Chapter 56 - Attack at Sea (2)

"Yes, Master. I have successfully attained my third attribute," the panther said, its black fur now streaked with scarlet around all four of its ankles.

"Good. We will have them put to the test soon. Pirates are coming. My undead fish will take care of those who try to jump ship. They will also drill a hole for me to enter. Their treasures should be of use to us," Lance grinned.

"We'll come with you," Mei said, with Lingqi nodding in agreement.

"Can either of you breathe underwater? I can. I have the affinity for it. I will leave it to you to assault them from above. Try to keep the fight contained on the deck while I secure enough of their cargo. Panther, you will secure this ship's deck and help the sailors on the defensive," Lance ordered.

"Yes, Master," the panther bowed its head.

"I don't like that you're going alone. You're not going to do anything reckless, are you?" Mei asked.

"Let's just say I will ensure they still have their lifeboats. They're going to need them," Lance grinned and jumped ship, vanishing beneath the ocean's surface after a dive.

Lance spread his arms and let the water flow around him. Skeletal fish, white fire burning inside them to symbolize flesh, arrived and swam beneath him. Lance closed his eyes and began to meditate, controlling the water around him. After a few spans of breaths, he arrived before the hull of a black ship covered with barnacles near the bottom.

"Seems these pirates don't take care of their hull. Barnacles ruin the wood of a ship, after all," Lance said as he placed a palm on the hull. A lava chain appeared around his right arm, burning the water before it followed the arm in a spiral. The chain then drilled outward, and a hole appeared in the ship.

"Kill anyone who falls from this ship," Lance ordered the minions before going inside, using his ice element art to seal the hull. He looked around first, eyes narrowing as he saw two men look at him in shock after hearing water rush in.

"IN—!" a pirate began before Lance appeared behind him by teleportation, breaking the man's neck with a squeeze as he side-kicked the other pirate in the solar plexus. The pirate coughed and drooled uncontrollably as he fell onto his knees and gagged. Lance took out the broken great sword he had bought and beheaded the coughing pirate with ease.

"Well then. Time to get pilfering," Lance said, cracking his knuckles as he proceeded to open all the crates he could find. No matter what it was, he checked it first for anything noteworthy. Those of value he stashed into his storage ring. Then, he proceeded up the stairs to the next level. He noticed fewer crates there, as well as several crates of food and rum.

"Alcohol?" Lance frowned as he checked the food before storing it. He paused as he ran past a few cells near the stairs up. A man in chains stared at him, his beard and hair dirty and stuck together from being imprisoned for so long. The man looked up and saw that Lance was dressed differently than his captors.

"You. You're not one of them. You can free me!" the man cried, overjoyed. "You’ve got to let me out. They sank my ship and kept me hostage all this time."

"Why did they want you? You some kind of noble?" Lance asked.

"No. No. Look, I got a key. It's the key to a chest in the captain's cabin. The damned pirate bastard stole the chest from me but couldn't find the key. See, the key isn't an actual key but a small marble. Enchanted and the like. I can give it to you if you free me," the man begged.

"I don't see a key," Lance said, the man quickly grabbing the bars as he made a subtle glance at his own belt. "Ah, I see. So you have the key. Must be something valuable. Sounds like trouble to me."

"Wait! I can help you. I am a mage of the southern continent. You look like a smart lad. I can get you accepted into a mage academy," the man said but cried out in pain as Lance grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled hard. The man's face hit the cell bars, and he held his face in pain as Lance pulled on the ornament on the belt buckle. The man looked down in shock as Lance took the black marble from the ornamental belt buckle.

"I read a lot of books as a child, in that library. The hero always does something stupid and lets the witness live or an enemy go. I'm not that naive. Sorry," Lance said as he ran his great sword through the bars and pierced the man in the stomach, the giant blade destroying most of his organs before Lance pulled it out.

"Master, the fight has begun. We're exchanging fire from the mana cannons," the panther said through their mental link. Lance later heard several booms and was blasted back as a massive hole appeared a few feet above him. He looked at the nearest window and leaped through, his great sword back in the ring before his body dove into the sea. As his fish minions escorted him back, he saw a few pull back to kill some pirates who had fallen overboard.

"Welcome back," Mei said as Lance appeared back on the ship, the two crouching down as another blast erupted around them. "Find anything?"

"When their ship reaches ours, I need you to sneak into the captain's cabin and find a chest. Stash any chest you see, as well as any treasures. Don't let anyone know what you're doing. Cover yourself in darkness. We don't want people to suspect anything. Something of value was stolen by the pirates. Some troublesome people might question those aboard the ship when they come for it," Lance said. "Oh, and steal a mana cannon. I want to study those."

"I'll handle that," Lingqi said as she appeared with the panther.

"Then we have our objective. If anyone’s suspicious of you, kill them too," Lance said. "The whole world is against us. Think of it that way. We have no allies here, and greed lies in the hearts of men. Do not trust even the sailors."

"Is it always like this?" Lingqi asked as she and Mei waited with the sailors for when the pirates tried to board with planks.

"Sometimes. This can be considered less...bloody and not Lance's fault. Those pirates are to blame," Mei said as the pirate ship sailed alongside the merchant vessel.

"This is gonna be fun. Kill them all, gents," a pirate laughed as they slammed planks onto the ship while others rode ropes and dove onto the sailors below.