novelraw Chapter 116 : Deep Sea Mystery
Chapter 116 : Deep Sea Mystery
Chapter 116: Deep Sea Mystery
Unlike the turbulent sea surface, the underwater world was calm. But for Levi, that was basically useless. His Puppet Bird had no illumination capability, so without using 【Soul Sight】, visibility underwater was probably less than ten meters… and below that, it was pitch black.
A perfect match for every condition where deep-sea monsters might lurk.
Levi’s control range was only 200 meters, so he couldn’t send the Puppet Bird too far. Fortunately, the thing didn’t seem to be approaching.
Unfortunately, it also wasn’t leaving. Instead, it maintained a fixed distance, continuously trailing behind the Arctic Star.
Like a predator sizing up its prey.
What a hassle…
Levi sighed inwardly.
For now, this was the only option. As for the iceberg, he decided to ignore it. Compared to the iceberg, the thing trailing behind the ship was the real threat.
After making his decision, Levi left the power compartment with the designer and the First Mate, then went to find the captain again.
“Weapons… you say?”
“That’s right. Does the Arctic Star have any weapons?”
“This…”
Levi’s question clearly surprised the captain. He frowned and thought for a moment.
“To be honest, the Arctic Star does have some weapons, but they are just ordinary firearms, mainly for maintaining order and emergencies.”
“What about dealing with pirate attacks?”
Pirates did exist in this world. Although Levi had never seen them personally, he had read about them in newspapers.
“You can rest assured about that, Mr. Levi.”
The captain chuckled.
“You haven’t seen pirates before, have you? In this era, pirates mostly use small steam boats. They are compact, concealed, and fast, but they can only operate near the coast and rarely appear on open ocean routes. And even if we encounter them, facing this maritime fortress, they would be helpless.”
“Hmm…”
That wasn’t wrong.
“Is there a problem?”
“I think something is following us.”
Levi decided to reveal part of the truth. As expected, the captain’s expression turned serious.
“A warship?”
“No… more like some kind of creature…”
“You’re not saying it’s a sea monster, are you?”
“If I said yes, would you think I’m drunk?”
“Are you drunk?”
“I’m very sorry, but I don’t drink.”
“………………………”
The captain stared at Levi. Levi stared back. After a moment, the captain let out a long sigh.
“As for weapons, there is a harpoon launcher in storage, used for whaling. We prepared it in case we encountered whales at sea, so guests could enjoy hunting.”
This era had no wildlife protection laws. Killing animals—even whales—was not illegal.
Hunting whales at sea was like encountering lions on a safari—if you had the chance to take one down, all the better.
“You didn’t mention that before.”
“Since this is the maiden voyage, I hoped to avoid bloodshed.”
“I hope so too.”
They discussed a bit more, but neither had a clear plan for dealing with the creature trailing them.
In the end, they could only adapt to the situation.
After finishing all this, it was already afternoon tea time. Staying alone in his room was boring, so Levi went to the café again. There, he saw Annie Branson, Howard Kellis, and Molly having tea together. Not only that, Annie—who usually buried herself in books—was actively talking to them.
“Ah, Mr. Levi.”
Seeing him, Howard Kellis smiled and waved.
“You came at the perfect time. Miss Branson is sharing some interesting knowledge.”
“Interesting knowledge?”
“Yes, we’re discussing sea monsters.”
Hearing this, Levi twitched slightly but still sat down with a smile.
“Oh? Sea monsters?”
“Yes. Miss Branson firmly believes that sea monsters cannot exist.”
“Hmm? Why?”
“Because scientific data does not support their existence.”
Annie appeared unusually animated, completely different from her usual quiet reading demeanor.
“As we all know, water pressure in the ocean is immense—the deeper you go, the greater the pressure. Humans have already explored most shallow seas, yet no evidence of sea monsters has been found.”
“Then doesn’t that suggest sea monsters are hiding in the deep sea, Miss Branson?”
“I don’t deny that unknown creatures may exist in the deep sea. However, creatures described in legends—hundreds or even thousands of meters long, as large as islands—are essentially impossible. The larger the body, the greater the pressure it must withstand. In fact, the largest whales humans have encountered are only about twenty meters long. Even ancient fish fossils I’ve studied don’t exceed thirty meters. From a natural perspective, this is entirely reasonable…”
Levi found her reasoning unsurprising. Modern science also largely supported this view—sea monster stories were often exaggerations.
“And if such massive creatures truly existed in the deep sea, rising to the surface would require time to balance pressure. And a creature of that size moving in the ocean would inevitably cause significant disturbances on the surface—it wouldn’t appear suddenly without any trace, as many legends claim.”
Annie went on to refute various sea monster stories, dismissing many as nonsense. Levi didn’t argue—because the last thing he wanted right now was to prove how powerful a sea monster could be.
That wouldn’t benefit him at all.
On the contrary, if the creature was just an undiscovered deep-sea animal as Annie suggested, things would be much easier.
With that mindset, Levi chatted for a long time, had dinner, and returned to his room to rest.
Of course, before resting, he didn’t forget to check the creature’s position again using the Puppet Bird.
“Hm?”
However, when he looked again, he froze.
Why did it feel like the creature was smaller than when he first saw it?
Unexpectedly, Levi slept very well that night.
Although he had prepared for a possible attack at any moment, nothing happened. When he woke up, he was still lying in a soft bed—not floating in cold seawater. The only issue was that the storm continued without any sign of stopping.
He checked the creature’s position again—almost unchanged.
This thing can really swim… If it’s a creature, doesn’t it need rest?
It couldn’t be like in 《Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea》—a submarine, right?
For Levi, the day passed peacefully. If not for the creature still trailing the ship, he might have felt even better. But its inaction was what made it worse—it was like knowing there would be an exam in June but not knowing the exact date.
He even thought about provoking it into attacking so they could settle things quickly…
Unfortunately, the initiative wasn’t his.
And even more unfortunately, he would probably lose.
After all, the ocean was not his battlefield.
That said, he wasn’t entirely without options. If necessary, Levi could try attaching the ghost ship core to the Arctic Star. Perhaps—just perhaps—he could use its power to evade the creature’s attack… If it got a bit closer, he would consider trying it.
As long as the captain didn’t panic.
That day, Levi continued asking Annie about sea monsters. With such low visibility, he couldn’t determine what the creature was. Under 【Soul Sight】, he could only see a rough outline—like infrared imaging—a moving mass of light. Whether it was a whale, shark, octopus, or something else, he couldn’t tell.
Although Annie wasn’t a specialist in sea monsters, she was still a biologist—she knew more than Levi.
If the creature matched Annie’s description, at least there might be a way to deal with it…
Another day passed.
Levi climbed into bed and checked the creature again.
It seemed… even smaller?
Wait—was it farther away, or actually shrinking?
Levi hoped it was the former.
With that hopeful thought, he fell asleep.
Under the night sky, nothing seemed unusual about the Arctic Star. The ship continued cutting through the storm, unaffected by waves that would overturn small boats. Deep inside the vessel, everything remained calm.
Most workers had returned to rest, leaving only a few on shift. The recent events—especially the iceberg collision—had exhausted them.
Because of this, the drowsy workers didn’t notice a shadow silently moving through the corridor. It avoided them, reached a corner near a running steam engine, looked at the massive rotating shaft, then reached out, grabbed a lever, and pulled it down forcefully!
“—————————!”
Levi’s eyes snapped open.
He felt the ship tilt, trembling like an earthquake. Objects on tables slid off and shattered on the floor.
Then the massive ship shuddered—and stopped.
What happened?!
Levi jumped out of bed, got dressed, and rushed to the bridge.
“Captain, what happened?!”
“One of the engines suddenly malfunctioned—the propulsion system has failed!”
The captain frowned deeply.
“We must shut down all engines immediately and restart them to prevent imbalance!”
“Now?”
Levi frowned—not because of the mechanical failure, but because—
Through the Puppet Bird, he sensed that as the ship stopped, the creature trailing behind suddenly accelerated, rushing toward them as if it had noticed its prey was weakened.
“Be careful! It’s charging at us!”
The creature moved extremely fast. By the time Levi reacted, it was already rushing toward the ship. Without hesitation, he controlled the Puppet Bird to intercept it—he wanted to see what this deep-sea monster truly was!
However—
In an instant, the Puppet Bird only sensed the surrounding water violently churning… and then everything went dark.
It had been swallowed whole.
No time left!
Levi gritted his teeth and turned to the captain.
“You handle the ship—I’ll deal with the rest!”
With that, he left the bridge and rushed back to his cabin.
His target—was the wooden crate he had brought aboard.
“I thought I wouldn’t need this… didn’t expect I’d use it against a sea monster…”
Looking at the crate, Levi sighed, then struck it hard.
The crate burst open!