Navigator: I Have a Legendary Exploration Log

Chapter 74 Ironclad Warships

The sudden burst of ecstasy swept away the previously suppressed tension and anxiety.

The sailors embraced, jumped, cheered, and pounded on the ship's side—some even knelt down and wept.

The joy of surviving the ordeal and the spoils of hunting the giant beast were enough to break their tense nerves and shatter their already fragile rationality.

But Charys cannot lose his mind.

He is the captain.

A captain is someone who can remain calm even if the ship is sinking.

In this vast and endless treacherous sea, the captain is everyone's last trump card.

So Cherries, leaning on the whaling cannon, took a few breaths.

Then his gaze swept over the area behind him.

A chaotic deck, deformed railings, broken rigging, scattered trash, and traces of blood—

"Now is not the time to be happy!"

He shouted, "Save the celebratory drinks for the return voyage! Now! Everyone who can move, get to work, take a headcount, and retrieve the prey!"

"If anyone's gone mad, just tell me, and I'll give them two free slaps to wake them up!"

The restless crew members regained their composure.

After counting the number of people, Cherries discovered that two unfortunate individuals were indeed missing.

He immediately ordered, "Eddie! Take men to search the nearby sea! Rescue as much as possible! Wright! Take men to check the damage to the ship!"

"Oh, and remember to take the injured person to 'Big Belly' so they can at least get some basic treatment."

"Everyone else, clear the deck and get ready to deal with this giant whale. It's a huge creature, so we need to hurry! Otherwise, we'll end up working for those little beasts in the sea!"

'

"Yes, Captain!"

The crew members answered with great enthusiasm.

So Chalice turned around and looked again at the giant beast that had repeatedly threatened the Homecoming in the distance.

The dead giant whale was still wrapped in the ropes brought by the harpoon that had been inserted into its body.

These high-density, high-strength ropes wrapped around the giant whale as it rolled in pain.

It is now dead.

These ropes serve as a fixed anchor for dragging.

"Tighten the rope."

The sailors immediately turned the winch, and the taut cable slowly pulled the giant whale toward the Homecoming.

As the distance between the two sides closed, the oppressive feeling brought by the sea monster also came over them.

Cheryl does not have megalophobia.

And this giant whale wasn't ridiculously large.

But when the enormous corpse, laden with blood, floated right up to him, Chalice still couldn't help but feel a little breathless.

"call----"

He slowly exhaled. "Get ready to secure it! Tow it to the stern!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Challis personally directed the operation.

The temporary crane installed on the Homecoming was not capable of lifting such heavy prey, but he had never intended to hoist the giant whale onto the ship.

Including its tail fin, this giant whale is probably longer than the Homecoming.

Not to mention that the Homecoming ship also has a deck, so there's absolutely no way it could fit on the deck, let alone be placed horizontally.

So even if they successfully hunted down such a giant beast, humans would still have to rely on the buoyancy of the seawater to transport it back.

By securing the giant whale to the stern of the boat, Chalice was able to use buoyancy to counteract gravity.

The Homecoming vessel only needs to bear the resistance of the giant whale's massive body moving in the water, and at most consider the decomposition of tension in the horizontal and vertical directions caused by the rope tilting.

A very simple physics problem —

Although the ropes of several heavy harpoons had already tightened around the giant whale, it was far from enough.

It needs to be reinforced.

What if the rope isn't tied securely?

Not only might the giant whale slip off, but it could also be torn apart and dragged away by other predators.

In that case————

Chalice might get extremely angry.

The sailors began their work, carrying long, thick cables.

Some people slid down the rope ladder onto the whale's back and began searching for a foothold on this undulating "mountain of flesh," while others continuously threw down hooked cables. Together, they secured the giant whale once again.

After more than half an hour of effort.

The giant whale was finally secured in the water about ten meters from the stern of the Homecoming ship, and was dragged along by the ropes, floating neither up nor down.

During this time, Wright Jr. gave a briefing on the situation.

The Returning Home ship only suffered minor "skin damage" and was far from being seriously injured.

Aside from being a bit unsightly, it has no other impact.

Eddie reported back dejectedly that of the two missing sailors, only one was recovered, and he was already dead.

He was lying on the deck, his chest sunken, his arm broken, and his face flushed a purplish-red, clearly having been dead for some time.

The other sailors also felt a sense of shared sorrow.

Although they were mentally prepared to die on the ship or at sea.

But his companion's body was right in front of him.

No matter how much you see, it's impossible to remain completely unmoved.

Chalice silently squatted down and closed his eyes, which were unwilling to close due to suffocation, excruciating pain, and despair.

Rest in peace, buddy.

Chalice said in a deep voice, "We got what we wanted, and you'll get what I promised you—"

After a while.

He stood up and looked around at the crowd.

"Prepare to return to base!"

"Yes, Captain!"

The Homecoming ship was back at full speed, but this time the speed was much slower.

Because there was a big thing dragging behind it.

The journey home was far from peaceful.

The mysterious sea harbors countless monsters.

Normally they might not be interested in the dark shadows gliding across the sea, but dragging the giant whale that was constantly losing blood, the Homecoming inevitably attracted the familiar triangular dorsal fin.

A swarm of sharks!

"Damn it!"

Wirtz muttered under his breath, "Those lazy bums! Captain! I'll deal with them!"

'

"Use the whaling cannon!"

Chalice instructed, "Don't let them get close enough to taste the flesh and blood of the giant whale. If these beasts go berserk after tasting blood, they'll be hard to drive away."

"I see!

'

Wirtz hurriedly pushed open the door and left, leading Eddie and the others to reload the whaling cannon.

They weren't aiming to kill; they just wanted to scare away the sharks that would come running by making a noise from a heavy harpoon hitting the water.

This place is not far from the sea areas where humans are active, and the monsters in the sea also have a sense of boundaries and will not rashly approach the territory of other dangerous creatures.

Therefore, fishing is generally prohibited in the waters near the islands.

The goal is to preserve the original ecosystem as much as possible, preventing overfishing from causing the complete disappearance of the original inhabitants of these waters and their subsequent invasion by unpredictable alien species.

Moreover, if an alien monster were to invade, causing significant changes in the marine life of the surrounding waters, it would serve as a warning to the humans living on the island.

sometimes----

Protecting your "neighbors" is also protecting yourself.

Just as Cheryl was watching the nautical chart and trying to avoid the sharks approaching the giant whale behind them, Eddie suddenly waved his arm and pointed towards the port side on deck.

Chalice looked in the direction he was pointing.

In the distance, several iron-gray warships with white-painted prows were seen sailing towards them in a well-organized but dispersed formation.

warship!?

Chalice quickly calculated in his mind, and then gave the order.

"Use flags to signal our identity!"

""

But at the same time—

He was also prepared to cut the ropes and abandon his prey to escape at full speed.

Although the Gran Islands are safe and there have been no reports of pirates for a long time.

But the Homecoming is now just a small cargo ship equipped with whaling cannons, facing heavily armed ironclad warships.

In the event of a firefight—there is absolutely no chance of victory!

Always prepare for the worst, so that you won't be completely lost when the worst actually happens.