Selma glanced back at the mast lying on the deck and nodded dejectedly.
Disappointment crossed Hyatt's face: "Get everyone alive to the lower oarsroom and row the ship with all your might. We must get out of here as soon as possible..."
Selma gently shook Hyatt: "Father, we have sailed out of the river's tributary and are far from the Holy Guard City. We will no longer be attacked by the enemy."
Hyatt's weathered face revealed undisguised worry and anxiety: "That black-armored knight went to such lengths to cut down that mast in order to slow our ship down..."
Selma paused for a moment, then nodded and hurriedly relayed her father's orders to the survivors on deck.
Hyatt was trembling all over, and with Selma's help, he struggled to his feet along the bulkhead of the ship.
He said to his daughter, "Find another person to climb the watchtower and see if there are any enemy pursuers on the river. Go quickly!"
A few minutes later, a message came back from the watchtower: "No other boats were seen on the river except for this armed speedboat."
Hearing this, Selma happily said to Hyatt, "Father, it seems we've escaped successfully! The enemy pursuers may have gotten lost in those intricate waterways and won't be able to catch up with us anymore!"
Hyatt breathed a sigh of relief: "May the Mother Goddess protect us, I hope so... What about the damage on the ship?"
After a while, Selma returned to Hyatt's side after taking stock of the personnel and supplies: "Father, in order to increase the ship's speed, we jettisoned most of the baggage and supplies; in addition to the broken mast, the side sails on both sides were also damaged to varying degrees."
“These are minor matters.” Hyatt stared into Selma’s eyes. “What I want to know is the loss of personnel.”
Selma lowered her head and whispered, "Father, Number Seventeen and Number Forty-Eight have returned to the embrace of the Mother Goddess. In addition, we have lost eleven sailors..."
Hyatt sighed heavily, and was about to say something when his words were interrupted by a violent rocking of the ship.
Once she had steadied herself on the deck, Selma shouted at the lookout tower above her, "What's going on? What happened? Is it an enemy warship?"
The watchtower quickly replied—"Everything is normal on the river; no other boats are visible."
Hyatt suddenly realized something, his face turned pale, and he grabbed Selma's hand, saying in a trembling voice, "Not the surface, not the surface... it's underwater!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a huge, pitch-black iron claw suddenly emerged from the high platform at the stern and struck a sailor who was operating the stern sail.
Before he could even let out a scream, the sailor was smashed into a pile of minced meat by the giant claw, and blood splattered out like it was coming from a shattered water balloon, covering the entire stern of the ship.
Immediately afterwards, a second giant claw reached up, its sharp claws embedding themselves deeply into the wooden planks.
Under the repeated impacts, the deck at the stern of the ship was immediately torn open with large holes.
After gathering its strength, the two giant claws suddenly exerted force, and a terrifying monster six meters tall flipped from the stern and jumped onto the deck, causing the entire ship to rock violently.
With sharp bone spikes resembling long knives and a terrifying face like that of an ancient giant lizard, this monster was covered in scales that emitted a metallic glow. Its giant iron tail, over three meters long, easily snapped the last remaining mast with a single sweep.
Hyatt was so terrified by what he saw that his legs went weak, and the immense fear and shock nearly stopped his heart. Unable to maintain his balance, he collapsed to his knees on the deck, unconsciously muttering, "All-powerful Mother Goddess, do you see? The Demon God has descended upon the mortal realm..."
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