-ship fleet with ships scattered by 3s to secure the Avia Abyssal Islands. 6 were destroyed in the battle. 3 were sunk by those tentacles and 3 more were fired upon by a similar weapon of the Lesser Light Arrows equipped on each of my ships as a standard weapon. This replica of the arrows was not arrows at all, they were shorter and fired faster than anything we had. It tore all 3 ships in a single salvo and with incredible precision. A loud mechanical noise is even heard from the distance where the weapon is fired from the fortress. At least according to the reports of the vampires, this completely outmatches every weapon in my arsenal. I believe I have to approach this fortress up close and tear it from the inside with Shiva. The pure Oceantite sword pierces everything and that is what gives me hope and what I shall do! It is but a shame to not have that fortress converted for my own domain. Only to see it destroyed even diminishes not only the morale of a demon but also my own. Not that demons would have morale. They are savages.

“Get me messenger bat from the crow’s nest. Whisper in that bat ‘We need all available ships and fleets to head to the Siren’s Mist and possibly into the center of the Aiyan Typhoon. Bring the vampire representatives and their elite forces, also bring the Monitors.’”

“Understood Admiral.”

I doubt those white, bloodless bastards can even do anything against that fortress summoned by the demon queen. Those monitor ships are still experimental but the upcoming battle would be the best for them to test it on the field.

The massive black flying fortress began to move again as it was hovering above the water and slowly turned towards the Siren’s Mist that surrounds the Aiyan Typhoon. After a moment of pause, it went down into the sea touching the waves as it glided in that direction. It was so massive yet it pierced the waves like how I have pierced the Demon Lord with Shiva. The waves were nothing to it like how the Demon Lord was to my sword. As I was describing in detail how magnificent the enemy was at their fortress, more reports from several bats that I have sent to relay orders to chase the fortress have been received. A vampire messenger from the Northern Aiyan Sea Fleet responded to the call and turned to head toward the edge of the Aiyan Typhoon. Another vampire from the Southern Aiyan Fleet has also responded but the fleet was currently on a training mission for raiding merchant ships at the edge of the typhoon. Several vampires from the other smaller fleets have responded and had already attacked the fortress as it was trying to flee. From the directory of our list of 33 armadas, only about 23 which are the bigger armadas have responded and are heading to the edge of the typhoon. Vampires were also sent to the remaining 10 smaller fleets but only 5 have returned to tell the tale to their admiral that they were already engaging the fortress. The other 5 were presumably already falling at the depths.

Each of the 5 remaining vampires reported the format of the encounter from that fortress. Each of their respective fleets caught the sight of the beast and turned to attack it from a distance as it moved. The fortress would use the Mana Shield it had and block all the incoming fire from their ships. The fortress responds with a light arrow attack and destroys all of the pursuers. Some of the ships in their fleet even manage to block the path of the fortress in advance, in an attempt to alter its course. The fortress was moving faster than our ships tenfold and simply rams the fleet that dares to block its path. I have already lost 5 smaller fleets and am about to have 5 more based on their report. Those fleets contained at least 6 ships with them. 66 including the first ships from the Avia Abyssal Islands have lost to this monster of a weapon. Is this what that demon lord summoned? How bothersome. Even her summon wages battles far better than her! How could one be such a crowned ‘Demon Lord’ if she could not even best her own summons.

“I have a bad feeling about this Admiral Petrel. There is nothing in the East other than the mist and the great typhoon. The demon queen won’t go in there even with that colossal fortress.”

“There is nothing to fear. Even if they managed to cross into the Siren’s mist. We must chase them with everything we have. I must put an end to that demon lord’s summon once and for all before it gets to be the other tower's problem.”

“Helmsman. Head straight east. Chase that damn thing. I’ll be in my quarters.”

“Yes Admiral!”