Chapter 348 Into The Deep
The Leviathan approached the world's edge slowly. From atop the boat, it looked like an endless waterfall that spanned the world. Dave couldn't see the other side of the waterfall. He said that this was a rift that went through Conquest's world. But seeing that the horizon was as black as night and he couldn't see the other side of the division. Dave had some doubts about if he had really gone outside Conquest's Planet.
"What now? We're close to the marker's location, but it's pointing down. I mean, I don't suppose we can go down that waterfall." Ralph said.
"We can, actually," Dave said and snapped his fingers, and the ship began screeching and transforming. It took its Ghost-Ship shape and closed in on the edge of the waterfall.
"Wait, wait! Are you gonna drive this toward the edge? Man, we're gonna fall!" Flanker shouted, his head was rapidly moving between Dave and the approaching edge.
Dave smiled and said, "Full speed ahead!"
The undead on the ship drew the ropes and raised the sails even higher, the boat increased its speed and went toward the edge with a faster pace.
"Fuck!" Flanker cursed and went to the nearest mast to secure himself. "If we die, it's on you!"
Dave went toward the tiller and said, "Everyone hold on tight!"
The ship's bow soon went past the edge. Lone was next to the ship's railing. She gasped when she saw the black abyss below them. The water from the sea had been falling for aeons and it seemed that it never filled this hole. And now they were going down this chasm.
When more than half the ship was beyond the sea, and above the gorge, the vessel started tilting forward.
"I sure as heck don't like heights, but I never said no to a roller-coaster, hold tight!" Dave shouted.
The ship's bow went down, and the whole boat fell down the chasm. Flanker began screaming his lugs out as they were falling. Even the girls had some dignity in them and maintained their composure though fright was apparent on their faces.
The ship fell at a rapid pace down the chasm, but after a few moments of falling, the ship's hull touched the cascading seawater and it surprisingly slowed its falling and stopped after a few more moments.
The players jerked from their position, and everything seemed to stop.
The players were holding tight to whatever they were grabbing at, but they soon realized that gravity worked differently from their current position.
The ship was currently sailing against the current of a waterfall, and even if the players were looking at the abyss bellow, their foot was stuck tight to the ship's deck.
"Why aren't we falling?" Mercy asked.
"This ship works differently than normal ships. It can dive through water, go against the current and has its own gravity field. I knew this from the last time I took it down the sea. As long as you don't go beyond the ship's railing, nothing will affect you form outside and you won't fall," Dave said.
He spun the tiller, and the ship began turning while the water cascaded down the chasm. The water moved past the ship and couldn't hinder it. Its ghostly form made it easy for the ship to manoeuvre in all water conditions.
The ship turned against the water current and began 'climbing' the waterfall.
"The first Leviathan should be somewhere around here, keep a lookout guys," Dave said.
He waved his hand and sent eight spectral skulls around the ship to light the way.
The area was dark, and the water rumbled as it fell down the World's Edge. The spectral skulls lighted the way around the ship. The skulls floated eerily around the boat as it slowly moved up.
"I see something," Perfect Shot said first.
"Where?" Dave asked.
"There is something there," Perfect pointed to the ship's starboard side. Dave saw something glistening in the far distance.
"That might be the Leviathan's location, can you shoot a fire arrow there?" Dave asked.
"Yeah," Perfect drew an arrow and nocked it on the bow. After pulling the string, the arrowhead caught fire, and he shot it ahead.
The arrow whistled as it flew from the ship and toward the glimmering object in the distance, the closer it got, the more visible the object became.
Perfect's aim was perfect. The arrow imbedded itself on a large broken pole, it was a ship's mast. From a distance Dave was able to see half a ship that was very similar to the Leviathan stuck on a large piece of rock protruding from beyond the waterfall.
"Gafgar, is that the first Leviathan?" Dave asked.
Gafgar approached the railing, taking a look with his spyglass, Gafgar sighed and said, "Yes. That's the Leviathan. It seems like half of it had fallen to the abyss."
"Yeah, well let's go and check it out," Dave spun the tiller and guided the ship toward the protruding rock.
Dave 'parked' the Leviathan near the large piece of rock and said, "Let's go look for the key," Dave said.
"I'll pass, sorry but not a fan of ghost ships that I'm not riding on," Flanker said.
"Wuss," Tess said teasingly and approached the ship's railing.
Fortress followed behind her.
"Anyone else doesn't like ghost ships?" Dave asked.
"I'll stay," Mercy said.
Dave's brows knitted together, Mercy didn't look like the sort of person who is scared of ghosts.
When Dave turned to Ralph, he saw a lewd expression on his face. Dave shook his head and ignored the two.
"I'm coming," Lone said and followed behind Dave.
"I'll keep a lookout," Perfect said.
"Stop pretending to be a brave guy, you're as spooked as me," Flanker said.
"Dumbass, look over there," Perfect pointed up.
Flanker looked up and saw hundreds of small red orbs hovering around them.
"What the fuck are those?" Flanker said, clearly creeped out of his wits.
"Don't know, but so far they didn't attack, so I'll keep a lookout. Skelly, get the key and let's leave this area as fast as we can man. I have a bad feeling about this place." Perfect said.
"Right, don't worry," Dave said as he extracted his eyes from the flying orbs and looked ahead.
"We gotta jump," Dave placed a foot on the ship's railing and jumped. As he left the ship's perimeter, gravity pulled him toward the bottom of the chasm, and he landed on his feet on the rock.
Zoe, Fortress and Tess followed after him.
Everyone landed perfectly on the protruding ledge.
Only the back half of the first Leviathan was preserved. And thankfully it was the half with the captain's quarters. But the Leviathan was very high, and there was no way the party could climb it.
"Lone, you have any ropes?" Dave asked.
"Yeah, hunters always carry ropes. Give me a second," Lone pulled a long rope out of her inventory and handed it to Dave.
Dave grabbed on end of the rope and used [Immortal Apparition] teleporting himself all the way to the top of the ship.
Dave threw the rope to the players and said, "Grab on."
Once the three of them grabbed at the rope, Dave easily pulled the three of them up. His increased Strength made it an easy job.
The ship's deck was old and dilapidated. The wood was rotten and screeched whenever it was stepped on. There were dozens of skeletons wearing old sailor clothes on the ship's deck. These were probably the undead belonging to the ship's crew.
Dave said, "Search for anything that looks like a key. Hopefully, we'll find something."
Dave rummaged through the corpses, he even looked through their pockets but couldn't find anything. He went down the ship's hull and toward the captain's cabinet.
The door was locked, but after a jerk the handle broke, and the door opened. The cabinet looked exactly like his own. But there was a dead body lying on the floor.
He flipped the body over and noticed that something was off.
The body looked familiar; it was an exact copy of the pirate that was peeling oranges in Isla De la Muerta. This was Gangplank.
Dave frowned, how could there be two of them?
Around this body was a golden neckless that ended in a pendant the shape of a ringed-cross.
Dave touched the neckless, and a notification showed up in front of him.
***
Quest update.
You have found the Key to the Vault on the Isla De La Muerta.
***
"Dave, you found it?" Lone spoke over the party-com.
They must have received the notification as well.
"Yeah, but something is off," Dave said as he stood staring at the corpse.
The three players came down and looked at the corpse. They soon realized it looked the same as the guy they saw before on the island.
"This is strange. Are there two pirates?" Fortress asked.
"Hmm, there is only one way to find out," Dave said and crouched down.
He touched the body and muttered "[Rise Undead]"
A black gas shot out from Dave's palm and penetrated through the body. The pirate's corpse began shaking, but the revival failed.
Dave tried a second time, but it failed again.
Anxiety rose up in Dave's heart. He knew that if his hunch was correct, then this could be the corpse of the Pirate King Gangplank himself. Perhaps this was the real one as he had the key and was in the cabinet. The other one must have been a fake.
If he revived this undead, he was sure that he would be a powerful undead that will serve under him.
Dave tried for the third time. The black gas infiltrated the body, and suddenly, the body turned to ash. He had failed three times in a row and could no longer revive this one.
"Damn," Dave cursed, "Well, can't do anything about this. Let's just get back to the island. If that pirate tries anything funny, we'll duke it out with him." Dave stood back up. He looked around inside the ship, finding nothing of interest. He said, "Let's get back. I think there isn't much here to find."
The party followed behind Dave. When they were on the ship's deck, Dave used [immortal Apparition] to teleport directly to his vessel and had the rest of the players hang on a rope he had.
He pulled everyone up and shared the news with the rest of the players. They found the key, and it was time to get the treasure.
Dave spun the tiller and guided the ship against the current. The ghost ship had no trouble going up the cascade. It was a fantastical scene, and it made for a great memory.
Dave noticed that the red orbs that were hovering in the chasm were retreating from the ship. They probably came to investigate and didn't find anything of interest.
The light coming from the sky brightened the dark chasm as they closed in. The ghost ship slowly made its way to the top of the World's Edge.
It slowly tilted against the current and was now above the sea.
Yet what encountered them wasn't just the vast sea. But an armada of dozens of ships all armed and at the ready.
Dave frowned for a moment; this was something he expected and didn't expect at the same time.
A hollering voice sounded from the vessel leading the armada. It was the largest ship in the fleet and on the front was a man standing on the head of a broken mermaid sculpture.
He was the same man that was peeling the oranges. "Filthy brats, ya seriously thought id' share with ye me gold? Ha! Thanks to ye, I now can get the key to the vault, hand it over and I might not throw yer bodies down the sea depth!"
The players panicked, they knew they were in trouble. The Leviathan was sure powerful and had a lot of cannons, but one ship can't beat the whole pirate fleet.
"This doesn't look good skelly," Fortress said.
"Dave, you can dive through the water and escape their hunt with the ghost ship, we can't survive underwater so we will teleport out okay?" Ralph said.
Dave, however, was calm. His hand was gently stroking his beard, and his lips curled into an evil smile.
"Dave?" Lone spoke, she saw the pirate ships turning their cannons toward the Leviathan, this wasn't a good sign.
Dave approached Fortress and spoke a few words in his ear.
This left everyone confused at what was Dave saying.
Fortress's face, however, lit up, he could barely contain a sense of excitement he had.
"You really want to give me the honor?" Fortress asked.
"Yes, I thought you'd want to do it," Dave said, his smile never disappearing from his face.
Everyone was confused as they didn't know what was going on between the two of them.
Fortress nodded and spoke one word. "Right!" His exited face soon turned serious he turned around, his back straight as he walked away from the party and toward the ship's front
Fortress climbed on the head of the draconic decoration at the front of the boat, he pointed with his sword forward toward the leading enemy ship and shouted with all he got:
"RELEASE THE KRAKEN!"