The ship was quite old as it made creaking noises on every step. A damp and musty scent lingered in the air.
''Smells like fish, sweat and...blood.'' Lorian thought as he looked around.
The sailors were swinging their weapons, trying to drive away the ugly sea monsters, that burst out from water from time to time and landed on deck, attacking the sailors.
Lorian observed the sirens. Male or female, they were both ugly. Their bodies were covered in filthy mucus, that gave out rotting stench.
They had a lower body of a fish and the upper body of a human. Their faces were especially frightening with shark-like teeth, red beady eyes, lack of nose and scaled protrusions above their head.
The sirens had particularly strong arms. Their tail was also a weapon, that also had to be noted.
It was hard to injure or even land a hit on them due to slippery secreted liquid covering their bodies. In case they were seriously injured, they moved haphazardly on the deck in order to flee to the sea.
They harassed the sailors and dragged some of them to the sea. It was a disturbing sight.
Lorian lifted his hand and urged for ice bullets to shape from the air.
*Pew, Pew, Pew~
*Puff, Puff, Puff~
[ +14 Battle Exp ]
[ +10 Battle Exp ]
[ +12 Battle Exp ]
[ +14 Battle Exp ]
...
The ice bullets accurately embedded into Sirens' foreheads and took their life by destroying their brain.
Lorian sighed. Months ago, killing these guys would reward him with at least 5x more Exp.
The sailors who were previously having a hard time looked at him gratefully as they panted heavily, but there was no time to rest. The sea monsters didn't cease their assault just because a couple of their kin died.
*Bang
The deck shook and many people staggered, falling to the floor.
The captain's face was ugly as he despaired.
''How could these plagues appear on the safe route? What is happening? We're doomed! They're hitting from below. The ship won't hold out for more than 10 minutes...''
Lorian also felt the threat. He couldn't have the ship sinking in the middle of the sea in the middle of nowhere full of sea monsters. This was a sure dead end. He had to do something, but what?
*CHIRP~
The high pitched screeching voice came from the distance. Everyone's faces changed as they saw approaching black dots in the sky.
- Harpies...
The sailor dropped to his knees.
At this moment, everyone realized, they were doomed.
*Clank
- How could this happen?
The captain unconsciously dropped the jagged sword.
The noises coming from the sky were getting louder and louder, while the ship was constantly shaking as banging sounds constantly rang from below.
Elaine silently appeared behind Lorian, waiting for his decision.
- Hey, you.
''Hmm?''
Lorian turned his head only to see somebody approaching him. The guy had thick brown hair covering his forehead. His face was freckled and he wore glasses. His looks were below average and he was a head shorter than him. He looked like a typical introverted nerd that would get bullied at school. But...looks can sometimes be deceptive.
- What is it?
Lorian asked impatiently. The situation was quite urgent right now. Every second, the death was approaching.
- Can you freeze the ship down below?
Lorian frowned.
The nerdy looking guy fixed his glasses and pointed down.
- If you freeze the surface of the sea around the ship the ship won't sink anymore.
Lorian was quite surprised this guy knew he was proficient in ice creation, but on second thoughts, he just killed a couple of Sirens using ice bullets, so it wasn't that surprising if he observed him.
- I was also thinking the same, but what about the birds up there?
The ship was attacked from both the air and the sea. One had to think realistically. He wouldn't be able to save the ship from being destroyed all alone and the sailors seemed kind of useless as they had only enough strength to barely defend themselves.
- I'll deal with the birds up there.
The nerdy guy turned his head and glared at the approaching tide of harpies while fixing his glasses. The sunray was reflected from the surface of his glasses.
Lorian looked at him strangely.
- Are you sure about that?
The nerd nodded his head.
Lorian was skeptical, but he didn't have better options. He looked back at Elaine and ordered.
- Your only task is to survive, I'll be back in a while.
He jumped from the deck right into the sea. His figure grew blurry as he used the ghostly glide, which reduced his weight.
*Crackle~
His feet lightly dropped on the surface of the water, which instantly started freezing under his feet. He swallowed several drops of holy water of high concentration, accelerating the speed of freezing the water and the ship in a fixed place.
Several Sirens emerged from the water and screeched unpleasantly as they threw their bodies at him, but he quickly shot them down.
Back on the deck, the nerd started giving off terrific fluctuations of mana. Even Elaine took a step back.
His eyes glowed with bright silver and electrical snakes started dancing around his whole body. His hair rose in the air as if there was some air conditioner on the floor. He looked quite intimidating and savage with his serious face.
*CHIRP! CHIRP!~
The harpies were very fast and soon neared the ship.
- Rumble: Electric discharge!
He chanted in a deep voice.
The sound of a deafening explosion rang from his body as blue berserk shockwave passed through dozens of harpies in the air.
They screeched unpleasantly and were fried and stunned, helplessly falling into the sea. The other harpies didn't seem afraid, but angry as they dived from the air, aiming their deadly talons at the sailors.
The harpies had feet of a bird, arms covered in feather and body and the head of a human.
Hearing the voice of thunder and seeing the falling harpies, Lorian was quite surprised.
''That plain guy was a thunder mage? He even concealed it so well.''
Thunder was a rare choice for mages because of how dangerous it was. Without high affinity, it was simply courting death to learn even the simplest of thunder spells.
Lorian was a bit reassured and continued freezing the area around the ship, which was already getting stuck in his ice field.
Suddenly, a whirlpool emerged nearby. A golden scaled buff Siren emerged from it. This Siren was holding a dangerous trident in his hand and stared at Lorian with his blood-red eyes, which gave him creeps.
*Hua, Crack!
The Siren swung down his trident and pierced the ice surface Lorian had just created. The cracks started spreading on the ice.
Lorian's heart sank as he felt the troublesome enemy emerge, but he was also a bit excited.
The golden scaled Siren was one of the most desired monsters for his rank-up. His target was another, but he couldn't believe his luck was so good he encountered even more precious variant specimen of Sirens.
At the same time, he was also scared. This monster was very strong and hard to deal with. He didn't have the confidence to beat it with normal means, but he had many trump cards, so he didn't back down from the challenge.
He silently appraised the enemy. After some interaction with the system, it allowed him to see through enemy's life force and attack power range.
[ Golden-scaled Siren (Sub-Elite)
★ Warrior (30000/50000)
Skills: ???
✠ 794/800
⚔ 44-62 ]