Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 457: Arc 6, - 73: Graveyard

Within sight was the form of the massive slime-woman. Though still far, her form had grown to a much greater extent from when they last saw her. Jotou walked forward to the bow of the ship.

The helmsman slowed down the engines; the ship’s plume of black smoke was no longer blasted back and was allowed to rise into the air from the top.

Rain no longer cascaded, for in fact it ascended. Droplets of water defied gravity as they floated upwards and joined thin swirling streams of water up in the sky.

Each string-width stream of water circled in a large arc, in what can only be assumed in the direction of the one causing all of it. A storm did not rage where Beauregard walked, only in her wake.

Any cloud was drained out of the sky to join the streams. Once a droplet lingered for long enough on its path, it began to shimmer the same hue as each line as well—a dark ocean blue.

Hotaru joined by the blonde’s side to stare at the sight, alongside Fumeko and Tiffany. Rays of sunlight beamed down to scatter across the sea’s surface, making it glitter.

Now they saw why the ship had to slow down, as the helmsman steered the ship clear of the funnel of a sinking vessel. The waterlogged flag floated on the surface—one of red and white stripes with a blue circle surrounding a black X-shape in the middle.

Around them, the waters had settled and simply shifted as the sea was wont to do. Dozens of warships were capsized, halfway sunken and still sinking; one could only imagine how many were already under the water’s surface.

The Sun rose from the front of Beauregard and up ahead was what could only be called a graveyard of sinking ships. The numbers must have been in the hundreds— most likely approaching a thousand.

Light glimmered the streams of ocean blue water that swirled in the air, all the way up into the sky; they formed wide rings around Beauregard as if she were a planet.

With the majority of the storm and the ship’s engine roaring behind the four of them, only sombre silence lied forward. Even with every risk taken and at their fastest time, the damage had already begun. ’Both not yet done.’

_

"The plan’s the same then?" Fumeko spoke, her hair now dried off with a towel.

"Get close; attack. I don’t know what else I would do," Jotou replied.

Hotaru had an elbow on the cabin table to prop her head up by her temple, "We’ve come too far now. Just an hour out from the Regime of States and Sun."

"Need thou require mine assistance in battle?" Tiffany offered.

"No, you all should stay on the ship," Jotou crossed her arms on the table.

"How do you plan on getting to her? I mean, she’s surrounded by water. We’re not going to wait till we can reach the shore are we?" the redhead enquired.

"Not the idea, no."

"I can walk on water, but I don’t know if I can make it work on you," Fumeko thought aloud.

"Theoretically you could," Hotaru confirmed.

"Yeah, I don’t think it’s a great time to experiment. But it also seems like the only way you’re gonna get there, cause the ship’s not gonna get that close; at least I don’t think it’s a good idea for it to," the brunette stated.

"I trust you detective; if you can do that, it’ll help a lot."

"Feeling like you have enough mana to jolt all of Beauregard?" the wolf-girl queried further.

"Well, my plan was to get inside of Beauregard."

"Pardon?" Tiffany furrowed her brows.

Jotou looked at everyone, "I can’t drown as long as I spark up enough. I’m not sure how acidic her slime is, but if I cover myself in my spell all over, I think I’d be fine; a slime’s acidity weakens the further away from its core, right? I can evaporate her from inside out."

"Sure, a normal slime, but we’re dealing with something else entirely now. Even so, if you think it’ll work, then do your best," Hotaru replied.

Fumeko leered over to the redhead, "You seem awfully unconcerned about her."

"I trust her," Hotaru’s ears proudly bristled and she shared a smile across the table with the blonde in question.

"How sweet," Fumeko pursed her lips. She then held a hand to her chin, "She’s not a normal slime and she doesn’t have a slime core. It stands to reason if you don’t get every molecule of her, that she could regenerate."

"Yeah, I was thinking about that. By that logic, surely I’m still the best suited for it. What better way to make water disappear than boiling the hell out of it?

Even if Beauregard has a thicker consistency, I don’t think her boiling point’s over the heat of lightning. But I guess it might take more mana," Jotou reasoned.

"You don’t say," the brunette replied.

Jotou leaned back in her chair, arms still crossed, "Is the Malecise Regime evil? You all’d be the experts."

The other three glanced at each other and shrugged. "Evil in the sense that they’re the enemy," Hotaru voiced. "But, they’re not as bad as Trailon. Even though Malecise is the regime that started the war to begin with, they’re currently the weakest regime in terms of, well everything."

"Any reason as to why they started the war?" Jotou tried to comprehend.

"That has too many answers with shaky foundations," the redhead continued. "I think political leaders just want to win a fight; war’s not exactly the plan."

"Hm. Knowing my world you’d be surprised," the golden blonde remarked. "All I know is that the reason’s always dumb and irrational.

And while I wanna make sure that Beauregard doesn’t get what she wants, and the cult by extension, I can’t help but find it funny. You started a war, became the weakest opponent and now are about to be wiped off the face of the planet. Karma’s a bitch and I don’t even believe in karma."

Hotaru’s ears spiked up, "Something’s happening up on the deck."

Upon hearing her warning, the four of them made their way back up into the command centre. "Take the shot," the captain ordered.

A navy agent had aimed a rifle at a Malcesian navy soldier standing on the hull of a capsized ship. He was drenched and had an open gash across his arm; even then, he was showing a middle finger as the SS Narwhal passed.

"What? No, don’t," Jotou’s simple words stopped the navy agent from firing.

The captain turned with his hands behind his back, "Thundering Blade, we’ve been spotted ma’am. We can’t have interference on our return and while we have a brig, we can’t take prisoners."

"Then just leave him be. You think any ship’s gonna one, find him, two, stop us from leaving with Beauregard way over there. If the Malecise Navy manages to find him and rescue him, who cares, we’ll be out of her by then anyway," Jotou stated.

"Alright, stand down," the captain belayed his previous order with an exhale. The rifle was aimed away and kept safely away.

"Aren’t we already illegally entering enemy territory? Why do we suddenly care about a rule of we can’t take prisoners?" Fumeko furrowed her brows.

"Let’s not break every rule in the book, we’re already breaking wartime laws by not flying the Burntish flag," Hotaru asked of.

Jotou’s lips pouted, "Ah hypocrisy, we meet yet again; have you met my friend double standards?"

"Hey at least we’re doing it for good reasons," Fumeko stated.

Hotaru’s ears folded, "I’m sure the Trailon Regime thought so too."

"Come to think of it, there’s probably still a lot of people barely clinging onto life out there," the golden blonde looked out the windshield. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

The wreckage of warships were more abundant and judging by their proximity to one another, they must have been in a tight formation before Beauregard trudged along.

Speaking of the new god, she was closer than ever; the ship was actually catching up. They were within an hour’s reach of her, perhaps even less. Whirlpools swirled around her lower body, following her waist.

In the distance to the left and right, they could see the port of the Malecise Regime, reinforced by metal and concrete. Surviving warships gleamed, with the Malcesian flag flying high.

They were of course being sent out to recover anyone they could which is in some way good news, as it means that the Malecise Regime was not completely unprepared.

Beauregard was going to hit the coast however. By the time they could get to her, she would already have a foot on land. Unless...

Jotou knitted her brows and looked at the arrangement of fallen ships. The Narwhal, as fast as it was, would still have to navigate around the maze ahead of them. What if instead, a straight line was possible? ’Two birds, one stone.’