Chapter 112: Skilled

The net opened wider in front of Jaxir as the wind caught it, and for the first time since Verren started attacking, his sense for weight and momentum didn’t give him an easy answer. The mesh was too light and spread too wide, and by the time Jaxir understood how the captain had redirected it, the outer edge was already sweeping toward his shoulder.

His hand snapped toward his deck and one of the Glimmer Cards he’d bought from Luxy appeared between his fingers. He had never used it before, but the instant his Mana touched the card, its information unfolded in front of him.

―

Name: Glimmer Rebound

Grade: Uncommon

MP Cost: 4

Description: Capture part of the momentum applied to the user’s body and carry it into their next movement in a chosen direction.

Recommended Classes: Melee; Ranged

―

Mana flooded through the unfamiliar circuit so quickly that Jaxir understood and completed the pattern almost at the same time. The edge of the net caught him and jerked his body sideways, but Glimmer Rebound seized that momentum before the rest of the mesh could wrap around him.

Instead of letting the net drag him into its center, Jaxir redirected the captured force toward the open section of deck beside him and slipped past the edge of the mesh. His feet touched down for barely a moment before another card appeared between his fingers.

―

Name: Glimmer Carry

Grade: Uncommon

MP Cost: 4

Description: Preserve current momentum through one abrupt change of direction without losing speed.

Recommended Classes: Melee; Ranged

―

The second circuit came just as easily, Mana racing through the card before Jaxir had much time to appreciate how different that felt from the first cards he’d ever tried to understand. At the same time, he opened the pathways inside his body and activated Mana Reinforcement, pouring Mana directly through the body Luxy’s method had reforged.

Power spread through him as 80 temporary Body Stats settled across his muscles, while Glimmer Carry preserved every bit of the momentum he’d already built through his sharp turn toward Verren. Jaxir crossed the space between them so quickly that the captain only managed to widen his eyes before Jaxir drove his shoulder into his chest.

Verren flew backward and crashed into the railing, but his hand reacted fast enough to stab the trident through the deck before he went over. Jaxir stopped several meters away with a sharp ache spreading through his shoulder.

[-11]

"Ow. Fuck, I’m still made of paper."

The pain reminded him of the Mana-Skin Aegis hidden beneath his clothes, which would’ve made the hit meaningless if he’d bothered filling its Reserve Core. He’d planned on doing exactly that after leaving Luxy’s shop, but somewhere between the map, Nick, the pirates and the Natural girl, he’d completely forgotten.

"Right. Need to do that."

Verren ripped his trident free while Jaxir stepped onto the fallen net so the captain couldn’t pull it back. His staff was already raised, and Cast after Cast formed with the same absurd speed he’d discovered against Hale before hammering Verren toward the damaged railing.

[-17]

[-21]

[-13]

Verren knocked one shot aside with the shaft of his trident and twisted away from another, but Jaxir kept advancing without giving him room to leave the edge. He didn’t need to burn through all of Verren’s HP if he could simply launch the man overboard, and with each Cast forming almost as fast as he could think, keeping the pressure on was easier than it had any right to be.

The rest of the ship was paying for it.

Without Verren holding the largest river creatures back, impacts began coming from both sides of the hull with enough force to throw broken boards across the deck. A section near the bow cracked apart under another strike, and water surged through somewhere below as the few remaining crewmen split between fighting the creatures and desperately trying to keep the ship from coming apart.

Jaxir adjusted with every violent roll beneath his feet while watching another barrel slide past him and smash into the opposite railing. Winning this fight wasn’t going to matter much if the boat sank before Nick and the girl could deal with the egg, so he started pushing Verren even harder.

"Nick better hurry."

As though summoned by the complaint, footsteps pounded up the stairs behind him while Jaxir sent another Cast toward Verren’s chest. Nick emerged with one dagger still in hand and immediately looked between the fight and the growing damage across the ship.

"Last crewmen downstairs are handled, but we’re taking on water fast."

"What about the egg?"

"The kid was already working on it when I got there. Whatever’s sealing that crate is complicated, but she looked close."

Jaxir’s eyes brightened as he fired again. That was probably the best outcome they were going to get. If the little Natural freed the egg while he kept Verren occupied, the creatures had no reason to stay around the ship and his quest could resolve without him having to kill a single one.

"No!"

Verren’s shout made Jaxir focus on him again just as lines of light began spreading across the captain’s armor. Mana circuits that hadn’t been visible before lit from his waist to his shoulders, and the pressure coming from him changed enough that Jaxir instinctively stopped firing for half a beat.

His status changed with it.

―

Name: Captain Verren (Elite)

Level: 21

―

Jaxir looked down at his aching shoulder and finally understood why a simple body check had actually hurt him. His weak Body was still part of the problem, but whatever Verren’s armor did on contact had clearly contributed.

Nick stared at the new status. "Oh, fuck that. Level 21 Elite? We’re screwed."

"Go stall the river beasts."

Nick looked at him. "What?"

"Don’t kill them."

"What?!"

Verren yanked hard on the net trapped beneath Jaxir’s foot, forcing him to choose between letting it rip his leg out from under him or jumping clear. The instant Jaxir chose the latter, Verren used Charge and crossed the deck with enough acceleration that the trident reached him almost as soon as his feet came down.

Jaxir slipped around the first thrust, but Verren’s Stance shifted before the motion had even finished and the shaft swept toward his ribs. Jaxir bent away from that strike only for the captain to carry the movement into another attack, Combo linking one motion into the next without giving him the pause he’d been getting from the rest of the crew.

Jaxir could feel that Combo was a Root Ability, a powerful one.

The trident came down with Heavy Strike, forcing Jaxir aside as the weapon smashed through the deck where he’d been standing. Verren stepped through the recovery and turned the downward blow into Crush, ripping the trident free with enough force to scatter splinters before the follow-up caught Jaxir’s staff and jolted through both arms.

Jaxir’s expression tightened as he gave ground.

The captain was using one ability after another in such a fluid, sharp deluge of momentum Jaxir didn’t even know how to respond.

Elite suddenly felt a lot heavier than the word had looked on a status screen. At Level 21 with an Elite tag, Verren’s Root Abilities—Strike, Stance and Combo—were sitting around Level 40, right in the same range as Jaxir’s own absurdly overleveled Roots, except the captain had far more Body, HP and MP supporting them.

Verren rushed him again, but this time he didn’t use the trident first. Charge carried him into a near full-body Slam that forced Jaxir to twist with the impact rather than take it directly that forced Jaxir to lose almost 400 MP just to avoid getting one-shot, and before he could stabilize, Verren’s weapon swept wide enough that Jaxir recognized Cleave from the motion alone.

Jaxir ducked under it and fired a Cast toward the captain’s stomach, but Verren changed Stance and knocked the shot away before flowing straight into his next attack. Another Cast followed, then a third, yet Combo kept the captain moving through every defense and transition while Momentum made each successive offensive ability hit harder.

Jaxir moved better than he ever had in his life, and that was the only reason the fight hadn’t turned ugly already. Mana Reinforcement kept his body responsive while his new sense of balance let him work with the ship’s violent rocking, but even with all of that, Verren kept forcing him to react instead of letting him dictate the battle.

Jaxir had fought enemies with more raw power, and the Demi-Goddesses had thrown around strength that Verren couldn’t compare to, but those fights had always given him some flaw to exploit. Verren wasn’t overpowering him with a broken blessing or a body that couldn’t contain its own Mana. He simply knew exactly what he was doing.

The trident stabbed toward Jaxir’s throat, changed direction when he leaned away and immediately swept low when he adjusted his feet. Jaxir barely cleared both attacks before another Charge forced him backward again, and for the first time since stepping onto the ship, even his improved body wasn’t making the fight feel easy.

The captain was simply too skilled.