The Spider Queen

(Unova Syndicate- Planet Xerciam Prime)

(Rexanera Sea)

"Your rooms are on the lower decks and the number are 528 and 534 respectively," the crewmate muttered a few words then moved on to the next passengers in line.

Sophie took a note of the numbers in her mind and then walked towards the staircase located at the back of the upper deck.

This was her first time being on a ship and a small part of her was actually pretty excited.

To feel the cool sea breeze brush against your face, the warm rays of sunlight shining on your body and the sounds of sailors steadily raising the sails.

The name of the ship that Sophie was currently on was called the S.S Annamarie.

This vessel was a large warship equipped with high powered weaponry and defensive shields.

These measures were required to traverse the Rexanera Sea as hostile marine forces as well as sea monsters roamed these turbulent waters.

Sophie held on to Lily tightly as she navigated through the crowded upper deck filled with passengers who had bought basic accommodations.

The aliens on the upper deck were a variety of races and species but there was one common trait seen in most of them.

They were all shabbily dressed and smelled quite unpleasant.

Sophie had even seen some humanoid aliens drop their pants and defecate right on the metalloid floor.

The crewmembers walking by seemed not to care but Sophie was forcing herself not to throw up at the disgusting view.

She turned Lily's head to face her chest and activated the air purifying function on the mask to make sure that the little girl did not inhale the stench.

"Spare change…. Spare change ma'am," a skeletal creature near the duo spoke up in a raspy tone as Sophie walked by.

"Hey why don't we become friends? Friends… friends…. friends."

"Friends… I… I need some money friend…friend."

He held up a large floppy hat in his bony hand and pushed it towards Sophie.

Sophie frowned slightly and continued to walk forward without making eye contact with the skeletal figure.

It was a trick she had picked up from scanning Sui Meng's memories.

Apparently, the safest way to deal with strangers attempting unwanted conversations was to just ignore them.

"Spare change… ma'am you look rich…. I SAID I WANT SPARE CHANGE!" the tone of the skeletal creature suddenly shifted, and he lunged towards Sophie without any warning.

Swish!

A razor-sharp barb stopped mere centimeters from a weak joint in the skeleton's neck as Sophie's golden eyes stared at the would-be attacker.

Waves upon waves of bloodlust and murderous rage radiated from her body that caused the indifferent spectators watching the scene to hurriedly change their locations.

The skeletal creature stopped in fear and did not dare to even move an inch as the cold shadow of death appeared to hang over him.

Sophie casually withdrew her blade-like appendage and then strolled towards the staircase without being stopped a second time.

She didn't kill the skeleton as the rules on the back of the tickets clearly stated that intentional murder was strictly forbidden.

Which made sense as the crew could not deal with constant bloodbaths and also spare enough energy to contend with external threats.

Lily squirmed around uncomfortably in Sophie's chest, but the hybrid girl refused to let her see these nasty sights.

The walk to the staircase was only about ten minutes but to Sophie it felt like an eternity as she had to sidestep several aliens laying on the ground as well a puddles of suspicious looking liquids.

Finally, she saw the black metalloid staircase up ahead and could not help but breathe out a sigh of relief.

"Alright so room 528 and 534… so that means the fifth floor," Sophie whispered to herself as she descended down the stairs.

There were much fewer people going up and down the staircase and since the lower decks were reserved for those who bought higher quality tickets, every person she encountered was dressed fairly well.

And more importantly….

Their hygiene and overall cleanliness was pretty good.

Strange markings were written on the walls at regular intervals to help guests navigate the lower decks, but Sophie could not properly understand the language that they had used to write the signs.

Terkanaese was one of those languages where speaking it was easy, but the weird circular symbols used to represent words made it difficult for non-natives to learn.

With only a rudimentary understanding of the written language, Sophie could only vaguely comprehend basic symbols.

Sophie resorted to just counting the number of floors they passed until she saw the symbol for the number 'five.'

A dark grey metalloid door blended seamlessly into the surrounding wall and there was no handle or doorknob.

But there was a small device placed on the side of the wall with an empty space that could perfectly fit a ticket.

Sophie pressed the two tickets one after another into the device and soon a rumbling noise could be heard.

With a dull groan the door gradually swung open to reveal a well-lit corridor and an endless row of doors with aliens walking in and out of them.

"Is this our new home?" Lily popped her head out of Sophie's arms and stared at the corridor with visible excitement on her face.

"Yes. I booked us a room so you can sleep with your big sister for the whole trip," Sophie whispered softly.

Lily gave Sophie a short hug that Sophie returned with a gentle look in her eyes.

Sophie cautiously stepped forward and inspected the symbols painted on every door.

"Now where the hell is my room?" Sophie muttered to herself in a voice that was too low for Lily to hear.

She could recognise the symbol for 'five', but the problem was that every room number started with five.

Well, she knew what room number to look for so maybe the best option was to just count the doors as she moved through the corridor.

Sophie put her plan into action and mentally kept track of every door until the pair arrived at a junction where the corridor split into two paths.

"Damn… which one to take?" Sophie mused quietly.

Alright it was time to ask for some assistance.

"Excuse me… excuse me," Sophie politely shuffled forward and called out to an alien wearing a gorgeous evening gown.

This alien was roughly the size of a young child.

Sophie assumed that she was a girl as the alien had pale green skin and feminine features that were charming in an odd sort of way.

The alien girl's skin had cracks that oozed a purplish liquid with two medium sized wings grew out of her back.

"Yes? Were you calling out to me?" the alien girl hesitantly spoke.

She was clearly a bit intimated by Sophie's imposing height and blade-like appendages. Sophie could tell because the alien girl as began to inch her way backwards as she approached.

"Do you know which path leads to room 528?" Sophie asked with a friendly smile.

"Yes, just take the left path and walk ten doors down and it should be directly on the right," the alien girl replied with a tense expression on her face.

"Thank you," Sophie could tell the girl was a bit uncomfortable with her appearance, so she just gave a brief nod as thanks.