"ahh ah…uff…ah."
My breath got more and more fatigued.
I was swimming and in front of me was Eloise. Erhan was last making sure that if someone couldn't hold on anymore, he could help them.
I discovered that if I used a small amount of mana to reinforce my whole body, I could fend off some of the cold.
As we got closer to the ships, I could see them in more detail. Especially the large one, it had two decks instead of one like ours. It could probably contain at least two hundred sailors if fully manned, which spelled trouble for us.
I turned my eyes to focus on our objective. The frigate had along its sides a grey line of paint and on top of one of its three masts stood the Woflen empire's flag. The banner had a red background. Within its center stood a black wolf holding a sword in its mouth.
I kept going. The water felt less frigid, but I couldn't control my mana perfectly. I was losing feeling in my fingers.
A quiet voice reached my ears.
"We've made it."
Just before me, Eloise was already scaling the ship while leaving knives embedded deeply in the ship's hull so that only the handle stuck out.
I finally touched the wooden boards, and they felt slippery, not just wet. They were probably coated with a protective layer.
I looked up and saw my female companion enter through the gun port. I climbed, stepping on the knives' handles like a ladder. I got up and went in.
The insides were dark; I could barely see a couple of steps in front of me. Eloise was crouched down, hiding behind a basket full of cannon balls. I thought it was a good idea, so I followed her actions.
Even with my limited vision, I tried to look around. I didn't see any of the hammocks used to sleep that would decorate the gun deck during the night. I deduced that if there was someone, they had to be on the main deck just above us.
More and more crewmates entered the ship and flopped down on the deck, taking in deep breaths. I signaled Eloise to guard the nearby stars that led up.
Finally, when Erhan entered, I thought we were ready. I went near him
"Did everyone make It?"
"Not really, you see that"
I looked where he was pointing, and I saw a man with a pale expression on his face coughing.
"I had to drag him like a sack of potatoes. Rotten ones since he smelled bad."
"Fine, fine good job. Now listen to me. Eloise and I will go on the main deck and then enter the quarterdeck to check that no one is on the ship."
"Meanwhile, I need you to load the cannons and wait for my signal."
A big grin formed on his face as if he was making a mischief.
"Sure, lad"
A sigh escaped my mouth since I knew that he understood my plan. Sail ships weren't particularly fast, and we needed some time to pick up speed. Our boat was quicker, but if we couldn't leave in time, the giant ship would board, and we couldn't win against two hundred men.
I stopped, lurking around, and grabbed Eloise by the arm. Immediately as if she was a crab, I felt a pinch on my sides.
"We will check the ship for enemies. Follow me."
I heard a grunt and decided not to look at her to save my life.
I walked up the stairs and peeked to see if anyone was on the main deck.
"It's clear. Follow me. We need to be quick."
I immediately decided that crouching was useless since the other ships' navy soldiers could look down and see us. So, the best option was to make a run while trying to be as quiet as possible.
I sprinted to the quarterdeck's door. I opened it and snuck inside with my hand already on the pommel of my sword. Ready to face an enemy
Inside was well lit, but the windows were boarded. At the end of the room stood a desk with a woman sitting behind it. As I was about to take a good look at her, a green shadow flashed from my right side toward me.
I immediately threw a kick at it, unsheathed my sword, and got ready to strike but stopped.
The thing I had just kicked was Zurkx ….
"Keh Ke, owww!"
"What are you doing!?"
"AH! Young master! I was running to hug you and check if you had any injuries, ke ke."
The old goblin soon as it saw who it was, relaxed and got on his feet while blatantly lying to my face, but I ignored him.
I looked at the seated woman as Eloise entered and quickly closed the door behind her. I saw that everything went well.
"Monique, it seems that you were able to sneak in."
"Indeed, captain"
A beautiful smile hung on her face, a bit too dazzling, so I looked away and saw the injured Erika lying on a mattress dressed up like a mummy.
"Is she fine?"
"She is. I healed her after Zurkx dragged her on the ship. As for those bandages, you can guess who has done them from how they are tied."
I could guess who …
"I thought that I had done a good …."
I immediately interrupted him before he could spout some excuses and asked him to go to the gun deck where we entered to give Erhan a hand.
When Monique heard her husband's name, she got up from the captain's chair … my chair …. And tried to follow the goblin, but I had to stop her.
"Where are you going?"
A death glare that made all my hair stand was shot at me from her azure eyes. A smile that wasn't a smile hung on her face.
"To see my husband. Couldn't you guess?"
Of course, I knew that, but she would only be a hindrance if she went there now since she wasn't good at physical labor and would probably have a passionate reunion with her lover.
Through my gritted teeth, I said
"Listen to my orders for now. We have big trouble, as you probably saw just to our right. You can wait just a bit before seeing him"
The look on her face told me that she hadn't heard a word of what I said, so as I was just about to grab her, an indifferent voice reached my ears.
"Madam, I think young master is right. You should wait"
Eloise spoke up for me against her superior.
Monique looked wide-eyed at her new opponent and laughed.
"HAHA, I should probably wait. I hope you spoke up for my own good and not because you started to fancy some new man you just met."
She backed off, sat on the same bed where Erika was lying and started caressing her black hair.
I stared at Eloise's mask.
"What ?"
"No …. Nothing"
I immediately started walking back to the captain's chair to sit for a minute and rest while the preparations for the last hurdle were ongoing. But as I was about to flop down, the quarterdeck's door opened.
Zurkx had already returned while we were bickering.
"We are ready."
I knew that choosing experienced ex-Navi soldiers was a good choice.
There was no need to hide anymore. I walked outside and looked up at the enemy ship. The moon was shining just behind their main mast.
I approached the right side of the hip and stared down. I took a deep breath and shouted.
"PUSH THE CANNONS OUT AND FIRE!!"
They recognized my voice. Immediately black barrels started popping out; I could count at least 15.
Cannonballs shot out of them almost at the same time. Grey smoke briefly covered my vision before wooden splinters reached my face. I knew that firing from such a short distance would deal a lot of damage, but the big holes in the other ship's side were rather large.
I immediately screamed another order before the enemy could respond.
"QUICK, EVERYONE ON DECK, LOOSEN THE SAILS AND LIFT THE ANCHOR"
As my crewmates started coming up on the main deck, a yell finally rose from our opponents.
"ENEMIES! GET AT YOUR STATIONS!"
Their commander was still alive, but their ship looked in chaos. Many sailors had just been woken up and were looking around in confusion.
I turned my head and saw Erhan with his enormous body pulling up the anchor with both arms reinforced with mana. I thought that there was no chance I would be able to do the same thing as him.
Our sails unfurled down, and some men were already tightening the lines to set them.
The wind wasn't powerful, but it was enough. As the ship started going slowly forward, I heard a DING!
[Main mission COMPLETED!]
[Issuing rewards!]
[Level Up!]
[Sub-system unlocked! Updating!]
[Time needed 10h]
[Remaining time: 9h:39m]
As bright blue square boxes appeared, they all got replaced by a small timer. I was a bit baffled, but I decided to ignore it and look at it at a later time.
Our ship had already left its original spot and started taking speed, but as everything was going well, I heard a loud noise.
"BOOM!"
The enemy vessel had managed to collect itself and started firing three cannons on its forecastle, an elevated structure on top of the ship's bow.
One shoot missed while the other two put a hole in just one of our sails. We got extremely lucky. They could have hit our back and destroyed the rudder used to turn the ship.
As I wiped a few beads of sweat from my forehead, I said
"We have a minute before they are ready to shoot again! Someone get on top of our quarterdeck and get some smaller cannons ready in case they chase us!"
Two cremates ran up to follow my orders. Meanwhile, I went to the helmsman to direct him, but as I was walking to him, a strong gust of wind hit my back and inflated the sails.
I barely managed not to fall to the ground. I looked up and saw that our ship had already put 700 yards from our opponent. It was far enough to obscure their vision and make their aim inaccurate.
We sailed forward, and the night offered an excellent cover for our escape. We heard a couple more shots, but they didn't land near us.
A grin of relief barely had the time to form on my face as I put on a severe face. I looked around on the messy deck and saw Zurkx squatting down with his hands covering his head.
"Hey! Zurkx! Fire the signal."
He got up and took out a box from a pile on the deck. He opened it and pulled out a strange object. A couple of our crewmates shot him a curious gaze while controlling the sails. He positioned a mini silver rocket on the deck's floor and lit the fuse that poked out from under it.
He sprinted away as if he had just planted a bomb, so our companions started distancing themselves while looking a bit worried, including me.
The rocket started smoking, then, with a sound similar to hot vapor escaping from a small teapot, shot into the sky. After reaching a certain altitude, it exploded, and a bright orange light illuminated the sky above us.
Erhan, that had left his job to some unlucky fellow, came next to me and asked.
"Wouldn't that reveal our position ?"
While still looking up, I answered.
"Yes, it will. But this signal is for a friend. Don't worry. We will continue at full speed."
"Even if we didn't, you know well that they probably won't chase us no matter how angry they are."
"It's true. Well, good luck waiting. I don't think anyone can catch up to this frigate. It is a fast one…. Captain…."
He stopped caring about me and started looking around
"She is in the captain's room on the quarterdeck."
He didn't even leave a thank you. He just sprinted away.
I lowered my gaze and looked at the sea. I spoke quietly under my breath
"I hope that everything is fine on your side…. Be safe old man."
----- Otto Pov -----
I was standing in a pit with a couple of injuries. At least half of the current lord's manor had been torn down. A couple of buildings that had caught on fire illuminated the battlefield.
Three hundred yards in front of me stood Borge. He wasn't standing in the air anymore. As our fight got longer, he decided to save up his mana even if it made him more vulnerable.
His face looked pale since his arm was still on the ground, but apart from that, he looked fine, unlike me.
"cough …. Ah… ufff."
I spat out a bit of blood and tried to compose myself. I was still standing on my feet, but I didn't know if I could last much longer.
The army that encircled our location still had about the same number of soldiers as when we started. Only a couple of advanced professionals that didn't know their limits, and some of the men that guarded artillery pieces had died under my sword.
Finally, when my airways cleared from all the blood, I decided to start our second round.
I took a deep breath and sprinted toward my opponent. My steps caused the hardened ground to crack. My sword was standing in front of my torso, ready to strike.
The town lord hadn't waited around without doing anything. A couple of protective spells had been cast around him, but I could slice through them quickly, and he knew that.
I could see that he had started chanting a long spell as soon as I moved. And usually, it meant that a strong offensive was about to be unleashed.
A giant saber of wind formed on his head while I pierced through his defense. As soon I saw it, I knew our battle wouldn't last long. It was probably his last blow.
When I reached a hundred fifty yards from him, I saw a bright light in the sky in the corner of my eye. A bright orange explosion happened in the sky above the sea.
I internally screamed, THE SIGNAL!
I immediately refocused my eyes on my opponent since I couldn't run blindly toward him.
My gaze got colder as I realized that I didn't have many options to escape safely. I decided that it was time to gamble and if he won his prize would be my life.
I put almost all of my remaining mana into my sword and used the rest to strengthen my body.
My blade started to shine like the sun.
Finally, when I met head-on his giant wind saber, I swung my sword.
I didn't have enough strength.
The wind saber didn't get cut into two or dissipated, but it only weakened and hit my body. An enormous amount of pain almost made me fall down directly. A massive wound from my chin down to my pelvis formed.
My strengthened body prevented me from getting directly cut into two.
I gritted my teeth and managed not to get pushed back. I was just about 20 yards from him.
I put my right foot in front of my body and swung my sword behind me. I changed how I held it and gripped it like a javelin.
I looked into my opponent's eyes and saw fear in them for the first time. He had realized what I wanted to do.
I swung my arm and launched my sword like a javelin toward him. He didn't have any chance to react. I saw the blade pass through his chest, but I didn't see his corpse hit the ground because I had already turned around and started running.
"MY LORD !!"
I heard a couple of screams from the army, and they descended into panic as their general had fallen.
I escaped the encirclement after killing a couple of soldiers to intimidate them. At that point, I was just a paper tiger; I didn't have any remaining mana.
I kept running from one street to another while trying to stop my bleeding chest by stuffing it with whatever remained of my clothes.
After a while, I reached the port and did something that no mage should ever do. I tried to use my mana despite having already depleted it.
I used my body strength to jump in the air. Then I forced my mana circuits to use my vitality to function.
I ran directly into the sky in the direction of the ship. I couldn't see that well anymore and just relied on instincts.
When I finally couldn't hold on anymore, I crushed down. I didn't hit the water but something hard.
I didn't have enough strength to open my eyes to see what it was.
I just hoped that I would be able to open them again…