Pirates were everywhere.
It wasn't just one ship.
There were several. At least seven.
Four massive shadows below the calm seas, just waiting.
"Knock out the kid first. Don't kill him," the lady shouted.
In a blitz, the blonde crept closer and swung his sword down. I saw it, but I couldn't react or even attempt to react.
Too fast.
Shing!
Sparks flew as the blonde casually jumped back and flicked his sword up. "This is the guy who beat you?" His voice was so… normal. This build, his casual attitude, everything was so normal.
Yet… the air around him almost sizzled, almost roared. Something about him had me on edge.
"Yeah," the lady got up, crackled her neck and picked up a machete. "He's stronger than he looks. The boy's a sorcerer."
"Annoying," the man said, disappearing.
Shing!
Behind me!? How?
I didn't turn. Alustur was here and he had my back. Instead, I focused on the ships around me. They were inching closer and the pirates would soon board us.
I have to do something. But what?
What could I have done?
Electrify…. The water sizzled… "BOOST!"
Thrash!
Massive bursts of seawater surged, almost knocking over two ships, rocking all the rest. Even our ship nearly tumbled.
The wave created a distance between us and bought us a couple of precious minutes. However, sooner or later they were definitely going to arrive here. Sooner or later we were definitely going to be surrounded and probably murdered.
Meaning, I had to do something before that.
"Kid, stop doing that!" The lady urged.
One of the shadows went missing.
"Well, if we're going down, then you all are also going down with me. I'm kind of in a hurry and not in the best of moods you see. BOOOST!!!"
The mana around me gathered, I also pulled almost all the mana I could from one of Friendo's gems, focusing it as best as I could before I let it all rip on the ships and the sea.
Crack!
Splash!
Two ships caught on fire and one actually went under along with two more shadows disappearing.
Crack!
A arrow grazed past my face, very nearly knocking me over. The hot… sharp pain spread quickly but I didn't even glance at the one who shot.
Rather, "BOOST!" I did it again, this time engulfing the other two ships.
Shing!
The man and Alustur were somewhat evenly matched and that was bad news.
Why?
Because the lady was directly in front of me and she had a machete in her hand which she pointed at my neck. "Stop doing that," she said, almost pleading. "I really don't want to kill you."
"Me neither. I kind of liked you," I said, ducking.
Shing!
I'd noticed Alustur rushing my way thanks to Rexy's warning. Alustur knocked out the already weakened girl and then took me in his arms and jumped back. All the while deflecting everything the blonde threw at him. I thought he and the blonde were evenly matched but Alustur was clearly superior. Guy could probably singlehandedly fuck the entire pirate armada if I wasn't here.
Seriously, this guy's a monster.
Or maybe the pirates were just weak. Actually, they probably were.
I'd been involved with many battles and every time my heart raced.
Yet today, or I suppose these days, I was so damn calm; damn sure that everything would be alright as long as this guy was around.
Which was why-
"Surrender or all your ships will drown," I yelled.
"You seriously think we'll surrender? We will gut you, feed your intestines to the fish, and watch you rot from within!" Their captain declared.
His ships were burning but he sure was feisty.
"Let's kill that guy first," I said as a matter-of-fact manner.
"Like I'll let you!" The blonde closed in, definitely aiming to kill me.
But of course, Alustur didn't let him and threw me aside, engaging him in his full glory.
"You're the source of our problems," I said, forming a streak of healthy electricity with the help of excessive salty water around me- effectively creating a long arrow of sorts- piercing that guy from all the way here.
"ARGH!" He screamed and fell to his knees.
For someone who acted to gallantly, he was kind of a pushover.
The fuck was he even doing here? Why were these people so into us anyway? We were just a small ship and they knew we had a beast on board, definitely capable of ruining their whole armada.
So why?
"NO!" The blonde screamed and Alustur knocked him out in surprise.
"That was way more anticlimactic than I expected. And they had no magicians, huh? Fucking weaklings!"
"Magic is rare, much rarer than you think," Alustur said. "And they're no weaklings. They shot at least eighteen arrow, only one they missed."
"So, what happened to the rest?"
"What do you think?"
Huh? What?
He rolled his eyes but didn't quite say. Had he deflected them while I wasn't paying attention? You're still getting conceited, you fucking idiot.
"Uh-huh."
"Boss…" the lady had regained her consciousness and was crying.
"I can probably save him," I bent down and whispered. "But I have conditions."
She stared at me, gritted her teeth, but… "Alright."
I suppose she didn't need to hear my conditions.
"Can you?" Alustur said.
"Yeah, probably."
Mostly because I'd missed the guy's hurt and lungs and probably just punctured the side of his ribs or something.
Probably.