The sound of metal on metal rang out as Hadarai met the dwarves halfway through their charge. The dwarves pressed Hadarai and Perona on board the Blue Locust 2 with pure ferocity.
Abandoning the fight, Perona's body glowed a dim pink. Her form shimmered and vanished in bursts as she blinked from vial to vial, snatching up each glass container in rapid succession. Perona quickly lobbed them away one after another, aiming to clear the deck of the Blue Lotus as quickly and as far as possible.
The vials arced upward, sailing above the dock. A split second later, flashed white as their arcane timers reached zero. They then detonated in a series of thunderous bursts. Waves of concussive heat rippled outward as blinding flashes rocked the pier, flinging everyone to the ground. Fortunately, Perona had thrown them mid-air; the blasts scorched and splintered parts of the wood but spared the dock from catastrophic damage.
Aralynn coughed and pushed herself upright as the smoke began to thin. Through the haze, she spotted the dwarves swarming Hadarai, while one had broken past and was locked in close combat with Perona once again.
It was at that moment when Celran burst from the quarterdeck's door. Amon, Grango, and Derrick were still missing along with the rest of the crew, likely still below deck.
Celran quickly assessed the situation then drew his swords, twin cutlasses flashing as he sprinted toward the dwarves pinning Hadarai.
One of the dwarves turned his attention and axe to face this new threat, but Hadarai denied his opponent the choice.
"Keep your eyes on me," he growled. A brilliant blue force emanated from his chest plate, seemingly pulling in all attention, drawing the dwarf back to him with a growl. The dwarf's eyes were bloodshot as he renewed his efforts on Hadarai, who continued to parry the blows from his opponents with his sword and shield.
The force surrounding Hadarai kept burning and flared brighter as he flourished his longsword, blade now wreathed in a brilliant blue flame. The cobalt fire snaking around the sword danced as if it were alive, and every strike that Hadarai landed drew forth a deafening bang and a flash of blue light, pushing the dwarves back. With each flash of his blade, tongues of flame leapt from the sword and lashed out at his attackers, clinging to them for several searing seconds. The fire danced along their bodies, leaving scorched flesh and angry burns in its wake.
The dwarves, however, were unfazed. They continued to attack Hadarai with absolute disregard for their lives, taking blows instead of parrying them if it gave them a chance to strike back. Yet something unnatural shielded them—blows that should have cleaved through flesh and shattered bone landed dully, leaving behind only shallow cuts and bruises where deep wounds should have been.
With numbers on their side, the dwarves steadily wore Hadarai down—carving cashes into the gaps of his unarmored limbs and denting his shield with the brutal weight of a warhammer. Aralynn could see clearly that he was in trouble, even as Celran slashed and stabbed with twin cutlasses, trying his best to take the enemies down.
The dwarves were calculating. They deliberately ignored Aralynn, knowing she wouldn't risk a ranged attack while they were locked in melee with her allies. Another pressed Perona, likely assuming—based on her robes and support spells—that she was the healer, and therefore had to be prioritized.
But to her attacker's surprise, Perona held her ground. Barely. Rather than meet each strike head-on, she relied on dodging, weaving around the dwarf's heavy blows. When dodging wasn't an option, she closed the distance and deflected the strikes by parrying the shaft of the waraxe instead of trying to stop the blade itself.
While she consistently avoided attacks, Perona was breathing heavily and clearly didn't have the stamina to sustain such a long fight. To make matters worse, as she moved she had to divide her attention. Her lips danced, constantly casting spells to heal Hadarai from afar.
She wouldn't last long, and the dwarves knew that; as soon as they took out Perona, they would quickly be able to overwhelm Hadarai without Perona being able to help him.
Noting this, Aralynn quickly slung Objection over her back and drew her Rapier, emerging from behind a crate.
[Your agility skill has been updated from your increase in level!]
[Agility Lv. 8 has been activated!]
[Your movements flow with the wind even more than before.]
[Dexterity Lv. 18 has been activated!]
[Your senses have been heightened, and you now have complete control of your body, exceeding humanoid limits.]
[Weak points of your enemies are now visible.]
[Your body responds to your every command.]
Aralynn hurled herself forwards at the axe-wielding dwarf pressing her friend.
In that moment, the dwarf was forced to choose—press his assault on Perona and leave himself open to Aralynn, or turn to confront Aralynn and leave himself vulnerable to Perona.
He chose the latter, assuming that Perona didn't have as much force as Aralynn. As Aralynn hurtled forwards like a comet, the dwarf settled into a low stance, scraping his wareaxe on the ground as he surrounded himself in a bloodred aura. As Aralynn stepped into the arc of his axe, the dwarf unleashed his skill, swinging upward with explosive force. Shards of conjured stone burst midair and concussive blasts followed in the wake of his rising strike.
It would have easily taken out Aralynn if not for two things: firstly, as soon as the dwarf turned his attention away from Perona, the half-elf dropped her dagger and unleashed Saizlef's thunder with an ear-splitting crack. The dwarf was thrown off balance by the concussive force, causing his attack to go a bit wide.
He however managed to keep his footing and wasn't tossed like a ragdoll.
Secondly, due to taking Quicksilver as a mastery, Aralynn was able to react in time and, using her wings and Dexterity's control, rolled in midair to avoid the worst of the skill. Given the swing had been knocked slightly wide by Perona, she managed to get away with only a few shards of stone denting her backplate as well as a ringing in her head.
Aralynn exploited the advantage of the dwarf being off balance and attempted to push him back with quick cuts and thrusts. However, like before with Hadarai, her attacks barely had any impact and she was quickly forced defensive as the dwarf ignored her and pressed forwards with his heavy weapon.
No part of the dwarf was highlighted in green due to the effect of Dexterity: this meant that whatever was protecting the dwarf had no weakness.
Aralynn moved to parry a blow from the heavy waraxe, but halfway through the swing the dwarf suddenly flared with the same crimson aura as before. The dwarf smirked as his strike connected with Aralynn.
The blow hit harder than anything Aralynn had ever felt. It hurled her backwards—slamming her into the deck with bone-cracking force. The impact obliterated her lungs; her chest constricted so tightly, it felt like she might never breathe again. She was half-sure that her lungs had burst. Her arm and chest muscles screamed in agony, torn beyond function, and one of her wings—once pristine and white—now lay snapped and mangled, its delicate bones twisted into a grotesque angle.
Her bones snapped like sticks, and her organs had been rocked into a state of a bloody puree.
Agony unlike any she'd ever known ripped through her body. Twisted shards of conjured stone from the dwarf's axe skill had driven deep into her flesh—some slicing through muscle, other insidious fragments pinning her body to the deck of the Blue Locust itself.
Her rapier lay far from her, shattered, now nothing more than fractured lengths of steel.
Through a haze of pain and blinding blur, she forced her eyes open just enough to glimpse her status window.
[HP: 2/36]
Oh, fuck. Her mind should have noted that the dwarf had almost killed her, but at the moment, her entire consciousness became pure pain.
Aralynn could barely hear someone yelling her name through her collapsed eardrums. Perona engaged the dwarf with another Saizlef's Thunder before attempting to heal Aralynn.
Even Aralynn could tell it was futile. Through blurry eyes, she saw that every time her health points went up, they would quickly drop again as she coughed up blood. They weren't just numbers, either—she could feel every single point being healed then being lost again in an excruciating cycle.
While not being able to think about anything in her state, Aralynn could ironically make a single detail: small bubbles of water gathered at Perona's eyes—tears. Then, dreadfully, her health dropped down once more, this time ticking down to one, singular point.
[HP: 1/36]
I guess this is it, Aralynn thought, as it ticked down one more.
[HP: 0/36]
...
Aralynn's consciousness faded and the world went black.