Right now in front of me are three ships (all of them patrollers.), each coming at me at full speed. Where the fuck did they pop up from? Well, I can't do anything about them. The ship is already moving at full speed. I can't move any faster than this as I make my way towards the three ships.
Who knows, I might be able to catch them offgu....
Fuck, the other side is already charging up their cannons to shoot at me. Well, let's give them a few moments. There, that should be enough. I shift the direction of the ship to the left.
Such a violent change in direction comes with its costs, though. I can feel the entire ship shake and tilt as it feels like I am standing in a baby's crib. If everything wasn't held down we would already have everything on the ship flying about. Already, the rope that is binding me to the ground has begun to take on some tension as it keeps me from losing my balance.
Thankfully, this move is useful. The other side has already shot their cannons in the direction that I occupied a few moments ago. Three streaks of magic pass by me harmlessly as I keep moving. That means all three have managed to waste their cannon shots this time. (I was worried one of them might have held back a shot.) These are cannons of the fire element, by the way.
I have cleared the three ships as I am now moving away from them. I have enough of a head start that the shops won't be getting close to me. Not that I am still safe. Their cannons can still reach me.
The enemy ships have already begun to reverse their direction. Well, this was to be expected. My luck is shit enough for such a thing to happen. Leave it be, right now, I do not have the time to think about this. Already, I can feel the ships behind me charging their cannons again.
At least the ship has stabilized somewhat, as I again point the ship to the right. The ship is shaking like crazy now. Right now, my focus is on trying to escape these. If I were to get busy in a fight now, I would be overwhelmed soon enough. Right now, my goal is to keep ahead of them as much as possible.
The three ships have already begun to follow me. Ship One is right behind me, while Ship Two and Ship Three are to my left and right, respectively. They are trying to encircle me. It is not perfect, but it allows them to reduce the space that I can move in.
Fuck, who the hell taught them to maneuver like that? That is a proper battle strategy. This is an ability to strategize that no mere farmer is supposed to have. It is only possible with proper military training.
I had already doubted the archer to be from some army. That is the only way to explain the skill of these men. Talent might be enough to explain the ability of one person. The entire group is pretty capable here.
He must have been pretty high up in that army if he managed to train a bunch of farmers this well. Well, here I was hoping that dancing would be enough to catch the enemy off guard. Maybe it still might.
Shit, Ship Three shoots at me this time. I barely dodge it by diving the ship downwards. The cannon shot passes above me, but I can already sense the other two ships coming down to my level. Fuck, I don't know how many more turns I can pull like this. My damn ship is on the verge of spiraling.
Ship one shoots, which I dodge by going to the left. Ship Two capitalizes on this by shooting at me before I can react to it. Thankfully, the other side has also aimed at me in a hurry, as it seems to have missed me by quite a bit.
I can already feel Ship Three's cannon heating up. It is still above me, which puts it at a benefit while hitting me. The only way that I can counter it is to go up. As I do this, the ship begins to shake and spin like a top that has just been released. The ship is spiraling out of control.
Fuck, I wasn't supposed to spiral this quickly. How do I describe spiraling to you? For every move you make on a ship, you are supposed to give it some time to stabilize. Even with a ship like mine, it takes a few moments to stabilize.
A ship going to the left will go to the left for a few more moments, even if you were to stop moving. If you were to suddenly start moving the ship in this period, let's say to the right, you have no idea what will happen. You could go to the right, or you could go to the left.
In the worst case, this is enough to cause the entire ship to spin, rolling around like a top out of control. (There is also a little chance that you would be completely still. That is something you can only pull off with experience and a lot of training, it seems. I have never seen it pulled off, at least.)
How am I supposed to describe what spiraling feels like? Well, the only way to describe the spiral is that the entire ship is spinning like a top that has lost control. Right now, the ship must be spinning from left to right and from top to bottom. Right now, I have no idea what is supposed to be up or down. It feels like I am just being pulled in all directions. Right now, I can't even tell where the ground is.
In the time that I have been explaining this, the ship has been spiraling. I don't even have an idea what my enemy is doing. For the moment, I have temporarily disconnected myself from the sensory formations. It is a risk, but if I don't do this, I will end up with everything in my stomach coming out like a flood.
I am sure they won't be able to shoot at us anyway. The spiral is too chaotic for any of them to be able to get a proper shot in. I don't think even the archer would be able to do it. Their cannons must require some time to recharge, as well.
Finally, the spiral starts to slow down as the ship finally stabilizes. I feel like vomiting as I activate the sensory formations. (Well, this is the reason that people do not like to dance with their ships.) I should wait a bit more to prevent this sense of nausea. That is what the other side would have expected me to do as well. They must have fully charged cannons ready to blow holes into my ship even now. They are just waiting for my ship to stabilize as well, so they can aim better.
It takes me a lot to ignore my stomach as I note down mine and the other three ships' positions. I am pretty close to the ground as I seem to have maintained my downward trajectory. In an instant, I point the ship upwards. I do not have any wish to take a trip in the woods again. (This time the ship won't be able to survive it.)
Doing this causes the stuff in my stomach to come to my mouth. I forcefully swallow. Now is not the time when I can afford such distractions. The cannon shots that I have dodged by going up were very close. I swear that I can still feel the heat of the enemy's shots.
The ship is still lurching like crazy, but I can get the thing to go upwards. At least my nausea was worth it as I managed to get two of those ships to shoot at the ground. Ship number three has held its shot, though.
I think that I am getting far enough away from the ships. They are not confident that they can hold a shot against me. I keep my upward direction for now. The ship is still shaking and spinning, but with every moment it is getting steadier. If only the other side would give me a minute so that I could stabilize the ship fully.
That would make my task both harder and easier, as the ship becomes more predictable both for me and my enemies. Well, the only reason that I am still calm is the fact that I am overtaking these ships. In all of these exchanges, I have been getting farther and farther away from the other side.
Let's hope the enemy does not realize this soon. Unlike my ship, which works on a reserve of ambient mana, the other side relies on mana stones to power the ship. If they were to burn their mana stones without care, they would be able to increase their speed twofold. I feel that is exactly what they would do. They seem oddly obsessed with chasing after me.
As I am thinking all this, ship number three takes a shot. Thankfully, the other side was obvious about it, so I managed to dodge by going to the left. Fuck, I come painfully close to spiraling again as I immediately go right. Ship two shot their cannon the instant that I turned in that direction.
How did they recharge that quickly? They must be using mana stones to speed up the process. A ridiculously large number of mana stones. Why the fuck did I have to fight such a spendthrift group of enemies? Even my heart is paining at the mana stones that they are wasting. You know I would be able to build them a new cannon with the mana stones that they are using right now.
I force myself to wrestle with the controls of my ship as I try to bring the spiral under control. These few moments of thought are enough to screw me as the ship one shoots its cannon at me. The only reason that I am alive right now is that the other side has missed me. Their cannon shot flew by the side of my ship. There was no way it would hit me unless I were to steer right into it.
Well, I won't put that completely on my luck as well. I am beginning to put those damn ships behind me, finally. They are far enough away from me that they cannot aim at me with full confidence. As they have been doing till now. The distance between us is growing quicker and quicker. Since I am not accelerating, the enemy ships seem to have finally slowed down.
Seriously, from where are they getting their mana stones? Even the top three pirate gangs in these plains would not have enough mana stones to be so nonchalant about it. The Bloodfire gang is funded by somebody, and I have to assume that it is one of our enemies. Only they would be willing to spend so much to attack us like this.
Looks like they have finally burned through their reserves, as the ships behind me have begun to slow down. Within a few minutes, they will even leave the range of my mana sense. Why the fuck were they coming after us so recklessly? It is not like even after burning through so much of their resources, they would have held me back. They must also know that.
The answer to this question appears as I focus my sensory formation in front of me. I can feel my mind enter into a panic as I fully activate my injured mana sense. (almost on instinct.) Ignoring the stinging pain in my mana core, I can feel my heart drop as my fears are confirmed. Right in front of us is a massive airship with a mana shield training all five of its cannons at me.