Chapter 58
Episode 58: I'll Come to Save You First
As the ship regained its balance, Noah, holding Olivia in his arms, threw open the door. Olivia, stunned by the unprecedented shock, was blankly held in his embrace.
Avoiding the items scattered on the carpet, Noah opened the emergency evacuation door prepared in each VIP room. The room was clean, with only built-in chairs equipped with seatbelts. Noah sat Olivia in the seat and fastened her seatbelt himself.
He took off the shoes that were constricting her feet and threw them outside. Then, he commanded Winifred, who appeared holding her shoulder.
"Bring Olivia comfortable shoes to wear."
"Yes, yes!"
Olivia was still sitting blankly. As Winifred disappeared, Noah grabbed Olivia's cheeks and forced her to meet his eyes.
"Olivia, snap out of it."
His firm voice brought focus back to her empty eyes. Seeing Olivia just blinking without saying a word, Noah spoke quickly and concisely.
"If anything happens, I'll come to get you first, so don't come outside for now."
Overwhelmed by his forcefulness, Olivia reflexively nodded.
Noah stood up and commanded Winifred, who had reappeared.
"Help Olivia put on her shoes, and you sit in a chair and fasten your seatbelt. I'll leave someone with you, so follow their instructions if I don't come."
"Yes, I understand."
Noah took a short, deep breath and immediately left the room.
"Your Highness!"
Turning his head at the urgent voice from behind, he saw Olivia staring at him, pale as a ghost. Reading the fear in her eyes, Noah relaxed his furrowed brow, smiled faintly, and said in a leisurely tone.
"Don't worry. We have the Magic Dome and the mages. But the ship will shake a lot. Just hold on tight."
With those words, Noah quickly left the room.
Guards from the navy and Methone were waiting for him in the outer hallway. Despite the sudden situation, their expressions were monotonous. Methone frowned and said to Noah.
"I really booked a wonderful ship. I apologize."
Without a word, Noah walked to the railing and surveyed the situation outside.
Amidst screams and groans, the Magic Dome's bombardment of light arrows continued. The sound of the ship's engine was also loud, as it had to pass through this area as quickly as possible.
"Did you happen to see what it was? A giant kraken?"
Methone approached Noah, looked outside, and asked. Noah replied with a hardened expression.
"Megalodon."
The guards' previously monotonous expressions finally twisted. Methone scratched the back of his head and muttered.
"Oh… then its friends will come. Ah, not friends, but angry prey."
The main prey of Magical Creature-type megalodons was deep-sea coelacanths. The appearance of just one megalodon could devastate most ships, but the greater disaster was the swarm of Magical Creature-type coelacanths rushing from the deep sea to chase away the megalodon.
Their skulls and teeth were as hard and tough as iron. The coelacanths, rushing to ram the megalodon relentlessly, also rammed the giant ships floating on the surface indiscriminately.
Most ships that unfortunately encountered a megalodon were sunk by the attack of the coelacanth swarm that followed, rather than the megalodon itself. So much so that megalodons and coelacanths were described as messengers of death and the sea god.
At that moment, another giant megalodon soared above the surface of the water in the distance. Immediately, the Magic Dome's Magical Power cannon flew towards it, but it failed to hit, perhaps because it was out of range.
Staring at the trajectory of the thin Magical Power cannon, Noah muttered as if spitting out the words.
"What kind of incompetent fool did they bring as a mage?"
The power of the Magical Power cannon varied greatly depending on the mage's ability. The extremely thin Magical Power line would become even slower and weaker as it entered the water.
"Wouldn't it be better to provide support against the megalodon and coelacanths?"
At the question from one of the guards, Noah took off his jacket instead of answering.
"With the main mage's skill being that pathetic."
Along with the loud alarm, the crew's urgent voices mixed chaotically. A crew member suddenly entered the outer hallway where Noah was and shouted urgently.
"Sit in the emergency seats and fasten your seatbelts! It will shake!! Refrain from moving!!"
However, Noah completely ignored the crew member's words and passed by him.
"Prince Noah?!"
"Methone, you stay and protect Olivia."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Noah quickly ran towards the control room, loosening the neck button that felt uncomfortable.
It seemed like it would be a very tiring night.
When Noah arrived at the control room, the ship lurched violently once again.
"Damn it!!"
The captain's scream-like roar erupted in the control room. He was so out of his mind that he didn't even realize the prince had entered the control room.
Noah checked the speedometer and the Magic Dome's firing direction gauge before speaking.
"Set the speed to maximum, and have all the Magic Dome gunners focus only on the lower hull."
"Ah, then what about the shark bastards that will pop out from the side……!!"
Turning his head and shouting, the captain trailed off when he saw the sleek-looking man. Noah stared at him with a humorless face and murmured lowly.
"I'll take care of the shark bastards, so don't worry about them and catch the fish that will sink the ship with their heads."
Overwhelmed by the prince's force, the captain stuttered and replied.
"…Yes, yes."
"Increase the speed more."
Noah pointed at the speedometer with his finger and turned his body.
Leaving behind a concise command, he climbed up the ladder attached to the wall of the control room. Even in the midst of this, the ship was constantly swaying and shaking, but Noah endured with his animalistic sense of balance and grip strength.
Finally reaching the top of the control room, Noah stood firmly against the flagpole, supporting himself, and surveyed the giant ship. His neat blond hair was scattered here and there by the rising wind.
Around that time, one of his guards had taken control of the Magic Dome, and the pathetic Magical Power became much thicker. Along with the vibration of dudududu, the sound of bombardment towards the underwater was faintly heard.
Noah watched the movement of the water surface with fiercely shining eyes. Thick veins bulged on his firm forearm gripping the flagpole.
At that moment, the water surface in front of the starboard side sank abnormally.
Noah stretched out his right hand, which was not holding the flagpole, and concentrated all the senses of his body on his fingertips. As the Magical Power wandering in the air concentrated on him as if being sucked in, a vortex-like wind arose.
Noah held his breath, holding the golden fireball-like Magical Power in his hand.
The important thing is timing.
And at some point, the ship tilted towards the starboard side. Noah gripped the flagpole even harder and released the Magical Power all at once.
A Magical Power line, thicker and clearer than the Magic Dome's Magical Power, struck down like lightning. The moment the golden Magical Power brushed past the front of the starboard side, the megalodon jumped above the surface of the water.
Without knowing that the moment of death was imminent.
Thud!
Along with a chilling impact sound, Noah's Magical Power pierced through its jaws and disappeared into the dark sea. As the megalodon's massive body crashed into the surface of the water, the hull tilted and swayed to the port side along with a tsunami-like spray.
Noah, who had killed the megalodon with one blow, immediately turned his head and glared at the Magic Dome.
Now that he had caught and killed the damn shark bastard, it was time to catch the school of fish.
"I should get a refund for the room fee."
His sarcastic murmur scattered into the rampant screams.
Coelacanth corpses floated around the cruise ship due to the bombardment concentrated on the lower hull.
Noah, who jumped down to the entrance of the control room, looked at the still unsettled captain with dissatisfied eyes. Vowing never to ride this shipping company's ship again, he sharply rebuked.
"The megalodon is taken care of. Coelacanths are territorial Magical Creatures, so they will keep following within their territory. Maintain maximum speed until you are 100km away from their radius!"
Although he suddenly spoke informally, neither the captain nor the surrounding crew members felt anything strange.
"Yes, Your Highness! I understand!"
Noah headed straight for the Magic Dome.
His guards were all navy special forces mages. They were elites who knew how to handle the Magic Dome better than anyone else and had extensive experience in exterminating marine Magical Creatures, so the mage hired by the shipping company had completely given up the Magic Dome control room.
When Noah appeared, the guards who were waiting for their turn at the entrance of the Magic Dome all turned to look at him.
"Did you take care of the megalodon?"
"Catching and killing one shark bastard is nothing."
"Jonan said that Wilhelm Corporation seems to have upgraded the Magic Dome quite a bit. It's a ship type, but the firepower of the cannon is as good as the ground type, and the amount of bombardment is also high."
"Oh, yes! That's right! The amount of bombardment is high, Your Highness!"
"Jonan! You focus on your work!"
The ship was still swaying and screams were rampant, but their expressions were calm. Even though they were just standing without holding anything, their unwavering attitude as if they were stepping on flat ground was also amazing.
The private mercenaries and shipping company mages stared at the prince's party with bewildered faces.
However, the prince's party, not caring about their gazes, calmly estimated the ship's speed and talked to each other.
"At this rate, we'll get away enough."
"Yes, I think so. After we're done, Your Highness won't have to exert yourself. You should go back and rest first."
"I caught a big one, so I guess that's okay. You guys have to work too."
As the guards burst into loud laughter, Noah smiled faintly and turned his body. Olivia, who had turned pale, came to his mind, and he thought about really going back to the cabin at this point.
"Huh?!"
He would have done so if it hadn't been for the bloodcurdling voice like a death cry that pierced his ears.
At the same time as the bloodcurdling scream, the vibration that had been shaking the hull finely stopped, and the faint bombardment sound also disappeared.
"Why did you stop attacking?!!"
As Noah turned his body back, the guards were yelling at their colleague in the control room.
As the bombardment sound disappeared, the coelacanth's attack was directly transmitted to the hull. The sound of thud, thud, colliding poured down like hail.
"Damn it, don't you know that stopping the attack now will make holes in the ship?!!"
"The Magic Dome is weird!!!"
