Trouble at sea

We met up at the San Pedro Beach at 5:30pm. There was a big cruise ship waiting for all the participants to arrive.

"Looks like people brought a lot of clothes with them," said Ophelia.

"Yeah, it looks like everyone is ready to move in on the island," replied Stella "he must have been expecting a lot of people to bring a cruise ship."

"It seems like he prepared for a lot of people to take his offer," said Jacob.

"Hit the mark," I said, "look at how many people there is, 250 or maybe even 300 could be here." At 5:45 pm, we were given the go-ahead to board the ship. We were allowed to have fun on this for the next 2 and a half hours before we reached the island.

The boat was called the SS Razor, and it was beautiful. The floors were made of polished wood, a wall decorated with paint, and some had works of art in some areas like the dining room and the ballroom. The living quarters were in the lower area of the ship, they were small but could fit 2 people and had some board games to play with. Lastly, there was a water slide out on the top, pool to swim in, and a jacuzzi to relax in. After our little tour, Stella got hungry and suggested we go to the dining hall.

"Man, your still a drinker Stella," I said, "it wouldn't kill you to lay off the wine."

"This is my first and only glass," she said, "you should try some it the good stuff."

"I'm not old enough to drink."

"You know that rule doesn't apply to us Slayers, we're treated as adults as soon as we register and gain a rank, so drink up and enjoy yourself."

I was tempted to take a sip from her glass, but I got the feeling that we were being looked at by the other slayers, "No, I have my water," I said, raising up my glass.

"Yeah, your right humans taste better when not intoxicated," she said, looking off to the side.

I glared at her, saying, "Like you could sneak up on me to take a bite, I'll hear you coming from a mile away."

"Daze."

"Wow, it's been over two minutes," said Ophelia "that's longer than last time, did your magic improve."

"I guess so," said Stella, "oh, he's back."

Jacob patted my shoulder "you need to increase your magic resistance, or Stella will always do that to you but don't worry as long as I'm here, I won't let Stella eat you. We're family, although it would be kinda funny to see you be dazed over a small argument."

I turned my gaze to Stella, "I'll get you back fo-"

"Hey demi-human!" a Slayer said as he walked towards our table, he looked like a fighter type, given away by the sword he had on his hip, a poorly equipped one at that, as he only had a chainmail breastplate. "I don't know where you get off using your power for fun on your teammates, but you know the rules about using 'daze' on humans is prohibited."

"Oh, I understand the law well," she replied, "the law only applies when something is done to the human afflicted with 'daze' and all the witnesses here can testify that it was just as a joke."

"That's my problem with demi-humans like you. You don't respect the human laws, and you treat your-"

"And where do you get off calling her 'demi-human'!" Jacob shouted as he rose from his seat, "Stella may be in the wrong for using 'daze' on Max, but even still, that gives you no right to call her 'demi-human' you racist!"

"Shut up you demi-lover, I wasn't talking to you I was speaking to thi-"

The two dining hall doors flung open "Quite down!" said the staff member as he walked in, there was something about the feeling this guy gave off. He must have been at least a C-rank slayer, and there must be more of them on staff, in fact, the announcer on the beach gave off the same vibe, 'we shouldn't cause trouble' I thought, now how do we get out of this. "If you cannot enjoy your meal in peace," he continued, "then head to your room, there is no need for this uncivil manner, to take place in a dining hall."

"Let's go back to our rooms," I said, "I don't feel comfortable here." The slayer bothering us headed back to his table, knowing he did not want to deal with the staff member who clearly outranked all of us in the dining hall. We got to our rooms which were right next to each other, and I noticed Stella wasn't behind us, then she came after 20 seconds.

"Sorry I had to fill up my hydration unit (water bottle)," she said.

"Should we go into your room Max," said Ophelia, man she's so quiet I almost forget she's there.

"Yeah, " I replied. "I saw some board games earlier we could play with those." When we got inside I looked to where the games were, the only game that stuck out to me was chess because I could win most of my games. "How does chess sound Ophelia," I said with a smile.

"Perfect," she said, smiling back.

"MAN THAT CHIMP(chimpanzee)," Stella cried out while laying, on one of the beds, "He got lucky that employee walking in because if not, I would have gone off on him!"

"Calling him a Chimp doesn't make you any better," Jacob said, "Plus, the matter is over so we can rest easy."

"Thank you for sticking up for me."

"It's a leader's job to do so. he said, turning his head over to see what game I would be playing. "Oh, you're going to play chess Max, I remember you were able to beat all of us except for the caretaker back at the orphanage." he walked over to see the game I would have with Ophelia and so did Stella.

"You guys were apart of an orphanage," said Ophelia.

"Yeah," Jacob replied happily "We were part of the Holenberg family, under the government's supervision."

"It was more like government experimentation," I said, "They wanted to create more soldiers for the army. Specifically, they wanted Slayers, as even an E rank fighter can be stronger than a trained soldier."

"We only found out the purpose of the orphanage after we came back from our first accidental dungeon trip when we were 13. We recognized the faces of our siblings on the television when the US flaunted its new recruits they received that year, but before then, we were in the dark about it."

"Wait, they got drafted into the army at 13?" said Stella.

"No," I said, "We were in the dungeon for around 3 years, or I should say we chose to stay in it."

"And why would you do that, aren't dungeons dangerous."

"Yeah, but some dungeons are like a world set in the past, there were still monsters a lot more of them in fact, but also people, elves and Dwarfs. Oh yeah, and most medicines are done through the use of magic.

"It caught me by surprise as well," Jacob said, "I only expected monsters to be on the other side of those things, but I guess they are rare to show up on land." Jacob leaned back on to the bed, looking up at the ceiling "when we found out I wanted to be able to reunite with my other siblings."

"And I want to find my parents, there's no way they would just leave me to the government," I said looking down at the floor. "Enough talk let's start the game, do you want to be white or black Ophelia."

"White, I wanna start firs--" then strong shaking came from the deck of the ship.

"What's happening up there," said Jacob.

"I dunno but it's got the ship shaking," said Stella "It could be monsters, we are in the ring of fire after all it's more common for underwater dungeons to appear than land ones, the same thing happens in the Bermuda Triangle."

We ran out of our room and sprinted up the stairs. "Alright, if we find monsters up there, I want us in standard position," said Jacob, "Stella and I will be at the front. Ophelia in the middle and Max you guard Ophelia's back, and Ophelia stick to using healing magic on us, we'll handle the fighting."

When we got to the deck, we saw that the shaking was coming from some mages using low-level explosive magic and the bashing of mermen that were climbing on to the ship.

"Man, it stinks," I said, putting on my face mask. I turned to look around, trying to see if any had going on the ship, none were there. We rushed over the side of the boat, and in my horror, I witnessed a sea of mermen climbing on the side. "There has to be at least 100 of them on this side," said Jacob, "start bashing as many as your can, they will be easier to handle If they're on the side of the ship."

There we went bashing, cutting, and punching away at the mermen, the staff came to help out only with the mermen that got on the ship while the rest of us took care of the sides of the boat we were able to reach. The slayers were split up into 4 groups each. We handled one of the four areas, with the group in charge of the back almost being overrun by the number of mermen coming from the sea. "This sweat is killing me," said Stella.

"I wanna take a shower," said Ophelia.

"Everyone stay alert" came over the intercom "there is still the possibility of another attack by the mermen, everyone should proceed with caution." Luckily there was no other attack, we also got word that the other 2 ships in the area got attacked as well. "How much-- longer till we get there," Jacob said, catching his breath.

"Maybe another-- 20-- minutes," I replied.

———————————————————————————

"Mr. Zackson, we're getting word from all three ships that they have been attacked by mermen," said Mr. Zackson's assistant.

"I see," said Mr. Zackson getting up from his chair and walking over to his wall-sized window overlooking the ocean. "It seems that nature is testing them before I get the chance to."