“Well, that explains why ships disappear in this area,” he said.
Taking out his telescope, he tried to find a way around the vortex, but he was stopped by Steppe Fang.
“According to the shaman, the quickest route to the lair of the Dah’Khass King is through the eye of the storm. I finally understand what he meant.”
Hadjar looked at the orc, then at the raging vortex and its guardians, then back at the orc.
“We aren’t really going there, are we?” Derek shouted, panicking now.
Alea and Irma stared at him, shifting their gazes away from the damaged cannons that they’d been trying to repair. The girls didn’t know much about artillery, but with the help of energy threads, it was possible to do just about anything.
“We are, aren’t we?” Hadjar asked Steppe Fang, already resigned to it.
“It’s the shortest route. Who knows where we’ll end up if we ignore the shaman’s advice.”
Hadjar nodded. He had no idea where they were. Without his neural network, his navigational abilities were extremely limited.
“By the gods!” Derek groaned.
The boy ran over to the mast, untied the safety ropes, then ran back to the girls. After explaining the situation to them and listening to their frightened complaints, he tied them to the mast so that they wouldn’t fall overboard.
While the trio was busy, Hadjar decided to get a few things straight.
“Tell me the truth, Steppe Fang. How weak are you right now?”
With a heavy sigh, the orc turned to him. It was obvious that he wasn’t happy about Hadjar’s question or the predicament he’d found himself in.
“The power of the free orcs comes from our ancestor, the Great Wolf. The First Hunter. He was of the earth, and so our power is connected to it. I’m far from it right now, and therefore, I’m weak. But don’t worry, when the time for battle comes, I’ll be strong once again.”
Hadjar looked at the vortex and the flying creatures around it. He kind of doubted that.
“But why don’t I feel stronger, then?” He asked. “My ancestor belongs to the sky, so I should be stronger here than back on the ground.”
“Because you haven’t called your ancestor yet,” Steppe Fang replied sadly. “You earned the right to bear your Name, you found your Spirit, you even fought for the power of the Wolf Broth, but you still remain deaf to your ancestor’s call.”
“You’re wrong, giant. My ancestor...” Hadjar touched the Call tattoo on his chest, which was right above the very spot where the heart of his ancestor and Master, the dragon Traves, was beating steadily. “I heard him... until he left.”
“You don’t hear him because you’ve become the slave of a Weapon.”
Steppe Fang slapped him on the back. If the orc had been in good health, that friendly smack would’ve made Hadjar stagger, but now he barely felt it.
“You’ll hear it when you regain your connection to the wind.” Steppe Fang looked at the vortex and the monsters. “I won’t be able to help you in this battle, North Wind. Everything will depend on you and those… children.”
Hadjar grinned.
“I beg to differ.” He secured the helm and then led the orc over to one of the cannons. It was normally manned by three practitioners, but they were no match for an orc, even a weakened one.
“The gunpowder goes in first, then the cannonball... Once you’ve shoved those in, pull this lever. Of course, you should aim first,” Hadjar explained. “The cannonballs are over here,” he said and kicked the box full of ammo. Each projectile weighted sixty-five pounds.
“Good luck!” Hadjar patted the startled orc on the shoulder and returned to the helm.
The trio drew their weapons and stood by the other cannon. It was much bigger than the one he’d assigned the orc to, and it also fired much larger cannonballs. Weighing about four hundred pounds, they’d be able to seriously wound even a Heaven Soldier.
Tying his hair back, Hadjar delved into the depths of his soul and summoned the dragon and the Black Blade. The cloak of black fog appeared on his shoulders, bracers covered his arms, and a wide belt appeared around his waist. The Black Blade, now adorned with a blue hieroglyph that shone with a mysterious light, glimmered in his hand.
Hadjar took a rope and, tying it around himself, leapt onto the bow of the schooner. He strode casually along it, stood on its very edge, and then looked out at the vortex and the horrid creatures flying around it. Each of them was at the King Stage, which meant only one thing...
A mad grin blossomed across Hadjar’s face.
“It’s time to hunt for cores!” He shouted and jumped off.
Chapter 594
Tied to the mast, Hadjar, his cloak fluttering behind him like a pair of black wings, swooped down to commence his attack.
The veil surrounding the schooner had allowed it to stay invisible to the sky creatures for a while, but the closer it had gotten to the vortex, the worse the disguise had worked.
As soon as Hadjar jumped off the schooner, the monsters noticed him. Three of them rushed over and flew around him, baring their sharp fangs. Their bodies exuded power equal to that of a human mid-stage Spirit Knight.
Having mounted one of the beasts by using the element of surprise, he raised the Black Blade, imbuing it with the mysteries of the Weapon’s Heart, and struck the creature’s head. The sword, flashing black, hit the sturdy scales. Since it was now at the Imperial level, it cut the beast easily, spraying green blood everywhere.
With a shrill, high-pitched cry, the other two beasts, upon seeing their friend disappear amid the dark clouds, attacked him recklessly. Hadjar swung his sword and sent crescents of energy out. The dark energy didn’t target his attackers, but the fallen beast instead, and cut its corpse into three pieces. With an effort of will, Hadjar put the smallest of them into his spatial ring. He needed the cores of flying monsters at the King Stage or higher in order to make progress in his ‘Path through the Clouds’ meditation Technique. And because he didn’t have enough time to cut the core out of the monster, he simply took a few pounds of meat with him. Unfortunately, this move had cost him a few precious seconds, and now, hanging on to the rope, he looked like an easy target.
The nearest of the monsters opened its fanged maw wide and attacked. Hadjar, holding the Black Blade in front of him, prepared to defend himself, but just then, a vibration passed along the rope. A cannonball, leaving a trail of acrid gray smoke in its wake, struck the flying beast. It didn’t hurt it, but it did jostle it, making it sink its fangs into its friend’s tail. The two creatures roared and struggled to disentangle themselves from each other and charge Hadjar, but it was too late.
“Black Wind!”
Hadjar’s blade slashed through the air with savage ferocity. Behind it, the silhouette of a huge, black sword loomed in the sky. Leaving a smoky coil of darkness trailing behind it, it descended upon the monsters. A few moments later, chunks of bloodied meat plummeted toward the ground. Hadjar added two more cores to his collection.
Hanging on to the rope, he looked at the vortex and the several hundred monsters around it. Those three must’ve been scouts.
Some of the monsters were more than fifty feet long and had five or even six pairs of wings. They appeared to be at the advanced Ancient Beast Stage.
“Damn it,” Hadjar swore.
He yanked on the rope and leapt back onto the deck. When he landed, he sent away his Call and the Black Blade so as not to waste his power. The latter still needed to digest the Spirit particles it had absorbed when it had stabbed the flying monsters. Hadjar sensed that the Black Blade would probably need to absorb the Spirits of more than ten Primeval Giants to reach the next level.
“What’s the situation like?” Derek asked, standing at the helm.
Hadjar turned around and looked at the crew. The girls clung desperately to the cannon, as if hoping it could protect them. Steppe Fang might’ve believed in their victory, but he wasn’t much help at the moment
. Derek was wrapped in so many ropes that he looked like a mummy. Should he tell them that the huge creatures hovering in the sky ahead of them were almost as powerful as Primeval Giants?
“We’re probably gonna die,” Hadjar said cheerfully.
“What?” Derek asked in confusion.
“What do you mean, North Wind?” The orc frowned.
He could hardly stand, but he still tried not to show his weakness. Hadjar suddenly realized that the orc was the one who had shot down the beast.
“The land of the Dah’Khasses is below us. It would be impossible to cross it on foot.” Hadjar descended from the bridge and opened the iron grating that blocked the way to the weapons hold. “And there’s a swarm of flying beasts in front of us.”
“But you dealt with some of them easily enough,” Alea said uncertainly.
Hadjar examined the hold and winced slightly. It needed a lot of repairs. It was amazing that they’d even managed to take off with these cracked and rotten boards everywhere. He wondered how the schooner was still flying.
“I dealt with three of them!” He shouted in response. He pushed aside a mat and closed his eyes. “There are hundreds of them! And they’re pretty powerful!”
Under the mat were dozens of blue crystals. Each was as long as his hand, and they’d been left there to absorb energy for many years. Walking past them, Hadjar found two chests among the piles of junk that the schooner’s previous owner had gathered.
“Hopefully, these will help,” he whispered, dragging them up to the deck.
“Why are you-” Alea suddenly realized what he was doing and murmured, “We-he-he-ell…”
“Are you sure we can pull it off?” Irma asked, still stroking Azrea, who was wagging her tail happily. She was purring as she played with the girl’s hair.
“We have to try-”
“Am I the only one who doesn’t understand what’s going on here?” Derek shouted. “We’re heading straight into a nest of deadly creatures, and you’re talking about chests?”
“Those chests contain a flammable tar mixture,” Alea explained.
“And we have cannons,” Irma added. Azrea meowed.
“What do you mean? Wait...” He suddenly turned pale. “We’re going-”
“-to make napalm,” Hadjar finished for him. “We’ll shoot napalm at the creatures. While they’re distracted by the fire, we’ll break through to the vortex… Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“Well, I hope we will.” Hadjar shrugged.
Derek grabbed the mast.
“Oh, by the gods,” he wailed, “I hate flying!”
For the first time ever, Steppe Fang agreed with him.
Chapter 595
It didn’t take long to prepare the napalm. The only difficult part was weaving a sort of energy cocoon around the bags that were then placed into the cannon together with some cannonballs. The cocoon prevented the mixture from exploding right then and there.
Alea had had to figure out how to do this quickly as she didn’t have much choice. The ‘Drunken Goose’ was sailing straight toward the vortex and its guardians at full speed.
The lever that controlled the hieroglyph had only three commands: takeoff, flight, and anchoring. The third option had malfunctioned and no longer worked, so Hadjar couldn’t make the schooner stop or slow down.
“Get ready!” Hadjar shouted.
Even though he had secured the helm with two planks he’d dragged from the hold, he knew that they’d feel some serious turbulence the moment they entered the vortex of swirling blue and black clouds and crimson lightning bolts.
Standing at the bow, cloak flapping in the wind, Hadjar held the Black Blade in one hand and a simple light bomb in the other.
The schooner, surrounded by its protective shields, flew closer to the monsters. When they got close enough, Hadjar finally realized why they were so numerous: they were busy devouring the ash that was falling from the clouds. Hadjar didn’t care to find out whether the Dah’Khasses had done this on purpose or not.
The monsters, pausing their feast, turned their heads in different directions and sniffed. They sensed the approach of something, but couldn’t figure out where the threat was coming from. The more monsters came close to them, the worse the shields worked. Hadjar, standing on the prow, felt their hungry eyes on him. He knew that they still couldn’t see them. They would’ve attacked if they could. However, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
The schooner moved through the swarm. Fortunately, the beasts were at a fair distance from each other, so it didn’t brush against any of them. Hadjar could imagine the bloodbath that would’ve ensued otherwise.
“Help us, gods,” Derek whined, holding a torch near the cannon’s fuse.
Everyone was in place, waiting for the signal.
The closer the schooner got to the center of the anomaly, the more powerful the monsters became. The three beasts that Hadjar had fought against looked like worms compared to the fourteen-winged monstrosities flying around the ‘Drunken Goose’ right now. They bit into the black clouds that had been hardened by the fire of lightning bolts. Each beast was stronger than a Primeval Giant.
“What would happen if... No, what will happen when we deal with the Dah’Khasses?”
Hadjar didn’t know the answer to that question. The schooner had come so close to the center of the anomaly that the powerful winds no longer battered the sail, and instead seemed like they were going to tear it right off.
The schooner began to vibrate again; rivets were starting to pop out of the stern. One of them flew out, making a hole in the side and causing the schooner to sway in the process, and struck one monster directly in the eye. Compared to it, the metal pin looked smaller than a mosquito, but when a mosquito bit your eye... Throwing back its massive head, the monster roared so loudly that the rest of its brethren stopped eating. The bigger ones lazily shifted their gazes toward the wounded one, while the smaller beasts, summoned by the roar, flew over.
“Damn it,” Hadjar swore. “Get ready! On my signal!” He shouted as he jumped off the deck.
As soon as he passed through the shield, the monsters roared and turned toward him. He feared that they might call on their smaller relatives to join the hunt.
Over five hundred hungry serpents followed Hadjar, who was dangling on the rope like bait. They whirled around each other, merging into a single stream of green scales, snarling maws, and flapping wings.
“Come on. Come on,” Hadjar whispered, watching the center of the anomaly get closer to him.
At some point, the wind resistance became so strong that Hadjar had to form the tip of a ghostly sword in front of him. Created from his willpower and imbued with the mysteries of the Weapon’s Heart, it cut through the wind, allowing the schooner to keep sailing forward, attracting the attention of the bigger monsters. Sensing the power of the Weapon’s Heart level, they rushed after Hadjar. To them, prey with such a deep understanding of the essence of the universe was even more desirable than prey with a strong core. They could get stronger in battle, but gaining knowledge was a different matter.
Tearing through the ash, the smaller serpents, which were screaming in fright, reached Hadjar in a heartbeat. Ignoring the ‘Drunken Goose’, whose shields could barely withstand their eerie aura, the nearest monster opened its mouth. The entirety of Fort Boltoy could’ve easily fit inside its toothy maw.
“That’s right!”
Acting as both the bait and the hook, Hadjar had managed to lure the monster into his trap. When the edge of the anomaly was about a hundred feet away, Hadjar swung his blade, aiming for the beast’s core. His energy responded and surged through his bright meridians filled with power, pouring simultaneously into his physical and energy bodies.
“Spring Wind!” He shouted, creating an X-shaped energy attack that was as thick and bright as the one Tom had used. He’d soon be able to perform attacks on Anise’s level. Her understanding of the Sword was still deep
er than Hadjar’s.
The attack turned and expanded, creating a four-pointed star that collided with the vortex. Lightning bolts hissed like wounded snakes, and the clouds were ripped apart like paper, revealing tons of volcanic ash in the shape of a giant mushroom. It was reminiscent of the aftermath of a gunpowder charge going off during a siege. Hadjar could see nothing through the seemingly endless darkness that surrounded them. With an effort of will, he lit the grenade’s fuse and threw it at the monster. The beast staggered in confusion, and was immediately illuminated by the flash of bright light.
“Open fire!” Hadjar cried.
The Lascanians shot at the target. The bag and the cannonball slammed into the monster’s head. As Alea’s energy cocoon collapsed, the beast exploded in a cloud of liquid flame that immediately lit up the ash and spread like a forest fire. The roars of hundreds of monsters filled the air. They screamed and struggled, trying to put out the flames, but only hurt themselves more in the process by scattering clumps of fire everywhere and spreading it further.
“What now?” The trio asked.
Flames caressed their boat’s restored shield, burning small holes in it.
“Now it’s time to ride the wave!”
Hadjar climbed back onto the deck, dispersing the ghostly sword.
Chapter 596
As soon as the sword disappeared, the wind picked up the ‘Drunken Goose’ like it weighed nothing and pulled it and everything around it into the vortex.
“Hold on,” Hadjar whispered, stroking the side of the schooner, his gaze focused on the whirlwind of ash, flames, and burning piles of feathers and flesh. “Just hold on a little longer, please.”
Dragon Heart: Land of Demons. LitRPG Wuxia Series: Book 7 Page 24
