Silver Blade's face was painted in shock, her body freezing.
Liam noticed that something was wrong.
"SILVER!"
The young woman woke up, but it was already too late. A cannonball aimed right for her chest.
[-1000!]
Without any suspense the tank lost all her HP, dropping dead on the ground.
"What happened?"
"Silver Blade?"
Cyclone looked at the corpse of her bestest friend in disbelief.
Although Liam was surprised as well, he knew that now was not the time to get distracted.
"Keep your eyes open, guys! Only one second."
The pirate ship aimed again, this time focusing on Silent Acacia. But the agile thief evaded swiftly.
"You WILL pay for this!"
A rage-filled roar echoed over the ocean as Osick's HP ran out. The party sighed in relief when Cyclone suddenly exclaimed indignantly:
"Stop! You thief! Don't drive away with our loot!"
Everyone looked towards the ocean, their mouths opening involuntarily as the pirate ship opened its majestic sails, leaving the island.
"Noo! My beautiful ship!", shouted Quickstep sadly.
A quick [Inspect] revealed that Osick was forcefully kept alive with 1HP. Most of the party members could guess that the pirate captain would reappear in the future.
[Congratulations on defeating the lord enemy 'Pirate Captain Osick'!]
[Received 500EXP]
[EXP: 67/1400]
Notifications arrived, confirming that the fight was over. They came with a huge amount of EXP, pushing the whole party to level up.
Even Silver Blade still received half the EXP, allowing her to reach level 5.
For a moment the platform fell silent as everyone read the messages.
[Congratulations, you have reached level 5.]
[Please remember to distribute your attribute points.]
[Congratulations, you have learned [Combat Instinct]!]
Liam nodded his head as he read the information about his new skill.
[Combat Instinct (rank 1)
Cost: 10 Fury
Effect: Sharpen your instincts, increasing your damage, defense and stance by 15% for five seconds.
Cooldown: 30 seconds]
Every class received a similar skill at level five, allowing them to enter an enhanced mode for a short moment.
One by one the party members grew active again.
"I reached level five!"
"Our party emerges victorious after a thrilling fight."
Silent Acacia grinned at Radiant Shield:
"This was indeed not bad."
"We couldn't have done it without severing the connection to the trident."
"You're right, the expert's preparation was vital."
At this moment, Silver Blade returned from the graveyard, her lifeless body standing up in a flash.
Cyclone immediately looked at her with apparent worry.
"Silver! What's going on? Why didn't you dodge?"
"Yeah, you were like… frozen."
"Please share with your companions if something weighs you down, maiden."
Silver Blade looked at the many concerned faces, her thoughts in a mess.
"I… I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
Ultimately, she didn't know the present people well enough, deciding to keep the matter private.
Liam frowned as he looked at the tank.
"If you want to become a great player, you mustn't get distracted. During any other time the team might've gotten wiped."
Cyclone was taken aback, feeling that Liam was unfair to her friend.
"Hey, expert! Don't you see that she is clearly distressed?!"
"No.", sighed Silver Blade. "He is right. I can't let such mistakes happen. I'm sorry everyone."
Cyclone pouted in disagreement. The rest of the party had mixed opinions, with the professional players leaning towards Liam's side, and the others towards Cyclone's.
But as Silver Blade stayed silent, there wasn't much else to discuss. Cyclone unhappily changed the topic.
"Great! Now our loot has driven away on a boat! Did we fight for nothing?"
Liam was confronted with mixed emotions, his competitive spirit clashing with his wish to make friends.
Thus, the veteran decided to cheer up Cyclone by telling her how to proceed.
Usually, players had to go on a short treasure hunt after defeating Osick to get their rewards, but it was a lot easier if you already knew where to find the treasure.
"Cyclone?"
"What?!"
"Can you attack this spot?"
Liam pointed at a few thin-looking planks below Osick's throne. Eyeing the expert strangely, Cyclone complied, nonetheless.
A small magic attack left her wand, striking the planks.
The thin wood broke at the slightest touch. With a loud rumble the throne crashed through the platform, shattering against the rocks below.
A large hole was suddenly revealed within the cliff face, opened by the throne.
"Look! What's this?"
"A pirate's treasure cave?"
"So, this is the real loot?"
Everyone wore sparkling eyes, staring at the hole in the ground. Cyclone's mood improved immediately, waving at everyone:
"Come! Treasure awaits us!"
"But how do we get down there?", asked Balm.
The party members looked around. Fortunately, thick wooden beams could be seen at the edge of the platform. Their job was to stabilize the platform, massive robes conveniently hanging from them.
Quickstep expertly tied a strong knot before throwing the other end of the rope down.
"Easy! Let's go!"
Everyone was eager to loot the treasure. Cyclone took the lead, descending the rope like a monkey.
The others quickly followed. But suddenly Liam grabbed Silver Blade's shoulder, holding her back.
Radiant Shield looked at Bleary Mirage strangely but decided not to intervene. Apparently, the expert wanted to have a serious talk with the main tank.
Silver Blade braced herself, having similar thoughts as she watched the rest of the party leave.
For a second the young woman fidgeted awkwardly in place, before taking a deep breath and stealing her mind. As someone fighting for the succession in her family, she couldn't show weakness in important situations.
If Liam knew her thoughts he would've laughed loudly. Silver Blade was overthinking it, something she realized as well as Liam began talking:
"Everyone is in a hurry, missing the biggest treasure."
Silver Blade was dazed, staring at Liam with big green eyes. The young man had already turned around but as he didn't receive an answer, he looked back over his shoulder.
Two pairs of eyes met. It was silent for a moment before Liam questioned:
"What's going on?"
Silver Blade stayed composed but couldn't suppress the embarrassed smile on her face.
"I thought you were going to scold me."
"Scold you? Why? For someone who has never played games you show unbelievable talent.
One death doesn't mean anything. Don't take it to heart but learn from it."
The smile on Silver Blade face turned from embarrassment to relief, a hint of warmth spreading in her chest.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it. You still need to lead the party to success! Here, catch!"
With those words Liam reached for the chest not far from Osick's throne and fished out one of the blue crystals. With a reassuring gaze he threw it at Silver Blade.
The young woman caught the crystal smoothly, surprised by the cold it emitted.
[Mysterious Blue Crystal
Category: Uncommon, Quest
Effect: Allows to tap into the power of the Blue Blood Trident.
Restrictions: Can only be used by the holder of the quest 'Retrieve the Blue Blood Trident'.
A mysterious crystal brimming with water attributed mana. What could be its source?]
Silver Blade frowned. She looked at Liam, who acted all innocent. But the young woman understood that Bleary Mirage had a purpose in giving her this crystal.
"Say, are you testing me? Or training?"
"Neither. I just feel it's more interesting."
"So, you admit that you know what to do with this crystal?"
"Who knows?"
Silver Blade watched as Liam followed the others into the treasure cave. She felt confused, not able to figure Liam out anymore.
The level of detail of his knowledge was hard to explain just with information from ancient ruins.
Silver Blade's family had some of this information as well, thus she had a certain comparison.
Let's not get caught up if we can't figure it out…
Silver Blade shook her head, putting her attention back on the crystal, activating it with a thought.
Suddenly the waterfall to her right steered as a mysterious trident appeared, shimmering gorgeously with the aura of the king of the sea.
It glided towards the platform, obediently landing in Silver Blade's hand.
[Blue Blood Trident
[SEALED]
Temporary effect: The holder of the mysterious blue crystal can wield the trident to call the tides.
A mighty weapon forged by the merfolk traitor Hyoral, an heirloom to ensure the protection of her bloodline. Can only be wielded by the designated heir.]
Silver Blade studied the weapon's description with a frown. From everything she knew Hyoral should be old man Blunnriel's ancestor.
But she couldn't figure out yet what Liam's purpose was in letting her control the trident.
Keeping the doubts in her mind, she finally descended into the treasure cave.
The trident couldn't be kept in one's inventory, thus the party stared in amazement as Silver Blade appeared with the ethereal weapon.
"Wow, did you loot this? Why haven't I thought of it?!"
Cyclone looked at the weapon with envy, causing chuckles among the group.
"It's just a quest item. Don't think too much."
"Right, we were so preoccupied with looting that we almost forgot the quest."
"Greed blinded our eyes!", exclaimed Radiant Shield dramatically.
Sun's Knight could only roll his eyes.
"Drama queen!"