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Salt and Blood - Chapter 52
🕑 Added 2024-10-22 11:13:25 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 51 | Table of Contents | Chapter 53 >>
1.52 - Converging Fates
Fifty kilos of sea serpent meat, thirty kilos of potatoes, twenty kilos of carrots, ten kilos of parsley, five kilos of devilscorch peppers
-Recipe for Sea Serpent Stew from ‘Barry ‘Bottomless’ Bigjaw’s Pirate Cookbook’ by Barry ‘Bottomless’ Bigjaw
Rose’s tongue tingled. For a brief moment she lost sensation in her extremities as the first pulse hit her. There was a horrifying drop, as though her very soul had been ripped from her body and then stuffed back in through her mouth.
She barely had time to react to the stomach churning sensation when the second pulse struck. The first had felt distinctly arcane—in a more overwhelming way than ever before—but the second was utterly wrong in a way she couldn’t quite put words to.
It was a pulse and yet her skin crawled, itching as tendrils of energy desperately tried to pry their way in through her pores like a thousand necrotic worms. Even as the wave passed she could still feel the nasty itching.
Skill up!
Arcane Attunement 2 > 3
You have learned a new skill!
Arcane Resistance 0 > 1
The splashes of the tide were refreshing in a way, bringing Rose back into focus as the largest wave yet smashed over the bow. Water washed into the hatch from above as they staggered on their feet.
Rose wanted to rush above deck to check if Nasar was still standing firm at the wheel; to see if Trent was holding out against the serpent. However, the chef’s words rang in her ears.
She was more useful down here, preparing the cannons. They were almost in range now. She could see the hulking figure of the serpent through the hatches, head whipping back and forth in a furious melee with Trent.
Blue sparks flashed as the monster’s tail speared at Trent over and over. Seeing that he was holding firm, Rose returned to her duty.
***
Trent
Every time the beast slammed into his burning shoulder or attempted to pierce his limbs with its frustratingly agile tail, his heart pounded faster. He was growing old.
In his prime—ten years ago if he was being generous—a little snake like this wouldn’t have dared to raise its head against him. That was life on the high seas.
The moment you let the wind in your sails falter was the moment you forever missed the chance to sail into the next realm; a grander ocean. Not that it was entirely his fault. He wouldn’t have fled back to the Bluestone Sea by choice.
A flicker of green in the corner of his vision alerted him to the next tail strike. Half of the wiring to the ARM had been ripped out by the annoying beastie, but there was enough left to keep surging it with his tidal energy.
It whipped back and blasted the serpent’s tail with yet another explosive punch. This time he was rewarded with a gentle crunch as something broke.
However, the monster roared as its fury reached new heights. He’d known this would happen when he stole her eggs, but it was easy to forget how to battle when the only foes around were bloated nobility and wild animals jumped up on the sparse tidal energy in the outer seas.
At the rate the fight was going, with each momentary clash dragging him closer to his last breath, Trent and the monster would destroy each other. At least the girl will be safe with Nasar to protect her.
Rose reminded Trent of himself as a kid. Ambitious, talented, and above all else—naive. Stories of legendary pirates reached the outer seas, diluted into fairy tales and bedtime stories. They did little justice to the truth.
He’d gone to Saltbeard’s execution when he was just four years old, clinging to his father’s hand like a lost puppy following the nearest stranger. It had forever altered the course of his life.
When he’d left home there had been few obstacles in his path. Even sailing a tiny one man ship he’d been able to raid to his heart’s delight and venture into the deadliest regions of the Aetherdew Ocean.
Perhaps he should’ve tempered his ambition; stayed a big fish in a little pond. Was it better to gaze upon the ocean’s depths, knowing you would never reach them in your lifetime, or to stay ignorant of what lay below while living a carefree life?
To most of the people living in this tiny little place—The Bluestone Sea, such a quaint name—he was a god among men. Rose had told him that most people in her village barely mastered a single profession in their lifetimes.
Another flash of green. He diverted the final dregs of his energy into the ARM. Perhaps he should’ve spent more time with the Baron’s wife as thanks for this wonderful gift.
At the last moment before the spear-like tail struck, it spluttered and failed. It pierced right through his chest, catching a lung.
He coughed up blood, grabbing onto the tail with his arm of flesh and bone. There was still fight in him. He couldn’t blame the artifact—most of the connecting nodes had been destroyed during the battle.
Skill up!
Endurance ★99 > ★100
You have earned a new trait!
Tideforged: You have lived a lifetime on the ocean, under the whims of the tide. This has forged your body into something greater. Your resistance to physical and arcane attacks is increased.
Skill threshold reached!
Initiate evolution?
[YES][NO]
There was nothing Trent could do but look to the skies and laugh. He’d been working on that for the last two years.
Hard to find anything out here that could threaten him enough to hone his skills. With only one working lung, he wasn’t long for this world. Yet, he initiated the evolution anyway.
Skill evolved!
Endurance ★100 > ★★1
All at once he was hollowed out, both in energy and flesh. He was suspended in the air on the tail of the serpent, which still desperately tried to force its way further in against his push.
His new trait would’ve been fantastic seconds before. Trent could feel a slight push from his body against the monster, but what use was greater resistance when you’d already been turned into a meat skewer?
Closing his eyes, he resigned himself to his fate. Immediately he opened them again. Screw that. Why should he give this ugly snake the satisfaction?
Trent reached deep inside himself, looking for the core of his power. There was something he hadn’t told Rose about tidestones.
For good reason—one cannot run before they know how to walk. He still had one in his inventory, saved to gift Orelia and convince her to join this final voyage. He prepared to overload his core.
A deafening clap of thunder shook the seas. He felt the serpent’s tail quake and opened his eyes. Another booming clap echoed out and he saw the snake’s head snap to the side, blood spurting from a fresh wound.
Using the little strength he had left, he craned his neck to the side as far as it would go. He grinned. Liberty was carving through the giant waves like a hot knife through butter.
Every few seconds another clap of cannon fire roared out. At least he could die knowing this damned serpent would be joining him in hell.
His heart leapt into his chest as he dropped from the sky. He still had the beast’s tail lodged in his lung, but looking over he saw that a stray cannonball had blasted through it.
Trent still didn’t fancy his chances of survival, but at the very least he preferred to be entombed in the icy depths than the stomach of a sea monster. As he smashed into the water, his vision blurred as blood loss dragged him into unconsciousness.
***
“Ha! Take that you bastard snake,” cackled Felix as he rushed across the floorboards, loading and firing cannons like a madman.
Rose was following suit, though with slightly less enthusiasm for the explosive destruction they were dishing out. Men and their toys.
Furthermore, she was worried. The explosions from the clash between Trent and the serpent had died down moments before they started their volley.
Leaving the cannons to the maniacal Felix, she pushed herself right up against one of the hatches and squinted her eyes. There were still a few hundred metres between Liberty and the monster, but she could see a blurry outline.
Her heart lurched. A figure could be seen in the mist, pierced through by the serpent’s tail. It had to be Trent. She refused to accept that the man was dead.
After all his bold claims and bravado, to fall to the first sea monster they encountered would be ridiculous. She’d hunt down his ghost and kill him twice.
Shifting one of the heavy cannons towards the tail of the beast, rather than the head, Rose loaded the heaviest cannonball she could find into the barrel and lit the fuse.
Then, without looking to see the results of her handiwork she rushed back to the main deck, shouting an apology to Felix as she went. Grabbing a spare coil of rope, she tied it around her waist and then the railings.
Trent’s done this twice now, it can’t be that difficult. Rose somewhat regretted her hasty decision as she plummeted towards the ocean, but it was too late. Her muscles stiffened as the icy water washed over her, but she forged ahead and started to swim.
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