CHAPTER 66: DARK TANSEL SWAMP

Shaan could only lower his head weakly, then he turned around and walked away from the dock. Now, he had no idea where to go because he had just lost the only chance he had right before his eyes. He felt his hope fade away, and he knew he would never make it back home to see Grandma Isabel.

"Grandma... I’m sorry. I can’t keep my promise to-

"BOOM!"

A loud explosion roared behind Shaan, shaking the entire wooden dock. He immediately turned around, and his face turned pale as he realized something terrible had just happened.

"Oh my god, th-this can’t be." His whole body trembled as he stared at the destroyed ship. "No, no... this means everything..."

Shaan was completely speechless as he watched the shipwreck debris drifting toward the dock. Honestly, he still couldn’t believe the ship had exploded, especially since the swamp had looked completely calm and showed no signs of danger. Strange. What happened in that swamp?

Just a few minutes later, there was a sound like something hard hitting the floor coming from inside the small wooden house. Shaan fell silent. Slowly, he walked closer to the wooden house and wanted to make sure what the sound he had just heard was.

"Robin Hood, do you hear that?

[Yes, I hear it.] Robin Hood nodded his head [It sounds like something is falling.]

"That’s right, and I think it’s coming inside this wooden house."

[Huh?] Robin Hood furrowed his brow. [But we have already checked this wooden house before, and there’s nothing inside, right?]

"That’s true, but we don’t check entirely, do we?" said Shaan. "We got distracted by the sound of the ship’s engine. Remember now?"

Robin Hood nodded again after hearing Shaan’s explanation. [Oh...yeah, that’s right. I forgot about that.]

"Come on, Robin Hood. Now, we need to get back inside and search the house again. Maybe we’ll find something this time."

Without wasting time, the two of them re-entered the wooden house and began scanning the area. At first glance, Shaan didn’t notice anything suspicious. Vines covered most of the interior, hanging thickly from the walls and windows. But as he turned his eyes toward the wall near a small window, something felt off. For some reason, the vines in that spot looked thinner than others, and the wall’s surface looked strangely bumpy.

’Strange... I’m going to check that area.’ Shaan walked toward the window.’ I’m sure there’s something behind these vines.’

[Hey, Shaan. What are you doing?] Robin Hood furrowed his brow. [Why are you walking toward that vine?]

"I’m sure there’s something behind this vine."

Shaan slashed through the thick vines, and just as he suspected, a wooden door appeared in it. Without wasting a second, he burst through the door. But the moment the door flew open, the tip of a blade aimed straight at his neck.

"Whoa, easy! Easy! I didn’t mean to—" Shaan’s eyes widened when he saw who held the sword. "N-Nalira? But, I thought you were..."

Nalira gasped when she recognized his voice. "Oh no—Shaan, I’m so sorry." She quickly lowered her weapon. "I thought you were one of the people who captured us."

"Shaan?" Chelsie stood up after helping Mr. Courier untie the ropes around his wrists. "Thank goodness you’re okay. But... how do you know we are here?"

"When I was at the dock, I heard a loud noise coming from inside this small wooden house, so Robin Hood and I decided to check it out."

[That’s right, and Shaan’s instincts turned out to be right,] Robin Hood said as he patted Shaan’s shoulder. [Nice work, Shaan.]

"Oh, uh... about that loud noise you heard..." Nalira scratched her head. "That was probably the wooden beam I accidentally kicked earlier. Sorry about that."

"Oh... okay, no problem." Shaan nodded. "Wait, but why are you all here? Shouldn’t you be on the ship? I just see the ship leave this place and-"

"Yeah, we should be there, but when we were at the ship’s dock, someone suddenly hit the back of our heads and we passed out," said the courier, rubbing his head gently. "I woke up after hearing a loud explosion, and when I opened my eyes, I realized they had brought us here and tied our hands."

"Yes, I heard that sound too," added Chelsie, nodding. "What was that explosion?"

"Oh yeah... about that," said Shaan, stepping in front of them. "I want to show you where the explosion came from. Just follow me."

Everyone followed Shaan out of the wooden house, and their faces froze in shock when they saw the growing pile of shipwreck debris at the edge of the swamp.

"Oh my God, so the ship... the ship is..."

"Right. It exploded."

"...But how? Why did the ship explode?"

Shaan shrugged. "I don’t know what is going on, but I feel like there’s something in this swamp."

"S-Something?" Chelsie gripped her staff tightly. "Uhmm... so do you mean there might be a terrifying creature under the swamp that caused the ship to explode like that?"

"I don’t know... maybe. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I can’t say you’re right either," Shaan replied.

"...Then let’s find out if you’re right or not, Shaan."

"Lira, what do you mean?"

Without answering Chelsie’s question, Nalira picked up a stone about the size of her fist from the ground near the edge of the swamp. She hurled it into the Tansel Swamp with all her strength, and within seconds, a powerful burst of water erupted right in front of them.

"Oh my God... S-So that explosion came from this water blast?" Chelsie widened her eyes, her face turning pale. "B-But how is that even possible?"

"Mr. Courier, what do you think? Do you know anything about this?"

"Wait, this water blast— Ah, oh my gosh. I remember something." The courier immediately slapped his forehead. "I forgot to tell you the water blast we’re seeing is a phenomenon commonly known as the Tansel Swamp Breath."

"Tansel Swamp Breath? What’s that?"