From a distance, it looked like a simple wooden ship, but now that we were closer, it gave off an ominous vibe. The upper half was almost certainly wooden, but the lower half seemed to be embedded with massive bones of some sort.
Ariane looked stoic as she peered at the docked vessel. “It really doesn’t seem like anyone’s around.”
We climbed the plank and boarded the ship. On deck, we found a pair of double doors, which I assumed led down into the hold. At the deck’s highest point, I spotted a darkened metal lantern. There were six cannons as well, which struck me as a small number for a ship this size. Then I realized how interesting it was that cannons were even used in this world.
Ariane’s shocked tone interrupted my thoughts. “Are these mana cannons? What are they doing here?”
“What are mana cannons?” Chiyome looked at Ariane inquisitively.
“They’re a type of magical weapon capable of shooting large metal balls using the power of mana. Only the elves in the Great Canada Forest, and the Great Fobnach Kingdom down in the southern continent, should have access to them. I’ve never heard of humans having them.”
Ariane looked intently at the barrel of one cannon. Now that she mentioned it, I didn’t recall seeing cannons or similar weapons on the ships docked in Lamburt, back in the Rhoden Kingdom.
“So, this ship’s owner must be an elf, right?”
Ariane crossed her arms. “This definitely isn’t an elven ship.”
“Well, in that case, who does it…”
“Kyii! Kyiiii!” Ponta cried in alarm.
Chiyome’s cat-like ears twitched. “Someone’s coming!”
The double doors on the deck opened wide, and a horde of armed skeletons, looking not unlike me without my armor, poured out.
“Whoa! More skeleton knights?!”
The skeletons said nothing as they moved. The only sounds were their clattering footsteps on the deck, and the scrape of their swords and pickaxes.
“These are just undead. If they were like you, the whole country would be done for!” After Ariane got her little jab in, she drew her flame-covered sword and engaged the attackers. They didn’t seem all that skilled at fighting.
Chiyome deftly dodged the attacks, spinning and using centrifugal force to knock several skeletons off their feet.
I drew the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg from its sheath and swung the glowing azure blade through the already-dead attackers, cleaving bones as if they were twigs. For every skeleton I cut down, however, two more burst from the ship’s hold.
“The whole ship’s infested with the undead!” Chiyome shouted. “It’d probably be easier just to light the whole thing on fire!”
“You’re right,” Ariane said. “We can use magic to set it ablaze, and sink it once we’re…” She cut herself off mid-
sentence.
A massive figure had appeared from inside the ship, knocking skeletons out of its way.
“Roooooooooooooaaaaaar!”
Unlike the other undead swarming us, this monster was covered in blotchy skin, and looked a lot more human. It was quite a bit taller than me, standing around three meters. It wore armor on its massive upper bodies; it had two, connected at the waist, a human-like head atop each half. Its faces—if you could even call them that—glowered at us through five bloodshot eyeballs, and wore sinister smiles filled with rows of sharp fangs. The two bodies were identical, giving the creature a total of four arms, and it carried two swords and two shields. Its bottom half was spider-like, with eight large, black legs.
The human-spider hybrid skittered toward us as we continued to fend off the skeletons.
“What is that?! It’s got the stench of death… Does that mean it’s undead, too?” Judging by the tone of Ariane’s voice, she’d never seen anything like this before.
I glanced at Chiyome, but her reaction was the same. I couldn’t recall ever seeing this creature in the game.
Its eyes focused on me as it opened its mouth to speak. “Kill…intruders! Kill…witnesses! Kill them all!”
“Did it just talk?”
“Apparently, it’s on an entirely different level than those simple skeletons!”
The man-spider flexed its legs and leaped toward us. Ariane and Chiyome dove to avoid it.
I pulled the shield off my back and blocked the monster’s massive swords; my shield reverberated from the strength of its blow. I returned the attack with my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg, hoping to chop off one of the man-spider’s torsos. However, it caught my strike with its shield. A sharp clang reverberated off the cave walls as metal struck metal.
“He blocked it?!” So far, I’d been able to take down most enemies with a single strike, so this was a bit of a surprise. However, I took advantage of the momentary lull to put distance between me and the monster.
“Stones of fire, heed my call! Slay my enemy!”
Ariane launched into a spirit magic-powered fire strike. However, the man-spider blocked that as well, causing the fire to dissipate in a cloud of mist.
“He has a mythril shield?!” Disbelief was plain on Ariane’s face.
Thanks to mythril’s magical properties, it was an incredibly valuable metal in this world. Setting aside the fact that this monster could speak, it seemed to be of low intellect, which suggested that someone must have given it the mythril shield along with the weapons and armor.
Here, as well as in the game, the low-intellect monsters I was familiar with were generally armed either with weapons they scavenged from humans, or simple ones they made from wood or stone. Weapons that required more sophistication, like those made of steel, were practically unheard of.
It seemed pretty clear that someone behind the scenes was pulling the strings.
Taking advantage of our distraction, the monster thrust one of its long spider legs toward Ariane in a swift, powerful strike. She dove out of the way. The leg tore through several skeletons and into the ship’s wooden deck, opening a large hole.
“Fire!”
I shot off a low-level magic attack as the man-spider stubbornly prepared to launch another assault on Ariane. Flames slammed into the ship’s deck and nearby skeletons. I closed in on the monster, but it pulled its shield up once again, causing the magic to dissipate into mist. Its speed and agility outclassed the skeletons greatly.
However, even though I couldn’t actually harm the monster, I successfully ignited the ship. The crackle of burning wood echoed around us as red and orange flames mingled with the cave’s peaceful pale blue glow.
“We should get onto solid ground! It’s too dangerous to keep fighting here!” Chiyome smashed through several skeletons and made her way down the plank to the pier.
Ariane looked to me.
I nodded. “I can handle this! Get Chiyome out of here!”
The man-spider let out another loud roar, its face a mask of rage. Its unsettling voice once again echoed throughout the cave as both heads spoke at once. “Meddlers must die!”
It brandished its swords.
Ariane and Chiyome were now safely on solid ground, still battling the horde of skeletons. I was free to take this monster down myself.
Most of my skills were fire-based, and affected large areas. It was a lot easier for me to fight alone, since I didn’t have to worry about hurting anyone else. Also, my next attack would be difficult to pull off with people fighting alongside me.
“Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg!”
This technique was basically an add-on in the game. It came with my mythical-class weapon. From what I’d experienced in this world, I figured it would be a pretty powerful attack.
A surge of purple electricity ran up the masterfully crafted sword as a blade of light grew outwards. It doubled my power, adding a holy effect to all my attacks, in addition to giving me a small chance of causing paralysis. It also expanded my sword’s effective range. The increased range was little more than an extra perk in-game, but here in the real world, it changed everything.
As I swung the extended Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg, the nearby skeletons literally disappeared before my eyes, thanks to the holy effect. I also chopped into the base of a nearby mast, causing it to topple.
This add-on was commonly referred to as “lightsaber mode.”
The mast fell backward, crashing into the ship before hitting the lake with a splash and sending a massive plume of water into the air.
“Rooooooooooaaaaaaar!”
The man-spider wailed.
I fixed it with a steely glare. “I’ll show you the true power of the force!” That was the catchphrase of the Paladin—this weapon skill’s class.
The monster lunged forward, bringing its swords down with all its strength. It might have been powerful, but its movements were rather unrefined. Compared to sparring with Glenys, this was like child’s play. At the last second, I swung my lightning-covered sword to catch the attack on the downward swing, cutting straight through and severing one of the monster’s torsos.
“Gyaaaaaaaugh!!!”
Its remaining head screamed with anguish. I launched a second strike, this time aiming at the point where the other human torso met the spider body. My lightning blade went straight through the monster’s shield and the body behind it, stabbing into the ship deck.
Mythril usually negated magic’s effects, but in this case, it only weakened my mythical-class weapon’s impact slightly.
“Nnngraaaaaaaggh!” The severed monster let out a gurgling scream as it stumbled, its body bubbling and tearing apart.
I took a few steps backward as a massive blast rocked the ship. Large flames erupted in front of me, and I heard secondary explosions going off as well. Apparently, some sort of combustible material below deck had caught fire. The ship wouldn’t remain afloat much longer.
I used Dimensional Step to teleport back to the pier. A cacophony of explosions continued behind me, blasting me with heat as I walked to shore. I felt as though I was in an action movie scene. It wasn’t long before the pier decided it could no longer take the abuse. It emitted an awful creak as it began to break apart.
I looked back to see the pier largely blown away. Due to its relatively simple construction, it sank into the water at an alarming rate.
“Whooooooa!”
I raised the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg above my head and ran full tilt toward dry land. It wasn’t an ideal running posture. With my blade still enhanced, I could very easily have cut off my own foot.