Limitless Seas, Chapter 13.

Chapter 13.

Larson readied his spear and verified that his mana was full as the crew rushed toward the open crates, frantically grabbing the weapons inside. Looking around for his shield, Larson cursed himself for leaving it aboard ship. It wasn’t useful underwater, and he was beginning to regret choosing the shield bash ability. Now, when he could put it go good use, it was safely stashed away in his cabin. There was nothing he could do about it now, though, the Makon were approaching and he needed to buy his crew some time to arm themselves.

Shada had been a bit more prepared, she still held the shortsword that she had taken during their initial fight, and her own shield was at the ready. Larson moved toward the approaching horde of Makon, trying to draw their attention in his direction. The ballista fired again, the usual time-consuming process of winding the windlass to pull back the cable was cut down to nothing as the powerful ogre just pulled it back with his hand. Bartholomew’s second shot was off the mark, the bolt showering the approaching Makon with sand, but doing nothing to slow them down.

Larson reached the fastest of the bunch, imbuing his weapon with slashing damage as the thrust toward the center mass of the makon. The blow hit home, his target was in a frenzy and hadn’t even tried to dodge. Magic released from his weapon as the twin prongs dug deep into the makon’s chest. From where the blow struck, the monstrous humanoid’s chest was flayed open, stopping it in its tracks as blood spurted from the wound.

The wounded makon tried to staunch the flow of blood as Larson stepped back and imbued his weapon again, ready for the next attacker. To his astonishment, the next pair of makon ignored him and pounced on their wounded comrade, tearing great mouthfuls of flesh from the creature. On his right, Shada squared off against another attacker, holding it at bay with her shield while expertly thrusting her short sword into its bulk whenever there was an opening.

To his left, Nogreb, armed with one of the new cutlass’ in one hand and a dagger in the other, led the pair of crew that had been on watch. They mixed in with the makon, trading blows. Nogreb was a monster, his blades a blur as he fought off the attackers. Larson’s other crewmembers left something to be desired in their skill. One fell almost immediately, his head bitten completely off by a makon, while the other backpedaled and tried to keep the makon attacking him away with the longer reach of his spear.

One of the frenzied pair in front of him decided that Larson looked a bit tastier than his dying comrade and charged. The makon were a bit clumsy on the sand, they were definitely more suited to fighting in the depths. Larson, on the other hand, was perfectly comfortable here, his lower body was completely stable on the sand. For a second time, his spear found its mark, opening another catastrophic wound in his target. Larson stepped aside, leaving the grievously wounded makon to be finished off by one of his crew that was just now joining the fight.

The makon feasting on his dead kin must have sensed Larson approaching growing and slashing at him as he closed in. Using the last of his mana, Larson filled his spear with water magic, giving it bludgeoning damage. The wild slashes of the makon were met with the spear tip, the power held within shattered one of the claw tipped hands. With his mana depleted, Larson had to do things the old-fashioned way. With his longer reach, he had the advantage over the wounded makon, landing strikes where he could and slithering away from the monster’s clumsy counter attacks.

“Form a line, hold the beasts back,” Larson shouted. He tried to lead his attacker over toward where Shada battled another makon. His people were too spread out and one on one fights favored the more physically powerful makon. They made a half-hearted effort to gather, those already engaged were too distracted, but the last three crew joining the fight fell in with Larson and Shada. Nogreb had been pushed farther away in the swirl of battle, the orc joining Tarley and Gilroy to battle a pair of attackers over by the steaming pot of stew.

Shada’s sword lashed out from behind her shield, the blade skewering the makon in front of Larson, taking it out of the fight. Looking for his next opponent, Larson barely had time to drop to the sand to dodge an object he caught out of the corner of his eye. Encased in a huge bubble of water, a shark shot over him as it headed toward Bug Bartholomew. At the shoreline, Larson noticed a strangely dressed makon gesticulating and pointing toward the ogre. Most of the other makon wore tattered rags adorned with shells, teeth, or other trophies. This makon was in an honest to goodness robe, Larson was trying figure out how the makon swam in the restrictive garb when it raised the staff it was carrying. Larson pushed himself upright as another shark encased in a bubble of water was lifted from the sea.

“Ouch, that hurtses, get him brudder!” Bartholomew shouted, the ogres voice booming out over the battlefield. The shark hit the ogre just below Bartholomew’s head, its teething tearing away at the flesh of his chest, having just barely missed the vulnerable neck. One of the ogre’s hands reached into the bubble of water and grasped the shark by the tail. The bubble of water collapsed, drenching the sand as the huge arm, which Larson figured was being driven by Bug, began bashing the shark against the sand, pulverizing it.

Turning his attention back toward the shore, Larson watched the makon in the robes give him a tooth filled grin before pointing the staff in his direction. The shark in a bubble flew toward him, the creature tracking his movements as Larson frantically tried to dodge the tooth filled mouth of the shark. Just before it reached him, the ground trembled as the ogre surged forward. Bug Bartholomew swung the dead shark in its grasp, the huge fish shattering the bubble around the one hurtling toward Larson, giving a meaty slap as the two fish connected. As the bubble popped, Larson was drenched and the shark that had been inside was knocked away, landing in the sand and gasping, unable to breathe.

“Thanks, big guy,” Larson said, but the ogre ignored him, charging toward the makon with the staff who was even now trying frantically to cast some new spell. He didn’t give the makon mage much of a chance against Bug Bartholomew, so Larson turned his attention back to the fight around him. Dead makon and crew were strewn about the beach. There were only a few attackers left, and most of those were gorging on the bodies. A single makon assaulted Nogreb, who cut down his opponent with help from Tarley’s cutlass. Gilroy stood there in shock, holding a large wooden ladle in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other. The man wasn’t actively fighting, but at least he had armed himself.

Sand and gore flew and the ground shook as Bug Bartholomew knocked over the makon mage with the shark that was still in his hand, and then proceeded to stop the life out of the spell caster. The few makon left alive realized they had lost and began to flee toward the safety of the sea, each dragging a corpse with them. Larson thought about pursuing, but seeing the sorry state of his remaining crew, held back from following the few makon survivors.

“Shada, check for wounded. Tarley and Nogreb, get a headcount and the crew start policing up this area,” Larson ordered. He knew they had taken horrible losses, and not including his officers, he could only see six of his crew still on their feet. Keeping the crew busy was important after a fight and would help them overcome the trauma of the violent attack. As for himself, Larson began to worry about whether he had enough crew to make it back home, even with Bug Bartholomew helping.

“You there, halt!” A sailor called out. Larson watched one of the prisoners stagger out of the surf in a daze, blindly walking toward the fire.

“What are you doing out of your chains,” Larson growled as he slithered up to the pirate. Picking up the man, Larson slammed him to the ground, causing the breath to whoosh out of pirate.

“Nogreb, you and Shada take a pair of crew and check out the ship,” Larson said as he gave the pirate a shake.

“You, what happened,” he demanded from the prisoner.

“The makon, the came aboard and took everyone,” the pirate whimpered.

“Tarley, take charge of the prisoner,” Larson said as he rushed back to his ship. He overtook the others as they climbed the rope ladders up to the main deck. It was slow going for him up the ladder, as usual, but with Nogreb pushing from behind, he made it onto the deck.

The upper deck was clear and the hatch leading to the lower decks had been broken open. A few simple lamps lent a dim glow to the rowing compartment that had been his first taste of this new life. Chains, that once held his prisoners, were broken open and there was no sign of the two guards that had been posted here. A quick check of the lowest deck, still half flooded with water, didn’t turn up anything. With nothing to be found aboard, Larson went back to his prisoner, who Tarley had tied securely near the fire. The rest of the crew, with Bug Bartholomew’s help were gathering the dead and sorting any weapons and gear that were found.

“Now, quit your whimpering and tell me exactly what happened,” Larson ordered the prisoner. The man just looked around with his mouth hanging open, unable or unwilling to speak further.

“My new friend might still have a bit of an appetite, I suggest you prove your worth to me, or I might reward him with a snack,” Larson threatened. The prisoners had likely heard about the ogre from the guards, but this would have been his first chance to see the two headed giant in the flesh.

“I, uhh, they came onboard like I said,” the mand started, his head turning rapidly back and forth from Larson to Bug Bartholomew. “They overpowered the guards and started breaking our chains. Our officer, Kalas’re, ordered us to scatter once the chains were off, I ran toward the lower deck, trying to find a place to hide. When I looked back, I could see a strange makon in a robe casting some spells on our people. They dragged them out one by one and scoured the ship for those of us hiding, I was the last and they would have found me if one of them hadn’t shouted a warning, causing them all to jump into the bay, dragging our people with them,” the pirate told him.

“Did they kill my men?” Larson asked.

“No, they almost did, one took a bite out of a guard before the makon in robes ordered him to keep everyone alive. When I heard them leave, I headed onto the deck and could see the strangest thing. My mates, and the guards had bubbles of air around their heads and were being pushed through the water with some kind of magic,” the pirate said.

His men had been taken alive and Larson thought about what he needed to do. The smart thing would be to write off the losses and proceed with repairs. He was shorthanded and the task would be difficult, but they should be able to keep the Gull Dropping on course toward port. But no, he couldn’t leave men under his command as prisoners. He knew that most people saw him as a harsh leader, a trait he believed was carried over from his old life, but he was as loyal to his crew as he demanded they be to him. Larson was duty bound to try to free his men, that was the person he was. If following his duty meant an an early end to this life, so be it. Better to live a short life doing what you believed in, than grow to be an old man with no moral compass.

“I’m going after the makon to get our crew and the prisoners back,” Larson said.

“Sir, you can’t go after them by yourself, it’s suicide,” Shada warned.

“I can’t just shrug my shoulders and move on while some of my crew are being held. It might just be a fool’s errand and I may not even find them, but I have to try,” Larson replied.

“You’re not allowed to die just yet, captain, you still owe me for the death of Maggot,” Nogreb reminded him. Larson still wasn’t sure what to make of that. While he hadn’t exactly been a friend, Nogreb had followed orders and was a shaping up to be a great officer. He had figured the orc was done with the whole revenge on Maggot business, but there was still something there, still some grudge the orc held onto. He would have to have a long conversation with the orc at some point, but sadly, they had been going from one crisis to another and it hadn’t given him much time to get to know his crew that well.

“Don’t throw your life away. Track them down if you can and if you must, but if the odds are too great, head back,” Tarley said.

“I don’t plan on throwing anything away; I plan on rescuing our crew if they’re still alive. If the makon have killed our people, I’m not going to make a suicidal charge for revenge,” Larson assured his officers.

“You’re the captain, we all agreed, so you do what you must. Come morning I’ll have the crew start on repairs; I hope you’re back before then. I don’t think we can make the crew wait indefinitely. If you’re not back by the time the repairs are complete, and we’ve gathered all the supplies we can…” Tarley left the rest unsaid. Larson didn’t expect them to wait forever and it would take several days to finish up everything the Gull Dropping needed. If he wasn’t back by then, he wasn’t likely coming back ever.

“If I’m not back by then, I expect you to elect a new captain and set sail back to port,” Larson replied. The others nodded in agreement.

Before he set out, Larson stopped by his cabin to retrieve his shield. With some rope he was able to devise a sling to hold in on his back where it wouldn’t cause too much drag in the water. In a worst-case scenario, he could cut it loose to gain a bit more speed, but he really wanted to have it with him if it came to fight somewhere on land. A flashing light in the corner of his vision caught his attention. How long it had been signaling him, Larson couldn’t say, he had been too distracted by the battle and its aftermath to notice. He activated his interface to find a most welcome message.

Congratulations you have reached Level 2.

He had almost forgotten this aspect of his life, remembering now that fighting and overcoming challenges led to him gaining experience. While his race made it take longer to gain experience, all that he had been through since the storm seemed to be enough to push him over the edge to the second level. New options populated in his vision.

Your naga heritage manifests itself in a new ability. Choose one of the following racial paths.

1. Viper. The viper naga variant is agile and deadly. Choosing this path will increase your speed, allow you an uncanny ability to dodge attacks, and you will receive a significant increase in ranged attack accuracy and damage. The viper path will improve your natural affinity with magic, improving your spells and unlocking new magic schools. As you level up, the viper path will increase the power of your venom and unlock other, deadly, abilities.

2. Constrictor. The constrictor variant epitomizes strength and stamina. Choosing this path will increase your strength, harden your scales, and allow your lower body to become an even deadlier weapon than before. This path will unlock new weapon options and your existing weapons skills will improve. As you level up, the constrictor path will unlock modifications to your physique, making you stronger and more durable.

It had been his venom that had initially allowed him to escape captivity, but Larson had also been in the thick of combat since his rebirth into this world. While he could see himself needing to lead from the rear ranks in a fight, he preferred to be stuck into battle, taking an active role in defeating his foes. Constrictor was who he was, it fit him and his fighting style. As he confirmed his choice, Larson could feel a tingle over his body as new muscle tissue grew and his scales hardened.

Your mana pool has increased.

Your shield bash ability has improved, and you now have a greater chance to stun your target.

Ship’s Captain class ability unlocked: Command Presence. Any of your crew that is on your ship or within sight of you receive a small morale bonus.

Your Create Water ability has improved. You can now create up to two gallons of either fresh or salt water per day.

They were all small but satisfying improvements to his abilities. He looked forward to the next level and seeing what it might bring. Leveling up was dependent on him remaining alive, which was beginning to look like a difficult prospect for him.