I closed my eyes,as I gripped tightly onto the mana crystal of the lamp. I forced the mana inside of it to flare up—
And it shattered. Shards of mana crystal and glass exploded in all directions. I felt a sharp pain go through my hand and some parts of my arm. There was a scream, and the hands around my neck loosened.
I opened my eyes, looking at the damage I caused by shoving the mana in the basic mana tool. It wasn’t utter destruction. It was almost like if a glass window was impacted by a powerful shockwave and broken into tiny pieces that would cut anyone standing near it.
Some of the shards tore through my enchanted clothes, but barely left a graze on my actual body. The most damage I suffered was on the arm I held the mana lamp with. A large shard was piercing through my palm, with a few more small shards sticking out of my forearms.
And yet, the man suffered far worse than me. He had shards of glass and mana crystal sticking out of his eyes and face. He screamed in pain as he reached to pry them off.
I rammed the palm of my hand into his neck.
A stinging pain ran through my hand as I pulled it back, the large shard now in the man’s neck. I slowly got up, pulling out the healing potion in my belt as Jack killed the last remaining man. I poured a few drops to close the wound just a little bit, careful not to let too much blood leave my system, but not enough to let my flesh grow over the bits of glass and mana crystals sticking out of it.
Jack eyed the wound, and opened his mouth, but I walked past him. "I can deal with it later. We have to help Gennady first."
I stumbled out of the ship as it swayed once again. I looked out into the deck and saw Gennady dispatch the last of the crew outside. He was a good fighter when he had access to all his equipment, which was only proven by how he took out over a dozen men by himself.
I walked up to Gennady with Jack as he turned to me.
"What just happened, Melas? Why did they suddenly attack us?"
I glared at him for his slip up, but didn’t comment on it; I was hoping Jack didn’t hear it, or process that it was actually my real name.
"They were paid off by the Elise," I said, to which Jack audibly gasped.
"What?"
"I said—"
"I know what you said," he spoke over me. "Why would they do that? Why would they work for those bastards!"
I lifted my shoulders up in a shrug. "Money, probably."
"That doesn’t make sense! They— they’ve always been loyal to Lisa and I…"
"It doesn’t matter now." I slowly tore off the shirt from a dead man, and wrapped it around my arm. "We just have to deal with that now."
"With that?" Both Jack and Gennady raised their eyebrows, then turned to the direction I was pointing at.
The ship that was following us was much closer now. Somehow, even with Lisa trying to get us away from them, they managed to catch up. The thick white mist no longer obscured the boat, and I could tell that it was much larger than our ship, and more suited for battle.
I found my eyes sliding away from the main hull up to the black flag flapping at the very top of the ship. It had the symbol of a red whip wrapping around a white Human skull. That’s a pirate ship alright, I thought.
I turned to Jack and Gennady. "Get ready to—"
I saw a flash of light. I raised my hands in a panic, as the beam flew straight at me. A large mana circle formed in the air, creating the translucent shape of my Force Barrier just in time.
The thin blast impacted the barrier, shattering it and knocking me back. I got up and looked at who fired the shot.
"She survived," a woman said, sounding displeased. She stared at me from her ship which was right next to ours now, and shook her head. "You didn’t kill her."
The man holding the rifle lowered it, and he sighed. "That’s because she used magic, Ginah."
I blinked, and I realized my cover had been blown.
Chapter 26: Pirate Attack
"She’s using magic," Ginah said, looking in my direction.
"I know," the man sighed. "I just told you that."
Their ship was now parallel to ours; they had a crew of dozens on deck, all armed and ready with weapons. And yet, I found my attention switching between the dangerous pirates getting ready to attack us, and my own two allies on board our own vessel.
Because I had used magic.
It was a silly thing to worry about, but I felt it was a valid concern. If they found my use of magic to be something so completely heinous that I had no choice but to kill them… Well, I guess learning how to work a ship will be on my to-do list.
The two pirates standing out front continued their chatter. Their conversation was barely audible due to the close proximity they were to us now. The fog did obscure some of their appearance, but I could vaguely tell by their body language that they were ready to fight.
"Think she’s part of the Elise?"
"Probably. It’s a good thing we got here in time. Any later—"
Wait, part of the Elise? I frowned. Why’re they asking that?
I got up, opening my mouth to call out to them, when I saw the man raise his rifle once again. He’s going to shoot me again, isn’t he?
He shot me again.
I erected two Force Barriers
