Chapter 67: A Berserker Unleashed

Just as the ships crashed together, Wraevaus was hurling his axe, but it was dodged rather easily despite his presumably high level, and everyone knew to look for the return flight. Canmore moved swiftly to knock it with his sword, and he did meet steel with steel, but it bounced off the deck and then kept on its way back to its owner all the same.

Wonder what happens from a Reflect Force on that… but is he really going to stay out of melee any longer?

Canmore just pointed his blade at Wraevaus once, taunting, before he moved to receive the oncoming mass of melee fighters.

Galynth and the other men who’d been covered in black goop were crawling out of it, heavily burdened despite that it had gone somewhat runnier from degrading slowly. Galynth was perhaps the least affected thanks to partial blockage via his shield, but he’d had to leave it more or less stuck to the deck.

The initial surge of pirates had to contend with spears and shields up against the railing, as well as restricting nets — as such the first thing they did was try and cut through, stab with their own spears, or hook and pull. Some spots were not protected by nets or even railing, however, and these they tried to push through.

Samantha activated her Create Illusion ability and used it to help befuddle and confuse the initial charge. Add more men, make the nets appear more resistant, make other nets appear sliced as false openings, ‘shift’ the image of apparent locations so attacks actually whiffed, though they thought them quite successful…

Ensuring they did not interact with the truth in front of them. With the shaman not observing, she aimed to take advantage while she could.

Then, having chosen a logical spot for Orswyth to work from, she dropped a choice Dazzling Spectrum cone of effect from the staff, stunning and blinding a crop of warriors right before they became easy pickings for spearmen moving in to finish them off. Orswyth she protected with an activation of Mirroring Duplicates — just in case, even though she had him cloaked behind the illusion anyway.

Meanwhile, at another point, she cloaked Canmore’s deadly approach entirely. He came up and began cleaving through enemy weapons and soldiers themselves with pathetic ease before they even noticed anything amiss. Naugites dropped, sometimes in multiple pieces, and he only got stronger from the weapon fueling him.

The ‘first wave’ of the enemy was a bunch of dead bodies flopping onto the Strip’s deck. They’d been fed into a grinder, and they didn’t inflict so much as one casualty.

Wraevaus was bewildered, able to see the discrepancies. “What the bloody hell is happening here?! Wife! Get your blueberry ass out here!” As he yelled, he pulled out a potion bottle with green liquid and smashed it against his armored chest… not so much as a drop spilled, all of the liquid flowing over his body and absorbing.

Telekek floated out, looking annoyed yet no longer in pain, and glowing with some sort of sparkling aura. “How many times do I have to tell you no-”

When her eyes passed over the disaster of the progressively failing boarding action, her eyes widened in shock and alarm. Immediately she flung the golden pentagram at her husband and spoke some command, which made it flash with light and then seem to beam itself onto the forehead of his skull helm, like a glowing rune. A golden aura enveloped him.

Sammy blasted another Dazzling Spectrum to keep one front in check, simultaneously with Telekek and Bast both beginning a spell. Bast’s Forcebolt hit her and the aura around her flashed, completely fizzling the effect.

The shamanistic spell resolved, and Sammy dreaded it from the beginning to the mass results of its end, because she knew what it was, and the radius — wrapping around almost the entire boarding force — made her almost want to cry. Infravision. Their eyes glowed bright red, and they began to see things as they were.

Fuck my life! When can I fool this sense?! It has to be a fucking enhancement eventually! It’s so unfair! Never mind that she’d stalled an advance and probably caused at least a dozen extra casualties through the confusion by then.

Knowing focusing on images to be pointless, she switched to directional illusions of sound as distractions and annoyance. She dropped a ‘most annoying sound in the world’ on a few, which resulted in a faux-stun enough to get a pirate stabbed nicely.

Thank you, Dumb and Dumber.

Seeing the death-dealing capability of Canmore, the men shied away from him and fought defensively, to mixed success…

Wraevaus suddenly leapt like a superhero over the distance, dropping down right in front of Orswyth, ignoring all illusions, and quickly getting through his meager guard to deal a blow that should’ve been a lopped-off leg — instead it was blocked and negated by the buff on him.

“Orswyth, the mirror in his face!” She couldn’t count on him parrying with it for Reflect Force… if he missed — and he would, most likely — he’d be dead.

Before the next swing with an axe could come at him, Orswyth revealed the mirror construct at the end of the staff, and Sammy tried to Maze the pirate captain — she knew it had no chance, but any attempt still caused a nearly automatic distraction the first time, if unfortunately not a full stun.

“Gah- wha-?” Wraevaus indeed missed a step from the flash of supernatural spook eyes, enough for Orswyth to retreat somewhat.

Men soon rushed in with battle cries to defend their lord, healer, and elder. Wraevaus wounded two of them gravely with axe swings within a few seconds of fighting.

“Hurry Canmore!” she sent.

“Why don’t you face me, you cowardly fuck!” Canmore taunted as he disengaged from his relative slaughter of pirates, his body coated in the dark aura of the sword.

“If I don’t go for casters first, she gripes,” Wraevaus replied, and not loudly. “The quicker they die, the quicker we can get on with it, lad.”

As if on cue, Telekek — while already casting something — called out, “You better kill that healer and mage first, you great oaf!”

“See?” Then he called back sarcastically, “I’m forever in debt to your priceless advice!”

Samantha tried hitting him with a dazzling cone, but he shrugged it off like it was nothing.

Telekek’s spell resolved, in which a silver chain fired out, expanded… then ensnared Canmore from behind, wrapping him up shoulders to feet, dropping him to the deck with a cry, sword pinned against him.

No-no-no-no! It was supposed to be a champion bout!

Multiple men had still interjected themselves between Wraevaus and Orswyth. Hagrin, the non-believing captain of Orswyth’s guard. Tashome, showing up out of nowhere. The captain himself, quaffing a potion and smashing it to the deck. He was covered in magic armor enshrouding him, and he wielded a saber and parrying dagger.

“Let’s go, ye’ slime-suckin’, puke-chuggin’, shit-faced son of a mutant seal!” The captain, of course.

“Let's!” Wraevaus growled back. “Ya wart-arsed, slug-huggin’, piss-rollin’ lover of hairy goat sacks!”

“Slug-huggin’ didn’t land for me,” Tashome said, “but, uh, let’s dance, you knob-faced, ninnyhammered-”

“Can we just get on with it!” Hagrin interrupted in annoyance.

Galynth suddenly dashed up… having retrieved the fallen Elias’s mirrored shield. “I’m here!”

Yes-yes-yes!

In the meantime, the pirates made some headway pushing onto the ship, though it was at great cost, and the defenders kept the whole matter well even. Archers, well-preserved by the Strip, had finished off all of the enemy snipers and continued to pick off the boarding pirates where they had an angle.

Telekek had done something to Bast’s protection circle, causing it to fill with black streaks and begin to dissipate. He was grimacing at the shaman and the rest besides, his brain working for what to do…

“Galynth, block his axe with the mirror shield.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

In a sudden flash, the combatants all converged — Wraevaus pivoted to his left, making quick work of a marine and then gunning for Galynth, who was moving in somewhat recklessly.

Sure, take out the easy meat on your flank first…

Wraevaus went right at the shield with the double axe he’d thrown at one before. “Sorry, lad,” he muttered as he swung the axe blade into it.

Samantha was all too ready with Reflect Force.

Again, there was a screeching sound, like metal whining on crystal that refused to shatter; a ringing echo. The bone armor at Wraevaus’s chest split and burst in one huge gash as he was knocked back stumbling… reeling… then falling to a knee, bleeding down his chest.

The men moved in to finish him…

With a roar he surged back up onto his feet, the sound a deafening blast that pushed the men back. Axe in either hand held upward, he cried at the heavens in pain and a strange kind of exultation, energy crackling around him.

Fucking hell. This is a real berserker.

Soon he was jumping back into the fray at a frightening speed, fighting everyone at once — he hooked Galynth’s shield and tore it backward to front, throwing the boy off-balance and almost finishing him with another swing, but Tashome engaged and fended him off. The top part of the dagger-buckler got hacked apart.

Then another barrage came at Hagrin, who took a gash on an arm and had his shield split…

When Telekek was casting another long spell, Bast fired a Forcebolt at her, which she seemed to disregard. But instead of aiming at her, he hit the platform under her. It immediately was blown backward and spun like a top to slam and rebound against the far railing. Screaming, the shaman was pitched down simultaneously onto her face to the deck, and hard. Her spell was ruined.

Bast threw up a triumphant hand and a cry, even as he stepped away from his ruined circle.

Wraevaus froze as he caught her fall. But as soon as she was cursing and moaning to try and get up, he laughed. “Serves you right, you old hag!”

Her curses did not neglect her husband at that point.

The blurring axes of Wraevaus almost de-limbed the captain, but his armor flashed with energy and saved him as he bought himself a retreat, his armor dimming slightly.

The others tried to flank and surround the pirate captain but found that each advance was rebuffed or dodged like he was in an intricate dance, and each time, he pressed a counterattack.

Sammy tried a few sound illusions on him, like movement behind him, sudden pops right as his ear… he didn’t go for them. It seemed to do little more than piss him off. His focus was seemingly insurmountable.

His axes easily bested the out-matched Galynth — one blow might’ve chopped him in half without the saving grace of a buff, but then the next axe came and chopped up over a shield, through it, and then into the youth’s helmet with a terrible, audible denting.

Samantha’s heart leapt into her chest as Galynth went down like a sack of potatoes… but he was alive. Unconscious — concussed — but alive.

Once more the remaining pressed in furiously to gain something for the damage — and they did. Tashome scored a cut across the arm, and Hagrin got in a shallow, rolled-with stab.

The counterattack was savage — with a snarl Wraevaus nearly beheaded Tashome, instead just slicing a cut in an armored mask, causing a little piece under the lip to fall off and expose cut skin. Tashome was swaying backward in a retreat. The other axe hooked the thrust sword of Hagrin and pulled him almost to the ground — but the sword was disarmed.

“Wait! I think I have it, Samantha!” Bast sent. “The chain! My spell… I have enough… it can target objects… has a bonus against metals…”

Sammy glanced at Canmore, rolling around uselessly and grimacing under the chains. “Are you sure? It’s magical- fuck it! It’s worth a shot.”

The pirate captain pressed without mercy, separated from the guard of the retreated Tashome — Hagrin defended and also attempted retreat, desperately displaying what was left of his shield. The Strip’s captain moved in hard, but it was too committed, as Wraevaus easily dodged his thrust then hooked his leg in a sweeping trip, sending him to the deck.

Hagrin was alone for a spell, even as Tashome charged to help… the axes were like lightning, spinning in strike after strike, and one buried finally, square through the shield into an arm. Hagrin grimaced, pulling a dagger to try for a last-ditch thrust, but the other axe came down in another head strike, this time splitting right into the skull.

The military captain Hagrin crumpled downward to sit at his death.

Orswyth, who had gone to Galynth while the fight went on — who was doing his duty to heal — let out a cry of pure misery and grief to watch his old friend perish. Squeezing his eyes shut, his hand reached down to the head of his charge and he cast his spell, swallowing the pain.

Samantha’s jaw clenched as she glared murder at the pirate captain. “We’ll avenge their deaths, my hierophant. I swear it.”

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