Chapter 622 (1/2)

Silo glanced sideways at Randidly, who stood at the bow of the boat with a dreadful look of concentration on his face. A thin bead of sweat formed at his temple and fell down to quiver on his jaw.

Although Silo wasn’t sure what he was doing, he could tell the other man was stabilizing their boat somehow. Despite the fact that waves were rising, the boat was steadier than ever, sitting heavily on top of the water. But he tore his gaze away and looked for the telltale bubbles associated with an attack.

There were thousands of the tiny things, emerging from the depths.

A flash of movement caught Silo’s eye and he looked up. Randidly’s face had twisted into a wide grin.

Then the entire boat… hopped. There was no other word for it. Abruptly, it popped upwards away from the water as if slammed from below by a giant fish. That was, in fact, exactly what Silo believed to have happened in the aftermath, as flotsam and froth exploded outwards from beneath their boat. But with a slap of wood on water, they dropped back into the sea.

For several seconds there were no further attacks, so Silo opened his mouth to ask what happened. Then the Murlocs leaped out of the water.

The Murloc tribes were one of the most dangerous monster groups that one could encounter on this stretch of water. In a way, it was good news, because it meant they had passed over the endless trench without incident. Monsters that dwelled there were occasionally above Level 50, although only rarely would they molest small vessels.

But they were the most powerful force in the area, and they avenged their dead.

Likely, they would need to fight these tribes for the remainder of their voyage.

The first two Murlocs were scarcely out of the water before the woman Azriel moved in front of them and dispatched them dispassionately with three quick thrusts of her needle spear. Despite how eccentric both Randidly and Skarch were turning out to be, Azriel was the one that caught Silo’s eye the most.

She was good with a spear. She was more than good. She was impossibly quick and accurate. Plus, with the ease that she kicked Murlocs back over the edge into the water, she was no slouch when it came to Strength, either. Of all the enemies that Silo had seen, even in the Central Domain, she gave him the most wariness.

But his thoughts were washed away by six more Murloc bodies clamoring to take up the deck of the ship. Randidly seemed to be lost in his concentrations, but the strange, living spear he possessed moved around him like a snake, slashing at any who came near. Skarch moved now two, utilizing wide sweeps with her spear that cleared two in a single go, opening up more space for them to move.

The real danger was the boat sinking or flipping, either from damage below or above. It was somewhat strange to Silo because when some of the Murlocs landed on the boat they went to hack at it from the inside. If they wanted to do so, why not just stay below?

But he wasn’t going to let them live long enough to chit-chat.

His Brilliant Advanced smashed one back into the water, and then Silo quickly wounded the arm of the other adversary. It took three more blows to disarm it, and then strike a deadly blow, but by that time, another half dozen were clamoring onto the boat. Then another, then-

Booom.

Again, the boat hopped up in the air. For sure, there was something striking from below. But it seemed that whatever Randidly was doing was protecting them well enough. Silo had heard a rumor that the man was a Spellspear, and largely thought it was just another fanciful Class. But it seemed that such a character had his uses, although he certainly hadn’t done as much work with his spear as had the rest of them.

Slash, cut, stab, block, spin… the world began to blur slightly as Silo lost himself in the rushed melee with the Murlocs that clambered onto the ship. His spear was a brilliant light in the dark, banishing them back to the hole they crawled out from. Inwardly, Silo was extremely pleased that this attack came.

This gave him the perfect chance to refine his image once more to a usable state. It was difficult to do so without using the Skills, and this gave him the perfect excuse. But still, he didn’t try and extend his fights any longer than necessary; doing so would be near suicidal.

After thrusting a spear into a Murloc’s oversized head, Silo glanced around. For all that they didn’t know him, he was now on a team. He would give his all to protect those who relied on him. But to his surprise, they didn’t seem to need any help at all.

Silo blinked. A strange, luminescent Murloc that was Level 46 was currently engaged in a high-speed duel with Azriel. Their blows and counters were preternaturally quick, while both somehow managed to maintain perfect footing on the rocking boat.