Chương 45: 44 Falling Osprey

Trapped. I cursed, looking to my left as the ship with the arcane deck swooped in, sigils on the elevated platform pulsing. The Ash Zephyr shuddered as the magic eddy locked it in place. My eyes snapped to the other side, where the ramming galley barrelled to our exposed side.

"Starboard, reload and fire!" I snapped into the talking tubes on the right, but I got no response. I'd sent them down to patch the breach. I jerked the helm, but even with the sails full, we stayed fixed in the riptide. I bit down hard, panic surging through my chest. I looked back at the arcane ship, locking onto their Caster. A full-blooded Naga with the lower body of a snake and a massive, scaled humanoid torso clutched the channeling rail, focusing on keeping us fixed in place.

My terminal blinked into existence in my vision—I hoped to scan the mage and maybe get some idea of what we were dealing with, but the notifications crowded a fair portion of my field of view. My head tilted at the sight of one. <<System Notice: Level up>> I linked Ourabora.

"Accept level up—Martial. Both feat points into Trajectory Read!" Sliplock glanced at me, confused by my words.

"Captain! They'll ram us!" His pitch climbed as he focused on the ram barreling toward our flank. <<System Notice: Level Up—Martial Level Seven>> <<System Notice: New Feat—Minor Inventory boost>> <<System Notice: Upgraded Feat—Lessor Trajectory Read>> The trajectory cones sweeping across the battlefield like lighthouse lanterns narrowed, sharpened, and gave me a clearer picture of every flight path. I snagged Sliplock by the collar and jerked him forward, just as an arrow slammed down where he'd been standing.

"Take the helm," I hissed, then I lunged for the light swivel gun on the quarter deck.

"Captain!" Mordisco cried, panting as he pointed a blood-soaked wedge at the incoming ram. The few snake marines who'd been able to board lay dead at his feet.

"I'm tracking!" I snarled, swiveling the light artillery piece, training it on the arcane deck of the mage ship. The rowing drums of the galley crescendoed into a fast ramming rhythm.

"Out of time, Captain!" Sliplock cried behind me. I tilted the swivel gun up. My narrowed trajectory cone centered on the mage, and I slammed my fist down on the sparker. The cannon bucked on its swivel, belching a plume of smoke, and the ball snapped away, zipping down the trajectory shaft. I craned my head and rolled onto my toes, trying to get a better picture. The ball slammed through the bottom half of the Naga, ripping through the arcane deck's rail.

The sigils winked out on the enemy platform, and the Ash Zephyr lurched forward as the riptide washed away.

"Sliplock, angle!" I screamed, whirling.

"Don't let them hit us head-on—" My eyes went wide. Too late. Painted serpent eyes rushed at the ship's side.

"Brace!" someone called. The deck jumped from under my feet, the impact flinging me into the bulwark. Wood slammed my ribs, a lance of sharp pain lashing through my side. I gasped, body spasming. Screams came from the starboard speaking tubes.

"Major breach, Captain!" Sliplock called, jerking the wheel, attempting to dislodge the Ash Zephyr.

"Prepare to be boarded!" Mordisco bellowed, sliding a flick knife onto his wedge. Ukark and Flast took up defensive positions at his sides—the Minotaur and Lizard-kin towering over the already tall Hobgoblin. Drogo cinched a bloody bandage tight around his bicep, panting as he struggled to reload his shotgun with one hand. I rolled onto my feet, grunting through the pain as I dragged my saber from my sheath. Timbers creaked, and dual boarding bridges on the galley's bow crashed down.

Iron spikes bit into the bulwark anchoring the bridges, and I tensed, expecting a surge of infantry to cross. They didn't—instead, the hollow thump of heavy feet rumbled as a pack of long, scaled, and feathered hunters charged across. Over ten feet long from nose to tail, two hundred pounds of muscle and teeth, with sickle talons curving from their ankles, six Deinonychuses barked and hissed as they barreled at the scant line. I flinched. Dinosaurs?

Mordisco bellowed as he snapped his blade down, detaching the flick knife and sending it spinning into the face of the dinosaur in the lead. Ukark roared, and his hooves thundered as he rushed to meet the charge with his single horn lowered. Flast let out a primal shriek and advanced.

"Anyone not patching, to the deck!" I roared, rushing for the quarterdeck rail.

"To arms!" Sliplock shouted my orders into the tube as I vaulted the deck and snatched a fly line. I'd had the hanging ropes installed for no other purpose than to have something to swing on. The system flared within me, Aerial Combatant engaged, and I angled my weight, sailing at one of the monstrous raptors. My saber flashed, empowered with my feet off the ground, and sheared a dinosaur head free. Ukark slammed into a Deinonychus, his weight winning and folding the reptile in on itself.

Mordisco rolled away from flashing ankle talons, and Flast dragged another to the ground, holding it tight in a headlock. Then the sound of boots thundered across the bridges as serpentine Naga-kin shock troopers charged into the opening while flaming arrows hissed down. Brace and Othess stumbled onto the deck along with several of the slavers, brandishing cutlasses and rifles, all soaked to their knees. I completed my arc and swung back the way I came.

A Deinonychus saw me and shrieked with glee as it lunged to intercept. Fool, interception was my game. My trajectory path lanced out ahead of me, meeting the primal lizard's cone in the middle. I let go, dropping faster than expected, and reptilian teeth snapped on empty air as I sheared down. It squawked, spewing blood from its side as it flapped tiny arm-wings. Hitting the deck, I rolled, my ribs flaring. My men discharged pistols and rifles as Naga-kin rushed in with spears and scimitars. The lines clashed.

Steel and screams filled the air. Kobolds shrieked as they fell back. Ezio appeared at my side, cutlass in hand, and he fired a pistol at a Naga-kin. Flast let out a reptilian hiss of rage as he staggered back, two arrows protruding from his meaty shoulder, and Ukark cleaved a snake-man in half with a brutal swing of his battleaxe.

"Hold them!" I shouted, batting a spear aside and lunging to strike at its wielder. The serpent man turned my blade aside with a shield. I hated shields. Pushing into the shield, I jerked one of my pistols free and hooked my arm around the barrier. Bushmaster fangs flashed at my face, ivory needles secreting clear fluid. I discharged my firearm into his side, and he howled as he dropped to a knee. I jerked my blade across, separating the snake's head from its body. I fell back, gasping.

More infantry pounded into us, driving us back. A spear took Ezio in the side, and he went down. The full-blooded Nagas came. Four of them, sliding on serpentine tails, with powerful chests and shoulders towering over their more humanoid subordinates. One lifted a powerful bow and sent a thick-shafted arrow into a slaver's chest. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. A snake marine hacked at Mordisco, double-teaming him but exposing his side to me.

I lunged, spearing him through the ribs. In battle, cheap shots were just opportunities. A cone of flame spewed from one of the Nagas' hands over the heads of his men. The heat engulfed two slavers, two Kobolds, and set Ukark's fur ablaze on one side.

"Mage!" I called. Mordisco snarled as he cut a pair of Naga-kin down. One of the Nagas behind his foot soldiers picked him out and thrust with a long lance. The Hobgoblin veteran whirled on another infantryman—and the Naga's spear caught him in the throat. He went down, hand clutching blood on his neck.

"Mordisco!" I screamed. I instinctively reached for the sword belt in my inventory. A single potion could save him. Another wave of infantry cut me off before I got the chance. Needles shrieked, weaving through snake marines, his long, thin blades flashing. They jerked away from the goblin, opening themselves. I lunged, running one through, then scoring a shot on another's head. A shaft of light illuminated the snakes, and I whipped my gaze to the quarter deck where Sliplock mounted a swivel gun.

The rat grinned and slammed a fist on the sparker. Grapeshot spat out, tearing through Naga-kin, but an arcane shield blurred around the Nagas, deflecting the charge. The Naga archer sighted on Sliplock, an arrow already nocked. As powerful arms drew the bow, the sharp trajectory path illuminated my helmsman's chest.

"Sliplock, duck!" I bellowed as I parried a strike, but my voice was lost to the chaos. The arrow hissed, and the Rat-kin jerked back, eyes going wide at the shaft embedded in his sternum. I didn't watch him hit the deck; I couldn't. A green mamba-headed infantryman tried to bash me with his shield. I sprang back, allowing him to throw his own weight off, then I lunged, stopping low and hacking at his calf. He screamed and hopped back behind the protection of their falling line.

Another cone of fire broke our ranks further back. Arrows hissed back as more Naga-kin on the deck of the enemy ship picked off my crew.

"Captain!" Othess hissed, clubbing a fallen Naga-kin. My eyes snapped to him.

"Save—us!" His cobra hood started to fan out, the panic clear in his gaze. The sound faded around me as I took in the scene. The Nagas hurled projectiles and spears from behind their wall of infantry. Ukark bellowed as he tried to pat flames from his fur. Needles shook Mordisco, who now stared sightlessly at the smoky sky. We weren't winning. More infantrymen charged from the galley, pressing into my inferior force.

"Captain!" Othess hissed again.

"You can!" My saber felt unusually heavy in my hand. These were convicts and criminals. Tex, the whole reason I'd freed them in the first place was that they'd blend in and be expendable. So why did their cries rip me on the inside? I glanced up at the cobra who watched me, knowing what I really was, and seeing hope, not an enemy. Convicts, yes. But also my crew. Needles hissed as a Naga-kin soldier kicked him off of Mordisco's body. But the mission? I turned and exhaled. My crew.

"Flast!" I roared. The massive lizard brute's eyes jerked my way as he snapped a serpentine neck. I leveled my saber at the Nagas in the center.

"Clear a path!" Flast wavered, a collective six arrows sticking from his back and shoulders. He let out a warcry, half hiss, half shriek as he charged into the enemy front. Spearmen recoiled at the sheer mountain of scale and muscle. I sprinted, just behind him, sticking to his shadow. Flast opened his arms wide, two spears taking him in the exposed side. He threw himself on the shock troops, buckling the line. I rushed up his tail, kicking up his back, then leaped off his shoulder.

I soared over the enemy line, the system igniting power in my blood as my feet caught the air. My knees pulled tight to my chest, like an osprey descending on a nest of snakes. The Nagas recoiled as I bathed them in my shadow. My Trajectory Read and Aerial Combatant synced, and I ignited my Empowered Windmill Form. My saber flashed white with system light, trailing an afterglow track through the air. I sheared. The Naga mage barely had time to flinch before I split him from crown to navel.

I didn't let myself hit the ground, but kicked off the Naga as he fell, redirecting at the lancer who killed Mordisco. My blade flashed as I whipped in a full circle. My sword wasn't the Windmill. I was. I scythed with my whole body, acting as the axis while a white arch streaked through the air in a figure-eight. Mana burned. The saber parted armor scale and meat as I hit the ground. Rebounding, I rolled and lunged at the reeling Naga who dual-wielded scimitars.

I ran him through, and he gagged, blood spewing from between his lips. Something impacted my shoulder, and I caught the dark shaft of an arrow in my peripheral vision. I didn't feel the pain, just the pressure. The Archer's tail lashed, coiling around me with crushing force. I gasped as scales pinned my sword arm to my body, squeezing the air from my lungs. A low-mana warning on my HUD winked. The tail coiled tight around me, crushed tighter, and thrashed.

"User!" the Naga hissed. I threw my hand up, pointing at his serpentine head. My tinker pistol winked into my palm, hammer already drawn. I pulled the trigger. His head snapped back, the coil around me loosening only briefly. I jerked my arm up, forcing the edge of my flickering blade tight to scales. Pain from the arrow in my shoulder started leaking through the adrenaline in waves. The Naga turned back to me, a bloody pit of shattered scales in his brow. His eyes burned with fury.

I jerked my blade, trying to cut the tail, but the sword didn't move. Even empowered, the Archer held me tight.

"Cousin, or Exploit?" He hissed, drawing a dagger and pulling me closer.

"Paradise, or Wake?" A new cry sounded from my ship, and a fresh wave of slavers with Jaser and Vurel charged from the hold. Pistols and rifles cracked, dropping snake infantry who had split their attention toward me. A nearby gun popped, and the Naga flinched, whirling away from me. Dustnose staggered back from the quarterdeck, eyes wide, smoking pistol looking like a carbine in his small hands. I dropped my mana-draining Empowered Windmill Form. The Naga turned back toward me, dagger glittering.

"I'll eat your heart on the altar of my temple!" he hissed. I dropped my empty pistol, my vision wavering, the coil tightened. The dagger reared. I reached back, seizing the arrow in my shoulder and jerking the barbs of the broadhead free. The pain hit all at once, but I used it. I screamed, slamming the bloody shaft through tough scales. The coil loosened just a hair, and my blade ignited with a white light of power. I bellowed, twisting the arrow as I yanked the saber. This time, the empowered sword cut.

The Naga howled, and the world spun as it lifted me, slamming me back down. My vision flashed red as I impacted the deck, and I sucked a breath of air as the coil dropped me. I blinked, the world spinning. A shaft of light ignited on my chest, and I threw myself to the side. One of the Naga's thick arrows spat past, getting lost in the melee. The empowerment in my sword flickered away. My gaze snapped up in time to find the serpentine archer knocking another arrow.

I reached for my inventory, trying to draw my gunbelt for a health potion, but my mana counter flashed at zero. I was locked out. The Archer loosed another arrow, and I leaped, twisting in the air. Pain bloomed in my side as the barbed arrowhead skimmed my ribs. I landed, staggering as exhaustion bore down on me like a yoke of stones. My fingers loosened on my saber's handle, and I switched hands, chest heaving. Something hit me from behind, scaled arms tightening around me in a bear hug.

"Sorry, Captain!" Brace hissed.

"But doesn't look like we're winning this one." He sank his python teeth into my left shoulder. I snarled, hot blood now soaking both of my shoulders. The traitor jerked his head, tearing into meat. I howled, and Brace unlatched.

"My lord! I'm with you!" he called to the Naga. The Naga sneered and nocked a new arrow.

"Hold the mongoose still, he's squirming." A gun barked, and Brace convulsed, grip loosening. I dropped to my knees, both arms aflame with pain. Brace whirled, a new spot of blood blooming on his side. Weakly, I craned my head, my vision wavering. Othess stormed forward, cobra hood fully fanned. My quartermaster leveled a pistol at Brace and fired. Brace lurched, then dropped.

"Captain!" Othess called, dropping to a knee at my side and throwing my arm over his shoulders. Pain flared in my neck with the movement. A new trajectory path centered on Othess, and I raised my head weakly to find the Naga sighting an arrow on the cobra.

"Traitor to your kind," the Naga hissed. Othess froze, eyes going wide as he clocked the bow. A faint light highlighted the Naga.

"Wait!" I called the snake warrior.

"I can make you a User!" The Naga froze. It was a lie, the most promising one I could conjure in the moment, but the second hesitation was enough. The light brightened around him, a luminescence of trajectory invisible to all eyes but mine. Something was coming in fast. The Raven Reaper dropped on the Naga, sickles flashing. The bow snapped in half, and the startled expression of surprise remained fixed on the Naga's face even as his head impacted the ground.

Raven wings beat once again, and the assassin launched down the line, carving into the enemies. With their final leader gone, the Naga-kin broke, rushing for the boarding bridges.

"Hold on, Captain!" Othess said, tearing his shirt and binding my wounds with the ribbon. I blinked away blurry vision, finally turning my attention to the sea. Flaming ships slipped beneath the waves, and the Black Chain fired her monstrous bow chaser at the six Naga ships that sailed in retreat. A chill took me, my fingers going numb. I stared at the corpses crowding my deck, my mind in a haze. Snakes screamed on the galley as the Raven Reaper went to work over there. Then a victorious cheer rang out. I blinked.

How long had I been kneeling there, leaning on Othess? A feathered shadow slammed down before me, and I dragged my head up to look at the Raven Reaper.

"Captain Anton," he said, bird mask covering his nose and eyes.

"Good work." He drew a healing potion from his belt.

"Wait!" Vurel cried. The Raven Reaper froze, turning his gaze to the tattooed Dwarf.

"He's a Cousin." Even through the shock, my gut sank. Of all my men, Vurel was the last I'd expect to expose me.

"A User!" Othess countered, glaring at the dwarf.

"Not a cousin."

"I saw him," Vurel called.

"He used system power!"

"Yeah," a slaver corroborated.

"He had an inventory. He conjured a pistol." The Raven Reapers turned back to me, eyes a storm.

"Not a Cousin!" Othess interjected.

"An Exploit. He's a wake agent, probably sent here to keep tabs on their business partners." I shook my head, trying to banish the fog. What was Othess doing? Covering for me, or had he drawn incorrect conclusions?

"Is this true?" the Raven Reaper growled.

"I—" I croaked, shivering.

"Yes." His raven mask dipped once, then the butt of his sickle struck my temple. The world went dark. <<Time to Seal Collapse: 04: 00: 05: 18: 31: 25>>