Chương 196

Rudra didn't use any magic to soften his fall but his monstrous base stats alone absorbed the hit and any health he lost was immediately healed back within seconds. With his Strength stat sitting comfortably above 3, 000, his body fell like a dense boulder. The thick wooden floorboards under his boots instantly shattered. Wooden splinters flew outward. The entire ship violently lurched to the side, groaning loudly under the sudden, massive weight.

"What the—?!" the captain yelled, falling backward onto the deck. The cheering stopped. The smugglers froze. Dozens of poachers stared at the crater in the middle of their ship. Standing in the broken wood was a guy wearing a black trench coat. And they could see his annoyed expression in his somehow charming and dignified face. Blue lightning crackled lazily around the heavy black staff resting on his shoulder.

"Hey," Rudra said. His voice was calm. It wasn't loud, but it carried perfectly over the sound of the crashing waves. The poachers scrambled to their feet. They drew swords, heavy axes, and loaded their bows.

"Who the hell are you?!" the captain shouted. He pulled a heavy steel broadsword from his hip.

"Are you a rival crew? This catch is ours! Get off my ship before we carve you up!" Rudra let out a quiet sigh.

"I'm just passing through," Rudra said.

"And I don't really like the way you guys treat animals."

"Kill him!" the captain roared. Four poachers lunged from the front. They swung their swords wildly, aiming for Rudra's chest and neck. Rudra didn't use any of his Staff Saint techniques or even his auxiliary skills. Using his active skills on these guys felt like a total waste of Staff Energy and Mana. He just sidestepped. With his Agility matching his massive Strength, the poachers' speeds were snail-paced. Rudra ducked under a sword swing.

He took his left hand out of his pocket, pulled it back, and delivered a crisp, open-handed slap to the first smuggler's cheek. Smack. [You have dealt 12, 000 damage to the target!] The physical force spun the man entirely around. His boots left the deck. He tumbled over the wooden railing and splashed heavily into the ocean. The second poacher thrust a spear. Rudra casually swatted the wooden shaft aside with the back of his hand, stepped into the man's personal space, and shoved him hard in the chest.

The smuggler flew backward, crashing through a stack of wooden crates. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. [You have dealt 11, 500 damage to the target!]"He's a brawler! Shoot him!" someone yelled from the upper deck. Three arrows zipped through the air. Rudra didn't blink. He just spun his staff in a quick and fluid circle. Clack. Clack. Clack. The heavy dark metal batted the wooden arrows out of the air like they were nothing. The captain rushed forward.

He raised a heavy, reinforced steel shield to protect his face and swung his broadsword low. Rudra didn't dodge. He planted his boots on the splintered deck. He gripped his staff with both hands, dropped his hips, and swung the weapon horizontally. He didn't use any skills. He just relied entirely on his base Strength. CLANG. [You have dealt 20, 900 damage to the target!] The heavy black staff smashed directly into the center of the steel shield. The impact was loud.

The thick steel literally bent in half, buckling inward under the blunt force. The shockwave lifted the captain completely off his feet. He flew backward through the air like a ragdoll and slammed directly into the ship's mainmast. CRACK. The heavy wooden mast groaned in protest. The wood splintered and snapped in half, collapsing slowly toward the side of the ship with a tearing crash. Sails and rigging tangled everywhere, completely trapping half the crew. Rudra didn't stop to admire his work.

He turned toward the starboard rail. The second smuggling ship was sitting about twenty feet away in the water. The crew over there was desperately trying to reload their mounted harpoon guns. Rudra stepped off the deck. He triggered [Abyssal Step]. An invisible platform cracked under his boot in mid-air. He bounced off the empty space, easily clearing the twenty-foot gap, and landed squarely on the railing of the second ship.

"He can walk on the air?!" a smuggler screamed in panic.

"Too slow," Rudra grinned. He hopped down onto the deck. He moved through the crowd like he was doing chores. He tripped a guy with the butt of his staff. He kicked another smuggler into the ocean. He didn't bother using lethal force. He just knocked them out or tossed them overboard. The fight was completely one-sided. Within four minutes, the second ship was clear. He jumped over to the third and final ship. The remaining poachers didn't even try to fight.

The moment his boots hit the deck, they dropped their weapons and held their hands up.

"We surrender! We surrender!" they yelled.

"Smart choice," Rudra said. Ten minutes after he dropped from the sky, the fight was officially over. The three ships were heavily damaged. The main mast of the lead ship was floating in the water. Dozens of smugglers were groaning on the wet floorboards, nursing broken noses and massive bruises. Rudra didn't just leave them there. He walked around the decks, grabbing the heavy, magical ropes the smugglers had planned to use on the Orca. He hauled the wet, coughing poachers out of the ocean one by one.

He tied them all tightly to the broken mast on the main deck, wrapping the rope around them until they looked like a giant, miserable bundle of criminals.

"Stay put," Rudra told them as he didn't plan to kill them but that didn't mean he was going to just let them go, since his territory was in need of slaves and he happened to just get a ready-made group of them that he could squeeze dry. He hopped over the side of the ship and splashed into the shallow water of the reef.