"Sir Ozymandias!"
The moment he woke up, the first thing Eden felt was the putrid smell of the hammock. He had been too tired to care about it before, but it was rancid. Pirates were not exactly known for their hygiene.
Sitting up, more so to get his head off the hammock than to wake up, Eden looked at the person who had called out to him. It was the skinny Ragetti, who was trembling in front of Guardian.
In a sense, Guardian almost looked like the Mountain from Game of Thrones when he had been turned into an undead, explaining why he looked so intimidating.
"What is it?"
Eden tried to slick his hair back, as it was getting in his eyes, but missed as he realized he used his left hand.
Shaking his head, he looked at Ragetti, who gulped and replied, "We have spotted the merchant vessels and are approaching."
Having said what he came here for, Ragetti hurriedly returned to the deck, leaving Eden alone with his thoughts. And Guardian.
Stretching, Eden used his rudimentary control over his mana to make it swirl around his body, 'activating' it. In reality, Eden was pretty sure it did not make a difference, but it felt better to do it.
On deck, everyone was busy as Barbossa barked orders, his men following his every word with no hesitation.
Not far in the distance, close enough for Eden to count clearly, were five ships. Their targets. Although they were closing in on dusk, there was still enough light for Eden to discern the nature of the ships.
Three were merchant ships, and two were from the French Navy.
Eden might be no expert in naval warfare, but the battle was heavily skewed in the pirates' favor. Of course, that was if one ignored the other actors.
Having no experience on a ship, Eden passively stood by the side of the ship, Guardian always close behind him. It might seem like a dangerous place to be in, especially with canons, but Eden had his danger sense.
The merchant ships were much slower than the pirate ships because of their cargo, and so the Cobra swiftly closed in on them, followed by the other pirate ships. The Spanish Navy, which had made little effort to hide itself, also picked up the pace.
Just as they were about to get into enemy range, the Cobra suddenly swerved to the side, narrowly dodging a wave of cannon fire, before closing the distance once more as Barbossa shouted, "Fire!"
The cannons fired as one, as five cannonballs flew toward one of the two Frigates, four of them hitting their mark. The two French ships were noticeably larger and equipped with far more cannons than the Cobra, but even as another wave of cannon fire was shot, the Cobra deftly avoided it.
While smaller, the Cobra had better maneuverability and, more importantly, a far more competent captain.
Up front, the swivel gun was also rapidly firing anti-sail shots at the two Frigates, erasing any opportunity for them to maneuver around. As for the merchant ships, their cargo made them so slow that their fleeing was hardly a concern.
As they approached the small fleet from the front, with the Frigates unable to move enough to fire at them with their side-pieces, Barbossa unsheathed his cutlass and pointed at one of the three merchant ships, and hollered, "We are taking down this ship!"
It was a bold move. The Frigates, while slowed down, were not completely immobilized, and could easily enough pivot around to fire at their vessel while they boarded the merchant ship.
However, they were not attacking alone, as nine other pirate ships were following behind and had entered within range also.
Barbossa bet that the Frigates would rather tighten up their defenses rather than sacrifice themselves to stop a single ship, and retreated toward the merchant ships, the sailors getting on top of the merchant ships.
The Cobra, being at the forefront, reached the merchant ships at about the same time as the Frigates did. As the Cobra latched onto the closest ship, one of the commanding officers from the Frigates shouted, "Sous ordres de sa Majesté le Roi Louis XIV, rendez vous, viles pirates! Nous sommes dix fois plus nombreux que vous!"
Interestingly enough, although Eden did not speak a word of French, Eden somehow roughly understood what the man had said, which he assumed had to do with Dreamland. Barbossa did not possess a similar gift, but one of his men translated with a sinister laugh, "He said we should surrender because they have ten times our numbers!"
This earned a wave of laughter from the pirates, while Eden used Analysis on the enemy commander.
[Jean du Plessis]
[Title: Frigate Captain of the French Royal Navy]
[HP: ?/?]
[MP: 150/150]
[Strength: ?]
[Agility: ?]
[Physique: ?]
[Intelligence: 15]
[Wisdom: 12]
Eden narrowed his eyes at the man, not because of his unknown physical stats, but because of his magical ones. While they were inferior to Eden's, any character capable of magic was a tricky opponent.
Perhaps more alarming, though, was the surprise on Drakon's face. The man had seemingly known how everything would pan out, so he did not expect Jean du Plessis to show up. Whether that was because his information had been inaccurate or someone had intervened, Eden did not know, though he had an inkling it was the latter.
There were far too many soldiers to analyze them all and search for Players, but taking into account Eden's theory, there would be Players dropping all over the world; there was a real possibility of there being Players among the French forces, who had somehow caused this high-level NPC to appear.
Hearing what the Frenchman had to say, Barbossa grinned and yelled, "Attack!"
Just as Jean had warned, they were severely outnumbered by the French forces, but the pirates showed no hesitation as they boarded the merchant ship, and the French troops were waiting for them.
Eden also moved, only to feel time slow down as his danger sense flared.
Swords were mostly used in boarding not only because of the proximity to their enemies, but also because reloading took too long to fire a second shot.
But even as the pirates boarded the merchant ship, several dozen guns had been shot, not in an attempt to stop the pirates, but aimed directly at Eden instead.
There were far too many shots for Eden to swerve between the bullets, so he rolled to the side instead, taking cover behind one of Cobra's cannons.
Though only narrowly, he had managed to dodge every bullet. Meanwhile, Barbossa's cutlass collided with the French officer's sword, his pirates following closely behind as they engaged the enemy.
Drakon, though taken aback by the presence of the French top-most officer, also followed in to attack, moving with surprising agility for his size.
Knowing there still might be some guns aimed at him, Eden first ordered Guardian to jump across to the other ship.
The wood under the giant knight's feet splintered as he landed on the enemy's deck, swiping his Hellsteel Greatsword in a wide arc.
The merchant ships were big, but not so big that they could easily accommodate close to 600 men at once, so they were all packed. As a result, four men were killed in a single of Guardian's attacks.
As for Eden, he tailed Guardian, using his wide frame as cover, and split open a French privateer's skull with a swipe of his machete.
Seeing how packed everyone was, Eden felt the urge to throw a Strengthened Fireball in there, but he refrained from doing so as he stayed in the back, only engaging the soldiers who came for him, while dodging the occasional bullets.
He looked like an easy target with his sole arm, but armed with Jason's Machete, his Strength reached ten. Adding to that the danger sense from his Talent, he swiftly dispatched several enemies before the other pirate ships reached them.
Suddenly, the situation became a lot more chaotic as the pirates' numbers instantly reached those of the French, turning it into a battlefield of more than a thousand soldiers.
A single merchant ship was far from being enough to accommodate so many soldiers, and so the fighting spread over to all the ships. Some, like the frigates, had a couple hundred men fighting on them, while others had only a few dozen.
Although he was a walking target for many of the enemies, Eden decided to move to one of the frigates, following Jean du Plessis and Barbossa, who were still going at it, because while the chaos might endanger others, it was the element in which he thrived the most.
His danger sense never overwhelmed him because his Talent also slowed down his perception of time, giving him more than enough time to process all the information his senses picked up.
And the chaos was only starting as four Spanish vessels, as well as five flagless ships, reached them.
By then, it was impossible to count how many people were fighting, but the one thing Eden knew was that he was surrounded by enemies.
But as the new ships arrived, a voice as loud as thunder suddenly echoed across the battlefield, its tone almost animalistic with rage as it bellowed, "Ozymandias!"
Eden felt a shiver run up his spine as he recognized the voice. It was Morgan's. It seemed Eden had underestimated how much the man wanted the Skull.
But he did not worry, as the arrival of new forces only meant more chaos, and finding one person among the whole battlefield was next to impossible, even with magic. And even if Morgan knew where Eden was, it was another matter entirely to reach him, as he would have to pass through hundreds of men to reach him.
Besides, Eden had more pressing matters at hand.
Jean du Plessis, likely knowing he could not hold back any longer, parried one of Barbossa's strikes and retreated several steps, and raised his fist to the sky.
A strong golden light manifested from his fist as Jean yelled, "Pour le roi!"
The light spread out over a dozen meters, showering all the French forces inside in gold, temporarily strengthening
them, while leaving the pirates shocked.
While most pirates believed in magic, seeing it in action was another matter entirely. Moreover, the men they had been fighting a moment before had suddenly gotten stronger.
Moreover, the moment the golden light spread out, Eden once again felt his danger sense spike up like crazy as several shadowy figures attacked. Two of them dropped down from above, while two others slithered out of the crowd like poisonous snakes, fangs at the ready.
The four covered all directions, the two in front jumping to distract him while the two behind lowered their bodies closer to the ground.
Eden did not need to use Analysis to know these were Players.
Considering their positioning and proximity, Strengthened Fireball was out of the question, as it would deal just as much damage to Eden as to them.
Guardian was also a bit too far to stop them, as Eden only now realized the two of them had been separated by a layer of soldiers. It would only take a single attack for Guardian to cleave through them and reach him, which was why Eden had not noticed, but this would give the assassins enough time to attack him.
Eden still sent a mental command to Guardian to do so, and decided for his own situation.
Dark Pool could only be cast within his line of sight, would affect allies and enemies alike, and could only slow down targets in contact with the ground, meaning the two in front would be unaffected.
Still, Eden cast it at his feet, thus covering the surrounding five meters in thick shadows, with faint arms made of darkness latching onto everyone they could, including Eden.
Having expected it and being stationary, Eden only felt himself getting anchored down, but he heard two gasps behind him as the assassins stumbled.
At the same time, Eden forcefully threw Jason's Machete at one of the air-born assassins, forcing him to block, and took out the Skull of Mictlantecuhtli, and used it to block the remaining attack.
The surrounding area, which had been showered in golden light a moment ago, suddenly turned black as a dark mist spread out from the skull, latching onto everyone present.
Whatever buff the golden light had given to the French troops, it had been negated by the thick necrotic energy emanated from the Skull, and then some. However, unlike the golden light, the Skull did not differentiate between enemies and allies, meaning the pirates had it even worse.
The only ones to benefit from it were Eden and Guardian.
The last assassin's blade harmlessly bouncing off the thick Skull, not leaving a dent in it, Eden kicked him in the chest, forcing spit out of his mouth as he was sent flying back, breathless.
The two barely had the time to pick themselves up when the Skull had been taken out, and they received several debuffs, further slowing them down, and thus allowing Guardian to reach Eden in time, leaving a trail of bodies behind.
Like that, the four assassins' initial attack had been warded off as Eden and Guardian stood back to back, the dark fog only thickening with every second, and Eden's MP regeneration picking up the pace.
The four assassins looked at each other, seemingly communicating, before one of them took out a scroll.
Eden instantly became wary, knowing this was the sign of a spell. There were two ways to cast spells: one was to learn them, and the other was to inscribe them on a scroll.
Although magical scrolls were consumables and would disappear after a single use, they allowed non-mages to cast any spell, as far as Eden knew.
Knowing better than to let his enemy cast the spell, Eden silently cast a Demon Claw behind him, ordering Guardian to attack the two assassins behind, and rushed at the remaining assassin next to the one with the scroll.
The scroll was even more valuable than Eden initially assumed, however, as the fourth assassin completely ignored Eden, attacking him, preferring to take the blow to block the Demon Claw.
It was too late to change targets, but since the assassin had left himself open, Eden went for a liver shot, cursing his missing limb. Had he still had both limbs, he could have kept Jason's machete and killed him, but since he only had one, he decided to kick instead.
The assassin's body spasmed from the pain as he was instantly incapacitated, but Eden was unable to follow up on that as the other assassin finished casting his spell.
Eden saw nothing, but his danger sense warned him that something was coming, and it was unavoidable.
[Physique Check…]
[Physique Check Failed!]
It had been a while since Eden had failed an attribute check, but he hardly cared as he felt a thunderous force crash into him with the force of a car, wrecking his body and sending him flying backwards.
Behind him, while Guardian had not been sent flying, he was stunned for a moment, which allowed one of the two assassins he was dealing with to hook his blade behind Guardian's left knee, his blade slicing through one of the few less-protected parts of his armor and cutting into his flesh.
Had Guardian been a man, he would have been forced to his knees, incapacitated by the pain. However, Guardian was an undead, and thus completely ignored the pain as he grabbed the assassin by the head.
As Eden crashed into the ground, his body wracked with pain, Guardian squashed the assassin's head like a watermelon.
[You have eliminated Player '403'. Player Cache sent to your Inventory.]
A glance at his Status told Eden he had lost 19 HP from that spell, putting him at 81 HP. It was not as much damage as he had thought, but he was not just HP either.
While the HP loss had been relatively small, his ears were ringing, he had been left breathless, and his bones felt brittle. The Dark Pool on the ground did not help either, as Eden struggled to get back on his feet, the shadows always pulling him down, as if in an attempt to devour him.
Regaining his breath, Eden swerved his body to the side, dodging a bullet, and looked at the shooter. Despite their impressive teamwork, the assassins did not look like they were saddened much by the death of their ally.
Not leaving the assassin the opportunity to fire more shots, Guardian swung his Greatsword at him, forcing him to dodge. The assassin who had taken a liver shot was nowhere to be seen, likely hiding in the crowd, leaving the third assassin.
He hesitated between helping his partner take down Guardian and finishing off Eden, before deciding on the latter. This short hesitation gave Eden enough time to summon a Demon Claw, however.
It appeared behind the assassin, covered by both the now-thick fog and the Dark Pool, and before the assassin could attack, it clawed at his Achilles heel.
He screamed in pain, forced to one knee as his leg gave out, just in time for Eden to reach him and Spartan kick him in the face. He would have kneed him, but he had no hands to hold his head, unfortunately.
Still, he felt the assassin's nose shatter under his boot, blood spraying everywhere as the assassin fell back.
At that moment, a nearby French soldier was finally courageous enough to enter the range of the Dark Pool and tried to attack Eden to save the fallen assassin, but his sword strike was easily dodged by Eden, who then stomped down on the assassin's head, putting his entire weight behind it.
[You have eliminated Player '401'. Player Cache sent to your Inventory.]
401's skull shattered under Eden's foot, ending the life of the second assassin, leaving only two more. However, seeing Guardian return to his side without any new notifications, Eden figured the last two had fled.