The Way of the Clan 8

by Dem Mikhaylov

  The shout of the BB interrupted the distraction.

  “Concentrate fire on the center of the Sargasso! We make a passage for the flagship, and everyone follows us! We are a mother goose – they are our baby geese! And make so that not a single nestling will die! Baron! What’s going on there?”

  “That is what!”

  The ringing, rejoicing cry of a liberated insect struck our ears, as bee smashed a gigantic stone into dust and whistled into the unknown. At the same time, four more "bazookas" were clicked. Again, to our jubilation. A partially disarmed oceanic monster went into a fit of violent groaning.

  And then…

  “The bee comes back!” Someone was screaming in horror from the second deck.

  The bass murmuring confirmed his words. And then, over our heads, with an unthinkable speed, the frenzied bees turned, beginning to maneuver between out masts. What the...

  "The others are coming here!"

  “Cancel the Nyushas!” The cry of the BB sounded so loud it was likely heard on the mainland. The next state of emergency! Instead of disappearing after use, the divine bees return to us and are not going to fly away anywhere.”

  “My God!” Roared Malice, watching the chaotic flight of a buzzing bee, which was capable of killing with one blow. “And they do not know the coordinates? After all, we don’t know either…”

  "You mean they do not know where to go? They do not know where their fucking hive is?!” The Baron roared out on the bridge, chained up in his knightly armor. “Is this what you want to tell me ?!”

  “Exactly this!” Shouted Malice in response.

  “Quiet!” The order of the Baroness calmed them both.

  A hit! Hit!

  “Sturz and Gascon took hits from five-masted ships! They have been damaged, but are afloat. The remaining ships manage to change the course themselves. BB, we are at the forefront of attack!”

  “No distance at all to the entrance of the Sargasso! Five! Four! ”

  “Clear the bees!”

  “Three!”

  “How?! Kill them? If they get furious, they'll kill us all!”

  “Two!”

  “If you do not want to attack — then feed them!” Baroness said. “Pour mead onto the deck! The best we have! We treat our winged guests!”

  “One! ”

  "Hah ... it just might work..."

  Ba-a-a-a-am!

  Thanks to the warning, everyone managed to catch on to something beforehand. And so, we did not go flying. And though the blow was strong — the flagship continued to move forward after collision with the living obstacle, though it slowed down sharply.

  “Algae crawling up the decks! The seaweed creatures come aboard! Attack on the underwater decks and the lower surface ones!”

  Several alarming horns rang out at once.

  The flagship of the Black Queen was under attack — as indicated by a flashing message.

  What would a normal navigator do? He would continue to stand on the bridge and with a stoic expression of his face, watching the heartbreaking events.

  What does an ordinary Great Navigator do? The same. He stands and admires the agony of the enemies and the allies.

  And what does the unusual Great Navigator do? Oh, he does everything a little differently...

  I removed a massive gizmo from two steel hooks, very little like a crossbow. The blue metal casing was covered with softly glowing golden runes. One of them was used for making the killing device lighter. The rest were for accuracy, critical shot and shot strength. The shoulders of the crossbow were carved from bone – greenish-gray, with black veins, more like stone. The bowstring was a kind of energy thread quivering between two murky glass balls fixed at the ends of the shoulders. The crossbow in my hands ... it was such a fabulous weapon that if I had met the BB in those days when I was a fan of ranger arms, and the head of the Sleepless offered me such a crossbow ... I probably would have been listed among the recruits of her clan. If I was not kicked out of there due to my overall laziness.

  The weapon was expensive. First of all, its high cost was not due to its ability to kill, but to its accessibility to a wide range of players. The requirements were sharply reduced due to the magical runes, enchantment and other things. Though this also meant that anyone could take the crossbow from me, click the fuse, put the weapon on the target and press the trigger..

  Click…

  The bolt went to the goal. The target I chose was a creature, which had escaped to one of the lower surface decks. It was resembling an insane hybrid of a mantis, a tarantula, and my classmate Vasya from the 6th grade. I did not miss. The bolt punched the chest armor of the ugly creature and threw the creature back into the ocean. Using the recharge lever – special, with a spring of gold and mithril – I muttered:

  “Damn plankton…”

  “No need to say!” Malice supported me. “And these are still the normal ones. Imagine the crossbreeds...”

  A cliff fell from the sky crushed a dozen terrible insects, and settled to swinging on the plant carpet. Algae joyfully crawled over the huge stone – apparently deciding to create another sling-mace. But Malice waited a second and snapped his fingers. With a wild roar, the cliff shattered into pieces, which acted as shrapnel, tearing algae and beetles into tatters. Several of the fighters gave him a thumbs us. Behind our backs, Klest shouted:

  “Do not scratch the flagship’s polishing!”

  But we ignored Klest.

  Grunting in approval, I shot again. And again I felt a rush of pride – I did not miss. However, the creature remained on board and immediately jerked in our direction. Throwing my palm forward, I activated the thorn forest spell, blocking its passage. The beetle did not even slow down, continuing to run to me. And then ... a bunch of cut blackthorn flew into the air, and magical forest continued to deepen with considerable speed.

  “Ha!” Malice did not express any sympathy for me, bringing down the next cliff with his left hand and rewarding the field of Sargasso with yellow-red lightning from the right.

  "What is so funny!” I confessed, sending a crossbow bolt almost at random, but surprisingly, getting the target – for the third time in a row.

  "The battle mage must be diverse," Malice said morally, snapping his fingers.

  The beetle jumped up and burst like a pierced ball of water. Crossbow bolts remained in a puddle of greenish-brown slime.

  I understood the hint of Malice. It is a miserable battle mage, the one who does not use his own magic to destroy enemies, but extra power of mechanical weapons, like the powerful crossbow. Shame to such a magician. I had to practice my magic.

  Taking the advice to heart, I lowered the crossbow to the railing and, putting my palms in front of me, I began to use my own magic – fire and ice. Then I grabbed again for the crossbow, sending the bolt into an especially intense creature.

  And I did not forget to admire the horrific panorama of storming insects that attacked the flagship like a horde of ants on a huge caterpillar. Only the caterpillar did not turn out to be another piece of prey – it gave a brutal rebuff and continued to go forward. A most terrible and massive fight was ahead. The nose of the flagship continued to ram the huge Sargasso field, and new enemies arrived continuously, dashing forward and easily overcoming even vertical surfaces.

  In fact, I did not even see the nose of the ship! A solid veil of violently flaming colors of combat and protective magic hung over the front part of the flagship. Dozens of smoking columns rose, clouds of steam rushed up, a cacophony of sounds beat the ears with the wild rhythm of acid, and the defenders of this smoky hell seemed to the dancers, spinning with blades, crouching and somersaulting. Such a nightmare was enacted hypnotically. I wanted to watch. And only the remnant of my sober mind reminded me — this was not jolly old fun. This was a fierce battle...

  The center of the ship was a little more quiet.

  "Do you remember the rule about the bridge?" Shouted Malice, roasting a viciously twisting monster on a
slow crimson fire.

  “I remember! But you need to remember this, not me,” I retorted, bending over the railing and sending a few more hits down.

  The underwater reinforcements did not sleep – the field of Sargasso twitched and slowly turns into a vegetable sieve. From below, it was angrily torn to pieces by the Achilot troops, tearing the monster apart. It was amazing to see a giant white shark clinging to a huge clump of seaweed and starting to spin around its axis, literally unscrewing green "flesh" from its total mass. What an animal...

  The rule of the bridge said the following – if the bridge where the navigator is located is occupied by enemies, then navigational watch cannot be continued until the site is cleared. Therefore, the defenders of the flagship intentionally defended the deck. But it did not matter to me — it was not said anywhere that the navigator should personally defend his workplace.

  "We see the heart!" There was a loud amplified cry which came from above, where the sentinel was, armed with exactly the same crossbow as mine. And also with a very special telescope with an eye at the end. “Here’s the screenshot!”

  The vision that appeared in the air showed a distinct picture of a rhythmically pulsating crystalline heart in the very center of the floating Sargasso field. The shades color pulsing fast, dominated by red and crimson colors — the monster was furious. The spherical crystal itself, named the heart, was hidden by a layer of algae, but was constantly being attacked from above by dragons.

  “A point strike immediately! Pry open the heart! And bring it here ... do not break it! We must study this vegetable bastard...”

  “Affirmative! Equip two emerald dragons with catching nets! Send five phoenixes and three red dragons for defense. Let’s dissect this beast's sternum!”

  “Other fighters do not sleep! Continue the fight!”

  "Shit!” I roared suddenly and slammed Malice with my elbow. He missed a lightning strike and stared at me with astonishment. “Look there!”

  Poking my chin up, I continued to create attack magic. And Malice, on the contrary, stopped his magic assaults — dumbfounded, he fiercely swore, and with one hand poked the shoulder of the Baroness.

  “What?!”

  “Oh shit!” Shouted one of the observers. “Stars in the sky!”

  Yes, that was exactly right. Stars in the daytime sky. A gloomy horde of ancient star guards, seven of them, right above us. And they were going in the same direction as us. Something blinked, the air shimmered with a flickering shroud, and the guards disappeared. Either they teleported somewhere, or it was simply a mirage. Ridiculous...

  “This Stellar dance is not for good!” Muttered Malice, and returned to the killing of the armored monsters. I supported him with firepower and words:

  “That is for damn sure!”

  "Did you see that?” A thin girlish cry came from one of the main masts.

  There, huddled against the stone column, which was really a mast, defended by a faithful gnome, stood Kaylen, waving to us, her gaze burning with such fire that it was possible to toast marshmallows on it. Cray was defending her with all his might, but a monster was coming to them too fast. I aimed, squeezed the trigger, and rewarded the monster with an armor-piercing bolt in the back, which made him collapse. Cray thanked me and tried to rip Kaylen off the mast. She protested, kicking him in the head with her boots. The gnome had to surrender. The brave combat journalist continued to survey the battlefield. A new article about the brutal battle on the water was coming...

  A shaggy black-and-white wolf flew over the deck and, with a frenzied growl, sunk his fangs into the withers of a beetle, tearing him like a rag. On the back of the wolf sat my shaggy miracle, waving a club and riling up the wolf with battle cries. Shit! Following the wolf and his rider, a fully armored Kirea burst forth onto the deck, tearing up everything with her sword.

  "You will lead me into the grave! You hear me!” I shouted so loudly that Malice again missed his opponent and sent the lightning accidentally right in the ass of one of our players. The half-orc collapsed to the floor in convulsions… shit…

  Sitting on Kolyvan, Orbit calmly continued to pick a thick white log with his knife, not paying attention to the fact that the mammoth was trampling two monsters at once, trying to turn them into a bug paste. Health food, probably ... without chemical impurities.

  “Do not stop the Roska!” Kirea yelled back at me, tearing a sword out of the monster's chest. “I will defend her! And the mammoth too!”

  “Ye-e-e-ah!” Roska screamed joyfully when Tyrant attacked another enemy. “Cherry on the scruff of the neck! Gray tsunami in your ass and a counter storm in your face! We will open your stomachs and fill them with oatmeal! Ye-e-e-ah!” The legendary wolf finished up with one enemy and rushed on, taking his screaming rider with him. The mammoth trotted behind them. Kirea had climbed on his back. And behind them ran the breathless Doc – it seems, he just did not have time to climb onto the beast.

  And the half-orc Bom ... was walking peacefully and collecting something from the deck ... did he imagine himself to be a shepherdess on a chamomile meadow?

  “Watch out! Archelon is coming! Archelon is coming! The zone is highlighted in red! All move away from it!”

  A monstrously huge shadow flashed under the water, and a hefty wave rose and a beast collapsed on the seaweed field.

  A turtle. About fifteen meters in length and almost ten meters wide. Creeping forward. Arrows began to hit him, sent by achilots whose heads were covered with water bubbles. And the achilots were also shooting with jets of bright orange acid, which began to corrode everything – monsters, rocks or algae. Archelon opened its mouth and, with a roar, blew out a thick stream of orange slime. A huge piece of the algal field simply broke off and swam away, freeing the flagship from its grip.

  "Archelon is coming! Archelon is coming!” The cry was repeated. “The zone is highlighted in red! All get away from it!”

  A new monster arrived on the other side of the flagship. Two giant prehistoric turtles slowly crept along the field of Sargasso, destroying everything around them. Clouds of orange steam rose so high that for some time the flagship walked inside a massive orange cloud.

  “Piquet! Piquet! ”

  In the sky above us, there were flashes, several magical discharges hitting the Sargasso, and then two green dragons fell on the field, a breed famous for their carrying capacity but not their battle skills. Battle magic demolished rocks and seaweed, and the crystal heart of the monster was exposed in all its glory, furiously pulsing. As soon as the first net touched the crystal, all the beetles of the monsters stopped their battle, turned abruptly, and rushed off the decks. They rushed to protect the most valuable thing ... but it was too late. The two dragons flew up, furiously working their wings. And in a spiral, the scarlet dragons and phoenixes circled above them, covering the other creatures with incessant fire. Arrows, stones, fire, ice spikes, etc. – everything was involved, creating an impassable deadly barrier around the heart. But the beetles did not stop – they fearlessly rushed into the flames and acid, dying by dozens in an attempt to reach the life force of the Sargasso field. Even more creatures perished running near the monstrous body of Archelon, which were spewing orange acid... infernal acid-sprinklers spared no one and nothing...

  And then…

  Above the agitated ocean sounded a resonating long cry. The green dragons rose up higher, dragging the tremendous pulsating crystal behind them. The Sleepless had snatched the heart out of the vegetable breast of the monster ... had faced the ruthless beasts ... but they had done it. The trophy was terrific and unknown – I had never heard of such monsters before.

  Following this, the Sargasso simply disintegrated into algal shreds that peacefully swayed on the foamy waves. The huge boulders fell to the bottom.

  "There's still a field to the left of the course! And another field to the right! And two more fields are forming! Wow!”

  The resounding cry of agony had been a signal. And many more fields
began to appear on the surface of the water. Soon I saw them with my naked eye — more than a dozen of these monsters. And they were slowly trekking in our direction…

  "Avoid the battle!" The Baroness commanded, having been standing silently apart and quietly watching the actions of her subordinates. “We avoid them! If impossible – send firewalls to meet the fields! We will leave these gifts to those who follow us. Freeze the water in front of the fastest of the vegetable fiends. Leave them behind us.”

  “Done!”

  “A picture from the bottom! You should check it out!”

  For a moment, our glances were averted to a dark but distinct picture of the oceanic rocky bottom. The depth intense — about three hundred meters was the smallest depth. A small algal forest — a grove. There were also fish. But the stony bottom moved, shuddered, and large boulders as clouds of bottom mud rose up. Long shaggy sprouts of seaweed burst out at full speed, seizing several stones like human hands, dragging the main plant mass behind them. Only a minute was needed for a new field of living Sargasso to emerge from its hideout and rush up like a nightmarish jellyfish.

  "That is why we did not spot them," the scouts of the depths explained, somewhat embarrassed. "The eye showed the earth, seaweed, and living small things. Ordinary flora and fauna. The field of Sargasso itself was ordinary seaweed, stones, and some crabs or crayfish. They are actually ordinary flora and fauna...”

  “Learn more about the crystal heart,“ said the BB. “This is an artifact. It revives the field, it gives birth to the critters, most likely.”

  “Sure thing, boss!”

  “Learn and the behavior of Sargasso in battle. Find the weak and strong places of the monster, work out an effective strategy to counteract the creature.”

  "And give my naval commander my deepest respect," added the Baroness. “Deepest.”

  “Yes, boss.”