Novel Full Chapter 402 The Decisive Battle [Part 2]
As several volleys of cannonballs rained on the ship non-stop, the Rankers of Twilight Rain, as well as some of the Initiates onboard, deflected them with everything they had.
The boat was no longer moving, and its storage compartment was being flooded with seawater at a very fast rate, making them unable to go anywhere.
Harrus, who was on the deck of the Merchant Ship, had bloodshot eyes as he punched one of the cannonballs that flew in his direction, sending it back to the battleship in the distance.
However, before the cannonball could hit the ship, an arrow pierced it, destroying it mid-air.
The Sniper, who belonged to the Adventurer’s Guild, fired another arrow at the Dwarf with reddish-brown hair, forcing the latter to evade it.
A cannon ball shot by a cannon was different from an arrow shot by a Ranker. Even if the Brawler was confident in his skills, he didn’t dare try to meet the attack head-on.
‘I guess there’s no other way,’ Harrus gritted his teeth. ‘We must use the Princess as leverage in order to escape this predicament.’
Harrus knew that they were already out of options. They had been backed into a dead-end, and the only way to escape it was to capture one of the ships belonging to their enemy, or force them to negotiate using the Princess as a hostage.
The Brawler wanted to use the first option, but the enemy ships were attacking them from a safe distance. Although he could jump to where they were, the Rankers stationed on both ships would not watch idly as they tried to capture it.
As Harrus was thinking about how they would use the Princess as a hostage to reverse their current circumstances, a green-haired Dwarf flew past their ship and suddenly unleashed a barrage of Wind Blades on the side of the ship, making the Brawler gasp in shock.
The part of the hull that the Wind Blades destroyed was the room where Princess was being kept, making the faces of the three Rankers on the deck turn pale in fright.
“Oi! Aren’t you afraid that you will accidentally kill the Princess?!” Harris shouted as he immediately tried to go to the cabin of the ship where the Princess was being held.
However, before he could do that, he saw a water dragon spell that was about to smash the deck of the Merchant Ship, forcing him and the two Rankers with him to block the attack, otherwise, their merchant ship would be split apart.
‘Dammit, why are these people attacking so crazily?!’ Harrus cursed internally. ‘Aren’t they afraid of accidentally killing our hostage? Just where is their confidence coming from? Don’t tell me they plan to kill everyone in the ship including the Princess, so that there won’t be any witnesses?!’
Harrus thought that this idea was too crazy, so he forced himself to focus on the task at hand, instead of being distracted by some random thoughts.
The smoke that covered the Merchant Ship grew in intensity as more cannonballs found their marks, inching the battered merchant ship closer and closer to complete destruction.
Suddenly, the green-haired Dwarf, who had unleashed a barrage of Wind Blades, made a nose dive towards the ship, entering the gap she had created.
As soon as Millie entered the ship, she came face to face with Carol, who wielded a dark whip in her right hand. The Dark Magician then lashed her whip at the green-haired Dwarf, making her weapon attack her target like a living snake about to sink its fangs into its prey.
However, Millie was no push over. She was a bonafide Ranker and had experienced many hardships before she reached her rank. As soon as the dark whip approached her, she summoned a sword made of wind, and deflected it to the side before unleashing a gust of air, pushing everyone inside the room backwards.
She had already seen the Princess in the corner of her vision.
Scarlet, who was closest to the Princess, grabbed Princess Anastasia and pushed her to the corner of the room, shielding her from the attack.
Carol approved of the Slayer Candidate’s action because as long as the Princess was safe, she could focus on exterminating the pesky Ranker, who dared to get in the way of their plans.
Millie was so tempted to grab the Princess and escape, but she knew that the Ranker she was facing wouldn’t just stand idly and let that happen.
Since Lux had already told her that the scarlet-haired girl was on their side, she endured her impulse and attacked the Dark Magician, destroying portions of the room in the process.
Seeing that an opportunity appeared, Scarlet grabbed Princess Anastasia and made a run towards the door.
The other Initiates followed her because they knew that they would just get in the way of their superior.
There was no place for them in a battle between Rankers. If they chose to stay, the chances of them dying by accident was very high, so they didn’t think twice and followed Scarlet without looking back.
As soon as the Initiates entered the hallway, they found themselves face to face with several skeletons, who were wielding weapons in their hands.
Scarlet used her dagger and slashed at those who blocked her way, splitting the Skeletons apart with a single strike. Instead of going to the deck, where the other Rankers were fighting, the Slayer Candidate ran towards the very back of the ship, where it was “safe”.
What she was doing was simply distancing herself from the deck of the ship, in order to prevent her superiors from being able to use the Princess as a hostage.
As she was running down the hallway, she ran past three Skeletons that were quite different from the others.
Diablo, Ishtar, and Asmodeus had boarded the ship, serving as Scarlet’s backup, and effectively separated her from the rest of the Initiates, who were following behind her.
“Morpheus, come!” Asmodeus ordered and the Death Tyrant materialized in front of him.
Without being given an order, Morpheus immediately began shooting colorful rays at the Initiates, forcing them to dodge to the side.
“I-Isn’t that a Death Tyrant?!” the lady who didn’t like Scarlet gasped in shock. “What is it doing inside the ship?!”
The other Initiates were also surprised at first, but after seeing Skeletons appear inside the ship, they assumed that they were summoned by the Death Tyrant, which was known to be a very powerful Undead Creature.
“Fortunately, Scarlet was able to run past them,” the young man who had a crush on the Slayer Candidate said. “But, we must support her at once, or else she might get surrounded.”
The lady who didn’t like Scarlet suddenly thought of a good idea. This was a perfect opportunity to rid them of a rival, so she immediately glanced at her comrades, who shared the same opinion as her.
“Let’s not do that,” the lady Dwarf said. “Can’t you see what is blocking our way? That’s a Deathknight and a Death Tyrant. As for those other Skeletons beside them, I don’t know what they are, but they don’t look like some random mob we can kill easily.”
The young man frowned, but he had no choice but to agree with his comrades’ assessment. Although he wanted to help Scarlet, the Skeletons in front of him were giving him a bad feeling, making him hesitate.
Scarlet, who had gotten rid of her comrades, didn’t let her guard down and continued to run. She could already see the blue slime in front of her, which was her goal.
It wouldn’t even take her ten seconds to cross the distance between them and finish the mission that was assigned to her.
However, before she could even deliver her baggage, the floorboards in front of her exploded, and Harrus appeared in front of her with bloodshot eyes.
“Hahaha! Scarlet, you did well!” Harrus laughed as soon as he saw the Slayer Candidate carrying the Princess.
The Brawler had intended to enter the cabin earlier to retrieve the Princess, but the Water Elemntalist and the Sniper prevented him from doing so.
Because of this, he smashed the deck of the ship with a punch and entered through that gap. To his surprise, he found dozens of Undead in the Storage Area, which was now flooded with seawater.
Since he was in a hurry, he ignored them and just ran in the direction where he thought the cabin was.
To his surprise, he immediately saw Scarlet carrying the Princess as soon as he entered the hallway, making him laugh out loud. Now that the Princess was in his hands, he would be able to use her as a hostage to prevent their enemies from annihilating all of them.
Scarlet smiled as she handed the Princess to the Brawler’s hands. She couldn’t afford to blow her cover, and she could only blame the Princess for being unlucky.
Eiko’s Doppelganger hid itself in the corner of the hallway as soon as Harrus broke through the floor.
It knew what the Ranker had done to the other clone, so it didn’t plan to take any reckless actions that might get itself killed before it could finish its mission.
Just as the Ranker was about to grab hold of Princess Anastasia, a hand that looked like it was made out of exquisite jade broke through the floor underneath Harrus’ feet, and dragged him down, making Harrus roar in anger because there was someone, or something, that was always getting in the way of his plans.