ocean-life Chapter 194 – Impact
Chapter 194 – Impact
Chapter 194 – Impact
*** Alzi ***
"Dear, I promise it is Duchess Fluvis and her wife, Lottie," Elora whispers. "They are here to save us, not hurt you. Everything will be ok; just stay in my arms. Everything will be ok."
"No, I've cursed them too much," I cry. "They're tired of torturing me. No, no, no. I'm sorry!"
"I'm sorry, baby. I'm sorry. Everything will be ok," Elora repeats. I press into my owner, hoping to hide from the Goddess, who is finally bored of the rape Alzi play. My sobs soak her robe. The cracks of divine retribution slam around me. Teasing their cruel punishment. Any second, they'll find me.
"Honey, can you block out the sound with your mana?" Elora asks.
"No, I only ever made water," I cry out, the collar not giving me a break before my doom.
"Sorry, I need my mana in case Esiyae gets desperate and comes down here or tries to sink the ship," Elora says. "But nothing will get you in my arms. I failed once, and I won't again, my Love. I'm sorry I can't do more."
*** Fluvis ***
We've been trading volleys of magic for a while. With fewer ships to defend, their barriers are able to hold off against my wife's skills and the cannons. Much of their fire power is useless with their cannons rarely lined up correctly.
The smog is an ever-present threat, and someone must have told the Princess where to aim her ice finally. She's now aiming for the waterline. She also gave up on freezing my whirlpool, but I can't grow it anymore while keeping control of our ships.
An annoying stalemate till one side starts to run out of mana. Both sides patching the holes the other manages to slip through. Unable to get close while the truly devastating skills are still possible.
But a stalemate works best for us. My mana outclasses the Princess by several classes and the extra firepower of the cannons lets us wear down their defensive magic a lot faster than they can. I'm sure my sailors are older and stronger as well. Most working for me from the last war.
Beating up on Sighoda made it harder for her to keep her crew intact. Many just died out right in due to my fleet. The rest ran from the memory of lost friends.
The smog always grows thick when the ships approach us in their personal whirlpool, blocking our vision and keeping us from taking cheap shots while their formation is most vulnerable.
The witch is the one thing making this a little worrying. No one ever found out her true strength. The best way to beat her was to run and take the fight somewhere else. Besides, she was almost always on the ground, so I only heard the stories about what she could do. Killing women on both sides of the war if you gave her enough gold.
Though she did favor our northern neighbor. Especially at the end of the war.
"Dear, how much longer can you go?" Lottie asks. "You don't normally do this much."
"The sea welcomes my mana," I say. "I've got several more hours of this. But I won't be much use on the defense."
"I don't know about the witch, but the Princess is already starting to slow down," Lottie says. "But I will have to slow down soon as well."
"Just make it so we can board," I say.
"We can run," the captain says. "But how far we get is hard to say. I'm sure Fluvis can repair her ship 'nough to chase us down or just force us to circle till Nesh can come to clean us up. We lose the rest of our escort, and they can simply harass us without worry."
"Does this ship not have cannons?" I ask. "Why are you acting like they would be free to act without danger?"
"Running, don't leave many cannons facing them, Princess Esiyae," she says. "That whirlpool is a new thing and ruined our chances. Too much time for 'em to hit us for free."
"So, another loss for you to add to your record?" I spit out.
"I suppose so," the captain says. "Hard to care when she be a champion of the Sea. Most of the crew is asking to surrender so we may have a chance to save those in the water still amongst the liven."
*** Fluvis ***
No more poison spread through the air.
I'm guessing the mercenary called it a loss and fled. She is not as strong when the enemy naturally stays away from her. I'm sure Esiyae is complaining right about now, losing the one thing keeping us from boarding them and finishing this off.
Hard to blame the witch. I would take her head and proudly offer it to the Queen for all the trouble she caused in the last war. Not to mention taking the father and mother of my children.
"Move to board!" I call out. "Time to bring our Princess back!"
My order brings a flurry of motion to the deck. The warriors hiding away below storm up and prepare their methods of boarding.
Planks of wood, harpoons, rope, and magic items get sorted between the groups. The hull is repaired enough to risk another shot. The last ship of the escort can hardly be called a ship anymore. My own will need plenty of work back in at the port, but a good showing for only having three ships against all this.
"You won't be going," Lottie says.
"Don't worry, love," I chuckle. "I'm not that stupid. I'll be below deck, focusing on keeping us afloat. Go bring Elora and Alzi back to us."
"Glad you have some sense," Lottie says. "They'll be back here. They have to answer for making you sail in your state."
"I'm happy to do it," I say. "BRACE!"
My officers join in the warning call. Damn, Soghoda hoping we would chicken out on the ram. The other ship simply crumbles after the impact, but the one with the target still floats.
"BOARD!" my officers call, my wife joining a random group. I shuffle back to the stairs, something I had to add last minute so I can make it off the deck. Kind of embarrassing not being able to swing around on the ropes right now, but no one would dare to call me out for it.
The little babies in my womb are not happy with my retreat, but they'll be satisfied when I get to hug their father. My crew is more than prepared to take on a tired princess. Soghoda will have almost all her earth magic, but my team has fought her enough times to handle it. Hell, she may just give up so we don't have an excuse to kill her.
That stupid Princess definitely broke the rules, so I can have a few accidents in the rough trip back perhaps.