Salian did not dislike Colin; rather, Colin was getting on in years. After the turbulence of the Weave, he had visibly aged a great deal and ought to retire back to Paros to enjoy his remaining years in peace.
However, Colin himself did not think that way. In a halfling's life, there could be no absence of friends—and all his friends were here. Asking him to retire… not a chance.
The night grew deep. The light rain gradually stopped, but the wind picked up instead.
With Finn's Grey Eagle present, Salian did not rush to pursue them.
"They're out of the bay," Finn called again.
Salian finally rose to his feet. "Set sail—"
"Wooo—ah…" Accompanied by a series of strange cries, the crew each moved to their stations.
Casting off, unfurling the sails, turning the helm, leaving the berth… Unlike an ordinary sailing vessel, there was none of the usual sluggishness or hesitation. The Quesser proved far more nimble than expected; its bow swung smoothly, tracing a graceful arc as it cut through the wind and waves and set out directly into the gale.
The drifting cloud-sails shifted shape with the wind. They appeared soft and yielding, yet they provided the Quesser with powerful propulsion, accelerating quickly while remaining remarkably steady.
Good ship. Feeling the rhythmic rise and fall beneath his feet, Anser could not help but praise it inwardly.
Trade in the Sword Coast was prosperous, and sea transport accounted for a large share of it. Owning a vessel like this was more enviable than possessing a vast estate.
After roughly half an hour, the Quesser sailed out of the bay. The wind and waves grew stronger, and the hull began to pitch and roll violently.
The Grey Eagle flew with increasing difficulty. Fortunately, the target had only fled one to two nautical miles ahead; there was no longer any need for it to keep watch, and it could land on the deck to rest.
"How's it going—are you adapting?" Salian sprang up onto the top of the sterncastle. No matter how the hull rocked, he could still move forward with steady steps.
"I'm fine. I don't get seasick," Anser replied.
Seasickness was a physiological reaction. Its core mechanism was sensory-signal disruption, and it depended on an individual's Constitution.
"Our current speed is probably around six or seven knots. It'll be even higher in a bit—the prey won't get away." Salian was full of confidence.
"The wind and waves are pretty rough. Isn't it hard to fight like this?" Anser's gaze was puzzled. In wind and waves like these, even sailing was strenuous; trying to bombard the other side with cannon fire would probably be very difficult.
"You're not thinking of ending the fight in a few shots, are you?" Salian let out a helpless laugh. "We only need to tail them and look for chances to fire a few shots. As long as one shot hits, they'll lose most of their power.
"Don't rush. If there's no opportunity today, there's tomorrow. We have few people, so don't lightly go for boarding actions. I once hunted a pirate ship for over half a month…"
The corner of Anser's mouth twitched. With such a good ship, it was still this troublesome to fight.
"If… the other side has reinforcements?"
"If there's no opportunity, we withdraw for now. The Quesser can come and go freely—they can't catch up," Salian said naturally.
Anser pressed his lips together. No wonder the Quesser had only taken down a few dozen ships over all these years—this efficiency really was not great.
Since the Sea Shark dared to put to sea, it could not possibly have no backup plan; perhaps someone was standing by to receive them.
"I think there's a better way." Anser rose and walked to the edge. "Remember to cover me."
As he spoke, he leapt down from the sterncastle. Nornoth caught him with perfect precision, then sprang and plunged into the sea. Stepping on the surging waves, he sprinted toward the distance, vanishing into the night in the blink of an eye.
"Good horse, good equipment—like a lone, valiant knight," Salian sighed with admiration, then quickly called out to the first mate. "Drop all the cloud-sails—full speed!"
He was not worried about Anser's safety. In weather like this, even flight spells could not go very fast, and there were hardly any people who could pose a threat to him.
Above the dark sea, Nornoth let out a long neigh, as if declaring war on the wind and waves.
This was the second time Anser had ridden a horse across the sea. The difference was that the first time he had been fleeing pursuit; the second time, he was hunting someone else.
Looking out, there was only darkness, howling wind, and endless waves piled layer upon layer. Between heaven and earth, only himself remained. There was a sense of terror, as if being swallowed by the darkness—helpless and lost—something an ordinary person truly could not endure.
"Hoo—" He took a deep breath, forcing himself to cast off that feeling.
He had darkvision; he could fly and swim; and with Nornoth—who stepped on a force field and moved across the waves as if on level ground—what seemed dangerous was, in fact, quite safe.
Before long, beneath the flickering lights ahead, a massive black shadow emerged. Only part of its sails were lowered, and it rocked back and forth in the wind and waves.
Sea Shark!
One man and one horse appeared like ghosts of the night among the surging spray. No one noticed them—could not see them, and never would have thought of them.
In wind and waves like this, burning the sails shouldn't capsize the ship, right? Anser clenched the spell orb in his palm, the chain looping around his wrist.
If it really did capsize, losing the spoils would be a minor matter. There were over a hundred civilian slaves aboard; Salian would definitely take it up with him.
The wind and waves were neither too small nor too large. The Sea Shark was a full circle bulkier than the Quesser. Even without the sails' auxiliary control, it should not be likely to capsize.
First, destroy the main sail!
He cast Longstrider on Nornoth, keeping the distance at roughly sixty to seventy meters. At that range, the other side could not see him in the darkness, while he could, by relying on the ship's lights, roughly make out the situation on the deck.
"જાદુઈવિસ્ફોટ"
Sorcery Burst—Fire!
The low draconic syllables were scattered by the sea wind. A dim red streak quietly cut through the night, then burst with a boom into a mass of flame on the main sail.
The damp sail was forcibly ignited by magical fire. Smoke and flames spread, and with the help of the wind, a large hole was burned through in the blink of an eye.
"Fire—!"
"Put it out, quickly…"
"What's going on…"
"…"
The people aboard were very alert and immediately noticed something was wrong, but no one knew how the fire had started. They could only scramble in panic to put it out.
I can cast spells. Anser let out a breath of relief.
Nornoth had to keep running atop the waves, the jolting extremely intense. Without the stabilizing effect of the Iron Cavalry Saddle, he would probably not have been able to cast even a cantrip.
A few seconds later, once a wave crest passed, Nornoth took quick, short steps to steady itself again. Anser seized the opportunity to cast. A flash of spell-light passed, and the main sail burst into flames once more.
Smart—just like this. He excitedly patted Nornoth's large head.
Man and horse worked together with increasing coordination, repeating the same tactic. A few seconds later, another red glow flew out of the darkness and set the main sail alight.
At this point, the Sea Shark fell into chaos. Several large holes had been burned into the main sail, and the ship's speed dropped sharply.
Nornoth did not need to give chase. By stopping and starting, it could easily control the distance, making spellcasting even easier.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
Several flaming arrows shot toward their position, but Nornoth had already shifted locations. The arrows streaked across the night, and aside from the vast sea, struck nothing.
Anser changed position. One Sorcery Burst blew apart several ropes, and then he quickly withdrew.
The flaming arrows flew again, still seeing nothing at all.
Then the other side seemed to grow a little frantic. Dozens of flaming arrows were fired in all directions in succession—but unfortunately, it was completely useless.
Anser was a full sixty to seventy meters away. With a slight retreat, he could slip back into the darkness, while those arrows—fired mostly on a flat trajectory to search for a target—had an effective range of only a few dozen meters at most.
"Hehe—if you can't even handle this one trick, how laughable…"
This tactic was anything but simple. An extraordinary mount, multiple powerful magic items, mounted spellcasting, darkvision, extremely long spell range… not one of them could be missing.
He did not relax because of it. He instructed Nornoth to remain constantly alert to the water below and to avoid staying in one place as much as possible, lest the enemy try to approach from underwater.
However, the sea was rough. Jumping into the water to swim in the middle of the night was extremely risky. One big wave could sweep someone away into the turbulence, never to surface again.
Boom…
Explosions sounding every few seconds—or every few dozen seconds—left the Sea Shark utterly exhausted. The fire had not spread to the hull, but the sails, including the main sail, were torn to shreds and could barely provide any propulsion.
The hull drifted like a cork carried by the waves, completely at the mercy of the raging wind and sea.
In the distance, several points of light broke through, and the long outline of a ship could be faintly seen.
The Quesser had closed to within several hundred meters!
Salian could not see Anser, but he could see the Sea Shark, "paralyzed" on the surface of the sea with flickering patches of firelight. He was both shocked and delighted, bursting into loud laughter.
That was fast.
Anser did not pay it much attention. Instead, he locked his target onto the crew members on the deck. These were walking bundles of combat experience—he could not let the Quesser steal the kills.
Man and horse quietly closed to around fifty meters. In Anser's palm, the spell orb bloomed with rings of faint magical light.
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