South Sea, Adventure II
Following dinner, the most important people on the ship gathered in one place—the meeting room.
“All right. Let’s talk about the Abyss Shellder hunt.” The participants included the captain, Riella; the vice captain, Asam; the other combat specialists; and...
“Hm...”
...the man in the bear costume, Shu. Though they’d only just stumbled upon him, he was clearly the strongest person on the ship, so inviting him had been the obvious choice.
“It’s now been a week since we entered the South Sea, but that damn crab hasn’t shown itself once,” Riella said before pointing at a map displayed on the wall by a projector-like device. There was a point of light at about two-thirds of the way across the South Sea, starting from the west. The coordinates said that this was the current location of the Adventure II. “At this rate, we’re likely to end up in the buffer zone between here and the East Sea.”
Corpse Stronghold, Abyss Shellder, was a UBM causing chaos all over the South Sea. Since it was active over such a wide territory, it could be encountered anywhere within that area—but it was also entirely possible to sail across the entire South Sea without spotting it once.
It was quite ironic that so many ships had hoped for the latter only to end up destroyed, while the Adventure II, who actually wanted to encounter Abyss Shellder, had stayed safe. At least their lack of success in their hunt had allowed them to pick up Shu, which would increase their chances of emerging victorious when they did eventually track it down.
“We’ll turn around when we get to the buffer zone... But that creates another problem,” Riella said with a bitter frown. Conflicted expressions crossed the faces of Asam and the other sailors.
Looking at them, Shu could see a strange mix of panic, regret, and relief in their eyes.
“Is turning around really such paws for concern?” Shu asked. However, Riella didn’t answer. She didn’t even look at him.