Chapter 111: Count

Captain Verren’s roar carried across the deck while Hale surfaced beside the ship, but the man didn’t have time to do much more than point at Jaxir before one of the larger river beasts broke through the water beside him. Verren turned immediately, driving his trident down with enough force to knock the creature away from the hull while the rest of the crew scrambled back toward the railing.

Jaxir watched the split happen and understood why they hadn’t all rushed him at once. Half the ship was still trying to keep the river beasts from tearing holes through the hull, which left only 3 men peeling away toward him while the others continued firing harpoons and swinging hooked weapons over the side.

Two of the men carried the same chained harpoon guns Hale had used, while the third held a shorter weapon in each hand. The twin blades curved near their ends like hooks, which made their purpose obvious when the man rushed Jaxir and thrust one toward his stomach while bringing the other around toward his ribs.

Jaxir slipped between them and felt the second blade catch the edge of his robes. The pirate immediately twisted his wrist and pulled, trying to use the hook to tear through both cloth and flesh, but Jaxir moved with the tug instead of fighting it and let the man’s own strength pull him a step too far forward.

A harpoon fired from behind him.

Jaxir felt the concentrated weight rushing toward his back and shifted aside at the last moment, leaving the hooked-blade pirate directly in its path. The man saw it coming quickly enough to duck, but the chain still whipped across his shoulder, and Jaxir fired a Cast into his chest before he could regain his balance.

[-31]

The pirate stumbled backward into the stretched chain, caught one leg over it and flipped onto his back. Jaxir stepped in before he could recover and sent another Cast into his side, sliding him across the wet deck until he disappeared through a hole ripped open earlier by a harpoon and dropped into the river.

"One."

The first harpooner cursed and started reeling his weapon back, while the second moved farther to Jaxir’s right to open another angle. Jaxir didn’t wait for either of them to finish setting up, firing 2 quick Casts at the first man’s weapon before the harpoon had returned.

The first shot struck the chain and knocked it sideways, while the second hit the pirate’s hands just as the reel pulled tight.

[-14]

The weapon jerked out of his grip.

Jaxir caught the movement of the ship beneath his feet as another beast slammed into the hull, and the deck tilted hard enough to send loose barrels rolling toward the opposite side. He adjusted without thinking, then kicked the abandoned harpoon gun into the pirate’s ankles while the man fought to stay upright.

The pirate went down with the barrel.

Jaxir followed with a Cast to his shoulder, and the combination of the shot and the ship’s tilt sent him sliding across the boards until he struck the railing hard enough to fold over it. One more push from Jaxir’s staff tipped him the rest of the way.

"Two."

The remaining harpooner fired before Jaxir could turn fully, forcing him to twist aside as the projectile passed close enough to brush his sleeve. Jaxir caught the relationship between its weight and direction, pushed it farther off course, then looked over his shoulder as it buried itself into the mast.

The pirate smiled and activated the reel.

Jaxir smiled too.

The man launched forward with the chain pulling him across the deck, apparently expecting the same sort of attack Hale had tried, but Jaxir stepped beside the mast instead of retreating. He waited until the pirate was almost on him before firing into the chain where it wrapped around the wooden support.

The chain snapped sideways around the mast.

The pirate’s body followed.

He swung in a wide arc instead of reaching Jaxir, crossed the entire deck and slammed hip-first into the railing before his momentum carried him over it.

"Three."

Jaxir barely had time to enjoy that one before another section of railing exploded behind him.

A thick river creature crashed halfway onto the deck, scales scraping across broken wood as 4 crewmen rushed to stop it. Captain Verren drove the end of his trident into its shoulder and forced it back toward the water, but Jaxir could see more dark shapes circling the ship now that fewer men were holding them off.

That was becoming a problem.

Jaxir had no interest in winning a fight only to sink before Nick got the egg free, so when another pair of crewmen left the railing to deal with him, he stopped playing around. Both carried the twin hooked blades, and they approached from opposite sides while keeping their weapons low, clearly planning to catch his limbs if he dodged either one incorrectly.

The first thrust toward his thigh while the second hooked for his shoulder, but the ship rolled beneath all 3 of them at the same moment. Jaxir let the movement carry him instead of correcting against it, dropping lower as the blades crossed above him before firing a Cast into the closer pirate’s knee.

[-22]

The man’s leg buckled.

Jaxir drove his staff across the back of his neck and used the pirate’s falling body as cover while the second man tried to hook around him. The blade caught his own crewmate’s shoulder instead, and Jaxir fired a Cast into both of them before either could separate.

[-19]

[-27]

They staggered toward the railing together.

Jaxir followed.

"Sorry, gentlemen."

A Cast struck the first man between the shoulders, driving him into the second, and both disappeared over the side in a mess of hooked blades and curses.

The remaining crew had noticed what was happening, but most of them no longer had the luxury of turning around. Another river beast smashed into the hull hard enough to crack several boards near the bow, and water began spilling through while men rushed below with tools and buckets.

Jaxir’s smile faded.

"Nick better hurry."

Two more crewmen came for him anyway, one with a harpoon gun and the other with twin blades, but by then Jaxir had gotten used to how quickly his Mana gathered and how easily his body responded. He knocked the harpoon aside with Sparkle Mana, fired into the blade-user’s stomach when the man tried to close, then used the returning harpoon chain as a trip line by kicking it behind both of their ankles.

They fell together.

Jaxir sent one Cast into each of them.

[-33]

[-29]

Both slid across the deck and vanished over the side before they could stand.

By the time Jaxir turned back, there wasn’t anyone left between him and Captain Verren.

The captain had just driven away the largest river beast again, but the moment he saw the last 2 crewmen disappear over the railing, he abandoned the edge of the ship and started toward Jaxir. His trident remained in one hand while the other pulled a folded fishing net from his belt, and Jaxir focused on him long enough for the Sparkling Third Eye to resolve what it hadn’t bothered checking before.

―

Name: Verren

Level: 21

―

Jaxir’s brows rose.

"Well, that’s rude."

Level 21 put Verren 2 full Tiers beyond him, and Jaxir felt the difference the moment the captain moved. Verren crossed the deck faster than any of his crewmen had, thrusting the trident toward Jaxir’s chest while the ship rocked beneath them.

Jaxir twisted aside, but the pressure of the attack alone made his skin tighten.

One Level. That was all separating Level 20 from Level 21, yet crossing into another Tier made the difference feel much larger than it had any right to be.

Verren followed with another thrust, then swept the trident sideways when Jaxir dodged. Jaxir bent backward with the motion of the ship and let the weapon pass over him, his balance correcting through his ankles and hips before he consciously thought about it.

If this had happened yesterday, he would’ve been on the floor already.

Now the wildly shifting deck almost felt easier to read than stable ground.

Verren seemed to realize the same thing and changed tactics.

He threw the net.

Jaxir saw the bundled mass coming and shifted away from its path, but something felt wrong almost immediately. The net was too light for the same method he’d been using on the harpoons, with its weight spread across dozens of thin lines rather than concentrated into one heavy projectile.

He still cleared it. Or so he thought he did.

Verren yanked several wires attached to the net, and the bundled mesh snapped open in midair. The wind caught it immediately, ballooning the entire thing sideways across the deck.

Jaxir’s eyes widened.

By the time he realized the net wasn’t flying where Verren had thrown it anymore, it was already too late to dodge.