The Life

by Paul Kite

  Captain Kirk and a dozen of his sailors were clamped near the central mast. Dorcan was towering nearby like a giant, and Dirk was standing beside him. The airbender wizard— Grenal, was in the center of the circle of sailors, but unlike the rest, he didn’t participate in the defense. He either saved his strength, or has already exhausted his mana to the last drop. And the rest... the rest were dead, including the first mate, Mirko. I didn’t see Turgen’s body, he could have been thrown overboard. In any case, it was unlikely that the battle wizard was alive.

  Both ships were tightly coupled with grappling hooks. Moreover, they dropped the wide assault ramp from enemy vessel onto our deck. It firmly stuck its sharp canines into the wooden flooring, so that they couldn’t be pulled out quickly. They had to either be chopped up, or uprooted, which would ruin the ship’s already heavily damaged plating.

  “Stop!” a loud domineering voice rang out behind the enemy ship. “I said, stop!” A tall dark elf dressed in a dark red light armor stepped on the ladder, he had a long dagger hanging on his right thigh and a saber on his left.

  This strange drow wasn’t an NPC! He was a player!

  I kept my eyes on him, estimating the approximate level and quality of his clothes and weapons, and the system immediately announced that a character with the nickname Var-Loar of the 104th level was standing before me. Paying attention to several other elves, I sadly noted that he wasn’t the only player among the people who attacked us. Fifty-fifty. Half of the team were NPCs, half—immortal.

  Damn it! Though, what do they want here? Why did they attack us? Aren’t there other ships sailing in the ocean?! They could capture anyone they wished!

  Var-Loar stepped on board our ship, looked down upon the sailors who were sandwiched against the mast and slowly walked closer. Stopping behind his subordinates, he wasn’t going to get out ahead, the player grinned wryly and asked loudly:

  “Do you want to live?”

  “Who doesn’t,” came Captain Kirk’s response.

  “Then give us the man named Kraven, who stepped aboard this ship in the port of Fadlas,” the drow said. “And I’ll save your lives. We’ll leave, taking only him!”

  It turned out that these guys were looking for me, these were the answers to my questions! Although these answers gave rise to new questions. Why were they looking for me? Who hired them?

  Well, what will you say to them? I said to myself, noticing that Kirk was still silent.

  His face clearly revealed it wasn’t an easy decision. He could give me to them, saving his life and the lives of his subordinates or...

  The captain grimaced, spat on the blood-soaked deck under his feet and answered resolutely, “You’re mistaken, this person isn’t here. You staged a massacre in vain! Damned sirths!”

  He shouldn’t have responded so emotionally, it was evident from the elf’s face that he wouldn’t forgive the grievance. Well, what I was talking about? Drow would kill everyone of us anyway. He was a player, the life of NPCs meant nothing to him.

  Still, thank you, Kirk, I won’t forget this.

  However, you turned out to be right about my presence on the deck during the attack. It looked like he was another oracle, as if Ariana alone wasn’t enough for us.

  Chapter 20

  If I were outside when they came onto the ship, the players would have spotted me right away, tied me up quickly, and killed the captain and the crew without further ado. However, now we had a chance. My sudden appearance could tip the scales in our favor. The main thing was to do it right. After all, while they were distracted by the conversation, I was creeping closer and closer to this strange dark elf. And I was doing that with intentions that were not entirely peaceful!

  “Well, then I’ll destroy you and search the ship from top to bottom,” the player hissed evilly.

  “Good luck!” Kirk said, giving a sign to his people to prepare for the next attack.

  I was standing right behind the drow, and, praying to all the gods, thrust the daggers of chaos into his back...

  First I triggered the passive skill ‘Silent Death’, a ‘Double Strike’ came next and a ‘Critical Strike’ in the end. Oh yeah! The numbers were surprisingly impressive. The system literally blossomed with reports of damage inflicted.

  However, the arrogant drow didn’t die! He staggered and collapsed to the deck, breathing heavily. Var-Loar was mortally wounded, in other words, his HP was in the red, but he was still alive.

  I only managed to pull the daggers out of the drow to fight off the blow of the other elf. He was one of the first to recover from the shock after my sudden attack on their leader.

  “Finish him!” Kirk shouted, standing up in a protective stance together with other sailors and defending himself from the fierce elves.

  “Right away, my captain,” I replied sarcastically, repelling two more strong attacks, the drow was unusually quick.

  “Tserkin, do you have any blades left?” I heard the captain’s voice, addressed to one of his subordinates.

  “Yes, captain. I have a couple left.”

  “Give them to me.”

  I didn’t know what he had in mind, I didn’t even have time to look around, but I wished he would hurry! I was fighting off two drow at once. It seemed that one of them was a player.

  Hmm, an open melee with two strong opponents was a bust for me. I couldn’t imagine how I was still alive!

  Something buzzed past my ear. A thin blade, like a sting, pierced the elf’s temple and went into his skull almost to its hilt. The elf was trying to trip me at that moment. He fell dead on the floor, right under the feet of his partner and made him stumble. Taking advantage of the situation, I swirled blade like a fan across his chest and ripped his throat. The player could have survived such a wound if he had used a high-quality scroll or with the help of a powerful wizard. However, at that moment the player tried to drink the potion hastily and spilled most of it from the hole in his throat.

  I again heard the sound of a blade cutting through the air. The second one plunged into the chest of rising Var-Loar, right into his heart. Well, I, of course, didn’t hesitate, and made my contribution to the destruction of the drow, producing series of finishing blows. Goodbye, player!

  I ran back, jumped onto the bulwark, turned around, activated a jerk, and found myself among my people, a step away from Kirk.

  “You’re a fool!” the captain frowned.

  “Perhaps,” I smiled. “Though, I did appear on time, didn’t I?”

  “The death of their captain decides nothing,” Kirk shook his head.

  I myself already guessed that the player was the chief among the attackers.

  “The reinforcement will come soon and we’ll be outnumbered!”

  “We’ll see! By the way, what about him?” I nodded toward Turgen. It seemed that he had not a single scratch, but the battle wizard was lying with his back to the mast.

  He was exhausted and lost consciousness, but he put down one of the drow wizards. My guys wounded the other one with a crossbow, and obviously, the sailors carried him off to the lower decks.

  “Hmm!” I remembered a couple of fire scrolls lying in my inventory and compared them with the absence of enemy wizards. “Do you want to say that they are defenseless?”

  “Unless they don’t have amulets embedded in the outer hull,” Kirk looked at me blankly.

  “Fine! This is what I need,” I removed my daggers of chaos and pulled the swords from the scabbard behind my back. “I need,” I estimated how soon my invisibility would roll back, “five minutes. Then I’ll try to get rid of their ship.”

  “We’ll hold out!” Kirk deftly hooked the drow’s feet, while Dorcan, who was standing to the right, delivered the elf a crushing blow with his giant cutlass and instantly sent him to a better world.

  Suddenly, our opponents decided to try to break through our all-around defense and ... they partially succeeded. I again had the honor of fighting two sailors simultaneously.

  W
ell, at least there was a man who covered me and could help me as a last resort. A short, but very agile and fast guy was fussing behind my back, he was wielding two narrow daggers. For some reason, all Captain Kirk’s sailors carried a cutlass, and it was hanging from his belt. It wasn’t my business, let him use what he liked.

  Armed with a long one-sided sharpening blade in one hand and a curved dagger in the other, the drow acted in unison. They struck in turns and didn’t get in each other’s way. Unlike most of their partners, who, as I noticed, often disrupted one another during the fight. Well, the drow looked like twins, and maybe they really were.

  Soon I got a chance — one of the twins delayed his strike for a split second, and I made a quick lunge and stripped him of the sword, cutting casually across his unprotected fingers. Grimacing from the pain, the drow dropped his sword and pulled out the curved dagger. He tried to retreat behind his twin’s back. However, I wasn’t going to give him that opportunity. Therefore, ordering the nearby smart sailor to finish off the wounded enemy, I attacked the other one, without giving him a chance to protect his brother.

  Being alone with him, I dealt with him quickly. It seemed that they were accustomed to working in pairs and having lost his partner-brother, the second drow simply couldn’t hold out.

  Before someone rushed at me, I quickly looked around the battlefield.

  Our people were still under the onslaught of the drow, and now and again they would drop one of our sailors. Among the elves, mostly the players died, the NPCs were more careful.

  “Kraven,” Kirk whispered, getting closer to me. He knocked down a drow with a couple of quick blows, and the sailors immediately finished him off. “What were you going to do? Come on! Torgen woke up at last, he would try to use a magic spell. I think then he’s likely to lose consciousness again. If the drow don’t retreat for a couple of minutes to restore order and heal the wounded, we can crush them! Otherwise …”

  “I know,” I interrupted the elf’s attempt to finish off one of our wounded sailors. “It’s time to go.”

  Approaching the mast, I activated invisibility, climbed on the spar and ran along it, then jumped onto the deck of the enemy vessel. I almost fell under the feet of a couple of wounded sailors who decided to get away from the ’Moonlight’. I didn’t pay attention to them. Looking around, I quickly found the ladder leading down, and went down to the deck below. Passing a few doors, I saw a drow fighting wizard lying on a bed and an airbender wizard working on him.

  Making sure that there was no one nearby except these drow, I crept up from his back and, when the wizard leaned over his friend to help him drink the healing potion, I activated all the available skills and instantly sent the airbender wizard to the other world. Then, of course, I had no problem to finish off the wounded battle mage.

  Climbing down to the lowest cargo deck, I took out the first scroll of the fireball and, activating the spell, sent it to the nearest barrels with provisions, and the second to the trunks with spare clothes and some fabrics.

  I thought it was time for me to get a ‘Pyro’ achievement, I grinned cheerfully and went back to the upper deck.

  Right in front of me, two lightly wounded sailors helped their bloody comrade to cross the assault ramp. The drow’s head was broken and he was missing his left hand.

  Sending the trio to meet their god, I jumped onto the deck of our ship. By that moment, a barely noticeable smoke had already started to rise from the hold of the enemy ship. However, this wouldn’t last long. The fire was about to flare up!

  “It’s done, captain!” I loudly informed Kirk about the arson.

  By the way, not only he but also the elves heard what I shouted, some of them began turning around, in the hope that I was lying and trying to demoralize them.

  “Chop the grappling hooks!” the captain ordered the sailors. “Faster! Dorcan, take off the assault ramp, come on!”

  A healthy sailor nodded and gestured for three people.

  Meanwhile, everything had changed for the better on our ship! Turgen managed to generate a powerful spell, literally destroying half of the dark elves, but he himself almost died from exhaustion. He again lay unconscious at the mast. Blood was coming out of his nose and ears; he himself was as pale as death. However, what was important is that he was alive and breathing! Well, we could cure him.

  The enemy crew began to retreat randomly from our deck, and only the players resisted bitterly and tried to kill at least someone. There were fewer of them, and the surviving Kirk’s sailors acted smoothly and carefully, killing the drow one by one.

  Well, I also made a considerable contribution to this business, helping to finish off the dark elves. At the same time, I hoped that my experience was growing. The system should take into account the enemies that died from my hand. They weren’t simple enemies but had higher levels!

  Kirk’s people finally got rid of the last hooks, and our ship, with the help of the airbender wizard, began moving away from the drow vessel.

  Standing on the edge of the deck, I could see the enemy sailors. They were diving into the smoking hold and carrying buckets to the ship’s side. The drow collected water and put out fires. We weren’t trying to stop or kill them.

  ‘Moonlight’ was sailing farther and farther into the open ocean, away from the battle and the coast visible far in the distance.

  One of the sailors was immediately sent to the captain’s cabin to make sure everything was in order. However, Kirk didn’t need to worry. After my departure, the wizard, without hesitation, simply barricaded himself and the girl in the cabin, despite Ariana’s warnings about the successful outcome of the battle. Well done, hmm... it depended on how you looked at it. After all, we’d lost more than half the crew, the battle wizard was unconscious, and the ship was slightly damaged.

  While the wizard and a couple of sailors were bringing the cabin in order, I approached the captain at the helm, who was discussing the route ahead with the navigator.

  “There are underwater cliffs, this is not a good rout,” Dirk was moving his finger across the map. “And if we go here, along volcanic islands, we can stumble upon reefs.”

  “So, let’s slow down and when we enter dangerous waters, we can launch a boat with a couple of guys. Let them go ahead of the ship and check the depth,” Kirk shrugged his shoulders.

  “Are the orc waters as dangerous as these?” I couldn’t resist the question.

  Apparently, the captain decided not to take any more risks and make a big detour, so we wouldn’t stumble upon anyone. After all, we might not survive another fight.

  “Yes,” the captain answered shortly. “And unlike those drow pirates who were looking for you,” he singled out the last word in a disgruntled tone, “the orcs aren’t talkative at all and are very fierce! They don’t care who we are and what we’re doing there. The orcs will arrange a real slaughter, sink the ship, and the survivors will be instantly sold to slavery. Do you want to become a slave?”

  It turns out that he doesn’t know that I’ve already... been... a slave.

  “Of course I don’t! Then how do we get to the Wastes?”

  After all, Lsaeros said that we would arrive to the Wastelands of the Orcs. I thought.

  “We’re going to sail through the nearby islands. Peaceful tribes live there, they don’t try to tear off the heads of passers-by the moment they meet them.”

  “Peaceful orcs?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

  Of course, I could believe it if they were players, but if they were NPCs... It was very unlikely!

  “Of course!” Kirk spoke in surprise. “My father used to trade with several tribes. However, he didn’t have the opportunity for the last couple of years, but I’m sure that my family’s name is still remembered there.”

  “Why are you so sure that we won’t stumble upon local pirates and bandits?” I still kept doubting.

  “Because they’re peaceful but strong,” Kirk grinned. “Kraven, I’m very grateful to you for s
aving us, but now you should go to your cabin. Please, don’t bother me. I have no time for this! We must heal the wounded. We also need to bury the dead and patch up the ship as much as we can.”

  “Okay, okay,” I put out my hands up in a conciliatory gesture. “I’m leaving! I’ll go to help Lsaeros put the furniture back in your cabin.”

  “Yes. And then send the sailors here,” Kirk dismissed me, leaning over the map with the navigator.

  Chapter 21

  It was the third day of our voyage. The sailor on duty at the very top of the central mast finally announced to everyone’s pleasure that land was on the horizon. We were overjoyed. Especially me! The sailors almost began jumping in delight, despite the fact that they were supposed to tolerate all the agony of the ship’s long marches through the endless seawaters.

  However, if it were in a different situation and under other circumstances...

  After all, only fourteen people survived from a full team of more than twenty. It was difficult to control such a large vessel with such a small number of people. After three days, they were almost completely exhausted. The sailors slept in shifts and ate when they had a moment to spare. This was despite ours and Lsaeros’ attempts to help the crew. However, we weren’t the most helpful assistants. The sailors spoke to us in the simplest of terms: extend the rope to that thing, tie it to this one... They understood perfectly that we were simple landlubbers, and tried to avoid marine terms. On the other hand, they quite often shouted out curses peppered with the names of sea monsters. Surprisingly, this didn’t make their instructions any clearer for us.

  Seeing Captain Kirk’s contented smile, even the wizard Grenal cheered up and sped up the ship another two knots per hour.

  Soon we could see with a naked eye the outlines of the most diverse islands. The islands adjoined the orcs’ wastelands closely and bordered on the Ilian ridge. We could examine only the front side because the whole scale of this strange phenomenon of Noria’s Realm could only be comprehended looking at the map or from a bird’s-eye view.