I was attached to the ship’s hull when I let the whispers tell me of my choices.
I could see the giant Titan being slowly but surely driven back. His Phantasmic State seemed not to be as effective as it had been until then. The Titan would probably be overwhelmed shortly, but in the meanwhile, it had managed to take down another of the airships, and being driven back was only managing to make him even angrier.
I let my gaze wander over the tree’s canopy…
If I focused, I could see the treehouse’s rough location from here, of course, not the treehouse itself.
I sighed, putting my mind back on focusing on the whispers, they were all excellent choices, if only I could take them all.
Trick Shot Passive Perk will be promoted. Agility bonus x 2. Choose one of the following Perks to be added to it:
Shadow Speed:
At night or in places dense with Shade, your bonus Agility will be double.
Shadow Steps:
At night or in places dense with Shade, your steps make no sound, even while running.
Shadow Vigour:
At night or in places dense with Shade, your natural Stamina recovery is enhanced.
These three passives were all damn good. Exceptionally good.
But I could choose only one.
Double bonus Agility, was given freely, and considering the new bonus would net me a six Agility Bonus; I could only salivate if I thought about what Promoting the Skill even further would entail.
While about the Perks… Shadow Speed would double even further my bonus Agility with Shade, but… I wasn’t certain. Did I really need it? Did I make use of my Agility with Trick Shot? Somehow I thought I didn’t.
Moving on.
Shadow Steps was impressive; it would allow me to become an assassin, or even be harder to track down while moving from place to place to shoot down my targets; however, I did not feel I wanted to take that route. I was an archer at heart; I did not need to be a melee assassin if I didn’t need to.
Shadow Vigour, on the other hand… was essential.
If I managed to not drop dead tired until now, it was most probably thanks to the Passive evolving itself. It seemed to show all the parts of the Perks that would be applied while it evolved, and I had really benefited from this last ability.
I was tired, yes, I was cold, sure, but I could go on. My Stamina was regenerating at a steady pace. Also, I did not lie; having a lot of Stamina could come in handy in more than one way.
I nodded to myself then; I would reward the ability that had helped me continue until now; I chose Shadow Vigour.
Next order of business was taking down these two poor souls without getting riddled with holes.
I closed my eyes and placed my ear on the ship’s wall’s cold metal, then I waited for a pause in the shooting; I focused on Synesthesia at that moment.
After giving me the scent of metal and the heat from the probably close to being overheated gun of the ship, I managed to visualize in mind the peculiar darkness of Shade and contours of Flow highlighting the shape of the man handling the sails.
He was running to the ship’s left port side; there was a dagger at his belt, it was all I would need.
When the man reached the cord he had to manage, I swiftly got up from the rail and threw the sword at him. I did not intend to kill him with that; no, it would be highly unlikely.
I transferred over to him the moment the sword passed him by.
I could hear the deafening sounds of a barrage of projectiles destroying the rail behind which I had thrown the sword, the very next moment, I did. But it was one moment too late.
I materialized near the men, gripping both the sword and the men’s scruff.
He was scared out of his wits; I gulped down a fit of guilt, then threw my sword off the ship, and ported with him.
The sword went lost mid-air, but I unsheathed the man’s dagger; it would be even more manageable.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, “You’re Commander has put me in a rough position.” Then I pushed him away with my feet and threw my dagger over the ship.
I was back on the ship a couple of throws later, and I decided that it was the turn of the man at the guns.
Turning my head to the side, I could see the one with the hammer taking control of the sails; he had my knife at his belt.
The ship was about to fail; there were only four men to kill and the Abyss-take-him, Commander.
I could feel the young Commander’s roars of anger when he saw me again; I had to be cautious. He could predict where I was going to appear as I threw my knife.
However, I could not expect at all what happened next.
I saw the man literally jump over from his cabin and soar in the sky toward me.
His face was distorted with hate as he pointed his Flow-submachine-gun and screamed, “You are dead!” His accent was ridiculously charming, just like his face. But he would be dead all the same.
Neither his face nor his fascinating accent would be able to save him.
He started shooting at me while he was still in mid-air. He was gracefully hovering in the air, slowly descending like a feather, a deadly feather.
I took that chance to throw my dagger all the way behind him, but when he started shooting me, one of the projectiles grazed my side.
It f****** hurt.
I appeared on the back of the ship, failing to grip the dagger because of the shot.
There were two men at my side, both operating the steering wheels. Those wheels likely commanded the ship’s direction or the many helixes at its sides, I had no idea, really.
All I knew was that I could not stop, I had the advantage on the Commander now; I had to take the two men down now, or I would be hunted down.
A quick glance told me that they had both a gun, f***. I bolted toward the one on my right; he had reacted faster, so I Tracked him.
His following movements’ prediction told me that he would be fast enough to shoot me in the sternum. He would aim at my heart, not confident enough to shoot at my head; it was better this way.
I would not evade. I placed my arm in the direction Tracking suggested to me he would shoot.
And after the bang, I was still alive, but my clock-arm, not very much so.
The forearm had practically exploded, a few shards of metal had even hurt my bare chest, but I could not stop.
What he was holding was a gun that looked exactly like the one I had at my belt, a Two-shots Flow-gun.
He could reshoot me, and this time my arm would not be enough to stop the blow, but I had reached him.
I tackled the man with the full momentum of my dash, using the Form of the Vector.
I threw him off-board, mincemeat for the scary propellers.
After I had done so, I jerked to my left, feeling the disturbance in the Shade around me just in time to feel the explosion of a gunshot at me.
Damn, those things were powerful.
I took out the gun still on my belt and threw it in the direction from which came the shot.
The other one manning the sales had an expression halfway between disgusted and scared-shitless plastered on his face, but when I appeared by his side and elbowed him in the left temple, he fainted; I Tracked and Traced him as I threw him off-board, but before doing so I took his gun for me, I could feel the Flow inside, it still had a shot ready.
At that point, I saw the now, surely desperate, Commander jump up in the sky as if he had no weight whatsoever and aggressively try to shoot me down.
I jerked to the side, Tracked him, and shot him first. I already knew he would be protecting himself from it with his weapons, we were both Tracking each other after all, and he had already demonstrated that he had probably my same evolved Perk.
My carefully aimed shot was intercepted by his robust Flow-submachine-gun, which, thankfully, sent him tumbling in the air. His Skills probably played against him.
Contrary to what the nonexistent recoil from his gun produced, he could not ignore the physical laws tied to the bolt I had just shot.
It bought me time to hide behind the cabin’s protection, then I turned to the side and ran toward the ship’s bow.
I needed something to throw, anything. As long as it was something relatively small that could be thrown fast enough to turn into what the whispers could be classified as a shot, it was enough to activate Trick Shot and the consequent transfer ability.
I only had this last gun to throw, and I had two men to kill; I needed my knife back.
It was all or nothing.
The man on the gun had stopped shooting and was on the defensive. Gun and saber in hand, he was utterly terrified. I decided to fake it.
Like the others, he was a technician, not a real threat for me.
I came out to him, pointing my gun at him, with an expression that said I would be about to kill him.
Instead of shooting me back, he threw himself to the side, just what I wanted.
I closed the space between us by throwing the pistol at him, it flew over his head, and I was behind him the next moment.
My broken clock-arm found his face the next moment.
The jarred pieces of metal, dealing him real damage, probably blinding him, anyway enough to have him scream with pain.
I took away the sword the man had dropped as he brought his hands to the face and impaled him with it.
When I let go of the now dying man and turned my eye to the last man standing, he started screaming. The very moment his gaze fell on me I could recognize that he was utterly terrified. It was as if he was staring at death itself.
I took the gun the man had dropped, leaving him to slowly die to the sword perforating his guts. I could not waste bullets, not now.
Pointing the gun at the terror-stricken man, I said, “Help me up, and I’ll spare your life.”
“W-w-what do you want?” He asked back.
It was worthy of praise that he could speak, scared as he was, and with the piss wetting his pants.
“I need this ship to do a suicide mission; you are going to kill that Titan with it.”
“What!? I don’t want to die!”
“You won’t die; I’ll get you to safety with me; you must have noticed how I can move by now, didn’t you?”
“Ye-yes…”
“Then get on with it. I’ll take care of your asshole Commander,” I said.
Before focusing on the search for the Commander, of which, somehow, I had lost track. I said one last thing to the man with the hammer.
I placed the gun in my belt, “Oh, the knife, if you would, please? It’s my dad’s heritage.”
“S-sure…” he said, handing it to me with trembling hands.
As I took it from his hands, I threw it over the cabin and transferred myself over there.
However, as I looked all around, I could not find a single trace of the damned Commander. He should have fallen by now.
I waited in search of the men. But he did not come out; I saw all around the ship, I had almost a full vision of it from up there on the cabin’s roof. There was no presence of him whatsoever.
“What are you waiting for!” I shouted then to the man with the hammer.
“I’m doing it, but it’s slow! There is no one commanding the airscrews!” He shouted back.
For Sun’s sake.
I would have to get down to help him all the same, but I just wanted to shoot the Titan with the ship’s gun before it died; now, I would have to help him do whatever there was to do with the airscrews.
I transferred near the right steering wheel.
“What do I have to do now?” I shouted at him.
“What? Oh, turn the wheel to the left, ninety degrees! Then go to the other side when I say so, and turn it ninety degrees to the right! Ok!?”
I did not answer. Instead, I did as I was told.
“Did you understand!?” He screamed back.
“I’ve done it already! Do your part!”
I could hear him curse something in his language; in mine, he was rather proficient.
“Now!” he screamed back after a few seconds.
I went to the other side of the ship and did as I was told. I could feel the change in the ship’s speed and, most importantly, direction, right away.
I hurried over to the man.
“We need to hit him to get the contribution!” I screamed over the sound of the increase in the speed of the wind rushing at our faces.
The airship was gaining speed and descending toward the Titan; we would get him in the face if we continued like this, straight in its face.
“I don’t want to die!” He screamed as he manned the sale like an obsessed man.
“You won’t; focus on-” I felt the incoming barrage of projectiles coming at me just before I could feel their explosion and the back of my thigh and side.
I threw the knife somewhere, to my right, and when I transferred over and barely gripped it in time, I could see the damn Avian Commander climb over from the rail on the starboard.
Son of a Moon walker! The f***** had gone under the ship; how the hell had he remained attached to the ship’s hull? He had nothing besides his weapon.
Damn, I realized he had a Strength Skill called Metal Hand; that was probably what allowed him to.
He shouted something at his last man, then riddled him with Flow-bullets.
“You are next!” He shouted at me, pointing his gun at my form, falling over the air.
He had just killed his men, probably for insubordination; I would have let him live. Got him off-board with me.
That f***** was colder than me, and I was blessed by Shade; it said a lot.
But would I have done the same to someone I considered a traitor? I might have.
Anyway, I was already below the deck’s level; he could not shoot at me properly. I could hear him curse as his round of projectiles was lost in the air.
The airship was heading toward the Titan; as long as the Commander did not steer it away from its course, he would be a dead man.
But I had to make sure he died.
I took the decision to get back on the ship before I started falling too much.
Then I threw my knife.
I stood on the top of the right mast, observing the Commander trying to move all the way across the ship to steer it away from the monster. But it was a four men’s job; it seemed that at least two were needed to do the trick.
When he ran all the way to the back of the ship where the steering wheels were located, I took my chance to transfer back to the bow. The airship was going slightly off course, but it was already way too close to the Titan.
I looked at the gun in front of me.
Avian Ship Repeating Flow-Cannon
Durability: 89%
Flow-Density: 503
Strengths: Massive damage potential and penetration
Weaknesses: Overheats if not used carefully
This Repeating Flow-Cannon is an Avian people’s invention. Although its power per Crystals is massive, it pales compared to the Cannons found on Avian Cruisers.
Each of these projectiles was five times stronger than one of my Blow-arrows.
However, the cannon itself was rather simple; nothing Jason wouldn’t be able to build, maybe even my Harlow.
A huge magazine shaped like a massive cabinet stood behind the shooter’s seat, where whoever sat could easily maneuver the huge gun in the front.
On the ground near the magazine was an open trap door where hundreds of Crystals encased in small projectile shaped metal containers were stashed, but I could feel the disturbance in the Shade telling me that the magazine was still loaded.
I sat on the seat, it wasn’t easy to maneuver it with only one arm, but it would have to do.
Then I finally looked at the Titan, properly looked at it, then Tracked and Traced it.
Netherlion (Titan), Level ???
Health: 27%
Stamina: 31%
Strength: Phantasmical State, Claws, Fangs, Mass, Prowl, Roar
Weakness: None
Abilities: Beacon, Cleave, Fulminating Stare, Hibernation, Maul, Phase, Taunt
This gigantic Flow creature classified as Titan if given time to could reshape a region by itself. The Netherbeasts belong to a rare type of creatures that can move through the Physical realm and the Abyss at will. However, the bigger they are the higher the energy expenditure and the lower the time they can stay in both realities before having to move away, otherwise, they will become permanent objects of that Realm.
Crystals weight: 0.500kg x 1000
Dark Crystals weight: 1kg x 100
Evercrystals weight: 10kg x 10
Eternal Dark Crystal weight: 100kg
“What in Abyss is an Eternal Dark Crystal?” I asked the winds, but I put the unanswerable question aside.
The huge gun could move only to the left, up, and to the right.
We were already at the Titan face’s altitude. I simply shifted it to the left, then pressed the big trigger. My Strength was more than enough to pull it, but it was hard, likely to prevent misuse.
It was a damn repeating Flow-cannon, and I could feel its recoil make my arm shiver; it was so powerful that each shot made me bounce up and down on the seat. Maybe I was just still too short for it. Avians were tall people.
The projectiles took the Titan’s attention by hitting it on the side of the face and actually damaging it a bunch. We were really close at this point; he might have as well received the full brunt of the power of the shells.
Yeah, we were really up close; I could see the beast’s massive frame come toward us, it was much bigger than I expected, yet I kept shooting.
Before the Commander realized what was happening and headed back to bow, I was already on top of the cabin.
I could see his terrified face at the sight of the monster; the boat was so close to his paws range that if the Titan so much as moved, he would be without salvation.
I took that chance to say what I wanted to say to him from the start.
“See what happened? You should have let me go. You went in for the pride of catching a Spectre,” I tsked, “yet you were done in by a seventeen years old boy.”
He turned toward me, screaming, “You were not protecting anyone, were you? You’ve come here to kill all my men and me! You are just a sickness, this world’s sickness, you and all the Shade-cursed like you! May the Sun have mercy on your soul!”
He turned toward the rail, then, and I realized that he might as well make it with his slow falling ability.
But… was he right? Had I done all this just for personal gain? I could have run away the moment he released me; he was right in that.
I shook my head; it could wait, my self-analysis could wait.
I threw the knife at his back the moment he jumped off-board, then appeared behind him, gripped the knife in mid-air, and with a pirouette, I stuck it in his neck, the momentum of his jump made the edge of the blade cut through his spine.
I kept looking at him as the man slowly fell toward the sky, immobile. His Skill would deactivate as he died, but he would probably die a few seconds after hitting the ground for blood loss.
I turned my attention to the Titan; it was being barraged left and right, it would fall.
It had even lost interest in this ship while trying to attack the Sand-Crawler that had gotten too close.
I stayed until the last second, looking at the ship headed directly to its face.
When the ship exploded by colliding with the Titan’s face and the consequent clawing it received, likely destabilizing all the Crystals turned projectiles, I was already transferring in the air.
I turned toward the Titan to look at the final moments of the prideful beast which had chosen to die instead of running away.
It was likely too big to go back to the Abyss just like that; maybe that was what the water lying on the bottom of the cave where the Titan rested was.
Or maybe it had just spent all of its energy. I could not know.
What I knew was that I felt two whispers reaching me almost at the same time, one before the Titan died and one when the Titan’s body, ravished by bolts, finally collapsed to the ground, on top of the Sand-Crawler.
It was almost day when I was back to Roana’s side, she was still sleeping, like a cute cat; the Titan puppy was snuggled in her arms, and she had climbed atop one of the trees at the edge of the forest, where I had left her.
It was time for me to close my eyes for a bit because after the trip back to the gorge, Stamina regeneration or not, I was practically stumbling.
The very moment I sat on the tree’s branch and anchored myself on a couple more branches, my mind turned off.
