Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 153

The prisoners blinked.

They didn’t realize that parts of their bodies had disappeared.

“What….”

Blood gushed out, turning the seawater red.

Other sirens, smelling the blood from the depths of the sea, began to rise.

Soon, with each kiss that enveloped the prisoners, their skin was torn away.

Even the skin that had been numbed by the cold seawater couldn’t help but feel the pain as their bodies were torn apart.

After a while, one of the prisoners surrounded by sirens muttered,

“It hurts.”

“It’s okay. I’ll make it not hurt.”

“It hurts…!”

“I’ll caress the places that hurt.”

They whispered in sweet voices, clouding the prisoners’ minds.

However, the terrible pain was enough to break their brainwashing.

“Ugh, aaaaaagh!”

“It hurts!”

“Save me!”

The prisoners’ screams echoed, thrashing in the sea.

But it was already too late.

Hundreds of sirens surrounded the prisoners, devouring them.

It was like hundreds of piranhas swarming and tearing apart a helpless baby deer.

Flapping and rough bubbles spread out.

The beautiful melody of the sirens gradually turned into the screams of the prisoners.

Soon, the rough splashing subsided, and the prisoners disappeared without a trace.

Sharin and Kudan showed surprised expressions.

Before long, one of the sirens came up onto the deck of the ship and said to Sharin and Kudan,

“Oh my, beautiful sacrifices. Too bad… if you weren’t sacrifices for Calib, we would have devoured you.”

The siren looked at Sharin and Kudan with greedy eyes.

“I wonder what kind of beautiful screams you would make with your faces distorted in pain…. But we won’t be able to hear them. What a pity….”

“…….”

“Tell the soldiers. Since the sacrifices have been offered, we will allow you to pass this way.”

The siren jumped back into the water from the ship’s railing.

The ship began to move again.

Soon, it entered a flat sea with no reefs.

The Kratian soldiers, sensing the change in the sea breeze, removed the fog and earmuffs they had been wearing.

“Hoo….”

They relaxed and sighed in relief.

Sharin, having seen all that, turned pale.

Sharin knew the Asgard plan well.

Surely, there would be an Asgardian warship secretly tracking behind this smuggling ship.

Would they be able to pass through this sea safely?

“Will the Asgardian warship be okay?”

Kudan nodded at Sharin’s question.

“Yes.”

His voice was full of confidence.

“Loki is also there, and besides….”

Sharin doubted her ears at the next words.

“There’s also the Kraken.”

***

The siren licked her blood-stained lips.

“Ah, humans are so delicious after all.”

This area had long been occupied by the sirens.

It was practically a sea of death.

Knowing this, sailors rarely came, so there was hardly any prey.

But now that it had become a route to the Kratian sea, smuggling ships carrying slaves passed by regularly.

Each time, the sailors offered slaves for safe passage, and the sirens were able to secure a stable supply of food.

“Sister! Another ship is coming!”

The siren turned her head.

A ship was visible.

Goodness, how long has it been since such a feast!

To think there were still fools who didn’t know how dangerous this sea was!

But that was a good thing.

Slaves weren’t enough to satisfy them.

“…It’s really big… isn’t it?”

The sirens raised their heads.

It was a huge warship.

They were momentarily taken aback, but soon couldn’t contain their joy.

A warship! It would have fresher sailors than the weak or sick slaves!

What delicious prey!

It would contain so many humans that hundreds of sirens could feast and play with the warship’s crew for days.

“Everyone, prepare.”

The sirens looked forward to the long-awaited feast.

They would quench their thirst with their blood as wine, and slowly savor their flesh and desperate screams as appetizers.

As the warship approached, the sirens sparkled as if waiting for a beloved lover.

One by one, they began to sing.

Their songs charmed the sailors, and their beauty seduced them.

A captivating melody echoed, and shadows could be seen on the ship.

The sailors must be looking down at them, hearing the song.

‘Good, the prey has seen us!’

The bait was taken!

The sirens smiled.

They spread their arms and said.

They called out to their lovely prey.

“We’re lonely.”

“Come here-”

Thud-!

Crack-!

But what answered their call was none other than a ballista [a large, crossbow-like weapon used to launch projectiles].

With an explosion, the body of the siren next to them was pierced by a bolt.

The siren’s eyes widened at the death of her companion.

“Did we hit it?!”

“Haha! Looks like we hit it properly!?”

“Sirens… aren’t they monsters that sell for quite a bit?”

“No, that’s a demi-human [a being that is part human and part something else].”

“Oh, really? Then it’ll be even more expensive!”

“We have iron nets, right? Throw them! Capture them. It’ll also help to know the sea route. Catch and sell all but the smart ones!”

The sirens’ eyes widened.

They were not charmed by their songs or their beauty.

Rather, they rejoiced and laughed as if fishermen had found a school of fish.

The faces of the sirens, who didn’t know they were facing the Nordics, a tribe of plunderers, twisted hideously.

“Kkyaaaaaaak!”

As they roared and glared at the warship, some of the sirens floating on the sea disappeared into the water.

The sirens looked at their companions.

It wasn’t just diving to attack the ship, but it seemed like they were being dragged down by something.

“Huh? Kkaaaak-!?”

With a short scream, they were sucked into the sea.

“……”

The sirens noticed something was wrong.

When the sirens turned their gaze, they saw something on the surface of the water.

A man with black and white hair was ‘sitting on the sea’ with a greatsword on his shoulder.

‘…Sitting on the sea?’

Was that even possible?

“There are a lot of fish.”

“……”

“Eating them might give you a stomachache. Just kill them.”

With those words, something surged up from under the man.

The waves calmed down. The wind wasn’t blowing.

The sirens knew what this ominous sign meant.

The sirens’ bodies stiffened as they looked up at the crimson eyes visible in the darkness of the night.

Tentacles were rising one by one around him.

‘Kra…ken?’

The ruler of the sea and the top predator!

The buffet wasn’t the sailors.

It was them.

***

It was around the time they were leaving the Siren’s Sea.

“S, save me!”

Kudan frowned.

Sharin showed a surprised expression.

“S, save me! Please-!”

A siren.

A siren was bleeding, grabbing the ship’s railing and begging.

Looking at the siren, the Kratian sailors were startled and covered their ears and eyes.

To reject her voice, not to see her face.

At their appearance, the siren turned pale and screamed.

“You idiots! Listen to me! There’s a monster behind you! Those monsters are heading to Kratian now!”

But they were sailors and soldiers who had covered their ears and eyes.

There was no way they could hear her.

Kudan’s gaze, who was on the deck of the ship, turned to the siren.

“It’s not eating them! Open your eyes and ears! You idiots-.”

Kudan put strength into the shackles on his hands and broke them.

Soon, he cut off the chain tied to the pillar.

“……!!!”

Freed, Sharin stepped back in surprise, closing her mouth.

Was it because of the shock of forcibly breaking the chain?

Although he looked like Kudan, bear-like hands with thick fur were protruding from both arms.

Kudan swung the chain around in the air.

“…Uh!?”

The siren was넋이 나가 있었다 [넋이 나가 있었다 is a Korean expression that means to be stunned or to lose one’s mind] looking at Kudan like that. Soon, she felt an ominous premonition and shouted.

“Wait! Everyone, open your eyes and look straight! Look there! There’s a monster there too-!”

Was it because of her past deeds?

No one tried to see or hear the siren.

“Look, you idiots-!”

She screamed as if in despair, but that became her last will.

Kudan swung the chain, and the end of the chain burst the siren’s body.

Soon, the siren fell into the sea and was crushed under the bottom of the passing sailing ship and disappeared into the water.

“I, is it gone?”

After some time, the sailors began to remove their blindfolds.

The Kratian sailors sighed in relief.

“Damn fish! Why did they come again after taking the slaves?”

“They must want more food.”

“Is anyone missing!?”

The sailors and Kratian soldiers looked around, relieved that there were no victims on the deck.

Then they turned their heads and were startled to find Kudan and Sharin at the wooden pillar.

“Damn it! Who released them?! What if they had been dragged away by the sirens!?”

Soon, the Kratian sailors approached the two.

They put the shackles back on.

“You saw it too, right? This sea is the siren’s territory. If you run away recklessly, you’ll become their prey.”

“……”

Kudan closed his mouth and nodded.

The Kratian sailors laughed at the sight.

“Look at him, he’s too scared to say anything!”

Sharin didn’t miss Kudan’s smirk.

‘You crazy bastards! He’s laughing at you!’

The sailing ship that continued its voyage soon began to vibrate as if shaking.

The sails were folded, and the rowing also stopped.

But the ship didn’t stop and moved slowly.

Sharin and Kudan often went up on deck.

It was to prevent the Kratian sailors from stressing out and harming themselves or causing a disturbance.

It was also to instill in them the idea that they would not be able to escape anywhere from the sea on all sides.

‘…It’s taking a long time.’

Sharin, who was not familiar with the sea, was quite tired.

She leaned against the railing and lowered her head. She could see the bottom of the sea.

Something was at the bottom of the sea.

‘Lizardmen?’

Lizardmen climbed onto the sailing ship, holding the railing.

The lizardmen wore scale armor and carried tridents.

“State your affiliation. Humans.”

The Kratian soldiers hurriedly approached them, knelt down, and bowed their heads in obedience.

“We, we meet the great warriors.”

The lizardmen nodded in satisfaction.

“By the order of Calib, the constellation of the sea, we have brought the slaves.”

“I see. Is today the day for Calib’s meal?”

“Yes!”

The lizardmen nodded.

“Okay, you may pass.”

The lizardmen climbed over the railing and soon jumped into the sea.

At the same time as they jumped, splashes were made and a new monster appeared.

Sharin looked at the monster in front of her.

The upper body was the head and forelegs of a horse, and the lower body was the tail of a fish.

It was a monster called a Kelpie [a mythical water horse].

If there were horses for humans, there were Kelpies for the marine demi-humans.

The lizardmen riding the Kelpies sent signals.

Other lizardmen riding Kelpies began to connect the sailing ships with chains and move them.

The sight of dozens of lizardmen riding Kelpies pulling the sailing ship was a truly bizarre and mysterious scene.

Soon, the Kratian territory, which was the former territory of the Cron Empire, was visible.

The old trading city was submerged.

Except for the mountainous areas, there was no intact place.

All the low-lying houses were submerged in the sea, and people were seen connecting buildings with ladders or using sailboats to get around.

But there were very few moving territory residents.

Lizardmen and sirens roamed the city, dragging and capturing humans into the sea as soon as they were seen.

The smuggling ship entered the city, and Sharin and Kudan witnessed a different sight.

The floor was sunken.

The currents were swirling like a whirlpool, and the waterfall was plunging down like a cliff.

Deep and deep… at the bottom, as if being sucked into hell, there was a ‘palace.’

“Move quickly! Slaves!”

There, those who appeared to be Kratian territory residents were carrying stones on their backs and moving.

They were building a tower in a huge palace.

In addition, they were carving a winged goddess statue holding a trident that was over tens of meters tall.

It was a statue of the constellation of the sea.

The sailing ship Sharin was on seemed to be swept away by the whirlpool, but the sea horses ridden by the lizardmen, the Selpies [another name for Kelpies], were able to lead the sailing ship safely by riding the sea currents in a spiral shape.

The sailing ship arrived at the sea palace where Netos, the king with the divine power of water, and Calib, the constellation of the sea, lived.