Chương 23: Gimmicks.

She lifted her feet and pressed them against the back of the ship, hands gripping the railings. She jumped to her right, kicking off the back. FIRE! The back half of her ship detonated above her head as she plunged into the water, shrapnel flying everywhere. She broke the surface of the water and swam over to the starboard side of the enemy ship on the right; it was a simple, two sail caravel. From ship to ship, if I keep them confused they might not see me.

She grabbed onto the hull and listened as sailors screamed, by the sound of splashing and voices calling out, there were a lot in the water.

"Where did she stash the explosives?"

"Is she bloody mad?" The sailors were drowned out by the sinking of the ship. Time to get out of the water before my friend shows up. She pulled herself up the hull, the smooth wood making it difficult to get anywhere, even with her dagger. Unfortunately for Nythera, there were still 4 other ships circling the two stuck in the middle.

"What in the Hel is that?"

"get out of the water! It's a ripfin!" A command bellowed out, drowning out all other voices. One of the several ships circling the two came up close behind her.

"She's down there! The bitch is on your hull!" Shit, This is bad, really bad. She looked up and saw three faces staring back down at her.

"Hey guys, I'm just a castaway, can you help me?" She pleaded. These guys are really stupid, it might just work.

"Get that bitch up here and get some rope." A man jumped down and hoisted her up, arms grabbed her from above. She flopped down onto the deck and was pulled up by her hair. Rope bound her hands together behind her back. Talvik said he wouldn't help much anymore, I doubt this will be any different. The crew circled around her.

"Finally got the wench, Damien will be pleased." A short man in lavish clothing said.

"Little girl, you will become very acquainted with me before we land in Grand Kavareth, I want to know exactly how you found the domain core, every detail. Tell me and we will have no problems." He snarled or smiled, she couldn't tell.

"Sir, that blasted ripfin got 4 men, there's two of them circling the ships now." a sailor reported.

"So what, they knew the risks, let's get underway, straight back to Karaveth." The short man commanded.

"Sir, with all due respect, two ripfin's means we kicked up quite the disturbance out here. I think it would be safer to dock at Grandport immediately." The short man turned to face the sailor.

"We will head to Karaveth immediately, question my orders again and I'll have Damien flog you when we get back." He spat at the sailors feet. The ship jerked to the side.

"What the fuck are you morons doing? Get us on course, now!" The short man scolded.

"Sir Ralph, that wasn't us." a sailor replied.

"What in the blazes do you mean? ships don't just move like that." Ralph was practically screaming at him now.

"You may have not spent much time at sea, sir, but respectfully… we have probably called something to our ship." The sailor flinched when Ralph's fist slammed against the railing. Something snaked over the starboard-side gunwale of another ship, a massive tentacle. By Hel, Anchorbreakers again? A tentacle snaked over their port gunwale.

"Look over there! Quick!" Nythera shouted.

"What in the blazes are you talking about, don't make me put a gag on you." Ralph said, but a sailor grabbed his shoulders and turned him to face the port gunwale. Nythera sprinted straight for the prow, pushing through the sailors.

"All hands on deck, all hands on deck! Anchorbreakers have surfaced!" A sailor bellowed out. No one seemed to be paying attention to her, they were busy hacking away at anchorbreaker tentacle. Nythera reached the prow.

"Men get that wench back here!" Ralph screamed at passing sailors. Many were now hacking at tentacles popping up around the ship.

"Sir, an Anchorbreaker will take the ship if we let it get a grip. This takes priority" A sailor said. Flux: 1, 531/4, 060 Time to show them something fun. Nythera brought forth the Aether Culverin, barrel pointed straight down into the hull.

"She's got a construct skill! Knock her out!" the captain bellowed.

"I'm taking you all to Kronan's pit with me!" Nythera shouted before all, turned and jumped off the prow into Kraken-infested waters. FIRE! The ship exploded into fragments, blood flying everywhere as sailors were shredded by shrapnel. Nythera grabbed for a piece of driftwood, finding a shattered piece of hull to cling to. This is going to bring up so many more krakens, I need to find a way out of here. Men floundered in the water and krakens feasted.

Another ship had gone down behind her, bringing their total count to just four vessels left, all being harassed by Anchorbreakers. She pulled herself up onto a sizeable piece of drifting hull. Nythera stood precariously on her piece of driftwood, and jumped for the nearest vessel, splashing into the water right next to it. Kraken tentacles had already ripped the mast off while sailors fought a losing battle with the monster. The kraken tore the prow to pieces, so she swam for the stern.

She looked up, already dreading the climb. Huh, what's that? There was some wooden thing right above her head. Shit! She yanked herself to the side with all her strength as it came crashing down into the sea. A rowboat! They're fleeing! She grabbed onto the rowboats gunwale and hauled herself over the edge.

"Come laddies, this ship is doomed, you're first, jump right down and help others." She could hear the sailors above. Nythera pushed against the vessel, and grabbed the oars, she was finally headed home. A splash resounded just several feet from her boat as one of the sailors tried to jump into the rowboat.

"Oi, the boat has been stolen! That wench that Ralph wanted has our boat!" A sailor shouted. Nythera put her back into it, with every heave of the oars she gained distance.

"Get her now!" Another sailor yelled from the deck as the front half of the ship collapsed into the kraken's maw. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Damien should have sent soldiers, not sailors, they've got nothing but ship-working skills. Nythera summoned Aether Culverin on her rowboat, the weight causing the stern to sink into the sea. It's time we finish this. Nythera once again activated [Synchronized Thunder], but the effect on the rowboat…

was less than desirable. It stilled barely enough for her to aim the cannon at the boat mere meters away.

"By the blazes, that girl is crazy! Abandon ship!" The sailors called once they caught sight of the Aether Culverin.

"FIRE!" She shouted. Nythera was thrown off her feet, and crumpled up against her Aether Culverin as the force of the blast propelled the rowboat backwards. An explosion of debris and sailor decorated the churning waters.

"Don't let the wench get away, I want that girl here, now!" A familiar voice called from one of the only remaining ships. Ralph, sopping wet, hollered from the prow of a caravel. Nythera heaved, and rowed as fast as her pathetic Strength would carry her. Stamina: 57/270 I am never going to make it to shore, not in one go at least. The sailors on Ralph's ship were winning the battle, but yet another ship was dragged to the depths by two Anchorbreakers. She watched as it simply sank, crew and all.

Maybe they'll ignore me, can't imagine I look like more than a bit of driftwood to them. A giant bubble surfaced next to her, the rowboat rolling off the edge of it. Another surfaced to her left.

"What the?" She focused on her rowing, inching the boat closer and closer to Grandport. With her back to the city she could see another ship. It was completely swarmed by four Anchorbreakers and being ripped apart, plank by plank. The krakens harassing the last two ships suddenly slunk into the sea, detaching from their prey, one with sailors in hand. They simply… left.

"Come on get this bucket moving, she's headed to shore!" Ralph bellowed. The bubbles had moved across the sea surface, zigzagging slowly in random directions. An arrow thunked into the side of her rowboat. Huh? Two sailors were firing at her with bows. You're kidding me right? Don't they ever quit? She rowed with every ounce of her strength, rolling over wave after wave. Arrows flew overhead. With [Farsight] she could see Ralph screaming on the deck.

The bubbles surged beneath one of the caravels, halting its forward movement. She rowed and rowed. ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR A massive serpent shot out of the water from right beneath the ship. Emerald scales glinting off the sunlight as the house-sized maw arced through the sky and crashed straight into the ship. What the fuck is that? Why did no one ever warn me there are giant serpents? Stamina: 23/270 Nythera grit her teeth, she was close, under a mile from the coast. I will never make it with my stamina.

Another arrow thunked into her rowboat. No choice left then. She jumped off the front of her rowboat, hugging the bottom of the boat as a shield. Nythera pushed her head underwater and looked into the depths. The ocean depths were strangely calming after all the fighting. Bit of debris drifted in the wake of the leviathans of the sea. Time to end this. She pushed up out of the water, and grabbed onto the rowboat, hauling herself back over the edge. Grabbing the oars, she hauled ass for the coastline.

Ralph's Caravel was almost on top of her, his screaming clear as day "Get that fucking wench, I want her on this ship, yesterday!" Stamina: 13/270 She saw the signs of flux amassing on the ship. They have a mage! She brought forth Aether Culverin on the stern and aimed it straight at the caravel. I need some anchoring skill so I don't go flying whenever I use this cannon. Maybe I can ask Borris to make something? As it closed in on her, her chances to hit got better and better.

She waited, sucked in her breath, and then activated [Synchronized Thunder] one last time, it steadied her rowboat just a bit. A bit was all she needed.

"Fire!" She screamed. The cannon roared and knocked her off her feet. The enemy had conjured some kind of flux barrier, but the shell barely noticed it, piercing through straight into the hull. The entire front half of the ship detonated in a shower of shrapnel, the mast collapsing in on the deck. Nythera collected herself and rowed, albeit far slower, she didn't have stamina to burn for speed anymore. As the ship sunk, the flux amassed in the stern was launched right at her.

A huge earthen fist that dwarfed her poor ship in size. Shit! She dove off her boat and straight into the water. The edge of the fist clipped her shoulder, sending her into a spin. Her row boat was smashed to pieces above her, the fist sinking much of it down into the sea. Shittttt, I don't want to swim to shore. She tried to surface, but the weight of the Wildfire cloak dragged her fatigued form deeper. Then she saw it, beneath her, a massive eye looking up.

The serpent's emerald body descended deep, she couldn't even see the end of it. It watched her. Fangs bigger than most broadswords jutted out of its upper jaw and a long snout specialized for kraken-hunting closed on the remains of one such beast. Come on, I'm barely even a bite. Its body contracted. She felt claws dig into her shoulders and suddenly she was pulled out of the water. A gargantuan shape broke the water as the serpent lunged and missed.

"Talvik! You're back!" She shouted as she took flight for the first time in her life. The talons were, however, quite painful.

"You did well, I observed the entire confrontation, we will have to talk about your impulsiveness at some point, but overall, I give you passing marks." Talvik's voice carried a note of approval.

"To be clear child, I am not saving you, I am just picking you up because you are too slow and I am getting bored" Talvik added. The silver falcon swooped down near the water.

"Get ready to land." Her feet skidded over the surface of the water.

"What? Land? Here? On the beach?" Talvik released her with her feet just above the beach waves. She was flung forward, her legs stumbled, and she face planted in the sand. Pulling herself up and she wiped the sand off her face, her legs felt like brick now that the adrenaline of battle had left her system. The fires in the city seemed to have stopped, and she couldn't hear any sounds of ongoing fighting.

She allowed herself to collapse down onto the sand, spreading her arms and legs like a starfish and watching the clouds pass by. This is nice. The system kept pinging her but she brushed it off. Later. She watched the clouds, for how long she didn't know, but the sun crept across the sky until it was creeping near the mountains. I fought a battle, and won. Barely but still. We are alive, the city stands, and the invaders were repelled. I really don't want to do this again, not if I can avoid it.

But a few upgrades to my cannon and… things could get a lot simpler in the future.

"Hey there's someone on the beach! Over here!" A voice called out. She heard the shuffling of boot on sand. Suddenly Lance was staring down at her.

"We thought you were dead, dumbass." He held out a hand. She took it.

"Yeah well… I was pretty tired, don't know if you noticed me taking out half the enemy fleet out there." Nythera huffed.

"Well, Yeah, we all saw that. Good job kid, things are gonna change around here. The fighting in Grandport was over shortly after all the ships departed. We all saw your crazy stunt, six caravels at once, what were you thinking?" Lance said, a smirk on his face.

"I was thinking, someone around here has to haul their own weight." she smirked.

"You, a tier zero hauled the weight of half of Myrraval, that's not something that should even be possible." Lance retorted, but the look of pride on his face was unmistakable.

"Dumb Karavethians killed enough krakens to bring out a serpent, you would think they don't spend any time at sea with how bad they blundered" one of the men remarked, staring out into the carnage. Chuckles broke out throughout the war party as they walked back to the city to celebrate. Nythera was practically dragged to the tavern. The city was full of bodies and wreckage, smashed houses, burned buildings, but the people seemed content to ignore it, if only for a moment. Or perhaps out of necessity."'

We even captured one, a man called Ralph, good ol' Chris is wringing him for information right now." Lance mentioned as they passed through the streets, voices of cheer ringing throughout. Their small posse had turned into a great swarm of men, many with battle wounds still fresh, all heading for the tavern. Talvik had flown off at some point but she didn't even notice. They burst through the tavern doors hollering.

"We kicked Karaveth's ass!" Lance shouted.

"Here Here!" The group answered. The bartender had stabbed his saber into the countertop and was pouring beer as fast as he could. Several tables were already full of battle-weary farmers. Lance dragged Nythera straight up to the counter, grabbed a pint and shoved it in her hands.

"Cheers to the Miss who saved Myrraval!" He raised his glass and shouted.

"Cheers" resounded throughout the room, and everyone drank. Lance forced Nythera's glass up and she chugged to keep up.

"Go check your messages already, I'm sure you've got a pile of levels awaiting." Lance said. Nythera sat down and focused on the System pings she had been ignoring. 14 Levels Acquired! Multiple skills have leveled up! Wow, that's a lot of levels! Time for a ton of resonance. The bar doors blew open.

"Lance, come quick! The wacko spilled something big!" A farmer shouted and stopped to catch his breath.