Chapter 74: Death Calls Your Name
“”
Prismatic Spray-Lightning!
A blue energy orb whistled through the night sky, smashing into the crowd on the deck, where a blinding electric light erupted with a boom.
【……Target Death, gain 18 combat experience……】
【……Amn slaver team elite hit, takes 16 lightning damage, current life 6/22】
Prismatic Spray jumps, hitting an unprepared professional.
‘Slaver team? Probably those adventurers from yesterday.’ Anse guessed.
Don’t think the Shadow Thieves Guild are all assassins; thieves, thugs, swindlers, graverobbers, slavers……all could be Shadow Thieves members, having multiple identities is normal.
Besides, the Nahshival Family cooperates closely with the Shadow Thieves, so coordinated action isn’t strange.
【Sea Shark】 on deck, Captain Hels gripped his sword hilt tightly, his expression grave; the situation ahead wasn’t as expected.
He wasn’t afraid of that elf ship; though the opponent was fast, they couldn’t do anything to them because they had more cannons.
Don’t underestimate that; cannons lack accuracy but have superior range and power compared to the opponent’s flame cannon. Of course, solid shot isn’t very effective against wooden sailing ships; often ships are riddled with holes yet still don’t sink.
But that wood elf values his ship more than life, so he generally won’t take risks; he’ll retreat after taking some damage.
The deck was in chaos, giving him a splitting headache; he couldn’t help but roar: “What are you afraid of? He’s just one man. Even if you stand there and let him kill you, how many could he kill before he’s exhausted?”
The deck immediately quieted down, only the sound of wind and waves remaining.
The first mate perked up and shouted: “Everyone, cannons ready, let them taste our power!”
With clear orders, the crew temporarily cast aside their fear and bustled under superior command.
“Boom——”
Another lightning orb streaked onto the deck, accurately smashing into a crew member’s back; electric light enveloped his body as he stiffly collapsed by the ship’s rail, his breathing growing weaker.
The distant 【Quesser】 showed no intention of closing for cannon battle, and using cannons against a spellcaster in the dark was even more absurd.
The first mate gritted his teeth and hurried to the sterncastle deck: “Captain, this isn’t working.”
“Nonsense, any ideas?” Hels said coldly.
“Yes, they want to rescue the slaves; why not bring the slaves up, tie them to the ship’s rail and mast, have our men hide behind them. Then they won’t dare fire, forcing them into boarding combat!” The first mate bared his big yellow teeth in a cruel grin.
“You’re a damn genius, do it now!” Hels heavily patted his shoulder.
“Yes.”
Soon, a large number of slaves were dragged out of the cabin, used by the crew as shields in front of them, then tied to the gunwales, mast, even cannon mounts; their cries and pleas drowned out even the wind and waves.
“Come on, where’s your spell……”
Seeing the spells stop, the crew gained confidence and grew arrogant.
In the nearby darkness, one man and one horse quietly rose and fell with the waves.
‘Pretty quick thinking.’ Anse sighed inwardly; the slavers reacted fast, striking at the vital point.
So far, his three Prismatic Sprays had killed three and severely wounded one, but that was it. 【Sea Shark】 had forty or fifty crew; losing a few didn’t hurt.
But this situation wasn’t hopeless, because time was on their side.
A few sea miles away was Silver Scale Bay; at dawn, this scene would surely be seen by other ships, and Waterdeep warships were just waiting for an excuse.
But that would mean this matter had nothing to do with him anymore.
‘I’m not subject to your threats.’
He gripped the orb and cast again, but switched to Magic Missile.
“”
Three magic missiles emerged from the endless darkness, tracing three eerie arcs in the air, bypassing the slaves to precisely hit three crew members.
“Bang bang bang——”
The screams startled the other crew into a flinch; they desperately shrank behind the slaves, as if that could give them a sense of security.
‘Don’t you know what magic lock is!’ Anse smiled faintly.
In theory, as long as he could see the target, Magic Missile would hit; the landing point was hard to control, but he just locked on and left the rest to destiny.
This time luck wasn’t great with no deaths, but severe wounds still achieved the goal. How could injured men operate cannons, control slaves, or fight boarding combat?
The following scene became Anse’s personal mounted ship-circling target practice; no matter how you hid, some body part would always stick out.
He treated all crew equally, one Magic Missile per person; no more, if you died it was bad luck, if not count yourself lucky.
“Stop——”
“Stop or I’ll start killing!”
The first mate, furious, grabbed a slave and chopped off his head with one knife; blood sprayed, splattering his head and face.
However, there was no response; missiles kept emerging from the deep night, impossible to guard against.
Thinking the opponent couldn’t see, he killed two more in succession, but it was useless; even the missile firing rhythm didn’t change.
“Douse the lights!” Hels glanced at the ship’s lanterns and ordered.
“Right right……” The first mate suddenly realized, “Douse the lights, douse the lights, muskets load, eyes wide open, shoot anything you see……”
Everyone’s eyesight was about the same; to cast you had to see me, and once you approached, I’d see you too, then musket volley—see how many rounds you could withstand.
Soon, 【Sea Shark】 was plunged into darkness, every spark covered with fire sand.
‘Quick reaction.’
Anse calmed his mental fluctuations; in this time he’d fired eight rounds of Magic Missile, with more than half his mana remaining.
Twenty-four magic missiles took only six lives, but ordinary crew were in great pain from even one hit, unable to maintain normal combat power.
【Sea Shark】 crew were like marked by the Grim Reaper; over half injured, everyone in peril, emotions on the brink of collapse—dousing lights was just prolonging the inevitable.
He smiled faintly, lightly patted the horse’s back, and Nolnos turned back to 【Quesser】; time for Salian to take the stage.
“Haha, well done.” Just jumping onto the deck, Salian ran over laughing, surprise overflowing in his eyes; this was exactly his ideal first mate.
“Captain Salian, how do you usually handle this situation?” Anse asked.
“Uh, usually we……don’t encounter this situation.” Salian shrugged; previously, slavers killing slaves made them retreat.
It wasn’t that they were soft-hearted, but slavers were ruthless; once he insisted on fighting, the slavers directly threw half the slaves overboard.
Anse twitched his mouth, unsure how to evaluate 【Quesser】 and Salian; they might not truly fear you, probably just……a bit annoyed.
“This time is different.” Salian added, “【Sea Shark】 has lost power; they can only use those slaves as shields, at most killing a few to intimidate us.”
“Mm, open fire.”
“Huh?”
“Wind has died down, slaves are all on the upper deck; target the sterncastle and hull, no worry about counterfire, I’ll keep an eye on them.”
Salian frowned, worried about sinking the ship, but knew the opportunity was rare; wooden sailing ships sank slowly, plenty of time to rescue people.
“Good, act now, no time for their reaction.” He decided swiftly; they might have only one chance to strike.
He immediately had all ship lights extinguished and maneuvered the sailing ship quietly toward the drifting 【Sea Shark】 stern.
【Quesser】 crew were of all races, over half with darkvision, so night sailing had little impact.
That flame cannon was mounted atop the sterncastle, not large—about equivalent to a 6-pound muzzle-loader, the magic runes-covered barrel about 1.5 meters long, with mount probably not exceeding a thousand pounds.
“Too dark; now I need you to mark the 【Sea Shark】 stern for me, rocket or Light……” Salian didn’t dare get too close.
“No problem, watch closely.” Anse wanted to see how this cannon fired but regretfully jumped down from the sterncastle.
He mounted Nolnos and charged rapidly toward the slave ship stern from the side, closing to a dozen meters to make out hull details.
Slave ship crew guarding the sterncastle heard the noise and looked up, just in time to see a black knight charging from the darkness, startling them:
“I see him, he’s in the back——”
