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Salt and Blood - Chapter 104
🕑 Added 2024-12-25 13:30:32 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 103 | Table of Contents | Chapter 105 >>
2.10 - A Prince, A Pauper, and a Fisherwoman?
There is a strange juxtaposition that exists between divinity and mortality. Some consider the pinnacle of mortal existence to be those with the most wealth or power, yet there are gods who ascended based on nothing but relentless mundanity.
-Excerpt from ‘Charting the Tide: Mortal Limitations and the Divine Spark’ by various contributors
Everyn readied himself for the devastating attack that was about to follow the commodore’s recovery, but for a brief moment nothing happened. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at the charging man, but despite his healed wounds and the armour of ice it seemed little had changed.
The spear of ice thrust forth and he parried with his greatsword. There was certainly more weight behind the commodore’s strikes, but not to an unreasonable level.
They exchanged blows, with him breaking through a few of the man’s ice spears. It seemed not to affect him as he would simply summon a new one every time and continue his assault with renewed vigour.
Their weapons clashed and they both seemed surprised when another loud crack echoed across the ocean. The commodore glanced over Everyn’s shoulder, towards the frozen girl.
They both frowned, but for vastly different reasons.
Commodore Foulter knew he had the upper hand after using the treasure gifted to him by his master, but if the girl was to rejoin the battle it would be hard to win without causing some permanent damage. On the other hand, Prince Everyn was annoyed he had failed to win alone.
The thought of sharing his glory with another, rather than being the hero who arrived late to the party to save the day, was a frustrating one. However, he was a graceful man and as long as they repelled the invasion he would be satisfied.
For now though he had to focus everything on the battle. Commodore Foulter had begun increasing the speed of his strikes, the delay between them shortening as he hurried to end the battle.
Another spear of ice joined the first in his hands and no longer were his haphazard sword swings enough to guard against the relentless barrage. It seemed like it was time to use his most advanced technique.
Everyn had held back on using it until now as it drained almost all his energy; it was a technique that was impossible to stop once set in motion. He rarely used it, but when he did he had never lost the battle.
Though he hadn’t tested it against an opponent of this calibre yet. There was a first time for everything.
Starting it while also attempting to block was difficult. He needed to make some space. “Boy, I need you to distract him while I prepare my technique,” he called out to the rampaging doori.
It bellowed in reply, knowing it would suffer for it but happy to do it regardless. The bond between the war-doori and rider was a deep one that had been fostered since his birth.
The beast roared, making the commodore falter briefly and then forcing him to focus his energy on battling it when it started to charge with reckless abandon. Those horns were a deadly natural weapon, as the pair had already proven once.
While the bovine was distracting the commodore, Everyn inhaled deeply and prepared to begin his technique. A greatsword was a heavy weapon, especially his ridiculously large one.
Thus, the standard sword fighting techniques often didn’t apply. Using regular slashes and thrusts were possible, albeit easier from doori-back.
This technique was one that made it far easier to deliver rapid attacks with a weapon this large and also made it drain less energy with every strike. It achieved this through constant movement.
The user would be rotating rapidly while wielding the sword in two hands, like a kind of spinning top of sharp death. The drawback to this technique of course, was a lack of control and an inability to stop the momentum without a huge backlash.
That was fine. Everyn didn’t intend to stop the technique until his opponent was dead or he ran out of energy. If it was the latter, then the battle was lost and the village was doomed, so he prayed that it never came to pass.
He channelled his arcane energy through his body, focusing on his arms and feet. The pillars of the technique, especially while at sea, were keeping his balance and generating enough centrifugal force with the blade to maintain the spin.
He raised the sword high and then exhaled as he swung it down, his feet starting to move as he began his dance of death. He heard a pained roar from his doori and saw out of the corner of his eye that he’d been stabbed with an ice spear.
However, he couldn’t help his mount. Not until he’d truly begun the technique. A small part of his mind couldn’t help but be happy. Perhaps now he could win the battle before the girl was freed, then arrive at the opportune moment as the heroic prince.
All as intended.
***
Rose was incredibly bored. She was still frozen in ice. Her efforts had borne fruit over the past twenty minutes and she’d been rewarded with two cracks in the ice, but it was slow progress.
Too slow.
At least the new arrival was powerful enough to contend with the commodore. It was quite the show too.
Seeing such a huge doori up close and watching it used for battle was a rather novel experience. One that she’d never thought she would see after knowing doori as rather stubborn, but ordinary, bovines.
There wasn’t very much divine energy left and Rose estimated she would have used nearly all of it by the time she escaped the frosty prison. It would be worth it if only to see the look on that smug bastard’s face.
He’d frozen her twice already and failed, so it would have to be incredibly frustrating. However, something had happened during the battle and allowed him to heal all his wounds and he was now covered in icy plate armour.
The reason she wasn’t worried in the slightest was that Commodore Foulter had made one grave miscalculation. If he’d kept the fight on the former flagship that was now an iceberg he would’ve held a dominant upper hand.
Instead he’d forced her onto the sea, thinking he would remain ahead thanks to his ability to freeze the endless sea water. But he didn’t realise that the ocean was her domain.
Well, the domain of her patron god, but the distinction was rather irrelevant when it came to combat. Without the divine energy there wasn’t any tangible benefit to being there, but she felt comfortable.
And she knew that if things grew truly dire, she could call on the denizens of the deep to come to her aid. They had responded in force the last time and she had no doubt they would do so again if she needed them.
Another crack rang out as the tiny sun on the end of her cutlass burnt away at the ice. He’d done something to it this time that made it far harder to melt and break, but she was making steady progress.
Her skills had made ridiculous advancements since the beginning of the battle. While she waited, Rose decided to pull up her status and have a look. She also needed to consider changing her title for the battle ahead.
Name: Rose Everblue
Blessings: Blessing [Sylack]
Race: Human
Occupation: Apprentice Scholar 24
Title: Quintessential Skill
Available Titles: Slaughterer, Apprentice, Quintessential Skill, Ambitious Harvester, Godtouched, Traitor
Bound Items: Sunsplitter 51, Divine Serpent’s Lure ★27
Skills:
[General]: Cleaning 12, Fishing 26, Butchery 10, Cooking 8, Herding 2, Crafting 12
[Cerebral]: Reading 12, Writing 17, Focus 18, Drawing 21, Appraisal 3, Precision 11
[Physical]: Swimming 10, Endurance 14, Athletics 18, Toxin Resistance 2, Climbing 4, Stealth 8
[Martial]: One Handed Weapons 9, Blades 20, Pistols 12, Firearms 6, Unarmed Combat 2, Dual Wielding 16
[Arcane]: Arcane Attunement 17, Light Attunement 21, Arcane Resistance 8, Water Attunement 7, Frost Resistance 1
[Divine]: Divine Attunement 9
Traits: Sensitive Line, Deft Hand, Good as New, Tunnel Vision, Endless Inkwell, Quick Consumption, Knot my Problem, Reliable Duelist, Steady Slash, Smooth Strokes, Agile, With the Grain, Ambidextrous, Thick Skin, Energetic, Inventor, Seductive Lure, Keen Eye, Radiant
Much of it was expected, if a little faster than she’d expected to progress. The one skill which had rather surprised her with its growth was light attunement.
Sunsplitter being light attuned and the encounter with the Radiant Wall had brought her understanding of light to a greater level, but it was this last battle that had given her a truly deep comprehension.
It was odd, given that her god was one of fish and fishermen and her goal of becoming a pirate. However, she wouldn’t complain about gaining more power. All strength was beneficial to achieve one’s dreams.
Just then she heard two more cracks, followed shortly after by a third one. Looking at the battle between the two men she saw them evenly matched, though both were severely wounded and losing energy fast.
Another crack followed by a series of shattering sounds finally broke the icy prison and she breathed deeply of the salty sea air. Stepping onto the surface of the ocean, a profound sense of comfort and belonging filled her being.
Rose turned her gaze to her enemy as looked along the edge of her blade. Sunsplitter might not last much longer, but it would at least suffice for one last battle.
She’d briefly considered equipping Slaughterer, but the presence of an ally complicated things. Rose didn’t want to risk harming the man she presumed was the prince of Emerlan Isle.
So, with a smile on her face and a choppy bounce in her step, she rushed towards the battle ready to turn the tides.
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