"Hurry! Get below deck!" Mike told the others while sending a mental message to Red, commanding him to remain below the waterline until he was needed. From the looks of it, they would have to fight their way out now.
As he reached the entrance descending into the ship, he nearly ran into a marine hustling up the stairs. For a moment, the pair of them just stared at one another, but then the Tenundian raised his cutlass with a war cry. A quick stab through the chest was enough to silence the man, and while he was in the process of collapsing, Mike pulled him back onto the deck to keep the stairs free.
"Come on." He motioned for the others to follow, and started heading in. Hopefully, they could find the prince without too much difficulty.
In keeping with his luck, however, the first landing ended with three possible options. First, there appeared to be a cabin set in the very rear of the ship, likely once belonging to the captain. Additionally, there was a second deck stretching towards the fore, seemingly designed for crew living spaces and cannon emplacement. Finally, the stairs continued heading down, evidently leading into the cargo hold.
[What to do? The captives are probably being held in the lowest level, but I can't exactly leave these other places uncleared. That would be just asking for someone to come stab us in the back. Guess I have no choice.]
"Alright, we're splitting up. Lily, I want you to clear this deck. There are probably still some Tenundian marines, a few of which might be Tier 2, so be careful. Tal and Sera, I want you to go down and see about releasing the captives. If the prince is there, secure him and bring him back here." He whispered quietly once they had grouped up on the stairs.
"What about you?" Sera hissed, looking meaningfully at the door in front of them.
"I'm taking this one." He nodded towards the cabin. In all likelihood, the Tenundian elites were staying here, which meant it would be the most dangerous task.
"Now, we don't have much time-"
The door to the cabin opened, and Mike made eye contact with a grizzled looking marine standing in the doorway, who was just as confounded by their appearance as they were.
"Go!" Mike yelled before hurling himself into the room spear first, driving the marine forward in the process. His enemy succeeded in diverting the path of his attack, taking only a minor scratch along his side. However, he couldn't stop Mike's momentum, so the pair of them ended up sprawled just inside the cabin.
As he rolled to his feet, he took a look around the room, seeing another two marines who were in the process of getting up themselves. Judging from their appearance, and the higher quality gear, he surmised that these must be the Tier 2 soldiers stationed on this ship.
[Good. If I can take care of these three here, it will make the next step easier.]
The first to move was the marine he'd pushed into the room initially. He was large and heavily bearded, with a gut that suggested an over fondness for food and drink, but he moved with surprising speed and grace.
Whipping a pair of boarding axes through the confines of the small cabin, he drove Mike's spear down and away, attempting to deliver a decapitating strike. It was a valiant attempt that would have worked on other opponents, but not one with Mike's variety of skills and ridiculous attributes.
Rather than attempting to bring his spear up to protect himself, he simply reached out with one hand, placed his palm against the man's chest, and summoned a small, but intense, blast of flame, punching a hole straight through to his back.
As the man collapsed, a look of shock on his face, one of the other marines gave a cry of anguish.
"AHH! Gerard!" The woman screamed before running at Mike with her sword held in a two-handed grip. "Damn you!"
"Kathy, no! Don't! We need to fight him together!" The last of the three added, desperately trying to free his own sword from its scabbard. Unfortunately for him, it seemed to be stuck.
Mike slid to his left, avoiding the woman's overhead chop and moving to block her follow up attack with the Fang of the Primal. As soon as the blow had landed, he kicked out with his right foot, catching her in the midsection and driving her to her knees, gasping and retching.
With a grimace, he finished the woman off by neatly stabbing through back, aiming for her heart. When she went limp, he turned to face the last of the marines, who had finally succeeded in free his sword.
He was of average height, but had a lanky, almost malnourished appearance, which strangely seemed to fit the look of growing despair on his face. "Your him, aren't you? The Dragonknight whose been causing so much damage for the assault forces."
Feeling a tinge of pity, Mike nodded while bringing his spear up to the ready.
The man laughed in a slightly maniacal way, "She told me this mission would get me killed, I just didn't believe her. Oh well, at least I can go out like a soldier. Come on, give me your best shot!"
"Alright." Mike answered quietly while falling into a stance designed to facilitate a quick thrust. Once he was ready, he launched himself forward in a blinding flash, punching forward with his spear.
The marine, perhaps guessing at the nature of the attack, dodged to his left with all the speed available to him, narrowly avoiding a lethal blow as a line was scored across one arm. Recovering quickly, the man whipped his sword in a horizontal slash, aiming for his opponent's head.
Although he was a little surprised by the efficiency of the evasion and counterattack, Mike wasn't too concerned. His pure physical abilities had long ago reached the level of superhuman, thanks to overlapping bonuses from his skills and titles. So, even though he wielded superior skill and strategy, the Tenundian had no chance of victory.
With a small motion, Mike leaned back, allowing the blade to pass harmlessly in front of his face. A maneuver that would have been unthinkable during his own life, but occurred almost naturally for him. The whole situation struck him as being slightly ludicrous when he thought about it. Even as he caught his opponent across the throat with a return stroke of his spear, he found himself marveling at the change a few months had made.
In his previous life, he'd had all the athletic talent of a particularly lumpy potato, and even when he was reincarnated, he initially struggled to hold his own against even the weakest of enemies. Yet, here he was now, easily dispatching three people who were considered elite warriors of a nation's military. People who had probably been training for years to reach that point.
[I know I don't really have any right to complain, all things considered, but the System is really unfair.]
Sighing, he left the room, heading in the direction Lily went. He didn't think she would need the help, but she was probably the only one still fighting by this point. If they moved quickly, they could hopefully extract the prince and be on their way before the rest of the fleet shows up, assuming there weren't any further delays.
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"So you aren't here to save us? What in the hells do you expect us to do, then?! Won't the Tenundians just take revenge on us once you leave?" The agitated sailor demanded while grabbing Sera's shoulders.
Trying to keep herself calm, she replied levelly, "I understand your concerns, but I can't help you. We don't have the means of taking everyone here with us."
"But you could take some of us, right?" Another sailor broke in, obviously desperate.
Tal interposed herself in front of Sera, and answered in her usual fashion. "Will slow escape. Can't take risk."
"Surely, just a few more couldn't hurt." The woman replied, "Please, I have two children at home!"
"Yeah, well I have three kids who need me to support them." Yet another sailor yelled, this time an older man. "Take me with you!"
By this point, the crowd of terrified men and women were crowding close, each attempting to argue their case in increasingly convoluted ways. Sera was sure she even heard something about one of them needing to fulfill his life dream of trying every kind of liquor in the world, so he couldn't die here.
"Alright! That's enough!" She yelled, finally getting fed up. "This all can wait. Our first priority should be to ensure that the prince is taken care of. Does anyone know where he is?"
The crowd quieted for a moment as its members looked around. One of the sailors commented, "He was one of the last ones still working up on deck. Did anyone see him come back?"
Another round of mutters confirmed that no one knew exactly where he'd had gotten off to.
[Damn, of course it can't be that easy.] Sera thought to herself, feeling a sudden sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach at the idea of failing in the one task she'd been assigned since forcing herself onto this mission.
"What do we do now?" She hissed at Tal, not fully unable to keep the uncertainty out of her voice.
The elf shrugged. "Take ship?"
"That's not..." She trailed off as she considered the possibility. If they took into account the massive war potential that Mike and Red represented, as well as the mobile nature of their current location, it might very well be their best option now that they couldn't locate the prince himself.
Summoning up all of her reserves of confidence, Sera gently pushed past Tal and addressed the crew. "Alright, change of plans. We're taking everyone back, but to do that we'll need your help. We need to get this ship moving back towards the Almirn harbor."
A grey-haired sailor, dressed a bit better than the others, laughed. "That's a good one, missy. Do you really think we can outrun the entire Tenundian fleet? Especially since it seems like they've already been alerted. No, we won't get more than a few meters before they take down our sails and mob us with marines. The only reason they haven't started firing on us already is because they are worried about their own soldiers. Start moving, and it will be clear that we've taken over."
Sera frowned at the naysayer, demanding, "Do you have any better idea? Who are you anyway?"
The man grinned at her attitude. "The name's Xander Carthan, once captain of this very vessel. Now, nothing more than a mere captive like the rest. As to your other question, I'm afraid I don't have an answer. From the sounds of it, you have access to a limited means of transportation. I would suggest you take whoever you can, and make your escape. Just leave the rest of us."
The assembled sailors protested feebly, but Sera could tell that their heart wasn't exactly in it. The captain evidently still commanded the crew's respect, despite their circumstances. She would need to convince him if they wanted any chance of getting the ship moving.
"You make a good point, Captain, but their is one thing you didn't take into account. The leader of our rescue team is none other than the greatest fighting force the city of Almirn has to offer. With him and his companion on our side, we could take on the entire Tenundian fleet and still come out victorious."
A hush fell over the sailors as they contemplated the implications. The desperate man, who had been the first to voice his fears about their fate, spoke up. "You don't mean..."
"Indeed, I do." Sera proclaimed confidently. "The Dragonknight is here with his mount, and I promise that, together, we will rescue all of you."
As the crowd murmured, suddenly filled with hope, she turned to the captain. "Still feel like its impossible?"
The man chuckled. "Ah, whatever. Let's give it a shot. Our lot can't get any worse."
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"That seems to be the last of them." Mike told Lily while pulling his spear free from the Tenundian corpse. "Now if we can just..."
He trailed off as a sudden chill ran down his spine.
[Why do I feel like the difficulty of the mission just increased?]