Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (44 page)

As the ships got closer, Smoke could start sensing the number of enemies. Each boat had ten men aboard.
'Twenty-nine against a hundred. Well, thirty, counting myself. This doesn't look good.' Smoke thought as he feared for the villagers' safety. He thought about facing the Pirates by himself, but he couldn't risk it without knowing what he was up against. Remembering what Brax said, he imagined a hundred muscular men carrying weapons as big as Adder's BlitzSturm.
Soon enough, he laid eyes on the Pirates standing on the deck of the ship that was closest to shore. Then, three seconds later, Smoke rubbed his eyes in disbelief before continuing to stare at the sight before him.
"They're all Halflings..." he muttered to himself.
Ten ships dropped their anchors and eighty one-meter-tall, unsavory-looking Pirates rode on the dinghies being lowered down the sides of their ships. All of them were wearing black pirate bandanas on their heads. Some were equipped with short swords, while others were dual-wielding dirks. Yet, because of their height, their weapons looked oversized.
'Maybe this won't be as hard as I thought it would be.' Smoke thought, but he shook his head immediately afterwards, 'No. I shouldn't underestimate them just because of their size.'
Before they could storm the village, Smoke heard Vex yell out to them, "Return to your ships and your lives will be spared!" However, Vex's threat was answered with a mean laughter from the Pirates.
Still on their dinghies, one of the Skullcaps yelled towards the flagship. "You heard that, Captain? Methinks we better run for it and change our pillaging ways." said a Pirate dressed in a red jacket and white pants. Smoke observed that he had different-colored clothes from the rest, most of the marauders only wore white overalls, although he was hesitant to call them such, as they were covered in filth.
"Now, now, Mr. Nain. As first mate, you should know proper manners. We shouldn't be impolite to our future benefactors." A female voice came from the flagship. It belonged to a beautiful HighElf who was equipped with a sleek blue jacket, tight white pants, a feathered hat and a cutlass at her side. Her long, straight black hair, rosey red lips and smooth pale skin gave her an eye-catching presence. Her large bosom was clearly disproportionate to her slim figure and swayed with each step.
At once, the Skullcaps stopped laughing and held a serious look on their faces. Even from where Smoke hid, it was clear that they respected her, or at least feared her.
"Good day to you, gentlemen. The name's Snow. Captain Jane Snow. I am the commander of this troubled crew." she said and gave a winsome smile, "Please forgive the rudeness of my men."
A cold sweat ran down Smoke's back, as Jane's appearance eerily reminded him of Horrabelle. He quickly dismissed the thought and focused on the approaching Pirates.
"Hold your positions, men. We still need to discuss the terms of trade." she said with authority, as the Pirates had reached the riverbank and started to disembark one by one.
With everyone silent, Vex spoke out, "What kind of trade are you looking for? We only have fish and some vegetables to offer."
Jane waved her hand and asked Vex, "Now, why would I ask for rubbish and scraps when I could easily get something more valuable from your village?"
"But we don't have anything else in our village." replied Vex with all honesty.
"Don't sell yourselves short. You have something we want: children." answered Jane and licked her red lips. "If you give us forty of them," she spoke while standing straight and placed her right hand over her heart, "I swear to you that no one in your village will be harmed."
Everyone looked outraged by the proposition but remained silent as they waited for Vex's answer. "What about five children? Would you leave us alone then?" he asked curiously.
Before any of the villagers surrounding Vex could react to his words, Brax arrived with a short sword and shield in hand and beat them to it. "No! What are you saying, Vex?" he said with a trembling voice while turning Vex around to face him. "There's no way we're giving them a single child!" Brax said loudly, but everyone could still hear the fear in his voice.
"And who might you be?" Jane asked Brax, "Perhaps you're the village chief?"
"No, I'm not." replied Brax as he stared at the ships in order to avoid eye contact with Jane, "But maybe I'm part of the group that's going to drive you out of Sans Valeur." he said, half-convinced.
"Strong words for someone so young. However, they don't change the fact that you're outnumbered." said Jane. "Well, men, I think it's time for us to stop with the shenanigans and collect our booty." she said with conviction and raised her cutlass over her head. She swiftly swung it down and pointed to the village.
Similar to rampaging bulls, the Skullcaps stampeded their way to where Brax and others were. Smoke, who remained hidden, fired his poisoned arrows at the incoming Pirates. He made sure to spread out his attack and reduce the life bars of all of them.
Smoke's rain of green arrows surprised the invaders and caused them to temporarily stop their charge as they tried to defend against his ranged attacks. He relentlessly released more arrows until he hit each of them at least once.
"Belay the siege and attack that tree instead!" bellowed Jane as she pointed to where Smoke was hiding, "These scoundrels have around ten Archers hiding there."
The Pirates barrelled from the riverbank with purpose. Moving towards where Smoke hid, they threw stinkpots made of clay at the tree. They had filled them with fish guts and sulfur.
Repulsive fumes came out after the stinkpots shattered into pieces. Smoke got a whiff of their attack and lost his balance. Luckily, he only fell down to the next branch. He swiftly equipped his customized gas mask. The genius work of Jackal and Hide protected him from this crude form of tear gas, otherwise he would have been puking out his tigerseal meal.
With his footing stabilized, he resumed his attack. He squinted his eyes and carefully observed the life bars of the Pirates. They displayed values between 85,000 to 99,000 HP. 
'They more or less have the same life bars as Brandals.' thought Smoke and smirked.
With eighty of them still coming his way, he opened Igniz's orb-like compartment. Before Igniz could fly off, he gently held onto him and hurriedly told him their game plan.
"I'll need your help, bud, but be sure to stay hidden in the tree." he pointed to the pirates below, "Just light 'em up from here."
As soon as he released Igniz, multiple firewalls erupted from the ground in a line right in front of the incoming Pirates. The life bars of ones that were leading the charge started to drain quickly, as they were too slow to react and hurtled straight through the firewalls, taking damage in the process and being inflicted with Burning status.
The Skullcaps that stopped in front of the firewalls stood in place and could only watch as their partners in crime that went through were being finished off with arrows and fireballs. Shocked at the unexpected fire attacks, they looked towards their captain for orders.
Jane scowled at the firewalls and clicked her tongue in frustration. "Tch. Forget the Archers, just break through the front line!" she yelled.
As Nain and the rest of the Pirates charged at Brax and his men, Igniz's fireballs kept hitting their backs for increased damage.
Meanwhile, Smoke set his sights on a different target. He leapt up onto a higher tree branch and took a deep breath. His power chainsaw bow creaked as he pulled back the bowstring as far as he could.
In one fluid motion, he released all the tension in the string and his arrow flew high over the firewalls. It glided through the air smoothly until it finally hit its mark. It lodged itself into Captain Snow's shoulder, staining her blue naval jacket with blood and inflicting her with Poisoned status. Her life bar displayed (245,743/250,000 HP).
"How dare you, you cowards!" Jane looked furious as she yelled and pulled the poisoned arrow out of her shoulder, "Healers, to me! Mr. Nain, kill them all and don't come back empty-handed or I'll personally make you walk the plank!" As she retreated back into the captain's cabin, seven Halflings rushed to her aid.
                             

* * * * * * 

Faced against two Skullcaps, Brax surprised his fellow villagers when they saw him fight. His hands trembled while holding the sword and shield, but he held his ground.
Due to Brax's height advantage over the Skullcaps, he threatened one of them with a downward swing of his sword. The Halfling instantly took a defensive stance and parried Brax's attack.
The Skullcap then took a step forward and pushed his sword against Brax's, buying time for the other Skullcap to come at Brax from the side and stab him with a dirk. Brax kicked away the Pirate in front of him and swung his shield at the other attacker, but missed him. He took a couple of steps back and tried to stop the bleeding by clipping the wound with his elbow.
One of the Sans Valeur Fishermen snuck from behind the dual-wielding Skullcap and took him by surprise, skewering him with a harpoon. Brax dashed for the one in front of him and slashed his right hand, making him drop his weapon. Together, Brax and the Fisherman quickly finished them off.
Brax took a look at his life bar, which displayed 85%, and thanked the Fisherman for his timely aid. He then quickly scanned the battleground and found that most of his fellow villagers were struggling, with four of them already dead.
Forte and the three other muscular men were fighting a losing battle. With their focus on raw strength, Forte and his group were significantly slower than the short and agile Skullcaps, and couldn't hit them properly. They managed to land several lucky shots and got some damage in, but it wasn't enough to finish the job. Their life bars were steadily depleting, with Forte having the lowest life bar at (129,278/190,000 HP).
Brax's bravery inspired the rest of the defenders as he and the Fisherman who saved him zoomed en route to Forte. Yet while running, Brax still silently prayed to Fleuve for a miracle to save them as they continued to fight for their lives and the lives of children of Sans Valeur. His prayer was interrupted when a Skullcap leapt at him from the side and dug his dirks into Brax's shield.
THUD
Landing only about a meter away from them, Smoke accurately slashed the back of that Skullcap with his chain and sickle several times. He saw Brax thank him with a nod. He returned the gesture and started fighting his way towards Forte.
Smoke and the villagers defending the village entrance managed to kill thirty-five Skullcaps, but at the price of heavy casualties. There were only sixteen villagers left, and their life bars were at less than 50%.
Smoke clearly stood out among them, expertly dodging almost all attacks aimed at him and cutting down Pirates with relative ease. It didn't take long before Nain recognized him as the biggest threat on the battlefield. Cutting down the villager he had been locked in battle with, he addressed his companions.
"Surround the DarkElf, lads! Send that scallywag to Davey Jones' locker!" he yelled.
Immediately, a group of twenty Halflings went to face Smoke. The ones approaching him from behind hastily threw several throwing knives at him. As his Cunning of the Dire Fox could not detect projectile attacks, he received six knives to the back. He turned around in pain. More throwing knives came his way and he did his best to avoid them.
He then sensed two Halflings charging at him from both his sides. He swung his sickle in a wide arc around him intending to slash their torso, but they reacted quickly to the incoming scythe and one jumped out of its way, while the other blocked it by putting his arms in front of him, receiving only shallow cuts.
'I see why Forte and his men are having a hard time dealing with these guys.' he thought to himself.
The Halflings proved to be tricky opponents for Smoke. Their height forced him to adjust his fighting style accordingly, he had to pay a lot more attention to his footwork because they kept targeting his legs, and he had to use faster but less powerful strikes with his weapon to successfully hit them. He wasn't inexperienced in fighting enemies much smaller than him due to facing Gobble Goblins recently, but the Skullcaps were faster and more intelligent than those monsters.
He couldn't use the deadly Cyclone of Slaughter with villagers all around him, but Smoke was still on top of the task. Albeit taking frequent hits, he began dispatching the Pirates that were coming at him one by one.
Nain felt a mixture of frustration and fear as he watched his fellow Skullcaps perish under Smoke's chain and sickle. One of them that was sent flying towards him stood up, covered in deep cuts, and turned to face him. "That son of a biscuit-eater is too strong. Half of us are dead, Nain. This village isn't worth knocking on death's door." he said.
"Aye, matey, but Cap'n will..." Nain replied before something drew his attention. "Follow me. You two as well. Smartly, lads." he said to the Skullcaps close to him and started moving swiftly across the battlefield, "This could be our ticket out of this wretched place."
After a few minutes, Smoke finally finished dealing with all twenty Skullcaps that had ganged up on him and kept mercilessly attacking him. Panting hard for air and with roughly 40% on his life bar, he lifted his head and looked over the battlefield. The battle was over; the group he was fighting was what remained of the eighty Skullcaps who got off their ships.
Smoke looked to his left and found Forte and the three other muscular men carrying the few surviving and heavily-injured villagers back to the village for treatment. On his right, he saw Vex sitting on his knees at the riverbank, his harpoon stabbed in the ground next to him. The ten pirate ships were gone.
Remembering his symbiote, Smoke quickly ran towards the tree Igniz was still hiding in. He leapt up the branches and found his dark ember sprite glowing faintly, concealing itself as best as it could. "Well done, bud." he smiled as he motioned for Igniz to return to his metal compartment.
He then moved next to Vex, who was blankly staring at the river. He assumed Vex was mourning the loss of his fellow villagers, and tried to think of comforting words to say to him. As he was about to place his hand on his shoulder, Vex spoke in a low voice.
"They took him." he said.
"What?" Smoke asked, confused, with his hand lingering in the air.
"I saw them taking him away, but I couldn't get through..." Vex said as he clenched his fists.
"Who did they take?" asked Smoke. Then, his eyes widened as it came to him.
He looked around frantically before asking  a question he already knew the answer to. "Where is Brax?"