Headed by a Snake

Tycondrius hadn't felt so safe on a battlefield, as he did following Rico and Lang Hai.

Every Sea Wolf that Tycon had seen, regardless of Metal-Rank, were swift and efficient slayers of men. The Captain/PFC pair proved especially terrific exemplars of the killing art.

Private First Class Rico had returned to her sleek and beautiful, 4-legged form. Her powerful bite crunched into a man's torso. Her razor-edged claws slashed a Bronze-Rank's face into ribbons, spilling the contents of his neck and ribs. She pranced with speed and grace, handily dodging every attack. When the pirates' attacks struck true, her wounds quickly closed-- seemingly unaffected by the distance away from the beaches.

Captain Lang Hai's hulking bipedal form waded into the pirate crowds. After so many hours of hammer-smashing with his fist, Hai had begun to grab the running, screaming pirates. He smashed them like insects onto normally-unreachable parts of the walls or onto the ceiling.

The carnage and savagery from Rico, Hai, and the other Sea Wolves occasionally splashed bouts of blood and guts onto Tycon's cloak and boots. It was messy but within expected parameters.

Upon entering a larger room, a squad of nine Saltspray pirates hurried to the front, gutting an unfortunate Sea Wolf who had scouted ahead. They wielded a variety of unique weapons, each of them wrapped in a blue mana-glow.

Bronze-Rankers.

Hai pointed to the pirates, crushed and nigh-liquefied remains still evident between his fingers, "More MEAT to play in the GRINDER!! Gahahaha!!"

"BLOOD AND THUNDER!!" "VICTORY AT SEA!!" --The Sea Wolves howled, their collective voices shaking the walls.

"Rawr, BITCHES!!" Rico yelled. The 4-legged Dire Sea Wolf bared her teeth in a smile. Her out-of-place snaggletooth jutted out of her maw, further diminishing her majesty.

...Tycon was slightly curious as to why Rico's voice was exactly the same between her original and human form.

« System, inquiry: What is the source of the mana-glow on those weapons? »

[System response: Tidespray Weapon. Second-Circle Transmutation. Enchanted weapons deal a small amount of frost damage.]

Tycon spoke aloud, his eyes scanning the area, "Captain Lang, there's a Mage backing them. Remain vigilant."

A thrumming of clicks emanated from Lang Hai's massive chest, "Got it."

A young blonde pirate pointed forward with his greatsword, "Chaaaaaaaarge!!"

Hm. Perhaps that one was a squad leader.

Lang Hai crouched, the muscles on his thighs and calves bulging with power. Before the group could charge, Hai had already leapt through the air. He smashed into their formation and grasped at the greatsword-wielder.

Rico dashed in and with a quick slash, the leader's right bicep was nearly rent in two.

The pirate was useless, injured and entrapped by Hai's fingers-- he would not be able to escape. In his desperation, he unsheathed a dagger with his offhand and sank it deep into Hai's knuckle, "The Saltspray Kings shall rule FOREVER!!"

It was an impressive feat, garnering hope in such a precarious situation. Tycon recalled an aphorism from the Holy Country.

"Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment," he snapped his fingers.

[Commander's Strike activated.]

With mana enhanced-speed, Lang Hai smashed a clenched fist against a second pirate who was wielding a cutlass. Hai then splatted the contents of his fist against the floor. The four tentacles on his back wrapped around three more pirates, while the 'teeth' on the remaining tentacle dragged across a fourth pirate's abdomen. The fourth did not survive his evisceration.

Tycon nodded, "Hm. Very well."

A pirate rolled out of the way of Rico's quick and clumsy rush. In the kneeling position, the woman held a long curved blade at the ready.

"Young lady," He turned to Rico and snapped his fingers.

[Commander's Strike activated.]

"IT FEELS SO GOOD, MISTER!!" The Sea Wolf yelled. With a downpour of slashes from the girl's front claws, her kneeling opponent transformed from a human into strips of meat barely held together by bone.

Tycon held his hand out, consciously halting a third snap. He would no longer cast Commander's Strike on Rico. He would seal it as a Forbidden Skill. He dropped his hand back at his side to watch the slaughter.

An Iron-Rank Aquamancer attempted to attack with surprise from around a corner. They had summoned water lances similar in size and shape to Eilean's, if a second or two slower. Tycon shouted the universally understood order, "Geek the mage!"

The mage was quickly buried underneath a Wolf pile, interrupting his spell.

Following Hai's initial strike to the center of the Bronze-Rank squad, their teamwork was harshly disrupted. Without teamwork, they were unable to deal a substantial amount of damage and eventually succumbed to their hardy opponents.

Hai strode up to their single casualty, the Marine gutted by an elemental weapon, "Tch. We got so far without casualties and you just had to run ahead."

"B-b-blood.. and thunder, Cap'n..." The dying woman gurgled.

The hatchet-wielding girl's voice had a familiar nasal tonality. Tycon tapped her side with his boot, "Get the hells up, Marine."

[Inspirational Surge conditions met. Activate? Y/N?]

« Blood and thunder. »

[Activating. Victory at sea.]

Hai's unblinking black-sclera eyes glowered over Tycon, "Have some respect. Loretta can't regenerate such a severe wound."

Tycon scoffed, "Tss. Captain Lang, I advise you as one leader to another, to never underestimate your subordinates."

The hatchet girl sat up, coughing blood, her wounds visibly regenerating, "Y-yeah. Requesting permission to not die, Cap'n?"

Hai reared his short-necked head back to laugh, "GAHAHA! SO IT WAS TRUE!! You're a healer, you scummy noble!!"

Tycon pursed his lips, "Empty night, Captain. If you were curious, you could have just asked."

...

Tycon examined a thick set of double doors. They didn't budge and they had no lock. A powered kick by Lang Hai was more than enough to solve the issue, breaking through the improvised barricade.

After a hasty observation of the room beyond, Lang Hai ordered a single squad to remain on standby. The rest of the Sea Wolves were to join the other squads in sweeping the remainder of the fort.

The room was dark and the floors were slick with blood.

Most of the walls and floors of the fort were decorated in gore, courtesy of Tycon's traveling companions... but none had yet graced the room before them.

Hai entered first, followed by Tycon and Rico.

Tycon's eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness. Corpses were arranged throughout the larger room in a geometrical pattern. Runic symbols in clumsily-drawn script were painted in blood on every accessible surface.

"Oooooh, preeettty," Rico admired the walls. "Cap'n, can I draw on the ship when we get back?"

"Don't even think about it, Rico," Hai growled.

Rico froze where she stood, staring blankly... How troublesome. Was there some sort of magical Paralysis effect in the script on the walls?

She blinked and resumed her movement, "Kayyyy."

...Oh. The fool girl was making an attempt at not-thinking.

Tycon approached a paragraph of text on one of the walls, "I'm assuming you two have no issues seeing?"

"Not as easily as in the depths, but we'll manage," Hai snorted, his throat full of phlegm. "Is there a deeper meaning behind these dead pirates beyond saving us the trouble?"

Hai examined a scrawled text closely. It appeared to be in draconic. Troubling...

« System, translate. »

[Translating... Translation complete.]

A small display of the passage appeared in Tycon's mind.

The purring Rico rubbed her blood-covered head against Tycon's arm, "What does it say, Mister? Rico can't read!"

Tycon frowned, "Praise the snake god."