Whether it was his adventures through the World Between on the Ghostship of Cauron Thorn or the miracles shown to him through his Mana Vision, Aaron Grimstall frequently witnessed spectacles beyond mortal understanding.
Similarly, Eleanor Lynn traversed the Great Beyond itself, a land existing outside of the normal flow of time and space, while meeting with the manifestations of gods and their authority as if it were a normal business day.
Yet, even with such things wrapped so closely within their minds, nothing could've prepared them for the scene they now gazed upon.
The vessel that they drifted on through the eerie fog shone with such radiance that one could've compared it to a star made up of runes.
Sheer insurmountable force wafted from the core deep beneath their feet, warning the lurking beasts of varying magnitudes of the return of a monster.
The rift behind them had closed in seconds, their location seemingly within what Lord Thorn had described as the Devil's Mist.
With the mind-defying structure of the World Between, the Dimension of Waves was but a blotch within a vast crevice in what could only be described as a tree.
The waters that the Ghostship traversed were equivalent to the bark of that organism, with every dimension existing upon branches near the highest point, with the exception of two.
From the inside of that dent in the trunk, the blond-haired teenagers stared upward at those sparkling worlds each birthed from the advent of godhood.
Flowing rivers of mana drifted throughout the sky, filling the mystical void with color that surpassed the cloudiness of the fog, while the plain-gray waves that sloshed gently against the hull restored a sense of unexpected tension.
Smells of all sorts drifted through the air in patchy clumps, with the most prominent of which being that of a humid, almost tropical aroma.
Of course, due to the thick fog, neither of the two travelers could see the dying branch that hung close towards the Dimension of Waves, clutching the last remaining dimension.
It was the only one throughout the universe to be visible even through the Gates of Heaven, going by the name 'The Green World' by humans.
Aaron could only stare aimlessly into the waters ahead, the strange world he existed in, alongside the feelings the Ghostship was transmitting onto him, confused and strengthened him.
"We need to set course…"
He said it in an almost drowsy sense of tranquility, as if he were already half asleep while still standing.
"I'll check the map that Lord Thorn gave to us. You, on the other hand…"
Eleanor paused, pursing her lips.
"Should go rest. Your core is circulating mana at an unhealthy rate, and your pulse is dropping rapidly."
There was worry coated in her voice, something the boy didn't overlook for even a second.
"I'll be in the cabin then. Call me if you see anything."
She nodded after hearing his words and watching him begin his short march down the stairs and into the original quarters that had existed as long as the ship had, even back in its old form.
It was still cluttered from the last battle he had fought aboard, the various messed-up papers, maps, and tools being spread out anywhere that wasn't the floor.
I had avoided cleaning too much on my way to Blackport Ridge, but now it feels silly not to return it to the way it was…
His eyes lingered on the odd, unchanging cabinet that had haunted him since the very first day on the ship.
Its keyhole, empty as always, glared at him with an almost arrogant expression, at least, as much as an object could muster.
Unlike two times before, there were no pieces of parchment resting atop its surface, a fact that reassured him slightly based on the factors that came alongside such developments.
The first threw me into this mess… What was it now? Something about awakening a lost ship of the sea? Sounds original…
He chuckled, amused by the events of months of old.
The other was some meaningless riddle. The holy tribunal awaits sentencing, and the night of the heavens yearns for death. How impactful…
This time, Aaron didn't even react to the memory, seemingly displeased with its impossible-to-decipher nature.
Closing his eyes and taking a slow, heavy breath, he smiled.
Unlike before, I won't say anything foolish like 'How bad could this possibly be?' and just get my ass to work… Eleanor might think I'm an idiot, but at least I'm not a repetitive one.
And with those semi-motivational words that he swore were his dignity, the boy embarked on his hardest mission of the day so far: cleaning.
…
Eleanor couldn't quite understand how she could tell that they were approaching their destination, simply a strange nagging in her chest that stirred her subconscious.
Mr. Crab hadn't appeared to guide her like he had the first time she had boarded the ship, and Aaron was still 'resting' below deck, as she could so clearly hear because of the occasional crash or bang.
What a fool… It's been nearly ten hours, and he's still doing whatever the hell he's doing down there…
Unbeknownst to the young girl, even while it appeared that the boy had been 'resting' for ten hours, he had truly spent his time elsewhere, only becoming more fatigued than he was before.
However, now, as the lights on the Ghostship began to dim and the terrors she could see lurking in the distance started to draw closer, she could tell it was time to leave the World Between at last.
Not wishing to disturb the boy below, she took it upon herself as the makeshift navigator to get them out of such a world.
Spinning the hourglass gently, she felt a massive tug of her own mana that made her regret thinking less of the boy who had used it earlier.
His fatigue wasn't unjustified…
Making a strained expression, she watched as the space before the vessel began to shift and warp to a degree equal to their entry.
With two turns, they had used their first full use, and as planks groaned, the sails roared, the waves howled, and the runes glowed, an endless mess of stimulation overwhelmed her senses at once.
From the cabin, she heard a sudden bang as if someone had hit their head and then a sprint from the door to the stairs.
"We're here!?"
He had to shout over the noise; however, he had expected that based on the sheer volume of the scene.
Eleanor didn't respond verbally; only a short nod of her head signalled all she needed to say to the boy.
A smile broke onto his face for one singular moment, only quenched by what came soon after.
SLORP… SCHLAAAK
Aaron's grin was wiped away as a massive, twenty-foot tentacle collided with his side, knocking him into the Ghostship's wall.
The blonde-haired priestess couldn't even react before she was slammed against the deck as well.
Crimson blood dripped from their mouths and noses as they looked for the perpetrator, a beast that sounded as if it were laughing.
Both their eyes widened at a sight that shook them to their cores, a foe that they hadn't anticipated finding.
The boy's thoughts rushed as he stared at the red, slimy, and tentacled kraken whose yellow beady eyes bore into his own.
Not only that, but just from a glance, he could tell that this one was a different level than the ones he had studied in books provided by Cam.
This was almost certainly a High-level sea terror, one that, while small in size, had enough raw strength to crush even the mightiest of warships if they weren't armed with superhuman guardians.
T-this isn't a normal…
His eyes glazed over as the mutated beast roared in rage, the normally Mid-level terror now multiple magnitudes stronger than usual.
At the front of the ship, the rift continued to widen at a rapid rate, catching the eye of the oversized octopus, its eyes glancing over repeatedly.
Aaron's pulse skyrocketed as he understood what would soon happen if he were taken out so easily.
S-strava… It'll be destroyed by that… Abomination…
Adrenaline pumped through his body while the mana that he had begun to recover during his 'rest' surged forth.
His one good hand was instantly filled with Ocean's Bane, which glowed with a murderous red.
『Interrupting a queen such as myself so easily? I think not.』
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Eleanor beginning to rise, the Aether already circulating around her hands into the form of a bow.
Leaving her to her own methods of fighting, he didn't waste a second, launching himself upward with the propulsion of his metallic leg.
Furthermore, in one extreme exhale, he shouted out commands to the Ghostship now many meters below.
"LOAD CANNONS!"
While he had never tested Mr. Crab's ability to manage the offensive capabilities of the ship before on his own, he had to risk it now, for, without the aid of a terror-killing machine, victory was impossible.
In the air, feeling his body start to drop, he slammed his sword downward in a crescent arc of pure destruction.
『Aquatic Rift』
Using an attack he hadn't used since the battle with the juvenile Oblivacis, he felt the force of the tide itself sway with him.
Gravity bent, pressure held, and the fog tensed as the explosion of force broke through the air and towards the kraken.
Without waiting for whether it would instantly kill the beast or not, he shouted out one final comment before falling back onto the deck.
"FIRE CANNONS!"
He didn't even know if they were loaded, much less in a state to be fired, yet on cue, an eruption of force and noise shot past him.
Two balls of rock, his strike of gravity-defying waves, and a barrage of golden arrows made of liquid gold produced by Eleanor, all hurled towards the beast at once.
It was an unstoppable combination, that was, unless the opponent had predicted such a move.
Thrusting its dozens of tentacles outward, it sacrificed nearly half of them in exchange for negating Aaron's blow, their slimy surface falling into the waves.
Then, with an outstanding performance of agility, its cone-shaped head dove into the water and then shot out like a dolphin, clearing a single cannon shot and eight of the twenty arrows.
Unfortunately for the creature, regardless of its planning, one of the cannonballs pierced its eye, blinding it partially, while the arrows collided with its mouth, sealing it shut like stitches.
It tried to let out a screech; however, with its mouth bound, it was nothing but a whining toddler begging for help.
"RELOAD THE CANNONS FOR ANOTHER—"
As he prepared to fire once more, he felt the tides begin to shift, a wave of hostility settling over him.
Aaron's eyes darted in every direction before noticing something massive moving through the World Between just below the water's surface.
The vessel's runes began to glow in colors he had never seen before, a testament to whatever was heading straight towards him.
The kraken sensed such a being as well, its form instantly turning in the opposite direction and fleeing.
"SAIL AHEAD!"
With the only thing he could do left, he ordered the ship forward and toward the rift that the large kraken was now fleeing towards.
To battle against a High-level terror and win was next-to-impossible for the weak boy; however, it wasn't utter insanity.
What would, in fact, be utter insanity would be fighting the thing that approached, as, to anything within nearly a one hundred kilometer radius, it was the Apex-level being that ruled even those of the same classification.
Therefore, as the Ghostship tore through the dimensional crack at its fullest speed only shortly after the massive octopus, he could only stare in horror at the void behind him; that monster, still far, yet, at a glance, he could tell, it was close enough to kill him in the blink of its eye.