Ball of Nothing

"A little more to the left," Zero shouted into the wind.

They had to work fast because the tide was rising. Penelope did not work well with water, even with Zero\'s magic buff.

Truen and Bob sat back to help with ship repairs. However, they kept an eye on Zero and his crazy ideas to create a sea serpent trap out of invisible sticky webs, livestock and a floating hut.

The hut was probably the most ridiculous thing anyone saw. It sat anchored in the middle of the ocean on a platform that Zero and Monoman hammered together with the trunks of trees sliced in half and tampered with magic. The livestock was fenced in, and they stank badly. Zero was starting to reconsider his idea. Why did he make a floating hut and put an animal pen so close to him? He should have at least made a second level to put the hut in. However, it was too late for regrets.

Fine-tuning the sea serpent trap took Zero almost a week to get things right. Initially, it was slightly difficult to keep the floating raft in place with the anchor, especially when the tide came in. The waves were violent and tossed it around, making several animals seasick. Pepper designed a simple pulley anchor system to counter the moving raft issue and added weight stabilisers so it wouldn\'t capsize easily with huge waves. The hut and animals might receive an unhealthy amount of saltwater baths during the high tides, but that was about it. Zero worked on adding seasick medicine in the animal feed, and the livestock started getting better by the fourth day. They were slowly accustoming to their new life at sea.

Penelope\'s webs were very sticky and difficult to break. Zero constantly dove beneath the water to monitor if the net trap was still in position. Sometimes, they would tangle with each other, and many strange things were caught in the trap. As the Night Terror Queen could not always be around, she sent a few of her children to help Zero maintain the net trap. The mini spider monsters were also afraid of water so Zero had to design a swimsuit for these spider helpers. Jynx helped to design them and used the spider helpers as test subjects for her waterproof silk. According to the fashion label owner, she manufactured the swimsuit fabric with alchemy on Penelope\'s fine spider silk. The spider helpers loved it, and with Zero\'s air bubble oxygen magic, they worked tirelessly, maintaining the trap every hour.

Mii and Wii took turns keeping an eye on the mini-map. So far, Sebastian did not appear on the map. However, neither mindscape assistant relaxed their guard. More powerful mana signatures have been detected outside of their trap area. It could be the scouts of Indra Seagloo, but before anyone could confirm the situation, they disappeared without a trace.

Truen was on guard duty after the third sighting. The sea creatures in the area were also behaving oddly after the second week. Monoman confirmed that it was a sign of Indra Seagloo\'s attack approaching.

"Normally, marine life will evacuate before we get attacked. It\'s a natural instinct in animals."

Ottley agreed. "They can sense dangers that we cannot tell. What about the water?" he asked. "Are there any significant changes right before the attack?"

Monoman did his best to recall. However, nothing stood out. Indra Seagloo\'s attacks differed each time. Sometimes they simply flooded the shores all the way into his village. Other times, they would lash out onto the beach and create minor earthquakes. The most frustrating thing was when Monoman\'s crops were destroyed because of them.

"I think the most annoying and dangerous thing Indra Seagloo ever did to us was pollute the water. We often purify seawater for drinking because the underground stream supply isn\'t always enough. However, there was once when the seawater around this area was so polluted with sea foams of dead merfolks that wouldn\'t clear for months. Any fish that came close to the seafoam would die."

Curious, Zero wondered how they survived.

"We lived on the crops we planted and the animals we raised, but most of us starved. I travelled to Deaman Town to request help. We barely made it through those hellish months."

No wonder Monoman was a regular client in that lawless town. Zero understood this semi giant a little better. Still, it must not have been easy for anyone. Knowing that they were finally relocated to New Moon Village made the doctor feel slightly better. The villagers had a second chance to work for a better life in his allied village. Not to mention, they were a great help to Half Moon Village. Jermine\'s logistic services were also convenient. With Jynx\'s assistance and magical tool developments, it wouldn\'t be surprising to see how much the way of life on Earth would change in a few years.

Unfortunately, Zero didn\'t know if he would be around to see it happen.

The next few days passed uneventfully. However, the tension at the dock increased when Truen held onto Sureshot without loosening his grip several times. Wii informed him that the number of powerful mana signatures increased and came closer to Zero\'s trap. Indra Seagloo was definitely in the area. They were sure of it.

After nearly a month since they docked, Sebastian finally took the bait and attacked in the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping.

In one huge bite, Zero\'s floating hut was swallowed. The doctor who was asleep on the raft didn\'t have time to react as he was swallowed. Monoman, who was on night watch, sounded the horn, but it was too late by the time Truen woke up.

The sticky web trap ensnared the thrashing sea serpent, but Zero\'s hut was nowhere to be seen.

"Zero!" Truen\'s panic cry pierced through the night amidst the chaos. His heart fell when Zero did not answer the party call immediately.