Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

Ange continued casting his spell, the pollen relentlessly assailing the sails. He had previously discovered that when a mass of whirlwinds all surge in one direction, it results in a suction-like effect, drawing in more air in the same direction.

The larger the volume of wind, the greater the propelling force. The airship’s masts let out agonized creaks as it continued to accelerate. At a certain point, the entire ship suddenly lightened.

Everyone aboard had already found something to hold onto to steady themselves. They had never experienced such swift acceleration. Jelis even wondered if the mast would snap.

Initially, she wanted to ask Ange to slow down, but then she remembered that he was the big boss. The trade associations were all his assets, as were the airships, so she felt she wasn’t in a position to speak up.

The airship suddenly lightened, leaving the water’s surface. Freed from the water’s drag, the speed of the airship soared, turning it into a true ‘flying’ ship.

Negris extended his thoughts to survey the airflow around the wings of the airship. He soon understood. This was the ground effect.

Thanks to the ground effect’s vast uplift, the more than ten-meter-long airship, without an array, without a gas bag, without magic, could easily fly into the sky.

But the ground effect is most potent just two or three meters above the water surface. Ground effect airships can’t fly to great heights like goblin airships; they can only glide above the water’s surface.

Yet, this was already incredibly impressive. The speed of an airborne ship was on a completely different level compared to vessels on water. The rate was at least seven or eight times faster, if not more than ten times. As soon as it left the water surface, the airship’s speed skyrocketed.

However, Ange did not stop. He stretched both hands forward, casting small whirlwinds in succession, inducing a constant surge of air to sweep forward.

Jelis felt as if she were sailing in a typhoon. The wind whipped her face so ferociously that she couldn’t open her eyes. She couldn’t help but shout to Ange: “Slow down! Boss, slow down!”

The wind was blowing from the back to the front. Ange was upwind, so he couldn’t hear what Jelis shouted. But he saw her mouth moving as if she were yelling something.

There were sea monsters behind them, so they should be afraid of being overtaken. They must want to go faster.

Ange nodded, extending his other hand as well. Casting with both hands, double the magic, double the wind force, double the thrill.

“Ah! Help!” It wasn’t just Jelis who was screaming. Everyone onboard was shrieking in terror.

Snake Fish Man Gluglu and his tribe were hanging onto the Sea God. Their palms were equipped with suction cups, enabling them to stick to smooth surfaces such as rocks, the bottom of ships, and the skins of large marine creatures.

Gluglu’s head would periodically emerge from the water only to be submerged again with the flow of the Sea God. Each time its head broke the surface, it could see the panicking airship in the distance.

“Gluglu, gluglu, the creations of humans are so valuable. Robbery is such good luck. The Sea God has blessed us with a feast to take home!”

In the past, there were no humans in this realm. It wasn’t until more than two hundred years ago that stories about humans began to appear in the legends of the Gluglu Tribe. These humans were stationed on sandbars where the Sea God couldn’t venture into, but the humans’ airships could.

The world was vast above and beneath the water. Humans mainly lived on the water surface, while Snake Fish Men lived underwater, causing little disturbance to each other. However, should they chance upon each other, the Snake Fish Men wouldn’t mind tasting something different.

Furthermore, the commodities made by humans are very valuable in the underwater world. Their smooth, fitting clothing is more comfortable than the fish skin outfits of Snake Fish Men. Their weapons are sharper than their claws and teeth. Even the wood used in human airships is more regular than underwater vegetation.

Therefore, human commodities are very popular in the underwater world. Being able to pillage an airship implies that even the ‘toilet’ that humans specifically use for excretion could be sold at a high price.

“I really don’t understand what’s wrong with these humans. Why do they have a proper place for shitting? Isn’t it easy just to poop into the sea? What a waste.”

Gluglu muttered to himself and dove underwater again with the sea monster. By the time he surfaced again, the airship had disappeared.

“Human…where did they go?” Gluglu dazedly spent a long while in the same spot, his spirits only being reclaimed by the setting sun.

Dozens of kilometers away, Ange finally stopped his magic when the airship’s mast was about to snap. Fast enough, the airship dropped to a normal speed, swaying gently in the ongoing journey.

Jelis and the others, their hair disheveled and their eyes vacant, stood up, their legs still trembling. No matter who you were, after riding an airship at breakneck speed for dozens of kilometers, you would share the same expression and only recover after quite some time.

Jelis, who had been piloting airships for quite some time, had probably never imagined that one could ride an airship until their legs went weak.

…

When Jelis and the others recovered, they took control of the airship to fly towards landing ground. Soon, a large patch of white islands appeared on the horizon.

Each island was a white pile of sand, rising above the water surface. Large and small, they dotted the calm sea area, probably numbering in the tens of thousands.

Each island was bare, devoid of any life or vegetation. Occasional wild grass was found on a few islands but most of the growths were malnourished.