220 We Come Bearing Gifts (1/2)

”Do you have any idea where Der could have gone?” Daniel asked to Jerigh through a wisp of sound essence, receiving only a simple shake of Jerigh's head as a response. He then stopped to think for a minute, and started to evaluate the situation.

The ship was still moving, and they hadn't stopped, because otherwise, they would have felt it, and an announcement would have been sent out to the rest of the passengers if they did. That meant that they were still moving towards their original destination.

Unsure of which place was set as the first destination of this crossing, he knew that if they waited for a few more weeks, they would ultimately end up reaching it.

Of one thing Daniel was clear.. no matter where they would end up first, if they reached that destination along with these monsters, that would likely spell extinction for the inhabitants of that unlucky world.

In the end, there was only one thing that he could do. He didn't know where Der was, but since he needed to start looking somewhere, he decided that the captain's cabin was the first place to search for information.

On their way, they found a few more closed doors, and whenever they were sure that there wasn't any monster around, and that they could get away with a few knocks, the two of them would stop and try to warn these people that leaving their cabins would mean death, and that if they really needed to, they should avoid using immortal essence, or making sounds altogether.

He would generally get two different results.. The first one usually happened when the people that were more powerful than he was.. they would treat him like an idiot. In the second case, the passengers were less powerful, and while they would still not believe their words, he would at least be able to forcibly pull them out of the room, and show the corridors covered in blood, and the pieces of ripped off flesh strewn all about.

”These damn idiots..” muttered Daniel in his mind, while finally walking out of the area of the passenger's cabins, and reaching the counter where people could pick up their keys, and receive the item that they could use to lock the formations of their rooms.

The sight in the corridors was horrific to say the least, but here, it was actually terrifying.

What was so terrifying about this hall, were not the remains of the people who had stupidly tried to fight the monsters, but the monsters themselves, which were roaming the area like a group of headless chicken.

Daniel had been in the captain's cabin once before, and therefore, he knew that there was no choice but to go through this hall. There were a few more paths towards the captain's cabin, but they would take hours at the speed they were going.

”We have to go through..” Said Daniel to Jerigh, with a wisp of sound essence.

Jerigh, visibly nervous about the idea, quickly took a deep and quiet breath, and nodded in confirmation to Daniel's plan. The two then walked into the area while making as little noise as possible.

Daniel did not know what accidentally bumping against of these beasts would mean, but for some reason, he knew that he wouldn't come out well either way, so, the two carefully avoided each and every one of the two hundred odd monsters that had regrouped in this area.

While walking through them, Daniel quickly noticed a few interesting, yet disturbing details. Some of these individuals had died much earlier than others, and the remains of flesh on their body had already started to rot. That meant that the flesh was not part of the body like the split bones were, as well as the fact that this mess had started at least a few days earlier.

The stench of the rotting monsters had filled the entire hall, and Daniel and Jerigh were barely able to avoid gagging. More than once both of them almost slipped and fell on a random puddle of blood, or piece of unidentified flesh, but the other was able to help them just in time to avoid making loud noises, and being found out.

The monsters were moving around at a relatively fast pace, and for the two of them to avoid bumping into them, while also having to walk on eggshells, was extremely hard. Daniel had more or less found a fix to his problem, by constantly reminding to himself and Sewah of how his survival was a matter of luck.

There was a moment where a monster was walking directly towards them, but thanks to what Daniel jokingly called in his mind a 'divine intervention', a second monster that was nearby changed course, and bumped against the approaching one, causing a short fight to start between the two.

An exchange of lightning speed hits suddenly took place for a few moments.. But then, the two immediately stopped fighting. Daniel started to guess what the reason for the disappearance of their fighting intent could be, and soon enough, an idea popped in his mind. He was relatively sure that the reason, was that the two monsters had quickly realized that they weren't fighting against a 'prey', but against another monster.

After what felt like the longest five minutes of their lives, Daniel and Jerigh finally managed to leave the hall and enter into one of the main corridors, that would then split into various paths that respectively lead to the crew's quarters, and a few other parts of the ship.

These main corridors were relatively empty, and hardly any trace of blood or battle could be seen on the wall, floors, and ceiling. Daniel and Jerigh were finally able to speed up their pace without having to worry too much about attracting the monsters in the hall.

*Clink*

A door suddenly opened from their left.

”Pssst.. hey!” Said a middle aged woman from the other side of the door, trying to catch Daniel's attention.

The two were feeling the urgency of finding Der, and after the dangerous situation they had just been in, they didn't want to stop anymore.. But since Daniel didn't know if there were monsters nearby, he had no choice but to stop.. If one of those remarks used by the woman to grab his attention actually ended up catching up a monster's attention instead, they would be the ones to be screwed, as the woman would only need to close her door, while Daniel and Jerigh would be out in the open in the corridor.

Without thinking about it twice, Daniel dashed quietly towards the door, and after pushing it gently open, he entered along with Jerigh. The woman on the other side did not resist, and let the two enter. She had thrown carefulness to the wind, as she had thought that no one in this situation would dare to have bad ideas.