Chapter 422: He Invited the Wrong Snake Into the Water

I shut the cargo door before Gullet’s pressure strike hit, because I liked treasure considerably more when it wasn’t spread across the bottom of a harbor.

Lukas threw the upper locking handle while I dropped behind the raised sill. Water slammed through the central well, bending the narrow walkway and smashing a loose ladder against the forward wall. The reinforced cargo door held, although the sound it made encouraged me to stop imagining how handsome I looked beside it.

[System: Big splash done, mate. Move while he’s winding up the next one, and don’t let the knife ruin your enthusiasm.]

I counted while slipping through the gap beneath the bent walkway. Gullet moved immediately, his long body driving across the flooded well much faster than a polite ten-second pause would have allowed. He struck at me with his hooked blade, and I turned around a support instead of meeting him head-on.

My packed body held together against the rough metal where my old form would have folded painfully. It still hurt, which suggested evolution remained a stingy bastard about workplace benefits.

Lukas stayed above the water, operating the well lights from the deck panel. He switched off the lamp directly behind me and lit the far wall, making my red body less obvious against the clutter while exposing the captain’s route.

"Keep that light on him. If anyone’s paying to watch this, I want them to see whose ship we’re ruining."

"I’d charge extra for the screaming, but you’re doing half of it yourself."

[System: That’s effort, mate, not screaming. He likes to warn the neighborhood when he’s having a thought.]

Gullet’s blade slapped my side and drove me into a rough edge. I rolled beneath the next swing, coughing from the hit, then jetted across to the ruined ladder with a fresh reason to hate him.

I tucked into a gap beside the ladder and let my Current Sense follow his turn. Every sturdy piece of ship I could put between us made me appreciate the builders and resent the current owner.

He chased too tightly around a support and had to reverse. I slipped through the smaller gap while Lukas shifted the light, then gave the captain a cheerful wave he answered by cutting a piece off his own railing.

The water tightened around him again after a little more than ten seconds. I recognized the gathering ring and abandoned the next insult before it became my last words.

I moved into the narrow space behind the thick center support, pulling my wings close. Gullet released toward the gap I had left, and the force ripped another strip from the walkway. The damaged crane brace above us rang loudly enough to hurt my teeth.

"You know this is your ship, right? I’m not paying a cleaning fee."

"I’ll collect it from your bones, and sell whatever scraps the cleaning crew leaves behind."

[System: Tell him to get a quote first, mate. He’s making some bloody ambitious promises about the resale value of your skeleton.]

The captain’s attack had opened a clear view of the stern loading gate. Our launch remained outside, sheltered by the orange display, with its bow clamp fixed to the low mooring ring. The gate’s upper control box sat within Lukas’s reach from the work deck.

I pointed with a tendril and called for him to lower it halfway. The heavy gate descended into the water, narrowing the opening without trapping our boat or cutting off every possible escape. It also reduced the broad route Gullet could use to charge the hold.

Lukas pressed his good hand against his ribs before reaching for another lever. I stopped calling for adjustments and checked how much I could bring within reach of his panel.

"Stay at that panel, because I can bring the bastard to you."

"Bring him somewhere that isn’t on top of me. I’ve already met him and I didn’t enjoy it."

I let Gullet see me crossing toward the protected cargo door. He followed, clearly unwilling to leave me near his chests while he had a useful opportunity to remove my head. At the last support, I changed direction and drove my packed shoulder-length into the side of his lower body.

The shove knocked him sideways long enough for his blade to hit the frame. Pain answered through my own body, but his surprised face made it feel briefly worth the trouble.

I hit the trapped weapon with my tail, bending it against the steel jamb. Gullet tore it free, but the hooked end stayed behind, leaving him with a shorter blade and a much less patient expression.

[System: That’s his hook gone. Ask the prick whether he’d like to keep fighting with the handle or save it as a memory of being better equipped.]

He swung the broken blade hard enough to make my opinion clear without speaking. I retreated toward the center rig, giving him the satisfaction of chasing me away from the hold.

Lukas switched the stern floodlamp on. Its hard white light exposed the damaged brace, the hanging crane sling, and the maintenance cable running from the upper winch to a hook beside the center support. I could finally see how those parts met without fighting in my own shadow.

Gullet saw me looking and raised the water around himself again.

Fine, we can discuss the repair bill afterward. I tucked in and moved before his gathering strike could make the discussion pointless.

The third broad strike caught the edge of my tail as I passed behind the support, bruising rather than breaking it. The rest drove into the crane’s repaired brace, tearing a visible split through the fresh weld. The crossbeam sagged several inches before its other brace caught the load.

Lukas shouted my name from above, but I was already looking at the hanging beam and the cable beside it.

The captain had pushed me away from his treasure, exactly as I wanted him to believe. Now he was floating beneath the heaviest broken thing on his own ship, and my friend had one hand on its winch.